Politics Archives

Thursday

1 November 2018

Tracey Crouch resigns over fixed odds betting delay

The Budget appeared to have landed well. Tory MPs at PMQs on Wednesday were in a notably better mood than normal; a fight with Labour over a tax cut cheered them all up. But this evening some of the sheen has come off the Budget with the resignation of the Sports Minister Tracey Crouch. Crouch has gone over the fact that the stake limit for fixed odds betting terminals is not coming in as quickly as expected. Crouch’s resignation is embarrassing for the government as the main reason that this ban, which would take the maximum stake down from £100 to £2, isn’t coming in quicker is the amount of tax revenue the government makes out of these machines.

Tom Goodenough

Arron Banks facing police probe over Brexit campaign spending

Arron Banks has been referred to the National Crime Agency in relation to alleged wrongdoing during the referendum. The Electoral Commission said it had ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect that Banks was not the ‘true source’ of an £8m loan made to Better for the Country, which ran Leave.EU’s campaign. It also said that the money being investigated might have come from ‘impermissible sources’. Banks’ Leave. EU campaign, as well as Liz Bilney, another senior figure in the organisation, are also now being investigated by the NCA.

Rachel Cunliffe

The William Sitwell row is nothing to do with free speech

When William Sitwell fired off a rude response to a vegan journalist he probably didn't think it would cost him his job as editor of Waitrose Food magazine. Nor is it likely that he would have anticipated his email kickstarting the latest battle in the ongoing culture war. Yet that is exactly what has happened. At first glance, the story seems clear-cut: it is surely just another clash between the outrage army of censorious, over-sensitive millennials – so-called 'snowflakes' – and the free speech warriors. The former seek out offence; the latter decry Sitwell's departure as another example of ‘political correctness gone mad’. The thought police have struck again, they say, claiming that this shows how expressing the wrong opinions can cost you your job.

Douglas Murray

Mutti’s last days

Whatever anyone’s views on the enterprise, there was one question always begging to be asked of the European Union: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ At an early stage it wasn’t clear to everyone. Then the purpose and direction of travel seemed agreed — under the stewardship of Angela Merkel. She was there to settle disputes, authorise bailouts, offer German help to struggling nations and protect the project as it led to ever-closer union. Whatever else can be said of it, with Merkel at the helm at least the EU appeared to have direction. Not anymore. This week — after another political drubbing for the CDU in Hesse — the German Chancellor announced that she would not seek re-election as head of the party she has led for 18 years.

James Forsyth

Spending Corbyn’s inheritance

There’s a spectre haunting the Tories — the spectre of 1997. Tories fear that history could be about to repeat itself. That after several years in office, they spend a parliamentary term arguing about Europe and plotting against their weak leader with the result that Labour wins the next election by a handsome margin. Back then, the Tories left Labour with a ‘golden inheritance’. John Major’s government had done the responsible thing on the economy. It had pared down the deficit, even putting VAT on domestic fuel in an attempt to help balance the books. But the party’s reward for this was its worst defeat since universal suffrage was introduced.

Martin Vander Weyer

Has Hammond saved the high street? No, but every little helps

How much did Philip Hammond’s giveaway Budget help dying town centres? Not enough, say campaigners, but let’s give the Chancellor some credit. A one-third relief in business rates for retail properties with a rateable value of less than £51,000 means an annual saving of up to £8,000 for a huge number of small businesses; pubs where people still drink beer and spirits in old-fashioned style benefit from a duty freeze that one industry body says will ‘secure upwards of 3,000 jobs’; and there’s money to help convert disused premises into homes.

Katy Balls

Losing the plot | 1 November 2018

How to explain Theresa May’s resilience? As Prime Minister, she has survived mishaps and calamities that would have finished off her predecessors. She has no shortage of rebels keen to succeed or denounce her, but all seem oddly unable to act. Why? The answer might lie in a group messaging service which seems to have disabled the ancient art of the Tory coup: WhatsApp. Tory backbenchers are so addicted to this app that these days they cannot tear themselves away from their screens. It gives them the impression of being plugged into each other’s lives, when the opposite is true. Where MPs would once have met to scheme and gossip, they now send bad-tempered encrypted messages.

Wednesday

31 October 2018

Rod Liddle

Why should we listen to Mike Leigh rant about Brexit?

