uk politics Archives

Friday

14 Nov 2014

Alex Massie

Scotland’s Neverendum begins and there’s nothing Unionists can do to stop it

Oh look, it’s a Neverendum. Who could have predicted that the SNP (and the wider Yes movement) would treat defeat in the independence referendum as just a temporary set-back? Well, some people did. Here’s a thing from April: 55-45 will now be reckoned a decent result [for Unionists] but it’s not an outcome that will settle the matter. Not even for a generation. Of course, during the campaign itself the Nationalists had to pretend that a No vote would put the question of independence to bed for a generation. They were kidding and anyone who chose to believe assurances that the SNP had no desire for a Neverendum is guilty

Isabel Hardman

Sir John Major, Cameron’s unofficial EU negotiator

John Major’s speech in Berlin yesterday was aimed at a European audience, but his warning that Britain has a just under 50% chance of quitting the EU still gets plenty of pick-up in the British press this morning. The former Prime Minister hasn’t always helped Downing Street out in his interventions over the past few years, but Number 10 did work with Major on this speech. His arguments are beautifully-written and striking because they come from a pro-European former leader. Major is not someone who European leaders will discount as a raving eurosceptic, and therefore his stark warning about the chances of Britain leaving should be taken seriously. He said:

Thursday

13 Nov 2014

The Spectator

John Major: Nearly 50% chance of Britain leaving the EU

This is the text of a speech delivered by Sir John Major in Berlin. Thank you for your kind invitation. I feel privileged to be here to talk about the future relationship of the UK and her European partners. Often, on these occasions, speakers deliver their messages delphically; almost in code. But this evening I wish my message to be clear. I do not wish to be misunderstood or misinterpreted. The issue at stake is too important. And the timing is ironic. Twenty-five years ago this week, the Berlin Wall came down. German was reunited with German – and an arbitrary and brutal division of Europe was, at last, at an

Steerpike

Labour’s war on the media is working, as activists turn on hacks

Labour’s efforts to demonise the hostile anti-Ed media is working. At the Labour leader’s eighth ‘relaunch’ speech on Thursday at Senate House, every single question from journalists was greeted by boos, hisses and tuts. The Labour leader actually dealt with the smattering of questions about his latest leadership woes rather well, yet the crowd were having none of it. Party members even hissed the polite chap from the BBC, much to the acute embarrassment of Mr Miliband, who was forced to calm his crowd with a ‘come on now, it’s a fair question’. When another hack asked if Ed felt he had made any mistakes as leader, one passionate activist

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband turns down head-to-head debate with Nigel Farage

Earlier today, Ukip leader Nigel Farage sent what appeared to be a typewritten letter to Ed Miliband challenging him to a head-to-head debate. The Labour leader has now used a more modern form of communication to respond. And, funnily enough, it’s a no: .@Nigel_Farage Bring it on. I look forward to a debate with you, @David_Cameron and @Nick_Clegg in the election campaign. — Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) November 13, 2014 Actually what Miliband would dislike far more than an hour fighting Farage on television (which didn’t work out all that well for Nick Clegg when he did it before the European elections), would be any televised debate involving the Green Party, who

Steerpike

Coffee Shots: Miliband heads for the exit

One of the things that every political team needs is a Liz Sugg. Sugg works in Downing Street and makes sure that every trip the Prime Minister makes anywhere runs with military precision and doesn’t involve him walking through a door with the word EXIT on it when he’s delivering a make or break speech after serious questions about his leadership, for instance. Who does that for Miliband?

