Uk politics

As Cabinet ministers and Tory MPs line up to attack Boris Johnson over his burka comments, some are wondering if another politician would merit such a backlash. Right on cue, Johnson’s former PPS Conor Burns has popped up to take a pop at his colleagues. Burns says some of his colleagues don’t even seem to have read the piece they are ‘desperate’ to distance themselves from: We are now into full bandwagon jumping territory on @BorisJohnson article. Seeing some of the tweets from colleagues desperate not to get left behind I can't see they can even have read it. If they did they clearly didn't understand it. — Conor Burns

Boris Johnson graces the front pages of not one but seven newspapers this morning as the row over his burka comments rumbles on. It’s not gone unnoticed in eurosceptic circles that Remain Tory MPs have been the quickest to pile in on the former foreign secretary over his letterbox comparison. This has led to suspicion that this row is less a serious debate about the burka and more part of a ‘stop Boris’ campaign. Happily, Munira Mirza was on hand this morning to make sure that there aren’t any double standards on display going forward. Speaking on the Today programme, Johnson’s former deputy mayor asked where the outrage was when

Theresa May visited Scotland on Tuesday to hold Brexit talks with Nicola Sturgeon. Not that you would know this from reading today’s papers as they are all about Boris Johnson. The Boris and the burka row rumbles on for a third day – after the former foreign secretary refused to apologise for his comments on Monday comparing muslim women dressed in the full veil to ‘letterboxes’. Although Johnson not apologising is in some ways unsurprising, what’s driving the news is the number of his former Cabinet colleagues who have called on him to do so. After Tory chairman Brandon Lewis took to social media to say that he had asked

Whether Labour moderates are planning a coup in a Sussex farm house or simply getting together to discuss policy, it’s clear that they are unhappy with the way Jeremy Corbyn is running Labour. Since they failed to oust Corbyn as leader in 2016, Labour’s centrists have generally kept a low profile. But for some, keeping quiet is turning out to be quite the challenge. When a Twitter user wished the plotters attempting to remove Corbyn ‘every luck in the world’ Labour MP Chris Bryant couldn’t resist retweeting his approval: Mr S suspects ‘secret plot’ could now be shortened to ‘plot’…

Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell took to social media last week to lament the loss of reasonable discourse in politics. After speaking on Iain Dale’s LBC radio show he praised the host, saying: Good chat with @IainDale @lbc on Brexit just now. I always feel he is one of those people with whom I totally disagree but can have reasonable conversation, of which there is all too little in our politics right now — ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) August 3, 2018 So has the earnest Remainer been taking his own advice when it comes to the merits of sensible conversation? Mr Steerpike thinks not. The timely intervention for more decorum

Labour’s anti-Semitism row and Theresa May’s no deal Brexit woes have had to take a back seat this morning thanks to talk of a good old fashioned Blairite coup. The Daily Express reports that 12 Labour MPs – including Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie and Liz Kendall – are embroiled in ‘secret plot to oust Jeremy Corbyn’. In order to do this, they have – naturally – been holding secret meetings, some of which have taken place at a luxury grade II listed farmhouse complete with Aga. The topic of discussion at the meetings is how to take back control of the party. If Labour manages to win the next election, they

Boris Johnson has found himself in a spot of bother today over an article in the Telegraph. The former Foreign Secretary uses his column to say that he disagrees with the Danish government’s decision to ban burkas. However, he has been criticised for also saying that Muslim women wearing burkas ‘look like letter boxes’. A number of top Corbynistas have been quick to denounce him for trying to appeal to the hard-right: Boris Johnson – currently favourite to be next Tory leader – knows he can get away with comparing niqab-wearing Muslim women to letter boxes because, as Tory Baroness Warsi puts it, Islamophobia is widespread in the Conservatives and

While David Cameron has reportedly busied himself of late telling friends how his old mate Michael Gove is ‘mad’ and behaved like a ‘lunatic’ during the EU referendum, his comrade George Osborne appears to take a rather different view. Rather than hold a grudge, the former Chancellor was spotted on holiday with Gove last month. Osborne and Gove embarked on a lads’ holiday which consisted of taking in four Wagner operas on four consecutive days. While some have been quick to poke fun at their idea of fun, Mr S is just glad that Osborne and Gove have learnt their lesson. Back in 2012, Osborne – then the chancellor –

Good news for people who want the government to make it easier to build homes? The papers today carry news that local authorities are proposing nearly half a million (459,000) homes on green belt land, up from 425,000 a year ago. While on the surface more homes at a time of housing shortages might seem like welcome news, there are two problems. According to the report by the Campaign to Protect Rural England, (a) the bulk of it isn’t aimed at struggling first time buyers (b) it risks making Britain’s green spaces an endangered species in the long term. The report claims that the green belt is being sacrificed to build expensive