Uk politics

Tuesday

Steerpike

What did Tory members make of Boris Johnson’s speech?

Boris Johnson’s speech attracted the largest crowd of any conference fringe event. But does Boris have the backing of party members? Mr Steerpike spoke to some activists to see what they made of the speech: Phoebe McCullough, 21, from Twickenham, a student at Sterling university, had this to say: John Bennet, 23, from Sterling, said he thought Boris’s speech was the highlight of Tory party conference: Adrian Hutson, from Belfast, said he thought Boris had fluffed some of his lines: But while many were supportive of Boris, not everyone was convinced by his calls to unite behind the Prime Minister. Anthony Mullen, 26, from Sunderland said the speech showed Boris was

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Hancock’s holding line sums up the Tory party’s policy problem

So much of this Conservative conference has felt like a holding line from the party leadership, as though having the event in Birmingham has been inconvenient timing and something to survive, rather than enjoy. Mind you, this is the theme of Theresa May’s leadership generally: not only has the Prime Minister survived against the odds over the past year and a half, she has also given the impression that this survival is more important than, say, making decisions on Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU, or pushing ahead with domestic reform. If you want a domestic example of how cautious the Tories are being at this conference, you need

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Why Tory members are deserting the conference hall

One of the stories of this Conservative conference is the contrast between the crowd and atmosphere in the main conference hall, and the popularity of the fringes elsewhere. In previous years, the party has suffered stories about how corporate the whole event is, with members deciding not to bother with the expense of the whole thing. But this year, while there are more members turning up, they’re finding very little to keep them in the hall. Yesterday, a speaker in the hall inadvertently offered an explanation for this. The party has been doing more to increase contributions ‘from the floor’, she told the audience, saying it was important to involve

Boris Johnson

Full text: Boris Johnson’s Tory fringe speech

Good afternoon my friends and fellow ConHomers. It is great to be here in Birmingham where so many thoroughfares in the city are already named after our superb Conservative mayor. I know this conference is going to be a staggering success because just in the last couple of days about a dozen far left Momentum activists have kindly pledged their loyalty by ringing my private mobile phone. I put them straight on to Brandon. As Paul Goodman might confirm, I am not naturally of a timid disposition. It is not my way to confide my innermost fears. But since this is only a fringe meeting, unlikely to be widely reported,

Sajid Javid

Full text: Sajid Javid’s Conservative conference speech

It’s a huge privilege to be standing here as Home Secretary. Now I know the question on your mind. So let’s just deal with it upfront. Yes, I did watch Bodyguard. No, it wasn’t very realistic. For a start, my codename is not Lavender, and she didn’t even do the power stance! But let me tell you about another story. A story which started in the 1960s. Abdul-Ghani Javid left Pakistan and landed in Heathrow. He spent what little he had on a coach ticket, had his first night here in Birmingham, then continued up north to Lancashire to find work in a cotton mill. After standing outside the mill

Steerpike Steerpike

Boris fever hits Tory party conference

Boris Johnson has arrived at Tory party conference and excitement among activists is building ahead of his big speech at 1pm. Already a queue of party members is snaking through the conference centre – nearly three hours before Boris is due to take to the stage. Here’s Mr Steerpike’s video of those waiting in line to hear Boris speak: And here’s the moment Boris arrived… Mr S suspects the queue for the main conference hall won’t be quite so long. Meanwhile, for the lucky few that have made it inside, excitement is building…

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

There’s one thing Rees-Mogg and his loyal followers don’t agree on

Most politicians can only dream of having the cult following that Jacob Rees-Mogg is enjoying at Conservative party conference. His events are packed out an hour before they are due to start. Cries of ‘Mogg for PM’ have been heard. And when Rees-Mogg walked into the room at a Leave means Leave rally last night, he was greeted with wild applause just for turning up. Mogg’s loyal supporters hang on his every word, but there’s one thing on which they don’t agree with their idol on: whether it’s time for Theresa May to go. The problem for Rees-Mogg is that in firing up his followers to ‘chuck Chequers’, it’s difficult

