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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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?
The Conservative Party appears rather burnt-out at the moment. At its conference - even before Theresa May’s disastrous speech - it seemed to be the Knackered Party rather than the Nasty Party that the Prime Minister herself had warned about so many years ago. But it is still in government, and desperately needs to find new ideas and reasons to exist while also negotiating Brexit and dealing with unexpected scandals, such as the allegations swirling around Westminster at the moment of impropriety from Cabinet ministers. When parties are knackered, they often find a period of opposition to be a comfort, a chance to have the sort of debate about policy that you just don’t have time for in government.
The current crisis – not too strong a term – began a long time ago. And in a sense part of it really is the European Union’s fault. The EU’s failures, or rather shortcomings, play a part in this story but the greater share of it is the consequence of the EU’s successes, not its weaknesses. Across much of Europe, previously unquestioned ideas about the nation state – and its sanctity – are now subjected to some interrogation. The United Kingdom has some recent experience of this and so, of course, do Belgium and Spain. This moment has been building for some time; even, perhaps, for more than a quarter of a century. The collapse of the Soviet Union unblocked a drain, reopening history.
Oh dear. Earlier this month there was a furore when it was revealed that a tights advert featuring a picture of a dancer's bare back had been banned from the Tube. As part of Sadiq Khan's promise to ban adverts on TfL which could cause body confidence issues, the firm were told by TfL's contractor to add a bandeau bra to the image of the model. So, Mr S was intrigued see some of the adverts that TfL appear to be perfectly relaxed about. While a bare back may be deemed too much for the daily commute, a 'propaganda machine' advert for Russia Today – the Kremlin-backed news outlet – is a-ok: Workers of the world, unite!
The Westminster sleaze row shows no signs of dying down with today's papers filled with more tales of MPs behaving badly. The Telegraph warns that the Parliament sex scandal ‘could be worse than expenses’ – reporting that two female staff stopped working for a minister over claims of inappropriate behaviour. Meanwhile the Sun leads on Michael Fallon's admission that he once touched a female journalist's leg. That journalist – Julia Hartley-Brewer – has since come forward to say that she does not count the incident as harassment.
As Parliament sleaze dominated Commons business today, John Bercow told MPs 'there is a need for change' – describing allegations of a 'culture of sexual harassment' at Westminster as 'disturbing'. Although the Speaker placed the responsibility on political leaders to clean up Parliament, Mr S hopes that Bercow can also play an important role in helping MPs understand how to treat their female colleagues and staff with more respect. After all, it wasn't so long ago that Bercow found himself in the firing line over his approach to women. In 2009, a 'comical' John Bercow article dating back to 1986 was unearthed.
As allegations of sexual misconduct in Parliament rise and a spreadsheet of suspected sex pest MPs does the rounds, today the government attempted to take control of the situation. In a statement to the House, Andrea Leadsom promised to get a grip on the issue – as she said Parliament 'must take action in days not weeks'. What these actions should be and who should take them remains a matter for discussion. When the issue came to the Chamber today through an urgent question from Harriet Harman, it proved a political hot potato. John Bercow addressed the House to say there must be 'zero tolerance' of sexual harassment in Parliament – before saying it was up to the parties to make sure they have 'credible' staff grievance procedures.
Last week I wrote a column elsewhere arguing, among other things, that it is time for the government to look beyond its (almost impossible-to-meet) commitment to a budget surplus at some point in the 2020s and think about a looser target that might allow more public spending, seeking perhaps a primary but not overall surplus. (IE tax receipts equal spending on everything except debt interest.) I mention this not to advertise that column but because I think some of the reactions to it are worth sharing. As expected, one hawkish Cabinet friend was quick to scold me for advocating 'yet more borrowing'. But another, well-acquainted with Treasury thinking, simply described the idea as 'interesting' and suggested we discuss it soon.
Westminster is agog with whispers about who the Tory MPs are on a list of men and women alleged to be guilty of inappropriate sexual behaviour, sexual harassment and worse. Some names have been circulating for years, with many women across the Parliamentary Estate saying they have their own story about this MP or that minister. So why is it only now that there’s a threat to make the list public? The Harvey Weinstein allegations have prompted women - and men - in every industry to realise that they don’t have to just grin and bear bad behaviour as though it’s just an unfortunate side-effect to having your dream job.
There are a couple of predictable elements to the reporting of sex scandals involving a public figure, and both were in evidence when it was revealed that Stephen Crabb, MP, had sent 'pretty outrageous' messages to a woman he’d turned down for a job in his parliamentary office. When it came to the reporting, Mr Crabb was duly described as a 'married father of two', then as a 'devout Christian', which instantly raises the suggestion: 'hypocrite'. So, you establish the individual’s respectability before proceeding with a story that suggests the contrary.
Sitting next to a former Conservative party bigwig at dinner, I ask if he thinks the Tories will be OK at the next election as long as they deliver a reasonable Brexit. ‘Not a chance,’ he says. ‘We’re totally fucked.’ What, even if May stands down once the deal is done? ‘Even then. The kids want Corbyn. The bloody 30/40-somethings want Corbyn. They don’t care or even understand about all that horrible IRA stuff, or Marxism, or nationalisation. After a couple of years of Corbyn government, they’ll get it. Too late by then. But at least the pendulum will swing back to us three years later.
After the Conservative MP Chris Heaton-Harris was outed last week for writing to universities requesting details of their Brexit syllabus, the debate on academic Brexit bias is in full swing. Happily Labour's Barry Sheerman was on hand to clear the matter up with an appearance on Yorkshire Sunday Politics. Sheerman said any anti-Brexit sentiment at universities was down to the fact that 'better educated people' back Remain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiRbRWgPKjs BS: The truth is that when you look at who voted to Remain, most of them were the better educated people in our country… TI: This is controversial! Massively controversial. BS: Absolutely! It’s absolutely true. You can actually see the pattern.
Diane Abbott - Labour will have 'zero tolerance' of sexual harassment The Shadow Home Secretary joined Andrew Marr to discuss, among other things, the allegations that have been surfacing about sexual harassment in the House of Commons. Marr bought up the recent case of Jared O'Mara, the Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam who appears to have disgraced himself after several online comments were unearthed: AM: Jared O'Mara - when did the Labour party know about what he'd said? DA: When I heard about it was last Monday. He came to the PLP, he apologised, a lot of people took his apology quite seriously. But then on Tuesday we had more information. On Wednesday he was suspended and the Labour party is looking at it, there's going to be an investigation.
With the Sunday papers filled with tales of male politicians behaving badly, it's a report in the Mail on Sunday involving a Brexit minister which is provoking the most outrage. The paper alleges that in 2010, Tory MP Mark Garnier – who now serves as an International Trade Minister – called a former aide ‘sugar t-ts’ and sent her to buy two vibrators for him at a sex shop in Soho. Garnier doesn't deny the claims made by Caroline Edmondson – but he does insists it was ‘good-humoured high jinks’ which 'absolutely does not constitute harassment'. Good-humoured or not, Mr S was impressed to see Sky News' Jon Craig prove the picture of professionalism this morning.
