Uk politics

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Labour’s conference has made it harder for its unhappy MPs to leave

Labour’s lost centrists weren’t just physically absent at the party’s conference: they were also absent from the debate. Perhaps those who had turned up from the ‘moderate’ wing of the party had expected frequent denunciations of ‘Blairites’ from the main stage, but it didn’t come. In fact, even in the fringes, the moderates came up far less as enemies than the unions and Momentum. This is partly because the Labour Party now feels very comfortable in its Corbynite skin and is more interested in ensuring it can deselect those moderates in the most efficient way rather than attacking them. But the moderates themselves are also quiet because they are on

Steerpike Steerpike

Rupa Huq stretches the truth

Rupa Huq was the unfortunate Labour front-bencher sent out to explain the party’s latest Brexit policy on Politics Live this afternoon. Armed with the standard party line that Labour can somehow unite Britain on Brexit, she struggled under the strain of a classic Andrew Neil grilling. Moreover, Huq made the following bold claim: "We do represent the 25 most-Remain seats in the country…" @RupaHuq on the Labour message to voters "…but we do also represent the 25 most-Leave constituencies"#PoliticsLive https://t.co/udXeUK9I0G pic.twitter.com/KFcj6C0oIG — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 27, 2018 A great soundbite, playing nicely into the Media Vs Jeremy, Government-in-Waiting narrative that Diane Abbot struggled with on Wednesday’s Newsnight. Unfortunately, technically

Steerpike Steerpike

Theresa May’s spouse rebuke on shaky ground

After the Prime Minister turned her ire on a lobby hack this week for failing to ask her a serious question, Theresa May has now moved on to would-be journalists in the Tory party. In the latest edition of the House magazine, James Cleverly – the deputy chairman – interviews his boss. In the easy touch, pre-conference interview, Cleverly asks May if she ever seeks work advice from her husband Philip. However, he doesn’t get the answer he is looking for with May accusing him of light sexism: ‘This is just a thought. I just wondered when you asked me about Philip’s role, whether if I was a male prime minister,

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Diane Abbott’s BBC bias gaffe

There’s a burning question being asked everywhere from Liverpool to London: is Diane Abbott capable of getting through a single interview without committing a massive blunder? After another stellar performance on Newsnight, the answer almost certainly appears to be no. When the shadow home secretary was asked by Emily Maitlis if Labour’s Brexit immigration stance risked painting them as the party of the metropolitan elite, Abbott thought she had the perfect combative response: ‘You seem to be reading from a Tory script. I’m telling you that migration is a complex issue and we need to start with the facts. I’m telling you the reason that some parts of the country

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Why we should fear Corbyn’s socialism

Donald Trump was at the UN this week sticking it to the globalist elites and bragging about being the greatest president since Reagan or FDR or one of the other ones. Twitter and the press corps — to the extent there is any difference remaining between the two — were fair taken by the General Assembly snorting in response to this familiar display of MAGAlomania. Of course they laughed. It’s the UN, the world’s most prestigious gathering of diplos, kleptos and psychos. They look at Trump, a strongman who can’t even stop his own executive branch investigating him, and think: ‘Amateur’.  Other than that, it was a fairly middling restatement

John McTernan

The fatal flaw in Labour’s politics

If we learned one thing from Labour Party Conference it’s that capitalism is bad. The union leaders said so, the delegates said so, Jeremy Corbyn, the Leader of the Labour Party, said so – at length. And do you know what? They’re right. Capitalism is bad, very, very bad – at defending itself. As anti-business policy after anti-business policy was announced, despair at the poverty of the response of the business lobby was matched only by grudging admiration for the message discipline of Corbyn and his supporters. The bar is set low in UK politics, where the monstrous incompetence of Theresa May’s Conservative government is matched only by the appalling

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The dreadful state of British politics

