Uk politics

Monday

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: The new Brexit divide

‘Remain’ and ‘Leave’ is no longer the basis of the divide over Brexit, says the Daily Telegraph. Instead, the new split is over to what extent post-Brexit Britain should ‘mirror what the EU does on trade and services’ or whether the UK should ‘plough its own furrow in the world’. 18 months on from the referendum, this key debate has not been ‘addressed by the Government’. ‘Convergers’ – those who want Britain’s trade arrangements to remain broadly in line with the status quo – ‘have the upper hand’ at the moment, says the Telegraph. Philip Hammond has confirmed this with his vow for Britain to maintain, at least in the

Katy Balls

I’m a Celeb’s Toff highlights the Conservatives’ youth problem

The Conservatives have a youth problem. The average age of a Tory party member is 57, Labour leads by 35 points among 18 – 24-year-old voters and – to add the cherry on the cake – those young conservatives who do wish to get involved have no obvious party youth organisation to join. So, surely it must have been a case of warm prosecco at the ready in CCHQ when the winner of this year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here was announced. The newly crowned queen of the ITV reality show – which boasts viewing figures over 12m – is not only a Tory but a young one

Huw Onllwyn Jones

The Family Court is not fit for purpose

When I agreed to serve as a magistrate in the Family Court, I thought that I would be dealing with babies and young children whose lives were in serious danger. I expected to hear about broken bones, filthy clothing, sexual abuse – and parents taking so many drugs that they were unable to care for their offspring. The sad truth, of course, is that too many children are living with abusive parents – and it is quite right that we should do all we can to protect them and to remove them from danger. What I witnessed during my short time on the Family Bench, however, were cases where babies

Sunday

Steerpike

Another day, another Labour MP who won’t befriend Tories

Here we go again. Earlier this year, Laura Pidcock caused a stir when the newly-elected Labour MP announced that she could never be friends with a Tory MP. The reason? ‘I feel disgusted at the way they’re running this country, it’s visceral – I’m not interested in being cosy.’ Although Pidcock has since come under criticism for her narrow world view, it seems she is far from alone in her approach. Appearing on Pienaar’s Politics, her Labour comrade Mike Amesbury rules out keeping Tories as friends: JP: Could you have a conservative as a friend? MA: No So much for a kinder, gentler politics…

Steerpike

Jacob Rees-Mogg wins a celebrity backer

Although Theresa May looks safe in No 10 for the time being, chatter continues behind closed doors over who her eventual successor could be. While Gavin Williamson and Boris Johnson are both seen to have difficulty hiding their own leadership ambitions, it’s Jacob Rees-Mogg who most regularly tops the polls when it comes to Tory members’ preference for leader. Should he decide to take the plunge, he need look no further than jungle queen Georgia ‘Toff’ Toffolo for his first celebrity endorsement. The Made in Chelsea star – who just won I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! has given an interview to the Sunday Times in which she

Saturday

James Forsyth

Unofficial deadline of mid-January for working out UK’s end-state negotiating position

On Monday, the Brexit inner Cabinet will finally have a proper discussion on what kind of trade deal with the EU, the UK wants. But this meeting won’t settle the question. Rather, it will be the start of a discussion. Inside government, I write in The Sun this morning, an unofficial deadline of mid-January has been set for working out a position agreed by the whole Cabinet. The aim is that this should give the UK government a chance to work out its negotiating strategy before talks proper start in March. Privately, senior figures in Downing Street admit that the government wasn’t as prepared as it should have been for

Friday

Steerpike

Watch: Question Time audience member accuses Nicky Morgan of treachery

This week the ‘stop Brexit’ campaign went into overdrive after the government suffered its first defeat on the EU withdrawal bill – with 11 Tory rebels voting to back an amendment calling for a meaningful vote on the final deal. The whips now have their work cut out trying to prevent a second rebellion next week on Theresa May’s own amendment to put the exit date in the bill. However, should Chief Whip Julian Smith’s charm offensive fail again, perhaps the government could look to last night’s Question Time for back-up. With David Dimbleby joined in Barnsley by a panel comprised of Nicky Morgan, Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey, Professor Robert Winston

