Uk politics

Wednesday

Nick Cohen

What would George Orwell make of the Brexit right?

I don’t believe in turning George Orwell’s writing into Holy Scripture – he would have hated the reverence as much as anything else. But if the Brexit right is going to crow and quote his dislike of the communist-influenced left intelligentsia of the 1930s and 1940s it should read the rest of his work first.  Orwell believed in a united socialist Europe. ‘Democratic Socialism must be made to work throughout some large area,’ he wrote just after the Second World War. ‘But the only area in which it could conceivably be made to work, in any near future, is Western Europe’. If you can forget his belief in a post-war

Stephen Daisley

Labour and the banality of anti-Semitism

Is there a name for the moment something objectionable becomes so mainstream that those responsible can solemnly lament it as a fact of life? I propose that we call it the Formby Point. This week, Labour’s general secretary Jennie Formby reportedly told a parliamentary party meeting that it was ‘impossible to eradicate anti-Semitism and it would be dishonest to claim to be able to do so’. Note the sly wording, the subtle distancing; you can almost hear the affected sigh of resignation. The woman who runs an institutionally racist party that refuses to challenge its institutional racism can, with a straight face, regret the inevitability of racism.  As a matter

Tuesday

Andrew Willshire

The plan that could give rebel Labour MPs the space to break away

Reports that Theresa May’s team are considering a June election haven’t exactly been met with universal acclaim. Tory MPs in marginal seats are horrified by the prospect, demanding assurances from the party’s chairman Brandon Lewis that this isn’t the case. But it’s not only Tories concerned about losing their seats who should be worried. A snap election would also be bad news for the band of Labour MPs considering breaking away to form a new party. The arguments against forming a new party due to the crushing forces of our first past the post electoral system are familiar and have acted as a brake on the formation of significant new

Katy Balls

Theresa May’s expectation management falls flat with the ERG

Theresa May has been in Northern Ireland today attempting to ease concerns over her commitment to avoiding a hard border. The Prime Minister told business leaders in Belfast that while Parliament wanted ‘changes to the backstop as it currently exists’, her commitment to no hard border in Northern Ireland was ‘unshakeable’. However, May’s words also went some way to highlight the difference in expectation as to what No. 10 think is an acceptable change to the backstop – and what the Brexiteers in the European Research Group believe is acceptable. When pressed, May said she was not seeking to get rid of the backstop entirely as she saw it as an

Steerpike

Watch: Jon Snow calls out Chris Williamson on Venezuela

Venezuela is in ruins and its people are suffering greatly as a result of Nicolas Maduro’s failed socialist experiment. So who is to blame? Many would say the buck stops with Maduro himself. As a result, Britain and other countries have joined forces in recognising Juan Guaidó as the country’s interim leader in an attempt to bring the crisis to an end. But for Corbynista MP Chris Williamson it is this decision to back Guaidó – rather than the Maduro government’s brutal suppression of its own people – that is a ‘democratic outrage’. It fell to a somewhat unlikely figure – Channel 4’s Jon Snow – to put Williamson right: ‘You

Katy Balls

Will the public mood on no deal sway the Commons?

As Theresa May attempts to reopen negotiations on the terms of the backstop, there is a view in Downing Street that May won’t be able to win any substantial changes until Yvette Cooper’s no deal amendment has been defeated for a second time. The Prime Minister will put down a neutral motion next Wednesday and amendments to that motion are expected to be voted on the following day. The expectation is that Cooper will bring back her amendment which would force the government to try and extend Article 50 if a no deal scenario looked likely. There’s a concern in government that this time the amendment could pass. A number

Monday

Steerpike

Jeremy Corbyn’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stunt backfires

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the left’s rising political star. The 29-year-old is the youngest women ever to serve in the US Congress and her fan base is growing quickly online, so it’s no surprise that Jeremy Corbyn wants to team up. But the Labour leader’s cosy phone call with the Democrat has somewhat backfired. Corbyn said yesterday that it was ‘great to speak’ to Ocasio-Cortez, who returned the favour by tweeting that it ‘was an honour to share such a lovely and wide-reaching conversation with you’. This seemed to be the start of great things, until a follower of Ocasio-Cortez pointed out Labour’s ongoing troubles with anti-Semitism: Oh dear. It was good while it

Katy Balls

How long will the Tory truce hold?

