Uk politics

Thursday

Katy Balls

Are things finally looking up for Theresa May?

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s week just got a little less bad. This evening the Government managed to successfully defeat a string of amendments seeking to soften Brexit. A cross-party amendment – tabled by Hilary Benn – to seize control of the Commons next week and hold indicative votes next Wednesday failed. It was defeated by just two votes. Chief Whip Julian Smith could be seen celebrating with a fist bump with fellow whip Chris Pincher. The Government motion to seek an Article 50 extension and delay Brexit passed comfortably. Given that this is a vote Theresa May was forced into giving and one that divides the Conservative party, this result is in no way a Government victory.

Freddy Gray

The most shocking thing about Trump’s Brexit comments? He’s right

From our UK edition

Tune out all the noise around Brexit, and read what Donald Trump said today: ‘I’m surprised at how badly it’s all gone from the standpoint of a negotiation,’ he told reporters at a bilateral meeting with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. ‘But I gave the Prime Minister my ideas on to negotiate it and I think you would have been successful. She didn’t listen to that and that’s fine, she’s got to do what she’s got to do, but I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner, frankly. I hate to see everything being ripped apart now. I don’t think another vote would be possible because it would be very unfair to the people that won … But I thought it would happen, it did happen, it’s a very tough situation.

Robert Peston

The risk of a no-deal Brexit just increased again

From our UK edition

What kind of Brexit delay, if any, would the European Union's leaders sanction, when the Prime Minister asks for one in a week's time, at the next EU Council? Truthfully no one knows. Actually that is only half right. In the implausible event that MPs next week ratify the PM's Brexit deal at the third time of asking, they would grant her a couple of months' postponement of the moment we depart, so that legislative and technical preparations could be completed. Just to be clear, I don't see how she wins. Too many Brexiter and Remainy Tory MPs hate her deal so much that they'll never be intimidated into backing it.

Katy Balls

Ministers clash at stormy political cabinet

From our UK edition

Today's Cabinet meeting was bound to be an unhappy affair after four cabinet ministers broke a three-line whip and abstained on a government motion. Amber Rudd, David Gauke, Greg Clark and David Mundell broke collective responsibility in order to abstain rather than vote against a motion ruling out a no deal Brexit. These ministers claim they thought it was okay to abstain – with Theresa May's PPS Andrew Bowie allegedly telling ministers they would not be fired as a result. At this afternoon's political Cabinet, Theresa May made her displeasure known (and criticised the level of press leaks from these meetings). However, the minister who made the greatest impression on his colleagues was the Chief Whip.

Steerpike

Watch: Donald Trump shoots down Leo Varadkar’s trade deal pitch

From our UK edition

Leo Varadkar is meeting Donald Trump today but the Irish Taoiseach's bid to drum up a trade deal between the EU and the United States has just backfired spectacularly. In their televised chat in the Oval Office, Varadkar told Trump: 'I look forward to talking to you...about trade, and how much I would like to see a trade deal done between the US and the EU. We've done one with Japan, we've done one with Canada - we'd love to strike a deal with the US, too.' But Trump was not impressed: 'OK, well we'll see, because the EU, as you know, has been very tough to deal with, and frankly it has been very one sided for many, many years. So we're changing that around. And we're starting to get somewhere and if we don't we'll win anyway.' Oh dear...

Wednesday

Andrew Willshire

Jess Phillips says she would make a good prime minister. I’m not convinced

From our UK edition

On Saturday, the Times published a much-lauded interview with Jess Phillips. As with all her public outings, she comes across as decent, kind, funny, hard-working, honest, and down-to-earth. These are certainly fine qualities to have in an MP. But the interview concluded with Phillips stating that she thought she would be a good prime minister. Many people concurred. This should make us stop and consider whether we’re looking for the right qualities in a potential PM, especially given that we might be seeking a new one sooner rather than later as a result of Theresa May's failure to get her Brexit deal through Parliament at the second attempt.

