Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Wednesday

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Vote of no confidence for ‘offensive’ Ian Liddell-Grainger

Ian Liddell-Grainger has been branded unfit for purpose by local Tories. The Conservative MP is facing calls to be deselected as a Tory candidate for the general election, with Conservative councillors in West Somerset passing a vote of no confidence in him. The Tories on the council are cross because he’s allegedly made ‘gratuitously derogatory and offensive comments about West Somerset Council, its leaders and some of its councillors and officers’. The charge sheet includes other accusations of bullying and immoral and dishonourable behaviour. Liddell-Grainger is certainly an outspoken chap. When his constituency was flooded last year, he said of Environment Agency chief Chris Smith that ‘If I just have to stick his head

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Could Trident be moved to Wales?

There’s a belter of a scoop in today’s Daily Mail. James Chapman, the paper’s political editor, reports that the Ministry of Defence is examining plans to move Trident from Scotland to Wales. I’m particularly confident that this story is correct because I had heard something very similar from Whitehall sources. There is understandable concern that a second independence referendum in Scotland is now likely and so the whole question of where to move Trident in the event of a Yes vote arises again. I also wonder if this work might not come in handy in the event of a hung parliament where the Scottish Nationalists hold the balance of power. The SNP have repeatedly

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Not all the worriers in Labour are from a previous ‘era’

The papers are full of Blairite warnings to Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham about the way Labour is campaigning on the NHS at present. Alan Milburn’s World at One interview gets a great deal of coverage, and just to twist the knife a bit further, the former Cabinet minister joins John Hutton to write in the FT that ‘if Labour is to win in May, the two Eds need to set the record straight and reclaim ground foolishly bequeathed to their opponents’. They’re talking about the economy, criticising the current Labour leadership for apologising too much for New Labour’s spending when the Tories supported it (a pithy line in the

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Nicky Morgan: British values test isn’t just about Muslim schools

Nicky Morgan has launched a rather strident defence of the government’s ‘British values’ agenda this evening, after fears that it is being used to punish schools unfairly. The Education Secretary recently announced that the Christian Durham Free School would close after Ofsted inspectors said teachers were failing to challenge ‘racist words and sexually derogative and homophobic terms’ and that it was failing to promote the values set out by ministers. In a speech to think tank Politeia, Morgan said: ‘I’m afraid I have no sympathy for those who say that British values need not apply to them, that this should purely be a special test for schools in predominantly Muslim

Sebastian Payne

Majority of voters want Cameron as PM — but would prefer a Labour government

What do the British public want from their government after 2015? Well, unless things are really going to shift in British politics in the next few weeks, they still want the impossible: a Labour majority government led by David Cameron. According to a poll from ComRes/ITV News out this evening, 55 per cent said their favoured scenario is for David Cameron to remain Prime Minister, compared to 45 per cent for Ed Miliband. But 51 per cent would prefer Labour winning a majority of MPs — two points ahead of those who’d like to see a Tory majority. This contradiction is not new. Cameron has always polled ahead of his party

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: Senior Tories protest removal of Theresa May’s advisers from candidates list

Senior Tories yesterday protested the removal of Theresa May’s special advisers from the candidates’ list, Coffee House understands. There had been talk of mounting a ‘rescue mission’ to reinstate Nick Timothy and Stephen Parkinson after they were struck off the list before Christmas, but at a board meeting of the Conservative party yesterday, MPs representing the 1922 Committee expressed their discomfort at the way the pair had been treated. Many in the party feel it was a vindictive swipe at Timothy and Parkinson, who do not enjoy good relations with Number 10. They had hoped that the board, which is the ultimate decision-making authority in the party, might overturn the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

80 Tories could reject plain packaging

While Cabinet members grumble about the way the government’s plain packaging announcement was snuck out last week, those Tories opposed to the measure have been counting up the number of colleagues who will vote against it.I understand that they are expecting at least 80 Tory MPs to reject the introduction of plain packaging in the free vote. Their numbers could be reduced because the measure will pass and some will wonder whether rejecting a government proposal even in a free vote is worth it.Some are absolutely opposed to the idea on principle. Others are really annoyed at the sneaky way ministers brought it out. Others still are annoyed that this

