Politics

Read about the latest political news, views and analysis

Wednesday

James Forsyth

John Bercow rules on the ‘stupid woman’ controversy

John Bercow has just ruled on the whole row about whether or not Jeremy Corbyn mouthed the words ‘stupid woman’ at PMQs today. Bercow said that the lip speakers he had consulted thought Corbyn had said that, but no lip speaker or lip reader could be 100 per cent sure what words were used. He then invited Corbyn to speak. Corbyn said that he didn’t say ‘stupid woman’ but ‘stupid people’ to which the Tory benches shouted 'rubbish'. I think Bercow’s opinion was worse for Corbyn than expected. Given that Corbyn is denying he said it, Bercow could hardly say he wasn’t telling the truth.

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May kicks can down the road on key domestic reforms

Parliament rises for Christmas recess tomorrow - unless the various grinches arguing it should carry on sitting so it can loudly fail to make any decisions on Brexit have their way. MPs are so busy accusing Theresa May of kicking the can down the road on Britain leaving the European Union that few have noticed how many other cans are also bouncing along the tarmac. We had been expecting big announcements on social care reform, domestic abuse legislation and the NHS by the end of this term in Parliament, but all appear to have been delayed. The social care green paper had been delayed repeatedly anyway, but was expected this autumn. A few leaves do still linger on the December trees, but ministers are now saying there won't be any green shoots on this matter this year.

James Forsyth

Tories unite in the chamber against Corbyn and Bercow

Extraordinary scenes in the House of Commons today. Tory MPs believed that Jeremy Corbyn muttered ‘stupid woman’ in Theresa May’s direction as she mocked him over his failure to call a confidence vote. (Corbyn’s spokesman has subsequently said that Corbyn said ‘stupid people’). During the session, Paul Scully, a Tory vice-chairman, asked about the issue obliquely. But then at the end of the session, Patrick McLoughlin—the former chief whip—bellowed for a point of order. Bercow initially refused to take it as Corbyn left the chamber. But in the face of huge anger from the Tory benches, Bercow relented. Bercow’s initial response was that neither he nor the clerks had seen the incident, so he couldn’t be expected to rule on it.

Ross Clark

The EU’s no-deal preparations make it clear: they want to make Britain suffer

When Boris Johnson was foreign secretary, he was admonished for accusing the EU of wanting to administer ‘punishment beatings’ to Britain for its temerity in wanting to leave the EU. In the months since it has become clear just how apt his description was. At every turn, the EU has acted with one aim in mind: to try to ensure that Britain suffers from exiting the EU, in order to deter other member states from contemplating leaving the bloc. Today’s memo from the EU, laying out the plans for what would happen in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit is a case in point. It is hard, reading this document, to reconcile it with the EU’s claim to be an organisation which promotes free trade and free movement of people and goods.

Steerpike

Watch: Leadsom calls out Bercow’s own ‘stupid woman’ remarks

The House of Commons has descended into farce after PMQs this afternoon, following allegations that Jeremy Corbyn muttered under his breath that Theresa May was a stupid woman. The Speaker, John Bercow, responding to a point of order made after PMQs, said that as he did not see Corbyn's utterance take place, he would take no action against him. But, confirmed that 'individuals that are found to have made unwelcome remarks should apologise.' In response, Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons then skewered Bercow by asking him why: 'When an opposition member found that you [Bercow] had called me a 'stupid woman' you did not apologise in this chamber?' Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn appears to call Theresa May a stupid woman

Jeremy Corbyn could be in hot water following the final PMQs of the year. The Labour leader was filmed muttering something under his breath in response to Theresa May, and there is speculation that he called the PM a 'stupid woman'. https://twitter.com/SkyNewsPolitics/status/1075366162945458176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Corbyn started PMQs by saying to the Tory benches 'my Christmas good wishes do extend to everyone over there as well!' If that's really true, Mr S thinks Corbyn has a strange way of spreading the Christmas cheer... Update: Theresa May has responded to Corbyn's apparent jibe... https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Steerpike

Pamela Anderson: I could handle Mr Barnier better than May

Theresa May is desperately trying to convince both her European counterparts and her British colleagues that her Brexit plan is a goer. However, the Prime Minister has attracted criticism from across the pond – and this time it's not from President Trump. Step forward Pamela Anderson. The former Baywatch start turned left wing activist tells Jacobin magazine about her hopes for a Lexit (left wing Brexit) – adding that her preferred rpute going forward is a Jeremy Corbyn government: 'It is vital that the European Union is thoroughly and fundamentally reformed. Europe deserves a much better form of organized cooperation. And I would really support the UK attempting to create an alternative for Europe.