Conference season always shows our political parties at their worst. It would be a kindness if these things were not televised. These dungeons cannot withstand the intrusion of too much daylight. On the other hand, some things are evident. Chiefly, it is now beyond clear that Brexit has broken both parties. More than that, it has overwhelmed a hopelessly overmatched political class that plainly lacks the ability to make sense of the Brexit fiasco and, just as pertinently, the courage to look reality in the face. This government – this hopeless government, I should say – is kept alive by only one thing: the impossibility of the opposition. In turn,

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

J.K. Rowling and the darkness on the left

You rarely come across a character in modern literature like Jimmy Knight. He’s a racist, but that’s not what makes him a novelty act. racists, after all, are deplored everywhere in the culture industry, from Hollywood to Pinewood Studios. Of this racist, however, his ex-wife says: ‘I wouldn’t trust him if it was anything to do with Jews. He doesn’t like them. Israel is the root of all evil, according to Jimmy. Zionism: I got sick of the bloody sound of the word.’ Knight is also a misogynist, a type which is once again a familiar figure in contemporary fiction. But when his girlfriend cries out after he hits her,

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Why the latest Labour broadcast should worry the Tories

In his speech today at Labour conference, Jeremy Corbyn confidently set out his vision for government. The Leader of the Opposition promised that a change was coming – and said that this change would benefit the many. On Brexit, however, he disappointed some pro-EU MPs by refusing to soften the party’s position and explicitly back a Leave/Remain second referendum. A glimpse of why that was can be found in the party’s latest broadcast. Following on from that speech, Labour has released ‘Our Town’. The short video is centred on the message that a Corbyn government would ‘restore pride in British towns and bring our high streets and communities back to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tories will have to up their game in response to this Corbyn speech

Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to Labour conference has raised the stakes for the Tories ahead of their gathering in Birmingham. Corbyn is mastering the art of making very radical things sound reasonable. Listening to him talking about ‘Inclusive Ownership Funds’ which ‘will mean workers share more fairly in the rewards of successful businesses’ you would have no idea that what this really means is the government confiscating 1pc of a companies’ equity every year without compensation; an idea that is bound to scare off business investment. Labour want to present their agenda as a response to the 2008 crash. Jeremy Corbyn’s distance from New Labour means that the Tory arguments about

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Corbyn’s confident conference speech will send Labour members home happy

Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to Labour conference showed how confident the Labour leader is now. He knew his way around the text enough to be able to make little spontaneous jokes, rather than reading the ‘strong message here’ instruction from the autocue, as he did in his 2015 address. He varied his pitch, his pace and his tone. None of these things have been guaranteed with Corbyn until now. The speech itself was well-written and structured, starting with a lengthy but effective values-based section where Corbyn praised the membership and attacked the press, which warmed up those in the hall no end. Not that the members needed warming up. They were,

Liam Halligan

Review: The book that reveals John McDonnell’s economic world view

In 1995, the Labour party voted to amend Clause IV of its constitution, ditching its historic commitment to mass public ownership. A significant victory for Tony Blair, it sparked a modernisation process that saw New Labour win three successive elections. On Monday John McDonnell drew wild cheers from Labour delegates in Liverpool when he directly rebuked Blair, insisting Clause IV is ‘as relevant today’ as a century ago. The Shadow Chancellor certainly rolled back the years during his conference speech, unveiling the most radical Labour prospectus of modern times – an unashamedly socialist pitch, calling for aggressive re-nationalisation and sweeping trade union powers. Listed UK companies will be forced to

The Spectator

Full text: Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour conference speech

Thank you for that welcome. I want to start by thanking the workers, the fantastic staff at the Conference Centre and hotels, the Labour Party staff who make this possible, and the people of Liverpool who have made us feel so welcome this week. And I want to thank my family, but in particular my wife Laura. Tu eres mi fuerza y mi apoyo. Gracias Laurita. And congratulations conference, to all of you on what’s been a great conference. A conference of a Labour Party that’s ready to take charge and start the work of rebuilding our divided country. This year we mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act,

