Eu

Thursday

Matthew Lynn

If Deutsche Bank collapses, it’s taking the euro with it

The queues haven’t started forming outside branches in Frankfurt or Cologne yet. Even so, it is hard not to suspect that something is badly amiss at Deutsche Bank, Germany’s and indeed Europe’s mightiest financial institution, and the rock on which that economy is founded. The shares have been in freefall, and executives have been wheeled out to try and reassure everyone that all is well. For Deutsche to be in trouble is bad enough. But here’s the real problem. If Deutsche does go down, it is taking the euro down with it. Why? Because if Germany bails it out, the contrast with the punishment metered out to Greek banks will

James Forsyth

Lies, damned lies and the EU

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thenextrefugeecrisis/media.mp3″ title=”James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson discuss the PM’s argument for staying in” startat=763] Listen [/audioplayer]It is normally in the final, frantic days of a campaign that a multitude of dubious claims are made. But when it comes to the EU referendum, this has begun before the date of the vote has even been set. We’re told that anti-terrorism measures would be damaged by a British exit from the European Union, that migrant camps would sprout up in the garden of England and Six Nations rugby would never be the same again. The strangest claim of all isn’t Sir Charles Powell’s clairvoyant suggestion that Margaret Thatcher would vote to

Laura Pitel

Turkey can’t cope. Can we?

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/thenextrefugeecrisis/media.mp3″ title=”Laura Pitel and Migration Watch’s Alanna Thomas discuss the second migrant crisis”] Listen [/audioplayer]In Istanbul, signs of the Syrian influx are everywhere. Syrian mothers sit on pavements clutching babies wrapped in blankets; children from Homs, Syria’s most completely devastated city, push their way through packed tram carriages begging for coins. Arabic adverts offer rooms for rent. It’s almost inconceivable how many Syrians Turkey has taken in as refugees — around 2.5 million of them so far. That’s almost three times the number who have sought refuge in Europe. And while the Turks are hospitable, Turkey has more than any country should bear. Yet still more refugees arrive. This

Emily Hill

All they need is Gove

Lately, people only have to look at me to splurge their deepest, darkest secret. Last May, they did a terrible thing. They voted Tory. Now they’re contemplating greater deviance: voting to leave the EU — if only, they say, the campaign was fronted by someone they could believe in. And who do they want? The answer surprised me. Theresa is no temptation, as it turns out, nor even Boris. No, it’s Michael Gove they fancy. Westminster types might read this and splutter, ‘What tosh! If there’s one thing we know about the British public, it’s that they hate him.’ But these are the experts who failed to predict the outcome of the

Wednesday

Marina Wheeler

Marina Wheeler: why David Cameron’s EU deal isn’t enough

This is an extract from the new issue of The Spectator, out tomorrow: Last week Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, tabled proposals which the government hopes will form the basis of the UK’s renegotiated relationship with the European Union. Politically, the proposals may be just the job: a new commitment to enhance competitiveness, proposals to limit benefits to migrants, recognition that member states’ different aspirations for further integration must be respected, and creation of a ‘red card’ mechanism to block EU legislation. Legally, however, they raise more questions than they answer. This ought to have been an opportunity to look at the Court of Justice of the European

Tuesday

Damian Thompson

Will Catholic bishops try to scare their flocks into voting against Brexit?

The Catholic bishops of England and Wales – and the separate hierarchy for Scotland, for that matter – have long been uncritical, even sycophantic, supporters of the European Union. The question isn’t whether they will try to persuade Catholics to vote to stay in, but how they will go about it – and whether they will succeed. The campaign is already under way. It has been kicked off by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the English churchman closest to Pope Francis and a genial fellow who never met a canapé he didn’t like. He has already said… … though Christian churches will not take position on the referendum vote, Catholics should vote for Europe… … which sounds

Monday

Douglas Murray

Is it really wise for David Cameron to threaten us with migrants?

