Uk politics

Thursday

James Kirkup

Tracey Crouch’s resignation is a big blow to the Tories

From our UK edition

Tracey Crouch has resigned as a minister at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, over the Government’s handling of reforms to the rules around fixed-odds betting terminals. I don’t know much about the policy or the events that preceded this, but I know enough about Tracey Crouch to be confident that this is exactly what it seems to be: a minister resigning on point of principle because she could no longer defend the Government’s position on an important issue. If that sounds unusual and perhaps even a bit old-fashioned (politicians don’t do that sort of thing these days, do they?

James Forsyth

Tracey Crouch resigns over fixed odds betting delay

From our UK edition

The Budget appeared to have landed well. Tory MPs at PMQs on Wednesday were in a notably better mood than normal; a fight with Labour over a tax cut cheered them all up. But this evening some of the sheen has come off the Budget with the resignation of the Sports Minister Tracey Crouch. Crouch has gone over the fact that the stake limit for fixed odds betting terminals is not coming in as quickly as expected. Crouch’s resignation is embarrassing for the government as the main reason that this ban, which would take the maximum stake down from £100 to £2, isn’t coming in quicker is the amount of tax revenue the government makes out of these machines.

Tom Goodenough

Arron Banks facing police probe over Brexit campaign spending

From our UK edition

Arron Banks has been referred to the National Crime Agency in relation to alleged wrongdoing during the referendum. The Electoral Commission said it had ‘reasonable grounds’ to suspect that Banks was not the ‘true source’ of an £8m loan made to Better for the Country, which ran Leave.EU’s campaign. It also said that the money being investigated might have come from ‘impermissible sources’. Banks’ Leave. EU campaign, as well as Liz Bilney, another senior figure in the organisation, are also now being investigated by the NCA.

Wednesday

Ross Clark

The simple solution to the V&A’s Brexit fears

From our UK edition

Now it is London museums bleating about Brexit. A memo from the V&A released under Freedom of Information laws, warns darkly: 'we will struggle to keep the museum open to the public in the immediate short term'. A no deal Brexit, it is claimed, could affect visitor numbers from the EU, diminish donations and also affect the ability of the museum to stage travelling exhibitions. As with so many Brexit scare stories, it has the whiff of hysteria. But if the V&A and other museums do ever feel the pinch they could, of course, resort to an action they should have taken years ago: start charging an entry fee. It is astonishing that our museums and galleries are prepared to forgo a source of income that virtually all other museums and galleries around the world take for granted.

Alexander Downer

Opening the e-passport gates to Australians is a smart move

From our UK edition

The announcement in this week’s Budget that Australians (as well as those from the US, Canada, Japan and New Zealand) will have access to e-passport gates when entering the UK is a welcome sign that Britain is serious about going global. The million or so Australians who visit each year are sure to be delighted by this gesture.   There’s a backstory here: when I was the Australian high commissioner in London, I told everyone in government with ears to hear (including the then-home secretary Theresa May) that Australians were upset about being subjected to long queues at Heathrow while EU citizens went through a special fast-track process. Frankly, given our history of fighting alongside Britain and our shared head of state, it was downright insensitive.

Steerpike

Watch: Peter Bone on Philip Hammond, ‘the king of Brexit’

From our UK edition

Peter Bone has previously said Philip Hammond needs 'slapping down' over his plan for Brexit, but the Chancellor's Budget this week seems to have made Bone change his mind about his party colleague. The Tory backbencher said he had always thought that Hammond was a 'bit iffy about Brexit'. 'How wrong I was', he said. He told the Commons: 'Prime Minister, I always thought that you could be the queen of Brexit, but did you ever think the Chancellor could be the king of Brexit?' Mr S is delighted to finally see an end to the hostilities within the Tory party...

Steerpike

What does Kanye West see in Caroline Lucas?

From our UK edition

Kanye West’s association with Donald Trump is well known. But there is another politician that the rapper-turned-political-activist likes to pay attention to this side of the pond: Caroline Lucas. While Kanye has nearly 30 million followers on Twitter, the list of those he follows is far more exclusive – numbering just 120. So imagine Mr S's surprise when among that distinguished group he spotted the co-leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas: Lucas is the only British politician Kanye follows. So what does Kanye see in her? Among recent pearls of wisdom shared by Lucas are tweets about beer duty, farming and fracking. Move over Trump, there is a new politician in town...

