Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Saturday

The Spectator

With Sajid Javid gone, will Boris now start a Gordon Brown-style spending splurge?

The nature of the Johnson government is still not clear, but has become more so with the announcement this week that HS2 is to go ahead in its entirety. Until recently, it had seemed that the project would be, if not dropped altogether, cut back in order to rein in its ever-accelerating budget. This is what most Tory MPs,cabinet members and even the Chancellor had wanted. But instead, the Prime Minister has decided that it will be built in its full £106 billion form. Not only that, he threw in £5 billion for buses and cycleways, as well as the promise of a £39 billion high-speed line from Manchester to Leeds. And, perhaps, a £20 billion road bridge connecting Dumfriesshire with Northern Ireland. The ability to think big is generally a positive trait.

Ross Clark

The government’s plans for a pandemic are both reassuring and alarming

Like the Trumpton fire brigade, Britain’s disaster planners have had precious little opportunity to show off their skills over the past few decades. Plans for a nuclear war merely gathered dust. Global pandemics failed to arrive, as did a no-deal Brexit. Just about the only crisis requiring nationwide emergency planning concerned foot and mouth disease in 2001 when six million animals were slaughtered and Labour ministers announced ‘the countryside is closed’, killing off rural businesses, yet still failed to prevent the spread of the disease from Cornwall to Northumberland.

Fredrik Erixon

The death of the centre in European politics

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Leo Varadkar. He positioned himself as Ireland’s champion and even ended up with a decent deal. He expected some kind of electoral dividend in the snap election as he urged voters to stay away from the dangerous fringes occupied by Sinn Fein. Instead, they turned to Sinn Fein in record numbers — ending the two-party system that has governed Irish politics for a century. In Ireland, this is unprecedented, but it fits a trend for Europe as a whole. Voters have been rebelling against old, established ‘centre-ground’ politics, and all around Europe, established politicians have responded by attacking voters. They’ve called their own electorate extremists, fruitcakes, loons, racists — or worse.

Douglas Murray

Why I’ll never become an MP

Every now and then someone asks me if I have ever thought of becoming an MP. My response tends to be a laugh so deranged that the question answers itself. When I manage to verbalise the answer it usually goes something like this: ‘No, because I enjoy saying what I think is true.’ Occasionally my conversationalist will persist: ‘But MPs have a huge variety of opinions. Parliament is not filled with silent types.’ Throughout such interactions various names and images flash through my head. I think of Sarah Champion, for instance — the Labour MP for Rotherham. Ms Champion got her seat in 2012 and among the problems she inherited was the fact that her constituency had recently been one of the largest crime scenes in modern British history.

James Forsyth

Boris wants a 2024 election – and wants to start his building boom now

‘The clock is ticking.’ It is surely only a matter of time before Michel Barnier returns to his notorious catchphrase from the Brexit talks. The EU’s chief negotiator is already warning that if a trade deal cannot be agreed ‘within the constraints of the time limits imposed by the British PM’, then there will be ‘consequences’ as the UK and EU will end up trading on World Trade Organization terms. Or, as the Prime Minister prefers to call it, an Australia-style deal. Last time around, because Theresa May had no majority in parliament, Barnier was able to throw the British side into confusion: it was quite possible that Brexit could be delayed, or even abandoned.

Martin Vander Weyer

Never mind the numbers – the boardroom gender battle has barely begun

It’s the way the world’s going, but still it looks quite impressive that the number of women directors of FTSE100 companies has risen from 135 in 2011 (when Vince Cable, as Business Secretary, began agitating on the subject) to 349 today — representing a third of all blue-chip boardroom seats. It’s not long since that proportion was below 10 per cent. But is the corporate patriarchy truly in retreat, or is this still a matter of reluctant window-dressing by the old boys’ network who have prime responsibility for populating boards?

Charles Moore

Sinn Fein’s success doesn’t make a united Ireland more likely

It is obviously true that Sinn Fein’s success in the Irish Republic will increase nationalist pressure for a united Ireland. It does not automatically follow, however, that such pressure will make a united Ireland more likely. A powerful Sinn Fein in the South is a strong recruiter for Unionism in the North. The possibility of nationalists in the North winning a border poll has just receded.

Friday

Kim Thomas

I stand with Kate Scottow

Why are the police wasting time arresting Twitter transphobes when they could be tackling knife crime? That was the question asked by Boris Johnson in an article for the Daily Telegraph last February, in which he lambasted officers for arresting a mum for sending some rude tweets. A year on, Boris Johnson is Prime Minister. And now that mum has a criminal record. Today’s judgement was a hard sight to bear: a 39-year-old mother of two children, one of whom is autistic, listened as the judge at St Albans Magistrates’ Court found her guilty, under the Communications Act (2003), of using a public communications network to “cause annoyance, inconvenience and anxiety”.

Ross Clark

Mark Carney is finally realising the benefits of Brexit

Given what he has previously said about Brexit it would be a bit much to expect departing Bank of England governor Mark Carney to say that leaving the EU is a good thing for Britain. Nevertheless, it is still a bit of pleasant surprise to hear him in what – in Carney-speak – is presumably the next best thing. In an interview with Reuters, he has just described Brexit as a 'conceptual positive' for the UK economy.

Patrick O’Flynn

Sajid Javid’s departure doesn’t matter

Much of the reaction to Sajid Javid’s departure yesterday, alongside the sacking of several other Cabinet ministers, would have you believe that it is a very big deal. ‘Moderate reshuffle morphs into major crisis,’ said Sky News political editor Beth Rigby. Rory Stewart tweeted out a picture of Theresa May’s Cabinet from the middle of last year, with the chiding question: “How many are still in the Cabinet today?” (The answer, by the way, is only about half a dozen out of more than 30.) Jon Sopel on the Today programme this morning said Javid’s replacement, Rishi Sunak, was in a very powerful position because the Prime Minister could not afford to lose another Chancellor. Really? Says who?

