Uk politics

What is the point of Britain's nuclear deterrent? If it is an insurance policy it is a remarkably expensive one that might not, in any case, ever be honoured. I suspect that, more importantly, retaining an independent [sic] nuclear capability is a psychological crutch for politicians who fear that leaving the nuclear club would somehow make it harder for Britain to remain a member of the Top Nation club. And perhaps it would. This is not necessarily a trivial thing. It would change the way we think of ourselves and might, in some sense, be considered an admission of defeat or as some kind of retreat. No Prime Minister wants to be the guy remembered as that guy and this, plus other institutional pressures helps make the case for replacing Trident. But at what cost?

There has been a rare outbreak of unity in the Tory party in recent weeks. It is the product of several factors - the bonding effect of honouring Margaret Thatcher, the influence of Lynton Crosby and a growing sense on the Tory benches that Labour are beatable. Another important element of it is that David Cameron has found a better way to interact with his own MPs. As one senior Number 10 figure told me, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day. But for the first time, I think, we have a proper systematic way of engaging with the party.’ One element of this is more serious policy discussions with MPs. Indeed, I understand that Number 10 is now trying to systematically involve MPs in policy making.

So in spite of great excitement beforehand, Theresa May didn't confirm that the UK will seek a temporary withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights. Instead, she announced a new treaty - a mutual legal assistance agreement - with Jordan in order to enable Abu Qatada's deportation. This wasn't nearly exciting enough for Tory MPs, who started demanding that the UK ignore the Convention and jolly well put Qatada on a plane today. May decided the best way to respond to this would be to crack a joke using Mark Reckless' surname while explaining to him why the government must abide by the laws to which it is currently subject.

Nigel Farage joined lobby journalists in Parliament for lunch today. Like many of his hustings, it was a box office event, and indeed like many of those campaign trail appearances, he made plenty of the same jokes that those who follow him about have heard many times before such as the one about being married to a foreigner, and about the problem with the Westminster bubble: 'They look the same, they sound the same, God! They're dull! I mean, they are not much fun to be with.' Farage, of course, is fun to be with.

George Osborne might have used Justin Welby's comments on the problems with the banks this morning as a sign that he has at least one ally out there, but this afternoon, the Prime Minister's official spokesman distanced the government from the Archbishop's use of the word 'depression' to characterise this country's current economic circumstances. He said: 'The Prime Minister agrees with the point the Chancellor of the Exchequer was making when he was asked that question this morning. What the Chancellor said was that he agreed with the Archbishop's analysis that we have a slow and difficult recovery because of the problems in the banking system and those are the problems that need addressing.

Even if George Osborne is right about the problems of a currency union between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK he possesses the uncanny knack of being right in such a disagreeable fashion that one's loath to give him any credit at all. Still, as an attack dog he has his uses and he has picked an interesting day - St George's - to come to Scotland to noise up the Jocks. I don't know if the SNP will mind this too much. The nationalist view, I think, is that people will concentrate more on Osborne's manner than on the substance of what he is saying. This may be correct but it is also the case that it does remain possible for something to be said by George Osborne and still have some measure of truth. Even so, the bank note question is a red herring.