Monday

Philip Hammond

Full text: Philip Hammond’s Conservative conference speech

Liz, thank you for that introduction……and for tearing yourself away from your beloved Instagram account for a few minutes. And thank you too for being such a great Chief Secretary and stalwart defender of the public purse. My kids think I’m tight with money…but they haven’t met Liz Truss. And in a world obsessed with stories of division and rift in Whitehall… I want to hold up my fantastic team at the Treasury as an example of how we can – and do – work together and support each other. So a big “thank you” to all of them.   Liz, ministers Mel Stride, John Glen, Rob Jenrick and in the Lords, Michael Bates;

Roger Awan-Scully

The humiliating end to Leanne Wood’s Plaid Cymru leadership | 1 October 2018

‘The morning had been golden; the noontide was bronze; and the evening lead.’ So said Churchill about the career of Lord Curzon. But these words could also summarise the leadership of Plaid Cymru by Leanne Wood – a leadership that came to an abrupt and rather humiliating end on Friday. Most observers of politics outside Wales, and plenty of people even within Wales, only really became aware of Leanne Wood after the televised leaders’ debates during the 2015 general election. By that point, she had actually been leader of her party for more than three years. Wood was a surprise leader – even to herself. First elected to the Welsh

D Reilly

The Tories’ Boris Johnson problem

I watched the Tory party conference on television this morning for as long as I could take it. Obviously I wouldn’t under normal circumstances – nobody sane would – but I’d been left in sole charge of a six-month old child (my son) and I wanted him to understand that life is very often pain. We made it through Dominic Raab’s bore-athon, but during Philip Hammond’s effort one of us filled his pants and so I turned it off. It seemed an appropriate protest. Why were the speeches so bad? And, more to the point, why did the speakers seem such unbelievable dullards? There’s no excuse. This is their job.

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: ‘Sack the woman’ – Jacob Rees-Mogg heckled at Brexit rally

It’s safe to say that Jacob Rees-Mogg isn’t keen on the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan. But Rees-Mogg has still stopped short of calling for Theresa May to go.  Some other Brexit supporters don’t agree and think it is time for Tory Brexiteers to call an end to May’s time in office. One such activist made their feelings knows at a ‘Leave means Leave’ rally on the fringes of Tory conference this evening: Rees-Mogg: ‘This is exactly what the Prime Minister said she would not do at Lancaster House.’ Heckler: ‘Sack the woman!’ RM: ‘No, no.’ Heckler: ‘Sack her now – get your letter in.’ RM: ‘Certainly not! But thank you

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Michael Gove gives Tory activists something to finally cheer about

We may have just witnessed the first outbreak of genuine interest from the Conservative conference floor. Michael Gove was speaking to the not-full room, and bookended his speech with praise for the history of the Tory party. He started by telling the hall that ‘As we know all too well from our history, if you want a mess cleared up you need a Conservative Government‘, and turned again at the end to listing Conservative achievements:  ‘Some people might say that we are setting our sights too high. To them I say, you don’t know our party. It was Conservatives who abolished the slave trade, cleared Victorian slums, made working conditions decent

Michael Gove

Full text: Michael Gove’s Conservative conference speech

Our island nation has been defined by its relationship with the sea. It has been our doorway to global trade, a treasure house of oil and gas, and the home to teeming stocks of fish. But now our oceans are in danger. Danger from climate change, from chemical residues, from exploitation and indeed from plastic. The equivalent of a dumper truck of plastic is dropped in the sea every minute of every day. Unless we change course, by the year 2050 the seas will contain more plastic than fish. We cannot, and we will not, allow that to happen. Which is why we need, in the words of Winston Churchill, action this day. And we are acting. Already

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Jacob Rees-Mogg: We need to stop the ‘Ukip-isation’ of Brexit