Another well-heeled luvvee who knows better than the working class people he patronises in his dreadful films. Mike Leigh, then, in an interview from the Nonexistant, I mean Independent: Cut to Brexit,” he continues. “Some boneheads might say; ‘Hang on a minute, we’ve got the vote now and 52 per cent [voted to leave the EU]…’. But what role did the truth play in people’s decision to vote Brexit? And to what extent has real truthfulness motivated what’s gone on since, politically? I go to Cornwall quite a lot, and there were huge signs saying ‘vote leave’, and I talked to intelligent, working people [who were] saying: ‘No, we’ve got to get out of Europe.

Ross Clark

The simple solution to the V&A’s Brexit fears

Now it is London museums bleating about Brexit. A memo from the V&A released under Freedom of Information laws, warns darkly: 'we will struggle to keep the museum open to the public in the immediate short term'. A no deal Brexit, it is claimed, could affect visitor numbers from the EU, diminish donations and also affect the ability of the museum to stage travelling exhibitions. As with so many Brexit scare stories, it has the whiff of hysteria. But if the V&A and other museums do ever feel the pinch they could, of course, resort to an action they should have taken years ago: start charging an entry fee. It is astonishing that our museums and galleries are prepared to forgo a source of income that virtually all other museums and galleries around the world take for granted.

Lloyd Evans

May and Corbyn’s austerity tug-of-war at PMQs

The leaders played austerity tug-of-war at PMQs today. Is it over yet? Yes it is, said Theresa May. Not for years, said Jeremy Corbyn. Back and forth they went. Eventually they’d swung around 180 degrees and swapped positions. Corbyn seemed to want more austerity. May seemed thrilled that it was finished – a policy that Corbyn has long called for. But, he asked, isn’t the social security budget due to shrink by a further £5bn? ‘Yes or no?’ The PM ignored this and asked him about tax-cuts for higher earners announced in Monday’s Budget. ‘Will you vote for them?’ Tricky for Corbyn. If he opposes the cuts he penalises millions. If he accepts them he’ll be condemned as a far-right, tax-slashing, hug-a-millionaire class-traitor.

Steerpike

John Bercow’s plan to ‘Modernise Parliament’

It’s not been an easy month for Speaker John Bercow. Dogged by allegations of bullying and intolerant behaviour, he’s so far only managed to cling on to his job by promising to resign in the summer of 2019. Yet his imminent departure from political life has not stopped the indefatigable Speaker from giving his own opinions about how Parliament should be turned into a modern workplace. Mr S can reveal that yesterday morning, at an event organised by British Council, Bercow was the star speaker of an event titled ‘Modernising Parliament’ for young leaders. https://twitter.

Alexander Downer

Opening the e-passport gates to Australians is a smart move

The announcement in this week’s Budget that Australians (as well as those from the US, Canada, Japan and New Zealand) will have access to e-passport gates when entering the UK is a welcome sign that Britain is serious about going global. The million or so Australians who visit each year are sure to be delighted by this gesture. There’s a backstory here: when I was the Australian high commissioner in London, I told everyone in government with ears to hear (including the then-home secretary Theresa May) that Australians were upset about being subjected to long queues at Heathrow while EU citizens went through a special fast-track process. Frankly, given our history of fighting alongside Britain and our shared head of state, it was downright insensitive.

Steerpike

Watch: Peter Bone on Philip Hammond, ‘the king of Brexit’

Peter Bone has previously said Philip Hammond needs 'slapping down' over his plan for Brexit, but the Chancellor's Budget this week seems to have made Bone change his mind about his party colleague. The Tory backbencher said he had always thought that Hammond was a 'bit iffy about Brexit'. 'How wrong I was', he said. He told the Commons: 'Prime Minister, I always thought that you could be the queen of Brexit, but did you ever think the Chancellor could be the king of Brexit?' Mr S is delighted to finally see an end to the hostilities within the Tory party...

Steerpike

Will Cameron take his revenge on Merkel?

