Uk politics

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Theresa May’s singing birds can only hold the same tune for so long

After concerns about the Foreign Secretary’s job security bumped Vince Cable’s keynote leader’s speech at Lib Dem conference off the news agenda yesterday, a sense of stability has been restored to Cabinet. Boris Johnson has told hacks in New York that he is not going anywhere – likening Cabinet harmony to ‘a nest of singing birds’. The message from Downing Street, too, is one of quiet confidence that Johnson won’t be departing the frontbench – at least, not this weekend. This suggests two things. Firstly, that May’s Florence speech won’t be as drastic as had first been thought. Secondly, Johnson is coming round to the idea of payments to Brussels continuing during a transition period.

Steerpike Steerpike

MPs gear up for Tory Glastonbury

The Conservatives have had a difficult few days. After Boris Johnson published his 4,000 word Brexit blueprint in the Telegraph, the Cabinet is feuding, Theresa May’s authority is under strain and backbenchers have taken to the airwaves to call for the Foreign Secretary to be sacked. But fear not, help is on its way. Tomorrow Tory MPs are upping sticks and heading onto the M4 to make their way to Tory Glastonbury. Officially called the ‘Festival of Ideas’, Conservatives are expected to do some soul-searching – on everything from helping the young to boosting productivity – at the one-day event organised by George Freeman. Although Freeman says he was inspired

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Tory Brexit infighting could hand Corbyn victory

Boris Johnson’s Brexit intervention ‘is a dismal reflection on Theresa May’s position’, says the Times. But worse than that, this Cabinet ‘disunity is corroding the Conservative brand’ – and making a Corbyn victory at the next election ever more likely. ‘In normal times,’ says the Times, ‘the case for dismissal would be unanswerable’. But while the Foreign Secretary’s popularity has ‘plummeted’ of late, he still retains ‘a talent for generating headlines when he is in the mood for trouble’. Mrs May has learnt a lesson from her brutal treatment of George Osborne, and seems determined not to repeat her mistake on that front. Yet while Boris has survived in his

Tuesday

Sam Ashworth-Hayes

When Boris gets it wrong, don’t make excuses for him

When Boris Johnson received a sharply worded rebuke for his ‘clear misuse of official statistics’ from Sir David Norgrove, the Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, The Spectator rushed to his aid. Steerpike asked why the statistics chief had intervened when ‘every word from Boris (this time) was accurate’.  The short answer is that Norgrove intervened because Boris was wrong to say that ‘once we have settled our accounts, we will take back control of roughly £350 million per week’. Here’s why. The Boris explanation – or, at any rate, Steerpike’s – is as follows: ‘We all know the deal with the EU: we pay in, then there’s the rebate

The Spectator

Vince Cable’s conference speech, full text

It is with a real sense of pride that I stand before you as leader of the Liberal Democrats. First of all, I’d like to put on record my thanks to my predecessor, Tim Farron. He hands over a Party, which is larger, stronger and more diverse than the one he inherited. He stood up for refugees whose plight the government had shamefully ignored. He established our very clear identity as the only real, undiluted pro-European party. We are all hugely indebted to him. It’s good, today, to be amongst friends. So please forgive me if I start by addressing people who are not yet our friends, but whom we might persuade.   People who say they

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The great Brexit bus delusion

I know many Leave voters. Most of my family. Around half of my friends. Lots of the people in the immigrant community in London I grew up in. (We’re bad immigrants, being anti-EU, so we never feature in the migrant-sympathetic commentary of EU-pining hacks.) And not one of them has ever said they chose Brexit because of that £350m-for-the-NHS thing on the side of a bus. The idea that that bus swung the referendum, that it duped the voting hordes, has become one of the great, and nasty, myths of the Brexit era. The bloody bus is back in the news this week after Boris Johnson said he’d like to

Steerpike Steerpike

George Osborne defrosts humble pie

Oh dear. It was a case of bad timing for George Osborne last week when the day after the paper he edits offered Theresa May an olive branch, a profile appeared in Esquire magazine claiming the former Chancellor had told hacks he would not rest until the Prime Minister was chopped up in bits in his freezer. Since then Osborne has been widely condemned by both Tory MPs and women’s action groups against violence. So, it was only a matter of time until an apology came. This apology appears to be lurking in a leader in today’s Evening Standard. Osborne appears to have had to eat humble pie – with the

