uk politics Archives

Friday

23 Mar 2018

Steerpike

Caption contest: Private Pike gets a seat at the table

Gavin Williamson has not had a good few weeks. While Theresa May has never looked more statesmanlike than in her response to Russia over the Salisbury poisoning, the Defence Secretary has become the subject of ridicule for suggesting Moscow ‘go away and shut up’. This week, Williamson’s Cabinet colleague Matt Hancock even went so far as to do an impression of him at a Press Gallery lunch. Happily, Williamson appears to be taking it in his stride. The Conservative MP – who has been nicknamed ‘Private Pike’ by his Conservative critics over his lack of defence experience – appears to be looking rather statesmanlike (or at least trying to) in

Tom Goodenough

Brexit’s progress is defying the doom-mongers’ predictions

That EU leaders have agreed to move to the next stage of Brexit talks and rubber stamp the transition period is no great surprise. It took just a matter of minutes this morning for them to wave through guidelines on the negotiations for a future trade deal between Britain and the EU. But while the announcement was something of a foregone conclusion, today’s news is still significant for a simple reason: Brexit talks are progressing in a way some of the doom-mongers said would never happen. Of course, Britain – and the EU, for that matter – isn’t there yet. And a year on from the triggering of Article 50,

Thursday

22 Mar 2018

Steerpike

Vince Cable’s big Brexit stunt backfires

Oh dear. With Theresa May in Brussels today for the EU Council summit, Remain campaigners have been keen to do what they can to undermine her latest Brexit efforts. In that vein, Vince Cable held a meeting with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) on Brexit today. The Liberal Democrats subsequently issued a press release announcing that ‘liberal prime ministers from eight EU countries’ had publicly backed Cable’s call for a vote on any Brexit deal: Only that appeared to come as a surprise to those listed. The ALDE were quick to rebuff the claims – stating that while they regret the Brexit vote, they respect the result

Steerpike

Cabinet minister’s Gavin Williamson jibe

Ever since Gavin Williamson’s speedy promotion to Defence Secretary, the Conservative MP has divided opinion in his party. While some enjoy his high profile antics (which include banning Philip Hammonf from MoD jets over an outstanding bill), others think he does too little to mask his leadership ambitions. So, last week Williamson offered his critics ample ammunition when he declared amid the Russia row that the country ‘should go away and shut up’. While his comments did not have Putin shaking in his boots, they did have his Conservative colleagues in stitches. Today his Cabinet colleague Matt Hancock took the fight public. In a speech at the Press Gallery Lunch,

James Forsyth

Who is right on stop and search, Boris or May?

Theresa May’s Home Office record is normally off limits at cabinet. But, as I write in the magazine this week, when ministers discussed the government’s strategy for reducing violent crime on Tuesday, Boris Johnson took issue with what the Prime Minister regards as one of her key legacies: the dramatic reduction in stop and search. He argued that more stop and search was needed to deal with a spike in crime. What went unsaid — but what everyone around the cabinet table was acutely aware of — was that this was the opposite of May’s approach as Home Secretary. As Home Secretary, May toughened up the rules around the police’s use

Isabel Hardman

How both Brexit camps are messing up on passports

The blue passport has become one of those symbols of Brexit, mocked by Remainers and taken really very seriously by Brexiteers. So it’s fitting that the row about is production tells us so much about the way the two camps operate. The current manufacturer of the Burgundy passport is De La Rue, a British supplier, and today that company complained to the BBC that Franco-Dutch firm Germalto had won the contract for the blue passport. Cue nervous responses from ministers such as Matt Hancock about the passport, and plenty of hyperbole from both Brexiteers and Remainers about the news. Those who didn’t want Britain to leave the European Union are

James Forsyth

British passports being made abroad isn’t a ‘national humiliation’

The new British passport being made abroad is a perfect symbol for Brexit Britain. For after we leave the European Union, we should be an open, free trading nation. If a French firm is offering to make our passports to the requisite standard for a lower price than any British company, then the contract should go to that firm. Let’s leave the Colbertism to the French. Rather than being all defensive about this contract going to a foreign firm, the government should be pointing out that this approach will save the taxpayer money.

