Uk politics

Tuesday

Nick Cohen

Corbyn’s cranks aren’t interested in power

It ought to be a statement of the obvious that Labour is fighting a civil war between revolutionary socialists and social democrats, which goes back to the Russian revolution 100 years ago. The armies may have changed, but the battle line remains as static as ever. Instead of seeing what is in front of our noses, however, we lose ourselves in the familiar arguments of democratic politics. After last week’s local elections, Corbyn supporters claimed Labour had had its best performance since 1971 (which it had, but only if you exclude every part of Britain outside London). Their opponents said the results were a disaster, and “if we cannot beat

Steerpike

May must fall: PM’s portrait removed from Oxford University display

Poor old Theresa May. Last week, a portrait of the Prime Minister was unveiled at Oxford University as part of their ‘wall of geography women’. But the PM’s time on the wall at her former university has been short-lived. A group calling themselves ‘Not all Geographers’ is claiming success after May’s portrait was taken down following an outcry from angry students. A spokesman for the group had told Oxford student paper Cherwell: ‘The main, and most basic, issue comes with the celebration of a sitting Prime Minister. Should a department align itself with the power of the day, when there are those who actively challenge it? It is unprecedented to

Ross Clark

Is it really harder for young people to buy a home than it was 30 years ago?

The Resolution Foundation has called for 25-year-olds to be paid £10,000 to help them afford homes, saying the ‘generational contract’ between young and old has broken down. But is it really harder for young people to buy a home now than it was 30 years ago? House prices were booming in the first half of 1988, when a typical first-time buyer home could cost £50,000. That same property now, according to the Halifax UK House Price Index, would cost £234,850. Since 1988, the Retail Prices Index has increased 2.7 times, according to the ONS, so, in real terms, £50,000 in 1988 is now worth £135,000 – making it harder to afford

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May is making Cabinet unrest on the customs partnership worse

Boris Johnson’s rather bold move on the customs partnership hasn’t yet landed him in trouble, even though it has enraged some of his pro-Remain colleagues. At the Number 10 lobby briefing today, the Prime Minister’s spokesman avoided giving the Foreign Secretary a slap down when asked whether Theresa May was happy that he had told the Mail that the customs partnership plan was ‘crazy’. Instead, the spokesman used the sort of formula of words that declines to offer any sort of comment on anything at all: ‘There are two customs models that were first put forward by the government last August, and most recently they were outlined in the Prime

Joanna Williams

Giving millennials £10,000 won’t tackle the generation gap

David Willetts, one time minister of state for universities and science turned chief spokesperson for baby boomer self-flagellation, is clearly troubled by the year of his birth. Since his 2010 book, The Pinch: How the baby boomers took their children’s future and why they should give it back, he’s been desperately seeking atonement for the privileges that happy date accrued. Now, thanks to a report from the Resolution Foundation, we know the precise cost of easing Willetts’s conscience: £10,000 – to be made payable to every 25 year old. A cheque for £10,000 landing on the doormat will no doubt make hitting the quarter of a century milestone a little

Tom Goodenough

Heidi Alexander joins the march of the moderates out of Westminster

The march of the Labour moderates away from Westminster continues, with Heidi Alexander the latest to quit parliament. The Labour MP announced this morning that she will stand down from her seat and take up a job working with Sadiq Khan at City Hall. Her departure is no real surprise: speculation has been rife for a while that she would quit. It has also been obvious that Alexander wasn’t happy, to say the least, working under Jeremy Corbyn. Alexander was one of the first to quit the shadow cabinet in 2016 in the wake of the referendum. At the time, she told Corbyn that ‘a change of leadership is essential’,

Steerpike

Watch: IDS’s Sky News Brexit clash

Cabinet is certain to be tetchy this morning after Boris Johnson called the PM’s preferred customs arrangement ‘crazy’. Things were no different on Sky News just now when Iain Duncan Smith popped up to discuss Brexit. IDS clashed repeatedly with Adam Boulton as the pair discussed borders, Brexit and whether Boris would do a better job than Theresa May. Here’s how it unfolded: IDS: Let me finish, because you need to understand what the problem is AB: No, but you’re making an assertion IDS: No, I’m not … IDS: Adam, sorry, just wait. Let me finish. Wouldn’t you like to know the answer to that question? AB: Yeah IDS: Right,

