Uk politics

Thursday

Katy Balls

Raab talks tough on Brexit White Paper – as Brussels responds

Dominic Raab’s Commons debut as Brexit Secretary didn’t go exactly as he would have hoped. He was greeted with louder heckles than normal from the Opposition owing to the fact that the Brexit white paper had not been given to MPs prior to the statement. Despite this, Raab put in a solid performance as he tried to show it was business as usual despite a turbulent week for the government which saw David Davis and Boris Johnson quit the frontbench – and a Eurosceptic rebellion brewing. The publication of the White Paper is unlikely to calm nerves. The issues that are set to stoke the most interest include the fact the

Steerpike Steerpike

Trump on May’s Brexit plan: ‘I don’t know if that is what they voted for’

Theresa May’s Chequers’ Brexit blueprint hasn’t got off to the best start this week. Before the white paper has even been published, she has seen her Brexit Secretary and Foreign Secretary quit – along with a growing backbench rebellion. Now President Trump has offered his verdict – and it’s not what you could call a diplomatic help: ‘I am going to a pretty hot spot right now with a lot of resignations. I would say Brexit is Brexit. The people voted to break it up so I would imagine that’s what they would do, but maybe they’re taking a different route – I don’t know if that is what they

Ross Clark Ross Clark

What happened to the Brexit exodus of foreign students?

Brexit will, of course, lead to a crash in the number of foreign students coming to racist, xenophobic Britain. We know this because the Guardian keeps telling us so. To quote one headline in the paper from April: “Vice-chancellors urge action to stop predicted 60 per cent fall in EU students”. The story went to quote Prof Julia Black, pro vice-chancellor for research at the LSE, who said: “It is hard to model how many students would pay fees 50 per cent higher when they could be taught in English in other countries for less or for free. We know from research studies that these European students just want to

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Can Sajid Javid really change immigration policy?

When Sajid Javid became Home Secretary, he did so on the basis that he would be able to undo some of the political damage done by the ‘hostile environment policy’. Last night, he rather quietly announced that a key element of this policy would be paused, something Labour’s David Lammy immediately seized upon, hauling Javid’s junior Caroline Nokes to the Commons for an urgent question. Noakes insisted that this pause was ‘temporary’, adding that she would not give consent to the data sharing between government departments and other organisations until she was confident ‘that we will not be impacting on further members of the Windrush generation’. Lammy was largely unhappy

Steerpike Steerpike

Trump protests: Ash Sarkar vs Piers Morgan – ‘I’m a communist, you idiot!’

As the protesters gather for President Trump’s impending visit to the UK, a debate is going on over whether it’s all got a bit too much. Given that the US president managed to visit Emmanuel Macron in France with little hoo-ha, are some Brits overreacting over this instance of international diplomacy? That was the topic of conversation at least on the Good Morning Britain this morning. In an interview, Piers Morgan accused Ash Sarkar – the left-wing blogger – of hypocrisy for protesting Trump’s visit over his policy of splitting families on the Mexican border when she hadn’t done the same for her ‘hero’ Obama’s previous visit over his own

Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Donald Trump does Brexit

PART I President Donald Trump is less than impressed with Theresa May’s Brexit plan, it seems. ‘I’m not sure that’s what they voted for,’ he says. But how would he do Brexit? Boris Johnson said recently ‘Imagine Trump doing Brexit — what would he do. There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think that he’d gone mad. But you might actually get somewhere.’ Well, let’s imagine … June 24, 2016 5 a.m. The votes are in and Britain has elected to leave the European Union. Prime Minister Trump leaves Downing Street and calls a special press conference at his golf course, Turnberry, in Scotland. 7.15

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The Remainers are in charge now

