Uk politics

Friday

Aidan Chivers

Oxford’s EU flag sends out the wrong message to applicants

As I walked through central Oxford at the weekend, an unfamiliar sight greeted me from the top of one of the university’s central buildings: the flag of the European Union had found its way amongst the spires. It fluttered gently in the breeze on the Clarendon Building, only yards from the Bodleian Library in the heart of the city. The flag’s arrival looked like a statement. After all, it is not customary for the university to represent a political entity on its flagpoles. At a time of continued debate across the country, the flag has been widely read as the university taking a stance on an ongoing and fractious national

Ross Clark

How do the Project Fear prophets explain the good news about Britain’s economy?

Of course, we shouldn’t read too much into a set of good economic figures when they are so obviously down to stockpiling ahead of Brexit. If GDP rose by 0.5 per cent in the first three months of 2019 it was only thanks to all that condensed milk we have all stacked in the understairs cupboard – that and the riot helmets we all went out and bought in case of a hard Brexit and the marauding masses trying to break into houses in order to pilfer our said emergency store.   Yet you might think that hardened Remainers could just admit to a tiny of nugget of good news in

Thursday

Steerpike

Change UK’s Peterborough by-election no-show

The Brexit Party has had a further boost in the polls today, but as Nigel Farage’s fledgling group continues to hoover up support from both main parties, the story on the other side has been rather different. Start-up pro-remain party Change UK has been locked in a rivalry with its doppelgänger, the Lib Dems, achieving exactly nothing in terms of progress but creating a healthy groundswell of remainer exasperation on Twitter. Even the Change UK activists’ networks have been infected with a creeping feeling of futility, with many struggling to name a good reason to not vote for the Lib Dems or give a solid defence for why their new

Katy Balls

No ‘Brexit backlash’, says internal Labour election analysis

After a disappointing local election result for Labour last week, politicians were quick to blame the party’s Brexit ambiguity for the net loss they suffered. Labour councillors in Sunderland and Barnsley said talk of a second referendum had been unhelpful on the doorstep. Meanwhile, MPs including Jess Phillips suggested that a clearer call for a so-called People’s Vote would boost support for the party. Downing Street hoped they could capitalise on the party’s Brexit worries by convincing the Labour frontbench to back some form of Brexit deal in order to bring the matter to a close. However, the view in Labour a week on is rather different. Coffee House has been

Ross Clark

Only a vote for the Brexit Party can save the Tories

Of all the red warning signs for the Conservatives, the choice of the Brexit party’s candidate for the forthcoming Peterborough by-election is blinding as they come. Not only was Mike Greene a lifelong Conservative until a few weeks ago; he is a self-made man brought up in council house who has gone on to set up businesses and serve in several charitable roles such as trustee of Peterborough cathedral. If the Conservatives cannot attract and retain such a person as a member, then what is the point of them at all? They are either the party of self-reliance, of hard work, entrepreneurship and public service – or they might as

Robert Peston

Theresa May could be gone by the first week of June

The 1922 executive committee thinks it has finally laid a surefire trap for Theresa May – by securing a promise from her to hold the second reading of the core Brexit legislation, the Withdrawal Agreement and Implementation Bill, before EU elections in two weeks. The point is that either the bill passes, and she resigns as soon it becomes law (as she has promised to do), or it flops, which is what most Tories expect, and it becomes unambiguously clear that she can never deliver Brexit – in which case they will force her out in June or July. Tory MPs assume she knows this. But they will drive the point

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Downing Street: Theresa May will not set an exit date

Is this the week the Prime Minister sets an exit date? Not if Theresa May has anything to do with it. May has been under pressure to set out a more specific timetable for her departure – regardless of whether or not she manages to pass a Brexit deal. The 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers last month decided not to change the rules to allow another confidence vote in May before December. However, after a very bad local election result and frustration over the Brexit process, the committee are meeting once again this afternoon where they will revisit the matter. There was talk that committee chair Graham Brady had told

Stephen Daisley

It’s too late for the SNP to rein in the cybernats

‘It is better to ride the tiger’s back than let it rip your throat out’ is reputedly how Tony Blair rationalised his close relationship with the Sun. The quote is thrown back at him by critics who imagine their preferred mode of politics untainted by tiger-riding. In fact, Blair is not alone: Bill Clinton rode the tiger of white male independents then spent much of his presidency pandering to them on crime, welfare and ‘values’.  For the Liberal Democrats, it was post-Iraq Labour discontents and students, who brought them two million votes across two elections and who turned on them when they teamed up with the Tories and put up

Katy Balls

How would Andrea Leadsom fare in another Tory leadership contest?

Andrea Leadsom has become the latest Cabinet minister to suggest that they would like to succeed Theresa May as Prime Minister. After DfID Secretary Rory Stewart declared his own ambition for the top job, Leadsom used an appearance on Good Morning Britain this morning to reveal her interest. The Leader of the House of Commons says she is ‘seriously considering’ entering the race after her failed attempt the last time around: ‘I’ve supported her for the last three years to get Brexit over the line. She has said she’s going, so yes I am seriously considering standing.’ In the 2016 leadership contest, Leadsom made it into the final two but

Robert Peston

Tory-Labour Brexit talks are on the verge of collapse

Labour’s negotiations on a Brexit pact with the Government may well be pronounced dead today – partly because the party is launching its EU elections manifesto tomorrow and would presumably need to say something about a possible pact other than “don’t know”. To be clear, there are more talks between the two sides this evening. But those involved tell me they have no expectation a breakthrough will be seized from the jaws of futility. Simultaneously Labour’s leadership is consulting “all the elements” in and connected to the party, so there’s no great backlash from MPs or union leaders as and when the hopes of a Brexit compromise are officially abandoned

