Uk politics

Thursday

Katy Balls

Can Theresa May’s critics unite around an alternative plan?

Ahead of the crunch Cabinet meeting No. 10 aides privately admitted that the one minister they could not afford to lose was Dominic Raab. It wasn’t just that losing a second Brexit Secretary would send a very bad signal about the government’s Brexit policy. More importantly, Raab is regarded as a pragmatic Brexiteer and there was a fear that his resignation would have a domino effect. Those fears were correct. So far today we have seen a second Cabinet minister resign as well as a number of junior ministers. What’s more, there is a very good chance more will come. So, where does May go from here? Not only does

Theresa May

Full text: Theresa May’s Brexit Commons statement

With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to update the House on our negotiations to leave the European Union. First, I want to pay tribute to my Rt Hon Friends the Members for Esher and Walton and Tatton. Delivering Brexit involves difficult choices for all of us. We do not agree on all of those choices but I respect their views and thank them sincerely for all that they have done. Mr Speaker, yesterday we agreed the provisional terms of our exit from the European Union, set out in the Draft Withdrawal Agreement. We also agreed the broad terms of our future relationship, in an Outline Political Declaration. President Juncker has now written to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Esther McVey’s resignation adds to Theresa May’s woes

Esther McVey has quit the government. The Work and Pensions Secretary has long known to be unhappy with Theresa May’s Brexit policy and at yesterday’s Cabinet pushed repeatedly for a vote, so she could register her objection to the withdrawal agreement. Having been denied that vote, she realised that the only way a Cabinet Minister can really show that they oppose a policy is by resigning—and has done so this morning. McVey’s resignation is less of a blow to May than Raab’s; most Tory MPs were expecting her to go at some point. But it adds to the sense of crisis surrounding the government this morning. In total, four ministers

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Theresa May and the 48 letters: could it be today?

If Tory MPs are right when they tell me that by lunchtime today there will be 48 letters of no-confidence in Theresa May lodged by them with Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 backbench committee, what does that actually mean? Well it is all about how they hate the Brexit plan she unveiled yesterday – or so I am told by rebel Brexiter MPs. It is their “proof”, if such were needed, that May could not get her Brexit plan approved by Parliament in a “meaningful vote”. The logic is that if they are prepared to vote against her leadership of the party, they are obviously prepared to vote

Wednesday

Joanna Rossiter

MPs should not fall for the EU’s promises on the future relationship

A note leaked to the Times written by the EU’s deputy chief negotiator shows that the EU has no intention of releasing the UK from the customs union if May’s deal is signed. This attitude should come as little surprise to those close to the deal. Throughout the process, the EU have wished to hamper the UK’s future trading relationships to ensure that Brexit does not set a precedent for other countries who might seek to leave. But, in spite of this leaked memo, the EU will not be admitting their intentions in public any time soon. Quite the opposite. The political agreement that will be published alongside the withdrawal

James Forsyth James Forsyth

May’s Brexit cabinet: the rows, the threats, the deal

Five hours of cabinet discussion produced several memorable moments. Esther McVey’s push for a formal vote, I understand, went on for several minutes and ended with Mark Sedwill, the new Cabinet Secretary, looking up the rules on procedure. Perhaps more worryingly for No. 10, both Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, and Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, urged Theresa May to go to Brussels and get more before putting the deal to Parliament. Geoffrey Cox, the Attorney General, was his usual colourful self. His argument was that this life raft, constructed of oil drums and a plastic sail, needed to make it out on to the open ocean. But when those in

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Michel Barnier hails the draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement

‘White is the new green’, said Michel Barnier as he held the draft Brexit withdrawal agreement aloft at a press conference in Brussels tonight. The EU’s chief negotiator was referring to the chunks of text that had previously been coloured in where there had been disagreement. Not too long ago, the white sections were few and far between. Now, the colours are all gone and the mammoth 585 page proposed Brexit agreement is the result. A no deal Brexit has, for now at least, been avoided. We’re all familiar with the dire warnings of the cost to Britain of an acrimonious Brexit. These predictions are contentious but one thing is sure: on

