Politics

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

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: EU referendum, the Greens and A&E

Would he say no to saying no? The first question at PMQs, from Gregg McClymont, was about Cameron’s vote in the EU referendum, (if it ever happens). McClymont wants the PM to rule out ruling out Britain’s participation in the economic suicide pact based in Brussels. Nope, said Cameron. He went on to boast that ever since he floated his referendum theory, foreign firms have been swarming to our shores and setting up shop in Britain. We might export this solution to the Eurozone. Make the referendum EU-wide and the investment gods will squirt prosperity into every crack and cranny of this seized-up continent. In/out dominated Miliband’s questions too, as

Geoffrey Alderman

Here’s how politicians can convince British Jews that they have a future in the UK

A recent study has suggested that over half of Britain’s Jews feel they have no future in the UK. At first glance this might seem outrageous, indeed incredible. Arguably (one might say) we Jews are the most successfully integrated of all the UK’s ethnic minorities.  A miniscule set of communities – comprising in total 0.5 per cent of the UK’s total population –  British Jewry punches well above its weight in all walks of life: the learned professions; the arts; the entertainment industries; academia; big and not so big business; even politics. Of course (you might retort) Jews have a future in the UK! A more pertinent question might be to

The Spectator

Cameron’s reaction to the Charlie Hebdo attacks has been depressingly predictable

Last Sunday, David Cameron marched through Paris in solidarity, so it seemed, with those who stand up for free speech. Anyone who thought he meant it must now be crying out, ‘Je suis un right Charlie!’ Hardly had the march finished than the Prime Minister had rediscovered his other side: the one which reacts to terror by threatening yet more surveillance, more state control. He has promised to revive, in the Conservative manifesto, the ‘-snooper’s charter’ which would allow the state to retain indefinitely information about every email we ever send, every telephone call we ever make. Not only that. He added a further measure: he wants to ban all

Sebastian Payne

Al Murray standing against Nigel Farage in South Thanet

Nigel Farage will now have to compete for space at the bar with comedian Al Murray, who has announced he will stand for Parliament in South Thanet, as The Pub Landlord for the Free United Kingdom Party. FUKP’s manifesto contains many ‘common sense policies’ similar to those we’ve heard before from the Pub Landlord. Here’s how he will offer the voters of South Thanet a bold alternative to the mainstream (and alternative) political parties: The pound in your pocket: The pound will be revalued at one pound 10p, so it will now be worth 10p more. Common sense. The NHS: If you come to A&E and it’s neither an accident nor an emergency then you will be

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The debate about TV debates dominated today’s PMQs

PMQs today was dominated by the debate about debates. After a few statesmanlike questions about the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks, Miliband started to needle Cameron about his reluctance to take part in TV debates while Labour MPs made chicken noises. Cameron claimed that he was happy to take part in TV debates as long as the Greens were included and accused Labour of being ‘chicken when it comes to the Greens’; he seemed to back one 5-way debate and one head to head between him and Miliband. Downing Street believes this to be a perfectly defensible position but Cameron is taking a risk by setting it out so

Steerpike Steerpike

Neil Parish MP: In defence of ‘Red Meat Month’

Dear Peta, Thank you for your recent letter objecting to my campaign to support British livestock farming and encouraging sustainable red meat industry. I read with interest your argument that consuming red meat is ‘out of touch’ and ‘irresponsible’. I am sure the millions of ordinary Britons who have enjoyed roast beef or a shepherd’s pie will be surprised to learn that they are ‘out of touch’ and with good reason. The House of Commons recently organised a ‘World Vegan Month’ for restaurants on the estate to promote veganism. There is a World Vegan Month, World Vegan Day and National Vegetarian Week but nothing to promote responsible, sustainable produced red

Steerpike Steerpike

Food fight in Parliament: Forks clash over ‘Red Meat Month’

Trouble is brewing in Parliament. First there was vegan month, which rattled the cages of the establishment’s red-blooded males, and now a proposal for a meat month has led to beef between a Tory MP and Peta. The animal rights group have asked Neil Parish, who is chair of the All-Parliamentary Group on Animal Welfare, to reconsider his proposal for the carnivorous celebration, claiming the idea is ‘grossly irresponsible’. Not put off by the hostile reception, Parish is pushing on with his plans for a ‘Red Meat Month,’ arguing it’s only fair Parliament’s restaurants celebrate British meat in the same way they have embraced the green stuff of late. In an open letter sent to Steerpike, Parish has responded to