Steerpike

Chief Whip’s save the date

After the government suffered its first defeat in the Commons on Wednesday, questions are being asked over what and who was to blame. Aside from the 11 Brexit rebels who chose to back an amendment calling for a ‘meaningful’ vote on the final deal, some are pointing the finger of blame at the new Chief Whip, Julian Smith. With a vote next week on Theresa May’s amendment to put the date of Britain’s exit into the bill, the pressure is on for Smith to prevent any further embarrassment to the Prime Minister. Happily, Smith appears to be taking things in his stride. Taking inspiration from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Katy Balls

Theresa May’s next big task is getting her own MPs on side

It’s official. Theresa May’s Christmas wish has been granted. At the EU council meeting today, EU leaders agreed to move Brexit talks on to the second phase of talking trade. Announcing the news on social media, Donald Tusk, the European Council president, sent his ‘congratulations’ to Theresa May. EU leaders agree to move on to the second phase of #Brexit talks. Congratulations PM @theresa_may — Charles Michel (@eucopresident) December 15, 2017 Moving forward, the EU withdrawal agreement will now be formalised and  talks will move on to the new relationship between the UK and EU post-Brexit. The first issue to be discussed will be the transition period with Brussels insistent

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: In praise of the Tory rebels

EU leaders look set to formally approve a move on to the next stage in Brexit talks today in Brussels. Yet back home, this week saw the government suffer its first defeat on Brexit legislation in Parliament. So will the actions of the Tory rebels leave the government hamstrung? The Tory rebellion may prove to be a ‘momentous vote foreshadowing serious cross-party opposition’ to Britain’s departure from the EU, says the FT. Or it could just be ‘fury and thunder signifying nothing’. What it certainly shows though, according to the FT, is that Parliament is willing to stick up for itself. The ‘Brexit mutineers’ ‘should be congratulated’, says the paper.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman

Brexit is becoming a ‘just war’, with predictable consequences

Brexit could split the Tory party. So many people wrote articles arguing this before and after David Cameron called the EU referendum, but it was generally assumed that the split would involve disgruntled eurosceptics claiming they had been betrayed after Britain voted to stay in the bloc after all. It was also generally assumed that the split would at least involve something quite serious. But today MPs are locked in a war of words over whether or not they should get a ‘meaningful’ vote on the final Brexit deal. Those in favour defeated the government last night: Theresa May’s first serious Commons defeat since the snap election. Stephen Hammond was

Katy Balls

How can May stop the Brexit mutineers from becoming the new Tory ‘bastards’?

The decision made by 11 Conservative MPs to rebel and back Dominic Grieve’s amendment for a ‘meaningful vote’ on the final Brexit deal has received a mixed reaction in the Conservative party. Nadine Dorries – a one-time serial rebel herself – has suggested they ought to be deselected, while Henry Smith managed a slightly more nuanced tone on the Daily Politics when he said the rebels had ‘betrayed’ voters. Add to this, several hostile front pages naming and shaming the rebels and there’s a feeling that ostracism is the preferred way to deal with them. As Robert Peston writes on Coffee House, in practical terms the Brexit rebellion is an

Ross Clark

Theresa May should have backed down in her Brexit battle with Parliament

This morning has brought predictable outrage about Tory ‘traitors’. The Prime Minister has been undermined, Guy Verhofstadt has had his fun describing it as a ‘good day for democracy’. The government has been reduced to damage-limitation, suggesting that last night’s defeat – which means that Parliament will now have the final say on a Brexit deal – won’t derail its plans. That is true. Allowing Parliament the final judgement on the deal almost certainly won’t alter the outcome: Britain will leave the EU on 29 March 2019 with whatever deal the government is able to cut with Michel Barnier and his team. Parliament will not vote it down because the

James Kirkup

Angry Leavers must accept that ‘hard’ Brexit died on election night

Some Brexiteers are angry. This is not news. This has been true since about 20 minutes after the referendum result was declared. There are some Leavers who have been looking, since 24 June last year, for a new grievance, fresh evidence they are being betrayed and denied, generally by some shadowy group they describe as ‘the establishment’ or ‘the elite’. (Please note that I say ‘some’ Leavers, not all. More people in politics and journalism should distinguish between members of a group and the whole group). Some of that anger is understandable. For years and decades, anyone who espoused leaving the EU was ignored and marginalised and called a crackpot.

