Sebastian Payne

Wednesday

Sebastian Payne

Chilcot resists pressure from MPs to speed up the Iraq Inquiry

From our UK edition

Sir John Chilcot doesn’t seem all that bothered by the threats of censure from politicians over his lengthy Iraq Inquiry. In a statement released this afternoon, Sir John dismissed the demands from No.10, MPs and the media to produce his report, or even a timetable for producing the report. He explained that the process of letting those criticised in the report respond— known as ‘Maxwellisation’ — is still on going and won’t be rushed: ‘Individuals have not been given an open-ended timescale and Maxwellisation is not a process of negotiation. The Inquiry has remained in control of its deadlines throughout the process. In some cases, the response sent to us required detailed and complex analysis which has taken time.

Sebastian Payne

Corbyn’s ‘women-only rail carriages’ points to his coming battle with Fleet Street

From our UK edition

Has Jeremy Corbyn jumped the shark already, or have we witnessed the first Fleet Street ‘smear’ against him? Today’s i newspaper has splashed with ‘Corbyn backs women-only train carriages’, which at first glance sounds like a divisive policy. The story has come from Corbyn’s new End street harassment document, which includes a ‘Consultation on public transport’: ‘Some women have raised with me that a solution to the rise in assault and harassment on public transport could be to introduce women only carriages. My intention would be to make public transport safer for everyone from the train platform, to the bus stop to on the mode of transport itself.

Tuesday

Sebastian Payne

As a northerner, I’m fed up of Andy Burnham’s northern stereotypes

From our UK edition

Northerners are easy to stereotype: working class, beer, flat caps, Labour, trade unions and football. In the same way all southerners aren’t stuck-up opera-goers and every Scot isn't a miserly chip-guzzler, this portrait of a typical northerner is insultingly inaccurate — but it is one that some love to propagate. One of those people happens to be Andy Burnham, who is running for Labour leader. As a northerner, I'm not sure that I can take much more of his schtick. It is frustrating to listen to how much of his leadership has been about being northern. Sure, Liz Kendall frequently namedrops her Watford upbringing but Burnham’s whole persona is based on his Liverpudlian roots.

Sebastian Payne

Harriet Harman: we are not purging Corbyn supporters

From our UK edition

The summit on the integrity of the Labour leadership contest is over and interim leader Harriet Harman described it as a ‘routine’ and ‘useful’ meeting. Although she is ‘confident that there won’t be questions over the integrity of the result and there aren’t any bases for legal challenges’, some of the numbers released on the number of infiltrators are pretty high. 3,000 ‘cheats’, as Harman described them, have been excluded from voting so far but the final number could be substantially higher. Harman has suggested the selectorate would be ‘fewer than 600,000. It will be over half a million’ — meaning there are tens of thousands of rogues still to be weeded out.

Sebastian Payne

New poll shows challenges for all Labour leadership candidates

From our UK edition

ComRes has released a new poll which outlines Labour’s present plight (as with all post-election opinion polls, treat these numbers with some caution). Just 20 per cent of the public say they would be inspired by any four the leadership candidates to vote Labour. Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham coming joint top on 22 per cent, Yvette Cooper on 21 per cent and Liz Kendall last on 18 per cent. And for those who think candidate would persuade them not to vote Labour, Kendall and Corbyn are joint top on 58 per cent — not surprising given they have the most strident views. The characteristics of each candidate are also examined: Burnham is scored highest for having ‘what it takes’ to be Prime Minister, although this is only24 per cent.

Sebastian Payne

It is too late to stop a shadow hanging over the Labour leadership result

From our UK edition

Concern about how the Labour leadership contest has been run is spreading throughout the party. The former home secretary Charles Clarke, who has voted Kendall 1st, Cooper 2nd and Burnham 3rd, told Newsnight he was very disappointed in the contest and raised the prospect of legal challenges to the result: ‘I think it’s been a disaster unfortunately. I am very sad about it. I wrote about it immediately after the election — it was very important to get through to have a process where people had confidence in the election process. ‘We’ve got legal challenges, I think there may be still further legal challenges about the process; issues about who can, who can’t vote.

