Uk politics

Dame Helena Morrissey has been described as the UK's own superwoman thanks to the fact that she balances a high-flying City career as a financier with bringing up nine children. She's also a rarity in the finance sector as a proud Brexiteer. So, I'm delighted to have Helena as my guest on the latest episode of Women with Balls. In the interview, Morrissey talks about what it is like being a lone voice on Brexit in her industry: 'I, maybe naively, had taken the logical extension of the work I'd done on encouraging diversity in the boardroom to mean that diversity of thought on issues like the EU referendum was to be welcomed. It became very shouty very quickly and very confrontational the whole run up to the referendum and then subsequently.

We’re closing 2018 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 2: Steerpike on the many problems with May's Brexit deal: Theresa May's government has teetered on the point of collapse over her proposed Brexit deal. The withdrawal agreement between the UK and Brussels led to Dominic Raab and Esther McVey resigning in protest. However, May's remaining ministers have since attempted to rally around her at least in the short term. Speaking on Friday, Liam Fox – the International Trade Secretary – gave a speech in which he declared 'a deal is better than no deal'. This is rather different to May's old claim that 'no deal is better than a bad deal'. So, is Fox right? Mr S thought it best to let readers decide for themselves.

When the tide goes out, you see who’s swimming naked. So says Warren Buffett, the folksy billionaire investor, explaining that tough times expose which firms have poor management. The same is true of politics, and especially Brexit. 2018 was the year the tide went out on Brexit, and we saw too many of our politicians' failings exposed in all their shrivelled glory. The tide was, like all tides, predictable. As we neared the end of the two year Article 50 period, the outline of a potential exit deal had to emerge, and that deal would show that, contrary to fantasy, the EU holds the better hand of cards in this game. Any agreement to leave the EU was always going to involve compromises, decisions to accept something less than what you hoped for.

Oh dear. Fiona Onasanya's 2018 didn't go exactly as she would have hoped with the Labour MP found guilty of perverting the course of justice, after a court found that she had lied to police about speeding to avoid putting points on her driving license. Despite the Labour whip being withdrawn, Onasanya has since compared herself to Jesus and hinted that she may continue on as an MP regardless. So, Mr S was curious to read Onasanya's review of the year for her local paper, the Peterborough Telegraph. In the article, Onasanya looks back at the big events of 'an incredibly busy, and sometimes fractious year in the House of Commons' – Brexit, universal credit and 'drastic cuts' to the local area: Curiously Onasanya doesn't find space to mention her own problems.

I stood next to Jean Claude-Juncker, then president of the European Council and prime minister of Luxembourg, when news flashed up on the TV screens of the astonishing rejection by French voters of the draft European Constitution in their 2005 referendum. He could have responded in so many ways, to try to understand why the voters in traditionally one of Europe’s most Europhile countries emphatically rejected further EU integration. But his immediate response, without drawing breath, was: “They will just have to vote again.” In fact, the French voters weren’t trusted to give the right answer second time around, and so the treaty was pushed through the French parliament instead.

Q. Christmas could be tricky in our home this year: roughly half our dinner guests are Remainers, the rest Brexiteers. Before I carve the turkey, should I announce that any discussion about the EU is strictly off-limits, or would it be wiser to divert differences of opinion into a harmless party game afterwards (charades would seem appropriate)? A. Traditional Christmas resentments will be heightened if Brexit differences are used to wage proxy wars — so yes, do decree the toxic topic off-limits. Distract with proxy referendums. Take votes on whether you attend Midnight Mass, bother with Brussels sprouts etc. With luck you will have landslide Yes votes for roaring log fires and roast potatoes, which will help with bonding.

As Parliament rises for the Christmas recess, Jeremy Corbyn ends the term one MP down. Ivan Lewis has this afternoon quit the party citing Corbyn's response to allegations of Labour anti-Semitism as a motivating factor. Complicating matters is the fact that Lewis – a former Labour minister – has been suspended by the party since November pending an internal party investigation into an allegation of sexual harassment. In his resignation letter, Lewis – MP for Bury South – says it was with 'great sadness' he had come to this decision to quit the party – before turning his ire on Corbyn's handling of anti-Semitism allegations: 'All too often you have been unwilling to condemn those whose hatred of Israel becomes Jew hatred'.

There’s something about the 'stupid woman' controversy I am not getting. So, it’s fine to call someone a stupid person, but not fine to call her a 'stupid woman'? It’s the qualifier, the adjective, not the noun, that makes the remark rude, though in the case of Theresa May I think Jeremy Corbyn is merely making a truthful observation, whether the noun be woman or people – as he maintains he said. Would it be equally problematic for Mrs May to call Mr Corbyn a stupid man? “Stupid” may be unparliamentary language, but I can think of a lot worse. She is a person, certainly, but she is also a female person, a woman. Therefore, if she’s stupid, she’s a stupid woman, no?