Uk politics

Wednesday

Steerpike

Watch: Andrew Neil’s Holocaust Educational Trust speech on anti-Semitism and the left

From our UK edition

With the Labour party currently leading in the polls, it's easy to think that the party's problem with anti-Semitism must have been resolved. However, Andrew Neil was on hand this week to remind the public that this is not the case. In the keynote speech at the Holocaust Education Trust dinner in London, Neil launched an attack on the left for getting away with it 'in the way that the anti-Semitism of the far right is not allowed to get away with it': 'At the Labour Conference, in a fringe meeting, but official enough to be on the official programme of the Labour Party Conference, one person – a chair of the fringe meeting – asked 'We demand the right to debate ‘Holocaust: Yes or No'. What did he mean, ‘Holocaust: Yes or No?’: ‘Yes or No, it happened?

Katy Balls

The universal credit row is a sign of the trouble ahead for government whips

From our UK edition

Wednesday's Opposition Day debate calling for the universal credit rollout to be paused offers a lesson in how quickly Theresa May's minority government can become unstuck. In an attempt to kill off a Tory rebellion on the issue of the ill-fated universal credit roll out, David Gauke kicked off his morning announcing DWP is scrapping charges to the benefit helpline. When this wasn't enough to stop all 25 potential rebels from joining Labour in the division lobbies, the Tories are thought to have issued a three-line whip for MPs to abstain so as to avoid a potential defeat. In response to this news, opposition parties have been quick to go on the attack, with the Liberal Democrats' Alistair Carmichael calling the plot an 'outrageous attempt to subvert democracy'.

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: Theresa May’s Brexit delusion is coming unstuck

From our UK edition

Monday night’s Brexit dinner was ‘constructive and friendly’, both sides have insisted. Yet it’s hard to tell what purpose the discussions involving the Prime Minister and Jean Claude-Junker actually served, says the Daily Telegraph. The ‘deadlock’ remains firmly in place, and ‘the best Mrs May managed to extract was that negotiations would “accelerate” in the coming months’. So what’s the hold-up? The answer lies with Brussels, says the Telegraph, which argues that ‘citizen’s rights could be sorted out tomorrow’ if the EU wanted to move things on.

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson

Amber Rudd says that a no-deal Brexit is ‘unthinkable’. She is, alas, wrong

From our UK edition

Amber Rudd had been admirably disciplined on Brexit. She was a passionate Remainer, who performed herself with distinction in the referendum campaign – but then, supported the Prime Minister. Things have been fraught since, and the new dividing line is whether Cabinet members can support the Prime Minister’s official position that 'no deal is better than a bad deal.' In committee today, Rudd wobbled – saying that no-deal is ‘unthinkable’. It wasn't quite as bad as it sounded. Plenty of Brexiteers argued the same during the referendum campaign: of course we'll get a deal with the EU, it's in their interests as much as ours, it ought to be the easiest thing in the world to agree given that we start from a position of complete harmony.

Steerpike

The real story about inflation? That 3pc is a blip, and the rate will soon fall

From our UK edition

Oh dear. About this time last year, as part of its series of predications about how the sky would fall in after the Brexit vote, the NIESR predicted that inflation would hit 4 per cent. This was way out of line with the the consensus, higher than other economist was forecasting. But in the rather febrile atmosphere its nonsense forecast was given plenty of coverage – including a page lead in (yes, you guessed it) the Financial Times. It turns out that inflation has peaked at 3 per cent, and is widely expected to fall. Since the NIESR has been congratulating itself recently on the accuracy of its forecasts, it’s worth reminding ourselves what it has to say about inflation.

Tom Goodenough

Hate crime is up – but it’s not fair to blame Brexit

From our UK edition

Hate crime is up – and Brexit is to blame. It’s a familiar story and one doing the rounds again today following the publication of Home Office statistics on the level of hate crimes last year. The numbers do seem troubling: these offences rose by a third last year, and there was a spike in hate crimes around the time of the EU referendum, as this graph shows: But can this rise really be blamed on Brexit? Did people really turn on each other in the heady days after the referendum? There are a number of reasons to think not. Firstly, a rise in hate crime wasn’t isolated to last year. In 2015/16, hate crime was up by 20 per cent on the previous year. In 2014/15, it rose by 18 per cent; and in 2013/14, it also increased.

