uk politics Archives

Wednesday

26 Sep 2018

Momentum’s Brexit fudge would make the Labour party proud

What Momentum thinks about Brexit matters. But is Momentum prepared to ask its members what it really thinks about Brexit? Not yet is the answer, according to Jon Lansman, the group’s founder. And it’s refusal to do so produces a fudge on the hot topic of the day of which the Labour party itself would be proud. While the group’s World Transformed festival has been a hotbed of discussion on all kinds of issues – socialism, Marxism, anti-Semitism, climate change, to name a few – there’s one topic that isn’t on the menu: Brexit. At least, that is, in so far as coming to a settled position among Momentum members

Steerpike

No early election? We’ll just go on a general strike, says Labour MP

Oh dear. Despite reports this year of a more professional tone at conference, one Labour MP appears to have missed the message. Last year John McDonnell told a conference fringe that his party was wargaming for a ‘run on the pound’ in the event they were elected. This year’s socialist slip-up has been committed by Laura Smith. The MP for Crewe and Nantwich has come up with a Plan B should Labour’s Plan A of bringing about an early election fail: ‘If we can’t get a general election, we should unite with our comrades in the trade union movement and bring an end to the government with a general strike.’

Steerpike

Security check: Corbyn’s adviser, the former Communist Party member

Jeremy Corbyn’s adviser and close friend Andrew Murray has been scratching his head of late as to why he still hasn’t had his request for a Parliamentary security pass granted. In search of answers, Murray has hit out at the ‘deep state’ made up of spies and sinister civil servants looking to thwart a left-wing government. However, Mr S wonders whether there could be another reason it’s taken so long for the pass to be granted. So, in the interests of national security, Steerpike has put together his own security check to see if Murray should be given a parliamentary pass: Previous employment Journalist at the Soviet news agency Novosti Morning Star

Tuesday

25 Sep 2018

Steerpike

Watch: Israeli ambassador takes a pop at Jeremy Corbyn

The Labour Friends of Israel reception at the party’s conference has traditionally been attended by the Labour leader. But this year, as in recent years, Jeremy Corbyn did not attend. Instead it fell to the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, to make an appearance. Watson was introduced as a ‘long standing friend of Israel’ and he used his speech to call out those who have attacked pro-Israeli MPs within the Labour party. Here’s what he said: We have an obligation to rid this party of anti Semitism. I recognise the hurt that has been caused. I recognise the pain that has been thrust upon our friends in the Jewish community.

Steerpike

Watch: Diane Abbott makes yet another number blunder

When it comes to numbers, Diane Abbott doesn’t have a good track record. And it seems that’s still the case for the shadow home secretary. Delivering her speech to Labour conference this afternoon, Abbott intended to talk about 999 calls. But unfortunately the Labour MP fell one number short: Oh dear…

Katy Balls

Emily Thornberry’s speech shows why Team Corbyn went cold on a female deputy | 25 September 2018

For those wondering why exactly Labour vetoed plans for a new female deputy leader this morning over fears the role could undermine Jeremy Corbyn, look no further than Emily Thornberry’s conference speech. This afternoon, the shadow foreign secretary offered a pretty good explanation as to why Corbyn’s allies had become nervous about the idea of promoting a woman to second in command. Fresh from talking movingly about her backstory in a fringe event (Isabel reports on part 1 of Thornberry’s leadership launch here), Thornberry gave her boss a run for his money with a crowd-pleasing – at times barnstorming – speech which neatly set out the clear blue water between herself and the

Isabel Hardman

Emily Thornberry’s leadership pitch, part 1

The Labour leadership may be rowing back from the idea of having a second, female, deputy leader, but that isn’t stopping those who, like Emily Thornberry, fancy a shot at the top job one day. While the Shadow Foreign Secretary was totally loyal to Jeremy Corbyn when she spoke at a Times fringe this lunchtime, she started by talking movingly about her backstory, touching also on the need for a leader who has experience of the frontbench, and repeatedly referred to the importance of members in the Labour Party. It is well-understood that Thornberry would, one day, like to run for leader, and today’s performance not only underlined that, but

