Uk politics

Tuesday

Steerpike

No 10’s SpAd gridlock

From our UK edition

Rather than re-energise the Tory party as intended, Theresa May's new year reshuffle just exposed her weaknesses and managed to annoy a lot of Conservative MPs in the process. What's more, Mr S understands there is another undesired consequence. Two weeks on and Downing Street is yet to fill a host of special advisor vacancies. Mr S hears murmur of discontent over the way the process is being handled – with complaints of No 10 control-freakery and attempts to thrust candidates on ministers. One aspect of this is a bid to keep the redundancy payments low – so re-appoint those SpAds who lost their jobs rather than go for external hires. But not everyone is playing ball. 'If the government can't manage a basic task like appointing a few SpAds, what does that tell us?

James Forsyth

Boris is right about NHS funding – but he didn’t get his way today

From our UK edition

Cabinet today was not the dramatic showdown over NHS funding that some expected. Boris Johnson was, unsurprisingly given that Theresa May knew what he wanted to say, not called on to speak first. Those Ministers who went before him emphasised that it would be better if these debates took place in private, not public. When it was Boris’s turn to speak, I am told that he slightly pulled his horns in. He made the case for more money for the NHS but he didn’t argue for a specific figure, I understand. Interestingly, and in a sign of how May still views the International Trade Secretary as her bridge to Brexiteers, Liam Fox was called to speak early. Fox, a doctor himself, stressed that these arguments should take place behind closed doors not in the newspapers.

Robert Peston

Is Boris preparing to flounce out of the cabinet?

From our UK edition

'Is Boris preparing to flounce out of the cabinet?' Not my question, but that of one of his senior ministerial colleagues. Why could that be? Exhibit A. In this morning’s cabinet, he is hijacking Jeremy Hunt’s update about how hospitals are coping with the winter pressures with a headline grabbing and overtly populist demand for the Treasury to find an additional £5bn a year of health spending – which would be a modest down payment on the £18bn ('£350m a week') he pledged during the EU referendum campaign. Theresa May won’t be amused. Hunt can’t be sure if Johnson is friend or foe. But it is the kind of typical Boris intervention that says to his backbench colleagues 'if she’s too timid as PM, look what I would do'. Exhibit B.

Steerpike

Theresa May’s Burns Night faux pas

From our UK edition

Oh dear. On Monday night, the Prime Minister attempted to show her support for the union by throwing a Burns Night supper at No. 10. Although Theresa May gave a short address at the inaugural event, Steerpike understands it fell to David Mundell – the Scottish Secretary – to address the haggis (a 'crispy haggis', served as a starter). Meanwhile, Kristene Hair gave the toast to the laddies. Downing Street has released a list of the guest list for the dinner. https://twitter.com/nickeardleybbc/status/955533585867558913 Alas, there's a problem – or several problems to be more precise. Downing Street spelled at least five of the guests’ names wrong, including three Conservative MPs – Andrew Bowie, David Duguid and Ross Thomson.

Lauren Mcevatt

Should the Tories consider all-women shortlists?

From our UK edition

That’s a question I never thought I’d ask. Women shouldn't need to be patronised by creating a special class of system to run for election. But with the announcement of the Conservative Government’s PPS list yesterday I was shocked to note that only 8 out of 43 appointments were women. That’s a mere 18.6 percent of the list. At 21 percent of the Conservative parliamentary party, women are still too under represented, despite the valiant efforts of our Prime Minister and Baroness Jenkin through Women to Win and similar party efforts to encourage more female candidates. To give the Prime Minister credit where it’s due, out of all of the ministerial and whips positions available to MPs - rather than peers - my (admittedly very rough) estimate is that 25.

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Is the party finally over for Ukip?

From our UK edition

Ukip has defied predictions about its death before. Yet even the party’s most ardent supporters would find it hard not to feel gloomy about recent events and the party's downward spiral. Ukip’s leader Henry Bolton clings on, despite losing a vote of no confidence and suffering a raft of resignations among his top team. ‘Is the party finally over for Ukip?’, asks the Daily Telegraph. The paper says that Bolton’s refusal to step down looks like an act of ‘forlorn defiance’, and it seems likely that the party’s leader has lost the trust of members as a result of his relationship with a racist model.