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: The EU’s absurd Brexit bill demand

From our UK edition

Theresa May is under pressure from the European Union to spell out more details on what Britain will pay as part of its Brexit divorce bill. The PM has said the UK will honour its commitments – but the EU wants more meat on the bones about what this actually means. So far, the Prime Minister has refused to spell this out – and she’s right not to, says the Sun. The paper describes May’s Florence speech as ‘open and generous’ and says it is ‘absurd’ for the EU to demand even greater clarity. After all, ‘we cannot possibly offer billions..without knowing what, if any, deal Brussels will agree in return’, says the Sun. It’s true that no one – including the Government – wants to walk away with no deal come March 2019.

Steerpike

John Bercow’s sporting freebie habit continues in earnest

From our UK edition

John Bercow is a big fan of a sporting freebie. The Speaker is a regular fixture in the Royal Box at Wimbledon, and last year Bercow enjoyed thousands of pounds worth of prime tickets to cheer on his beloved Arsenal. Old habits die hard, it seems, with Bercow wasting no time this season claiming some more freebies. In the space of five days last month, Bercow received £660 worth of tickets to football games courtesy of his old friend Frank Warren. Two days later, he was at it again: getting a £400 freebie to a boxing match with hospitality thrown in courtesy again of Warren.

Monday

James Forsyth

Will tonight’s Brexit supper be the dinner party from hell?

From our UK edition

Theresa May heads to Brussels this evening for supper with Jean-Claude Juncker, Michel Barnier and Martin Selmayr. The good news for her is that this meeting can hardly be more disastrous than the last time she dined with this trio. Then, a very unflattering account of the meal appeared in the German press and led to May angrily denouncing attempts to interfere in the UK general election. On Thursday, the European Council are almost certain to declare that there has been insufficient progress to move on to trade talks. But what May’s frenetic diplomacy is about is pushing for an indication that sufficient progress is likely to have been made by December’s meeting to move on to trade and some public acknowledgement that a transition deal is acceptable to the EU.

Steerpike

Matt Hancock’s show of solidarity for May

From our UK edition

Although Theresa May has found herself in a more vulnerable position since her disastrous conference speech – which featured a collapsing set, prankster and bad cough – the Prime Minister can take heart that her MPs are willing to put on a show of solidarity. At today's Autumn Reception of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), Matt Hancock gave a speech on the important progress the group has made on what is one of the more pressing issues of our time. However, midway through his speech one of the backdrop banners fell – and had to be resurrected by an attendee. Not that it put Hancock off: 'That puts me on a par with the Prime Minister, I'm absolutely thrilled – the new new thing is the collapsing backdrop.

Matthew Lynn

The cost of a Brexit ‘no deal’ is diminishing

From our UK edition

The exit bill keeps going higher and higher. No progress has been made on the Irish border, and not much on citizens' rights. The talks are deadlocked, and you need an extraordinary level of optimism to imagine that Theresa May talking directly to Emmanuel Macron or Angela Merkel is gong to make much difference to anything. The EU seems completely unwilling to be flexible on negotiating the terms of our departure from the club. The result? A cliff-edge hard Brexit is looking more likely all the time. That might be a catastrophe or it might not. We will have to see if and when it happens. One point should be obvious, however. While there may be costs to that, they are coming down all the time.

Gavin Mortimer

Babies not bombs are what the Islamists want from their women

From our UK edition

Sally Jones was a waste of space. The principal purpose of the former British punk rocker turned Islamic extremist was to titillate the British tabloids, who dubbed her the 'White Widow' and gleefully reported her juvenile threats to bring death and destruction to the streets of her native London. She did no such thing before she was apparently killed in a drone strike in June. And where's the evidence of the role attributed her by the international Counter Extremism Project, who declared that Jones 'was responsible for training all European female recruits in tactics including suicide missions'? Perhaps she didn't have time as she was too busy threatening to behead infidels 'with a nice blunt knife'. Others also got carried away with the hype.

Tom Goodenough

What the papers say: A bungled Budget could pave the way for a Corbyn government

From our UK edition

No deal is better than a bad deal – and it’s also better than a Corbyn government, says the Daily Telegraph in its editorial this morning, in which the paper says that if Labour oust the Tories, Britain would 'become an inward-looking, statist, high-taxing country that would scare away international investors’. The ‘historic opportunity’ gifted by Britain’s departure from the EU would ‘be rendered nugatory’ under Corbyn, whose plan for government is a 'recipe for impoverishing the nation’. The claims of the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, that PFI contracts can be binned with equanimity are for the birds’, the paper says.

Katy Balls

There’s a progressive argument to be made for tuition fees – why won’t the government make it?