Steerpike

Philip May goes green

Since Michael Gove took over Defra, the Conservatives have been on a mission to rebrand as the party of the environment. However, some have questioned whether it’s a move that comes from the heart – or one which is down to more cynical reasoning. Theresa May’s former director of communications Kate Perrior said in the Times that her former boss’s enthusiasm for protecting the environment ‘may not be insincere but it is certainly new’: ‘When I was at No 10, Andrea Leadsom, then the environment secretary, was told to make the plan as boring as possible.’ However, times are a’changing in the May household. May’s husband Philip took part in a

Charles Moore

Russia Today’s useful idiots

Some people I respect are content to go on the Russian TV channel RT, on the grounds that ‘they let me say what I think’. I’m afraid this is a form of vanity. Of course, RT lets you say what you think: they would be ludicrously ineffective propagandists if they didn’t. The point is that by appearing, you legitimise their platform. You help create the utter confusion about what is true and who is right which is the Russian government’s aim. To reverse the usual expression, your honest opinions allow lies to be surrounded by a bodyguard of truth. This is an extract from Charles Moore’s Notes, from this week’s

Wednesday

21 Mar 2018

Fraser Nelson

Boris Johnson’s undisclosed meeting with Alexander Nix of Cambridge Analytica

Now that Alexander Nix has been suspended as Cambridge Analytica chief executive, the hunt is on to see who else he has been meeting – in London or Washington. His meetings with UK officials would have been disclosed. But one wasn’t: a meeting with Boris Johnson in December 2016. The Foreign Secretary wasn’t seeking the algorithm that took Trump to victory – his objective was to try to learn about, and improve links with, Team Trump. And here was a Brit who, apparently, was a close part of that team. Boris and Nix met on the advice of Foreign Office officials, at a time when Britain was scrambling for routes

James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn’s post-election honeymoon is over

The political weather has changed at Westminster. Tory MPs now have a spring in their step in a way that they haven’t had since the snap election went so wrong. By contrast, the Labour benches look glummer than they have in a while. Tory MPs might be exaggerating how much things have really changed; several of them are currently demonstrating that the Conservative party really does only have two modes, panic or complacency. But a couple of things have shifted in the last few weeks. Jeremy Corbyn’s reaction to the assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal has reminded Labour moderates of why they were so opposed to Corbyn in the first

Lloyd Evans

Jeremy Corbyn shows why he shouldn’t stick to the script at PMQs

Brexit is going well, apparently. And the prime minister seemed in chipper mood at PMQs. She was even enjoying herself. To neutrals this is a distressing sight. To fans of the Tory leader it must seem downright dangerous. History has taught us that when May feels she’s on top the world, the world promptly lands on top of May. Corbyn raised council tax. His theme was Tory misrule, higher bills and vanishing services. Privatisation fetishists at Northamptonshire, he said, had caused the council to implode entirely. May felt herself on solid ground as she fought back by cataloguing Corbyn’s troubles at council level which have led to two recent Labour

Isabel Hardman

Can Corbyn keep up the pressure on May on council cuts?

Jeremy Corbyn had a good line of attack at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions, choosing to focus on the financial crisis at Northamptonshire Council. When the Labour leader chooses a less-obvious topic, he has the benefit of surprise, but also the disadvantage of appearing to be avoiding talking about something more important. Today, though, Corbyn had also worked out a smart introductory question, which ended with him asking if what was happening at Northamptonshire was down to ‘incompetence at a local level of national level’. This was a difficult question for Theresa May to answer, as it would involve either criticising her own government, or suggesting that Tories weren’t very good