Theresa May

Full text: Theresa May’s Brexit Cabinet statement

The Cabinet has just had a long, detailed and impassioned debate on the draft Withdrawal Agreement and the Outline Political Declaration on our future relationship with the European Union. These documents were the result of thousands of hours of hard negotiation by UK officials, and many, many meetings, which I and other ministers held with our EU counterparts. I firmly believe that the draft Withdrawal Agreement was the best that could be negotiated, and it was for the Cabinet to decide whether to move on in the talks. The choices before us were difficult, particularly in relation to the Northern Ireland backstop. But the collective decision of Cabinet was that

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Corbyn exposed the flaw in May’s Brexit plan at PMQs

Today’s choice for ‘A Book At Bedtime’ is the government’s draft Brexit deal. At daybreak the masterpiece was being referred to as a 500-page tome but its estimated length has now risen to 540 pp. That explains why the PM looked so calm and unruffled and at PMQs. No MP is going to risk brain damage by working through this Proustian monster. Even the wonkiest wonk in Westminster won’t read it all, and May stands to profit from her colleagues’ ignorance of the fine print. Roger Gale, who once held the demanding role of children’s TV producer, spoke up for every workshy lazybones in parliament. He asked the PM to

Alex Massie Alex Massie

A bad Brexit deal was inevitable

Well, what did you expect? I appreciate this is a question the Brexiteers are manifestly incapable of answering but that says more about their preconceived notions of what Brexit could reasonably deliver. It is a reflection, too, of the manner in which there have always been two different kinds of Brexit.  There has been the Brexit of dreams and the Brexit of reality. The Brexit of psychology and the Brexit of technical policy detail. There has always been an obvious tension, to put it mildly, between these two positions and it is not anyone else’s fault that in pursuit of their dreams the diehard Brexiteers decided the detail could all

Katy Balls Katy Balls

PMQs: MPs give Theresa May a taste of things to come

Today’s PMQs ought to have been the calm before the storm. With Theresa May unable to reveal details of the proposed Brexit deal to MPs until her Cabinet signs it off – with a crunch meeting at 2pm – the specifics are not known. However, thanks to a series of leaks from the Brussels side and the European Research Group quickly seeing red it proved to be rather tense affair. As ever, Jeremy Corbyn failed to land a killer blow on the Prime Minister despite the rather wide goal posts. The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford had one of his more effective outings – using one question to ask why

Charles Moore Charles Moore

Theresa May’s Brexit is a mess. But will Tory MPs dare move against her?

It’s time for Bond — Basildon Bond,’ is the joke among pro-Leave MPs as Theresa May serves up her mess of pottage as Brexit. Market research, however, shows the joke does not work on MPs under 40 because they do not know what Basildon Bond is. So perhaps I should explain to the hip Spectator crowd that Basildon Bond remains the commonest brand of quality paper on which to write letters. There need to be 48 such letters sent to Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, to provoke a vote of confidence in Mrs May among Conservative MPs. There are certainly far more than 48 who do not,

Steerpike Steerpike

George Osborne takes revenge

To the surprise of some Brexiteers, today’s front pages have been broadly sympathetic to Theresa May and her troubled deal. In fact, it’s today’s Evening Standard which appears to play to the Brexiteer cause most strongly. The paper’s editor George Osborne – May’s old nemesis – has tweeted out the front page which reads ‘EU takes back control’: Today’s ⁦@EveningStandard⁩: EU takes back control pic.twitter.com/Vm558iP4tg — George Osborne (@George_Osborne) November 14, 2018 Does anyone else get the impression he is enjoying this? Less impressed was prisons minister Rory Stewart, who picked up the front page on Politics Live, and angrily told the panel: ‘This is really crazy stuff here. This