Steerpike

War of words: Tory MP vs Tory MP – ‘get over yourself Nadine!’

Although the 11 Tory rebels who led the government to defeat last night night on Dominic Grieve’s amendment calling for a meaningful vote have been lauded as heroes by Remain groups, they are receiving a different reception within their own party. While some Conservatives – such as Nick Boles – say they respect the decision made by their colleagues, others have seen red. Take for example Nadine Dorries. The Leave-backing MP took to social media to suggest Grieve’s disloyalty meant he did not deserve his prestigious role as chair of the Intelligence and Security committee. Only one of the Tory rebels took issue with Dorries tweet. Sarah Wollaston replied to

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Theresa May’s bitter humiliation

The government’s defeat in the House of Commons last night amounts to a ‘bitter humiliation’ for ministers, says the Sun. It is also ‘a moment of shame for the Tory “rebels”’. In defeating the government, the Tory MPs who sided with the opposition ‘utterly compromised’ Theresa May as she heads to Brussels today. As well as making life difficult for the Prime Minister, they have also ‘handed a victory’ to those who want to reverse Brexit, says the Sun. Now the onus is on the PM to ‘find a solution’ to the challenge of negotiating a deal ‘without fearing Remainers in Parliament will kill it’. But May’s hands are tied

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

The government should have listened to the rebels, not tried to crush them

The government has just been defeated in the House of Commons on whether the final Brexit deal will get a ‘meaningful vote’ by Parliament. MPs voted 309-305 to pass the amendment to the EU withdrawal bill by Dominic Grieve. There were dramatic scenes in the Commons, as MPs had initially believed that the government had won. This was based on the way one of the tellers for the rebels was standing in the Chamber (the tellers are MPs who announce the result, and they stand according to whether the Ayes or Noes have it). Heidi Alexander only moved to the other side of the floor at the very last minute,

Isabel Hardman

May survives awkward PMQs on homelessness

Both Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May turned up in good form to PMQs today. The Labour leader was unusually nimble with his ripostes, deploying statistics on home ownership straight after the Prime Minister’s mockery of the Labour party’s attitude towards home ownership. But as usual, he didn’t manage to make the homeslessness figures that he made his key theme for his questions into a matter of great discomfort for May. The Prime Minister, for her part, managed to recover from each attack pretty well, arguing that the Conservatives were the party who believed in building more homes so that people could have a roof over their heads. She did, though,

James Forsyth

How Ruth Davidson plans to become First Minister of Scotland

Ruth Davidson is clear in her interview with Fraser Nelson and me that she won’t be making her mind up about standing for a Westminster seat until after the Scottish Parliament election in 2021. Why does Davidson want to wait until then before making any decision? Because she thinks she can become First Minister of Scotland. This might seem a bit bizarre, delusional even; the Labour revival in Scotland means that the Tories are sometimes coming third in the polls and it is hard to see what other party would back her for the job. But Davidson is convinced that there is a ‘clear route’ to the Scottish Tories taking power. In

Katy Balls

Why the Conservatives are pushing a green agenda

One of the things MPs complain about when it comes to Brexit – aside from its handling by the government – is that it means there is little time left for the Conservatives to pursue much in the terms of domestic policy. The one area which appears to be the exception to the rule is the environment. Since Michael Gove was appointed Defra secretary, there have been a raft of good news announcements coming from the department. From a £140 million fund for developing countries to tackle climate change and a clean energy programme to reintroducing beavers into the wild and saving trees in Sheffield, the Conservatives are on a