Uk politics

Saturday

Robert Wallace

Whatever happens with Brexit, it’ll be business as usual on the Irish border

From our UK edition

The Irish border question has grabbed political headlines this year, but spare a thought for those who live near it. The border takes a haphazard route along river banks, and even through farms. I recall visiting a farm in Fermanagh: I drove into the farm from Northern Ireland but the farmer showed me an exit which led straight into the Republic. For a number of years the Methodist Church in Pettigo (NI) had a minister whose house was on the other side of the border. This porousness is remarkable considering the historical conflict between our two countries. To this day, many Irish call Northern Ireland ‘the North’, as if to deny the border exists. One feels sympathy for those seeking to trade across the border who are desperate for some clarity from the Brexit negotiations.

Steerpike

Fact check: David Dimbleby vs John Humphrys – who’s posher?

From our UK edition

After chairing his last ever episode of Question Time, David Dimbleby today guest-edited the Today programme. While there were a range of interviews and special guests, it was Dimbleby's own appearance which piqued Mr S's interest. The BBC broadcaster managed to come to verbal blows with regular host John Humphrys after Humphrys suggested Dimbleby was quite posh during a discussion on the monarchy. https://twitter.com/BBCr4today/status/1076422121981661184 Dimbleby's reply? DD: I'm sorry, there was a total sneer in that question – 'you're quite posh'. I'm about as posh as you are. I come from Wales as you do. I'm not posh, I happen to have been a broadcaster for a long time. JH: You had a very distinguished father? DD: Well, that doesn't make me posh! I had a distinguished father.

James Forsyth

Can Theresa May get the DUP back on board?

From our UK edition

Westminster might it be on its Christmas holidays, but the question that is still on everyone in government’s mind is can Theresa May find a way to get the DUP to back her Brexit deal. As I write in The Sun this morning, key Cabinet Ministers believe that her only chance of winning the meaningful vote comes from getting the DUP on side. One Secretary of State who has kept open lines of communication with them, tells me that ‘by grim necessity, they will need something more than cosmetic concessions to vote for the deal’. This minister explains that ‘the DUP want a bankable reassurance that the backstop won’t be permanent and that there won’t be progressive divergence between Great Britain and Northern Ireland’.

Rod Liddle

Jeremy Corbyn is either deeply sinister – or a total idiot

From our UK edition

We’re closing 2018 by republishing our ten most-read articles of the year. Here’s No. 10: Rod Liddle on the leader of the opposition: The crowd were singing ‘Oh, Jeremy Corbyn’ again, at a festival in Cornwall, the words appended to a riff by the White Stripes which I once liked but now find a little nauseating. Vacuous, dimbo, middle-class millennials and — worse — their stupid, indulgent parents, all waving their hands in the air for Jezza. Meanwhile, the rest of us were trying to work out if Jeremy is a sort of even more retarded Forrest Gump and thus the most stupid man ever to lead a political party in the history of our nation, or something altogether more sinister.

Friday

Ross Clark

The feeble response to the Gatwick drone will encourage others to cause havoc

From our UK edition

Gatwick Airport has been brought to its knees by a bunch of drones – not so much the flying variety as the type who sit in offices or stand around in hi-viz vests and make decisions by the book, with no imagination nor initiative of their own. How can a little airborne gizmo bring the country’s second busiest airport to a complete halt for 36 hours, defeating the efforts of police, airport security and the uncommonly useless Chris Grayling?

Brendan O’Neill

Putin’s motives may be cynical but he’s still right about a second referendum

From our UK edition

It is coming to something when Vladimir Putin has a better understanding of democracy than many in Britain’s own political class. When this not especially democratic bruiser from the East demonstrates greater respect for the will of the British people than some of our own leaders do. Yes, just when you thought 2018 couldn’t get any odder, here comes actual Vladimir Putin to put British politicos straight about the nature of democracy. Yesterday, Putin lashed out at those in Britain who want a second referendum — and presumably a third and a fourth and a fifth until the plebs finally relent and say: ‘Okay, okay, we’ll vote to stay in the EU!’ Britain has to ‘fulfil the will of the people expressed in the referendum’, said Putin.

