Uk politics

Thursday

Ruth Davidson

Ruth Davidson: ‘The house-clearing that’s about to happen needs to happen’

From our UK edition

At last night's Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards, Ruth Davidson was crowned parliamentarian of the year. Here is the acceptance speech she delivered: Thank you. It’s so much nicer to be welcomed on stage by Michael today than the last time he did it, which was at a Scottish Conservative party conference in the Albert Halls in Stirling, where he introduced me as the new David Moyes of Scottish politics – which is true, and at the time was meant as a compliment – but football changes quickly, as well as politics. Thank you very much for this award today. It is actually accepted on behalf of everybody who plies their trade outside of SW1.

John Crace

The making of the Maybot

From our UK edition

I first christened Theresa May 'The Maybot' after an interview she had given on a trade mission to India in November last year. Even by her own low standards it was a car crash. 'Have you made any plans for a Brexit transitional deal?' inquired a Sky News reporter. Whirr. Clunk. Clang. The Maybot’s eyes rotated into life. 'I’m focusing on delivering Article 50,' she replied, unable to prevent herself from answering an entirely different question. Inside the Maybot, the last shards of the real Theresa were fighting to get out. She was not a number. Especially not 350 million. She was a person in her own right. She did still have a mind of her own. Then the malware took over again.

Isabel Hardman

Kelvin Hopkins suspended from the Labour whip

From our UK edition

In the past few minutes, the Labour Party has announced that it is suspending one of its MPs, Kelvin Hopkins, on the basis of ‘allegations received’. Here is the full statement: ‘On the basis of allegations received by the Labour Party today, Kelvin Hopkins has been suspended from party membership, and therefore the Labour whip, while an investigation takes place. ‘The Labour Party takes all such complaints extremely seriously and has robust procedures in place to deal with them.’ The Telegraph has reported the allegations. They’re not the sort of accusations that any reasonable person would dismiss as ‘flirting’.

Ross Clark

Why can’t the Bank of England admit it was wrong to cut interest rates?

From our UK edition

It took all of five minutes for news of the Bank of England’s first rise in base rate for over a decade to be blamed on Brexit. The Guardian’s live blog, for example, suggested that the rise was 'to prevent the cost of goods bought in the UK from spiralling further', following the fall in sterling. Well no, actually. The explanatory notes from the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) explain that it voted 7-2 to raise rates because the slack in the UK economy has fallen. With unemployment at a 40 year low, it fears that inflation could run ahead of itself unless dampened by an interest rate rise. The inflationary effects of low sterling, it adds, are falling away, but 'net trade is bolstered by the strong global expansion and the past depreciation of sterling.

Fraser Nelson

The Bank of England has finally raised interest rates. More, please

From our UK edition

Finally, interest rates are back on their way up. The Bank of England’s rise today – from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent – is the first rise for 10 years and long overdue. Ever since the Brexit vote, there has been much hyperbole about the underperformance of the UK economy when in fact employment has soared to ever-greater highs and economic growth has steadily continued. There is no need for emergency interest rates, and hasn’t been for quite some time. There is pretty much no spare capacity left in the economy, we are at any sensible person's definition of full employment. Mark Carney had allowed his Brexit gloom to cloud his judgment on this, issuing more QE when it wasn’t needed.

Isabel Hardman

Gavin Williamson is a hard act to follow as Chief Whip

From our UK edition

Moving your chief whip when you’re in a minority government is pretty brave. In trying to work out who to replace Michael Fallon with at the Ministry of Defence, Theresa May was obviously going to have to consider who she trusted to be able to retain the job for as long as the previous occupant (Fallon was a few months short of becoming the longest-serving Conservative Defence Secretary in history), but trusting your chief whip when you don’t have the parliamentary numbers is important too.

James Forsyth

Julian Smith’s promotion shows this is the Gavin Williamson reshuffle in more ways than one

From our UK edition

This is the Gavin Williamson reshuffle in more ways than one. Not only is he the new defence secretary, but one of his closest allies is the new chief whip. Julian Smith was made deputy chief whip after the election and has worked hand in glove with Williamson in the whips' office. His appointment means that the style and tactics of the whips' office won’t change. It also means that Williamson’s power base in government has just dramatically expanded, a fact that won’t be lost on the new defence secretary’s possible leadership rivals. Smith made news earlier this year when he told a meeting of government PPSs that those planning a leadership challenge must be ‘put back in their box’.

