Labour party

Theresa May has taken Westminster by surprise this morning by saying she wants an early election. Tomorrow she will ask MPs to support a motion for a poll on June 8. It is pretty much certain that this will pass -- any opposition MP who rejects the motion is effectively saying they want another three years of Tory rule. Tim Farron has been the first out of the starting blocks to say that his party welcomes an early election -- heralding the Liberal Democrats as the only party that will fight for Britain to remain in the single market. So, what of Labour? Well, after a sluggish start Her Majesty's Opposition have issued a statement.

When a shell-shocked Ed Miliband stepped down as Labour leader following the party's defeat in the 2015 election, he concluded his speech by saying that: 'The course of progress and social justice is never simple or straightforward. Change happens because people don’t give up, they don’t take no for an answer, they keep demanding change' The change that party members demanded from the blank slate of Labour’s election defeat turned out to be Jeremy Corbyn; and Miliband slunk back to Doncaster to not ‘take no for an answer’ - from the scenic climes of the backbenches. But it doesn't have to be this way. Last week, I voiced my frustration that Miliband was appearing more on Twitter than in Hansard.

Ken Livingstone's Labour membership card remains valid - but for how long? The former Mayor of London avoided being booted out of the party following his comments about Hitler. But he was told by Jeremy Corbyn yesterday that he faces another investigation into remarks he has made since the party’s decision to suspend him. The newspapers are unanimous: this sorry mess is doing the Labour party no favours at all. We should be grateful, suggests the Daily Telegraph that Ken Livingstone reached for another dictatorial analogy yesterday rather than his usual choice. But his suggestion that being in the disciplinary hearing deciding his future place in the Labour party was like being in North Korea shows his 'almost pathological obsession with making unsavoury allusions’.

The sorry saga of what Labour decides to do about Ken Livingstone isn't over yet. In the last few moments, Jeremy Corbyn has released a statement saying Livingstone will now face a fresh probe into comments that he made about Hitler since yesterday - when he avoided being booted out of the party for doing exactly the same thing. Corbyn said that it was 'deeply disappointing' that Livingstone had refused to apologise for his remarks. He also criticised the former London mayor for continuing to do what he seems to do best these days: talk about Hitler. The Labour leader said: 'Many people are understandably upset that he has continued to make offensive remarks which could open him to further disciplinary action...

Listen to Douglas Murray and James Forsyth debating Ken Livingstone's non-expulsion: Ken Livingstone has not been expelled from the Labour party for his comments about Hitler and Zionism. Instead, he has been suspended for two years; but he has already served one year of that suspension. Given the offensiveness of what Livingstone said and the glee with which he expounded his argument, he should have been expelled. Indeed, some of his comments in recent days have been worthy of expulsion on their own. He talked earlier this week of how ‘you had right up until the start of the Second World War real collaboration’ between the Nazi government and the Zionist movement. There is no sign of penitence from Livingstone tonight.

ICM, who Vote Leave used for their own referendum polling, have some striking numbers on what elements of an EU exit deal British voters would find acceptable. 54 per cent of voters regard maintaining free movement as part of a transition deal - something that Theresa May wouldn’t rule out in her interview with Andrew Neil - as acceptable. However, there is clearly going to be a big problem with any exit payment. 64 per cent regard a £10 billion payment as unacceptable, with that figure rising to 70 per cent for a £20 billion payment—which is at the low end of what people in Brussels think Britain ought to pay. This, obviously, presents a political problem for May: how does she square the public on such a payment?

When Theresa May was snapped shopping in Waitrose last year, the Prime Minister was praised by the Telegraph for putting the politics of envy to one side by unapologetically shopping in the high-end supermarket. But is the real story that she was in a supermarket to begin with? Mr S only asks after Richard Burgon -- the Corbynista shadow justice secretary -- took to social media on Friday to 'reflect' on a trip to his local supermarket, Seacroft Tesco. One of Burgon's constituents was apparently rather surprised to see him in the shop.

Ken Livingstone will find out in a few hours' time whether he’s been permanently booted out of the Labour party for mouthing off about Hitler. So, how is he spending the hours before the verdict is in? Well, by mouthing off about Hitler – obviously. Outside the hearing where he will discover his fate, the former Mayor of London has been up to his usual tricks -- giving any one who will listen a lecture on why Adolf Hitler was a Zionist. This time, Ken has been explaining how the SS set up training camps for German Jews. Here’s what he said: ‘The SS set up training camps so that German Jews, who were going to go there, could be trained to cope with a very different sort of country when they got there.

I really liked Ed Miliband. I thought he would make a great Prime Minister. He was wide-eyed and striving, the less hip or handsome of the Miliband brothers, but undeniably a fine man. In recent months, however, he has tried to shed that image. He now wants to seem cool. This morning, for example, Miliband responded to the Daily Mail’s controversial ‘Legs-it’ cover by tweeting ‘The 1950s called and asked for their headline back’. He then proceeded to engage in a back-and-forth with James Blunt (another of Twitter’s surprise rehabilitations) who wrote ‘It's been such a pleasure guest-editing @Ed_Miliband's Twitter page these last couple of weeks.

In spite of everything against them, the Labour party scored an historic victory last night in the City of London. Five Labour councillors were elected in wards that are traditionally contested by ‘independents’ (usually retiree residents who are inclined towards the pomp and ceremony). It was their highest ever total. People will, of course, be quick to point out that the City of London is the 325th smallest authority in England, out of a total of 326. It has 25 wards covering the area that would, in most authorities, be designated to a single ward. Labour also only has 5 Commoners (the antiquated term the City uses in favour of ‘councillors’) out of a total of 100, so is hardly stamping its authority on the area.

Theresa May has once again ruled out a snap general election but that doesn’t mean the temptation to hold one will go away. Today’s ICM poll shows why: the Tories, on 45 per cent, have a 19-point lead over Labour. This pushes the Government’s poll lead up by three points following a fortnight dominated by Philip Hammond’s Budget debacle, his subsequent u-turn over hiking national insurance rates and Theresa May coming under pressure from the SNP. With Jeremy Corbyn in charge of the Labour party, the usual rules that a government would be punished for a bungled budget need not apply.

Theresa May is a cautious politician. She has risen to the top by avoiding unnecessary risks; no one survives 18 years on the Tory front bench by being a gambler. But few prime ministers have the luxury of choosing their battles, and she would not have chosen the two that may now define her premiership: successfully negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union while saving the United Kingdom. If she achieves both, she will join the pantheon of great prime ministers. If she fails, she’ll be keeping Lord North company in the history books. Unlike David Cameron, May has been preparing for a new Scottish referendum from the moment she entered Downing Street.

On Thurday's Question Time, there was one politician notably absent from the panel. For a second time, John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, had to cancel his appearance -- this time putting it down to train delays. And whose fault is this? Well, the Conservatives obviously -- as if Labour were in power the trains would be nationalised: https://twitter.com/johnmcdonnellMP/status/839912841503199232 However, there's a problem. First, those flights sold out after Mr McDonnell had been booked on a flight - but he arrived at the airport too late and the gate was closed. So you can't really blame privately-owned railways for that. More importantly the delays in question were caused by a train caught up in overhead lines, and being left there for far too long.