Uk politics

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Is World Mental Health Day just tokenist rubbish?

From our UK edition

What is the point of a Minister for Suicide Prevention? That Jackie Doyle-Price is taking on the role as part of her portfolio as a health minister is one of the big government announcements on World Mental Health Day, but it's tempting to ask why on earth Theresa May is making such appointments. Some might wonder whether government can really stop suicides, while others might question the difference that giving a minister an additional job title will really make. It's the sort of question that you might reasonably ask about World Mental Health Day itself, as it happens.

James Forsyth

Will Theresa May call the DUP’s bluff on Brexit?

From our UK edition

The threat that the DUP might vote against the Budget if it isn’t happy with where the Irish border backstop is after the October European Council all fits with their effort to persuade Number 10 that they really are serious. As I say in tomorrow's Spectator, some in government believe that, ultimately, May is going to have to call the DUP’s bluff on extra regulatory checks in the Irish Sea. They argue that the DUP will never risk putting Jeremy Corbyn, a man who favours a united Ireland and was deeply sympathetic to the IRA, in Downing Street.

Lloyd Evans

Theresa May reveals her plan to bring Chequers back from the dead

From our UK edition

Golden sunshine streamed across Westminster at noon. And Jeremy Corbyn wiped away the cheer as soon as he stood up at PMQs. Performing his sad-sack routine, he grouched his way through six questions about ‘painful austerity’. Theresa May wants Scrooge replaced by Lady Bountiful in the corridors of Whitehall. But it hasn’t happened, grumbled the Labour leader. Crime, poverty and mental illness are soaring. May hit back with a barrage of statistics. Britain’s lucky citizenry is awash with cash, she said. Billions here, billions there. More for cops, teachers, hospitals, mental health. The figures gushed like an exploded water-main.

Isabel Hardman

Corbyn makes May pay the price for her austerity pledge

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn had the easiest lead into Prime Minister’s Questions today, and he didn’t squander it. He’d had a week to prepare, too, as Theresa May had offered him the lead last Wednesday when she told the Tory conference that austerity is over. So Corbyn took her line and applied it to mental health, policing, schools, local government and the treatment of disabled people.  His questions were long but good: they started with a retort to May’s answer on the previous topic before moving onto a new area and asking: ‘when will austerity end for’ this service. It was effective, not just because it highlighted the number of areas where the government is struggling to deliver, but also because it teased out the lack of sincerity in the claim itself.

Robert Peston

Theresa May’s Brexit backstop breakthrough

From our UK edition

I am hearing that the PM’s Brexit advisor Olly Robbins has made meaningful progress in talks with the EU’s negotiator Michel Barnier on that contentious “backstop”, or insurance policy to keep open the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland pending agreement on a permanent long-term trading relationship that achieves the same. Depending on who I talk with, there’s either been a breakthrough or things are moving in the right direction. My sense therefore is that it would be premature to crack open the champagne bottles, but maybe a half-bottle should be on ice.

Tuesday

Andrew Willshire

The price of the SNP’s Brexit strategy

From our UK edition

Nicola Sturgeon's indication that SNP MPs will back a second vote on Brexit might be clever politics but it is likely to stir up further animosity among English voters towards the Scots. Consider the Future of England survey, which shows that 88 per cent of English Leave voters (and 52 per cent of all English voters) would accept the break-up of the UK so long as England leaves the EU. Some might suggest that the poll is further evidence of the Little Englander mentality that will ineluctably drive the Scots to secede from the Union. But does it instead reveal something else? Perhaps, it would seem, English voters are getting as tired as most Scots are of the SNP's constitutional wrangling.

Isabel Hardman

Why Chris Williamson really is happy about facing deselection

From our UK edition

Oh, what a delicious twist in the internal bickering of the Labour party. Chris Williamson, an MP who has spent the past few months touring the country campaigning for the mandatory reselection of his colleagues - or, as he prefers to brand it, a 'democracy roadshow' campaigning for all MPs to go through an 'open selection' from their local party every electoral cycle - is being threatened with deselection himself. Williamson finds himself a target after launching into a row with the trade unions at last month's Labour conference. The unions blocked plans for open selections, and instead went for a change in the party's rules that makes trigger ballots against sitting MPs easier.