Ed West

The Tories are getting behind all the daftest progressive causes

From our UK edition

One of the strange things I keep on hearing about this feeble government is that it has been spurred by Brexit to launch a culture war and reverse the Cameron-era detoxification of the party. They're taking us back to the 50s, or the Victorian era, or maybe 1065. It's one of those things one sees being written so often that it must surely be true – except if you actually read what government ministers say, or study their policies. Just this week, for example, it's already been announced that prisoners could now get the vote, and that returning jihadis might get priority in social housing.

Katy Balls

Cabinet reshuffle: Gavin Williamson comes to May’s rescue

From our UK edition

After Michael Fallon resigned as Defence Secretary last night amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour, questions were asked over how damaging this could be for May. As well as the sleaze scandal showing no sign of dying down, the Prime Minister has lost one of her most loyal ministers. This morning, No 10 have tried to answer that question by moving one of May's closest allies to defence. Gavin Williamson has been appointed Defence Secretary – leaving his post as Chief Whip. Well-liked and well-connected in the party, Williamson is seen as someone who can be trusted to get the job done with little drama – something May could do with right now.

Tom Goodenough

The Spectator podcast: The Sexual Reformation

From our UK edition

On this week’s episode we look at the sexual reformation, Donald Trump’s ties with Russia and dining with Modigliani. First: in the wake of Michael Fallon's resignation from the Cabinet last night, Westminster is awash with rumours of sexual wrongdoing. But while it’s good that victims of abuse are able to speak out, is something sinister happening beyond the current hysteria? That’s the question Lara Prendergast asks in her Spectator cover piece this week. She is joined on the podcast by Katy Balls and Douglas Murray, who also writes in the magazine on how sexual freedom has turned into sexual fear. He says: A new generation is being encouraged to redraw the lines of acceptability in a way that goes too far. What once was gauche has now become unacceptable.

Nick Cohen

The EU helped bring peace to Ireland. Will violence now return?

From our UK edition

The 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg is as good week as any to examine the power of sectarianism. Here in Britain we do not need to look far. Northern Ireland ought to be in crisis because a hard Brexit will wreck its economy. The Republic exported €18bn-worth of services to the UK in 2014, and €11.4bn went back. In 2015, it exported €15.6bn of goods. Britain exported €18bn in return. Meanwhile millions from both countries crossed borders we fondly thought were now just lines on the map to see the sights as holidaymakers, or visit their friends, families and business partners.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Fallon resigned because he ‘couldn’t guarantee’ there wouldn’t be more stories

From our UK edition

Will Michael Fallon be the only Cabinet Minister to resign as part of the Westminster sleaze scandal? Coffee House understands that the Defence Secretary resigned after telling the Prime Minister that he couldn’t guarantee that there wouldn’t be another story involving a female journalist along the lines of the Sun splash this week involving Julia Hartley-Brewer. Hartley-Brewer herself was infuriated by the coverage of the incident, which took place over a decade ago, but if there were more stories waiting to come out - particularly from people quite used to writing stories, even if not normally about incidents involving themselves - then it’s the drip-drip of allegations that can do for a government, not just a minister.

Katy Balls

Westminster sleaze scandal: Michael Fallon resigns

From our UK edition

After a week of reports of MPs behaving badly and allegations of sexual assault in politics, the first front bench resignation has occurred. Sir Michael Fallon has resigned as Defence Secretary following allegations of past inappropriate behaviour. His decision comes after a story this week in which he admitted touching a female journalist's leg at a party conference 15 years ago. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Fallon said that some of his previous conduct had 'fallen below the high standards that we require of the Armed Forces and that I have the honour to represent': It's likely that more details surrounding his decision will surface as the evening goes on.