Nearly one week on from Tory MPs uniting around a Brexit position and the cracks are starting to show. After Brexiteers and Remainers alike came together to vote for the Brady amendment on Tuesday calling for the backstop to be replaced with alternative arrangements, Theresa May was triumphant that she could now tell Brussels there was a majority in the Commons for a Brexit deal so long as the EU was willing to play ball. However, this weekend things hit a bump in the road after May penned an article for The Telegraph. In it, the Prime Minister said that the vote for the Brady amendment had shown there was

Sunday

Steerpike

Watch: Andrew Marr calls out EU leaders over TV no-shows

When was the last time an EU leader gave an interview to British TV to talk about Brexit? If you’re scratching your head to remember, you’re not the only one. Andrew Marr raised just this point on his programme this morning, calling out the likes of Donald Tusk, Michel Barnier and Jean-Claude Juncker for their persistent failure to appear on his programme. Here’s what Marr had to say: I just want to say one thing about our line-up of interviews. We are at a moment where negotiations with Brussels are absolutely critical and it has been a long moment. And week after week I get the chance to cross question

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: UK ‘will still be a very safe country’ after no deal, Javid says

Sajid Javid: No-deal UK ‘will still be a very safe country’ This morning Andrew Marr was joined by the Home Secretary Sajid Javid. With the possibility of a no-deal Brexit on the horizon, the interview turned to the implications that could have for the UK’s national security. When Marr asked if security could be diminished, Javid avoided a direct answer, repeatedly telling Marr that ‘we will still be a very safe country’: #Marr: If we leave with a no deal #Brexit, will things get worse for security? Home Secretary Sajid Javid: “We will still be a very safe country”https://t.co/QVithizp1U pic.twitter.com/zu35kC3H8l — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) February 3, 2019 SJ: There will

Saturday

Douglas Murray

This week’s FGM prosecution raises deep questions which cannot go unaddressed

The first successful prosecution in the UK for the crime of female genital mutilation (FGM) has been widely covered. Not least because the laws that made this barbaric practice a crime have been on the books since 1985 without a single successful prosecution until this week. So the fact that a 37-year old mother from east London was convicted of the crime at the Old Bailey this week is significant. But there is something about this case that still needs to be noted. Campaigners against FGM are rightly saying that they hope that this prosecution will lead to more people coming forward to report the crime. One of the reasons

James Forsyth

Don’t expect much on Brexit before Valentine’s Day

Don’t expect much movement on Brexit this side of Valentine’s Day, I say in The Sun this morning. There are two reasons for this. First, EU leaders are irritated with Theresa May. She signed off on a deal with them, assured them it could get through the Commons and then lost by a record margin. They are now sceptical when the British indicate that this or that change could get the deal through parliament. Despite the Brady amendment passing, the EU are still doubtful about what would get a deal over the line. But there is another reason beyond their irritation why the EU are holding off from engaging with

Thursday

Steerpike

Watch: Whitto’s awkward turn on Channel 4

Oh dear. It’s been a rollercoaster for the European Research Group of late. Once heralded as the Machiavellis of Brexit, the group of backbench Eurosceptics have lately become the subject of some mockery thanks to their botched attempts to oust Theresa May as Prime Minister. However, things appeared to turn in their favour again this week when the group – led by Jacob Rees-Mogg – managed to get May to change her Brexit strategy – and confirm that she wished to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. Alas Mr S suspects the turn of John Whittingdale on Channel 4 news in the aftermath will have done little to cement an image of professionalism.

Katy Balls

MPs have their holidays cancelled – but will they have anything to do?

