Uk politics

Wednesday

James Kirkup

The Tory tide is turning against austerity

Tom Tugendhat, the Tory MP for Tonbridge sometimes called a rising star, finds himself making front page news today as a ‘Brexit mutineer’. That strikes me as a novel term for a man who spent several years in the British Army fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, but such are the terms of British political debate these days, I suppose. The MP hasn’t responded to that headline, but used a question at PMQs to talk about something else, which I think is worth a little more attention than the latest round of name-calling over Brexit. Given that Britain’s deficit is well down from crisis levels, and given that gilt auctions are oversubscribed,

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Scottish Labour is plunged into chaos – again

When Kezia Dugdale quit as Scottish Labour leader in August, she said it was time to ‘pass on the baton’ to someone else, handing power to her deputy, Alex Rowley. Today, Rowley has stepped aside, leaving a leaderless party following allegations – which he denies – that he was abusive to his former partner.  The Corbyn ally recused himself after he was accused of ’emotional blackmail and abuse’. The woman, who has not been named, alleges that Rowley was controlling and sent her insulting text messages after she broke off the relationship. One is alleged to have read: ‘You are one horrible nasty piece of work and I am going to expose

Steerpike Steerpike

Theresa May’s Scotland blunder

Although it’s widely accepted that Theresa May’s decision to call a snap election was disastrous, one of the few upshots for the Tories was that it managed to stave off calls from the SNP for a second independence referendum. Alas, whoever is running the Prime Minister’s Twitter account doesn’t appear to be on the same page when it comes to preserving the ‘precious union’. Following May’s meeting with Nicola Sturgeon, the Prime Minister tweeted that ‘the UK and Scotland must continue to work together to ensure businesses and consumers have the certainty they need as we leave the EU’. Only there’s a problem. Unless Nicola Sturgeon gets her wish for independence,

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Tory Brexit rebels have some explaining to do

The EU withdrawal bill survived its first Parliamentary test last night. But it still has a long way to go, and a group of Tory MPs are likely to ensure that it is far from plain sailing for the government. For those on the Conservative back benches plotting to defy the Prime Minister on this Brexit bill, the Daily Telegraph has a message: why? The paper says that Labour MPs hoping to ‘put every obstacle in the path of Brexit’ can at least make the point they are in opposition. Rebel Tory MPs have no such excuse, according to the Telegraph, pointing out that many of this group backed the

Katy Balls Katy Balls

The latest ICM poll shows Corbyn is failing to capitalise on May’s misfortune

After a grim few weeks for Theresa May and her government – which has seen the Prime Minister lose two Cabinet ministers, another put under investigation and calls for Boris Johnson to resign – today’s ICM/Guardian poll certainly makes for interesting reading. Rather than the Conservatives falling behind, it shows that Labour and the Tories remain neck and neck. While the Conservatives have gone down by one-point after last week’s shenanigans, May can take heart that so has Corbyn’s Labour: Tories and Labour both on 41% in latest Guardian/@ICMResearch poll – https://t.co/Z1bQ70qVW3 pic.twitter.com/MoF1mcQWdh — AndrewSparrow (@AndrewSparrow) November 15, 2017 It’s a recurring theme. A poll on Friday suggested a beleaguered

Tuesday

Katy Balls

Theresa May has outmanoeuvred herself with amendment 381

This week a Conservative politician managed to get both the SNP and Labour to applaud them in the Chamber. Unfortunately for Theresa May, it wasn’t in response to government policy. Instead it was Europhile – and Tory grandee – Ken Clarke, who took the opportunity to explain why he thinks Nigel Farage is the ‘most successful politician’ of his generation, why bent bananas won’t be making a comeback and, most importantly, why MPs ought to oppose Theresa May’s Brexit date amendment (also known as amendment 381) to the EU Withdrawal Bill. Announced in the Telegraph last week, May has put an amendment in the bill which would mean the date

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Frank Field’s swipe at Hilary Benn

