Uk politics

Thursday

James Forsyth

MPs are undermining Britain’s world-class university system

The debate about universities in the last few days has been extremely frustrating. Britain has the two best universities in the world, according to The Times Higher Education rankings, and five of the top 25. This should be a cause for national celebration. Politicians should be seeking to build on this strength, not doing anything to undermine it. But instead, MPs on both the left and the right are behaving in reckless and irresponsible ways. Oxford is the best university in the world. But a former universities minister, David Lammy, the shadow Education Secretary, the Tory chair of the Education Select Committee and 100-odd other MPs want to massively interfere

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Tories are playing a risky game with Jared O’Mara

Why do politicians constantly bring plagues on their own houses? This week, the Tories have embraced the Jared O’Mara allegations with gusto, prompting Theresa May to speak about it at Prime Minister’s Questions, calling for emergency debates and writing letters about the matter. Some Labourites have been responding by pointing out that it’s highly unlikely the Tories will be entirely clear of sexists themselves. Of course, the Labour point is being deployed as whataboutery to distract from the party’s own nightmare with its Sheffield Hallam MP. But it is also true – and given there is now an appetite in the media for exposing other MPs for similar behaviour, it

Steerpike Steerpike

Tory whips’ letch list

As concerns continue to be rise over Jared O’Mara’s conduct towards women, his Labour comrade John Mann has suggested such behaviour isn’t just limited to one MP in the party. With Mann threatening to expose a colleague who was sent home from a foreign delegation for inappropriate behaviour, the conversation has turned to who knew what and when. However, if Labour are in hot water over the conduct of their MPs at large, it’s unlikely that the government whips have cause to relax. As Katy Balls reported in the i paper last week, Tory whips have drawn up a ‘naughty list’ of MPs who could mean trouble for the government. Parliamentary

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: It’s time to call off the Brexit inquisition

The predictions of doom and gloom about Britain’s prospects after Brexit were widespread in the run-up to the referendum. One by one, these warnings have failed to materialise: yesterday, we learned from the ONS that the economy grew by 0.4 per cent in the last quarter in a clear sign it has ‘outperformed expectations again’. It’s clear that ‘the only thing in recession’ is the ‘reputation’ of the doom-mongering economists, says the Sun. This economic ‘resilience’ should not be taking for granted though, warns the paper, which says that ‘certainty’ is vital for ensuring things don’t turn sour. This makes comments by Brexit secretary David Davis in Parliament yesterday hard

Wednesday

Leopold Traugott

How Russia stands to profit from Austria’s new government

Yesterday, Sebastian Kurz, the leader of Austria’s conservative People’s Party, announced his intention to form a new coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ). The Austrian far-right have been in federal government before, as recently as the mid-2000s, and narrowly lost last year’s presidential election (which had to be re-run). While the opening of coalition discussions may come as little surprise, it is seen with extreme scepticism by many in Austria and abroad – some worry that such a right-wing coalition will clamp down on civil liberties, others that it might estrange Austria from allies inside the EU. In Moscow, in the meantime, the response to today’s announcement is

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Did the Labour whips know about the Jared O’Mara allegations?

How did Jared O’Mara end up in Parliament, and will he remain there for much longer? Today he was suspended from the Labour whip, and an investigation was launched into the allegations about his online posts and conversations, including an allegation that he used misogynistic and transphobic language to a constituent this year. The suspension happened just before Prime Minister’s Questions, and after the session, Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman said the party had acted today because the latest claims, which O’Mara disputes, related to more recent behaviour. The curious thing is that while some of O’Mara’s colleagues say they had known about the allegations for weeks – as well as the

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

It’s time to bin Bercow

Jeremy Corbyn wanted to repeat last week’s victory on Universal Credit. He landed no serious blows but he made the government look silly in its handling of the reforms. Mrs May brought up Labour’s record, and the ‘tax credit’ merry-go-round devised by Gordon Brown. Voters were fleeced by one arm of government and reimbursed by another. And the pick-pocket prime minister denied responsibility for the theft while claiming credit for the reparations. Mrs May stressed the indispensable virtue of UC: it helps people ‘back into work’ rather than trapping them beneath the man-hole cover of dependence. Back into work. Corbyn was silent about that. Perhaps he’s aware of a conundrum