After much speculation, Andrea Leadsom has confirmed that the February recess will be cancelled. This means that – in theory – MPs will be deprived of any ski holidays scheduled for the week of 18 February. It’s still up in the air what Commons business – if any – will take place that week given that Parliament is in a state of deadlock. However, the view was that regardless of Brexit progress, it would be an incredibly bad look for MPs to trot off on holiday at the time of an approaching constitutional crisis. So, will they have anything to do? The problem is the government does have a lot

Wednesday

Katy Balls

Eurosceptic fears grow over a potential customs union pivot

After refusing to meet with Theresa May until she ruled out a no deal Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn finally held talks with the Prime Minister this afternoon. Accompanied by members of his inner circle – Seumas Milne and Karie Murphy – the Labour leader used the meeting to put May under pressure on the customs union. Corbyn discussed with May the best way to secure a Brexit deal which can command a majority in the Commons – arguing that this was by moving to support a permanent customs union between the UK and EU. However, depending on who you speak to, there are varying reports of how that suggestion was received. A

Lloyd Evans

Why did Jeremy Hunt have such a long face at PMQs?

Bit of a different day at PMQs. There wasn’t a peep from Remain Corner where Anna Soubry, Nicky Morgan and Sarah Woollaston like to hold court. Perhaps they’re all re-training as Uber-drivers in case a snap-election renders them jobless. And we heard nothing from the Labour party’s Bullingdon Club of Brexit-saboteurs, Yvette Cooper, Stephen Kinnock and Chuka Umunna. Thank goodness Ken Clarke spared us his usual parrot-recital about suspending Article 50. And the ‘people’s vote’ wasn’t mentioned at all. Instead Labour’s C-listers had their turn. Jack Dromey, a gifted nihilist, wore a bright summery jacket which contrasted sharply with the dire news he recited from his sat-nav. ‘We are 58

Nick Cohen

This is Brexit’s La La Land moment

From Venezuela to Zimbabwe, the noise that defines failing states is the wail. It’s not our fault, their leaders cry. We are the victims of a foreign conspiracy, fifth columnists and saboteurs. The most obvious and least discussed consequence of last night’s capitulation by the British Prime Minister to the right of her party is that the Tories are building a conspiracy theory of their own, as they prepare to whine and blame everyone but themselves for the crisis they have brought on Britain. If it is teaching us nothing else, Brexit has at least shown us that ‘taking back control’ never means taking on responsibility. The events of this week

Robert Peston

The three problems with changing the Brexit backstop

The EU only functions as a collection of 28 nations – minus one on 29 March – because of its streamlined, centralised processes. And that efficient bureaucratic process was magnificently on display in two years of negotiation between the Article 50 taskforce of the European Commission, led by Michel Barnier, and the UK government. It culminated in the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement that was signed off at the end of last year by all EU government heads, including Theresa May. One of the three pillars of the 599-page Withdrawal Agreement is the Northern Ireland protocol, better known as the backstop, which is designed to keep open the border in the

James Forsyth

Theresa May’s biggest Brexit battle is still to come

The morning after the night before finds the Tory party still in good spirits. There is a sense of relief that the party managed to find something that all but 18 of them could vote for. It was no small achievement to get nearly every Tory MP into the same lobby on Europe with Brexit only 59 days away. But the harder part is still to come. First, Theresa May has to get something from Brussels and then she has to get it through the Commons. But May’s victory last night has brought her time. She’ll hope that she can get something from the EU and that the longer both

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Theresa May’s Brexit deal has come back from the dead

At long last, something changed in the House of Commons tonight; at long last Theresa May had something that could, with only a little squinting or wishful thinking, be considered something close to a good day. Her deal, the withdrawal agreement backed by her Government and agreed with the EU, that seemed moribund less than two weeks ago, has new life. It may not be entirely healthy but it has, remarkably, enjoyed some kind of resurrection.  The choices available to parliament, and by extension the country, are becoming clearer. Now that MPs have rejected the Cooper-Boles amendment that would have placed some obstacles in the path of the default No