Uk politics

Friday

Steerpike

Gavin Barwell sets the bar low

From our UK edition

Oh dear. It used to be that the Conservatives had their eyes on a 100-seat majority, now it seems that they’ll celebrate a draw. Theresa May’s chief of staff Gavin Barwell appears to be spending his Friday attempting to rally the troops today by retweeting a host of 'favourable' polls and results from around the country. If council by-elections weren’t enough to convince the rank and file things were going well, then surely a surge in the polls nationally would do the trick. Or maybe not. It seems Barwell thinks Labour dropping one point to tie with the Tories is a reason to be cheerful: Mr S suspects this development might not be quite enough to calm Tory members still seething over the Chequers proposal...

Nick Cohen

The Brexit right is letting ideology trump democracy

From our UK edition

If Britain were not in the middle of a nervous breakdown, Shahmir Sanni would be a national hero. As it is, the British right has done its damnedest to wreck the life of the whistleblower who provided the evidence that pro-Brexit groups Vote Leave and BeLeave “worked to a common plan” to break “legal spending limits”. Sanni defended the rule of law and the integrity of the democratic process. His fate tells you much about modern Britain – none of it good. It illustrates the most striking feature of the extremes that dominate our country: their contempt for objective truth and for the elementary belief that democracy requires all sides to uphold minimum standards.

Ross Clark

Michel Barnier is wasting Theresa May’s time

From our UK edition

How utterly predictable. As I wrote here on 5 July, Michel Barnier’s ‘considered’ judgement has been to pour a very large bucket of eau onto Theresa May’s carefully-crafted proposals to try to reach a compromise with the EU. Her time, her officials’ time and the time her cabinet spent at Chequers was utterly wasted. Barnier was always going to turn his nose up at whatever Britain proposed. It has been clear for months that that is his strategy: to stonewall all proposals put to him by Britain in the hope that he will be able to bounce Britain into a bad deal (for us) at the last moment.

Steerpike

SNP’s fake Brexit news

From our UK edition

Given the current mess the Conservative party finds itself in, you'd be forgiven for thinking that all their opponents need to do is sit back, watch and enjoy the show. Yet it seems they can't help themselves. As Labour stay in the headlines with a fresh anti-Semitism row, the SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford attempted to go in for the kill. Blackford shared a 'tweet' by Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab in which he apparently referred to Scotland as one of 'England's regions': Only there's a problem – the tweet is a fake, as many users online had already highlighted. After being told this by several users, Blackford has eventually decided to delete his fake news...

Thursday

Daniel DePetris

The EU’s migration solution? Throw cash at the problem

From our UK edition

When European leaders met earlier this month to thrash out an agreement on  migration, they succeeded in rescuing German Chancellor Angela Merkel from the precipice. But it is already becoming clear that the deal they struck was more a temporary papering over of ideological differences on migration than a permanent solution. While the EU agreed on the possible establishment of migrant transit centres on European soil, disembarkation platforms in north Africa, and a general statement that illegal migration was a European problem, the detail of how all this would work in practice was ignored.

Steerpike

Labour MPs’ Love Island fandom moves up a gear

From our UK edition

Last month Mr Steerpike revealed that a group of Labour MPs had formed a special WhatsApp group to secretly liaise with one another. The topic? Rather than anti-Corbynista plots, Lucy Powell, Jess Phillips and Stella Creasy message one another about Love Island – the reality show in which young Brits try and find love. Happily, the trio have now gone public with their passion. With recess upon us, the super fandom has moved up a gear – the Labour MPs appeared on This Morning to discuss the ITV2 show, and it’s fair to say, were delighted to receive their own personalised Love Island water bottles. https://twitter.com/thismorning/status/1022063492717785089 Not as though there's much else going on right now...

Brendan O’Neill

Did Gary Lineker miss the first ‘people’s vote’ on Brexit?

From our UK edition

Gary Lineker is coming to save Britain. From what, I hear you ask? From you. And me. And the rest of the dim-witted electorate who screwed up the nation with our pesky vote to leave the EU. The football commentator turned crisps advertiser turned spokesman for the weeping Brexitphobic Twitterati has announced that he is backing the campaign for a People’s Vote on the final Brexit deal. Why? Because the nation is in a ‘mess’, he says, and it’s all down to the fact that ‘politicians seem unable to resolve the problem the people gave them in voting Leave’. Got that? The problem isn’t useless politicians: it’s ordinary people and our catastrophic stupidity. Lineker wants to save Britain from Britons.