James Forsyth

Row breaks out between the whips and Number 10

From our UK edition

As if the government did not have enough troubles right now, a major row has erupted between the Whips’ Office and Number 10. The whips think that a Number 10 aide was telling ministers they were safe to abstain on the no to no deal motion, when there was a three-line whip to vote against it. After the amendment ruling out no deal in any circumstances passed, the government decided to whip against its own motion rather than allowing a free vote on it. This irritated a slew of Remain / soft Brexit ministers who wanted to vote against no deal. Sarah Newton resigned as a Minister of State to do so. A handful of Cabinet Ministers — Amber Rudd, David Gauke, Greg Clark, David Mundell and Claire Perry — abstained.

James Forsyth

Meaningful vote 3 in the next seven days

From our UK edition

Theresa May’s extension motion makes clear that she intends to bring her deal back for another vote in the next seven days. The motion states that if a meaningful vote has been passed by the 20th of March, then the government will request a short technical extension to pass the necessary Brexit legislation. (This request would be made at the European Council meeting next Thursday). But if no deal has been passed by the 20th, the UK would request a much longer extension — which would require the UK to participate in the EU Parliament elections. So, it is clear that the government are going to try and pass the meaningful vote between now and the 20th. There is optimism in government that it might be third time lucky for the withdrawal agreement.

Isabel Hardman

Fear and loathing in the lobbies: how the government whipped against itself – and lost

From our UK edition

With just a few minutes to go before the division on the government's motion on no deal, Tory MPs' phones started buzzing. It was a message from the whips, telling them that the free vote they'd been promised since last night was now subject to a three line whip: the strongest possible instruction on how to vote. But there was no further explanation. A message from Chris Pincher, the deputy chief whip, read: 'We are voting no to the amended motion. This is a 3 line whip.' It was sent at 7.31pm. Some Conservatives didn't get this message until they were walking through the lobbies, still believing that, as Theresa May had promised last night, they could make their own decision on how to vote.

Katy Balls

The latest government shambles could help May pass her deal

From our UK edition

This evening Theresa May's week went from awful to terrible. After her deal was heavily defeated for a second time on Tuesday night, the Prime Minister had planned to placate MPs by offering them a free vote on whether they wished to try and rule out a no deal Brexit. As Isabel reports on Coffee House, that plan soon backfired. A backbench amendment from Tory MP Caroline Spelman to try and rule out no deal in more explicit terms than the government's motion passed by four votes. At that point, the government changed its voting strategy and whipped its MPs to vote against the motion – effectively voting to keep no deal as an option. This led to much confusion in the voting lobbies.

Rod Liddle

Tory Brexiteers were wrong not to back May’s useless deal

From our UK edition

Amongst the wrath we should pour upon our elected politicians – yes, especially the Tory Remainers and Labour’s bereft and shameless MPs – let's keep some in reserve for the stoic, hardline, Brexiteers, huh? I’m with them: no deal is better than her deal. I agree. But – and this is the argument I’ve been having with people for the last three weeks, maybe longer – there is no prospect of no deal going through. None whatsoever. You can cleave to the idea of it for as long as you like, but there is not the remotest prospect of it happening. Why do they not understand this? You have to see the world as it is, not as you would like it to be. And yet they seem utterly incapable of that.

Isabel Hardman

Government in chaos after rebel no deal amendment passes

From our UK edition

Theresa May has just suffered another extraordinary defeat, losing on Caroline Spelman’s amendment (which rules out no-deal Brexit under any circumstances) by just four votes. This was not expected. Spelman even tried to withdraw the amendment, but was too late. This Spelman amendment said that the House “rejects the United Kingdom leaving the European Union without a Withdrawal Agreement and a Framework for the Future Relationship.”. This is different to the main motion, which offers a caveat: specifically a declaration that ‘leaving without a deal remains the default in UK and EU law unless this House and the EU ratify an agreement’. The Spelman amendment is not legally binding: it’s a vote expressing the view of the House.

The Spectator

Full list: The Tory MPs that voted to keep no deal on the table

From our UK edition

Theresa May has just been dealt another blow after the House of Commons voted decisively against a no-deal Brexit. MPs voted by 321 to 308 for a motion which rejects the UK leaving the EU without a deal, under any circumstances. The motion did not force the government to either revoke Article 50 or to request an extension, and so the UK will still leave without a deal on 29 March, until other arrangements are put in place.