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour fails to turn up to work for Treasury questions

The Commons is pretty quiet at the moment, draining of energy earlier and earlier in the week as MPs head out to their constituencies. So quiet, in fact, that Labour seems to have given up on using departmental question times as a forum for making government ministers uncomfortable or piling any political pressure on their opposite numbers. Yesterday’s Work and Pensions Questions were pretty lacklustre from an opposition attack point of view, but today’s Treasury questions were far worse. Tory MPs had turned up with piles of sickly sweet loyal questions to ask, most running along the lines of ‘is the Chancellor aware that he’s doing a fantastic job?’ The

Sebastian Payne

100 days till polling day: the Tories are just ahead but anything could happen

Today marks 100 days till the election — so how is the race looking? Still very close, according to the most recent opinion polls. In three polls released over the last 24 hours, the Tories are ahead by one point — according to YouGov, Survation and ComRes (notably, the first time they’ve put the Tories ahead since 2011). Only Lord Ashcroft has the Tories level pegging with Labour. As the chart above shows, the two main parties are neck and neck. The Tories will be hoping these small leads will grow over the next few weeks while Labour will be pleased their opponents have yet to gain much traction. Ukip’s vote

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

David Cameron wriggles further away from the TV debates

David Cameron had clearly planned his answers to his Today programme so that a casual listener might think that he really is very keen for the TV debates to take place. He sounded ever so earnest, and repeatedly said that he does want the debates to take place. But when Justin Webb asked the crucial question – which was tell us you’re going to do the TV debates, rather than that you just want them to happen – the Prime Minister’s pretence was exposed. listen to ‘Cameron: Debates ‘take all the life out of the campaign’’ on audioBoom He doesn’t want the TV debates to happen, and now that his

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

David Cameron should support work through tax cuts, not more apprenticeships

In a Telegraph interview, David Cameron today pledges to cut the welfare cap – to £23,000 from £26,000 – to fund another three million apprentice places. He says that this:- ‘Tells you everything you need to know about our values’ He is refreshingly honest, in that this welfare/apprenticeships policy is designed to articulate Conservative Party values rather than actually help the country. He wants to send a message: the Tories stand for work, not welfare. So here is policy intended to take away from those on welfare, and give to those in work. It’s encouraging that the Tories seem to be edging away from George Osborne’s spurious claims about the deficit

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Another day, another Tory Ukip defection

Sloppy seconds are on the menu for both Ukip and the Conservative party this week. Many questions remain for the Tories after Ukip MEP Amjad Bashir defected to them following a Ukip party investigation. Now, Nigel Farage has claimed another Conservative for his side. Paul Bellis, a Tory councillor from Stockport, has left the Conservatives and joined Ukip. Bellis, who has served Bramhall South and Woodford for over two decades, made the decision to join Farage’s party after he was deselected by the Conservatives. Not that this information has dampened Ukip members’ spirits. Conservative to UKIP defection. Conservative Cllr Paul Bellis, on Stockport Council, joins UKIP. — Michael Heaver (@Michael_Heaver) January 26, 2015 In a letter to his colleagues,

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A medieval war of words: Salman Rushdie vs Times Literary Supplement

Pencils are being sharpened on both sides of the Atlantic as a tiff between the Times Literary Supplement and Salman Rushdie reaches full swing. The author of The Satanic Verses has threatened to ‘get medieval’ with the literary magazine after it ran an article criticising his response to the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Following the attacks in Paris, the New York based author released a statement. ‘Religion, a mediaeval form of unreason, when combined with modern weaponry becomes a real threat to our freedoms,’ he wrote. ‘This religious totalitarianism has caused a deadly mutation in the heart of Islam and we see the tragic consequences in Paris today.’ Rather praise Rushdie’s words, Michael Cains, a staff writer for TLS,

Monday

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Ladbrokes’ election guru should stick to politics (and avoid football)