Monday

James Forsyth

Staying in the customs union would be a risky bet for May

From our UK edition

There’s renewed speculation in Westminster that Britain might end up staying in the customs union. The CBI is calling for the UK to stay in a customs union with the EU and Labour is expected to move to backing customs union membership soon. The argument goes that because customs union membership does not require free movement, it is compatible with the referendum result. Big exporting businesses tend to like the idea as it would ease most of the bureaucratic problems in moving goods around post-Brexit. But I don’t think Theresa May will go for this idea. If Britain stays in the customs union, then it can’t do comprehensive free trade deals with other countries; all it could do would be services only agreements.

Tom Goodenough

Bolton wanderers: A full list of who has stepped down so far

From our UK edition

Ukip's leader Henry Bolton is under mounting pressure to step down following the scandal over his model girlfriend's racist text messages. Bolton – the party's sixth leader in 16 months – lost a vote of no confidence yesterday. He has vowed to stick it out, insisting that he will not resign as party leader. But a raft of resignations makes it look as though the party could soon be having one of its tri-annual leadership contests, with eight resignations in the last 24 hours alone.

Steerpike

Labour Against the Witchhunt welcome Corbynista’s appointment as chair of Disputes Panel

From our UK edition

Talk of trigger ballots, deselection and factional manoeuvres is rife in the Labour party after three Momentum candidates were elected on the party's NEC – tipping the balance in favour of the Corbynistas. Since that election, the NEC moved swiftly to vote to oust Ann Black as chair of the Disputes Panel in favour of Christine Shawcroft. The panel is responsibly for deciding whether to investigate sexist, racist, homophobic and anti-semitic abuse - and given that Shawcroft herself was suspended from the party in 2015 (for publicly supporting disgraced Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman), many moderates are concerned over her appointment and what it means for Labour's disciplinary procedure going forward.

Steerpike

Nicholas Soames joins the Boles rebellion

From our UK edition

On Friday night, Nick Boles set the cat among the pigeons when he tweeted his frustrations at Theresa May's timid government: https://twitter.com/NickBoles/status/954409789152514049 With Boles not a typical rebel, his complaints appear to mirror what many MPs have been saying privately. Now, Nicholas Soames has spoken out. Winston Churchill's grandson has joined Boles in using hashtags to criticise Theresa May. Soames says '#wherestheboldandbravesofaritsdulldulldull' needed to beat the 'Corbini': https://twitter.com/NSoames/status/955386579895373825 Expect more critical MPs to come out of the woodwork in the coming days.

Sunday

Steerpike

Viral Question Time audience member turns out to be a Labour council candidate

From our UK edition

Here we go again. The stand out moment of the latest Question Time saw a young woman accuse a Tory minister of purposefully underfunding the NHS in order to  make the argument for privatisation. The exchange left Margot James, a DCMS minister, insisting that she was 'not a liar' and calling out the accusations as false. Since then, the clip of the young woman taking James to task has been widely shared online. Only all is not what it seems. It turns out that the audience member is not your average viewer. In fact, Rebecca Shirazi is a local Labour party candidate. Corbynista Laura Pidcock has been tweeting her praises: https://twitter.com/LauraPidcockMP/status/954345709616103424 So much for playing fair...

Katy Balls

Ukip leader loses ‘no confidence’ vote – and the party’s problems have only begun

From our UK edition

Another one bites the dust. Ukip's ruling national executive committee has unanimously backed a vote of no confidence in their leader, Henry Bolton. But Bolton - whose reputation has been battered by the revelations about his 25-year-old ex-girlfriend Jo Marney's text messages - has resolved to stay in post and under Ukip's rules there is no easy way to remove him. Only a vote of the party membership can oust the former Liberal Democrat from his post at the top of Ukip. Bolton has refused to step aside, which means the party will have to conduct a postal ballot of its entire membership, one the financially-straitened party can ill afford to bear.  Should he lose the vote of confidence among the membership, the resulting leadership election could well bankrupt the the party.

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Emmanuel Macron – a bespoke UK deal is possible

From our UK edition

During his visit to Britain to discuss defence and the future of Anglo-French border security, the French President Emmanuel Macron gave an interview with Andrew Marr at Sandhurst. Macron told Marr that a bespoke deal for the UK was on the negotiating table, though he insisted that there must be 'no cherry picking', as doing so would dismantle the integrity of the single market: AM: Now you've said in the past you can have Canada, or you can have Norway, but you can't have your own special deal. Is that really fair give how long Britain has been part of the EU? EM: No, it's not a question of fair or unfair... For sure, you will have your own solution. AM: There will be a bespoke special solution for Britain? EM: Sure, but...

