Uk politics

Saturday

James Forsyth

Theresa May reveals her hawkish side

From our UK edition

So, what are strikes on Syria meant to achieve? Well, as I write in The Sun today, Boris Johnson was clear at Thursday’s Cabinet what they aren’t trying to do. The Foreign Secretary emphasised that this wasn’t about regime change in Damascus or altering the course of the Syrian civil war. Instead, it was about maintaining the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons. The aim is to ensure that Bashar al-Assad’s regime realises that if it uses gas, it will face consequences. If no action is taken, Assad’s forces will step up their use of chemical weapons. Why, because they are trying to clear out opponents who are dug in and prepared to fight to the death and gas is one of the most effective ways of doing that.

Gavin Mortimer

Emmanuel Macron is Making France Great Again

From our UK edition

Since Emmanuel Macron became president last year, he has unashamedly courted the world’s presidents, prime ministers, sheiks and chancellors. Much like Trump, his message has been clear: France is not only back, but it is great again. Trump and Macron will have the chance to discuss their strategies later this month when the American president hosts his 40-year-old French counterpart on the first official state visit by a foreign leader since his election. They first bonded in July when Trump was invited to Paris to revel in the pomp and ceremony of Bastille Day, against the grand historical backdrop of the Palace of Versailles, with all of its symbolism of French victory.

Friday

Dominic Green

Bombing Syria would be a grave mistake

‘The whole of the Balkans,’ Otto von Bismarck said, ‘is not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.’ He was right, until he was wrong. Times changed, and so did the map. In 1914, with Bismarck gone and no one to restrain the Kaiser, terrorism in the Balkans sparked a world war. How much of Iraq was worth the bones of the thousands of Americans who died in Iraq? Only in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq did the United States turn an enemy state into an ally. How much of Syria is worth the bones of a single US Marine? None of it, because time and the map have changed.

Simon Marcus

Britain is still broken. Here’s how to fix it

From our UK edition

Nearly six years ago, in The Spectator, I explained how and why the gang culture that exploded in the 2011 riots was a ‘taste of the Britain to come.’ I also explained how the left-liberal establishment had allowed the conditions for gang crime to flourish while ignoring the solutions. Sadly, this wasn’t difficult to predict and with the 2018 killing toll in London passing 50, the same questions need to be asked again. The good news is that we can stop the carnage on our streets within a week. But firstly it is important to draw a clearer picture of the causes.

Jacob Heilbrunn

Is Trump the Neville Chamberlain of our time?

So Britain is responsible for staging the Syrian gas attack? According to Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov: “We have evidence that proves Britain was directly involved in organizing this provocation.” Evidence, shmevidence. Next thing you know Moscow will be offering to assist Yulia Skripal. Oh, wait. It already did. Vladimir Putin cannot conceal that his regime is complicit in some very odious deeds—and that it’s feeling increasingly confident about taunting the West. The Russian claim is deliberately preposterous.

Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn: ‘you’d better make f—ing sure I don’t get elected’

From our UK edition

At times it has seemed as though Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has not seen winning power as a top priority. Now it seems that winning the Labour leadership contest wasn't even Corbyn's desired result in the beginning. In an interview with Owen Jones, Corbyn ally Jon Lansman reveals what Corbyn said when he made it onto the ballot paper: OJ: Do you remember what Jeremy Corbyn said when he got on the ballot paper? JL: He said 'you'd better'... am I allowed to say 'f--cking' OJ: Yes JL: He said 'you'd better make f---ing sure I don't get elected'. Mr S suspects Corbyn has since changed his tune...

Tom Goodenough

Why can’t Diane Abbott be honest about Labour’s Syria stance?

From our UK edition

Why can’t Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn be honest about Labour’s real stance on Syria? The shadow home secretary is demanding an ‘independent, UN-led investigation’ into what happened in Douma to determine whether chemical weapons were used in the attack this week. This is the line parroted by the Labour leader, who has said: “Britain should press for an independent U.N.-led investigation of last weekend’s horrific chemical weapons attack so that those responsible can be held to account.” But as Abbott and Corbyn know (or should know) only too well, an independent UN-led investigation is for the birds; it won’t happen. So Abbott and Corbyn would be more honest if they were to say Britain should stay out of the conflict altogether.