Fraser Nelson

Why I think a no-deal Brexit is the best remaining option

From our UK edition

There are about a dozen Cabinet members now who think the best strategy is to go full speed in preparing for a no-deal Brexit - if a better EU offer comes along, great, but if not then no-deal is better than the alternatives. In my Daily Telegraph column I say why I think they are probably right. It's not an option that anyone can, or ought to be, enthusiastic about. All of the disruption (and there would be plenty) would stem from political failure on both sides. But it would be better than the alternatives. We are (or were) very close to an agreed deal. If Brussels just granted the UK the ability to walk away from its proposed future Brexit talks in one piece (as Nato and even EU members can walk away) then May's deal would be approved by Parliament. Panic over.

Douglas Murray

How terror changed Europe’s Christmas markets

From our UK edition

The traditional Christmas market is one of the great sights in any European capital at this time of year. But as with all traditions it evolves over time. A few evenings ago, I went to visit the Duomo in Milan and walked through the beautiful Christmas market in the square surrounding it. It was all there: the Christmas lights, the chalet-like huts selling warm food and drink, the fake snow. And, of course, the crash barriers. For since December 2016, when Anis Amri hijacked a truck in Berlin, shot the driver and then ploughed the vehicle into the local Christmas market (killing eleven more people) crash barriers have become a necessary feature of any European Christmas market.

Thursday

Katy Balls

Ivan Lewis resigns from Labour – what was his real motivation?

From our UK edition

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'.

Steerpike

New York Times strikes again: what if Brexit were a restaurant?

From our UK edition

Here we go again. The New York Times has a habit these days of publishing pieces which take a rather dim view of Brexit Britain. The paper has published a questionable report on 'austerity Britain' complete with a slew of glaring omissions, news of Brits allegedly stockpiling food, an article on British cuisine with glaring inaccuracies and most recently asked UK citizens to get in touch with their accounts of experiencing petty crime in the capital. Now the paper has turned its ire on the UK franchise Bluebird London. The restaurant has opened shop in New York. The reviewer wasn't impressed by the dishes on offer and so has naturally compared the restaurant to...

Robert Peston

Are ministers ignoring what a Brexit no deal would really mean?

From our UK edition

There is considerable straw-clutching in Whitehall and Westminster about the impact of a no-deal Brexit. For example, a respected and experienced minister contacted me last night to give me the good news that the European Commission had decided that, in the event of no-deal, the ports of Dover and Folkestone would be kept open “for nine months with no checks”. The minister had been given the great news in an internal departmental briefing. “Wow” I thought. And then “you what!

Wednesday

Melanie McDonagh

Is calling Theresa May a stupid person better than saying she’s a stupid woman?

From our UK edition

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?

Isabel Hardman

Theresa May kicks can down the road on key domestic reforms

From our UK edition

Parliament rises for Christmas recess tomorrow - unless the various grinches arguing it should carry on sitting so it can loudly fail to make any decisions on Brexit have their way. MPs are so busy accusing Theresa May of kicking the can down the road on Britain leaving the European Union that few have noticed how many other cans are also bouncing along the tarmac. We had been expecting big announcements on social care reform, domestic abuse legislation and the NHS by the end of this term in Parliament, but all appear to have been delayed. The social care green paper had been delayed repeatedly anyway, but was expected this autumn. A few leaves do still linger on the December trees, but ministers are now saying there won't be any green shoots on this matter this year.

Ross Clark

The EU’s no-deal preparations make it clear: they want to make Britain suffer

From our UK edition

When Boris Johnson was foreign secretary, he was admonished for accusing the EU of wanting to administer ‘punishment beatings’ to Britain for its temerity in wanting to leave the EU. In the months since it has become clear just how apt his description was. At every turn, the EU has acted with one aim in mind: to try to ensure that Britain suffers from exiting the EU, in order to deter other member states from contemplating leaving the bloc. Today’s memo from the EU, laying out the plans for what would happen in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit is a case in point. It is hard, reading this document, to reconcile it with the EU’s claim to be an organisation which promotes free trade and free movement of people and goods.

