Uk politics

Oh dear. Although free-thinking Cabinet members are not hard to come by nowadays, Liz Truss still managed to cause a stir with her speech to the London School of Economics. Only it was notable not just for her defence of free markets and fiscal restraint but for what she didn't say. In the pre-released speech on the government website, Truss took a swipe at her Cabinet colleague Michael Gove over his plan to save turtles and ban plastic straws: Only – despite the speech being pre-published – Truss appears to have decided it was a straw too far and taken the line out at the last minute. Happily, she was still okay criticising Gove's department as a whole: 'There’s enough hot air and smoke at the Environment Department already.

Collective responsibility is dead. Long live cabinet irresponsibility. This seems to be the message from Theresa May’s government this week. After Gavin Williamson kicked off the week with a supposed threat to bring down the Prime Minister unless she gave him £10bn ASAP, Boris Johnson and Philip Hammond have kept busy with a proxy battle over business Brexit warnings. The bad behaviour appears to be contagious. In a speech last night to the London School of Economics, Liz Truss – the Chief Secretary to the Treasury – took aim at Michael Gove’s eco-warrior status and the Defence Secretary's ‘macho’ calls for cash.

The far left’s argument in favour of Brexit is a mess of invented histories, smears, crocodile tears and paranoia. Worse, it’s a party line that is repeated by propagandists out of deference to the leadership. If the leadership should stand on its head and announce it supported Britain staying in the EU or remaining a member of the single market, Corbyn's supporters would stand on their heads too. The radicals who are now chanting “where’s Jeremy Corbyn?” may not study the intricacies of Labour Party politics – why should they waste their time when we are facing a national crisis? – but they cannot miss the overpowering odour of insincerity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUFvNJwiEA0 Labour’s bad faith is built on two dishonesties.

Airbus will abandon the UK. The car factories will all be closed down. Trade will grind to a halt, we will run out of food and medicines, and Harry Kane will be sold to Real Madrid and made captain of Spain instead of England. Okay, I made that last one up, but all the others are among the dire warnings that big business have issued over Brexit in the last few weeks. Project Fear III, or IV, or possibly XXVII by now, keeps coming back. Right now, it seems to have as many sequels as Jurassic World, and with plot-lines that are about as original. That, however, is a mistake, and potentially a serious one. Sure, industry has plenty of legitimate concerns about our departure from the EU. But it should be trying to shape Brexit, not just re-run a failed referendum strategy.

Is Len McCluskey a signed up member of a 'corporate cartel'? That's what his close ally John McDonnell appeared to suggest in the Chamber as Tory MPs voted en masse to back plans for a third runway at Heathrow. With the shadow chancellor representing a constituency in the flight path of the proposed runway, McDonnell was quick to attack all those behind it and the 'corporate cartels' pushing for it: 'Does this House stand up for people and communities, especially working class communities or does it stand up for the interests of a corporate cartel that's ripped us off for decades?' Only McDonnell seems to have forgotten who his friends are. Labour's key union financier Unite is pro-Heathrow and seen to be the motivating factor in Jeremy Corbyn allowing his MPs a free vote on the issue.

When it was announced that the crackdown on fixed-odds betting machines could be delayed for up to two years, Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson made his feelings loud and clear: ‘The state of this government. It’s pathetic,’ he tweeted. That outburst wasn’t the only time Watson has called for action against the bookmakers. Here he is describing gambling as Britain’s ‘hidden epidemic’ and urging football clubs to cut their ties with the bookies: 'Kids more than ever are exposed to gambling adverts, and it’s no surprise to me then...that gambling addiction has gone up by an estimated third in recent years.

The Health Secretary joined Andrew Marr this morning for a discussion on the NHS, but it was Hunt's remarks about business that have caught the headlines. The pan-European aviation company Airbus and car manufacturing giant BMW have said that a no deal Brexit could potentially see them leave the UK, and the organisations have said that they want 'clarity' by the end of the summer. Hunt urged people to ignore these 'siren voices' and put their faith in the Prime Minister: https://twitter.com/MarrShow/status/1010812272715812864 AM: When you picked up the paper and you saw that Airbus was talking about leaving this country... what did you think? JH: I just thought it was completely inappropriate for businesses to be making these kinds of threats for one very simple reason.

This time last year, Jeremy Corbyn was standing on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury to adoring chants of 'Oh-Jeremy-Corbyn'. Last weekend, Corbyn-mania attempting a resurgence at JezFest – Labour's very own music festival – but failed to deliver the Labour leader another Glastonbury moment – with only faint chants to be heard. Happily, Corbyn can take heart that his name was chanted en masse this weekend. Only it wasn't for the reason that his supporters had in mind. At the anti-Brexit People's Vote march in London, protesters angrily chanted 'where's Jeremy Corbyn?' https://twitter.com/Jack_Slater/status/1010519215034560513 It turns out that Corbyn was busy visiting a refugee camp.

After any major interview, I turn with great interest to discover from Twitter whether I am currently a sinister Marxist undermining the Tories; a foam-flecked believer in the hardest of hard Brexits; or a mildly outdated Blairite propagandist. Maybe, I’m all three. Or, just possibly, I ask the questions, rather than taking responsibility for the answers. Our job at the BBC is not to denounce, lampoon, deride or sneer at elected politicians but to ask them, politely, direct and relevant questions — pause — and let the viewers decide. The number of viewers watching the show suggests the majority understand this. But there’s no doubt that the vote to leave the EU has made many people in certain parts of British public life almost uncontrollably angry.