Steerpike

Tosh McDonald: I set my alarm early so I could hate Thatcher more

Jeremy Corbyn has famously said that he wants a ‘kinder, gentler politics’. But it seems one of his close allies didn’t get the message. Union leader Tosh McDonald took to the stage at Labour conference this morning to tell his fellow party members of just how much he hates Margaret Thatcher: ‘I say this many times, it’s still true: I hated her. I wish I could be like Jeremy and rise above it, but I can’t. And I did hate her that much that I did set my alarm clock an hour earlier than I needed, just so I could hate her for an hour longer.’ Tosh by name, tosh

The Spectator

Full text: Emily Thornberry’s Labour conference speech

Conference, as we all know, this is a year of important anniversaries in the history of the socialist movement – a movement always based on the unstoppable momentum of the masses, the incredible inspiration of courageous individuals and a core belief that injustice done to any of us is injustice done to all of us wherever we are in the world. And in this year of anniversaries, we start by celebrating 150 years of the TUC: 150 years spent fighting for workers, not just in Britain but all across the globe, and stronger than ever today thanks to the leadership of Frances O’Grady, and thanks to a Labour leadership which

Steerpike

Watch: Labour supporter refuses to leave the stage

It’s all kicking off at Labour conference. A Labour supporter has just given a speech on Palestine from the main stage, but when he was told his time was up he refused to leave the stage: ‘My time is not up. I am speaking for the Palestinian people. I’ve got a couple more lines and I’m going to say them, and if you want me off this stage, you’re going to have to get security up here. And they’d better send an army, because east enders, like Palestinians, don’t go down easy.’ Eventually, he did leave the stage but not before a warm greeting and a handshake from Jeremy Corbyn…

Alex Massie

The dreadful state of British politics | 25 September 2018

Conference season always shows our political parties at their worst. It would be a kindness if these things were not televised. These dungeons cannot withstand the intrusion of too much daylight. On the other hand, some things are evident. Chiefly, it is now beyond clear that Brexit has broken both parties. More than that, it has overwhelmed a hopelessly overmatched political class that plainly lacks the ability to make sense of the Brexit fiasco and, just as pertinently, the courage to look reality in the face. This government – this hopeless government, I should say – is kept alive by only one thing: the impossibility of the opposition. In turn,

Katy Balls

Keir Starmer’s Brexit speech triggers Labour barney

Well, that lasted long. From the moment Keir Starmer left the conference stage after setting out Labour’s Brexit position, rumours began to circulate that all wasn’t as it seemed. When the shadow Brexit secretary spoke in the conference hall this morning, he received a standing ovation for pledging to keep all options open on Brexit – including the option to remain in the EU; ‘Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.’ However, less than an hour later and dissent has broken out on the conference hall over the party position – and whether the shadow Brexit secretary correctly articulated the official policy. As Steerpike reports, that passage of the speech was

Isabel Hardman

The probation crisis could totally undermine the government’s domestic abuse law

It has long been accepted in Westminster, including by those who were actually in the Ministry of Justice when it took place, that the privatisation of the Probation Service hasn’t worked very well. That’s putting it mildly, as today’s report from HM Inspectorate of Probation shows. The report found that in seven out of 10 cases, private probation companies were providing ‘inadequate’ protection for victims of domestic abuse when their abusers return to the community. Probation officers were handed impossibly weighty workloads of up to 60 cases each, and the implications of this were that fewer than a third of offenders were referred to what are known as ‘perpetrator programmes’

Steerpike

Keir Starmer goes off script in Brexit conference speech

This year’s Labour conference has been praised for adopting a more professional tone than previous years. However, today that message appears to have been lost. After the party pulled plans at the last minute for a female deputy leader, Keir Starmer appears to have gone off script in his big Brexit conference speech. Sir Keir Starmer: "Nobody is ruling out Remain as an option" Shadow #Brexit Secretary receives rapturous applause from #Lab18 on prospect of second Brexit vote https://t.co/l7Mjii6DmY pic.twitter.com/NOMOqu0H2Y — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 25, 2018 The shadow Brexit secretary was met with applause when he appeared to keep the idea of a second EU referendum on the table