Monday

Sebastian Payne

An evening with Andy Burnham and his conventional Labour supporters

From our UK edition

Andy Burham’s rally this evening had only one similarity with Jeremy Corbyn’s last week: it was held in a place of worship. At the St Pancras Parish Church in London, close to 1,000 people turned out to hear Burnham and take part in a Q&A session. There was no socialist magician, folk singer or rock band — just a few politicians and a lectern. It was a throwback to how Labour politics was done before Corbynmania blew onto the scene. [caption id="attachment_9223902" align="aligncenter" width="620"] Sir Keir Starmer speaks at an Andy Burnham rally at St Pancras Parish Church, 24 August 2015.[/caption] Keir Starmer, the local Labour MP, opened proceedings by explaining his desire to win in 2020 and party unity were his reasons for backing Burnham.

Sebastian Payne

Gordon Brown appoints Yvette Cooper as his political heir

From our UK edition

Gordon Brown has announced he is backing Yvette Cooper in the Labour leadership contest. In a statement on his website, the former Prime Minister has revealed Cooper will be his first preference vote, while Andy Burnham will be number two and Liz Kendall number three. It’s a surprising move, given that Brown delivered a barnstorming speech on the state of the contest just over a week ago and declined to back any particular candidate. Without naming him, Brown was railing against Jeremy Corbyn and appears to have decided Cooper is the best person to beat him.  His predecessor Tony Blair has also intervened in this contest but so far has yet to reveal which candidate he is backing.

Sebastian Payne

Jeremy Corbyn signals the return of Labour’s Heathrow wars

From our UK edition

Quelle surprise, Jeremy Corbyn has come out against a third runway at Heathrow. The Labour leadership favourite has indicated in an interview with the FT that under him, the party would not support expansion at Heathrow: ‘I think the third runway is a problem for noise pollution and so on across west London…I also think there is an under-usage of the other airports around London. I’d vote against it in this parliament.’ Assuming that the bookies and pollsters are correct and Corbyn is elected leader on September 12, this would represent a U-turn from the party’s current stance.

Sebastian Payne

Philip Hammond: we are not ‘blind’ to Iran’s faults

From our UK edition

Philip Hammond is the first Foreign Secretary to visit Iran in over a decade as he returned to reopen the Britain’s embassy in Tehran yesterday. But what has prompted this change in government policy? On the Today programme, Hammond explained that Britain needs the influence of a ‘very important country’ in the region to help with the fight against the Islamic State: 'We’re trying to develop cordial relations with what is a very important country in a volatile and difficult region. We’ve had a difficult history between Britain and Iran but following the nuclear deal and after a couple of years in which relationships have been getting steadily better, we want to try and move to the next phase.

Saturday

Sebastian Payne

An evening with the cult of Corbyn in Islington

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn has hosted over 70 rallies as part of his Labour leadership campaign. Yesterday evening, the bearded one returned to Islington to speak at a four hour fundraising event — the first in his local patch. I went along to find out more about the 'movement' that has sprung up around his candidacy. The event was held in the beautiful Union Chapel on Upper Street, a church that moonlights as a live music venue. Crowds lined the street to get in and the comrades took advantage of this to distribute propaganda — promoting the ‘Spartacist League’, a ‘Rage Against the Tories’ rally and Sadiq Khan’s mayoral campaign: https://twitter.

Friday

Sebastian Payne

Burnham campaign raises entryism concern — but deny any legal challenge

From our UK edition

Whoever wins the Labour leadership contest, questions will be raised about how it has been run. If Corbyn loses, his supporters will become even more angry about the 'purge' of the Corbynites. For Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper, entryism is their chief concern and Team Burnham have decided to publicly raise the issue. Michael Dugher, Burnham’s campaign chair, has written to Labour general secretary Iain McNico calling for an urgent meeting to discuss what can be done.

Sebastian Payne

Corbyn’s remarks on Iraq and Isis are a preview of the fireworks to come if he wins

From our UK edition

Tories are rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn winning the Labour leadership contest. Two stories that have broken this morning show precisely why. Returning to the Iraq war — always a comfortable topic for Labour — Corbyn has told the Guardian he would apologise to the British people for the ‘deception’ of the war: ‘Let us say we will never again unnecessarily put our troops under fire and our country’s standing in the world at risk. Let us make it clear that Labour will never make the same mistake again, will never flout the United Nations and international law ‘ ‘The endless delay on the Chilcot inquiry is wrong.

Thursday

Sebastian Payne

Could Burnham or Cooper stand again in the next Labour leadership contest?

