Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

Steerpike

Labour’s trio of lobbying Lords

Labour has been making much of the issue of lobbying since the Greensill scandal broke last month, with Rachel Reeves calling for a ‘proper’ investigation ‘to rein in the lobbyists and lift standards in this great democracy.’ But attention has now turned to the opposition’s own frontbenchers– particularly in the House of Lords where both Charlie Falconer and Sue Hayman have been revealed as having ties to lobbying firms. Falconer is a partner at US law company Gibson Dunn which offers ‘political lobbying’ advice in the UK while Hayman is a board member of London outfit Grayling.

Samuel Coates

Boris is right to scrap televised press briefings

It may have been drowned out by the collapse of the European Super League last night, but for the government’s critics, the decision to keep No. 10’s expensive new TV studio while scrapping the press conferences that were supposed to go with it, has become the worst combination of government profligacy and unaccountability. Even so, as a former special adviser in government, I think No. 10 are right not to go ahead with the televised press briefings. When the Prime Minister gave his first press conference from the new No. 9 studio a few weeks ago, at first glance I assumed he must be away at a summit somewhere. The backdrop looked far too professional for the UK government.

Ross Clark

Boris should heed Blair’s advice on the Covid vaccine data

We’ve known from the data from phase three trials that the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines have good efficacy against symptomatic cases of Covid-19. The data also hinted at near 100 per cent efficacy against serious illness, although the limited numbers of participants made it hard to be sure.  This morning, however, comes real world data showing the vaccines have all but eliminated hospitalisations. According to figures obtained by the Daily Telegraph, 74,405 people were admitted to hospitals across the UK between September 2020 and March 2021. Of these, just 32 were people who had received a vaccine at least three weeks earlier. The figures don't reveal whether or not there were any deaths.

Damian Reilly

How the Super League sabotaged itself

‘So you’re telling me they’re wetting the bed because we’re suggesting the same teams should compete in a competition in which the same teams always compete?’ It’s not hard to see how the owners of the European Super League clubs, the Americans particularly, might be confused by the splenetic reaction of English football fans to their proposal to update the annual Champions League megabucks jamboree – a tournament that at the sharp end has for decades featured pretty much exclusively the same teams. Instead of being able to point that out, now the wantaway billionaires must grovel and debase themselves. Liverpool owner John Henry has even released a video not unlike those hostages are sometimes forced to make by terrorists.

Kate Andrews

Derek Chauvin’s trial highlights the need for police reform

A trial in the District Court of Minnesota is set to change America. Derek Chauvin has been found guilty of murdering George Floyd last summer, when the police officer shoved his knee into the civilian’s neck for nearly ten minutes, after Floyd was suspected to be using a forged $20 note. Over 40 witnesses gave evidence during the 15 day trial but the jury was swift and unanimous in their decision: Chauvin was declared guilty on all three counts: second-degree manslaughter, second-degree and third-degree murder. George Floyd’s death sparked worldwide outrage: the video – filmed by 17-year-old Darnella Frazier – showed the most brutal, and ultimately fatal, tactics being used on a man who said in the footage 27 times he was struggling to breathe.

Patrick O’Flynn

The Greens could learn from the success of Ukip

Is there a better left-wing political brand to own at the moment than that held by the Green party? It is hard to think of one. After all, we are in the midst of a three-part BBC television profile of Greta Thunberg that even the Independent has described as ‘effectively an act of worship’; environmental awareness has become the new religion in the run-up to the UN COP26 conference in Glasgow; and the Labour Party is in the middle of an obvious crisis – communicating neither a sense of idealism nor the feeling that it might win an election anytime soon. One could also add that the less said about the Lib Dems the better, were it not for the fact that almost nothing is being said about the Lib Dems.

James Forsyth

The Super League collapse shows interventionism is back

What killed the European Super League? Undoubtedly part of it was the backlash from the fans. But the government’s threats to intervene were clearly a factor too. A super league where the six English clubs couldn’t get work permits for any overseas players would have quickly lost its appeal – and the government and the FA were clearly prepared to go down this route. Brexit had strengthened the government’s hand on this; freedom of movement would have meant that any footballer with an EU passport could have come and played for one of the Super League clubs. Football is clearly a special case.

