Politics Archives

Thursday

21 April 2022

Boris gets airbrushed in his backyard

Boris Johnson was always dubbed the 'Heineken Tory' – the man who could always reach parts of the country which other Conservatives couldn't. But now it seems that appeal hasn't extended as far as, er, his own backyard ahead of next month's local elections. For Hillingdon Tories appear to have removed any trace of the Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP from their election literature, following his recent woes over Partygate and the cost of living crisis. Local elections are of course a matter for local candidates but political parties haven't hesitated to put their leaders onto past leaflets when they think they're onto a winner.

Steerpike

The SNP’s latest transparency gaffe

It seems that the spirit of COP26 is still alive and well in Edinburgh. For the SNP's parliamentarians have begun recycling their speeches at Holyrood, regardless of the occasion. Amid claims that the Scottish nationalists are nothing but a bunch of unthinking, zombie–like drones, blindly following the latest directive from Bute House, backbencher Willie Coffey MSP has decided to, er, conform exactly to type. For the Kilmarnock MSP caused laughter in the Scottish parliament yesterday by delivering a concluding speech when standing up to introduce a debate. Coffey opened his closing remarks by saying: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I thought that I was closing the debate, so this is a closing speech, as I am sure members will soon hear...

Katy Balls

The survivor: how much longer can Boris Johnson keep going?

On Tuesday night, after apologising again to the House of Commons for breaking lockdown rules, Boris Johnson addressed a private meeting of Tory MPs. He had a message for his critics: ‘This is the beginning of the end.’ ‘For a minute, I thought he was talking about himself,’ says one MP. In fact, the Prime Minister was referring to his belief that the biggest political scandal of his premiership is reaching its finale – one in which he comes out on top. Some of the MPs in attendance struggled to see much to be optimistic about. Johnson subjected the country to draconian lockdown rules which the police have found he did not observe, making him the first prime minister in history to admit to breaking the law while in office.

Peter Hunt

Can the Queen’s Jubilee spark a royal recovery?

I don’t know. Three words rarely uttered by commentators seeking a paid berth on a television studio sofa or a cruise ship. In this lucrative royal world of certainty, the Queen walks on water; Prince William is sinned against, Prince Harry is the sinner; and Andrew’s transgressions are the fault of no one other than a prince who perspires no more. Viewed through this lens, any jubilee balcony appearance in June by Meghan and Harry would teeter on the edge of being treasonable. Such clarity defies the reality. The Windsors inhabit a world of grey, where obfuscation trumps transparency and ‘sources’ or ‘royal insiders’ fill the void left by the paucity of on the record statements.

Wednesday

20 April 2022

Katy Balls

Will Tory MPs rebel in partygate vote?

11 min listen

Tomorrow there will be a vote in the Commons where Labour is pushing for an investigation into whether Boris Johnson is in contempt of Parliament over his comments on partygate. Which way will the Tory MPs vote?'Tory MPs are sick to the back teeth of partygate now' - James Forsyth.All to be discussed as Katy Balls speaks to James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson.

Theo Hobson

Boris Johnson is right about Justin Welby

The Prime Minister told Tory MPs that church leaders had been 'less vociferous in their condemnation on Easter Sunday of Putin than they were on our policy on illegal immigrants'. Lambeth Palace called this 'a disgraceful slur'. So who is right? If the PM’s comment is confined to the archbishop of Canterbury, he appears to be technically correct. Welby’s high-profile sermon did attack the asylum policy in strong terms, and it had no such harsh words for Putin himself (even if he did say Easter should be a 'time for Russian ceasefire, withdrawal and a commitment to talks'). Not only did Welby say that the deal raised 'serious ethical questions'; he went into full prophet mode and declared that it would not 'stand the judgment of God'.

Lloyd Evans

Has Boris finally shaken off cake gate?

