Uk politics

Here we go. As the debate continues within the Labour party as to which Brexit policy will win the party the most seats at a general election, the mainstream domestic policy agenda is progressing nicely. This evening, Labour delegates approved a motion for a Labour government to seemingly abolish private schools. The motion is to 'integrate' private schools into the state sector. Rather than knock them down, the idea appears to be that a school such as Eton would become part of the state system. However, Mr S's Labour mole says there is a grey area as to the exact details as the motion passed is clumsily worded. Set aside the small matter that private schools educate 15pc of sixthformers (ie, the ones who apply to university) when 7pc is a figure for the whole system.

Three events will dominate next week. The Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of prorogation, Labour conference and the UN General Assembly. As I say in The Sun this morning, Boris Johnson’s address in New York will be more ‘Green Giant’ than ‘Incredible Hulk’. He’ll stress the UK’s environmental credentials; announcing a new biodiversity fund designed to help save the African elephant, the black rhino and the pangolin. But more important than the speech he’ll make is the meetings that will take place in the margins. He’ll see most of the key players in the Brexit talks in New York, including a meeting with the Irish leader Leo Varadkar on Monday.

This evening, Labour's ruling National Executive Committee has started to discuss a motion which would oust Tom Watson as deputy leader. There is expected to be a vote on this plan, which abolishes the role altogether, tomorrow, and there is a strong chance that it will pass. It was tabled by Momentum founder Jon Lansman, and was narrowly ruled out of order because Watson wasn't present at tonight's meeting. Tomorrow it will be in order. Why is Labour having this battle on the eve of its autumn conference? It is potentially weeks away from an election, and instead of facing outwards to voters, it is engaged in an internecine battle over internal positions. And not just small roles, but the separately-elected role of the party's deputy leader.

William Hazlitt said hypocrisy is the only unforgivable vice. He would surely have a field day with our current crop of politicians. But perhaps the worst of the bunch is Caroline Lucas. The Green MP responded to the Liberal Democrat’s promise to overturn Article 50 without even a further referendum by saying: Lucas is partly correct: the Lib Dem’s policy move is remarkable in its audaciousness. Jo Swinson recently told us that she could never forgive David Cameron for his decision to have an in-out EU referendum, conveniently forgetting the fact that she herself called for such a referendum back in 2008 and that nearly all Lib Dem MPs voted in favour of the EU Referendum Act in 2015.

Labour has yet again shown it doesn't care about its Jewish members. Jeremy Corbyn said earlier this year that “there is no place for anti-Semitism or any form of racism in the Labour party”. But not for the first time – and not for the last – Jews who still belong to the party have been sidelined.  The latest cause for disquiet is the decision yesterday by the party's National Executive Committee. Not content with scrapping the party's student wing ahead of next week's gathering in Brighton, the NEC has now agreed new rules concerning the handling of allegations of anti-Semitism and disciplinary procedures for expelling members.

The shape of the Brexit fix that Boris Johnson wants from the EU’s 27 leaders is now clear.

I am told Jean-Claude Juncker learned just one thing from Boris Johnson on Monday in Luxembourg. In the words of one of his colleagues there was "confirmation that the UK (under Johnson) wants more of a border on the island of Ireland than the previous government". Which is the nutshell of the whole of what the PM seeks qua new deal and what the EU’s 27 leaders need to evaluate either as deft compromise or as brutal betrayal of Dublin and the Good Friday Agreement. This dispute harks back to the December 2017 joint agreement between the UK and EU which pledges to prevent the creation of "a hard border including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls".