Brexit

Boris Johnson’s political strategy is the same as his Brexit strategy

Boris Johnson is running an outside / in campaign, I say in The Sun this morning.. If he’s to get the UK out of the EU by October 31st—the defining pledge of his leadership bid—then he’s got to get the public to put pressure on parliament. The new Prime Minister needs MPs to think that they’ll pay an electoral price for standing in his way. That’s why he is in full campaign mode: firing out popular policies, touring the country and making big speeches. A sizable poll bounce would mean that MPs would be far less likely to try and throw obstacles in Boris Johnson’s way. After all, what’s the

Leo Varadkar ramps up the rhetoric on Boris’s Brexit demands

Since entering No. 10, Boris Johnson has made clear that any route to a Brexit deal must involve ditching the backstop that currently sits in the withdrawal agreement. If that’s not possible, he intends to take the UK out of the EU without a deal. The backstop was the major stumbling block for Theresa May passing that deal – something she failed to do three times – and her government had sought to secure a time limit to make it more palatable to MPs. Brussels refused to play ball. With Johnson asking for more drastic changes, will he have any luck? So far, the signs are not particularly positive. While

Letters | 25 July 2019

Rose is the right choice Sir: Every Wednesday for the past nine years, it has been my privilege to attend the lunchtime Eucharist services in the Parliamentary Chapel, conducted by the Speaker’s Chaplain Rose Hudson-Wilkin. These routine acts of worship are not public, but are attended by parliamentary staff, MPs and peers. Central to them are Rose’s homilies and prayers, which are spiritual life-support to those of us who serve and navigate our increasingly fraught politics. I did not recognise the person described by Ysenda Maxtone Graham in her article (‘Kent’s new Rose’, 20 July) and noted with some concern the author’s emphasis on perceived political agendas, which we are

Boris begins

It’s hard to think of a prime minister who has reached No. 10 with lower expectations. Boris Johnson has been dismissed as a philandering clown, a joker calamitously miscast as prime minister in a moment of national crisis. Obloquy has been hurled at him every time he has taken a new job — from mayor of London to foreign secretary. When he became editor of this magazine, his critics said putting The Spectator into the hands of such an oaf was like asking an ape to look after a Ming vase. At every stage, however, Boris’s critics have been confounded. His jobs change, but his style remains. His belief is that

The anti-Boris demo was a screech of middle-class rage

Last night’s ‘F**k Boris’ demo in London really was an extraordinary spectacle. It felt almost historic. For what we had here was a gathering of radicals raging against a new Tory PM for threatening to upend the political status quo. Yes, these supposedly edgy, rebellious, pink- and blue-haired haters of Conservatism were essentially pleading with Boris not to be so revolutionary. It was bizarre. There may have been music and dancing and weed — the soulless whiff of that deadening drug was everywhere — but this was fundamentally a conservative protest. Small-c, natch. It was a plea to keep Euro-technocracy intact and not to cave in to the demands of

Full text: PM Boris’s first speech in the Commons

Mr Speaker, I with permission, shall make a statement on the mission of this new Conservative Government. But before I begin, I am sure the whole House will join me in paying tribute to my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Maidenhead – for all that she has given in the service of our nation. From fighting modern slavery to tackling the problems of mental ill-health – she has a great legacy on which we shall all be proud to build. And our mission is to deliver Brexit on the 31st of October for the purpose of uniting and re-energising our great United Kingdom and making this country the greatest place on earth. And

Who’s afraid of Jo Swinson? Corbynistas

When I was fresh out of university, I applied for a job as a parliamentary aide to Jo Swinson. The MP for East Dunbartonshire was full of promise and more to my political tastes then than the clunky managerialism of new PM Gordon Brown. She rejected me. If nothing else, this shows Swinson has sound judgement. After all, I would have made a terrible Lib Dem staffer. I was – and remain – in favour of the Iraq War, the war on terror, tuition fees, first past the post, nuclear power and erecting a statue of Tony Blair in every parish in the land. For many years, that was the

Best of three

With Boris Johnson finally in No. 10 we now have a prime minister who says he is committed to Britain leaving the EU on 31 October, deal or no deal. According to popular wisdom, the only way of avoiding the latter is for the government to negotiate a modified version of Theresa May’s deal, perhaps with the removal of the hated Irish backstop, or at least with a more easily digestible version. But these are not the only two options. As Boris hinted during his leadership campaign, only to be unfairly cut down, there is a third way. May’s deal is based on a withdrawal agreement (WA) negotiated under Article