Is it really wise for David Cameron to threaten us with migrants? That is what he has done today with his warning that if we ‘leave’ the EU then the migrant camp in Calais could have to be moved to Folkestone, Dover, or our own back gardens. Not only is the claim wrong (our Calais arrangements are with France, not with the EU) it neatly shines a light on the biggest failure of his time in office. The ‘jungle’ in Calais is currently home to around 5,000 people. They are there because the EU does almost nothing to control its external borders and made a principle of abolishing its internal

Sunday

Charles Moore

Charles Moore: Sorry, but Margaret Thatcher would not have voted to stay in the EU

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/fightingovercrumbs-euroscepticsandtheeudeal/media.mp3″ title=”James Forsyth and Vote Leave’s Stephen Parkinson discuss Euroscepticsm”] Margaret Thatcher would have voted to stay in the European Union, her former foreign policy adviser Lord Powell writes in the Sunday Times today. Here, in an extract from his Spectator’s Notes, Charles Moore, Lady Thatcher’s official biographer, says she would have voted to Leave: On Tuesday night, at a Spectator readers’ evening, Andrew Neil interviewed me about my biography of Margaret Thatcher. He asked me if, after leaving office, Lady Thatcher had come to the view that Britain should leave the European Union. I said yes (I think it happened after the Maastricht Treaty in 1992), although advisers had persuaded her that

Saturday

James Forsyth

Who will be out for Out?

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/fightingovercrumbs-euroscepticsandtheeudeal/media.mp3″ title=”James Forsyth and Vote Leave’s Stephen Parkinson discuss Euroscepticsm”] The Leave campaigns continue to bicker with each other in increasingly absurd fashion, but it would be wrong to think that everything is going the In campaign’s way. Number 10, as I write in The Sun today, have been taken aback by the sheer scale of the hostility to the deal. There have been some very tense meetings in Downing Street this week. Cameron himself is, I understand, acutely aware of how volatile the situation is and how quickly the referendum could turn. But those around him are more confident. They believe that they are succeeding in denying the

Friday

Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Julian Assange vs Philip Hammond

Haven’t had a chance to follow the day’s political events and interviews? Then don’t worry: here, The Spectator, brings you the best of today’s audio clips in one place for you to listen to. Philip Hammond hit out at the UN after a panel ruled that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was being ‘arbitrarily detained’ and should get compensation. The Foreign Secretary said Assange is a ‘fugitive’ and he called the UN verdict ‘flawed’: Julian Assange hit back at a press conference saying that Hammond’s comments were ‘ridiculous’. He also warned the UK there would be ‘consequences’ to ignoring the UN panel verdict: David Cameron has been on a charm offensive

Tom Goodenough

Spectator most-read: Trump’s defeat, life in the Royal Navy and ‘racist’ Oxford

The Spectator’s fifth most-read article of the week was Nigel Farndale on what life was like on board a warship in our ‘much reduced’ Royal Navy. Nigel joined the crew of HMS Bulwark in the Mediterranean where he found a Royal Navy undergoing an identity crisis amidst swingeing cuts. Our fourth most-read piece was Damian Thompson on the furore surrounding the last-minute decision to pull an incendiary book about the Church of England. Publisher Bloomsbury sent a panicky message to reviewers asking them to return their copies of ‘That Was The Church That Was: How the Church of England Lost the English People’. You can read Damian’s article about why

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 4 February 2016

Home David Cameron, the Prime Minister, made a speech in Wiltshire about a letter from Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, on Britain’s demands for renegotiating terms of its membership of the European Union. Mr Cameron said: ‘What we’ve got is basically something I asked for.’ In the House of Commons, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, said: ‘It’s rather strange that the Prime Minister is not here…’ instead of ‘…in Chippenham, paying homage to the town where I was born.’ Mr Tusk proposed that in-work benefits for migrants might be subject to an ‘emergency brake’. As for child benefit, this could still be sent home to children

The Spectator

Cameron’s “deal” has backfired – badly. So what will he do now?

Throughout his negotiations with the European Union, David Cameron was fatally undermined by his own lack of resolve. He was never going to recommend an ‘out’ vote in his referendum, as the other leaders knew. He promised a referendum three years ago, not from any great sense of conviction, but as a ploy to stop his party talking about Europe until after a general election which he half-expected to lose. Then, in May last year, he found himself with a majority — and in a position to renegotiate. But not in a position to win, and for a simple -reason: the other side always knew that he’d say yes, no

The Spectator

The Spectator Podcast: Eurosceptic chaos, Trump’s campaign and the inaugural What’s That Thing? Award

[audioplayer src=”http://rss.acast.com/viewfrom22/fightingovercrumbs-euroscepticsandtheeudeal/media.mp3″ title=”Fighting over crumbs: Eurosceptics and the EU deal” fullwidth=”yes”] Listen [/audioplayer]In this week’s issue, political editor James Forsyth asks whether David Cameron has somehow managed to dish the Eurosceptics for good. In the wake of the publication of the draft EU deal this week, James suggests the current climate ought to have whipped up the perfect storm for Eurosceptics. Amidst the migrant crisis plaguing the continent and widespread dislike of the EU in Britain, those backing Brexit could not have dreamed of a better scenario. But instead the Eurosceptic campaign is in chaos. Isabel Hardman is joined on this week’s podcast by James and Vote Leave’s Stephen Parkinson to

Wednesday

Ed West

Would the migrant crisis have happened without the EU?

