Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

Robert Peston

Why Dominic Cummings is Johnson’s most important appointment

The closest analogy to the government Boris Johnson is forming is Blair’s and Brown’s New Labour government of 1997, when they appointed super powerful political advisers – Campbell, Powell, Balls, Whelan – to boss conservative Whitehall. That is what Johnson is doing – in spades – by making former Vote Leave campaign chief Dominic Cummings his de facto chief executive as senior advisor, because Cummings is NEVER a passive adviser. Cummings has an extraordinary sense of purpose and objectives – and pity those who get in his path. Cummings’s mandate is to deliver Brexit in 99 days, and in his spare time he’ll endeavour to reform Whitehall, since one of his obsessions is that the civil service is unfit for modern government.

Peter Oborne

The case for keeping Chris Grayling in the Cabinet

Fairness is not a concept known to political reporting. That’s not how the lobby works. I used to be a Westminster correspondent. We hunted as a pack. We kicked those who were down and sucked up to the winners.  In this article, far too late, I will try rescue the reputation of one of Theresa May’s and David Cameron’s most loyal and capable ministers. Few politicians have been the object of such sustained and brutal criticism as Transport Secretary Chris ‘Failing’ Grayling. Few have deserved it less.  I will show that a great deal of the criticism has been unfair. I’ll argue that Mr Grayling is paying the price for his personal decency and loyalty to colleagues. Let’s start with the much-vaunted ferry fiasco late last year.

Katy Balls

Hunt’s Cabinet job refusal presents Boris with a dilemma

There are high expectations among Tory MPs today for Boris Johnson's Cabinet appointments. The problem? He has more supporters who believe they will be promoted than plum jobs to give. It follows that this evening's first wave of hires for the most senior jobs will undoubtedly lead to disappointment. Johnson has at least got off to a good start. The first appointment of Mark Spencer as Chief Whip has landed well in the Parliamentary party. Although Spencer backed Remain in the EU referendum, he is well liked across the board and the European Research Group members found praise for him after his role was unveiled on Tuesday. Tory Remainers have also praised the appointments and taken it as a sign that Johnson will not be forming a Brexiteer-only Cabinet.

The Spectator

Full list of ministerial resignations

Barring a huge upset, it seems inevitable that Boris Johnson will be walking through the black door of Number 10 in two day's time. Once there, he is expected to conduct a sweeping reshuffle of government ministers – appointing his allies and removing members of May's Cabinet who are opposed to his Brexit strategy. So for the various Cabinet members who will not countenance a no-deal Brexit (or are opposed to Boris more generally) these next two days present a golden opportunity: the chance to resign from government, before you're forced out. Coffee House will be keeping track of the ministerial resignations this week, before Boris Johnson is expected to enter 10 Downing Street.

Tuesday

Daniel DePetris

Americans are watching Boris Johnson with a morbid interest

Donald Trump didn't take long to congratulate Boris Johnson on his victory in today's Tory leadership race. 'He will be great!' was Trump's snap verdict on a man who he described at a rally this afternoon as a 'really good man'. It's safe to say Boris has a fan, at least for the time being, in the White House. But what about the rest of America? Boris is, of course, a well-known commodity in Britain; you either think the guy is a brilliant political mastermind with a people's touch or a dolt who should be nowhere near Downing Street. Across the pond, it’s a little different. In Washington, D.C., there is a sense of curiosity about the man with the floppy blonde hair and clownish humour who has prepared for the prime ministership all his life.

Joolz Gale

Could Boris charm the EU in Brexit negotiations?

The penny has finally dropped here in Berlin. After the Brexit party's success in the European elections – and several missed Brexit deadlines later – most Germans are slowly realising that Brexit will happen. There are some who still hope that the offer of a new Brexit extension – as Ursula von der Leyen has indicated might be on offer – could mean a second referendum, or revocation of Article 50. But fewer now believe either of those remain realistic possibilities. And with Boris Johnson likely to be in Downing Street by tomorrow, these options become harder still to imagine.

Steerpike

Jared O’Mara’s ‘Comms Team’ spectacularly resigns

Jared O'Mara, the former Labour MP (who was briefly suspended from the party in 2018 over a series of online comments) has been something of an enigma in Westminster of late. Although he promised to fight for his constituents when he left the Labour party to become an independent, the politician has since missed a huge number of key votes in the Commons, leaving the residents of Sheffield Hallam furious, and with no effective representation in parliament. Now it appears though that O'Mara's staff have had enough of the MP as well.