Steerpike

Tory MP: Brexit mess is like a ‘cat’s arse’

From our UK edition

What's the best way to describe Britain's current Brexit situation? 'Mess' and 'disaster' probably spring to mind. But Mr S would also find it hard to disagree with the verdict of Trudy Harrison. The Tory MP delivered this verdict: 'We were just discussing in my office how we would describe the current situation, and using good old Cumbrian terminology we were really torn between whether it's a pig's ear, a dog's dinner or a cat's arse' Perhaps all three?

Steerpike

Watch: Steve Baker’s catastrophic Brexit interview

From our UK edition

Tonight MPs will have their say on whether Britain should leave the EU without a deal. The views of Tory Brexiteer Steve Baker on the subject are unlikely to come as much of a surprise. Baker thinks that taking no deal 'off the table' would be a 'really catastrophic negotiating error'. But Mr S. couldn't help but notice Baker's objection to the word 'catastrophe' in the same interview with ITV. Just moments later, Baker had this to say: 'Catastrophe is a word that should be reserved for genuine loss of life. No politician should use it.'   https://twitter.com/DanielHewittITV/status/1105875603163627520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Perhaps it is time for Baker to take his own advice on board...

Lloyd Evans

Is Philip Hammond to blame for the knife-crime epidemic?

From our UK edition

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, breezed into the Commons to deliver a languid and greatly abridged Spring Statement. He had the genial air of a president-for-life emerging from his palace to correct the mis-steps of a bungling and soon-to-be-discarded Prime Minister. He dished out a few hundred million quid on various worthy schemes (save-the-hedgehog projects; free sanitary towels for school-girls) and he added some passing references to Brexit. A ‘cloud’ he called it. ‘A spectre of uncertainty.’ It sounded like a minor niggle which he could resolve while signing his morning correspondence. He used encrypted language, of course. He said that tomorrow’s vote on Article 50 will ‘map out a way forward towards building a consensus’.

Charles Moore

Michael Gove’s Brexit agony

From our UK edition

I feel particularly sorry for Michael Gove, because there is psychological torment here. His understandable reasoning for not resigning over Theresa May’s Chequers proposal was that he had been accused first of betraying David Cameron, then of betraying Boris Johnson. He could not face being accused of a third betrayal by walking out on Mrs May. This meant that he unintentionally betrayed the cause of Brexit. He is now the government’s media apologist for whatever piece of contortion comes out of Downing Street, and is humiliated when the line he has just peddled collapses a few hours later.

Matthew Lynn

Philip Hammond’s Spring Statement was a missed opportunity

From our UK edition

As Philip Hammond rose to the despatch box to deliver his Spring Statement, the Chancellor must have felt like someone who wanted to talk about the funny noise the radiator was making half-way through extra-time of England’s World Cup semi-final last summer. Everyone’s attention was understandably elsewhere. If he was feeling mischievous he could have probably abolished inheritance tax, or slapped VAT on children’s clothes, safe in the knowledge that amid all the Brexit chaos it would have been safely forgotten by about 2pm. And yet, even by his own lugubrious standards, Hammond surely missed an opportunity.

James Forsyth

Philip Hammond tore up the Brexit script at his Spring Statement

From our UK edition

Brexit was always going to dominate this Spring Statement. Philip Hammond even began by saying he’d keep it short to allow the Commons to move on to the ‘no deal’ debate. But the most eye-catching thing Hammond said on Brexit came at the very end. He talked about the need to build consensus across the House. This is Westminster code for a customs union style solution. Hammond has been making the case for this approach at Cabinet for quite a while now. But it isn’t yet Government policy—most ministers still think that there is a chance May’s deal could pass in a third meaningful vote. So it was quite remarkable to hear Hammond saying it from the despatch box at the Spring Statement. It is another demonstration of how discipline is breaking down.

Isabel Hardman

Hammond to MPs: make up your mind on Brexit or the domestic policies get it

From our UK edition

Philip Hammond’s squeeze message to MPs trying to work out how to vote on Brexit over the next few days was clear: if they don’t reach a consensus, then there won’t be lots of lovely spending on important domestic policies such as social care.  Theresa May has been so busy procrastinating on Brexit that her failure to make decisions on these policy areas has not attracted the level of attention it deserves. The social care green paper, for instance, has been pushed back by over a year. This isn’t as much to do with Brexit as ministers like to make out, by the way, but all the same it is now highly convenient for the Chancellor to link the two.