Steerpike

Watch: Jeremy Corbyn appears to call Theresa May a stupid woman

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn could be in hot water following the final PMQs of the year. The Labour leader was filmed muttering something under his breath in response to Theresa May, and there is speculation that he called the PM a 'stupid woman'. https://twitter.com/SkyNewsPolitics/status/1075366162945458176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Corbyn started PMQs by saying to the Tory benches 'my Christmas good wishes do extend to everyone over there as well!' If that's really true, Mr S thinks Corbyn has a strange way of spreading the Christmas cheer... Update: Theresa May has responded to Corbyn's apparent jibe... https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Steerpike

Pamela Anderson: I could handle Mr Barnier better than May

From our UK edition

Theresa May is desperately trying to convince both her European counterparts and her British colleagues that her Brexit plan is a goer. However, the Prime Minister has attracted criticism from across the pond – and this time it's not from President Trump. Step forward Pamela Anderson. The former Baywatch start turned left wing activist tells Jacobin magazine about her hopes for a Lexit (left wing Brexit) – adding that her preferred rpute going forward is a Jeremy Corbyn government: 'It is vital that the European Union is thoroughly and fundamentally reformed. Europe deserves a much better form of organized cooperation. And I would really support the UK attempting to create an alternative for Europe.

Katy Balls

No.10 tussle with Home Office over immigration policy

From our UK edition

It's the day of the government's immigration white paper and what was supposed to be a Brexit deal vote winning announcement has descended into a Cabinet row. No.10 pressed ahead with the publication – and a briefing went out to hacks near 8pm. The delay has been put down to internal wrangling over several items in that paper – notable the call for a £30,000 minimum salary for five-year working visas. Several pro-immigration ministers say this will damage the economy – and send the wrong message by striking an anti-immigration tone. The tensions were apparent even this morning when Sajid Javid appeared on the Today programme to discuss the policy proposals.

Katy Balls

Can the government win back the DUP?

From our UK edition

Theresa May's Christmas holidays will hold little in the way of festive cheer for the Prime Minister. In order to win last week's confidence vote, May had to make a number of promises that will be difficult to keep. Top of that list is her pledge to win back the support of the DUP, the party's confidence and supply partners. Relations between the DUP and the government hit a low earlier this month owing to the fact No.10 pressed ahead with a backstop arrangement which Arlene Foster's party say they cannot support. This led many Tory MPs to question whether they could support the deal given that it would also most likely spell the end of the party's confidence and supply agreement and therefore mean an early election.

Steerpike

Jeremy Hunt’s direct channel to Trump

From our UK edition

The past few months have been testing for the so-called special relationship. President Trump's visit to the UK ended in disaster for Theresa May when the US President gave an interview to the Sun in which he declared that her proposed Brexit deal would kill any chance of a UK/US trade deal. However, not all Cabinet ministers had a wholly bad experience. On Tuesday night, Mr S headed along to Jeremy Hunt's Foreign Office Christmas reception at Lancaster House – also known as the 'Foreign Secretary's leadership launch,' according to a fellow Cabinet minister. In his speech, Hunt told guests how his own relationship with Trump had flourished on that visit. The reason? It's not that Hunt hit it off with Trump in person.

Tuesday

Tom Baldwin

The People’s Vote campaign made a mistake, but it wasn’t deliberate

From our UK edition

A few months ago, the People’s Vote campaign was on the fringe of the national conversation. Today, we are seen by an ever-growing number of MPs as the best – perhaps only – way forward to break out of the current political impasse. As it becomes more likely that the British people will be given the right to have the final say about whether they wish to proceed with a Brexit that can never fulfil the promises made in the referendum of 2016 – or offer terms as good as the deal we’ve already got in the EU – we accept that the media will subject our every statement to increased scrutiny. And, like any campaign, we will make mistakes from time to time. Ross Clark pointed one of these out on Coffee House.