There has been a Remainer coup. Remainers now inhabit virtually all of the highest offices in the land. Overnight, adherents to this minority political viewpoint seized the final levers of political power. This is the one downside — and what a downside it is — to the belated outbreak of principle among the cabinet’s Brexiteers: their walking away has allowed Theresa May to further surround herself with fellow Remainers, and pretty much expel the Brexit outlook from her cabinet. The new foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, voted Remain. As did his replacement at the Department of Health, Matt Hancock. Hancock is a former acolyte of George Osborne, arch-Remainer and now chief

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Theresa May’s weakness is a virtue

Something rather remarkable happened yesterday: Theresa May had a good day. This counts as news and is itself testament to the miserable time she has endured since she became Prime Minister. Some of this – much of it, in fact – was her own fault. Or at least her own responsibility. If she had called an election in September 2016 it seems likely she would have been rewarded with a handsome majority and, just as usefully, a thumping mandate for her own interpretation of Brexit. Delaying until June 2017, however, meant she missed her chance. By that stage the moment had passed. The election became another unwanted imposition. Voters, given

Wednesday

Robert Hancock

Theresa May’s Brexit plan won’t work

The referendum result was initially recognised by the British Government as a decision to take back control of money, laws, borders and taxes, which had to be given effect to. It accepted this meant leaving the EU’s single market and customs union. The three page statement issued at Chequers last Friday on behalf of the Cabinet, euphemistically described as a ‘substantial evolution’, signals the retreat from this policy. The Government now favours a one-sided agreement, similar to that between the EU and Ukraine, which is contrary to the national interest. Instead of taking back control of laws, the Government now proposes ‘to commit by treaty to ongoing harmonisation with EU

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

PMQs reaches a new low

The busy Speaker has made two new friends this week. He interrupted PMQs to introduce them to the house. ‘We’re very fortunate,’ he simpered, ‘to be joined in the public gallery by two members of the Osmond family. Jay and Merrill Osmond.’ The Osmonds were five luxuriantly coiffured brothers whose pop success in the 1970s owed itself, in part, to their square-jawed resemblance to the Kennedy clan. They were like Camelot but without the assassinations. So today the love-sick Speaker said how ‘very fortunate’ he was to have them in attendance. They probably felt the exact opposite. This was one of the flattest sessions in memory. Absent were the chief

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Theresa May dodges Donald Trump’s handshake

When Theresa May first met Donald Trump, she was pictured strolling arm-in-arm with the president through the grounds of the White House. But a lot has happened in the 18 months since that meeting, and now it seems May doesn’t even want to touch the Donald’s hand. When Trump greeted the Prime Minister at the Nato summit in Brussels, May refused to shake the president’s hand. Perhaps Trump’s overtures to Boris Johnson haven’t gone down well…

Steerpike Steerpike

Breaking: John Cleese will leave England

Back in May, John Cleese promised to leave England if MPs voting not to go ahead with Leveson 2. At the time Mr S was left asking: is he a man of his word? Happily, Steerpike can confirm that he is. Speaking on Newsnight, Cleese told Emily Maitlis that he had decided to leave the country as a result of that vote. And where will he be going? As of the autumn, Cleese will be sunning himself on the island of Nevis – which has a population of just 11,000 – in the Caribbean. “I don’t like it, I don’t trust it.” John Cleese on why he’s decided to leave the

Steerpike Steerpike

Return of the flying monkey

The television cameras may have packed up from College Green but Theresa May’s troubles over her Brexit position are far from over. Suspicion is growing in government that the two Tory vice chair resignations on Tuesday are part of a coordinated campaign by Tory Brexiteers to ramp up the pressure on the PM over her Chequers deal. And who could be behind it? Well, Mr S can’t help but wonder how Steve Baker is enjoying his return to the backbench after quitting as a DexEU minister on Sunday. During the EU referendum, Baker was deployed by Vote Leave as a ‘flying monkey’ to turn up the ‘pressure on David Cameron’ in the

