Uk politics

Monday

Katy Balls

John McDonnell lends Theresa May a helping hand on Brexit

There were hopes among pro-Remain MPs that this year’s Labour conference would mark a sea change in the party’s Brexit policy. Instead, what’s been served up is a Brexit fudge that ultimately fails to soften the party position. At last year’s conference, the Labour leader managed to keep Brexit off the conference floor. This year around it wasn’t possible with pro-EU members and unions – keen for a second referendum – voting for Brexit in the priority ballot. After a six-hour meeting to compose the motion last night, a fudge was agreed. The statement that is to be voted on says that if Theresa May’s deal doesn’t pass and there

Steerpike

Listen: Labour MP blasts Corbynite colleague at Progress rally

Here we go again. Although Labour conference has become increasingly Corbynite in recent years, the Progress rally can always be relied upon as a safe space for Labour moderates. And so it was that Corbyn-sceptic Labour MPs gathered at the annual event on Sunday night to air their grievances. Wes Streeting – the Labour MP for Ilford North – have a crowd-pleasing speech which took aim at Corbyn ally Chris Williamson, as well as Dawn Butler over her recent Militant comments: ‘Good evening Progress – it’s great to be here. It’s like one of Chris Williamson’s democracy tours except about thirty years younger in terms of average age. Here at

Isabel Hardman

How Corbyn opponents are now turning to the trade unions

The Overton Window is a concept beloved particularly by the Left. It’s a theory about the range of political ideas that the public will accept, and the reason the Left has been particularly interested in this window in recent years is that there is a belief you can move it in a certain direction so that previously radical and frightening ideas become quite normal. Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters certainly believe that their party has succeeded in moving the Overton Window over the past few years, and that the old political adages about the public not wanting an overly left-wing party no longer apply. But within the party itself, there has also

Tom Goodenough

Momentum’s big worry is that it is failing to capitalise on its success

What now for Momentum? The grassroots organisation has had extraordinary success over the last few years, not least in shoring up Jeremy Corbyn’s position as Labour leader. The World Transformed, Momentum’s event down the road from the party’s main conference in Liverpool, is a testament to the group’s growing influence: in its three years of existence, it has morphed into a lively, well-organised festival. Even if you think some of the speakers are barmy, the febrile atmosphere could not be more different from the stale feeling on the Tory fringes. Yet this isn’t a time for celebration for Momentum. Far from it. Indeed the organisation is finding that with clout

Nick Cohen

J.K. Rowling and the darkness on the left | 24 September 2018

You rarely come across a character in modern literature like Jimmy Knight. He’s a racist, but that’s not what makes him a novelty act. racists, after all, are deplored everywhere in the culture industry, from Hollywood to Pinewood Studios. Of this racist, however, his ex-wife says: ‘I wouldn’t trust him if it was anything to do with Jews. He doesn’t like them. Israel is the root of all evil, according to Jimmy. Zionism: I got sick of the bloody sound of the word.’ Knight is also a misogynist, a type which is once again a familiar figure in contemporary fiction. But when his girlfriend cries out after he hits her,

Steerpike

Labour conference 2018, in pictures

It’s that time of year again: Labour conference. With Jeremy Corbyn’s grip on the party tightening in the past year, the conference, too, has taken on a distinctly Corbynista feel. The exhibition hall is made up of a mix of business stands – including Apple – and campaign groups. Meanwhile, over at the sister festival – Momentum’s World Transformed festival – pictures of Marx adorn the walls alongside banners making clear Sun journalists are not welcome. Viva la revolución! (Mr S will update this post as the conference goes on.)