Alex Massie

Don’t blame Ireland for beating Britain in the Brexit negotiations

Plámás is an Irish word that lacks a precise English equivalent. It means a special kind of empty flattery, disingenuous praise, or pleasing, but soft-soaping, bullshit, offered the better to smooth over a particular difficulty or advance towards a particular objective. It is the currency, the bread-and-butter, of Irish politics where everyone is a ‘grand man’ or a ‘gas fella’ and all things may be possible, at all times, for all people. You may divide Irish politicians between the natural plámásers (Charlie Haughey, for instance) and those for whom it is a learned but never fluent skill (Garret Fitzgerald). Most of the time, the naturals win. Leo Varadkar is not a natural.

Steerpike

Listen: Business minister’s Brexit money gaffe

It's a busy day for the government, as they finally unveil their immigration white paper and begin the preparations for no deal. But as the government's gears grind into gear, it appears that some ministers have been struggling with their own personal preparations for interviews. Energy minister Claire Perry was on 5 Live this morning to discuss the government's plans, but fell at the first hurdle when she was asked this simple question by Emma Barnett: 'How much [money for Brexit] has been allocated to your department?

Katy Balls

No.10 tussle with Home Office over immigration policy

It's the day of the government's immigration white paper and what was supposed to be a Brexit deal vote winning announcement has descended into a Cabinet row. No.10 pressed ahead with the publication – and a briefing went out to hacks near 8pm. The delay has been put down to internal wrangling over several items in that paper – notable the call for a £30,000 minimum salary for five-year working visas. Several pro-immigration ministers say this will damage the economy – and send the wrong message by striking an anti-immigration tone. The tensions were apparent even this morning when Sajid Javid appeared on the Today programme to discuss the policy proposals.

Katy Balls

Can the government win back the DUP?

Theresa May's Christmas holidays will hold little in the way of festive cheer for the Prime Minister. In order to win last week's confidence vote, May had to make a number of promises that will be difficult to keep. Top of that list is her pledge to win back the support of the DUP, the party's confidence and supply partners. Relations between the DUP and the government hit a low earlier this month owing to the fact No.10 pressed ahead with a backstop arrangement which Arlene Foster's party say they cannot support. This led many Tory MPs to question whether they could support the deal given that it would also most likely spell the end of the party's confidence and supply agreement and therefore mean an early election.

Steerpike

Jeremy Hunt’s direct channel to Trump

The past few months have been testing for the so-called special relationship. President Trump's visit to the UK ended in disaster for Theresa May when the US President gave an interview to the Sun in which he declared that her proposed Brexit deal would kill any chance of a UK/US trade deal. However, not all Cabinet ministers had a wholly bad experience. On Tuesday night, Mr S headed along to Jeremy Hunt's Foreign Office Christmas reception at Lancaster House – also known as the 'Foreign Secretary's leadership launch,' according to a fellow Cabinet minister. In his speech, Hunt told guests how his own relationship with Trump had flourished on that visit. The reason? It's not that Hunt hit it off with Trump in person.

Tuesday

Tom Baldwin

The People’s Vote campaign made a mistake, but it wasn’t deliberate

A few months ago, the People’s Vote campaign was on the fringe of the national conversation. Today, we are seen by an ever-growing number of MPs as the best – perhaps only – way forward to break out of the current political impasse. As it becomes more likely that the British people will be given the right to have the final say about whether they wish to proceed with a Brexit that can never fulfil the promises made in the referendum of 2016 – or offer terms as good as the deal we’ve already got in the EU – we accept that the media will subject our every statement to increased scrutiny. And, like any campaign, we will make mistakes from time to time. Ross Clark pointed one of these out on Coffee House.