This was it. Boris’s career was on the line at PMQs. Would he finally beat cake-gate or would he get hit in the face with a huge cream pie? As soon as Sir Keir mentioned cake, Boris brushed it aside. ‘I think he’s in a Dr Who time-warp,’ he said. ‘We had this conversation yesterday.’ He added a trite expression of regret about his fixed penalty notice. And he shortened it to ‘FPN’ which sounds obscure and harmless. It was a big risk to mention Dr Who and time-warps. Sir Keir had the chance to punish this flippancy by leaping on his high horse and claiming that the PM was treating breaches of Covid rules as a joke. But Sir Keir stuck to his scripted plan and asked the PM to confirm that he’d broken the law.

Tom Slater

Banning Russian players from Wimbledon will backfire

We need to talk about Russophobia. There really is no other word for the swiftness with which Russian sportspeople and artists are being expelled from international competitions and festivals, for no other crime than being born Russian. While all right-thinking people condemn Russia’s brutal, imperialist invasion of Ukraine, the neo-McCarthyism ripping through various western institutions is getting really ugly – and will prove completely counter-productive. Hot on the heels of Fifa – that most morally unimpeachable of sports bodies – banning Russia from the World Cup, Wimbledon’s organisers are now on the verge of announcing a complete ban of Russian (and Belarusian) tennis players.

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Starmer’s attacks are working

Prime Minister's Questions took a rather bizarre twist this afternoon when the Labour leader ended up demanding Boris Johnson apologise to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Prime Minister reportedly complained to Tory MPs last night about Justin Welby's criticism of the government's Rwanda asylum policy. Sources at the meeting said Johnson had claimed Welby was ‘less vociferous’ about Vladimir Putin than he had about this policy – something the Church of England has already condemned as a 'disgraceful slur'. Johnson did not apologise, instead saying: I was slightly taken aback for the government to be criticised over the policy that we have devised to end the deaths at sea in the Channel as a result of cruel criminal gangs.

Sam Leith

Gideon Rachman: The Age of the Strongman

45 min listen

My guest in this week’s Book Club podcast is the FT’s foreign affairs columnist Gideon Rachman. In his new book The Age of the Strongman, he takes a global look at the rise of personality-cult autocrats. He tells me what they have in common, what’s new about this generation of strongman leaders – and why his book places Boris Johnson in a cast including Putin, Orban, Bolsonaro and Duterte.

Steerpike

Sir Keir’s selective responsibility

Sir Keir Starmer is riding highs in the polls, topping Boris Johnson as the preferred PM of the people. Sober, studied and serious: after the ups and downs of the past six years, he's (apparently) looking like an increasingly attractive offering to a weary electorate. But Mr S is somewhat perturbed by the Labour leader's selective memory when it comes to trading on his legal career. Starmer served as Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) between 2008 and 2013, having previously spent two decades training as a barrister.

James Kirkup

Mark Harper is an honourable politician

This is a short story about Mark Harper MP, who is making headlines. These days Harper is probably best known as a backbench critic of Covid restrictions, but he once had a promising career as a minister, including a spell in David Cameron’s cabinet between 2015 to 2016. But that career hit a bump in early 2014 when he quit his post as immigration minister. I was running the Telegraph’s political team at the time. Many ministerial resignations are unmemorable, but Harper’s sticks in the memory. He quit because he learned that a cleaner he paid to look after his London flat did not have legal permission to live and work in the UK.

James Forsyth

Tory MPs do not want a vote on partygate

Nearly every Tory MP I have spoken to this morning has used the word ‘exhausted’ to describe their mood. They are tired of this scandal and worried about how long it may have to run. Their general view on yesterday was that Boris Johnson did ‘enough to get through’. But there are, as Katy notes, increasing nerves about tomorrow’s vote on whether to refer Johnson to the privileges committee over his Commons statements that no rules were broken in Downing Street. They know how Labour will use the vote against them and they worry that Starmer might bring this motion again once the Sue Gray report is out.

Coffee House

Full list: which Tory MPs are backing Boris?