The Spectator

Labour’s conference, day two: The Spectator guide

John McDonnell takes centre stage on day two of Labour’s conference. The shadow chancellor has recently dismissed reports of a coup against Jeremy Corbyn as ‘laughable’. But could his speech today be an audition for the top job when the Labour leader does depart? Here are the highlights to watch out for today: Labour conference: 9:30: Morning Plenary Session: Public investment and ownership 12:15: Shadow Chancellor’s speech 12:40: Votes 14:15: Afternoon Plenary Session: Social security and skills 17:25: Votes   Fringe events: 8:30: PoliticsHome Breakfast Briefing Live Barry Gardiner MP, Liz Kendall MP, Kevin Schofield, Sebastian Whale, Matt Zarb-Cousin; Meeting Room 4A 9:30: Towards A Kinder Gentler Politics On Social Media

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

What Jeremy Corbyn wants to talk about at Labour conference

A lot of Labour’s energy at the moment seems to be spent on internal battles over which faction wins power on which committee, and whether it should be easier to deselect sitting MPs. A measure of whether its conference is a success is whether it manages to talk about what it wants to do in government. I understand that the leadership’s aim this week is to try to produce an analysis of where society has gone wrong. This sounds rather ‘Broken Britain’, though unsurprisingly the party won’t be using that line. Instead, the tag is ‘rebuilding Britain’, and Jeremy Corbyn and his colleagues will be talking about the impact of

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Jeremy Corbyn taken to task over anti-Semitism

Jeremy Corbyn – Anti-Semitism ‘is a scourge in any society’ With the Labour party conference now in full swing in Liverpool, Jeremy Corbyn met with Andrew Marr for an interview. Marr was keen to challenge Corbyn about the accusations of anti-Semitism against him and the failure to effectively stamp out the problem within the party. Corbyn attempted to set the record straight: AM: Jeremy Corbyn – are you an anti-Semite? JC: No. I’ve spent my whole life opposing racism in every form and I will die fighting racism in any form… Anti-Semitism is a scourge in any society. I will oppose it all my life… Under my leadership of this

Isabel Hardman

Labour’s deputy leader move highlights the party’s most interesting split

Generally, talk of a ‘split’ in the Labour Party focuses on the chasm between Jeremy Corbyn’s supporters and those ‘moderate’ MPs who want to leave. But there’s another, bigger split, which is between the Corbynites and a large chunk of MPs, including Deputy Leader Tom Watson, who disagree with the party’s leader but think Labour can change. Watson did go through a phase of staying rather quiet in the months after the last general election, avoiding both party events and interviews where he might be forced to take a stand against the leadership. But he has recently become far more vocal, disagreeing with the Corbynites on a number of key

Robert Peston

Jeremy Corbyn is getting more serious about Brexit and Theresa May ought to worry

The most important statement by Jeremy Corbyn in today’s Sunday Mirror interview is not that Labour’s leader will embrace a so-called People’s Vote if that were what Labour’s conference backs this week. It is that Labour is “not happy” with the PM’s Chequers Brexit plan “and we would vote against it”. This is Labour’s strongest and least ambiguous attack on Chequers. And – as if that were needed – it underwrites the view of many Tory MPs and ministers that the PM’s attempt to sell Chequers to Brussels is even more fatuous than dead-horse flogging, given that some 50 odd True Brexit Conservative backbenchers are adamant that they would vote

Katy Balls

Jeremy Corbyn discovers the art of spin on a second referendum

It’s the first day of Labour conference and Jeremy Corbyn has kicked proceedings off with an appearance on the Andrew Marr show. The Labour leader was grilled on a range of topics from anti-Semitism and ‘English irony’ to his party’s Brexit position. Corbyn put in a relaxed performance, insisting that he loved ‘every minute’ of being Labour leader. However, his sharp intake of breath when he was asked about tricky topics suggest that it isn’t all plain-sailing. While his defence of his response to a variety of anti-Semitic incidents was typically evasive (he admitted he was ‘perhaps too hasty’ in his defence of an anti-Semitic mural), it’s Corbyn’s Brexit comments

The Spectator

Labour’s conference, day one: The Spectator guide | 23 September 2018

Labour return to Liverpool for the party’s annual conference. But amid tensions over Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and the party’s anti-Semitism troubles, the gathering is unlikely to be an entirely happy occasion. Here are the events to keep an eye out for today: Labour conference: 10:30: Morning Plenary Session: Opening Formalities NEC Chair’s Address CAC Report General Secretary’s Report 11:30: Party democracy and campaigning 14:15: Afternoon Plenary Session: Party democracy and campaigning 17:25: Votes   Fringe events: 12:30: Real Britain: Where People Have A Voice Kevin Maguire (chair), Len McCluskey, John McDonnell MP, Ros Wynne, People from the Wigan Pier Project; Meeting Room 11A 12:45: The Jewish Labour Movement Rally

Saturday

James Forsyth

Brexit, what happens now?