Thursday

Steerpike

Labour frontbencher: Corbyn should stop commenting on foreign policy

From our UK edition

There are many figures in the Labour party who wish that Jeremy Corbyn would stay schtum on foreign policy. Whether it's his anti-West views, warm feeling towards his 'friends' Hamas or complicated relationship with Russia, when the Labour leader turns to international affairs, many of his MPs look on in despair. But up until now Mr S had thought that the shadow cabinet were at least on his side. Perhaps not. In an interview with the House magazine, Kate Osamor - the shadow  international development secretary – suggests Corbyn should stop commenting on foreign policy and ‘just let his spokesperson speak'.

Katy Balls

Not all Tories are gung-ho for intervention in Syria

From our UK edition

As Theresa May meets with her Cabinet to discuss a possible response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, it's widely expected that any action she does take will be actioned without a vote in Parliament. The Prime Minister does not need to have approval through a Commons vote but recent precedent means that a lot of MPs think that she should. In that vein, today Jeremy Corbyn warned that MPs must be consulted on any UK military action. This is unsurprising but May's bigger problem is that a sizeable portion of the Tory party is also sceptical of the merits of intervention. Were the decision to go to Parliament, May would almost certainly have to rely on Labour rebels’ votes for her majority in this instance.

Isabel Hardman

What’s the point of a Commons vote on striking Syria?

From our UK edition

Theresa May is holding an emergency Cabinet meeting today on how to respond to the latest chemical weapons attack in Syria. Already sources are briefing that the Prime Minister is prepared to take military action without a vote in Parliament, which has naturally enraged a number of parliamentarians. Jeremy Corbyn has said that ‘parliament should always be given a say on military action’, and the SNP have said that a failure to do so would be a ‘scandal’. As we know from the military interventions of the past few years, parliament does not have any formal right to a vote before action, but since the Iraq War, it has become the convention for Prime Ministers to seek approval from MPs anyway.

Steerpike

Simon McCoy adds yet another BBC gaffe to his list

From our UK edition

Simon McCoy has a reputation for being the BBC's most gaffe-prone presenter. On Wednesday, he reminded viewers why. As Jane Hill presented the news, McCoy wandered onto the set and walked into the line of the camera: https://twitter.com/liarpoliticians/status/984054620392652802 Here's a brief reminder of some of McCoy's greatest hits: Simon McCoy 'no news' royal baby broadcast Standing outside St Mary's hospital in Paddington, McCoy showed no signs of experiencing royal baby-mania: 'Well plenty more to come from here. Of course, none of it news, because that will come from Buckingham Palace. But that won’t stop us. We’ll see you later.' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4tH6BnBTNk 2. Simon McCoy takes a nap... on air We've all been there.

Stephen Daisley

The SNP is paying the price for whipping up the ‘cybernat’ mob

From our UK edition

I'm not one to say 'I told you so’ but the thing is, I did. At the SNP's mass-recruiting, concert-touring, swingometer-skelping zenith, I warned that the party's failure to rein in its most fervent ideologues, not least the digital stormtroopers known as cybernats, would do it a mischief one day. Instead, the Nationalists not only tolerated cybernats, but some got in on the act themselves. None more so than Pete Wishart, the sneer on the snarl of Scottish nationalism, whose late-night maledictions against 'nawbags' and 'wanks' had the faithful testifying and retweeting with equal fervour.  Now the boot is on the other foot and he is coming in for a kicking from his own squad.

Wednesday

Jacob Heilbrunn

Donald Trump’s love-in with Putin comes to an abrupt halt

In his inimitable fashion, President Trump has put Russia on notice that the era of playing kissy-face with the Kremlin has come to an abrupt halt. “Get ready Russia,” he announced. It’s bombs away for the Trump administration. The Bolton doctrine has now become the Trump doctrine. Trump’s tweet is being decried as taunting Vladimir Putin but that is what he does best. Trump is turning foreign policy into a game show, complete with real warfare. Maybe he will conduct Twitter polls asking where he should bomb next. Putin, you could say, has run into his doppelgänger and then some. None of this should really come as a surprise. Trump talked tough during the Republican primary about how America should have snatched Iraq’s oil fields.