Steerpike

Nigel Farage’s foray into ‘eco-friendly’ blockchain

Is Nigel Farage about to rebrand as a tech entrepreneur? Since quitting UK politics, the former Ukip leader has had a varied portfolio when it comes to new work. He has tried out broadcast journalism, Cameo (£75 a pop) and climate activism – as a spokesman for the green finance firm the Dutch Business Group (DGB), which invests in forests in a bid to reduce carbon emissions. Now Mr S understands Farage's post-Brexit reinvention is about to step up a gear – by entering the world of crypto. Last week, his company DGB acquired a controlling stake in a software development outfit called Statix Artificial Intelligence, with the aim of using its artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data and drone technology to validate the carbon offsets that they sell.

Wolfgang Münchau

The Brexit bounce is underway

The collapse in UK-EU trade after 1 January was widely reported. What has not been reported nearly as much is that UK exports have made a near-complete recovery. They were up 46.6 per cent in February after falling by 42 per cent in January. Imports are not there yet. They were up 7.3 per cent in February after a fall of 29.7 per cent in January. The one prediction I am happy to make is that they will recover too.  What these and other numbers are telling us is that even this bit of the Brexit scare stories will not come true. If you look at the latest IMF data and projections in the graphic above, you don't find a discernible macroeconomic effect of Brexit in the first ten years after the referendum.

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Johnny Mercer’s departure became inevitable

No Prime Minister likes a minister allowing public speculation about whether they are going to resign or not. So when reports emerged this morning about Johnny Mercer planning to resign over Northern Ireland veterans not being covered by the Overseas Operations Bill, it was inevitable that Downing Street would sack him if he did not commit to staying. Mercer was duly dismissed tonight following a tempestuous meeting with the chief whip  Mercer’s letter to the Prime Minister doesn’t pull its punches. He accuses the government of lacking ‘moral strength or courage’ in failing to resolve this issue. His letter says that this is leading to veterans ‘being sectioned, drinking themselves to death and dying well before their time’.

Katy Balls

Boris scraps daily White House-style briefings

Boris Johnson has axed plans for televised White House-style press conferences. The announcement came six months after Allegra Stratton was unveiled as the Prime Minister’s new spokesperson who would lead the daily Downing Street briefings. Instead, Stratton will become his spokeswoman for COP26, the climate summit, fronting communications both strategically and publicly in the lead up to the event in November. Meanwhile, the No.9 Downing Street briefing room that had been renovated for the press briefings at the cost of £2.6m will be used instead by the Prime Minister, ministers and officials for government communications. So what’s behind the change in plan? So what’s behind the change in plan?

Katy Balls

What is Michael Gove up to in Israel?

Boris Johnson may have had to cancel his trip to India but that hasn't stopped his colleagues embarking on trips overseas. Michael Gove is in Israel today on a fact-finding mission ahead of his review into immunity vaccine passports. The Cabinet Office minister has been meeting with Israeli politicians, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as the foreign minister and health minister.  The trip – which I reported earlier this month – is focussed on what the UK can learn from Israel's Covid response. Discussions are also taking place on a possible green travel corridor between the two countries for when overseas holidays are allowed again.

Brendan O’Neill

The two elites squeezing the life out of football

So, all of a sudden the chattering classes care about football fans? Yesterday, the kind of people who usually wring their hands about the vulgar, tattooed hordes who pack into grounds and chant unspeakable things at the opposing team, posed as the champions of fans. A European Super League would be a contemptuous assault on the salt-of-the-earth football-watchers who are the heart and soul of every great team, they said. Politicians, sports commentators, and Guardianistas — they were all at it; all waving a metaphorical scarf for the good ol’ English footie fan currently being betrayed by filthy rich oligarchs who see football as little more than a money-making machine. It was quite the turnaround, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t entirely buy it.

Kate Andrews

Have unemployment fears subsided?