Douglas Murray

It’s easy to predict where the Cathy Newman backlash will lead

From our UK edition

Last week I wrote in this space about Cathy Newman’s catastrophic interview with the Canadian academic Jordan Peterson. Since then a number of things have happened. One is that millions of people around the world have watched Newman’s undisguisedly partisan interview. The other is that Channel 4 has tried to turn the tables by claiming victimhood. Any fair-minded observer might think that if there was any ‘victim’ in this case then it was Professor Peterson, who accepted an invitation to an interview in which he was then serially misrepresented. It was Peterson who, whenever he said anything got the response ‘So what you’re saying is’, followed by something that he had not said.

Steerpike

Sorry seems to be the hardest word for John McDonnell

From our UK edition

Although John McDonnell is supposed to play a key part in Jeremy Corbyn's drive for a kinder, gentler politics, remarks he made about ‘lynching’ Esther McVey, at a Remembrance Sunday event back in 2014, continue to distract from the message. McDonnell's defence is that he was quoting someone else who (he claims) wanted to lynch her – rather than wanting to lynch her himself. This morning on the Andrew Marr show, McDonnell was given the chance to apologise for his comments. Alas, he declined: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFdOzPOtnvc It seems sorry really is the hardest word... Readers can listen for themselves here.

Saturday

Katherine Forster

The north-south divide is growing deeper

From our UK edition

As a Yorkshire lass living in London I’m struck by the difference in transport provision between the north and south of the UK. Put simply, they feel like different countries. Taking a train from my home in west London into town, I ride on shiny, modern trains (if they aren’t cancelled that is, or on strike – thanks Southern!). Taking a train from Leeds to my home town of Harrogate, I ride in rolling stock that’s had a hard life; noisy and old. King’s Cross and St Pancras stations seem to me places of architectural wonder. Not so Leeds station. Similarly, I’ve driven from Leeds to Manchester via the bleakly beautiful M62 motorway (the highest in the UK near Saddleworth Moor) more times than I care to remember.

James Dyson

In defence of farming subsidies

From our UK edition

Martin Vander Weyer says, unhelpfully and inaccurately, that subsidies ‘absurdly’ favour bigger farms. As we look towards life after Brexit, instead of debating the merits of small vs large, the government should incentivise good rather than bad. My family’s farming business, Beeswax Dyson Farming, farms 33,000 acres directly and has invested £75 million in technology, training, soil improvement and environmental stewardship over the past five years. These are hardly the acts of a mere ‘wealthy landowner’, in his dismissive parlance. Subsidies we receive go directly into the activities that they are designed to support but are dwarfed by our own investments. Farmers in the EU receive substantial subsidies.

Liam Halligan

Boris Johnson’s proposal for a bridge across the Channel isn’t crazy – but the backlash is

From our UK edition

Building a physical bridge between the UK and France is, apparently, ridiculous. I know that because, ever since Boris Johnson raised the prospect at the Anglo-French summit, my Twitter feed has been full of comments from various bien pensants ridiculing the idea. ‘If you like the Boris bridge idea, wait ‘til you hear about Liam’s plans for a zip wire from Washington DC to Washington, Tyne & Wear,’ quipped one commentator, referring not to me (on this occasion) but to Trade Secretary Liam Fox. ‘David Davis wants a pedalo from Boston, Massachusetts to Boston, Lincolnshire!’ parlayed another keyboard wag. As it happens, the construction of a bridge across the English Channel bridge is entirely feasible.

James Forsyth

The Tories need a plan for the NHS

From our UK edition

On Tuesday, the Cabinet will discuss the NHS and how it is coping with the winter crisis. But, as I say in the Sun today, the Tories need more than update on what's going on, they need a proper plan for the NHS. It is one of the issues that could cost them the next election. When David Cameron became Tory leader, his main focus was on the NHS. He used to say that you could sum up his priorities in three letters, N H S. He reckoned that until voters trusted the Tories with the health service, they wouldn’t win an election. But right now, the Tories aren’t talking about the NHS more than they absolutely have to.

The Spectator

Jeremy Corbyn’s takeover is complete – and the Tories are terrified

From our UK edition

For Jeremy Corbyn and his allies, there has been no far-left takeover of the Labour party or its governing National Executive Committee. It’s true that, this week, Corbyn supporters came to control the majority of the NEC, completing their command of the party apparatus. But they see this as getting rid of the last of the right-wingers and enabling — for the first time — the Labour party to dedicate itself to the interests of the working class. It’s not the triumph of a fringe, they say, but the expulsion of a fringe. The Corbynite agenda of government expansion, mass nationalisation of railways, utilities and more, can now be pursued. Those still laughing at all that have not been paying attention.