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn gives Piers Morgan the cold shoulder

Although Jeremy Corbyn has seen a huge rise in popularity since the snap election, the Labour leader hasn’t forgotten those who were with him from the beginning. At next week’s party conference, Corbyn loyalists will be rewarded with a platform to speak on – while those who questioned his abilities will do without. It seems the same approach is in practise when it comes to public figures. At this month’s GQ awards, Piers Morgan attempted to join in a conversation Corbyn was having Arsenal’s Spanish right back, Hector Bellerin. Alas, the Labour leader didn’t share the sentiment and took swift action to prevent Morgan from joining the chat: ‘Later, fellow Arsenal

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Boris is speaking for the majority of Brits

Boris Johnson has come in for plenty of criticism since setting out his Brexit blueprint in a 4,000 word article in the Daily Telegraph. But the Sun says the Foreign Secretary has done the PM a favour in speaking up for ‘the 52 per cent who voted Leave and the many more won over since’. ‘Theresa May must listen’ up, the paper says – and she should also ‘ignore the siren calls from Cabinet Remainers’ who want to reverse the referendum result. The attacks levelled at Boris are ‘designed solely to discredit him and trash the optimistic vision’ of Brexit he has set out. Instead of getting angry at Boris, the

Monday

Douglas Murray

Are refugees welcome to plant bombs on our trains?

It’s all a long time ago now isn’t it?  All of three days since someone put a bomb on a London Underground train and then stepped out of the carriage.  Thankfully the detonator went off without managing to trigger the main bomb, which isn’t a mistake we can hope for every time.  30 people were injured on the District Line on Friday morning.  But if the bomb had done what it was meant to do then those 30 people wouldn’t have been treated for relatively light injuries.  Instead, bits of their remains would have been gathered together in some order and put into the dozens of body bags ordered for them and others at Parsons

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Ryanair’s chaos prediction is coming true – but Brexit isn’t to blame

So, the worst has happened, just as Ryanair said it would. The budget airline has had to cancel thousands of flights – around 50 of them, every day, for the next six weeks. It follows an ominous warning that was made by chief executive Michael O’ Leary last month: “What is increasingly likely to happen is that there will be no flights. Mrs May and the Brexiteers will be trying to explain that to you in 12 months’ time, why getting a car to Scotland or a ferry to Ireland are the only options on offer.” Except, that is, while last month’s warning concerned Brexit, this week’s cancellations concerned a cock-up

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Scepticism about Scottish devolution is growing fast

A report suggesting that the £414m Scottish Parliament building could reach the end of its ‘useful life’ by 2060 – after just 45 years – provides the perfect metaphor for the state of devolution in 2017: a parliament that has been noticeably reluctant to use its powers in the last decade slapped with a ‘use by’ date. Irony can be awfully cutesy at times. The Scottish Parliament’s problems don’t begin and end with its building though. A poll by Panelbase gave voters an opportunity to declare themselves scunnered with the whole enterprise of devolution. Asked if, instead of independence or the status quo, they would rather shutter Holyrood tomorrow, 19 per cent of Scots said they are up

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The biggest Cabinet Brexit split

The Cabinet remains divided on one of the most fundamental Brexit questions. Everyone in the Cabinet does accept that Britain is leaving not just the EU but the single market too. But there remains a split over whether Britain should be aiming for an EEA minus deal with the EU or a CETA plus one. This might sound techy but it is fundamental to Britain’s future. Free movement makes it a political non-starter for Britain to stay in the single market. However, several of the most senior members of the Cabinet, backed by the institutional Treasury, think that Britain should stay as closely aligned to the single market as possible.