The mammoth debate on the government’s EU withdrawal bill has only just started – but already it is turning nasty. Labour’s Frank Field was one of the first to speak and used the opportunity to take a none-too-subtle dig at Hilary Benn, telling his fellow Labour MP: ‘I’ve always bought my houses, never inherited them’. Unsurprisingly, Benn was not happy, repeatedly telling Field: ‘I bought mine too.’ Field took his comment back but the damage was done and his colleagues on the Labour backbenchers were none too impressed. Ministers had been worrying about whether their EU withdrawal bill could make it through the Commons; Mr S thinks they need not

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Will the government’s EU withdrawal bill pass unscathed? Don’t bet on it

Brexit means Brexit, but unfortunately the EU withdrawal bill – which actually does the legislative job of taking Britain out of the EU – is somewhat trickier to get to grips with. The original bill is 60 pages long, and there are now 470 amendments – running to some 200 pages – and counting. The House of Commons library predicts the bill will be ‘one of the largest legislative projects ever undertaken in the UK’. All of this will keep MPs – and the government, as it fights off the backbench rebels – very busy indeed over the coming weeks. Two days each week for the next month have been set aside

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Is Theresa May growing in confidence again?

Is Theresa May growing in confidence again? At the weekend, the Prime Minister warned Brexit rebels against blocking Britain leaving the EU, and tried to force their hands by tabling an amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill on the date of Brexit. That hasn’t gone down so well with the rebels, who are variously tabling their own amendments to try to strike out that proposal and describing May as being ‘tin-eared’. But it did suggest that the Prime Minister felt more like challenging her critics than she has for a while. The problem is that the way she has previously challenged her critics has indeed made her look tin-eared and

Ed West Ed West

In praise of Prince Charles

Giles of Rome, the great 13th century author, once noted: ‘Considered in absolute terms it would be preferable that the King be elected; but the corrupt desires of men and their manner of acting must make heredity preferable to election.’ There’s little that would dissuade him of that view today. Britain’s politics are in a worse shape than they have been for at least a generation. None of the mediocrities making up the current government seem capable of exercising authority, or of seeing past the next election cycle. In contrast, the Queen and her descendants at least seem interested in the long term, in that strangely alien concept ‘posterity’. Her son Prince Charles

Steerpike Steerpike

Newsnight’s charm offensive

As BBC2’s flagship current affairs programme, Newsnight prides itself on attracting the finest politicians and pundits to offer their two cents worth on breaking news stories. So, Mr S was curious to learn of the tactics deployed by one producer to get politicians on the show. Speaking at an event in Soho, Amber Rudd recalled a call she received from a staffer on the show back when she was a fresh-faced backbencher: ‘I remember quite late at night, getting a call from Newsnight asking me to come speak on something. And I took pity on the poor young man asking me to do this and I said to him: “Listen,

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: It’s time for Britain to up its Brexit bill offer

It once seemed a near certainty that Brexit talks would progress on to the next stage by Christmas. Now, it seems somewhat less likely: David Davis reportedly told business leaders it was a 50-50 chance of making a breakthrough by December, according to Bloomberg (although Davis denies saying this). So what explains the latest hold-up? The Brexit bill remains the big sticking point, says the Financial Times. Theresa May made an ‘opening offer’ of €20bn – and while she ‘may be frustrated’ that her bid was ‘not met by any reciprocal concession from Brussels’, she should not be surprised, says the FT. ‘The reality is,’ says the paper, ‘that the

Steerpike Steerpike

Amber Rudd is given reason to blush

Oh dear. Anyone who harbours serious hopes of becoming the next Conservative Prime Minister – or perhaps Opposition leader at this rate – knows that the first thing they must do is not make their ambitions known. This is why the main contenders are at pains to seem loyal to Theresa May. So, spare a thought for Amber Rudd at last night’s Centre for Policy Studies ‘New Generation’ launch. The Home Secretary gave the keynote speech at the launch of a campaign which aims to provide ‘intellectual rescue’ to the Tories and remake the arguments for Conservative principles by giving a voice to younger MPs in the party. However, before

Monday

Douglas Murray

Where is the outrage at the ‘racist’ campaign against Priti Patel?