Steerpike

Fact Check: Owen Jones’ hat-gate claim fails the test

This week the main political news in Labour has revolved around a hat. Rather than the Brexit transition period or Russian aggression, the issue that has kept the Corbynistas busy is whether or not Jeremy Corbyn’s hat was photoshopped on Newsnight. This was the claim made by Owen Jones on the show – when he accused the BBC of photoshopping a hat to make him look like a ‘Soviet stooge’. Since then the claim has gone viral – with Guido reporting a social media reach of over 2 million – despite repeated denials by the BBC. It’s also handily worked as a dead hat strategy – successfully distracting from Corbyn’s

Alex Massie

The Tories just don’t get it

Sometimes it is the little details that tell you everything you need to know. So when, as Politics Home revealed yesterday, the chief whip meets Tory backbenchers to assuage their concerns over the transitional arrangements for the fishing industry as the UK edges its way out of the EU and tells them not to worry because, look, “It’s not like the fishermen are going to vote Labour” you know there is something deeply wrong at the heart of the government. This, remember, is what passes for the government’s intelligence unit. And with leaders like this, who needs enemies? It is not evident whether the ignorance is more startling than the

Stephen Daisley

The Russian spy poisoning is tearing the SNP apart

The SNP is a coalition that behaves like a megachurch and when the spirit is low, the congregation remembers its schisms. One such departure is defence, because, for all they appear a homogenous rabble of bomb-banners to unsympathetic outsiders, the Scottish Nationalists are quietly but keenly divided on security. The combination of their current political funk and the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal has forced this into the open. Nicola Sturgeon’s response to the Salisbury incident surprised some of her opponents and appalled some in her party. Her instinct was to tweet in support of Theresa May’s statement and package of sanctions, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats.

Stephen Daisley

Jennie Formby’s appointment will delight Jeremy Corbyn

Privately educated. Mother of Len McCluskey’s child. Close ally of Jeremy Corbyn. Jennie Formby’s appointment as Labour general secretary is a heartwarming tale of how one woman managed to overcome all her connections to make it to the top. More than that, it is confirmation that The Corbynite Takeover Of The Labour Party Is Now Complete (TCTOTLPINC). There seems to be another TCTOTLPINC moment every few weeks and, in all honesty, the authentic one was probably summer 2016 when Corbyn was able to cling on despite mass resignations and a vote of no confidence. That was the point Labour ceased functioning as a political party and went into the personality

Steerpike

Sadiq Khan takes a swipe at Labour’s Great Leader

Well, this is going well. Last night Jeremy Corbyn’s control of the Labour party grew even stronger with the appointment of Jennie Formby as Labour’s general secretary – the party’s most senior official. Formby – a key Corbyn ally – won the overwhelming support of Labour’s ruling NEC to take the post after a short contest, which saw her main rival Jon Lansman drop out. Only it’s not clear to Mr S that everyone in Labour is so impressed by recent goings on. Just an hour after her appointment, Sadiq Khan was entertaining hacks at City Hall – where he made a number of jokes about both Corbyn and the hire

Tuesday

20 Mar 2018

Steerpike

Chief Whip’s SNP blunder

Oh dear. How best to stop a row over the terms for fishermen in the Brexit transition period escalating into a rebellion? Well, don’t send in Julian Smith for one. After the Scottish Conservatives saw red over the decision to keep the United Kingdom in the Commons Fisheries Policy during the Brexit implementation period, the Chief Whip summoned Tory MPs to see him. However, rather than soothe concerns, it appears he made a bad situation worse. PoliticsHome reports that Smith told them to accept Theresa May’s Brexit transition deal because ‘it’s not like the fishermen are going to vote Labour’. Someone had best introduce Smith to the SNP…

Ross Clark

Let’s hear more of the moral case for Brexit

How many times over the past few months have some remain supporters tried to tell us that tariffs on imported goods are a very big deal indeed? Were trade between Britain and the EU to revert to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, they assert, the UK economy would be reduced to ruins. Food prices would soar, leaving millions scrabbling around in bins. British firms will never export anything ever again. This morning comes a slightly different tack. Actually, it seems that tariffs don’t really matter all that much at all. Removing them, according to reports broadcast loudly at various points during the Today programme this morning, will hardly affect consumer