Freddy Gray

On foreign policy, Trump is far more like Obama than either would admit

You could call it the John Bolton effect. The President’s new National Security Adviser has only been in the job a few days, and already Donald Trump is threatening war with Russia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/984022625440747520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw SMART! One can almost imagine Bolton’s moustache brushing Trump’s ear on that one. Trump didn’t talk about Russia like that before. But Trump’s new found bellicosity is also down to what could be called Obama syndrome. On foreign policy, you see, President Trump and his predecessor in the Oval Office are far more alike than either man would admit. They have both found themselves struggling over the problem of China’s rise, only then to get distracted in the Middle East.

Steerpike

Euan Blair to the rescue?

From our UK edition

This week Tony Blair managed to say something surprising. In a rare sighting of modesty, the former prime minister said that he was not the man to lead a new centre party. But could another Blair be the man for the job? Mr S only asks after the Guardian reported that the new centre party in the works – linked to LoveFilm's Simon Franks and £50m of potential funding – has links to Blair's son Euan: 'One person who was approached to join the fledgling organisation was told Euan Blair was on its board, and his father, the former Labour prime minister, had been helpful in recommending potential donors. Other sources confirmed Euan Blair’s name had been associated with the project.

Steerpike

Lynton Crosby’s consolation prize

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s ‘strong and stable’ election campaign was nothing short of a disaster for the Tories. But it isn't all doom and gloom for everyone concerned. Step forward Sir Lynton Crosby. Crosby’s firm CTF Partners helped to mastermind the Conservative campaign. Although that didn't play out exactly as intended, the company has just reported a profit of £4.46m for last year, according to a copy of the company’s accounts seen by Mr Steerpike. CTF Partners’ profit rose by almost a million on the year before. As for that campaign, as revealed last month, Crosby’s campaigning firm charged the party £4 million for advice in the run-up to the general election campaign.

Tuesday

Steerpike

Nick Griffin backs Corbyn

From our UK edition

This afternoon Jeremy Corbyn received the news that Israel’s Labour party are to suspend relations with him – accusing the Labour leader of sanctioning anti-Semitism. However, Corbyn can at least end the day even – having won a surprise endorsement. Former BNP leader Nick Griffin has taken to social media to say that he plans to vote for Labour for the first time – on the condition that Corbyn 'sticks to his guns' and 'refuses to blame Assad' for the suspected chemical attack in Syria: https://twitter.com/NickGriffinBU/status/983356106020880385 Still, even if it does work out, Mr S suspects Griffin won't be invited on to a Labour party broadcast anytime soon.

Robert Peston

Why May must back Trump on Syria

From our UK edition

It is inconceivable that Theresa May will refuse support to Macron’s France and Trump’s America in any military action – airborne – they are likely to take against Assad in Syria. If she did not manifest that solidarity, she would be snubbing the two governments and individuals who offered the most important cooperation she received in the international response to Russia’s perceived role in the Salisbury atrocity. She would also be flagging that post-Brexit Britain lacks the confidence to take a leading role in maintaining global security – because no one doubts that British intelligence and ministers shares the presumption that Assad was to blame for the appalling use of chemical weapons on his compatriots.

Steerpike

Labour frontbencher: Labour’s Brexit test is ‘bollocks’

From our UK edition

Oh dear. Barry Gardiner's bad day has gone from bad to worse. After a recording emerged of the shadow international trade secretary describing the Good Friday Agreement as ‘a shibboleth’ in the Brexit negotiations, Gardiner issued an apology. Now it seems as though he may be required to apologise for the second time in the space of two hours. The BBC have obtained a recording of Gardiner – speaking at the same event to Labour MEPs – as describing his party's Brexit tests as 'bollocks'. 'Well let's just take one test - the exact same benefits. Bollocks. Always has been bollocks and it remains it.

Alex Massie

How dare David Davis blame Sinn Fein for the Irish border mess

From our UK edition

Sweet baby Jesus, is there nobody in the Department for Exiting the European Union who can give David Davis a briefing on Irish politics? Not a full, in-depth, Donegal-to-Kerry briefing; just the basics will do. And if there isn’t anyone at DEXEU who could do this, perhaps some kind soul at the Northern Ireland office could pop over to give Davis a quick tutorial? The Times reports this morning that this kind of briefing is urgently needed. Of course the paper doesn’t quite put it like that but this is the inescapable conclusion to be drawn from Davis’s own remarks at a conference in London yesterday. According to our gallant bulldog, the question of Brexit and the Irish border is being complicated by the Irish government.