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Political meddling is putting universities’ independence at risk

If I was the vice-chancellor of Oxford, I’d be thinking about an urgent fundraising campaign that would allow the university to go private. Chris Heaton-Harris’s letter yesterday was dumb. A request for information on who lectures about Brexit and for links to their lecture materials made on House of Commons letterhead was bound to look intimidating. But David Lammy’s letter to Oxford, co-signed by the shadow Education Secretary and the Tory chair of the Education Select Committee, is even more of an assault on university independence. Lammy not only wants Oxford to do more to fix the deficiencies of the school system but also to move to ‘centralised admissions’. Such a

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

The eurosceptic right are copying the SNP’s sinister playbook

If democracy is government by the people and meritocracy by the most able, Brexitocracy is rule by charlatans. Anyone who doubts that should survey the limp justifications, weaker than the Labour vetting process, for Chris Heaton-Harris’s letter to vice-chancellors. The Eurosceptic MP wrote to universities and asked if they wouldn’t mind drawing up a list of names for him. Nothing fancy, just everyone involved in teaching about Brexit and copies of their teaching materials. Now, the normal procedure when an MP – a government whip no less – does something completely deranged and massively embarrassing is to cordon them off with yellow hazard tape and hose down the crime scene. Instead, Andrea Leadsom —

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

David Davis is stating the obvious on the timing of a Brexit deal vote

David Davis’s revelation that Parliament may not get a vote on a Brexit deal until after Britain has actually left the EU has provoked a flurry of criticism. The Government has been accused of railroading Parliament and treating MPs with ‘contempt’. It’s an ‘undemocratic disgrace’, says Open Britain. Yet Davis is only really stating the obvious that there can’t be a vote on a deal that doesn’t exist. It’s also a simple matter of timing that, under the terms of Article 50, Britain will leave the EU in March 2019 – two years after May pulled the trigger. What isn’t guaranteed – especially given the lack of progress so far –

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can the Tories defend the six-week wait for Universal Credit?

Jeremy Corbyn went on universal credit again at PMQs today. Theresa May was better than she was last week. She did muster a defence of the moral basis of the policy, but she still spent the session stuck on the back foot. It is hard to see how the Tories can continue to defend the six-week wait claimants face before they receive their payments. If I was a Number 10 political strategist, I’d also be worried about the roll out of the policy in the run up to Christmas — a time when families often feel the pinch. It was, as it nearly always is, left to backbenchers to raise

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Will Labour be brave enough to properly deal with Jared O’Mara?

Jared O’Mara is yet to actually speak in Parliament but when – or if – he does take to his feet in the chamber, it seems he will do so without the Labour whip. Following days of allegations about what the MP for Sheffield Hallam has written online, the party has finally acted to temporarily suspend him. It’s something of a surprise it has taken Labour this long to do so. Earlier this week, Guido reported that O’Mara – who ousted Nick Clegg at the snap election – called gay people ‘poofters’ and asked Girls Aloud for an orgy. The allegations have continued; this morning, it was reported that O’Mara

Steerpike Steerpike

Laura Pidcock fails to practise what her party preaches

Oh dear. When a Tory MP missed last week’s Opposition Day debate on universal credit to referee at a Barcelona match, both the SNP and Labour were quick to go on the offensive – accusing Douglas Ross of failing his constituents. Now it seems that one of Labour’s most vocal justice warriors has also fallen foul and missed a debate on universal credit. Laura Pidcock was notably absent from Tuesday’s emergency debate on the government’s new benefits system. However rather than sickness keeping her away, it was a holiday to Venice. After ignoring a request for comment from the Daily Mail (so as not to give the publication ‘oxygen’) and tweeting

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Labour’s shameful refusal to suspend Jared O’Mara