The star of Conservative party conference so far can’t be found in the main hall. Instead, they are best spotted at fringe events – each of which ends up being an oversubscribed event that involves a massive queue. Step forward Jacob Rees-Mogg. The arch-Brexiteer has been causing a scene wherever he goes with activists stopping him for photos. At today’s Policy Exchange fringe event – titled ‘Can the Conservatives win in Canterbury and Middlesbrough at the same time?’ – the Moggster only needed to take his seat on the panel to trigger cries of ‘Mogg for PM!’ from the audience. Although Rees-Mogg has repeatedly ruled himself out as a future

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Philip Hammond’s plan won’t help the Tories defeat Labour

Philip Hammond’s speech showed quite how insecure the Conservatives are feeling about themselves at the moment. The Chancellor was trying to defend the Tories on their more traditional ground, giving a hug-a-business speech designed to counter both Boris Johnson’s ‘f*** business’ line and the fears expressed by ministers and donors that the party has forgotten how to talk to the private sector.   He was also on the defensive after acknowledging that the Labour Party has tapped in to a genuine feeling of frustration among voters, but instead of trying to match the Opposition’s narrative, he decided to pitch the Conservatives as the party of realism. He said: ‘But let

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The problem with Philip Hammond’s speech

Tories used to laugh at Jeremy Corbyn. But today, Philip Hammond said that the questions Labour are asking ‘deserve a response.’ He acknowledged that people feel that ‘they are working for the system but the system isn’t working for them.’ Hammond tried to deliver a response based on Tory pragmatism, making the case for evolution rather than revolution. But he warned the Tories that if they ‘look for a moment like the party of “no change”’ then Corbyn will have his chance.’ The problem with Hammond’s speech, though, is that the Tories are being so incremental on domestic policy at the moment that they do risk looking like the party

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Liam Fox blasts ‘crazy’ Lib Dems

Liam Fox was once a minister in a Tory-Lib Dem government. But seven years is a long time in politics. Now, Fox has changed his mind about his former coalition partners, branding the Lib Dems ‘crazy’: ‘When we leave the European Union, people will no longer regard themselves as leavers or remainers, a few, mostly crazy Liberal Democrats – is there any other sort? They will be the rejoiners. But in the mainstream of our politics, there will not be many rejoiners.’ Fox’s comments on the Tory conference fringe seemed to go down well with activists. But given that Dominic Raab has used his speech today to call for ‘tolerance’

Steerpike Steerpike

Boris Johnson’s fake field of wheat

Mr S was intrigued by reports that the former foreign secretary had been photographed running through a field of wheat this morning. Was it trolling Theresa May for her infamous “fields of wheat” comments during the snap election? But on closer inspection, Boris isn’t running through a field of wheat. Indeed, the harvest has been gathered. This looks like either scrubland or a fallow field, on the basis of the plants surrounding him as he trundles along. There are the seedheads of umbellifers such as hogweed, the leaves of what looks like Field bindweed, and the seedheads of grasses, not wheat.  What can all this mean? Either Boris Johnson isn’t

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Chris Grayling fails to deliver

Chris Grayling opened his conference speech by talking about a 50 year delay. Initially he could have been mistaken for describing a standard train journey in the north of England, but he was actually congratulating the government on reaching a decision on aviation capacity.  Given the number of delays, cancellations and mistakes in his portfolio, the Transport Secretary had a pretty tough gig today. He did apologise for the disastrous changes to the timetable and promised that the same thing wouldn’t happen again. But while he claimed that the rail network did need ‘revolution’ rather than ‘evolution’, he then failed to announce anything that matched up to the noisy promises

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Dominic Raab’s conference speech won’t harm his leadership ambitions

Dominic Raab has just given an impressive, grown-up speech to Tory conference that will see his stock rise still further. The Brexit Secretary began his speech by appealing for tolerance, pointing out that there were good arguments—and good people—on both sides of the referendum campaign.  He even acknowledged that some Brexiteers had been too quick to dismiss Remain’s warnings about how difficult leaving would be. It was a reminder of how much easier it is for someone who isn’t trying to prove their Brexit credentials to adopt the emollient tone that’s needed if the country is to be brought back together. Raab walked a tightrope on Chequers, defending the principles