Labour party

The Shadow Cabinet has split all ways on what to do about welfare. Andy Burnham says he wants a reasoned amendment to the second reading of the welfare reform and work bill that protests some of the policies, but I understand he indicated in Shadow Cabinet that he would go along with the official party line anyway when the vote comes. There is, though, quite a lot of confidence that Harman will capitulate and allow a reasoned amendment, which would make things much easier. If she does not, then not opposing the legislation will be ‘difficult’ for Yvette Cooper, sources on her campaign team say, given rebelling against the party would have huge consequences for her current position as Shadow Home Secretary.

Harriet Harman has just finished addressing the PLP about the party’s official position on welfare cuts. There was a reasonable amount of applause for the interim Labour leader when she finished speaking, but party sources described the meeting as ‘quite split’ and that ‘obviously there were a lot of people who were quite uncomfortable’. She started by telling MPs that all of them recognised what a profound shock the election result was, and that many of her constituents will be affected by the changes that will take place as a result of this Budget.

On all counts, yesterday's Budget was not a great day for Labour. The party found themselves in an awkward position as they struggled to decide how best to respond to a Budget which in part used policies they had endorsed ahead of the election. To make matters worse, Steerpike understands that Harriet Harman failed to get her message across to many of her colleagues. An unfortunately timed fire alarm at Portcullis House meant MPs and Parliamentary researchers were evacuated from the premises just as George Osborne was nearing the end of his Budget announcement. By the time they got back in the building, they only managed to catch the very tail end of Harman's reply. 'You could call it a blessing in disguise,' whispers one disgruntled staffer.

[audioplayer src="http://rss.acast.com/spectatorpolitics/summerbudget2015/media.mp3" title="Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss the Summer Budget"] Listen [/audioplayer]Chris Leslie has just briefed journalists on Labour’s response to the Budget. In summary, it’s all quite difficult. Leslie repeatedly used that word when asked about individual measures such as the benefit cap and public sector pay, while also saying that Labour didn’t want to be a knee-jerk opposition which opposed everything. The key themes of the Labour response are that the changes to tax credits represent what the Shadow Chancellor deems a ‘work penalty’.

How, as a seasoned politician, might you decide who to back in the party’s leadership contest? It might be that you’re swayed by the ministerial experience of one candidate, or perhaps the fierce commitment of another candidate to a policy that you hold very dear. Perhaps it’s because you’re from the same faction in the party, because you’ve been friends for years, or maybe it’s because, as a result of various twists of good fortune and circumstances not entirely under their control, they have children. Apparently, that last is the primary reason that Helen Goodman, a Labour MP who served as a minister when her party was in government, selected Yvette Cooper as her star candidate for Labour leader.

Michael Fallon was very careful indeed to push the issue of military action against Isis in Syria in as gentle a fashion as possible when he came to the Chamber this afternoon. The Defence Secretary told MPs the government knew that Isis is running its operations from North Syria, and he again made the argument about the illogicality of sticking to borders that the terror group doesn’t recognise. His attempts not to further agitate those Tory MPs sitting behind him were interesting, but what was more interesting was the Labour response to the statement, in which Vernon Coaker made it clear that his party would be regarding potential action in Syria with a great degree more sympathy than it did for the previous proposal of potential action in Syria.

Ed Miliband was praised for his integrity by George Osborne after he returned to the Commons and gave a speech so soon after his election defeat. Although the Conservatives have been happy to pile on the praise towards their old foe, Mr S suspects their enthusiasm will begin to wear thin by the end of the week. The former Labour leader is to dip his toe back into frontline politics by leading a commons debate tomorrow on Hatfield Colliery, the Doncaster coal mine which is closing this week leading to the loss of 430 jobs. Judging by Miliband comments so far on the mine's early closure, the Tories will be in for a rough ride during the adjournment debate: https://twitter.com/Ed_Miliband/status/615761740081410049 https://twitter.

Liz Kendall is continuing to push herself as the ‘change everything’ candidate for the Labour leadership. During a speech at Reuters this morning, Kendall called for the party to make a big shift on fiscal responsibility if it has any hope of winning the next election — a task some think is beyond Labour in its current state: ‘If we continue to stick with the politics that we had at the last election or, indeed, over the last seven or eight years, we will get the same result. Einstein said the definition of madness was to continue doing the same thing over and over again and expect to get a different result. We need big changes.

Never let it be said that Jeremy Corbyn is the most anti-business of the four Labour leadership candidates. The left-wing politician appeared to endorse BT today on Twitter: So, is this corporate sponsorship for his campaign, a tech-savvy leadership pledge or simply the result of a Twitter hack? Given that he has since deleted the tweet, Mr S suspects the latter.