Katy Balls

Corbyn and Watson rift claims its first victim: a new female deputy

The Tom Watson/Jeremy Corbyn feud has claimed its first conference victim: a female deputy leader. Plans to create a new deputy leader role specifically for a female have been dropped this morning at the last minute after Corbyn’s team grew nervous – and blame is being placed firmly with his deputy Tom Watson. When the role was first thought up, it was seen as a way to undermine Watson – a man who has firmly fallen out of favour with the Corbyn regime – while also scoring some points politically for promoting women. After all, Labour are behind the Tories on gender equality here thanks to the fact they have

Steerpike

Watch: Kate Hoey’s Brexit warning to Corbynistas

The Corbynistas don’t have much time for Kate Hoey, the Labour MP and ardent Brexiteer. Owen Jones accused Hoey of propping up a government that is leading Britain ‘into calamity’ by refusing to vote down the Tories over Brexit. But the MP for Vauxhall has a message for her critics: it isn’t me you should worry about. Instead, Hoey said, Corbyn’s supporters should keep an eye on the likes of Chuka Umunna and other Labour MPs calling for a second referendum. Their support for a ‘people’s vote’ has little to do with Brexit, she said, and more to do with trying to make life difficult for Jeremy Corbyn. Here’s what

Steerpike

Through the looking glass: Labour’s future foreign policy

To the dismay of many of Jeremy Corbyn’s parliamentary colleagues, foreign policy is the Labour leader’s main passion. Corbyn rarely appears more animated than when discussing the plight of Palestinians – or lambasting the Saudi Arabian government. So, Mr S listened with interest as Corbyn’s closest allies gathered at Labour conference for a Stop the War fringe event. Corbyn adviser (and former Communist Party of Britain member) Andrew Murray was joined by shadow cabinet members Richard Burgon and Diane Abbott along with Chris Williamson for the packed event titled Why We Need An Anti-War Government. To kick proceedings off, Williamson said the party was making history: ‘We often talk about recapturing

Tom Goodenough

Why Labour’s Brexit MPs are finally feeling more upbeat

Kate Hoey has paid a heavy price for being a supporter of Brexit. The Labour MP has been hounded online and faced a vicious deselection battle in her Vauxhall constituency from activists who say that she has no place representing an area in which nearly eight in ten voters backed ‘Remain’. But rather than change her mind, Hoey has stuck to her guns. At a Labour Leave event on the fringes of the party’s conference in Liverpool, Hoey had a message for her critics: there’s no contradiction in backing Brexit and being a leftie. Hoey wasn’t the only Labour MP making that point at last night’s event. Graham Stringer, who

Monday

24 Sep 2018

Isabel Hardman

Labour Left plans to force Jeremy Corbyn into deselection process to make a point

Jeremy Corbyn could be subject to a trigger ballot designed for the deselection of MPs, under plans discussed tonight by members of one of his most supportive party groups. The Labour Representation Committee, from which both Corbyn and John McDonnell hail, met this evening to discuss how to get its way when it comes to party democracy. Save for when McDonnell popped in to thank the LRC for continuing to organise when it looked as though the Left would never win a foothold in the party, the mood was one of frustration. Members were largely cheerful yet also irritated that plans for ‘open selections’ – more commonly known as mandatory

Steerpike

Watch: Labour supporting teacher on getting rid of Tories

A teacher and Labour party member has just taken to the stage at the party’s conference talking of the importance of giving kids a good education. Sensible enough, you might think. Except for the fact that Sion Rickard said that if children were educated properly it would mean that Tories would no longer exist. Here’s what he said: ‘I’ve never met a bad four-year-old. I’ve never met a four-year-old that was evil. So every child has a chance and if we give them a proper education, we’ll empty our prisons, we’ll have much less problems with our NHS, social issues… We’ll probably not have any Tories because we’ll have brought