James Kirkup

Jake Berry is the real hero of the reshuffle

OK there are bigger stories in the reshuffle, but the tale of Jake Berry is an important one. He quit to spend more time with his family – and really meant that. Berry was minister for the northern powerhouse. He is also one of Boris Johnson’s oldest allies in the Commons. These days (almost) everyone is the PM’s friend, but not long ago there were only two: Berry and Ben Wallace. So when Berry says he was asked to stay in government, believe him. And why is he not a minister today? Because he was offered a job that would have taken him abroad a lot when his children are very young; thanks to the arrival of a new baby this month, he and his wife now have three children under three. So faced with a choice of career and kids, he chose the kids.

Stephen Daisley

Will Boris come to regret his Treasury power grab?

Has Boris Johnson made the first major error of his premiership? Choosing his adviser over his Chancellor could be seen as a bold gamble of the sort that won him a sweeping election victory and got the UK out of the European Union. We of little faith in the commentariat have often misread this prime minister and have been left looking like chumps as a result. But where Boris has succeeded is in defying the rules of politics and the circumstances of Sajid Javid’s departure have more to do with the rules of governance. Robert Peston says: ‘The PM and [Dominic] Cummings believe the success of the government in these challenging times require Downing Street and the Treasury to act, as far as possible, as one seamless unit.

Thursday

Lara Prendergast

Is Europe’s centre-ground shrinking?

41 min listen

As Sinn Fein enters coalition talks with Fianna Fail, economist Fredrik Erixon writes that the encroachment of fringe parties on the mainstream is a part of a wider European trend. What's more, he argues that the only the mainstream parties that adapt can survive. On the podcast, Fraser Nelson bats for Fredrik's thesis, and debates with Anne McElvoy, senior editor at The Economist. Plus, is citizenship a privilege that can be revoked, or a right to anyone who identifies as British? Earlier this week, a group of Jamaican nationals - all of them holding criminal records - were due to be deported.

Sajid Javid

Sajid Javid: Why I quit

After quitting as Chancellor earlier today, Sajid Javid has published his letter of resignation to Boris Johnson. Here’s what he wrote: Dear Prime Minister, It has been a privilege to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Since being elected as the MP for Bromsgrove ten years ago I have had the huge honour of holding several ministerial roles – running five departments, including two of the Great Offices of State. I regret that I could not accept the conditions attached to the reappointment While I am grateful for your continued trust and offer to continue in this role, I regret that I could not accept the conditions attached to the reappointment.

James Forsyth

Boris has tightened his iron grip on government

This is the LDC reshuffle: loyalty, discipline and competence. Number 10 wants to ensure this government is all singing from the same hymn sheet. The desire for a joint Number 10 / 11 operation is the product of that. Sajid Javid’s refusal to sign up to the scheme made Number 10 think he wasn’t on board with this, which led to his resignation. This joint Number 10 / 11 operation creates a very powerful force at the centre of government. Number 10, the Treasury and the Cabinet Office are now effectively yoked together. Under this set-up, no department will have any chance of resisting what the centre wants.

Steerpike

Watch: Sajid Javid takes a pop at Boris Johnson

Sajid Javid has just taken a pop at Boris Johnson following his departure from the cabinet earlier today. The ex-chancellor said no 'self-respecting minister' would have been able to accept the terms presented to him by the PM if he wanted to stay in the job. He told the BBC: https://twitter.com/MattChorley/status/1228002487162064896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw 'The conditions that were attached...I was unable to accept those conditions. I don't believe any self respecting minister would accept such conditions, and therefore I felt the best thing to do, was to go...' Javid also said that his successor as chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has his full support. Mr S isn't convinced...

Charles Moore

The BBC’s big problem is its obsession with itself

One reason people are disillusioned with the BBC is its obsession with itself. Here is the text of a question asked by the corporation’s deputy political editor, Norman Smith, at a speech last week by the minister responsible for broadcasting, the Culture Secretary, Lady Morgan: ‘You say the BBC needs to adapt to the new streaming era…What I’m not clear about is why you think decriminalising or moving to a civil enforcement scheme in any way assists the BBC in meeting that challenge. Because the view within the corporation is that it weakens the BBC to the tune of £200 million a year, quite possibly more.

Charles Moore

Sinn Fein’s success doesn’t make a united Ireland more likely

It is obviously true that Sinn Fein’s success in the Irish Republic will increase nationalist pressure for a united Ireland. It does not automatically follow, however, that such pressure will make a united Ireland more likely. A powerful Sinn Fein in the South is a strong recruiter for Unionism in the North. The possibility of nationalists in the North winning a border poll has just receded.

Lloyd Evans

Rebecca Long-Bailey came off badly in her Newsnight clash with Emily Thornberry

Labour's leadership candidates were grilled by Newsnight’s Katie Razzall last night. Avuncular Sir Keir Starmer, with his greying thatch and bulky frame, looked like a body-builder gone to seed. He spoke in a bluff, commandeering tone that suggested the leadership is his already – and he knows it. His main rival, Rebecca Long-Bailey, seemed ill at ease. She’s an odd blend of qualities. She might have been named after a Jilly Cooper character but she has a Maoist habit of calling the voters ‘our communities.’ Her complexion is immaculate, her gaze unblinking, her blond hair perfect. ‘Pitiless’ is the only word for her dark, angular spectacles.