Steerpike

Will Cameron take his revenge on Merkel?

From our UK edition

As James Kirkup writes on Coffee House, David Cameron's misreading of Angela Merkel contributed to Brexit. The then Prime Minister and his team believed that Cameron's personal relationship with Merkel – who apparently saw him as a 'naughty nephew' – would be enough to secure some important compromises in the renegotiation. Those compromises never came but Mr S has reason to suspect Cameron could soon take his revenge on his one time ally. A little birdy tells Steerpike that Merkel will have a starring role in Cameron's upcoming memoirs - only it won't be a particularly positive one. 'I hear he will not hold back when it comes to pointing out the role Merkel played in all this,' whispers a Cameroon. Watch this space.

Rory Sutherland

John McDonnell’s right – the four-day week could work

From our UK edition

Most people were scandalised by John McDonnell’s proposal to promote a four-day working week. But before we get incensed about giving people more leisure during their working life, we need to ask another question. If it really is so vital to the economy that people spend more time at work, then why does the government spend £41 billion every year (a third of the cost of the NHS) providing tax relief on pension contributions? This merely encourages older and more experienced employees to leave the workforce several years earlier than necessary. Remember, five years needlessly spent in retirement is 20 years that could have been spent enjoying a working life of three-day weekends.

Katy Balls

Tory fiscal hawks uncharacteristically relaxed about Hammond’s spending ‘gamble’

From our UK edition

Although Philip Hammond's spending splurge Budget has received broadly positive front pages and a cautious thumbs up from the public, the Chancellor has been given a reality check by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). After crunching the numbers, IFS director Paul Johnson has concluded that Hammond had 'gambled' on the public finances. Johnson said that the Chancellor ought to be 'thanking his lucky stars' for his £12billion windfall from a revised public borrowing forecast. With no plan set out for how to fund this level of spending in the future, Johnson concluded that 'inevitable tax increases' would have to follow in order 'to pay for our ageing population'. On the Tory benches, it's widely accepted that this was a Budget that put off the difficult decisions.

Steerpike

Watch: Polly Toynbee vs George Osborne – ‘the idea that he’s a centrist!’

From our UK edition

In recent years, George Osborne has attempted to rebrand himself. Once known as the austere chancellor, the Evening Standard editor is keen to be depicted these days as a liberal progressive – who has more in common with Emmanuel Macron than Boris Johnson. The problem is that many of those who regard themselves as progressive don't feel the same way. As was displayed on Newsnight when Grauniad hack Polly Toynbee launched a broadside on the former chancellor: 'This man has done such harm and damage to the country. He has been the most right wing chancellor we have ever had. Nor do I think your ideas are in the centre. The idea that he's a centrist. I mean you can talk about gay marriage – you'd never have done gay marriage if Labour hadn't done civil partnerships.

Tom Slater

What’s the real reason for the hold-up in the police’s Brexit probe?

From our UK edition

Brexiteers are occasionally depicted as being a little paranoid. If you listen to some elite critics of Brexit, you would think that a sizeable chunk of those who voted to Leave are sharing dodgy anti-George Soros memes long into the night. You might think, too, that a few Brexit voters see elite stitch-ups everywhere and never let the truth get in the way of their anti-Brussels prejudices. But if there is a paranoid style in British politics at the moment, it is not being practised by the 17.4million. It’s coming from that small set of elite Remainers in politics and the media who are resorting to desperate measures in their campaign to overturn the referendum result and stop Brexit.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watch: Yvette Cooper clashes with Caroline Nokes

From our UK edition

Yvette Cooper got more than she bargained for when she had a go at immigration minister Caroline Nokes at today's home affairs committee. The Labour MP rebuked Nokes after she complained about the meeting overrunning, telling her: You have been incredibly generous with your time and we really appreciate it. I would also say, however, we have only five months until these no deal arrangements have to be in place. Nokes's response? And with only five months to go some of my time this afternoon might have been scheduled for planning Mr S thinks Nokes has a point...