Steerpike Steerpike

Hacks banished from the floor at Labour party conference

Oh dear. Since Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, he has had an at times difficult relationship with the ‘Mainstream Media’. From hacks being booed at press conferences to Corbyn avoiding questions, it’s safe to say that the media feel a little bit unloved. Now, it seems Labour’s high command is keen, too, that party members have limited interaction with the MSM. At this year’s party conference in Brighton, the press will not be granted access to the floor. Instead journalists will have to watch proceedings from the balcony. This means that the media will be away from the action – and unable to interact with delegates on the floor. The official

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Boris’s ‘naked pitch’ for the top job

Has Boris Johnson launched a military coup? Based on ‘some of the chatter coming out of the Westminster Bubble’, you’d be forgiven for thinking his Brexit intervention was just that, says the Sun. It’s time for everybody to ‘calm down’, the paper urges. Yes, some of those who have questioned the timing of the article – published in the run-up to Theresa May’s major speech on Brexit this Friday – may have a point. But Boris is nonetheless ‘entitled to a view on what Britain might look like after we leave the EU’. The Tories need to quit the fighting amongst themselves and realise that the only ones to benefit from

Steerpike Steerpike

Old habits die hard for Russell Brand

Oh dear. Although Russell Brand once said he had never voted, and never would, as a result of his ‘absolute indifference and weariness and exhaustion from the lies, treachery and deceit of the political class’, he went on to change his tune when her urged his fans to vote Labour in the 2015 election – and later endorsed Jeremy Corbyn. So, Mr S was curious to discover that Brand has now returned to his old tricks. The comedian-turned-left-wing revolutionary tells the Sunday Times that he didn’t vote in the EU referendum as he was on ‘holiday’: ‘How did he vote in the referendum? He mumbles: “I was on holiday.” He didn’t vote over Brexit? “No,” he

Sunday

Roger Scully

Brexit poses fresh problems for Welsh devolution

Twenty years ago Wales (barely) said Yes to devolution. Despite a Welsh Assembly being supported by the wildly popular new Prime Minister Blair and opposed by the very unpopular Conservatives, the public gave the most grudging endorsement to partial self-rule. A lot of water has flowed under many Welsh bridges since then. Public opposition to devolution fell away surprisingly quickly after 1997; the latest evidence, which I will be presenting in Cardiff on Monday, confirms that a clear majority in Wales now support devolution. There is little political opposition either. The Conservatives swiftly accepted the referendum result; since returning to power at Westminster they have overseen two Wales Acts transferring

Steerpike Steerpike

Why is the UK’s supposedly impartial statistics watchdog joining the Boris-bashing?

Okay, it’s a rainy Sunday, but surely the new chief of the UK Statistics Authority has better things to do than send angry tweets to the Foreign Secretary? Alas not. Today Sir David Norgrove, the newish chairman of the UK Statistics Agency, tweeted out a letter declaring himself ‘surprised and disappointed’ that BoJo has ‘chosen to repeat the figure of £350 million per week, in connection with the amount that might be available for extra public spending when we leave the European Union’. He says that this ‘confuses gross and net contributions…. It is a clear misuse of official statistics’. Sir David Norgrove writes to Foreign Secretary about use of

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Amber Rudd says Boris is ‘back-seat driving’ over Brexit

Amber Rudd – Boris should not ‘back-seat drive’ over Brexit The Home Secretary took to Andrew Marr’s sofa in the wake of the Friday’s failed terrorist attack on a London Underground train at Parson’s Green station. However, the topic swiftly turned from security to Boris Johnson’s latest 4,000 word essay published in the Telegraph on Saturday. The Foreign Secretary laid out his vision for Brexit – days before the Prime Minister is due to make a crucial speech in Florence. Rudd defended Boris’ intervention, but made clear that she did not want the Foreign Secretary to be in charge of the UK’s negotiations: AM: Do you think that this article

Patrick West

Banksy’s Brexit mural has helped halt Dover’s decline

When people come to Dover, it’s usually to pass through. The magnificent castle on the cliffs may be a tourist attraction in its own right, but for the most part, Dover has been a place people go through on their way to or back from the Continent. It’s never been much of a seaside destination. The rise of cheap flights, the end of duty-free and the advent of the Channel Tunnel diminished its status as a port, and the 2008 crash hit it hard. The number of vagrants, street drinkers and empty shop premises in the centre bear witness to a town that has seen better times. Yet things are