Jared O’Mara is yet to make his maiden speech in Parliament, says the Sun – and ‘it might not be a bad thing if it stays that way’. The ‘disgraced’ Labour MP – who ousted Nick Clegg from his Sheffield Hallam seat at the snap election – has said sorry for his ‘crass comments’, which included making jokes about rape and calling overweight people ‘“f***ing pigs”’. But his  ‘patronising “apology’’, in which he pinned the blame on ‘“lad culture and football” — isn’t enough’, isn’t enough, says the Sun. O’Mara is so useless, argues the Sun, that it almost makes the paper ‘wish that Nick Clegg…was still in Parliament’.  Yet

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Freedom of speech and Russia Today

Russia does much worse than suppressing dissident opinion and manufacturing fake news. Putin has aided and abetted the vast crimes against humanity in Syria. The terror sent refugees flooding into the EU, and their presence helped produce Brexit and the rise of a pan-European far right: a double victory for the Kremlin, when you look at how ‘patriotic’ parties put Russia’s interests before their countries’ interests from France to the Balkans. Sanctions and the vast corruption Putin organises and profits from has produced vast poverty. It’s to be expected but should not be forgotten. Also worth recalling are the murders of opponents, the harassment of opposition parties, the anti-gay laws,

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Tory whips in a quandary over Labour social care challenge

If ministers are going to offer any concessions in the row over Universal Credit, they’ve decided to keep them back for a little while longer. This afternoon MPs have been holding an emergency debate on the reform, with Employment Minister Damian Hinds defending the reform and the roll-out, rather than suggesting that the government is going to accept the suggestions of Tory and Labour MPs on delayed payments. The emergency debate was called after Conservative MPs were whipped to abstain on Labour’s Opposition Day debate on the benefit reform last week. I reported after that vote that many Tories were peeved about this; either because they were in marginal seats

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Just because you’re Labour, doesn’t mean it’s alright Jared

The Women and Equalities Select Committee is a member down today after one of its male intake was forced to resign on Monday over his formerly misogynistic behaviour. However, to the surprise of some feminists, it’s not Philip Davies, the man many have spent the past year calling a misogynist, but Labour’s Jared O’Mara. The MP for Sheffield Hallam’s equality credentials have been cast into doubt after Guido uncovered a series of online messages from him dating back ten years or so. They include calling gay people ‘fudge packers’ and ‘poofters’, asking Girls Aloud for an orgy (on the condition the blonde member wasn’t in the picture), and claiming fat women don’t

Steerpike Steerpike

Theresa May’s silent treatment

After an unflattering account of Theresa May’s dinner last week with Jean-Claude Jucker wound up in the German broadsheet FAZ, tensions between Brussels and Westminster have heightened. The briefing claimed that May ‘begged’ for help and appeared ‘tormented’ with ‘deep rings’ under her eyes. Keen to prove that he was not behind the leak, Juncker yesterday insisted that May ‘was in good shape, she was not tired’ – insisting the reports were untrue. So, Mr S was intrigued to read Rachel Sylvester’s column in today’s Times. She claims that on the UK side, those who report meeting May recently describe her as ‘stricken and stunned’. She cites one particularly awkward

Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

Better a dead fanatic in Syria than a live one in Britain

Let us give thanks for the straight-talking Rory Stewart. After last week’s alarming comments from Max Hill, a QC who appears to believe British Isis fighters just need some TLC, Stewart, a Foreign Office minister, has given a more incisive assessment of the approach that should be taken towards the British jihadists still at large in Syria and Iraq. ‘They are absolutely dedicated, as members of the Islamic State, towards the creation of a caliphate,’ the Conservative MP told the BBC’s John Piennar. ‘They believe in an extremely hateful doctrine which involves killing themselves, killing others and trying to use violence and brutality to create an eighth century, or seventh

Monday

Georgia Mcshane

The Tory party is becoming ‘Labour light’

On the Andrew Marr show yesterday, the Communities Secretary Sajid Javid suggested that the government should ‘sensibly borrow more money’ and take advantage of the ‘record low-levels’ of interest rates in order to tackle the UK’s housing crisis. He added that the lack of affordable housing was the ‘biggest barrier to social progress in our country today’ and that such measures would go some way to re-balancing social inequality. Javid’s remarks also highlighted another crisis: that of the identity of the Tory party. It is true that the UK currently faces a severe housing shortage with the number of homes being built falling far short of the 200,000 target which