David Davis

Why the Cabinet must reject Theresa May’s Brexit deal

Let’s be clear. If the Cabinet supports the Prime Minister’s proposed deal today, and they somehow manage to whip Parliament into allowing it to proceed, then a whole raft of irreversible consequences will flow from it.  This will begin the breakup of the United Kingdom, not just isolating Northern Ireland, but also undermining the Unionist cause in Scotland. The so called backstop will not actually be a backstop at all but a foundation for EU ambition to constrain our opportunities and limit our competitiveness. In Brussels they admit this privately. This deal will contrive to make the Customs Union inescapable forever and effectively trap the UK to perpetual domination from Brussels. The

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Brussels ‘leverage’ leak makes life even more difficult for Theresa May

It’s crunch day – yes, really this time – for Theresa May. After spending the evening in one-on-one meetings with a select few cabinet ministers, this afternoon the Prime Minister will chair a special cabinet meeting – where she will seek approval for her proposed deal. The devil will be in the detail – but for some the detail is neither here nor there with the European Research Group quick to see red ahead of reading the document. Last night, Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested on Newsnight that he could be forced to withdraw his support for the Prime Minister. Not helping matters is a Brussels leak that makes its ways into

Steerpike Steerpike

Jacob Rees-Mogg considers writing a letter

Oh dear. The bulk of MPs haven’t even see Theresa May’s proposed deal yet but already suspicion is growing that it’s a stinker. In that vein, Jacob Rees-Mogg appeared on Newsnight on Tuesday evening where – in a significant change in tone – he appeared to suggest he could write a letter of ‘no confidence’ to 1922 chair Graham Brady in the near future if the rumours are correct. The arch-Brexiteer who has previously said the policy – not May – ought to change, said there would come a time when he can’t support her because she’s so tied to Brexit policy: “There comes a point at which the policy

Tuesday

Katy Balls

Government threatened with Budget defeat

The government is facing a defeat on the Budget. But rather than a Brexit showdown or the DUP pulling the rug from under Theresa May’s feet over the rumoured backstop, the issue is a domestic one. After Tracey Crouch resigned from government over the decision to seemingly delay reducing the maximum stake for fixed odds betting terminals (FOBT) by six months, more than 20 Tory MPs – including Remain MPs and Brexiteers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg – and all 10 DUP MPs have signed an amendment demanding the new maximum stake be brought forward. The vote is scheduled for next week. While the government would currently lose that vote – no-one

Alasdair Palmer

The stop and search race myth | 13 November 2018

When I was working as a speech writer in the Home Office, under Theresa May, one of her special advisers told me that she wanted to give a statement to parliament on the police’s use of stop and search. Part of the motive for doing this, he explained, was political: stop and search is a policy which consistently alienates members of the black community. I was told that it would help the home secretary’s standing with Afro-Caribbeans if she made a statement that was critical of the police’s use of stop and search. The grounds would essentially be that the tool was racist, or at least used by the police in

Monday

Steerpike

Labour U-turn: ‘Brexit can be stopped’

With Theresa May’s government seemingly on the brink of collapse over the backstop agreement, the Prime Minister can take heart that the Opposition are also experiencing Brexit turbulence. Over the weekend, Jeremy Corbyn set the cat among the pigeons by telling a German newspaper that Brexit cannot be stopped. The Labour leader’s comments dismayed a lot of pro-EU Labour voters. But fret not, in the space of two days Labour’s Brexit position appears to have changed again. Keir Starmer – the shadow Brexit secretary – has just told the Today programme: ‘Brexit can be stopped.’ Expect the position to change again by end of play.

Saturday

Steerpike

Another day, another Johnson calls for a second referendum

After Jo Johnson resigned on Friday over the government’s Brexit position, his brother Boris was quick to take to social media to commend Jo for taking a brave stand – by calling out the flaws with the proposed Brexit deal. However, the former foreign secretary stopped short of backing his brother’s call for a second referendum – also known as a so-called ‘People’s Vote’. Still, Jo need not worry – there are plenty of other Johnsons willing to fill that void. With Jo and Boris’s sister Rachel a vocal Remain campaigner already, their brother Leo has now joined the fold. Leo Johnson took to Twitter to praise his brother Jo