Monday

Henry Newman

It’s time to end the discussion on the customs union

This never-ending circular discussion on customs unions is painful, particularly because the question should have been settled during the referendum. It’s now nearly two years since the vote to Leave the EU in June 2016. But we’ve spent months and months rehashing endlessly the exact same points. That’s profoundly damaging. Rewind back to this time two years ago. The leaders of the Leave campaign were talking about the possibility of the UK signing new trade deals after Brexit with the US, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand – they were talking of life outside a Customs Union. The other side said we would have more negotiating weight as a big

Sunday

Steerpike

Kay Burley makes a splash on Marr

After winning the ‘broadcast journalist of the year’ gong on Tuesday at the London Press Club awards, Kay Burley topped off a busy week with a debut on the Andrew Marr show. The Sky broadcaster joined Amanda Platell and Ayesha Hazarika for the paper review segment of the early morning current affairs show, Only while discussing the sad news about Sir Alex Ferguson’s health problems, Burley caused quite a splash on air. Flicking through the Sun to show viewers at home the depth of their coverage on the story, Burley inadvertently showed more that she had intended – turning to a picture of a model wearing very little: Ever the professional, Burley

Steerpike

Introducing the Labour representative for Small Heath: councillor who claimed Isis doesn’t exist

The Conservatives better-than-expected election result has been dampened somewhat by CCHQ’s decision to reinstate a councillor suspended for comparing an Asian man with a dog last June in order to take control of Pendle council. Labour have been quick to go on the attack – accusing the Tories of abandoning decency in favour of a power grab. However, Labour don’t have the monopoly on outrage over elected councillors. While the party failed to get the landslide it had hoped, there was one particular cause for celebration in Birmingham: Safia Alif Noor Akhtar, the party’s candidate in Birmingham Small Heath, ‘waltz[ed] to victory’ in the words of the local paper. Mr S

Peter Oborne

In defence of Olly Robbins

I dislike the attacks on Theresa May’s Brexit adviser Olly Robbins. Mr Robbins is a capable and patriotic official charged with the exceptionally demanding task of extricating Britain from the European Union. This job is as difficult and complicated as taking Arizona out of the United States. I detect no evidence to support claims that Mr Robbins, whom I have not met, is sabotaging Brexit. He understands that his job is to carry out the orders of the government of the day as smoothly and skilfully as possible. The Conservative party has historically been dedicated to the preservation of our great institutions: parliament, monarchy, civil service, rule of law, etc.

Saturday

Steerpike

The FT remembers Karl Marx – ‘more relevant than ever’

Happy Karl Marx day. To mark the 200th anniversary of the revolutionary philosopher’s birth, a statue of the revolutionary philosopher (funded by the Chinese, natch) has been erected in his German hometown Trier to protests, Owen Jones has tweeted a picture of his cat reading Das Kapital and a range of pieces have been published across the media on his legacy. Only some articles are more gushing than others. Take for example, the Financial Times essay on new Marx biography ‘A World to Win: The Life and Works of Karl Marx’. The glowing piece sees the journalist offer a rather selective account and verdict of Marx’s life and legacy. Adam Tooze praises the

James Forsyth

Theresa May won’t abandon her customs partnership idea: but she should

Theresa May has received a shot in the arm from the local election results. But, as I say in The Sun this morning, she still needs to deal with the whole customs partnership question. Even after the remarkable rebuff that the ‘new customs partnership’ received from the Brexit inner Cabinet on Wednesday, despite the Prime Minister putting her authority on the line by making clear her support for it, Number 10 won’t give up on the idea. It believes that with a few changes it can be made to work. Already, ministers are being told that what really matters is getting out of the EU. The case is being made

Friday

Jamie Bartlett

Why politicians love to blame an algorithm

Jeremy Hunt as Home Secretary said something very important by mistake. He told the Commons in May 2018 that ‘a computer algorithm failure’ meant 450,000 patients in England missed breast cancer screenings. As many as 270 women might have had their lives shortened as a result. This point hasn’t received the analysis it deserves. Scores of women died sooner than they should have done, because of an algorithm. He’s probably right, you know. It really could have been a computer model to blame here. But that’s obviously unsatisfactory, since we need humans to hold to account when things go wrong. Let’s say it was a poorly programmed algorithm – who’s at fault? The tech guy who

Alastair Benn

Why do Tories love Ayn Rand?