Politics nerds are obsessing over every single nugget of information about the election. Ladbrokes seems to be offering a rich bounty, set by Matthew Shaddick, the company’s in-house ‘Head of Political Betting’. But can his advice really be trusted? In a recent message accompanying their latest batch of odds, Shaddick was quoted as saying: ‘If Cambridge can come from 2-0 down to beat Chelsea, I suppose anything is possible, although The Pub Landlord becoming an MP at 100/1 is surely going a bit too far.’ Only problem is Cambridge didn’t beat Chelsea this weekend, Bradford City did (the final score was an astonishing 4-2 to Bradford). Cambridge drew 0-0 with Man U. Place

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour’s weak welfare attack leaves Tories to chant tribal slogans in Commons

Today’s Work and Pensions Questions was taken almost exclusively by Esther McVey – to the extent that when Steve Webb finally got the chance to answer a question, he joked that he had started to ‘feel unemployed’ while waiting for his big moment. Even Iain Duncan Smith only got one good stint at the despatch box, when Rachel Reeves asked him about the progress of Universal Credit. But the rest of the session was McVey Question Time. Tory MPs are naturally in a tribal mood at the moment, and so all most of them want to talk about was the jobs fairs they’re all holding in their constituencies. ‘I organised

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Ed Sheeran unimpressed by Boris Johnson comparison

While Boris Johnson may be pleased to learn that Ed Sheeran has been mistaken for him, the 23-year-old singer was dismayed when a member of the public mistook him for the 50-year-old Mayor of London. Someone just mistook me for Boris Johnson and I wish I was joking — Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) January 26, 2015 Sheeran hasn’t always been so unhappy to be associated with a Conservative politician. He previously dedicated a song to the Prime Minister. ‘I was playing this gig at some guy’s house and it was a very, very intimate environment, and they stopped the gig and I only had one song left,’ Sheeran recalled. ‘He was like ‘I’m so

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Danny Alexander: David Cameron is an ‘enemy of aspiration’

As coalition rows go, today’s ‘spat’ over who is most supportive of aspirational voters really is the more boring for a while. David Cameron has been talking about Britain’s ‘tax moment’ (hopefully with an accompanying PPB with Burt Bacharach as the soundtrack), but Danny Alexander wants to pick a fight with his Coalition colleague. Last night the Chief Secretary to the Treasury released analysis saying the Coalition’s decision to increase the personal tax allowance has benefitted more than 8 million households to the tune of £1,330, and claiming credit for the Lib Dems. This was a deliberate act of sabotage ahead of the Prime Minister’s own ‘tax moment’. And today,

Ross Clark Ross Clark

Why are renewable technologies held to a different set of standards?

The House of Commons’ Environmental Audit Committee wants a moratorium on fracking so that what it calls the ‘huge uncertainties’ of its impact on the environment can be resolved. If they hadn’t noticed, we already have had a moratorium on fracking. All activity ceased in 2011 after a couple of minor earth tremors near Blackpool were linked to exploratory drilling by Cuadrilla in the area. What the company now wants to do – and in which it is being frustrated at present by Lancashire’s planners – is to resume exploration, having changed their procedures in response to the tremors. If there are ‘huge uncertainties’ over fracking, how would they ever

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Berlin’s nightmare is coming to pass

In recent weeks, European diplomatic sources have regularly argued that Syriza would have to moderate its demand in office. They argued that Syriza wouldn’t win a majority and that to form a coalition it would have to compromise. But this morning, Syriza has formed a coalition with a party that takes just a robust view as it on the need to renegotiate the terms of the Greek bailout, The Independent Greece party. Independent Greece and Syriza have little in common other than their view on the bailout, Independent Greece sits in the same group as the Tories in the European Parliament. That Alexis Tsipras has chosen to do a deal

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Dave’s chillaxed approach to keeping fit

First it was George Osborne on the 5:2 diet, then the Prime Minister revealed he had ‘given up bread’ in an attempt to shed some pre-election pounds. Today, Cameron has revealed further details of this vigorous health kick. Speaking in Hampshire, he claimed he rambles through the Oxfordshire countryside with his daughter Florence upon his shoulders ‘to add to the exercise regime I am undertaking’. You be careful there, Prime Minister. Don’t exert yourself too much.