Politics Archives

Wednesday

19 May 2021

Andy Burnham is Labour’s king over the water

There are few things so perilous for an under-performing opposition leader as the emergence of a 'king over the water'. This is typically someone who is a member of the same party with an impressive track record but who isn’t currently in the Commons and is therefore not subject to the patronage wielded by the leader. As the leader flails, the king over the water is deemed to have acquired miraculous powers. Each new poll recording the leader’s unpopularity launches a thousand new daydreams among party members fondly imagining how the king over the water would reshape things in ways they yearn for. Keir Starmer is now faced with just such an entity in the shape of the Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham, the biggest Labour winner in the recent elections.

Tuesday

18 May 2021

Steerpike

Watch: Penny Mordaunt savages Angela Rayner

Oh dear. Labour's unofficial collector of titles Angela Rayner popped up in the Commons today to attack the government over its supposed 'Covid cronyism'. Ministers such as Priti Patel have been accused of improperly helping to secure PPE contracts last year. Unfortunately for Rayner her opponent at the dispatch box was none other than the redoubtable Penny Mordaunt. Mordaunt savaged Rayner's claims in a brutal exchange: I would suggest to [Ms Rayner] that an Essex MP is perfectly entitled to forward an offer of help from the Essex Chamber of Commerce to help in a pandemic. MPs do it all the time, it's part of our job, but [Ms Rayner] already knows this too, and I'm afraid so does everyone else.

Isabel Hardman

Should Starmer let the cameras in?

11 min listen

Keir Starmer is reportedly thinking about giving access to a camera crew in order to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary about his leadership of the Labour party. Is this a good idea? Isabel Hardman talks to Katy Balls and James Forsyth.

Robert Peston

The fatal flaw in the Covid travel restrictions

Here are two Covid questions, thrown up by the rate at which the Indian variant is infecting parts of the UK. First, does it show that the traffic light system, which was designed to prevent the UK from importing new strains and variants from abroad, is unfit for purpose? The delay of one to two weeks in moving India from the amber to red category – which I’ve been banging on about for a month – is relevant, and looks like a serious government mistake. But isn't there a more fundamental flaw in the system? Ministers keep pointing out that with India in the amber category the UK should have been protected – because passengers from India were supposed to quarantine at home for 10 days and take tests on days two and eight.

Steerpike

Through the Keirhole: Starmer plots TV drama

Pitch: a struggling politician eager to make his mark. He's 10 points behind in the polls, leading a fractitious party and struggling to prove he is the charismatic, dynamic and likeable leader his country needs. From where does he seek salvation? That time-honoured tradition of the fly on the wall documentary. Such an outlandish proposal could soon be all too real, according to the Times today which reports a production company is in talks with Sir Keir Starmer about the proposal. Broadcasters have been asked if they would be interested in showing the programme which some Labour sources believe could be an 'effective way to broadcast Starmer's personality to a larger slice of the electorate.

James Kirkup

MPs are finally engaging with the gender identity debate

I used to write a lot about sex and gender here. I don’t do so quite as much these days for a few reasons, one of which is that the issues involved are now better recognised and better handled by people whose job it is to deal with the complexities of policies and conflicts of rights and arguments. An example of that came at the weekend when Baroness Falkner, the new chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told the Times that women should not be penalised or abused if they believe that transgender women do not become female by dint of their professed identity. ‘Someone can believe that people who self-identify as a different sex are not the different sex that they self-identify,’ she said.

Matthew Lynn

Boris must stand up to farmers – and back the Australia trade deal

Farms will be devastated. The countryside will be ruined. And we will all be forced to eat weird food that will probably kill us. As the government tries to finalise a free trade deal with Australia, there are already reports of fierce rows over the future of agriculture played out against a backdrop of a angry backlash from the farming lobby. It's time for the government so face up to these critics. True, farming is not crucial to the future of the British economy, and neither, as it happens, is trade with Australia. But the principle is important – and if the UK doesn’t embrace free trade then leaving the EU will hardly have been worth the bother.

Steerpike

Greens team up with Tories to kill the ‘progressive alliance’

There has been much talk in recent years about the prospect of a so-called ‘progressive alliance’ coming together to lock the Conservatives out of power. During the Brexit era commentators such as Neal Lawson and Polly Toynbee excitedly speculated on the electoral success a cross party coalition comprising Labour, the Liberal Democrat and Green parties could enjoy, based on their shared mutual values. Zoe Williams claimed of such a tactic: 'when it works, it often looks more like a landslide' while Caroline Lucas wrote an article titled 'progressive alliances are the future of British politics.

Kristian Niemietz

How much credit does the NHS deserve for the Covid vaccine rollout?

Who should we thank for our Covid vaccines? For many, the answer is straightforward: the National Health Service. 'Thank you NHS', says a profile sticker shared by thousands of Brits on Facebook. But while Britain's undoubtedly successful vaccine programme owes a great deal to the efforts of NHS staff, is it right to thank the NHS itself? Left to its own devices, would the NHS have delivered in quite the same way? And how much should we credit Boris's vaccine task force – rather than the health service – for the vaccine rollout? I am a critic of the NHS – but not for the sake of it. I criticise it when it delivers worse outcomes than comparable systems, which it often does.

Monday

17 May 2021

Robert Peston

Full easing of Covid restrictions on 21 June looks unlikely

The prospect of the final easing of lockdown restrictions in England going ahead precisely as planned on 21 June is close to nil, according to ministers and officials. 'It is clear some social distancing will have to be retained, not everything we've set out for 21 June is likely to happen,' said a government adviser. 'But it is also possible some of the easing we've done today will have to be reversed.' Neither he nor a minister would be drawn on precisely which parts of the planned unlocking may have to be delayed, or which aspects of unlocking that's already happened would need rolling back.