Alex Massie

The audacity of Nicola Sturgeon’s hope | 9 October 2018

From our UK edition

Patience. Pragmatism. Perseverance. Nationalist leaders do not, as a general rule, use such terms to inspire their troops. Not, at any rate, if they think the day of national emancipation is imminent. Yet these were precisely the terms in which Nicola Sturgeon spoke to her party’s conference in Glasgow this week.  That reflects one of the paradoxes of our time. Politically-speaking it is possible to march closer to independence without actually getting closer to it. Or, to put it another way, the road to independence is shorter now but also littered with more, and larger, obstacles than was the case as recently as 2014. This is the conundrum in which Sturgeon finds herself: the route is simple but the road is not open.

Katy Balls

Dominic Raab’s tricky first day back in the office

From our UK edition

When Dominic Raab took up the post of Brexit Secretary in the wake of David Davis's resignation over Chequers, a number of Tory MPs were surprised by his decision (see Geoffrey Cox for reasons to take Cabinet jobs). Some Brexiteers thought that Raab ought to have proved his Leave credentials and said no given the terms of Theresa May's soft Brexit blueprint. Others couldn't work out why the job appealed to an ambitious rising star given that it was by all accounts a hospital pass. Today's Brexit statement in the Commons went some way to providing evidence for the latter point. With Theresa May lukewarm on the idea of giving a statement to the Commons on the disastrous Salzburg summit and the state of the negotiations since, Raab was sent out instead.

Isabel Hardman

Who can Philip Hammond blame for a tight Budget?

From our UK edition

Cabinet ministers toddled up Downing Street this morning in a largely good mood. Most of them were relieved that last week's Conservative conference hadn't been the catastrophe that everyone had expected, and many were even happier that the conference had closed with Theresa May declaring that austerity is over. Of course, one of their number will be feeling rather less comfortable with that: Philip Hammond will now have to sift through even more bids from his ministerial colleagues for more funding, now that they believe they could be in line for the dividends of the end of austerity. The Chancellor now needs to work out a way of fobbing off those colleagues - and then justifying this to the Commons when he makes his Budget statement at the end of this month.

Steerpike

Where’s the outrage over Shaun Bailey’s slur on ‘cheeky’ boys?

From our UK edition

Much outrage this afternoon over the Tories' mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey. In a pamphlet for the Centre for Policy Studies think tank in 2005 on his experiences as a youth worker in West London, Bailey wrote that 'good looking' girls in the area 'tend to have been around'. Since those quotes were published by Buzzfeed, critics have been quick to call out Bailey over his sexist comments. But the question that's bugging Mr S is: why no similar outrage about what Bailey said about boys? In that same pamphlet, Bailey wrote that the 'cheeky' boys are those who are the most likely to have 'been around': 'I say to the girls that boys you like – all the cheeky ones – who are quite clever and all the rest of it. They are probably the ones that have been around.

Brendan O’Neill

The staggering hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton | 9 October 2018

From our UK edition

Today Hillary Clinton slammed the Tories for failing to join the recent pile-on against Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. In a speech described by the Guardian as ‘stinging’, Clinton said it was ‘disheartening’ that Conservative MEPs in Brussels voted to ‘shield Viktor Orban from censure’. She was referring to the 18 Tories in the European Parliament who last month rejected the invoking of the punishing Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty against Orban’s Hungary for being a prejudiced and illiberal state. Hungary is no longer a real democracy but an ‘illiberal’ one, said Clinton — and it’s shameful that Tories are cosying up with such a regime.

Steerpike

David Davis de-dramatises his Brexit rhetoric

From our UK edition

David Davis has caused a stir this afternoon after he sent a letter to Tory MPs claiming the Conservatives 'will lose the next election' if Theresa May continues with Chequers. The former Brexit Secretary claims the consequences will be 'dire'. Although Mr S suspects this is not what No 10 would have had in mind for the first day back after the recess, Downing Street can take heart that Davis's rhetoric appears to have actually softened slightly. Back in June, Davis warned the Brexit inner Cabinet that if Britain is under the backstop at the time of the next election not only would the Tories suffer defeat – it would be a landslide 1997-style defeat. Next thing you know, Theresa May's Brexit plans will mean a hung Parliament...