Steerpike Steerpike

Theresa May grills the press pack

Whisper it quietly, but Theresa May might actually be having a good week for once. While Labour fill up the headlines with the chaos over their Brexit position, the Prime Minister has managed to keep a low profile as her cabinet wait for their chance to spring their own conference ambush. So, with the wind in her sails, the Prime Minister decided to take some questions from the press pack travelling with her as she flew to the UN General Assembly in New York. One hack, hearing of May’s piety, and possibly hoping she’d say ‘a plague of locusts on Boris’s house,’ asked the vicar’s daughter: ‘What do you pray

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How blaming the media keeps Labour activists happy

One of the features of conference season, along with the stale sandwiches and lack of natural light, is the obsession with ‘the mood’. It’s a nebulous thing, made up of the atmosphere in the conference hall and fringe meetings, but it can tell you a lot about what a party might be up to over the next few months. Labour’s 2014 conference, for instance, felt eerily flat for a party that was supposed to be on the cusp of government. Conversely, the party’s 2016 gathering felt pretty edgy following the second leadership contest in as many years. That conference saw a very clear pulling-apart of the ‘moderates’ and the Corbynites

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Momentum’s Brexit fudge would make the Labour party proud

What Momentum thinks about Brexit matters. But is Momentum prepared to ask its members what it really thinks about Brexit? Not yet is the answer, according to Jon Lansman, the group’s founder. And it’s refusal to do so produces a fudge on the hot topic of the day of which the Labour party itself would be proud. While the group’s World Transformed festival has been a hotbed of discussion on all kinds of issues – socialism, Marxism, anti-Semitism, climate change, to name  a few – there’s one topic that isn’t on the menu: Brexit. At least, that is, in so far as coming to a settled position among Momentum members

Steerpike Steerpike

No early election? We’ll just go on a general strike, says Labour MP

Oh dear. Despite reports this year of a more professional tone at conference, one Labour MP appears to have missed the message. Last year John McDonnell told a conference fringe that his party was wargaming for a ‘run on the pound’ in the event they were elected. This year’s socialist slip-up has been committed by Laura Smith. The MP for Crewe and Nantwich has come up with a Plan B should Labour’s Plan A of bringing about an early election fail: ‘If we can’t get a general election, we should unite with our comrades in the trade union movement and bring an end to the government with a general strike.’

Steerpike Steerpike

Security check: Corbyn’s adviser, the former Communist Party member

Jeremy Corbyn’s adviser and close friend Andrew Murray has been scratching his head of late as to why he still hasn’t had his request for a Parliamentary security pass granted. In search of answers, Murray has hit out at the ‘deep state’ made up of spies and sinister civil servants looking to thwart a left-wing government. However, Mr S wonders whether there could be another reason it’s taken so long for the pass to be granted. So, in the interests of national security, Steerpike has put together his own security check to see if Murray should be given a parliamentary pass: Previous employment Journalist at the Soviet news agency Novosti Morning Star

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watch: Israeli ambassador takes a pop at Jeremy Corbyn

The Labour Friends of Israel reception at the party’s conference has traditionally been attended by the Labour leader. But this year, as in recent years, Jeremy Corbyn did not attend. Instead it fell to the party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, to make an appearance. Watson was introduced as a ‘long standing friend of Israel’ and he used his speech to call out those who have attacked pro-Israeli MPs within the Labour party. Here’s what he said: We have an obligation to rid this party of anti Semitism. I recognise the hurt that has been caused. I recognise the pain that has been thrust upon our friends in the Jewish community.

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Diane Abbott makes yet another number blunder

When it comes to numbers, Diane Abbott doesn’t have a good track record. And it seems that’s still the case for the shadow home secretary. Delivering her speech to Labour conference this afternoon, Abbott intended to talk about 999 calls. But unfortunately the Labour MP fell one number short: Oh dear…