The Boris show

Boris Johnson’s first 100 days will make or break him — which is what makes his premiership unlike any other. In his favour is his ability to rally support in the country; against him the realities of a hung parliament. How will he begin? It’s already clear that Boris Johnson intends to be an unconventional prime minister. His personality is such that he’s likely to eclipse all else in government. This is going to be the Boris Johnson show. Supporters and critics alike will be determined to keep him in the spotlight. He won’t change his style now that he has got the top job and privately, he is dismissive

How not to make TV

BBC2’s How the Middle Classes Ruined Britain (Tuesday) began rather promisingly. ‘I’m a working-class comedian who voted Leave,’ announced presenter Geoff Norcott, ‘and I think it’s about time you lot heard some home truths.’ But then came the programme itself — which turned out to be the TV equivalent of a footballer who, faced with an open goal, dribbles about aimlessly before falling over. The first bit of aimless dribbling followed the shock news that middle-class parents often try to get their children into the best local schools, sometimes by claiming to live nearer to them than they do. To prove it, Norcott joined Havering Council’s ‘dedicated team of sleuths’

‘Britain’s new nadir’: How the world’s papers reacted to Boris’s victory

Love him or hate him, Boris Johnson is big news. His victory in the Tory leadership race – and imminent appointment as Britain’s next PM – has filled newspapers around the world this morning. Brexit aside, it’s rare these days for British politics to make the front pages of papers outside of the UK. But Boris is something of an exception. From the United States, to France, Italy and Spain, here is what the world’s press makes of prime minister Boris. Across the Atlantic, the New York Times warns that the Brexit situation has escalated into a ‘nightmare’ and that Johnson’s ‘policy swerves, lack of attention to detail and contradictory

Jeremy Hunt’s big risk

Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to take the job of Defence Secretary means that for the first time since 2001, the runner up in the Tory leadership contest won’t serve on the winner’s front bench. Hunt’s decision not to take the job of Defence Secretary is not without risk for him. Many Tory members and MPs regard it as one of the best jobs in government so deciding that it is essentially beneath him won’t go down well with everyone. The first half of this reshuffle has been brutal, 17 departures from the Cabinet—11 forced. This is a dangerous strategy given that the government’s working majority in combination with the DUP is

Can the Tory party survive Prime Minister Boris Johnson?

Some thoughts on the arrival in office of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, based on his first speech, his first appointments and some conversations with people in different parts of the Conservative party and Whitehall today.  These are not all my own predictions; some belong to others. But they’re under my name, so I’ll be happy to answer for them when – and if – they’re proven wrong: 1. A no-deal exit from the EU is much more likely than financial markets currently imply, and much more likely to become the de facto object of UK government policy Johnson’s speech gave him very, very little room for manoeuvre over Brexit. As

Watch: Boris Johnson’s first speech as Prime Minister

Boris Johnson has just delivered his first speech as Prime Minister. On the steps of No.10 Downing Street, Boris hit out at ‘doubters…doomsters (and) gloomsters’ as he pledged to take Britain out of the EU by October 31, ‘no ifs no buts’. ‘The buck stops with me,’ he said. Here is the full video: And here is the full text of Boris’s speech: Good afternoon. I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen who has invited me to form a government and I have accepted. I pay tribute to the fortitude and patience of my predecessor and her deep sense of public service but in spite of all

Meet the Tories who think Theresa May is Britain’s greatest PM

Forget Churchill. Never mind the Iron Duke. Ignore the claims of Pitt the Younger. The greatest prime minister in British history is Theresa May. That was the message from PMQs today. Tory after Tory stood up to heap praise on their departing chief. Wages are up. Homelessness is falling. Employment is on the rise, thanks to her brilliant captaincy of the nation. We heard about honour, duty, courtesy and public service. It seems that she carried each of these virtues to a pitch that no successor can surpass. ‘Fantastic’ was the only word to describe her policies on mental health. Her domestic violence agenda, we were told, will be an

Watch: Labour frontbench spoil the party at May’s final PMQs

Theresa May’s time at Parliament’s despatch box is up. The Prime Minister has just faced her final session of PMQs, finishing off by telling MPs the ‘duty’ to ‘serve my constituents will remain my greatest motivation’. Here is the video of the moment she said goodbye: Most MPs stood up and applauded the PM as she left the chamber. But Labour’s frontbench stayed firmly in their seats. This marks something of a change from the norm. After all, when Tony Blair said goodbye, Tory MPs joined in the standing ovation… And when David Cameron stepped down, Labour MPs still managed a round of applause. This time around, there was stony

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. One leader of the pro-EU movement here – who has been

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. Haldane’s argument is that the major downside risks to