Steerpike

When will Tom Watson break his silence on Carl Beech?

Tom Watson’s face is splashed across the front pages of the newspapers today but unfortunately for the typically publicity-hungry Watson it’s for all the wrong reasons. Labour’s deputy leader is facing calls to quit following the conviction of Carl Beech, a fantasist who was yesterday found guilty of making up claims about a VIP paedophile ring in Westminster. In 2014, Watson met Beech at his office in Westminster to discuss the allegations. Beech later told police that Watson was among a ‘little group supporting me and putting my information out there to encourage other people to come forward’. But while Watson is in the news, he is so far keeping schtum.

The Spectator

Full list: Boris Johnson’s ministerial and official appointments

On Wednesday afternoon Boris Johnson will meet with the Queen in Buckingham Palace, will be invited to form a government, and then will stroll through the black door of Number 10 as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. There, he will officially begin the process of appointing his Cabinet, the ministers who will serve in his government, and the advisers who will be crucial in ensuring his term as prime minister is a success. As the official announcements are made public, Coffee House will be keeping track of Prime Minister Johnson's new administration.

James Kirkup

Get ready for Boris vs the Bank of England

Westminster is, naturally, fixated on Boris Johnson and his first speech since his Conservative leadership victory. But it’s just possible that the most interesting and important speech of the day took place in Scunthorpe. That’s where Andy Haldane, chief economist of the Bank of England was delivering a speech called 'Climbing the Jobs Ladder'. His speech was, nominally, about wage progression and the quality of employment. But about halfway through, the speech becomes something very different, something that looks an awful lot like a warning to a new prime minister: don’t bank on the Bank to bail you out over Brexit.

Steerpike

Is May’s Islamophobia adviser a parting shot at Boris?

Theresa May has had a busy few weeks, frantically churning out press releases, consultations and policies to build a legacy before she is replaced by her nemesis Boris Johnson. And as one of her final acts as Prime Minister, Theresa May took the unusual step of appointing Imam Qari Asim as a new Islamophobia tsar this morning. According to a government press release the 'independent adviser has been appointed to provide expert advice on a definition of Islamophobia to the government.' May's government also announced that Labour's John Mann would be appointed as an independent adviser on anti-Semitism. But Mr Steerpike can't quite help but wonder if the appointment of Qari Asim has more to do with Boris Johnson than 'tackling burning injustices' or the good of the country.

Robert Peston

Boris Johnson has achieved his dream. Will he mess it up?

When Boris Johnson chants his mantra of delivering Brexit, uniting the country and beating Jeremy Corbyn, it is very much a personal imperative. For the simple reason that if he fails, as many of his colleagues anticipate, he will look like a blithering idiot. The point is that back in the spring of 2016, he faced a nation-defining fork in the road, when he was dithering about whether to stick with the then PM David Cameron and fight to stay in the EU or lead the leave campaign. Cameron will believe till his last breath that Johnson’s defection to Brexit tipped the scales against him. And when Cameron lost, May took over, and the rest was chaos and mayhem for the Tory party. But let’s play the game of counterfactuals.

Steerpike

Ivanka congratulates the new PM of the ‘United Kingston’

Boris Johnson became the next prime minister of the United Kingdom and leader of the Conservative party this afternoon, after Tory members overwhelmingly backed him over Jeremy Hunt. And almost as soon as the result was announced, messages began pouring in from people across the world. US president Donald Trump was the first to pass on his congratulations, and predicted that the new Prime Minister 'will be great!' https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1153628242529722369 And shortly afterwards his daughter, Ivanka Trump, decided to send her own well-wishes to the newly elected leader of the Tory party.

Isabel Hardman

Forget Brexit: Boris’s toughest task will be energising his exhausted party

Boris Johnson will now be receiving plenty of unsolicited advice about how to be Prime Minister. As his victory speech a few minutes ago showed, though, he's not planning to ditch one of the qualities that got him into this job in the first place. Brand Boris isn't about the typical prime ministerial behaviour, stood squarely behind a lectern and trying to offer gravitas. To try to squeeze Johnson into this mould would be about as successful as Gordon Brown's attempts to look cheerful. That's why his speech was based around the acronym 'DUDE' - Deliver Brexit, Unite our Country, Defeat Jeremy Corbyn and Energise.