Among the many things that have been puzzling me since Priti Patel’s resignation last week, one stands out. So far as I can see there doesn’t seem to be a single person on the Conservative – or conservative – side who has claimed that the campaign against Ms Patel (for campaign it most certainly was, within and without) was motivated by racism. This is curious. In recent years we have become used to men and women on the political left making errors both big and small. And whenever that person happens to be of a minority ethnic background a chorus of defenders in the Labour party and on the broader left

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson apologises for his Iranian blunder

Boris Johnson had to be summoned to the Commons by an urgent question from Labour, but when he got there, he did eventually apologise for his blunder in which he had told MPs that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been visiting Iran in a professional capacity to teach journalism. The Foreign Secretary was in far less bullish a mood than he was a week ago when he answered questions on the matter, telling MPs that: ‘I apologise to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her family if I had inadvertently caused them any further anguish’; he later added: ‘I do apologise, I do apologise and of course I retract any suggestion that she was there

Katy Balls Katy Balls

David Davis’s ‘big’ Brexit concession

Parliament is back in action today and David Davis kicked the new session off with a bang. In a statement to the House, the Brexit Secretary appeared to perform a U-turn as he announced that the final Brexit deal will take the form of an act of Parliament. This means that as well as the current ‘take it or leave it’ vote in principle on the Brexit deal, the final agreement will need to be enshrined in law and, importantly, be subject to scrutiny and a vote by MPs and peers. As the Department for Exiting the European Union puts it: ‘The bill is expected to cover the contents of the withdrawal

Ross Clark Ross Clark

James Dyson is right about the benefits of walking away from Brexit talks

I don’t hold much faith in forecasts by the IMF. They have been so wrong in the past as to be worthless. A week before referendum day in 2016, for example, the IMF predicted that a Leave vote would take 5.5 per cent off UK GDP by 2019, tipping us into recession in 2017. We’re still waiting. However, it is interesting to note that if the Remain lobby does want to continue quoting IMF forecasts at us, there is an inconvenient little statement in its latest World Economic Outlook, published today. It claims that in the event of a ‘disruptive Brexit’ – i.e. Britain leaving without a trade deal –

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Even Michel Barnier says it’s time to prepare for ‘no deal’ on Brexit

Today’s Guardian has an odd splash headline, denouncing as ‘Orwellian’ a letter that Michael Gove and Boris Johnson sent to Theresa May warning her that some parts of her government are unprepared for ‘no deal’. I’m not quite sure what’s Orwellian about that, or even so controversial. Here’s the leaked extract of the letter. ‘Your approach is governed by sensible pragmatism. That does not in any way dilute our ambition to be a fully independent self-governing country by the time of the next election. If we are to counter those who wish to frustrate that end, there are ways of underlining your resolve. We are profoundly worried that in some

Sunday

Samuel Coates

Today should be a day of truce in the Brexit war

‘Take up our quarrel with the foe’, intones John McCrae’s famous In Flanders Fields. ‘To you from failing hands we throw, the torch’. For the millions of us marking Remembrance Sunday today, that quarrel is a solemn reminder of past sacrifice. It refers, somewhat euphemistically, to one of the bloodiest, most tragic conflicts in history. For some activists in and around the European Union, however, a more contemporary quarrel comes to mind. Obsessed with what they perceive as the dark foreboding forces of Brexit, they can’t help raising aloft the torch of EU supranationalism. The most egregious example being a piece in The Independent with the outrageous clickbait headline ‘If you

Matthew Taylor

Sunday political interviews round-up: Khan bashes Boris

It is Remembrance Sunday, and the party leaders put their politics aside this morning as they gathered around the Cenotaph to lay wreaths and honour those who lost their lives in times of war. However, in the TV studios, the political debate still carries on with as much vigour as before: Sadiq Khan – Boris Johnson has ‘got to go’ The Mayor of London joined Andrew Marr today and within minutes Khan had called for Boris Johnson to be dismissed from his post as Foreign Secretary. Marr raised the subject of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British national who is currently serving a five year jail sentence in an Iranian prison. During