It is the morning after the statement before. So, what happens now? That’s the question I attempt to answer in my Sun column this morning. Theresa May is trying to shock the EU into engaging with her Chequers plan by saying she really is serious about no deal. Her statement yesterday was meant to be a very public burning of her boats; a message that she won’t sign up to either of the options they’re trying to push her towards. But if we don’t get any sign from the EU in the next fortnight that they are prepared to be flexible, May will come under huge pressure from her Cabinet

Friday

Owen Bennett

Nigel Farage has himself to blame for Ukip’s drift to the far right

This year’s Ukip conference in Birmingham has only just started but already trouble is breaking out. A row that has been bubbling within the party since it was first founded a generation ago is coming to the surface thanks to a clash between the party’s current leader, Gerard Batten, and its most famous one, Nigel Farage. Farage, no stranger to chucking rocks from the sidelines, has criticised the direction in which Ukip is now travelling. The former Ukip leader warned that the party risks ‘utter marginalisation’ if it cosies up to the far-right. The catalyst for his comments is Batten’s bid to recruit former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson. Farage’s assessment

The Spectator

The Irish border was always going to be a sticking point in Brexit talks

I’m afraid Brexit has always been about Ireland. Perhaps Salzburg will finally, brutally, illustrate that point. The Spectator declared its support for Leave in the final week of the 2016 referendum campaign. The editorial arguing in favour of a leave vote hinged not on free trade, but sovereignty: which is a different way of saying control. It did not mention Ireland at all – but very few did. It was of marginal interest. I read that leader in Downing Street, where I then worked. I did not then, and do not now, agree with the sovereignty argument – but I can respect it. Since EU membership necessarily involves compromising on pure national

Steerpike

Emily Thornberry risks reigniting Labour’s anti-Semitism row

Is Jeremy Corbyn the victim in Labour’s anti-Semitism scandal? Emily Thornberry seems to think so. The shadow foreign secretary said that the Labour leader was ‘distressed’ by the claims against him and that he found the row ‘very difficult’ to deal with because it went ‘so against his idea of who he is’. In an interview with the Evening Standard, the Corbynite MP said that while the Dear Leader was usually ‘very Zen’ about criticism, ‘calling him an anti-Semite, calling him a racist, that just went straight to the absolute core of him. It really distressed him’. Poor old Jeremy. Mr S isn’t sure that this will help calm tensions

James Forsyth

Will Theresa May’s big Brexit gamble pay off?

Theresa May has attempted to put the ball back in the EU’s court this afternoon. After the rejection of her Chequers plan at the Salzburg summit, May has told British voters and the EU that she regards no deal as preferable to either the UK being in the EEA and the Customs Union or a customs border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. She said that if the EU wants to reject Chequers, it is incumbent on them to come back with an alternative proposal. The question is whether the EU takes this no deal threat seriously. The fact that the government only properly began preparing for leaving without an

The Spectator

Full text: Theresa May’s Downing Street statement on Brexit

Yesterday, I was in Salzburg for talks with European leaders. I have always said that these negotiations would be tough – and they were always bound to be toughest in the final straight. While both sides want a deal, we have to face up to the fact that – despite the progress we have made – there are two big issues where we remain a long way apart. The first is our economic relationship after we have left. Here, the EU is still only offering us two options. The first option would involve the UK staying in the European Economic Area and a customs union with the EU. In plain

Thursday

Robert Peston

Chequers goes pop: Theresa May’s Salzburg catastrophe

Chequers, as the journalist Chris Deerin has pointed out, goes pop. Which wry and funny as it is for those of us of a certain age will not be cheering up Theresa May. Because the EU summit in Salzburg has been a personal catastrophe for her. And worse than that, it was an avoidable catastrophe. Because every EU expert bar those she employs in Whitehall has been saying very loudly for weeks that the trade and commercial proposal in her Chequers Brexit plan would never win favour among the EU 27. So the question is why she waited to have that so publicly and humiliatingly stated by the EU’s president