Uk politics

Monday

Alex Massie

Alex Salmond remains trapped in a currency quagmire with no way out in sight

From our UK edition

It has not been a happy few days for supporters of Scottish independence. It remains too soon to say whether - unusually - last week's debate between Alistair Darling and Alex Salmond has had any long-term impact on the race but the short-term impact has certainly been bad for the nationalists. Not just because the tone - and detail! - of the press coverage has reinforced the idea that Darling won the debate (an idea bolstered by the fact it's true) but because every day that passes in this fashion is another day in which the Yes campaign is not getting its message across.  Every day that's spent talking about the things your opponents want to talk is another day not spent talking about the things you want to talk about.

Isabel Hardman

Foreign Office clear out continues: Mark Simmonds stands down as FCO minister

From our UK edition

Number 10 has today announced that Mark Simmonds, the Conservative MP for Boston and Skegness, is stepping down as a Foreign Office minister - and will not stand as an MP at the next election. A Downing Street spokeswoman said that 'the decision was made before the situation in Gaza and Israel had developed' and that he had told the Prime Minister he wanted to step down on 4 August. Indeed, David Cameron's reply to Simmonds' resignation letter says, rather pointedly: 'This is something we agreed some weeks ago and a decision I know you have given a huge amount of thought to over recent months.

Isabel Hardman

Opinion polls should be the last thing on MPs’ minds now

From our UK edition

There was a revealing moment on the Today programme this morning when Lord Dannatt was asked whether he accepted that the response from the British public to any further military involvement in Iraq would be uproar. His reply came quite gently, but the former Chief of the General Staff made quite clear that what should be uppermost in politicians' minds as they considered the options for further helping the Yazidi people and other religious minorities being seriously persecuted in the country was not opinion polls in this country, but the risk of a genocide.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Baroness Warsi’s parting shot contains a serious warning for the Tories

From our UK edition

Baroness Warsi's interview with the Sunday Times and Independent on Sunday is, unsurprisingly, not just about her discomfort with the government's policy in the Middle East. The Independent on Sunday uses her jibe at public school Tories as its top line, while the Sunday Times splashes on the peer's warning that the Tories have left it a 'little too late' to attract more votes from ethnic minorities. Her criticisms, aimed as a parting shot at her colleagues, may be discounted for being just that: nothing more than a sour parting shot from someone who found that a number of people who worked with her were only too pleased to see her out when she resigned last week. But just because they come from Warsi, hardly flavour of the month, doesn't mean they're not true.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Nigel Farage and South Thanet: a poorly-kept secret

From our UK edition

That Nigel Farage was planning to stand in South Thanet was one of the worst kept secrets in politics. But Ukip turns out to be the worst secret keeper in politics, too, with confirmation of the party leader's intentions dribbling out on a Friday afternoon at the end of a rather newsy week. The meticulously well-sourced Jim Pickard at the FT reports local Ukip activists confirming that Farage is on their shortlist of candidates to run under the party's banner. But the party's spokeswoman has been stonewalling him, presumably because the Friday afternoon of an unusually newsy August week isn't quite the right time for exciting Ukip constituency fireworks.

Isabel Hardman

What will Britain do to help the Yazidis? And will MPs get a say?

From our UK edition

After President Obama announced air strikes against Isis and humanitarian aid drops to the Yazidis, British ministers have been clarifying the extent of their involvement in the response to the latest violence. Michael Fallon said this lunchtime that the UK government's focus was on the humanitarian effort: 'We welcome what the Americans are doing now to, in particular, to bring humanitarian relief, and to prevent any further suffering. But our focus is on assisting that humanitarian mission and using our military in support of the Americans in terms of refuelling and surveillance to underpin their missing and to add to it with food drops of our own.