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband’s make-or-break speech: ‘I’m willing to put up with whatever is thrown at me’

Ed Miliband’s make-or-break speech this morning was fine. That’s fine as in it did the job just fine, rather than that it was a fine speech that his party will reminisce about for many years. The main challenge was for him to not mess up, either by failing to mention the deficit, tripping up on the way to the lectern, or appearing unconvincing. He did mention the deficit, he did deliver the speech from a lectern (albeit in the round, which is a favoured format of his because it looks informal, but that’s not really what he needs at the moment when he’s trying to look formal and prime ministerial),

James Forsyth

Labour’s two biggest problems—and neither of them is Ed Miliband

The knives are out again for Ed Miliband this morning. But the Labour leader is the least of his party’s problems. Labour has still not come up with answers to the two existential questions facing it, what’s the point of it when there’s no money left to spend and how should it respond to globalisation. I argue in this week’s magazine that until it does, the party will be in a death spiral. The Labour party has always believed in spending money for the common good. Even Tony Blair’s new Clause IV declared, ‘by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone.’ Public spending was

Wednesday

12 Nov 2014

Isabel Hardman

Miliband to pitch himself against Goliaths in fightback speech

Ed Miliband has a speech billed as his make-or-break fightback proof-I’d-make-a-great-PM tomorrow morning. In truth, it’s rarely right to bill one political speech as The fightback, at least in voters’ minds, but the Labour leader does need to show that he hasn’t been crushed by the past few weeks – and reassure his party sufficiently for them to fight with him. His speech will be followed by ‘interventions’ from Ed Balls, Yvette Cooper, Chuka Umunna and Tristram Hunt in the next few days. To realise the first aim, Miliband has given an interview to Nick Robinson in which he produces that dreadful phrase ‘they say what doesn’t kill you makes you

Isabel Hardman

Nigel Farage reinforces David Cameron’s own anti-Ukip squeeze message

Nigel Farage has talked in the past about his readiness to prop up a Labour minority government – he gave an interview to the Sunday People in October in which he said the Labour leader would just have to offer a referendum and a deal would be possible. But the fact that he has repeated it to the New Statesman this week is hardly helpful when his party is going head to head with the Tories in Rochester. His comments to Jason Cowley help David Cameron’s squeeze message, which is that if you vote Ukip, you get Miliband. Ukip are trying to sound as though they don’t care that this

Isabel Hardman

How can Labour overcome Ed Miliband’s poor appeal to voters?

How do Labour campaigners overcome the Ed Miliband problem on the doorstep? Today’s Standard poll finds just 13 per cent of voters think he is ready to be Prime Minister, down from 22 per cent in June. MPs, candidates and activists have noticed a hardening in voters’ attitudes towards the Labour leader. One says: ‘Voters have gone from thinking “I’m not sure about this guy” to “I’ve made up my mind about this guy and I’m not going to vote for him”.’ But the candidate standing before them on the doorstep needs to work out how to persuade that voter to back them. So what do they do? One says

Isabel Hardman

Tories three points ahead of Labour in new poll

The Tories have pulled ahead of Labour in a new poll in today’s Evening Standard. The Ipsos Mori poll puts David Cameron’s party three points ahead of Labour, at 32, and Labour down four points to 29. The Lib Dems are on 9 and Ukip 14. This poll is just one poll, Labour will say, as it tries to stop more panic breaking out ahead of Miliband’s speech tomorrow. But it is a bad poll, the worst poll for Labour so far. The Labour leader does need to reassure his party that going neck-and-neck and sometimes behind the Tories is not a symptom of Labour’s weaknesses but a feature of

Isabel Hardman

Does Cameron benefit from ECJ ruling?

Yesterday’s ‘excellent‘ ruling from the European Court of Justice on benefits immediately seemed a jolly good thing for David Cameron and allowed him to move on the Commons shambles on the European Arrest Warrant. But is it a good thing for his renegotiation plan? The Guardian reports the head of the European People’s Party in the European parliament saying that this judgement means the UK does not need to contest freedom of movement ‘because it highlights that member states have many options and legal tools at their disposal to make sure their social system is not abused’. This would make sense if David Cameron just wants to reform freedom of

Tuesday

11 Nov 2014

Isabel Hardman

School children excited to see David Cameron in Rochester (and TV cameras)

I spent an hour today following David Cameron around a school in Rochester as part of his latest campaign visit in the by-election. The school, Strood Academy, was candidate Kelly Tolhurst’s alma mater, and has the benefit of being in a snazzy building, which looks nice for photos. The children in the school were obviously thrilled that the Prime Minister was there: they didn’t know until he appeared on the premises and as he walked into a citizenship class, all the students’ eyes widened with surprise. He was mobbed as he walked through the building, with children turning to each other shouting ‘I shook his hand! I’ve got to tell

Alex Massie

Does anyone actually want to win the next election?