James Forsyth

Boris Johnson’s risky strategy is to be himself

Boris Johnson is the new leader of the Conservative party. He has defeated Jeremy Hunt by a two to one margin, 66 to 34 per cent. This gives him a mandate and will boost his political authority—a boost that he desperately needs given how small his working majority will be, even in combination with the DUP. Boris Johnson’s speech was clearly a holding exercise, his team want to reserve their main messages for tomorrow when he actually becomes prime minister. It wouldn’t be a good look for him to be setting out his plans for the country to his Tory colleagues rather than the country as a whole. But perhaps the most telling thing about the speech was how typically Boris it was. There were jokes and bad puns.

The Spectator

Full text: Boris Johnson’s victory speech

Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you, Charles. Thank you very much, Brandon, for a fantastic, well-organised campaign. I think it did a lot of credit, as Brandon has just said, to our party, to our values and to our ideals. But I want to begin by thanking my opponent, Jeremy. By common consent, an absolutely formidable campaigner and a great leader and a great politician. Jeremy, in the course of 20 hustings... or hustings-style events – it was more than 3000 miles by the way, it's about 7000 miles that we did criss-crossing the country. You've been friendly. You've been good natured. You've been a font of excellent ideas, all of which I propose to steal forthwith.

Damian Thompson

Is Boris Johnson, baptised a Catholic, really a Christian?

In today's Holy Smoke podcast, Harry Mount and I discuss the mysterious religious beliefs of the man who will be the first baptised Catholic to enter Number 10. Boris Johnson's Catholic baptism – as a baby he was given the faith of his mother, Charlotte Fawcett – has received little publicity. Understandably, perhaps, because he was confirmed an Anglican at Eton, which makes him someone who chose to become an ex-Catholic (and, according to strict interpretations of the Magisterium, thereby placed an obstacle in the path of his salvation). My guest is Boris expert Harry Mount, who tells me that our new PM's godmother is Lady Rachel Billington – daughter of the ardently Catholic Lord Longford. What a curious situation, incidentally.

Isabel Hardman

Ministerial resignations could set the tone of Johnson’s premiership

The trickle of ministers resigning before they are pushed by Boris Johnson continues this morning, with Anne Milton stepping down as an Education Minister. In her resignation letter to Theresa May, Milton cites ‘grave concerns about leaving the EU without a deal’. These resignations could set the tone for the start of Johnson’s premiership. Certainly Sir Alan Duncan hoped that his departure yesterday would start a narrative about a lack of confidence in the soon-to-be-elected Tory leader. They are in many ways reminiscent of the Labour frontbenchers who stepped down at the start of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in 2015. One, Jamie Reed, resigned while Corbyn was accepting his win.

Tom Goodenough

Boris Johnson wins the Tory leadership race

Boris Johnson will be Britain's new prime minister after winning the Tory leadership race. Boris picked up 92,153 votes, or 66.4 per cent. His rival Jeremy Hunt won 46,656 votes, or 33.6 per cent. Turnout in the leadership race was 87.4 per cent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTASH_xM9qw Boris Johnson paid tribute to Jeremy Hunt after his win was announced. He said Hunt had been 'friendly' and 'goodnatured' on the campaign trail. Boris also thanked Theresa May: 'Above all, I want to thank our outgoing leader for her extraordinary service,' he told an audience at the QEII centre. Donald Trump congratulated Boris on his election, saying that the new Tory leader 'will be great'. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1153628242529722369?

Robert Peston

Boris Johnson created Brexit. Now he has to own it

At just before midday today, Brexiters will own Brexit for the first time, and that will really matter – if, as expected, Johnson is crowned Tory leader. Because from that moment, they will have no one but themselves to either praise or blame, for either Britain's brave new dawn or its slow and painful demise (whichever turns out to be our fate). The point is that, till today, Brexiters inside and outside the Tory party, from Jacob Rees-Mogg to Nigel Farage, have been able to attribute the failure to deliver Brexit, and an absence of the great sense of national rebirth that they expected, on the treacherous and pesky Remainers, who currently occupy all four of the great offices of state.