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My Lords and Members of the House of Commons. My Government’s priority is to deliver the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 January. My Ministers will bring forward legislation to ensure the United Kingdom’s exit on that date and to make the most of the opportunities that this brings for all the
It’s not exactly going to be a fun day at the office for Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader’s decision to stay in post until his successor is found means that he retains the position of Leader of the Opposition, and all the responsibilities that entails. Which means today, not only will Corbyn have to suffer
The newly-elected MP for Leicester East and loyal Corbynite Claudia Webbe spoke to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme earlier this morning. Webbe was asked why her party failed so badly at the general election but appeared unable to answer Nick Robinson’s simple line of questioning. Rather than responding to questions about the popularity of the policies,
Despite being beaten by an Old Etonian with ‘de Pfeffel’ as his middle name, the Labour Party has descended into a rather predictable round of the Four Yorkshiremen, with competing factions arguing variously that voters in former ‘red wall’ seats will only return to Labour if it is led by a northerner, a woman and
The far left controls the Labour bureaucracy, its National Executive Committee, its policy making, manifesto writing, many of its constituency parties, and its affiliated unions – either directly in the case of Unite, or indirectly by terrifying their leaders into complicit silence, as in the case of Unison, If it adds the deputy leadership to
When the general election was called by Boris Johnson over a month ago, one truly unpredictable factor in the race was the Brexit party. Would Nigel Farage’s movement end up splitting the Leave vote across the country, thereby denying the Tories a majority? Or would the party mainly damage Labour’s chances, and manage to scoop
I recently met an old friend at a party. She works for a Christian NGO. Later that evening we were introduced to a man with a background in software engineering. Having learnt about my friend’s job and then discovered that she goes to church, he asked her how old she thought the universe is. Her
Much of the nation breathed a sigh of relief when the exit poll was released. Whatever one’s views of the Tories, their clear majority has at least saved the country from yet more years of argument and damaging uncertainty. All the other major parties were committed to overturning the result of the 2016 referendum. At
Last week’s election saw 140 new MPs joining the House of Commons, along with 15 former parliamentarians who have managed to regain a place. 2019 has seen a record number of women entering parliament as well as the most ethnically diverse set of MPs yet elected. Many of the new intake have impressive CVs and
They said it 1. Greta Thunberg (to the UN) 2. The Duke of York 3. Dawn Butler, as the shadow secretary for women and equalities 4. Donald Tusk, as the President of the European Council 5. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, as his first words as the newly elected Speaker 6. Boris Johnson, of applying for delay to
In this week’s Book Club podcast, I talk to the ‘demon dog’ of American letters, James Ellroy — whose latest book is This Storm. In a wide-ranging and somewhat NSFW conversation, we talk about misquoting Auden, why Ellroy hates Orson Welles, how he maps out the byzantine plots of his novels, why as a recovering
The two most significant consequences of this election are that the United Kingdom is leaving the EU and the Tories are a national party in a way that they haven’t been for decades. Boris Johnson’s critics relish saying that these two things are incompatible, that there is no way that Brexit can be made to
First, a warning. This is one of those articles where I use the word ‘penis’ a lot. Yes, another one. No, I don’t enjoy it much either, but sometimes it’s unavoidable. Sorry. Now, some law. Specifically, the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Among other things, it defines the crime of rape, in Sections 1 and 5.