A battle lost is worse than a battle won and there are fewer Pyrrhic victories in politics than you think. One of the staples of pre-election punditry, however, is that someone will always pipe up with the suggestion This is a Good Election to Lose. It is almost always bunk. Not least because, with the notable exception of the Liberal Democrats, major political parties are in the business of acquiring, then exercising, power. Shorn of that they lose their point. So there’s that. Nevertheless if you suspect there might be a but lurking a couple of lines in the future your premonition would, in this instance, be correct. But this might actually be

Sebastian Payne

It’s time for Boris to abandon his island and back Gatwick expansion

Surprise surprise, airport expansion is going to cost more than anyone expected. Howard Davies, of the Airport Commission fame, took to the Today programme this morning to kick off the public consultation while informing delighted flyers (who will likely end up footing part of the bill) that a second runway at Gatwick will cost £2 billion more than previously suggested. A third runway or runway extension at Heathrow will be in the region of an additional £3-4 billion. Sir Howard again declined to signal his preference for either option, instead carefully arguing there is an ‘interesting choice’ to be made over the ‘airport model’ the UK wishes to pursue: ‘If you look at the last 10 years or

Monday

10 Nov 2014

Isabel Hardman

Government wins European Arrest Warrant ‘vote’

So Labour lost its vote delaying the vote on the European Arrest Warrant that wasn’t technically a vote on that measure anyway. The first vote, that the question not be put today so that Parliament could have a full debate and vote another day, was lost, with 272 MPs voting ‘no’ with the government and 229 voting with Labour. There had been a big debate on the Tory backbenches about the best tactic, with MPs angry about the government’s behaviour split over whether to vote with Labour or abstain. This meant that Labour lost the vote. Yvette Cooper then confirmed that her party would support the government on the measures,

Isabel Hardman

Uproar in the Commons: the story so far

This is an extract from tonight’s Evening Blend email, a free summary of the day’s political developments from the Spectator team. To subscribe, click here. And to read the email in full, click here. Thanks to Theresa May’s hard work, tonight’s vote on the European Arrest Warrant was looking to be a reasonably downbeat affair, with around 30 Tory rebels expected and the package of justice and home affairs opt-ins due to pass on the strength of government payroll and Labour votes. But things escalated rather quickly once MPs were inside the Chamber. All weekend there had been confusion about whether the vote on the European Arrest Warrant was indeed

Isabel Hardman

Government wins crunch vote on European Arrest Warrant by NINE VOTES

The government has just won the vote extending the debate on the justice and home affairs opt-outs by just nine votes – 251 ayes to 242 noes. This means that MPs have approved the motion for the debate to continue to 10pm, which rebels and Labour had turned against because the Speaker had said that this was not a vote on the European Arrest Warrant. Theresa May is insistent, though, that this is a vote on the matter. Such a narrow win is clearly a relief for ministers – and many of them had been hauled into the Commons early by panicked whips who suddenly realised they were facing a

Isabel Hardman

Net migration target becomes an ‘aim’ or ‘objective’

When is a target not a target? Theresa May seems quite keen for us to think that Tory pledge to bring migration down to the tens of thousands was a ‘comment’ or an ‘aim’, now that it doesn’t look as though that’s going to be possible in time for the election. Today Number 10 did insist that there had been no change in the target, but also refused to call it a ‘promise’. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘There’s no change. That remains the objective towards which the Prime Minister and others are working… It has always been the objective. There’s been no change, the tens of thousands by