Thursday

The Spectator

Sorry, but trains can’t really replace welfare lines

From our UK edition

George Osborne proposed an attractive idea this week: that spending on state benefits should be diverted into new infrastructure in the North. His conceit was that while welfare spending produces no economic return, spending public money on new high-speed railways and the like will inevitably boost the economy. We can’t fault the former assertion: that paying people to be idle is a drain on the public purse. But we take issue with the notion that infrastructure will always serve to boost the economy.

Isabel Hardman

How the FOBs, FOGs and FOTs could trip themselves up in the Tory leadership fight

From our UK edition

FOB, FOG or FOT? Which one are you? In this week's Spectator, Harry Mount examines the machinations of the Friends of Boris as they set their star man up for a return to Parliament and a future Tory leadership bid against the Friends of George and the Friends of Theresa. It's worth reminding all three contenders, though, that these long-drawn out contests between party big beasts rarely lead to those big beasts actually taking the leadership. David Davis, Michael Portillo, Ken Clarke and Michael Heseltine could all tell a few tales on that front.

Charles Moore

How long before self-publicising Baroness Warsi pops up in another party?

From our UK edition

At the impressive Westminster Abbey vigil to mark the centenary of the first world war on Monday night, there was one big candle for each quarter of the Abbey, and one dignitary assigned to each candle. At different points in the service, each dignitary would extinguish his or her candle. Then the rest of us in the relevant area, all equipped with candles, would follow suit. The lamps went out, as it were, all over Europe. One thing niggled. I was in the South Transept, and our big-candle snuffer was Lady Warsi, Minister of State at the Foreign Office. I complained to friends that her prominence fell below the level of events. She was always a self-publicising minister — an Asian Edwina Currie — and she is notably sectarian.

Isabel Hardman

For Boris, choosing the right seat will only be half the battle

From our UK edition

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Harry Mount and Isabel Hardman discuss Boris's parliamentary campaign"] Listen [/audioplayer]Boris Johnson is to stand as an MP in 2015 — but where? In the next few weeks, his secret parliamentary campaign team (and there is one) expects him to pick his constituency. The Tories need a decision by the beginning of September, as an announcement any closer to the party conference will overshadow David Cameron’s own plans to talk about the manifesto, rather than watch hopelessly as cameras and journalists trail after Boris, asking the same question over and over again. Uxbridge, where former deputy chief whip John Randall is standing down, is the favourite, with a 11,216 majority.

Harry Mount

Here comes Boris! The next Tory leadership fight has just begun

From our UK edition

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Harry Mount and Isabel Hardman discuss Boris's parliamentary campaign" fullwidth="no"] The View from 22 podcast [/audioplayer]So Boris has made his great leap. The blond king over the water has revealed his plans to cross the river, return to Parliament and assume what he believes is his rightful destiny — to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first signs came with his uncharacteristically Eurosceptic speech this week. Yes, he said, Britain could — perhaps should — leave Europe, if it couldn’t negotiate more favourable terms. This set him at odds with David Cameron and sent a ripple of excitement through the Tory grass roots.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Post-Warsi reshuffle kills off ‘senior minister of state’

From our UK edition

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]Baroness Warsi's shoes have now been filled. Her ministerial roles have been divvied up, with Baroness Anelay appointed Minister of State at the Foreign Office, attending Cabinet, Lord Bates working as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office, and Eric Pickles taking on the faith brief. Lord Taylor of Holbeach is now chief whip in the House of Lords. But no-one has gained the title of 'Senior Minister of State', which was invented just to compensate Warsi for being moved from Tory chairman in 2012.

Isabel Hardman

Where could Boris stand?

From our UK edition

This week's Spectator charts Boris Johnson's return to Parliament - and examines the network of MPs already helping him get there. You'll have to wait till tomorrow to read Harry Mount's piece, but here's a preview, examining where the Mayor could stand as an MP. Boris Johnson has spent an impressively long time dodging questions about whether he is going to stand as an MP in 2015, and where. He manages to do this by pulling a special bewildered face, as if he’s just an innocent chap who finds himself inexplicably in a spot of bother, rather than someone who has been leading everyone on about his political ambitions for far too long. But in the next few weeks, his secret parliamentary campaign team (and there is one) expects him to pick his constituency.