James Kirkup

Why don’t the pro-EU crowd join the Tories?

From our UK edition

Theresa May has a rare talent for turning decent policy into a political problem. Her general election manifesto last year contained an unusually high number of quite sensible and even sometimes progressive ideas: it’s quite common around Westminster these days to hear Tory and Labour people alike admit that things like the “dementia tax”, a full-scale review of post-18 education and some technical-sounding stuff on corporate governance were all, in retrospect, quite solid, worthy attempts to address big public policy problems. The problem, of course, was selling that stuff to the punters. Now we have the Chequers deal on Brexit.

Stephen Daisley

The Brexit ultras are losing the plot

From our UK edition

With the Labour Party losing the plot, it’s reassuring to see the Tories holding true to the principles of liberal democracy. On Wednesday, Conservative MEP David Campbell Bannerman tweeted the Telegraph’s splash, ‘Jihadists should be prosecuted for treason’. By way of comment, he added: 'It is about time we brought the Treason Act up to date and made it apply to those seeking to destroy or undermine the British state. That means extreme jihadis. It also means those in future actively working undemocratically against U.K. through extreme EU loyalty.’ Oh.

Steerpike

Boris Johnson’s new-found freedom

From our UK edition

As Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson found himself restrained in ways that didn't suit him. Now on the backbench once again, BoJo is able to speak freely on Brexit. He's also able to return to a favourite pastime: cycling. Although Johnson is a well known cycling enthusiast, the keen pedaller has been stuck on foot since taking up office as Foreign Secretary. In 2016 the Metropolitan Police banned him from cycling to work, fearing he would be a target for a terrorist attack. Now he's back on the road.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Listen: John McDonnell – ‘we are a party that’s anti-Semitist’

From our UK edition

A poll earlier this year found that almost two-thirds of the British public believe Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party has a problem with racism or religious prejudice. However, up until now Mr S hadn't thought John McDonnell was one of them. Speaking on the Today programme this morning, the Shadow Chancellor attempted to rebuff suggestions that his party had an anti-Semitism problem. Only it didn't go quite to plan thanks to a slip of the tongue: ‘Let me put this message out to anyone: we are a party that’s anti-racist and anti-Semitist... sorry... we're against anti-Semitism.' Freudian slip?

Stephen Daisley

Could Brexit revive the SNP’s fortunes?

From our UK edition

It is my sombre duty to inform you that Scotland is talking about independence again. It probably seems like we never stopped. Your continued patience is appreciated. This time, it’s the economic case — or lack thereof — for going it alone. In May, the SNP’s Growth Commission produced its long-awaited (not long enough, perhaps) report into the finances of a separate Scotland. The gist? Scotland would be in for an extra decade of austerity but we’d be all right in the end by emulating the growth of similarly situated small nations. All in all, it sounded more plausible than the 2013 White Paper. They had to cut down a lot of magic money trees to print that.  Now, another report has come along and taken the tackety boots to the new draft.

Stephen Daisley

Revealed: Labour’s leaked anti-Semitism guidelines

From our UK edition

Labour’s new code of conduct would not allow the return of Ken Livingstone, according to an internal party document seen by Coffee House. A briefing note sent to Scottish Labour MPs and MSPs addresses the case of the former London mayor, who resigned from the party two years after he was suspended for claiming that Adolf Hitler supported Zionism before he ‘went mad and ending up killing six million Jews’. The note says:  'So the Code wouldn’t pave the way for Ken Livingstone’s return to the Party? 'Not at all.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Watch: Brexiteer MPs round on Olly Robbins at select committee

From our UK edition

Following the resignation of David Davis, Brexiteers and Remainers alike have been left wondering how Brexit is going, and more importantly, who is really in charge of the negotiations with the EU. Today they got their chance to find out, as new Brexit secretary Dominic Raab and Number 10’s widely-loathed Brexit guru Olly Robbins were grilled by the Exiting the European Union select committee. Only things soon took a turn for the dramatic when mid session the government published a statement from the Prime Minister announcing that she will now ‘lead the negotiations with the European Union’ and Dominic Raab's department will be stripped of its role in the negotiations with that duty being entirely shifted to the Cabinet Office's Europe unit.