From our UK edition

Ever since Labour won over young voters at the last election, the Conservatives have been trying to work out how to do the same. Tory MPs have scrambled around for ideas. Various suggestions have been mooted, ranging from a Tory Glastonbury and a Tory Momentum to lowering taxes for young voters, scrapping historic student debt and drastically reforming tuition fees. With Jeremy Corbyn promising to abolish university fees, the debate surrounding higher education funding has become particularly toxic. Many younger voters feel that tuition fees are very unjust. What started as £1k a year has grown to £9,250 and the above-inflation interest rate only adds to the sense of unfairness. It doesn't help that few now bother to make the argument for tuition fees in response.

Sunday

Steerpike

Labour Youth vote to leave Nato

From our UK edition

Oh to be young and free and a member of Young Labour. Labour's youth wing held its annual conference this weekend. On the menu? Votes for 16-year-olds, comradely debate and... a vote to leave Nato. Yes, in a bid to free themselves of American imperialism, the Labour MPs of tomorrow backed a motion calling for the UK to leave Nato. https://twitter.com/JBickertonUK/status/919659945687121926 No doubt fellow Nato-critic Corbyn will be proud... Update: In other news, the latest young Corbynista fashion trend appears to be a t-shirt calling for the Shadow Chancellor to be given a gun. https://twitter.com/TomMcTague/status/919890652082724865 Viva la revolucion!

Steerpike

Tom Watson’s bid to shed the pounds

From our UK edition

For George Osborne, it was the 5:2 diet that was credited for sculpting his political ambitions. His decision to shed the pounds was taken as a sign by the commentariat that he had serious leadership ambitions. So, Mr S was curious to hear that Labour's Tom Watson is now on a mission to lose weight. Writing in his newsletter, Labour's deputy leader says he is on a diet – or a 'lifestyle change', if you'd prefer: 'Did I tell you I'm on a diet? I know you're not supposed to call them that anymore, to be on message they have to be a 'lifestyle change. Using rudimentary 'nudge theory' every time I reach a weight target, I treat myself to a gadget for the bike. It's going well so I purchased a device for the handle bars that allows you to attach your iphone this week.

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: Labour’s plan to block a ‘no deal’ Brexit

From our UK edition

John McDonnell - Parliament can stop 'no deal' Brexit As the next round of Brexit negotiations approaches, the possibility of a no deal outcome has been the dominant topic of discussion today. Warning of dire consequences for the UK economy, the Shadow Chancellor has told Andrew Marr that MPs can force the government to avoid a potential 'no deal' scenario by amending upcoming legislation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRvjnXNlXCg AM: What happens to the British economy if there is no deal? JM: I'm not willing to countenance that. It's not a realistic option. It's not going to happen. I don't think there's a majority in Parliament for no deal. I think, on a cross party basis - you'll see in the debates in the coming weeks -the government will get the message. There will be a deal.

Steerpike

Nicky Morgan fails to protect her source

From our UK edition

It's the first rule of journalism to always protect one's sources. Alas this rule does not appear to apply to politicians. This morning on Peston on Sunday, Nicky Morgan ended up revealing much more than she intended when she tried to come to the defence of the beleaguered Chancellor. Addressing recent calls from within the party for Philip Hammond to be shown the door, the former education secretary said she had been contacted by a 'very senior Cabinet minister' who was 'appalled' at those behind such manoeuvres. So, who could this 'very senior Cabinet minister' be? Morgan appeared to give a rather big clue when she referred to her source as a 'she'.

Charles Moore

Nick Clegg’s ingenious solution to the Brexit problem

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg has an ingenious solution to the Brexit problem. He wants Parliament to throw out Brexit and then get the Netherlands Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, and Sir John Major to negotiate how the United Kingdom can be recaptured and bound inside the ‘concentric circles’ which he sees as the future of the EU. I call this the Royal Dutch Shell solution to our national destiny. Certainly, if, as Mr Clegg implies, we are not fit to rule ourselves, it would be preferable to be, like Shell, headquartered in The Hague rather than in Brussels. The idea appeals to Mr Clegg because, with a mother who carries the magnificent name of Hermance Eulalie van den Wall Bake, he is half-Dutch. Perhaps he sees himself as Nick of Orange, leading our Glorious Revolution.

Saturday

James Forsyth

The government needs to know what kind of Brexit deal it wants

From our UK edition

Theresa May needs to invite the Cabinet down to Chequers to thrash out the government’s position on Brexit, I say in The Sun this morning. Remarkably, the Cabinet have never had a proper discussion about what the final deal with the EU should be. One senior Cabinet Minister tells me that ‘The million dollar question is the trade-off between regulatory compliance and market access and we haven’t had that discussion yet’. This failure to talk is frustrating Cabinet Ministers, breeding distrust and contributing to the current break down of discipline within the government. As the policy isn’t decided yet, ministers keep trying to push it this way or that.