Uk politics

Friday

Melanie McDonagh

The Tories will regret backtracking on faith schools

From our UK edition

The archbishop of Liverpool, Malcolm McMahon, got it right: the Government has broken its manifesto promise on church schools – can we just drop the “faith schools” bit? As he said trenchantly: “In their general election manifesto the Conservative Party made a commitment to the Catholic community that the unfair rule effectively stopping the opening of new Catholic free schools would be lifted. Today the Government has broken this promise, dropped the pledge they made to our country’s six million Catholics and ignored the tens of thousands of Catholics who campaigned on this issue.” That’s telling ‘em. It doesn’t help either, that the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds was so weaselly about the Government’s bad faith.

Gavin Mortimer

How London’s gangs could spawn tomorrow’s jihadis

From our UK edition

What will happen when the teenagers stabbing each other on the streets of London grow up? Some will go straight, some will go to prison and some will probably follow a similar trajectory to Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale. These two evolved from being minor figures on the south-east London gang scene into two of the most notorious Islamist killers in Britain, responsible for murdering Lee Rigby outside Woolwich barracks in 2013. In the aftermath of the murder, Harry Fletcher, a former assistant general secretary of the probation union Napo, explained: "A major concern in recent years has been the crossover between criminal groups and Islamist organisations. It's mainly gangs in Southwark and Lambeth and we're talking about dozens, not hundreds, of members who are at risk.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Tim Farron just can’t escape gay sex

From our UK edition

What does Tim Farron think about gay sex? Like Ken Livingstone's repeated reluctance to discuss Hitler, the former Lib Dem leader has never really offered his views on the subject. This time a year ago, for instance, he was so busy talking about all the things his party was putting into its general election manifesto that there was just never time for the matter to creep into interviews. He's never avoided questions on gay sex, or changed his views on gay sex, or offered formulations which sound as though he loves gay people (just not in The Way) but actually mean he doesn't think they should be having gay sex. So what a surprise that gay sex has cropped up as a problem for Farron this week. It's not like it's ever been in an issue before.

Steerpike

Watch: John Bercow’s awkward clash with Tory MP

From our UK edition

Awkward scenes in the Commons just now where Conservative MP James Duddridge has called for a debate on John Bercow’s replacement as speaker. After being picked by Bercow, the Tory MP told Parliament: 'Given your manifesto commitment to go by the 22nd June, can we have a debate…about what we want from a speaker, what type of speaker we want before we move to a secondary discussion about who we want to replace you.' His comments did not go down well with Bercow's chums on the other benches, with one MP calling the intervention 'ridiculous'. Unsurprisingly, too, Bercow – who was sitting slumped down in his chair – was not impressed either. He told Duddridge: 'I...

James Forsyth

Brexit is fast becoming a Tory no-win

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s Brexit dilemma is becoming more acute. Last week, she failed to garner the support of the Brexit inner cabinet for a so-called ‘new customs partnership’ with the European Union. Even so, May can’t and won’t drop the idea. She’s convinced that it is critical for solving the Irish border issue, and thus unlocking a deal. But the bad news for Mrs May is that opinion has hardened against her scheme (which would see the UK collecting tariff revenue for the EU even after Brexit). Boris Johnson has publicly attacked it as ‘crazy’ and in no way ‘taking back control’. Tellingly, Downing Street didn’t feel it could slap him down for this.

Wednesday

Steerpike

Tory Brexiteers and Remainers finally settle their differences

From our UK edition

Tory Brexiteers and Remainers might share the same benches in parliament but they don't always see eye to eye these days. Which makes Mr S pleased to see the likes of Crispin Blunt and Ken Clarke find common cause this afternoon. So what did they finally manage to agree on? Blunt and Clarke – as well as outspoken Brexiteer Peter Bone and the Remainer Tory MP Dominic Grieve – rebelled against the government by voting in favour of Leveson 2. It's just a pity that they were all on the losing side...

Steerpike

Will John Cleese now leave England?

From our UK edition

Will John Cleese now leave England? Mr S. only asks because yesterday the former funnyman tweeted this: Unfortunately for Cleese, things in the Commons haven't gone his way, with MPs voting not to go ahead with Leveson 2. So, is he a man of his word?

Lloyd Evans

Is time up for John Bercow?