Isabel Hardman

Could 21 June be delayed?

12 min listen

As England moves into the next phase of its lockdown easing today, the Indian variant threatens to throw the final phase off schedule. Could the government delay 21 June? Isabel Hardman speaks to James Forsyth and Katy Balls.

Ross Clark

Is Britain facing a jobs crisis?

The ONS recorded a sharp recovery in economic growth in March. The Bank of England has already increased its forecast for the growth of the UK economy in 2021. Now comes more evidence of rapid growth. The quarterly CIPD/Adecco Labour Market Outlook, published today, shows a sharp rise in the number of organisations that are hiring extra staff or are expecting to do so over the next few months. The survey, which goes out to 1,000 employers in the private, public, and voluntary sectors, found that 36 per cent of employers are planning to increase staff levels over the next three months. Nine per cent said they are expecting to shrink staff levels, 50 per cent will keep numbers the same and 6 per cent don’t know.

Steerpike

Whitehall blows £57,000 on gender-neutral toilets

Mr S was intrigued to read in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph that public buildings will have to have separate 'ladies' and 'gents' lavatories in the future. The move – which has already infuriated campaigners who want more gender-neutral facilities – will see building regulations and planning guidance amended to ensure separate 'ladies' and 'gents' facilities are installed in new buildings or those being developed. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick is reported to be behind the changes which could see unisex lavatories, shared by men women, seeing the installation of partitions to ensure the privacy of occupants.

Steerpike

The world’s unluckiest anti-racist: Corbyn’s greatest hits

Rallies for Palestine were held across the country this weekend which meant of course a starring role for one Jeremy Corbyn. The former Labour leader was introduced on the London platform by comedian Alexei Sayle who – in a move that will hardly aid Jezza's bid to be readmitted as a Labour MP – dubbed Corbyn's successor Keir Starmer 'a little shitbag' to rapturous cheers from the crowd. Corbyn told the crowds that international action provides 'succour, comfort and support' to those suffering in the conflict as they chanted 'oh, Jeremy Corbyn' and threw roses as he took to the stage.

Nick Tyrone

The shamelessness of Andy Burnham

Of all the people who should carry the can for Jeremy Corbyn becoming leader of the Labour party, Andy Burnham doesn’t get his fair share of the stick. It was, after all, Burnham’s fear of being the most left-wing candidate in the 2015 leadership contest that led to Corbyn being 'loaned' enough MPs' votes to get Dear Jeremy on the ballot. Despite this fact, Burnham felt no shame in saying in an interview this weekend that, ‘I still think life would have been different if I had won in 2015’, as if he hadn’t been his own worst enemy in denying that victory from taking place.

Mary Dejevsky

Liz Cheney has lost her fight against Trump but might win the war

When Liz Cheney, the single US House Representative for the state of Wyoming, was sacked as chair of the Republican party conference, there were broadly two views of what that signified, for her and for the Republican party. The more popular view by far was that her dismissal from the third most important post in the party had confirmed and strengthened Donald Trump as crucial to the future of the Republican cause and that her political career was pretty much over. The other view was that being down at this particular juncture did not mean she was out. And the huge coverage – and speculation – her dismissal has attracted in the United States in the days since, even when she is being written off, would seem only to confirm this.

Steven Barrett

Barristers should stay out of the Israeli-Palestine conflict

The world of barristers had something of a minor civil war at the weekend. The cause? The lesser known ‘Bar Human Rights Committee of England & Wales’ (BHRC), decided to weigh in on the Israeli-Palestine conflict. In a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, the BHRC called on 'the UK Government to urge Israel, its friend and ally, to cease all violations of its obligations and responsibilities as an occupying power immediately, including its assault on Gaza'. It said: 'We urge the Government to issue a statement of unambiguous support for an independent investigation into alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory by the ICC' Who needs or wants a bunch of wig-wearers popping in?

Katy Balls

Will lockdown still end on 21 June?

As the penultimate lockdown easing gets under way, ministers are being asked a question: will the 21 June unlocking be delayed? On Friday, Boris Johnson warned the rise of the Indian variant could 'pose serious disruption' to the planned lockdown easing next month, when nearly all Covid restrictions are expected to go. The line from the government hasn't changed much over the weekend; ministers are keen to say they hope it will go ahead but won't guarantee it. There is unlikely to be any formal decision until the week before the 21st, when the government will be able to review all the data.

Steerpike

Williamson’s A-level fiasco emails revealed

Earlier this month the columnist Sarah Vine revealed in the Mail on Sunday that education secretary Gavin Williamson had been the recipient of a tearful phone call from a student over last year's A-level results day fiasco. Now two weeks later Mr S can go a step further in revealing the barrage of critical correspondence Williamson received in the immediate aftermath of the crisis. Parents, teachers, MPs and pupils bombarded Williamson with emails, obtained via a Freedom of Information request, with one angry grandmother telling the education secretary she had ‘never witnessed such injustice in the education system’ after an algorithm was employed to determine students’ results following the cancellation of summer exams.

Steven Fielding

Is it time for Keir Starmer to forget about uniting his party?

Campaigning to become Labour leader last year, Keir Starmer said Harold Wilson was his favourite party leader of the last fifty years because he had unified the party. This was hardly a coincidence as putting an end to ‘factionalism’ was then one of Starmer’s main promises to Labour members. Subsequently Starmer has name checked Wilson in various speeches, especially noting his predecessor’s electoral success – and repeating his 1962 claim that Labour was ‘a moral crusade or it is nothing.’ From these references, Wilson who died in 1995 emerges (and so, presumably was the intention, also Starmer) as a man of principle and an election winner: what’s not to like?