Tom Goodenough

Theresa May takes back control in Brexit talks

From our UK edition

For months it has been claimed that Theresa May has been sidelining her Brexit department in talks with the EU. Now, the Prime Minister has confirmed that is exactly what she is doing. In a dull sounding written statement on the ‘machinery of government’ put out just hours before MPs head off on their summer holidays, the PM said that to ensure things are ‘organised in the most effective way’ as the countdown to Brexit gets closer, she will now ‘lead the negotiations with the European Union’; Dominic Raab, the PM said, will be ‘deputising’ on her behalf. For Brexiteers, this news will go down badly.

Isabel Hardman

Public sector pay rise masks political row to come

From our UK edition

The Downing Street media grid must be a rather dismal affair these days, with announcements planned that barely get any attention at all thanks to a combination of Brexit and another minister being on the brink of resignation. But one story that has come off reasonably well is today's public sector pay award. Ministers have confirmed that around one million workers in the health service, schools, armed forces and so on will receive a raise of between 1.5 and 3.5 per cent. Obviously, this works nicely politically because everyone loves a pay rise. But the small print of this announcement reveals that it's not going to make life dramatically easier for ministers. The Treasury press release says: 'Today's increases are funded from departmental budgets.

Isabel Hardman

Hancock’s health hour

From our UK edition

Matt Hancock has been ambitious for a big Cabinet job for a good while. He's finally got it, and today the new Health Secretary had his first outing in the Commons with departmental questions. Every new Secretary of State wants to make their mark on the job, showing how they're different to their predecessor, and setting out their priorities for the portfolio. Jeremy Hunt was particularly good at the latter, making patient safety his focus as Health Secretary. Hancock has clearly paid attention to how the longest-serving Health Secretary approached the job, and last week gave a speech setting out three priorities: workforce, technology and prevention.

Steerpike

Tory MP who criticised early recess plans leaves Parliament early to ‘mess about in boats’

From our UK edition

When No 10 attempted to bring recess early so that Parliament rose last Thursday rather than this Tuesday, there was widespread outrage – even on the Conservative benches. So much so that the Whips eventually reneged on the idea and scrapped the plans. One of the most indignant Tory MPs at the time was George Freeman. Freeman took to Twitter to slam the government's proposal as a 'silly idea' because 'Parliament has important business to do'. 'Here here', Freeman said (presumably meaning 'Hear Hear'): https://twitter.com/GeorgeFreemanMP/status/1019311942270365696 https://twitter.com/GeorgeFreemanMP/status/1019310680372137985 Only, it seems that when it comes to the 'important business' Parliament must do today, Freeman stops short of being around for it himself.

Steerpike

John Bercow gets another tennis freebie

From our UK edition

John Bercow wasn't spotted in the Royal Box at Wimbledon this year but Mr S is pleased to report that the Speaker still managed to get his tennis fix this summer. Bercow accepted two free tickets worth £630 to attend the final of Queens in June, according to the register of members' interests. The jolly – which included hospitality – came just two days after Bercow passed his self-imposed deadline to step down as Speaker. Yet while tennis fans would love to get their hands on tickets to Queens, the trip is still something of a step down from what Bercow is used to. Since 2015, he’s managed to get his mitts on £8,000 worth of free tickets to Wimbledon. Perhaps Bercow is preparing for life after his departure as Speaker...

Simon Marcus

Could this summer see a repeat of the 2011 riots? | 24 July 2018

From our UK edition

The heatwave is on and reports of London's crime wave are widespread, with crime up dramatically in the last year: could a repeat of the 2011 riots be on the cards? Predicting riots is tricky but sometimes there are clues: the weather plays a part; and so too does the economy, community cohesion, social morals and other factors that can combine to lead to outbreaks of widespread disorder, just as they did seven years ago on the streets of the capital. Of course, 2011 wasn't the only time people intent on violence have taken to the streets of Britain in recent years.