Katy Balls

Why the DUP should worry Theresa May more than the European Research Group

From our UK edition

Just over twelve hours after Arlene Foster released a statement which appeared to suggest the DUP were ready to fudge their red lines on the Irish border, the party leader popped up on BBC Ulster to make clear that this is not the case. In an interview this morning, Foster said 'there cannot be any barriers between ourselves and the rest of the United Kingdom': BBC: Would you entertain checks being applied to goods being imported from Great Britain? AF: No because there are many instances as to when... if you take someone getting goods in Northern Ireland coming from Great Britain those would be checked as they come into Northern Ireland and then they might be subject to other checks as well. So we cannot have the single market of the United Kingdom interfered with.

Monday

Steerpike

Watch: Juncker mocks May

From our UK edition

Just last week Donald Tusk took to social media to claim that the EU's offer to the UK a 'Canada+++' deal was a mark of respect. Only the EU council leader failed to find space in his tweet to make clear that this offer only applied to Great Britain – not Northern Ireland. Now it's Jean-Claude Juncker's turn to show how he pays the UK respect. In a speech to the Committee of the Regions, the European Commission president appeared to do his best impression of Theresa May's Dancing Queen turn at conference: https://twitter.com/JamesCrisp6/status/1049283494004903936 Stay classy Brussels.

Matthew Lynn

The flaws in Labour’s plan for a four day week

From our UK edition

Free university for students. Free shares in your company. And now plenty of free time, with one day less in the office or the factory every week. The shadow chancellor John McDonnell hasn’t quite gotten around to promising free Krispy Kreme doughnuts in every shopping mall, abolishing fees for Sky Sports, or handing out Uber vouchers for everyone. But heck, there are still at least three years to go until the next election. It may only be a matter of time. McDonnell’s latest wheeze for buying more votes is a half-promise to reduce the.standard working week from five days to four. Apparently, with the rise of artificial intelligence, and the onwards march of robotics, we won’t need to spend so much time at work.

Saturday

James Forsyth

Ending austerity won’t be as simple as May made it sound

From our UK edition

It was the line in her conference speech that demonstrated Theresa May’s desire to stay on as Prime Minister after Brexit. But it was also the line that will cause her the most trouble. I say in The Sun this morning that May’s declaration that austerity is over will cause problems even if the Tories couldn’t have fought another election on austerity. First of all, they have already pledged to spend an extra £20 billion on the NHS. At the time, many senior Tories regarded this as the party making a choice to spend ‘the proceeds of growth’ on the health service. But by now announcing the end of austerity, May has suggested that the taps will be turned on elsewhere too.

Friday

Katy Balls

Geoffrey Cox – the most important politician you’ve never heard of

From our UK edition

In the end, the star of Conservative conference was a Brexiteer. Only it wasn't Boris Johnson – or even Jacob Rees-Mogg. Instead, it was someone with a much lower media profile – Geoffrey Cox QC. Theresa May's recently appointed Attorney General stole the show with a Mufasa-inspired barn-storming stage routine. In it, Cox’s booming baritone echoed across the hall as he gave a robust defence of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union – and May's Chequers agreement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y__GkNPKqeQ As Conservative MPs watched from the front row seats, a few had to admit that they weren't sure who their colleague was. The bulk found that they didn't have his phone number.

Jamie Bartlett

Why Labour’s new video should worry the Tories

From our UK edition

Last week, the Labour Party released a video called Our Town. It is a genuine piece of art, which shows that Labour takes the medium of video seriously. The Tories need to take note. It’s not impressive because of the message itself, since the message itself is familiar: we’re going to kick-start the economy, we’re going to create decent jobs, we’re going to magic-up smaller class sizes. Everyone says that. No, it’s a piece of art because of how it’s produced. Every medium of communication has styles and modes that suit it – the medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan famously once said. Video, as an audio and visual medium, trades on emotional resonance, feeling and mood. Our Town takes those features seriously.

Nick Cohen

The far left’s Islamist blind spot

From our UK edition

The alliance between the white far left and the Islamist right is a dirty secret in plain sight. Few can bear to look at it. None of the books and documentaries on Corbyn’s takeover of the Labour party asked, even in passing, how people who professed to be socialists and feminists, found themselves promoting theocrats and misogynists. I have no doubt that ‘serious’ scholars will be as negligent when they come to write their accounts. In supposedly stable Britain, there is a psychological aversion to admitting that the dark corners of modern history can be the best place to find the roots of current crises.