James Forsyth

The Cabinet steps-up planning for no deal

A predictably lively Cabinet meeting today as ministers discussed no-deal planning. Jeremy Hunt said that EU attitudes were hardening because they could see a second referendum coming into view, in part, because of the speculation that people around the Cabinet table were indulging in it. The Foreign Secretary warned that a failure to deliver Brexit would be as devastating for the Tories as the Lib Dems’s failure on tuition fees was to them. Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, railed against the Treasury approvals process. He complained that because of it, the government had missed the boat and not booked as much ferry capacity as it wanted. Michael Gove complained about the inefficiency of the borders delivery group.

Ross Clark

The reason Corbyn is afraid of a general election

There is at least one person in Britain who would beat Theresa May in a contest to see how far they could kick a proverbial can down the road. Fortunately for her, it is the leader of the opposition. Why won’t he do it? Why won’t he table that motion of no confidence in Her Majesty’s government while it is bleeding by the roadside? Given a chance to deliver the coup de grace, he chooses instead to table a personal motion of no confidence in Theresa May which he knows the government can put off through lack of time, and which he knows would have no great consequences if she did lose it. No government in the past 40 years has looked quite so miserable, quite so open to being toppled by Parliament, and yet still he won’t do it.

Steerpike

Clive Lewis fails to get into the Christmas spirit

Christmas – the time for peace on earth and goodwill to all men. It's also the time of year for giving. Except that is if you're Clive Lewis. The Labour MP – and sometime Corbynista – has managed to raise eyebrows in Parliament over his attempt at a Christmas bash. While the bulk of Christmas drinks events in Parliament come with warm wine, crisps and the odd G n T, Lewis's Christmas bash could be described as less generous on the catering front. Mr S understands that guests invited to his drinks this week were asked to bring... their own refreshments and snacks. Still, it's merrier than anything the Leader's Office are planning. Jeremy Corbyn is yet to send out an invite for Christmas drinks for hacks.

Monday

Henry Newman

For all its faults, May’s Brexit deal might be the best option Leave MPs have

Several cabinet ministers have publicly backed a series of indicative votes in the Commons on the various Brexit options. I understand why, but they're wrong: this approach is both messy and misguided. The best thing for MPs is to spend their Christmas break thinking carefully. Those who have criticised Theresa May's Brexit deal should carefully think through their opposition. It's my view that reports of the death of May's deal are greatly exaggerated. It's obvious there are only now three real options when it comes to Brexit: Leave with no deal; Leave with May's deal; or, don't Leave. Every possible path falls into one of these three boxes. Managed no deal (whatever that is or isn't) is a way of dressing up no deal with a nice bow.

Katy Balls

Corbyn tables a motion of no confidence in May – will it backfire?

After an afternoon of will-they-won't-they over Labour's threat to table a motion of no confidence, Jeremy Corbyn has told the Speaker he will do just this. However, where earlier reports suggested the no confidence vote would be in the government, it will now be in Theresa May herself. This is important because a confidence motion in the Prime Minister personally has no legal or constitutional force – were May to lose it she would not need to resign. It is also up to the government whether they make time for it – they don't have to. Given that Labour have no opposition day debates left to set the agenda, it could just not happen. The Labour leader's decision to do this comes after a bizarre afternoon filled with contradicting messages from party figures.

James Forsyth

Theresa May’s Brexit deal isn’t dead yet

One might have expected today’s Commons statement to go rather badly for Theresa May. After all, she had gone to the European Council seeking legal and political assurances and come back with very little. Her anger was shown by the way she confronted Jean-Claude Juncker over his description of her as ‘nebulous’. But it actually turned out rather well for her. May’s decision to say that the meaningful vote will take place in the week of the 14th of January meant that Jeremy Corbyn’s threat – that he’d call a no confidence vote in her personally, if she wouldn’t name a date for the meaningful vote – lost whatever force it might have had. Without that, Corbyn’s response lacked impact and direction.

Steerpike

Watch: Leave MP kicked out of Sky News interview

As we get closer to Brexit day in March and the campaigners for a second referendum begin to gain momentum, tensions are starting to run seriously high in the Westminster village. But the most recent spat between two MPs might just be the most remarkable sign yet of how fraught relations have become between Remainers and Leavers. On Sky News, Labour MP and second referendum supporter Anna Turley locked horns with Conservative MP David TC Davies about the impact no deal Brexit would have on the country's economy. As the two sparred over which economic forecasts by the Treasury should be taken more seriously, Davies - unable to get a word in - took the unusual step of declaring that he would look at his phone while he waited for Turley to finish.