Fraser Nelson

Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year 2017: the winners

From our UK edition

The Spectator’s 31st Parliamentarian of the Year awards took place at the Rosewood Hotel this evening. Here are the winners. The awards were presented by Michael Gove, who stepped in for the Prime Minister at the last minute as she dealt with an issue within her Cabinet.

James Forsyth

Did Theresa May really ignore Lisa Nandy’s abuse warnings?

From our UK edition

PMQs was always going to be a more serious affair than usual this week, given the questions about how Westminster and the political parties have handled serious allegations of sexual abuse. Theresa May began the session by saying that she was inviting all party leaders to a meeting to discuss the launch of an independent, grievance procedure. Jeremy Corbyn made clear he would be happy to attend this meeting. But he then proceeded to question Theresa May about a tax loophole involving the Isle of Man. The exchanges were not particularly illuminating. But later on Lisa Nandy stood up and said she had told Theresa May three years ago that the whips were using sexual abuse allegations to impose party discipline.

Matthew Lynn

If the City can’t replace 75,000 jobs, it has bigger problems than Brexit

From our UK edition

The wine bars will be spookily empty. The lap-dancing clubs will be abandoned, and Savills will have to start working out how to sell mansions within an hour’s commute of Frankfurt and Paris instead of London. Just about every day brings another dire prediction about the impact of leaving the EU on the City’s mighty financial services industry. Only this week the Bank of England, which has turned itself into a semi-official  chorus of doom on the issue, joined the fun, with reports that it was predicting 75,000 job losses. No one denies that would be serious. The City is one of the most dynamic parts of the British economy, creating wealth that ripples out through London and the rest of the South-East, and contributing billions in tax revenues every year.

Isabel Hardman

How benefit reforms could close more women’s refuges

From our UK edition

Last week at Prime Minister’s Questions, Theresa May pleased MPs by telling them that the government will not place the same housing benefit cap on supported housing as for private rented accommodation. Supported housing includes long-term accommodation for people with severe disabilities and chronic conditions, as well as short-term housing such as hostels, women’s refuges and safe houses. This sounded sensible at the time, as domestic abuse charities had been warning that capping the housing benefit paid to the women staying in refuges would mean they would have to close (at an even greater rate than they have already been shutting down).

Steerpike

Parliamentarian of the Year 2017, in pictures

From our UK edition

If you ever needed a sign that politics is unpredictable then tonight's Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year awards offered it. Theresa May had to pull out at the last minute after the unfolding Westminster sleaze scandal claimed a member of her Cabinet, Michael Fallon. Happily another Michael was on hand to step in at the last minute. Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, relished his one and only chance to play Prime Minister; 'I fought for the leadership of the Conservative party and the Conservative party fought back'. His joke about Diane Abbott's schooling decisions for her son entertained the room – even if the shadow home secretary wasn't laughing.

Tuesday

Steerpike

The £350m line on the Brexit bus was wrong. The real figure is higher

From our UK edition

The most regular attack-line used against leading Brexiteers is that they misled the public over how much money could be used to fund the NHS if Britain left the EU. Throughout the referendum campaign, Vote Leave said that we send £350 million a week to Brussels – a gross figure, applied before a rebate etc. But no one knew the real 2016 figure because the data is compiled in arrears. Only today do we have the data, published by the Office for National Statistics. Its figures show… Payment to Brussels, net of rebate and money returned to the UK: £9.4 billion a year, or £181 million a week. Payment to Brussels, net of rebate: £13.9 billion a year, or £267 million a week. Gross payment to Brussels: £18.

James Kirkup

A Westminster witch hunt is in nobody’s interests

From our UK edition

Did a male MP allow three other men to urinate on him, for sexual gratification? That is one of the more exotic suggestions on a spreadsheet of allegations and rumours about MPs and their conduct that is circulating at Westminster. 'Video exists of three males urinating on him', the spreadsheet is said to record. That may not strike you as a pleasant notion, but this an account that bears thinking about closely. First, is it true? I have no idea. I’ve heard the rumour, or variants on it, several times since the MP concerned was first elected. Lots of people have. I know the name of the MP allegedly involved. Lots of people do. Let’s suppose it’s not true, that it didn’t happen. How should that MP act?