From our UK edition

Does it matter who comes second in the Labour leadership contest? According to the polls and bookies, Andy Burnham is vying for second place with Yvette Cooper. Ladbrokes currently have Corbyn on 1/4 to be the next leader, Burnham 7/2 and Cooper 10/1. Assuming these predictions are right and Corbyn wins, it seems unlikely he will hang on through to the 2020 general election. How would he go? In the Spectator this week, Isabel looks at the various plots to get rid of Corbyn — despite the fact he hasn’t even been elected yet. One mooted idea is that he would be forced to resign by his fellow MPs: Some Labour MPs say they would refuse to recognise Corbyn’s authority.

Sebastian Payne

Yvette Cooper: I won’t be challenging Labour leadership result

From our UK edition

It was Yvette Cooper’s turn to do a Q&A session on the World at One today and it was a pretty dry affair, unlike Corbyn or Burnham. There was nothing new about her policies or stances but Cooper did note that she fears a split of Corbyn wins — ‘the party does seem to be polarising between the different extremes’ — but Labour HQ has assured her that all the necessary checks over entryism are being done: ‘Obviously I hope there have and the Labour party has assured us that they are doing proper and robust checks — you’ve got to have that. We want people to be part of the election and we want people to be joining to be part of the election.

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: the clean eating fad and what happens if Corbyn wins

From our UK edition

Is 'clean eating' a trendy new fad or something more dangerous? On the View from 22 podcast, nutritionist Ian Marber discusses this week’s cover feature with Isabel Hardman and Lara Prendergast. How is the advice to eat healthier given out by these self-made personalities actually detrimental to your health? How much of the #eatclean movement is about celebrity? And do these gurus have any qualifications for doling out nutritional advice? Isabel Hardman and George Eaton also discuss what happens if Jeremy Corbyn wins the Labour leadership contest. How long will be last in the job? Could he be removed by Labour MPs in the near future or next year? Will the new leader be able to hold the Parliamentary Labour Party together?

Wednesday

Sebastian Payne

Jeremy Corbyn: suggestions I’m anti-semitic are ‘disgusting and deeply offensive’

From our UK edition

Jeremy Corbyn has hit back at suggestions he has been hanging out in a rather bad crowd. The former Conservative MP Louise Mensch has dug up a press release on her blog that suggests Corbyn invited Dyab Abou Jahjah, a Lebanese extremist who once said the ‘death of every British soldier is a victory', to speak in Parliament. On the World at One, Corbyn responded to the accusation he invited Jahjah to speak in Parliament: ‘Sorry who? I saw the name this morning and I asked somebody who is he?’ He went to dismiss the idea that he is racist or anti-semitic: ‘My views are that the Holocaust was the most disgraceful and vile process of the history of the 20th Century if not the wider world.

Sebastian Payne

Our railways are better than ever. They don’t need renationalising

From our UK edition

Andy Burnham and Jeremy Corbyn have both pledged to bring back British Rail. Why? In a speech yesterday, Corbyn justified his position: ‘I think the public mood is there, absolutely there, saying, "Bring our railways back into public ownership." And we’ll all get a better and much more integrated system as a result’. Headline figures from recent polls suggest he may have a point: a YouGov survey from early August said 58 per cent supported ‘bringing the railways, water companies and other utilities back into public ownership through renationalisation’.

Sebastian Payne

David Blunkett is the latest Labour grandee to attack Corbyn. But is this the right strategy?

From our UK edition

Day after day, Labour's big beasts are being wheeled out one by one. Yesterday it was Neil Kinnock, today it’s David Blunkett's turn to warn against the impending doom if Jeremy Corbyn is elected leader. On the Today programme, the former home secretary made a coded attack on Corbyn, suggesting the party needs a leader who can win elections: 'I want someone who can be radical, can have a very clear vision of where Britain will be in five years’ time and above all can actually do something about winning. See, I’m speaking really as an activist: I’ve been a member for 52 years. 30 years of those years we’ve been in opposition.

Tuesday

Sebastian Payne

Can we trust the Labour leadership polls?

From our UK edition

Is Jeremy Corbyn’s steaming ahead in the Labour leadership contest? Is he going to win on first preferences alone? The best quantitate answers we have come from two YouGov polls conducted for the Times — one in July and another last week. The first poll put Corbyn 17 points ahead of his nearest rival on first preferences and six points ahead in the final round. In the second poll, Corbyn was 31 points ahead on first preferences and 14 points in the final round. Can these polls be trusted? Given that YouGov, like all the other pollsters, called the general election incorrectly, scepticism is rife in Westminster about any polling.