Tuesday

Steerpike

Tory MPs scrap over World Cup semi-final

Just this weekend, the Tories were joining others in rounding on Labour for trying to politicise the World Cup – with a call for a bank holiday. But with the Conservative party now in the midst of blue-on-blue warfare over Theresa May’s Brexit position, that memo appears to have gone out of the window. Ahead of England’s World Cup semi final match against Croatia on Wednesday, Henry Smith – the Conservative MP – took to Twitter to complain of an invite he had received from Chief Whip Julian Smith on behalf of No 10. The problem? He had been invited to watch the England match at Downing Street – but

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Why the latest Brexit resignations will alarm No 10

Theresa May had nearly got to the end of the working day with no resignations. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Two Tory vice-chairs – Ben Bradley and Maria Caulfield – have handed in their respective resignations over the Prime Minister’s Chequers proposals. What will worry No 10 is not that they now need to find a Tory vice-chair for young people and another for women – that will be possible and they may well come with fewer issues than these two. Instead, what will ring alarm bells is that neither can be described as an ardent Brexiteer. Bradley was a Remain-er in the EU referendum but represents a Leave seat.

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Boris is gone. What now for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe?

What’s one woman’s life worth as the great battles about Brexit rage? Nothing at all, apparently, as Boris Johnson’s indifference towards the fate of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe shows. The British mother is, you will recall, being held in an Iranian prison on trumped up spying charges. She says she was just visiting Iran, and there is no reason to disbelieve her. Johnson took it upon himself to risk provoking the country’s religious dictatorship into extending her sentence when he told a parliamentary committee that she had been in Iran to train journalists. He later apologised in the Commons, retracting ‘any suggestion she was there in a professional capacity’. But the damage was

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Theresa May’s weakness is a virtue | 10 July 2018

Something rather remarkable happened yesterday: Theresa May had a good day. This counts as news and is itself testament to the miserable time she has endured since she became Prime Minister. Some of this – much of it, in fact – was her own fault. Or at least her own responsibility. If she had called an election in September 2016 it seems likely she would have been rewarded with a handsome majority and, just as usefully, a thumping mandate for her own interpretation of Brexit. Delaying until June 2017, however, meant she missed her chance. By that stage the moment had passed. The election became another unwanted imposition. Voters, given

Katy Balls Katy Balls

President Trump: UK is in turmoil, Boris is my friend

Theresa May’s bad week just got worse. After two Cabinet Brexiteers – David Davis and Boris Johnson – resigned on Monday, the Prime Minister attempted today to suggest it was business as usual tweeting of a ‘productive Cabinet meeting this morning – looking ahead to a busy week’. However, right on cue, President Trump has arrived on the scene to enter some drama. Ahead of the US president’s working visit on Friday, Trump has been commenting on the UK political situation which, by the way, is in ‘turmoil’. The part that will particularly concern No 10 is not Trump suggesting his trip to Helsinki to see Putin will be easier than

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Evan Davis taken to task over Brexit bias

Brexit supporters are used to getting a hard time when they appear on TV, but enough was enough for Iain Dale when he popped up on Newsnight last night. After being introduced as a Brexit supporter – in contrast to Matthew Parris and Rachel Shabi, who were called a ‘Times columnist’ and a ‘Labour-supporting columnist’ – Dale took Evan Davis for task: Iain Dale: ‘Why do I get called Brexit supporter and these two – you don’t describe these two as Remain.’ Evan Davis: ‘Yeah but but –’ Dale: ‘I mean, come on…’ Davis: ‘You’re quite right…You are our Brexit supporter, and I want to get from you––’ Dale: ‘It’s always one against

James Kirkup James Kirkup

Tories – and Brits – are warming to immigration

In the dark, foggy night that is the Brexit debate, immigration is the dog that has not yet barked. The Chequers agreement contains a promise to formally end free movement, but also to replace it with a “mobility agreement” that could well mean EU migration continues at more or less its current level. Would that provoke a furious public backlash? There are growing signs that some voters are more relaxed about immigration than at the time of the referendum, and more aware of its economic usefulness. Could Theresa May ask the British people to accept a fairly liberal European immigration regime? I hope so, and in this context I note