Over the past few months, each labour market update from the Office for National Statistics has suggested forecasts predicting mass unemployment were wide of the mark. In the three months leading up to February, unemployment was estimated to hover at 4.9 per cent, 0.9 per cent higher than the previous year but down 0.1 per cent from the previous month. Where credit is due is debated – and likely shared. The jobs retention scheme continues to shield five million workers, who cannot yet return to their jobs, from unemployed status. That GDP has not taken anywhere near the same tumble this winter as it did last spring speaks to innovative businesses that have managed to adapt to extremely strict lockdown conditions.

Katy Balls

Can Boris really stop the super league?

17 min listen

Fans, players, managers and politicians have spoken out against the proposals by 12 of Europe's top football teams to form a breakaway league. Boris Johnson wrote in today's Sun that he would show the plans the red card, but can government really stop them? Katy Balls speaks to Fraser Nelson and James Forsyth.

Matthew Lynn

Juncker’s Brexit delusion

Regrets? It turns out he has a few. The former president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker does not seem too bothered by the EU's miserable growth rate during his time in office, its geopolitical marginalisation, or indeed the growing power of corporate lobbyists in Brussels. But there is one thing that makes him at least a little sad. Not deploying the formidable force of his personality to swing the British referendum behind staying in the EU. Juncker now reckons the former PM's judgement was a couple of bottles short of a full case In an interview this week, Juncker revealed that David Cameron told him to keep out of the campaign. As in so many other ways, Juncker now reckons the former PM's judgement was a couple of bottles short of a full case.

Steerpike

Richard Dawkins gets cancelled by the humanists

For years, the evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins enjoyed the acclaim and approval heaped upon him by universities and institutes across the western world. Festooned with awards and lavished with honours, he rode the intellectual tidal wave of new atheism at its peak.  But now the tide is out and with it Dawkins' brand of free-spirited thinking too; the author of The Selfish Gene has been accused of Islamophobia, transphobia and a variety of supposedly offensive comments. Dawkins of course is famously thick skinned but the latest ignominy heaped on the Oxford academic will have stung more than most.

Monday

Ruth Dudley Edwards

Sinn Fein’s hollow ‘apology’ for Mountbatten’s murder

Prince Philip's death presented Sinn Fein with a particular challenge, given that the IRA murdered his beloved uncle. 'I am sorry that happened. Of course, that is heartbreaking,' said the party's leader Mary Lou McDonald this weekend. But if the words sounded sincere, don't be fooled. Sinn Fein learnt a difficult lesson back in 2011, when the Queen and Prince Philip visited, the first time for a century that a British monarch set foot in Dublin. Back then, they completely misjudged Irish public opinion and refused to participate, ending up looking like kids outside a sweet shop with noses pressed to the window. The Queen got an approval rating in the Republic of more than 90 per cent and Sinn Fein were accused of being dinosaurs. There was to be no repeat this time.

Katy Balls

Why Boris was so reluctant to cancel his India trip

Just a few hours after Boris Johnson confirmed that his trip to India had been postponed, the country has been placed on the government's red list. Following reports of a new India variant of Covid, travel to the UK is to be banned — with those returning from the country facing hotel quarantine as of 4 a.m. Friday. Announcing the news, Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs that initial data on the new strain meant that the travel ban had been put in place on a 'precautionary basis'.  Johnson's supporters believe he works better in person than on Zoom calls The decision was viewed as inevitable after the Prime Minister's trip to India scheduled for next week was cancelled.

Steerpike

China’s belt and road to nowhere

Sinoscepticism is on the rise in Parliament, with China's controversial 'Belt and Road Initiative' increasingly being the subject of attention in the House of Lords. Down the corridor and across central lobby it appears no MPs are now willing to be linked with the scheme which ties Chinese infrastructure spending with increased influence. The All Party Parliamentary Group for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was founded in 2018 by Labour MP Faisal Rashid, who managed to find time amidst the ongoing Brexit drama in the last Parliament to visit both Guangdong and Guangxi in China.