From our UK edition

More trouble for the Speaker today. It’s becoming clear that John Bercow is not just unpopular but unlucky as well. He skipped PMQs to attend the funeral of his predecessor, Michael Martin, who was ousted by a mutiny in 2009. Newer members, perhaps believing that insurrection is the correct way to eject an unwanted speaker, may be plotting Bercow’s dethronement already. Unluckier still, he’s just earned a new tabloid nickname, ‘Bully Bercow’, over allegations of "explosive and intemperate" behaviour toward staff, which he denies and are now under investigation. The phrase has a certain felicitous musicality – like Billy Bunter – that may soften the sting of its literal meaning, but whatever happens to him the tag will stick forever.

Isabel Hardman

Corbyn exposes May’s Brexit mess at PMQs

From our UK edition

Given the deep Cabinet splits over Theresa May's plans for Britain's customs arrangements with the EU after Brexit, there was a very clear line of attack for Jeremy Corbyn to lead with at today's Prime Minister's Questions. The Labour leader doesn't always take the most obvious line, but he did today, first asking May about Boris Johnson's description of the new customs partnership as 'crazy'. This elicited a rather robotic response from the Prime Minister, who helpfully chanted to the Commons that 'we are leaving the European Union, we are leaving the customs union'. Corbyn made things still more awkward for his opponent by then switching to quoting Greg Clark's warning that jobs would be at risk without frictionless trade with the EU.

Stephen Daisley

Iran shows that even Trump can get things right

From our UK edition

An unexpected downside of Donald Trump's presidency is the rare occasion on which he makes a wise call. Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran deal is wise and demonstrates a clear understanding of Tehran's motives and tactics. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) was Barack Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement, and it was sold as a tough but realistic settlement that would normalise relations with Iran while frustrating its desires to become a nuclear power.  The JCPOA was an attempt to translate Obama's campaign idealism into hard policy. He won in 2008, in part, by promising a new way forward on American engagement with the world, one humbler and less hawkish than the Bush administration.

James Forsyth

The Brexit compromise that satisfies nobody

From our UK edition

The EU referendum result was relatively narrow. 52/ 48 per cent is a very different result from 55/ 45 per cent or 60/ 40 per cent. In these circumstances, seeking some kind of compromise to try and unite the country seems sensible. But the problem is that while there is a coherent case for leaving the EU and a coherent one for staying in, it is hard to see what the coherent case is for leaving the EU only to become a permanent member of the EEA and stay in a customs union with the EU. A compromise along these lines would satisfy nobody. It wouldn’t deal with the sovereignty concerns of Brexiteers and it wouldn’t satisfy those Remainers who want to be at the European top table as the rules are made.

Charles Moore

Advice for the current Duke of Wellington

From our UK edition

Yesterday, the present (ninth) Duke of Wellington proposed the latest Remainer amendment in the House of Lords, which removes the date of leaving the EU from the Bill. He is the most politically engaged Wellington since the first one, so it was nice to see him. But I wish he had called to mind his great ancestor’s behaviour over the Corn Laws. Wellington strongly opposed repeal, but when Peel backed it in 1846, the Duke urged peers to submit. They could not afford to cut themselves off from the Commons, he told them. He thought the good government of the country more important than any particular Bill. Should peers feel grander now than in 1846?

Douglas Murray

Hectoring Trump on Iran has done Britain and France no favours

From our UK edition

Three years ago when the Iran nuclear agreement was signed there was massive political resistance in Washington. Notably – but not solely – from Republicans.  In London, by contrast, there was almost nothing. As Catherine Ashton and co worked away with the Iranians there was next to no resistance from the UK political class and very little pushback from the British media. Considering that the deal delivered an astronomical cash-infusion to the Mullahs and only stood at best to delay their nuclear ambitions, this was striking. At the time I asked one Parliamentarian why there had been such silence in Westminster and was told ‘When the White House wants something this much it probably isn’t worth standing against it.’ Well now the boot is on another foot.

Tuesday

Nick Cohen

Corbyn’s cranks aren’t interested in power

From our UK edition

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 this shambles of a Tory Party, we don’t deserve to be in the game”.

Steerpike

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

From our UK edition

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 celebrate state power in such a way (regardless of one’s political affiliation).' https://twitter.

Ross Clark

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

From our UK edition

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 a deposit.

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May is making Cabinet unrest on the customs partnership worse

From our UK edition

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 Minister's Mansion House speech, which the entire cabinet was signed up to.

Joanna Williams

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

From our UK edition

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 sweeter for Britain’s put-upon millennials.

Tom Goodenough

Heidi Alexander joins the march of the moderates out of Westminster

From our UK edition

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’, in the hope that Labour's moderates could oust their leader.

Steerpike

Watch: IDS’s Sky News Brexit clash

From our UK edition

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, let me finish. … IDS: Do me a favour, Alan, err Adam. You ask me a question, let me finish.