Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Monday

Matthew Lynn

Sunak’s leaked tax plan sends precisely the wrong message

It is too expensive. It mostly goes to Southerners who already have plenty of money. And it doesn’t even work very well, while the money would be better spent elsewhere. As the Chancellor puts the finishing touches to his Budget, the leaks suggest that the most generous tax relief for entrepreneurs will either be curbed, reduced or potentially even scrapped completely. But hold on. That's crazy. It's just about possible that there might be a worse message to send out about post-Brexit Britain – nationalising the banks, perhaps, or a three-day working week – but it is hard to think of one. In fact, entrepreneur’s relief has been a huge success. Instead of scrapping it, we should think about extending it.

Robert Peston

The conflict that will define Boris Johnson’s first term in office

The fundamental issue revealed by the resignation of the Home Office's Permanent Secretary Sir Philip Rutnam is the yawning gap between what Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings want post-Brexit UK to be on January 1, 2021, and what senior civil servants think is deliverable. The PM and his chief aide want to have a fully functioning new immigration system by then, whereas officials fear there’s not enough time. Johnson and Cummings argue the police should be able to keep us safe if we are no longer part of European Arrest Warrant system. Officials can’t concur. Downing Street thinks we can ward off pandemics if we withdraw from the EU’s Early Warning and Response System. The Department of Health is not so sure.

Stephen Daisley

Why Pete Buttigieg wasn’t ‘gay enough’ for the activist left

As Pete Buttigieg ‘suspends’ (read: ends) his campaign for the Democrat nomination, a few words are in order about the first openly gay presidential candidate from a major party. One of the most remarkable aspects of Buttigieg’s run — unthinkable even a decade ago — is that his homosexuality was more of an issue in the gay press than in the mainstream media. He was somewhat caricatured as a Leave It to Beaver gay: he and his husband Chasten look for all the world like your average middle-class suburban marrieds. They’re chablis and J Crew sweaters, not marching, chanting heteronormativity-smashers. This didn’t sit well with the activist gay left. (You know the sort I mean: the ones who’ve turned it into a calling).

Sunday

Robert Peston

Will Johnson and Cummings be knocked off course by Sir Philip Rutnam’s resignation?

There are a handful of big things to watch out for following Sir Philip Rutnam’s resignation as Home Office Permanent Secretary: Whether in laying out his case for constructive dismissal, evidence emerges that makes it impossible for Priti Patel to remain as home secretary.Whether other permanent secretaries and senior civil servants show solidarity with Rutnam, thus making it harder for Dominic Cummings to reform how they and civil servants support the Government, and harder for him to streamline the centre of government and the Cabinet Office.

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Coronavirus vaccine ‘still many months off’

John McDonnell - Priti Patel likely 'on the way out' The Shadow Chancellor joined Sophy Ridge, and the conversation quickly turned to Home Secretary Priti Patel. Yesterday the Home Office's top civil servant Sir Philip Rutnam, accusing Patel of bullying, resigned and announced his intention to sue the government for unfair dismissal. McDonnell suggested an investigation into Patel's conduct, but made clear what he thought the result would be: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1234037250381492225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw JM: [It's] interesting this morning what I hear from No. 10 – that the Prime Minister only has confidence in his cabinet, not specifically Priti Patel. It looks as though she's on the way out.

James Purnell

The right-wing case for the BBC

A few weeks ago, I read on Coffee House that someone at Number 10 suggested that if the BBC appointed me director-general they’d bring in a chairman to sack me. I found myself in a unique position: too right wing to lead the Labour party, too left wing to run the BBC. I don’t want to run the BBC. I love my job running radio and services for children too much. But the freedom of not wanting to be DG combined with my life in politics has encouraged me to take a risk and have a go at making the right-wing case for the BBC. Nicky Morgan recently wrote that the future leadership of the BBC needed to accept that no change isn’t an option. She’s absolutely right. That’s why we tried to set up a British Netflix before Netflix existed.

Cerys Howell

Will Labour ever have a female leader?

Where are all the women in Labour's leadership race? Jess Phillips pulled out of the contest in January. Emily Thornberry, who ploughed on in spite of having less overall support, was knocked out a fortnight ago. Two women candidates remain. But every indication, from this week’s polling to CLP nominations to betting odds, is that Keir Starmer will beat Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy to a resounding victory on 4 April. With ballots going out this week and 70 per cent of members likely to vote within the first three days, the election is all but over. How did it happen that Labour, once again, will not elect a woman as its leader?

Saturday

Ross Clark

Could coronavirus really trigger the next crash?

It’s a bloodbath in the markets, but by how much could the real, global economy be affected by the coronavirus outbreak? A research note by Oxford Economics seeks to answer that question by comparing it with the experience of Japan following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. On that occasion, Japan’s industrial production slumped by 15 per cent in a single month, before taking several months to recover. The car industry was affected still more, with a 60 per cent plunge in the month following the earthquake. Interestingly, notes the think tank, the part of Japan affected by the disaster accounted for only 3-4 per cent of national industrial output, but factories elsewhere were affected by an interruption in the supply chain.