Our new Home Secretary Sajid Javid is a big Ayn Rand fan: twice a year, he reads the courtroom scene in ‘The Fountainhead’. He said so in an interview with The Spectator: “It’s about the power of the individual … About sticking up for your beliefs, against popular opinion. Being that individual that really believes in something and goes for it.” This curious fetish for Ayn Rand extends to conservatives on both sides of the Atlantic – Paul Ryan often gives Rand’s novel ‘Atlas Shrugged’ as a Christmas present. Javid is a capable figure who has no less of a chance of ascending to the top than any other of

Katy Balls

How Redditch, Peterborough and Nuneaton saved the bank holiday weekend

Ahead of the local elections – and the predictions of a bloodbath for the Conservatives – it seemed a safe bet that on the night the official Tory MP WhatsApp message group would be filled with complaints about bad results – possibly bad leadership – and a number of Conservative MPs warning emotional colleagues to hold it together and get behind Theresa May. Instead, the problem was of another variety: ‘where’s my graphic?’ Tory MPs used the thread to complain not about their leader but the fact the ‘Tory held’ or ‘Tory win’ Twitter banners weren’t ready in time to share. As Theresa May goes into the weekend, her position

Steerpike

Watch: Martin Lewis schools Labour MP on Question Time over tuition fees

In the flurry of excitement over the local elections, Chi Onwurah’s Question Time appearance has been cruelly overlooked. Happily, Mr S is on hand to right this wrong. The Labour MP’s attempt to criticise the Tories over student loans backfired last night. The Labour MP spoke of her apparent fears that a working-class student could be put off university by the amount they would have to pay back. But Onwurah didn’t account for a furious Martin Lewis, who was also on the Question Time panel, taking her to task for her comments: Astonishing scenes on #bbcqt as a furious moneysaving expert Martin Lewis destroys Labour’s Chi Onwurah over her attempts use student debt

James Kirkup

The Tories should learn from Wandsworth – not celebrate it

I live in Wandsworth. It’s nice. That’s not a political comment, just an observation on the borough. OK, it’s not edgy or cool or even wildly imaginative, but neither am I. It is also the sort of place the Tories should win at a canter. There’s a reason it’s called a flagship council, after all. It’s still Conservative today and Tories are celebrating that: Theresa May has been in the borough lauding “success” and noting that Labour threw a lot of resources at Wandsworth and appeared to believe that it really might turn the borough red. Of course, a win’s a win and nothing else really matters, but I can’t

Steerpike

Watch: Red Ken doubles down on Hitler

Has Labour’s anti-Semitism row cost the party in the local elections? Given their disappointing results in areas with a large number of Jewish voters, such as Barnet, it would seem so. So is Ken Livingstone feeling apologetic for repeatedly talking about Hitler? Not so, if his interview on Sky News just now was anything to go on. Instead of apologising for embarrassing his party, Ken doubled down on his comments, and again droned on about Adolf Hitler’s view of zionism: ‘There is a lot of Jewish people not just in Barnet but all over the place who believe I said Hitler was a zionist. That was the big smear on

Steerpike

Ukip’s general secretary compares party to the black death

Ukip has had a dismal night in the local elections: the party is so far down 92 seats, and retains only two council seats across Britain. Some politicians might do their best to try and put a gloss on things – but not Ukip’s general secretary, Paul Oakley, who has compared his party to the black death. Oakley told the Today programme: UKIP’s general secretary @PaulJamesOakley compares his party to the Black Death. ☠️ He claims that’s not a bad thing and says it’s not over for his party. #Election2018 #r4today pic.twitter.com/dJ0Tim3Mns— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 4, 2018 ‘Think of the Black Death in the Middles Ages. It