Alex Massie

Alex Salmond took a beating last night. And his supporters know it.

From our UK edition

How about those twin imposters, triumph and defeat disaster? The reaction to last night's debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling reveals as much as anything that happened in the debate itself. And the story it tells is that Darling won a handsome victory. His performance was far from faultless. I don't understand why he was so evidently discomfited by the idea of agreeing with David Cameron that Scotland could survive quite comfortably as an independent country. Nor was I impressed by his response to the question of what greater powers might be devolved to Scotland after a No vote. Mentioning road tax was a blunder. But at least he did not talk about aliens. At least Darling did not made a chump of himself in that fashion.

Isabel Hardman

Labour and the ‘Tory lie machine’

From our UK edition

Sajid Javid is giving a speech today that doesn't seem to have a great deal to do with his brief as Culture Secretary. He's also a pretty good Tory attack dog, and his address to the Centre for Policy Studies will focus on Labour's 'basic instinct' to spend and a warning that this instinct would leave Britain £500bn worse off. It's not so much the speech itself from the Culture Secretary that's interesting, but the reaction from the Labour Party. Chris Leslie has said: 'These numbers have been totally made up. Labour has not set out any plans for extra capital spending after the election, so this is just another example of the Tory lie machine in action.' Leslie then criticises the Coalition's ability to stick to its own fiscal rules, and repeats Labour's own commitments.

Tuesday

The Spectator

Warsi resignation: David Cameron replies

From our UK edition

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]Dear Sayeeda, Thank you for your letter today, in which you set out your reasons for resigning from the Government. I was sorry to receive this. I realise that this must not have been an easy decision for you to make and very much regret that we were not able to speak about your decision beforehand. I understand your strength of feeling on the current crisis in the Middle East – the situation in Gaza is intolerable.

Isabel Hardman

Tory minister: Govt ‘failure’ on Gaza is sowing seeds of General Election defeat

From our UK edition

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]One of the risks of Sayeeda Warsi's resignation was that it would encourage other ministers uneasy about the government's response to the situation in Gaza to break ranks. She is certainly trying to encourage that by alleging that other Foreign Office ministers have been uneasy with the decisions being taken recently. But I've just spoken to another Tory minister who is unhappy, and worried particularly about the effects that this will have on the Conservatives' chances next year.

Isabel Hardman

Baroness Warsi’s resignation letter: the key points

From our UK edition

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]Now that Baroness Warsi has revealed her letter to the Prime Minister in which she resigns over Gaza, here are the key criticisms that she levels at the government. They are notably not just about Operation Protective Edge and the British government's response to it. She doesn't resign until the penultimate paragraph, after a long letter that is clearly designed to cause maximum damage. 1. British policy in the Middle East generally is 'morally indefensible'.

Alex Massie

The argument about Britain in Europe is just the same as the argument about Scotland in Britain

From our UK edition

I know some readers have tired of Scotland's independence debate. That is understandable, even forgivable. It has, after all, been rumbling along for 40 years. There may only be six weeks of campaigning left but these arguments won't go away. You'll be hearing them again and again for the next few years at least. This is true even if Scotland does vote Yes next month. Because the argument about Scotland's place within the Union is really not very different from the argument about Britain's place within the European Union. Of course the similarities are not absolute but they are significant enough to be striking.

Isabel Hardman

Baroness Warsi resigns

From our UK edition

[audioplayer src="http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3" title="Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi's resignation" startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]After disagreeing with the Prime Minister on a great deal for a great while, Baroness Warsi has this morning resigned from the government, citing its position on Gaza. She tweeted a few minutes ago: With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza — Sayeeda Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi) August 5, 2014 There had been a concerted campaign in the Conservative party from senior figures with a great deal of influence to get Warsi moved.