Steerpike

Boris’s baby – Westminster’s worst kept secret

There’s much speculation (and conspiracy theory) about why Boris Johnson chose today to announce that he’s becoming a father for the sixth time. Was it to get the resignation of Sir Philip Rutnam off the front pages? But to many in Westminster, the real question is how they have kept it quiet for so long. Rumours have been circulating for some time fuelled by Carrie Symonds’s reduced profile and a series of clues for those who were looking. When the couple chose to take in the recess week from the more discreet Chevening rather than Chequers, it was read in some quarters as a pregnancy-related decision.

Katy Balls

What Sir Philip Rutnam’s departure means for Priti Patel

The government’s battle with the civil service has escalated this morning with the departure of Sir Philip Rutnam as Home Office permanent secretary. Rutnam has quit the role following a fortnight of negative coverage and briefings over his strained working relationship with Priti Patel. Announcing his decision, Rutnam blamed a ‘vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign’ against him for forcing him into this decision. He says he believes the Home Secretary played a role in this: ‘I had been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. It has been alleged that I have briefed the media against the Home Secretary. This, along with many other claims, is completely false.

James Forsyth

His response to the coronavirus could come to define Boris Johnson’s first year in office

Premierships are often defined by unexpected events. When Tony Blair was re-elected in 2001, few thought that his time in office would be defined by terrorism and the Middle East. Boris Johnson’s first full year in Downing Street may well come to be defined by his handling of coronavirus, I say in The Sun this morning. Over the last week, concern in Whitehall over the disease has shot up. ‘The infection curve in Italy and Germany has changed things’, says one of those spearheading the government’s response. ‘We’re not far off it absorbing all of the government’s energies’, one Downing Street figure tells me.

Nick Cohen

Labour’s dark secret is safe with Keir Starmer

Keir Starmer knows. He’s not saying anything, not letting one word of criticism of the Corbyn regime escape his lips, but he knows better than the journalists who cover politics, better than you, me or anyone who hasn’t lived in Labour for the past five years, the depth of the disgrace of the British left. Starmer knows because he was in the meetings that excused Putin and failed to tackle anti-Semitism. He knows because he saw Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Seumas Milne and Andrew Murray close up. And I for one would love to hear his insider account of life with the cranky tankies. More to the point, Starmer knows because he lived through the wars on the left in his own constituency.

Philip Rutnam

Philip Rutnam: why I am taking the government to court

I have this morning resigned as permanent secretary of the Home Office. I take this decision with great regret, after a career of 33 years. I’m making the statement now because I will be issuing a claim against the Home Office for constructive dismissal. In the last ten days, I had been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. It has been alleged that I have briefed the media against the Home Secretary. This, along with many other claims, is completely false. The Home Secretary categorically denied any involvement in this campaign to the Cabinet Office. I regret I do not believe her. She has not made the efforts I would expect to disassociate herself from the comments.

James Delingpole

Hunters is 2020’s most ridiculous series

What a brilliant idea the concept of Hunters (Amazon Prime) must have sounded after the third or fourth Martini. "So, like, it's set in the 1970s and America is swarming with Nazis. Actual Nazis. They've infiltrated every level of society and they're totally evil and powerful, like vampires with swastikas. And all that stands in their way to create a Fourth Reich is a plucky band of diverse Nazi-hunters, led by a Bruce-Wayne-style concentration camp survivor and billionaire played by Al Pacino!" But then, after the hangovers kicked in, wiser counsels ought to have prevailed. Someone might have pointed out that, with the Holocaust still within living memory, maybe it's a bit too soon to turn the subject into schlocky superhero revenge porn for Generation Z.

Freddy Gray

The best news for Bernie is that his rivals are so weak

‘Bernie beats Trump! Bernie beats Trump!’ That’s what Bernie Sanders’s fans keep chanting, and they have the polls to prove it. Survey after survey suggests that, of all the leading candidates for the Democratic party’s nomination, Sanders is most likely to defeat Donald Trump in the election in November. Voters like Bernie. Some 46 per cent of voters say they admire him. Only 26 per cent say the same of President Trump. Still, most political experts think Sanders will be a disaster for the Democratic party. He may be popular with the base, they say, but he is far too left-wing for the general electorate: 2020 would be a repeat of 1972, when the radical leftie George McGovern lost to Richard Nixon in a landslide.

Katy Balls

What would a Keir Starmer Labour party look like?

There’s still a month of the Labour leadership contest to go but most MPs have already concluded that Keir Starmer will win. The shadow Brexit secretary has led in every category so far: MPs, unions and local parties. As the contest enters its final stage, polling suggests the membership agree and Sir Keir will sail through. His closest rival, Rebecca Long-Bailey, is now seen as a ten-to-one outsider. One bookmaker is already paying out on a Starmer victory. But if the race seems all but over, the conversation about what he’ll do as Labour leader is very much on-going. Is he the leader that the party’s moderates have craved to stand up to the hard left — or a vessel for continuity Corbynism? So far, he has tried very hard not to say.

James Forsyth

Le crunch: are the Brexit talks doomed before they begin?

When Boris Johnson and the new European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in Downing Street last month, they agreed on one thing immediately: that it was time to stop the sniping, animosity and backbiting that had characterised the first round of the Brexit talks. The Prime Minister emphasised that Britain wanted to be the EU’s close friend and ally. Only a few weeks later, and already the Brexit wars are back. The two sides are so far apart that many diplomats think there is a better-than-even chance that the talks will fail. One member state is already planning around the central assumption that there will be no deal by the December deadline. For its part, No. 10 is braced for the talks to collapse sooner rather than later.