Boris Johnson last night addressed the 1922 committee, ahead of Thursday's crunch vote on whether to conduct a parliamentary investigation into his handling of partygate. The Prime Minister received a warm reception from Tory MPs but many are still refusing him to back him publicly. Of the 357 Conservative MPs in the House, fewer than a third have spoken out in support of Johnson. Nine MPs calling for him to go: 1. Nigel Mills: 'He’s been fined, I don’t think his position is tenable.' 2. Anthony Mangnall: 'Horrified by the conduct of the PM.' 3.Caroline Nokes: 'I have not withdrawn the letter of no confidence in Boris Johnson that I wrote months ago to Sir Graham Brady...

Tuesday

19 April 2022

Katy Balls

What did Boris tell his MPs about partygate?

After Boris Johnson faced a hostile response in the chamber from opposition MPs over his partygate fine, on Tuesday evening the Prime Minister addressed his own MPs in a meeting organised by the government whips. Ahead of the meeting, Johnson had been dealt a blow when former chief whip Mark Harper said he no longer had confidence in his ability to lead the government. Johnson’s meeting was notable for what it missed: no mention of partygate. ‘It was more like an election rally speech,’ says an attendee. The Prime Minister embarked on a call and command as he asked MPs who they would trust more with the economy – Rishi Sunak or Rachel Reeves – and who would best control the borders – Priti Patel or Yvette Cooper.

Katy Balls

Boris says sorry. Is it enough?

13 min listen

Boris Johnson faced MPs today for the first time since he was issued a fine for breaking lockdown rules. He apologised in the Commons, but maintained that he did not know he was breaking any rules at the time. Is that enough?Katy Balls speaks to Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth.

Isabel Hardman

Johnson’s partygate apology ploy

Boris Johnson bundled his Commons apology for breaking Covid laws together with an update on Ukraine because he wanted to try to draw a line under the matter. He spent a couple of minutes reiterating his apology that he'd already given in response to his fixed penalty notice, before performing a handbrake turn and saying: And it is precisely because I know that so many people are angry and disappointed, that I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people, and to respond in the best traditions of our country to Putin’s barbaric onslaught against Ukraine.

Patrick O’Flynn

Theresa May and the new Tory awkward squad

The Tory party has always had an 'awkward squad' of MPs ready to stir up trouble against their party leadership at the slightest pretext. Its members used to be right-wingers marked out by their penchant for extravagant attire – stripey blazers and bow ties loomed large – and their failure ever to get near a career on the frontbench. These days the awkward squad is made up of a dispossessed establishment of former ministers who served under Theresa May. And it is led by May herself. When the former PM stood up in the Commons today to question Home Secretary Priti Patel about her new deal with Rwanda to take asylum seekers, it hardly came as a surprise when she immediately stated her opposition to it on grounds of 'legality, practicality and efficacy'. https://www.

Steerpike

Former Tory chief whip calls for Boris to quit

It never rains for No. 10 but it pours. After both Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak were last week fined in recess for breaching lockdown laws, the Prime Minister returned to parliament today to atone for his sins. And it's not been a happy afternoon for Johnson as opposition leader after opposition leader denounced him in the strongest possible terms. Keir Starmer and Ed Davey both won plaudits for their interventions – even Ian Blackford was heard in near reverential silence. Johnson is expected to win the looming Commons vote on an investigation into Partygate but he might not be able to navigate other challenges to his position so easily.

Isabel Hardman

What’s the real point of Priti Patel’s Rwanda migrant plan?

Why is Priti Patel trying to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda? Is it to stop so many of them drowning in the Channel after their people smugglers' inflatable boats have sunk? Is it to help develop the Rwandan economy? Or is this purely a political move? The Home Secretary naturally claimed the first two justifications for her new policy when she gave a statement about it in the Commons this afternoon, and faced accusations from the Opposition that she was really pursuing the third. The most stinging criticism came not from the Labour frontbench, though, but from one of Patel's own Conservative predecessors as Home Secretary, former prime minister Theresa May.