Matthew Lynn

Why the IFS is wrong about a ‘no deal’ Brexit

From our UK edition

The growth forecasts might be too optimistic. The economy may yet turn down, the pressure on public services will only continue to rise, and, most of all, leaving the European Union may yet turn into a catastrophe. The Institute for Fiscal Studies did not waste much time in branding yesterday’s Budget ‘a bit of a gamble’, with plenty of risks attached to it. In saying so, the IFS no doubt reflects the mainstream view in the economics profession and probably among the professional scribblers of the City as well. And yet the truth is that Philip Hammond didn’t take enough of a gamble.

Martin Vander Weyer

Philip Hammond’s Budget plan won’t save the High Street

From our UK edition

How much did Philip Hammond’s giveaway Budget help dying town centres? Not enough, say campaigners, but let’s give the Chancellor some credit. A one-third relief in business rates for retail properties with a rateable value of less than £51,000 means an annual saving of up to £8,000 for a huge number of small businesses; pubs where people still drink beer and spirits in old-fashioned style benefit from a duty freeze that one industry body says will ‘secure upwards of 3,000 jobs’; and there’s money to help convert disused premises into homes.

Steerpike

Ken Clarke: the British are not very good at being enterprising

From our UK edition

Last night was the Spectator’s 'Deal or No Deal' event, where six panellists convened to discuss all things Brexit, and say whether they thought Britain would 'crash out' of the EU or thrive on WTO terms. Nobly representing the Remain side was parliamentary titan, and Father of the House, Ken Clarke. And while Ken was somewhat outnumbered by Brexiteers on the panel, he made a valiant effort to fend off their attacks and put forward the Remainer case. That said, Mr S noticed that one of his comments certainly did not go down well with the crowd on the night.

Steerpike

John McDonnell vs Momentum

From our UK edition

Oh dear. John McDonnell has found himself in hot water this morning after he declared that Labour would support Philip Hammond's budget tax cuts. Given that the Resolution Foundation claims that the tax cuts will benefit the better off, it doesn't seem like the most obvious move for anti-austerity Labour. Labour politicians have been quick to see red – with regional mayor Andy Burnham taking to social media. But the response that should worry the shadow chancellor the most relates to what Momentum – the pro-Corbyn grassroots group - will say. It seems no-one thought to tell them in advance what the shadow chancellor was planning: https://twitter.com/PeoplesMomentum/status/1057207837733122048 Watch this space.

Monday

Katy Balls

The Budget shows the Tories are now fighting on Corbyn’s turf | 29 October 2018

From our UK edition

When Theresa May announced at this year's Tory conference that she would put an end to austerity, it's safe to say that her Chancellor hardly looked thrilled as he clapped from the front row of the hall. Philip Hammond is regarded as a fiscal hawk and rather averse to loosening the purse strings. At today's Budget, Hammond tried to get on board with No 10's ending austerity message. But in doing so, he also attempted to put some clear blue water between 'end austerity' Conservatives and anti-austerity Labour. Firstly, Hammond defined what he sees as 'ending austerity'. The Chancellor said that ending austerity meant an above-inflation increase in departmental spending. The Tory version of ending austerity also means no tax rises in the quest to do so.

The Spectator

Full text: Philip Hammond’s Budget statement 2018

From our UK edition

Mr Deputy Speaker, Today, I present to the House a Budget for Britain’s future; A budget that shows the perseverance of the British people finally paying off. A Budget for hard working families, who live their lives far from this place and care little for the twists and turns of Westminster politics. People who get up early in the morning to open up factories, shops, and building sites, to drop their kids off at school to check on elderly relatives and neighbours. The strivers, the grafters and the carers who are the backbone of our communities and our economy.

Isabel Hardman

Hammond’s Halloween Budget fails to excite

From our UK edition

Philip Hammond held the Budget today to avoid a bunch of Halloween jokes about a zombie economy and so on. To compensate, the Chancellor brought a bunch of random sentences in fancy dress as ‘jokes’. There were inexplicable quips about poaching rabbits, a medley of toilet puns accompanying funding for keeping public conveniences open, and the strangest of all: ‘fiscal Phil says fiscal rules, OK.’ What the Chancellor hadn't dressed up, though, were the series of announcements in this Budget. They weren’t fancy. Or radical. There was some political appropriation, with Hammond trying to deal with a few Labour threats by stealing their policies.