As the week rolls on, the recriminations just keep coming. One thing is for sure, its still not Jeremy’s fault. So, despite the best evidence to the contrary, Mr S has decided to update the list of reasons given by Corbynistas as to why their leader fell so flat. The ‘print media’ Dawn Butler was
Billy Liar, by Keith Waterhouse Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, by John le Carré To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf The Return of the Native, by Thomas Hardy Lord of the Flies, by William Golding The Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy Middlemarch, by George Eliot Jamaica Inn, by Daphne du
Reactions to the landslide victory of Boris Johnson have been rather positive on the other side of the Channel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel for example, stated: ‘To be honest, many are now happy to see a clear result. Boris must be recognised for having managed to convince lots of citizens. Chapeau.’ So what’s next? First, the
The first meeting of the parliamentary Labour party since the party’s disastrous election defeat began with a round of applause. Only it wasn’t for Jeremy Corbyn. Instead MPs clapped in tribute to those colleagues who had lost their seats in the party’s worst election showing since 1935. The reaction the beleaguered Labour leader received was
If you believe betting odds, Rebecca Long-Bailey is a shoo-in to be Labour leader, after the shadow chancellor John McDonnell on Sunday anointed her as the candidate most likely to build on the Corbyn/McDonnell project. But punters may be getting ahead of themselves. For one thing, I am told that a YouGov poll of Labour
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have just faced one another in the Commons for the first time in this new Parliament, though it is highly unlikely to be the last. The pair were responding to the election of the new Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and both chose to use their statements to make a few remarks
Just how could the Conservatives win so many seats in working class areas in the Midlands and North, areas which the party stands accused of hollowing out through its cruel monetarist policies in the 1980s? There is a fairly simple answer to this: it is no longer the 1980s, and areas which were once hollowed
Nicola Sturgeon is busy demanding a second referendum on whether Scotland should leave the UK. Boris Johnson should ignore her. And the last few years of British politics shows exactly why. If there is one lesson that Brexit has taught the country since the referendum, it is that if the public are to be asked questions
Thursday was a routing for Labour but the reckoning is still to come. Four years into the Corbyn project, and two years after it should have happened, the country crushed the Labour party for embracing the most extreme and dangerous figure in mainstream British politics since Oswald Mosley. For British Jews, who have been put
As we reach the end of an incredible year, we at The Spectator are delighted to announce our latest sales figures: 81,900 for the third quarter of this year. That means we close this decade with sales up 43 per cent, in a magazine market that has declined by 63 per cent. Not bad for
This is my 35th year in the BBC. I have covered every general election since 1987 and have presented countless election results programmes since then. But this December 2019 election provided my first overnight stint in the anchor’s chair, a stint which includes revealing the result of the Exit Poll at 10pm precisely. There are
Those who thought Boris Johnson would exploit his huge majority to be flexible on the end-2020 deadline for negotiating a trade agreement with the EU will be proved wrong at the end of the week. Because I understand that the revised Withdrawal Agreement Bill will put into law that the transition arrangements with the EU,
With a majority of 80, Boris Johnson has his pick when it comes to forming his new look government. However, for now the Prime Minister is contenting himself with a mere minor reshuffle – with plans for a wide-ranging reshuffle in the new year. Today he has filled vacancies in his Cabinet made from MPs standing
We won’t see the full scope of what Boris Johnson plans to do for life after Brexit until the new year. There will be a few appointments this afternoon to replace gaps in the government, and then the Queen’s Speech will introduce the legislative agenda on Thursday. But the full launch of the new government
As soon as the exit poll was released on Thursday night, showing that Labour had been decimated in the general election, most people expected that the party would spend the next few months (or longer) tearing itself apart. Even so, few expected that that its representatives would have begun suing each other so soon after
It is a little over four years since The Spectator journalist Toby Young joined the Labour party for three quid in order to vote for Jeremy Corbyn as leader. May I be the first to suggest that we should all do the same thing now, as Jeremy will soon, sadly, be going? We need to
Has Greta Thunberg been caught out repeating the same trick as Jeremy Corbyn? Thunberg tweeted an image of herself sitting on the floor of what she described as an ‘overcrowded’ train on her way back to Sweden: https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1205969006982815751?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw However, the tweet quickly sparked controversy with German train operator Deutsche Bahn appearing to derail Greta’s suggestion
It’s the first proper day in the Commons for newly-elected MPs, though many of them took part in induction sessions organised by the House yesterday. This evening, Conservative MPs will have a drinks reception with Boris Johnson, where the new Prime Minister will reiterate his commitment to spending this week getting Brexit done. The first
The last few days have seen a rapidly coarsening Labour debate over who is ultimately responsible for the party’s historic election loss. Corbyn-sceptics have criticised the leadership’s perceived failures while supporters have been flailing around in a desperate attempt to blame anyone but the leader himself. One such Corbyn cheerleader is Andy McDonald, who spoke
In the immediate aftermath of an election, its meaning is established. Once this is fixed, it is almost impossible to shift. There are plenty of such mythical explanations for defeat. Most famously, in 1959 Hugh Gaitskell and his supporters claimed Labour had lost its third election in a row because of the party’s association with
This “Brexit election” was about a lot more than Britain and the European Union. It was about the future of globalisation. As Gordon Brown underlined after the referendum, voters who chose to leave the EU had suffered unrelenting indignities on the “wrong side of globalisation”. These voters rang the alarm bells again in the European