The Spectator

Full transcript: Douglas Murray in conversation with Roger Scruton

What does it mean to be a conservative? Last night, The Spectator brought together Douglas Murray and Roger Scruton to discuss that question. Here is the full transcript of their conversation: Douglas Murray: Some months ago, The Spectator said to me that they would like me to do an event and who would I like to do it with. And I said I’m very used to doing events with my enemies and spend rather too much time with them and would like to spend the evening with a friend. And they said: anyone in particular? And I said first choice, Roger Scruton. And a lot of things have happened since

Tuesday

Linden Kemkaran

What I learnt trying – and failing – to win election as a Tory councillor

“I’ll say this for you love, you’ve picked a great time to go into politics!” The man on whose door I had knocked guffawed loudly before adding kindly, “but I admire you anyway, I shan’t be voting this time, can’t trust any of them, but good luck to you all the same.” At least it was a friendly encounter. Not all of them were. My timing was impeccable. With the Brexit mess obscuring everything and Parliament in meltdown, I decided to stand in a marginal seat for District Council election. As a Conservative candidate. Demonstrating the same great timing back in the summer of 2008, bang on the eve of

Robert Peston

When will Theresa May be removed by her party?

I understand Sir Graham Brady – chairman of the 1922 committee and therefore representative of all Tory MPs – expects to see Theresa May this afternoon and will receive a response from the PM to the request from the ‘22 executive for her to set out a binding, all-weather timetable for her resignation. Following the Tory humiliation in the local elections and the anticipated humiliation in the forthcoming EU elections, there is an expectation and hope among Tory MPs and her cabinet colleagues that she will announce a departure date that would allow Tory MPs to choose their shortlist of two candidates in June or July – which would then

Katy Balls

Would a customs union pass the Commons?

It’s crunch day for the Labour/Tory Brexit talks. After a weekend of government leaks and briefings, both sides will today meet to see if a deal can be agreed. It’s clear that Theresa May is keen to make an agreement with Jeremy Corbyn in order to pass some form of Brexit. The hope in Downing Street is that the disappointing local election results for both main parties will be enough to prompt the Labour leader to cut a deal. As for what that compromise will consist of, the government is willing to move on the customs arrangement – committing the UK to something very similar to a customs union (most

Monday

Steerpike

Brexit Party makes Peterborough wait for by-election candidate

With a Peterborough by-election scheduled for early June, there’s talk that it could lead to Parliament’s first Brexit Party MP. After disgraced former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was forced out following a recall petition in light of her conviction for perverting the course of justice, Labour, the Conservatives and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party are all vying to clinch the Labour/Tory marginal. The Brexit Party are currently surging in the polls – and could fare well in the Leave constituency. So, what better platform on which to reveal the party’s new candidate than Tuesday night’s Brexit Party rally in… Peterborough? So far, the rumour mill has been in overdrive with Nigel

Saturday

James Forsyth

What a May / Corbyn Brexit deal would look like

The local election results showed that both main parties are paying a price for the Brexit impasse. This, as I say in The Sun this morning, means that the cross-party talks have a better chance of succeeding than they did. Those in the talks are more optimistic than they have been about getting some kind of agreement, if not a full-blown deal. But they know that things could change very quickly. I understand that the compromise being drawn up goes as follows. The UK would initially enter into a ‘comprehensive customs arrangement’ with the European Union. This would be very similar to a customs union. But the two parties would

Friday

Tom Lowe

The key battlegrounds to watch in the 2019 local elections

The Tories are braced for a drubbing in today’s local elections, but with the bar set so low will things be as bad as expected for the party? In the lead-up to the vote, Conservatives have been somewhat sheepish on the doorsteps – hardly a surprise, perhaps, given the fallout from Brexit. So will Tory voters stay away? Or will they switch sides to Labour? The mood across Britain is certainly febrile, and after three years of chaos in Westminster, it could be the smaller parties – the Greens, Ukip and the Lib Dems – who see the biggest gains. Here are the results to watch out for: Midnight Broxbourne: The

James Forsyth

How the Tories can turn their dire election results around

The local election results are dire for both the Tories and Labour. The Tories have lost over a thousand seats—and that is with the Brexit Party not standing in these elections. If Nigel Farage’s new party had been on the ballot paper, who knows how bad the Tory loses would have been. But at the same time, Labour—after nine years in opposition and coming from the low base of 2015—are going backwards. They have, so far, lost council seats. The two main parties are, in national projected vote share, tied on 28 per cent of the vote. This is a reminder of just how much of an ugly baby contest

Isabel Hardman

Ministers shouldn’t be able to escape their mistakes

There is little doubt that Rory Stewart is amply-qualified for his belated promotion to the cabinet. The new International Development Secretary also has a background that means he understands what his brief actually does, and its value. But his move from the Ministry of Justice has also prompted a round of complaining that Stewart will not be held accountable for a pledge that he made.  When he became prisons minister, Stewart set himself a deadline of 12 months in which to reduce levels of drug use and violence in 10 struggling prisons. If he failed, he promised, he would resign.  At the time, it seemed rather obvious that Stewart would

Steerpike

Baldrick quits Labour

Things are going from bad to worse for Jeremy Corbyn. Labour has had a dismal night in the polls, losing nearly 100 councillors when the party had hoped to make gains at the Tories’ expense. And now Tony Robinson – the actor best known for playing Baldrick in Blackadder – has said he is quitting Labour after nearly 50 years. Here is his verdict on the party: Can things get any more miserable for Jeremy Corbyn? As an exasperated Blackadder might say, I think the phrase rhymes with Clucking Bell…