For those people already bored with the interminable European question, Radio 4 might get unbearable over the next few months. Yesterday morning the subject was being discussed, in the context of David Cameron’s ‘deal’, and someone from Brussels was explaining that ‘more Europe’ was needed to solve the migrant/refugee crisis. She never got to explain further what was meant by this, but isn’t it actually the case that the migrant crisis is related to the EU? For example, would Greece face a wave of 62,000 illegal migrants a month were it just an independent country that had its own borders and a government with responsibility towards its citizens? The inherent

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: Corbyn offers Cameron some respite from the EU deal

David Cameron’s focus today is on his statement to the Commons about his EU deal, and so was much of PMQs. John Mann opened the session by asking dramatically ‘Is that it?’ and criticising the Prime Minister’s deal, forcing him to defend it immediately. Angus Robertson used his questions to complain about the expected date of the referendum and its proximity to the Scottish, Welsh, local government and London Mayoral elections, though Cameron told him he was trying to find things to complain about. The only blessing for Cameron was that Jeremy Corbyn decided to attack him on cancer treatment and benefits, and only Christopher Chope asked a hostile question

Tuesday

Dan Hitchens

Briefing: What is the EU ‘red card’ and will it make any difference at all?

The ‘red card’ on proposed EU legislation has been hailed by David Cameron as a breakthrough; the ‘Stronger In’ campaign have put it at the top of their list of renegotiation successes. But it already pretty much exists. The very similar ‘orange card’ was introduced by the 2009 Lisbon Treaty. (The European Commission’s website explains how it works.) Here’s a comparison of the two: Numbers ORANGE CARD: 51% of the 28 EU parliaments can force a review by the European Commission. RED CARD: 56% of the 28 EU parliaments can force a review by the EU Council. Time limit ORANGE CARD: 8 weeks RED CARD: 12 weeks Effects ORANGE CARD: The European Commission decides whether ‘to maintain, amend

Tom Goodenough

Today in audio: Tuesday 2nd February

Haven’t had a chance to follow the day’s political events and interviews? Then don’t worry: here, The Spectator, brings you the best of today’s audio clips in one place for you to listen to. David Cameron gave his reaction following the publication of Donald Tusk’s proposals for Britain’s renegotiation with the EU. Speaking to a Siemens factory in Chippenham after skipping going to Parliament, the PM told workers: ‘If I could get these terms for British membership, I sure would opt in’ Given the PM’s absence in the Commons, it did not take long for Eurosceptics to pile in and attack the draft document. Steve Baker offered the most colourful

James Forsyth

Jeremy Corbyn is right: Cameron should have made his EU speech in the Commons

With David Cameron in Chippenham, it was left to the Europe Minister David Lidington to respond to Jeremy Corbyn’s urgent question. Cameron’s absence was poor form. Lidington manfully tried to claim that it was explained by the fact the government didn’t know when Tusk would publish the draft, but the media were only alerted that Cameron would give a speech in Chippenham after Tusk had said the deal would be announced at midday today. Number 10 is defending Cameron’s absence by pointing to the fact he’d already decided to give a statement to parliament tomorrow—once the MPs have had a chance to examine the deal. But it was entirely predictable

Tom Goodenough

Why won’t David Cameron come clean about his EU migrant benefits deal?

For the last three years, David Cameron has held out the prospect of voting ‘no’ in the referendum if he could not get the deal he wanted. Today he has – unsurprisingly – claimed victory. Yes, he says, there’s more to do on the draft deal – but it not too much because what he’s got is enough. He’s already in full referendum campaign mode, so made his statement to workers in Chippenham, saying: ‘If I could get these terms for British membership, I sure would opt in’ But how much of a compromise has it been? Cameron looked a little shifty as he was spoke ‘emergency brake’ on in-work benefits for migrants.