As James Kirkup writes on Coffee House, David Cameron's misreading of Angela Merkel contributed to Brexit. The then Prime Minister and his team believed that Cameron's personal relationship with Merkel – who apparently saw him as a 'naughty nephew' – would be enough to secure some important compromises in the renegotiation. Those compromises never came but Mr S has reason to suspect Cameron could soon take his revenge on his one time ally. A little birdy tells Steerpike that Merkel will have a starring role in Cameron's upcoming memoirs - only it won't be a particularly positive one. 'I hear he will not hold back when it comes to pointing out the role Merkel played in all this,' whispers a Cameroon. Watch this space.

Katy Balls

Tory fiscal hawks uncharacteristically relaxed about Hammond’s spending ‘gamble’

Although Philip Hammond's spending splurge Budget has received broadly positive front pages and a cautious thumbs up from the public, the Chancellor has been given a reality check by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). After crunching the numbers, IFS director Paul Johnson has concluded that Hammond had 'gambled' on the public finances. Johnson said that the Chancellor ought to be 'thanking his lucky stars' for his £12billion windfall from a revised public borrowing forecast. With no plan set out for how to fund this level of spending in the future, Johnson concluded that 'inevitable tax increases' would have to follow in order 'to pay for our ageing population'. On the Tory benches, it's widely accepted that this was a Budget that put off the difficult decisions.

Steerpike

Watch: Polly Toynbee vs George Osborne – ‘the idea that he’s a centrist!’

In recent years, George Osborne has attempted to rebrand himself. Once known as the austere chancellor, the Evening Standard editor is keen to be depicted these days as a liberal progressive – who has more in common with Emmanuel Macron than Boris Johnson. The problem is that many of those who regard themselves as progressive don't feel the same way. As was displayed on Newsnight when Grauniad hack Polly Toynbee launched a broadside on the former chancellor: 'This man has done such harm and damage to the country. He has been the most right wing chancellor we have ever had. Nor do I think your ideas are in the centre. The idea that he's a centrist. I mean you can talk about gay marriage – you'd never have done gay marriage if Labour hadn't done civil partnerships.

Tom Slater

What’s the real reason for the hold-up in the police’s Brexit probe?

Brexiteers are occasionally depicted as being a little paranoid. If you listen to some elite critics of Brexit, you would think that a sizeable chunk of those who voted to Leave are sharing dodgy anti-George Soros memes long into the night. You might think, too, that a few Brexit voters see elite stitch-ups everywhere and never let the truth get in the way of their anti-Brussels prejudices. But if there is a paranoid style in British politics at the moment, it is not being practised by the 17.4million. It’s coming from that small set of elite Remainers in politics and the media who are resorting to desperate measures in their campaign to overturn the referendum result and stop Brexit.

Tuesday

30 October 2018

Steerpike

Watch: Yvette Cooper clashes with Caroline Nokes

Yvette Cooper got more than she bargained for when she had a go at immigration minister Caroline Nokes at today's home affairs committee. The Labour MP rebuked Nokes after she complained about the meeting overrunning, telling her: You have been incredibly generous with your time and we really appreciate it. I would also say, however, we have only five months until these no deal arrangements have to be in place. Nokes's response? And with only five months to go some of my time this afternoon might have been scheduled for planning Mr S thinks Nokes has a point...

Matthew Lynn

Why the IFS is wrong about a ‘no deal’ Brexit

The growth forecasts might be too optimistic. The economy may yet turn down, the pressure on public services will only continue to rise, and, most of all, leaving the European Union may yet turn into a catastrophe. The Institute for Fiscal Studies did not waste much time in branding yesterday’s Budget ‘a bit of a gamble’, with plenty of risks attached to it. In saying so, the IFS no doubt reflects the mainstream view in the economics profession and probably among the professional scribblers of the City as well. And yet the truth is that Philip Hammond didn’t take enough of a gamble.

Alex Massie

I can’t get excited about this make-up and make-do Budget

I’m afraid that try as I might, I cannot be excited by Philip Hammond’s budget any more than he seemed excited to deliver it. How could it be otherwise when this is, in almost every respect, a make-up and make-do budget that is, in any case, held hostage to fortune? For understandable reasons, the Treasury prefers not to talk about Brexit. More than any other government department, it considers Brexit a lamentable episode of self-harm. At best, gains on the swings will be forfeited on the roundabouts and the Treasury is not inclined to believe that the best of all possible worlds is actually anything like the most probable kind of world. Brexit is mentioned just three times in the Red Book. The OBR, by contrast, is happy to wade into these murky waters.