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Sign up to TV debates or we’ll go ahead without you, leaders warn Cameron

Labour, the Lib Dems and Ukip are having quite a bit of fun with their identical letters from their respective leaders demanding that David Cameron take part in the TV debates – or risk having something done to him that is even worse than a noun being turned into a verb (the latest threat is that he will be ‘empty-podiumed’, which sounds considerably more unpleasant than being ‘empty-chaired’ and possibly as bad as someone ‘weaponising’ something). As for why David Cameron doesn’t want the debates to go ahead, Daniel Finkelstein has a revealing piece in today’s Times in which he says the Tories forgot about Nick Clegg when they signed up

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

‘Boring is good’ Cameron tells Tory MPs

David Cameron and George Osborne addressed Tory MPs this evening. The meeting was to update the Tory parliamentary party on the economy and its place in the party’s election strategy. Cameron told them that whatever the question was, the answer was that you can only have it with a strong economy and urged them to repeat this message as much as possible. He said, ‘Boring is good’. Addressing the assembled MPs, Osborne emphasised that the economy was the heart of this debate. He argued that this was first time since 1992 that Labour and the Tories had gone into an election with different spending planes. Most of the questions were

Steerpike Steerpike

No dry January for the BBC’s finest

It was no expenses spared last night at One Great George Street to toast the departure of long-time Andrew Marr Show editor Barney Jones. Most ‘leaving dos’ in journalism involve a few beers down the Dog and Duck but Aunty was an extremely kind benefactor, providing fine wines and canapés as well as music from Nick Lowe across three of the most expensive function rooms in Westminster. Three cheers for the licence fee! Ed Miliband and George Osborne were there, alongside half the cabinet including Danny Alexander and Michael Fallon. Andrew Mitchell and David Davis plotted in the corner while Harriet Harman and Peter Hain represented Labour. Even Norman Tebbit made

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Did Richard Curtis script today’s showdown between Osborne and Balls?

Even though they ended up walking through the lobbies together (though not hand in hand, skipping, sadly), Ed Balls and George Osborne still managed to have the sort of Commons showdown that would fit right in to the script of Bridget Jones. On and on their furious fighting went, over whether the long-term economic plan was working, over whether Labour had a long-term economic plan, over whether Britain would get its AAA credit rating back, over whether Balls would borrow more and whether Osborne was cutting the deficit slower than he’d intended. On and on and on. Both looked as though they were enjoying tearing chunks out of one another

Steerpike Steerpike

The joke that stunted Alan Johnson’s career

To the Oldie literary lunch where Mr S dined alongside the magazine’s editor Alexander Chancellor and Alan Johnson. Talk soon turned to Johnson’s former boss Tony Blair, as the Labour politician recalled a joke that backfired spectacularly. ‘Probably the reason why I fell out,’ Johnson said, before stopping himself and tactically rephrasing. ‘Alex and I have been talking a lot about Tony Blair, who I tell a lot of stories about but they are all true and they’re said with affection.’ ‘But Tony didn’t like it when, do you remember when he had that heart problem and he had to go in to have an operation? Well, I was at the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

David Cameron ‘wholeheartedly’ defends right to publish Charlie Hebdo cover

The latest issue of Charlie Hebdo goes on sale tomorrow, with around 1,000 copies expected to be available in the UK. Some people have decided that buying it shows ils sont Charlie, but both David Cameron and Nick Clegg don’t appear to be joining the rush for copies. The Deputy Prime Minister told the Today programme that ‘I’m not sure I’m going to buy it’, while the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said ‘I’m not sure he necessarily will, but I’m sure that he will see the image that I think people are understandably asking me about today. Whether he will buy a copy, I confess I’m not sure’. Whether or not they

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Tories split between rival parties

David Cameron is holding another one of his parliamentary party meetings this evening to discuss party strategy and rally the troops. Normally these things are quite well-attended, save a few conscientious objectors who think these events are an attempt by Downing Street to undermine the 1922 Committee. But today’s one might look a little quieter, or at least see some MPs slipping out early. The reason is that David Davis is holding one of his very good parties in the ‘naughty corner’ of Portcullis House tonight. His was organised first – and it is one of those parties that those invited never fail to turn up to because they’re good

Sebastian Payne

Today’s strikes in London highlight why we need trade union reforms

Londoners were not a happy bunch this morning. Aside from the cold, wet weather, two-thirds of the capital’s buses were not running — thanks to a strike arranged by trade union Unite. Bus drivers are protesting over pay, as they believe the lack of a collective deal across all bus operators is unfair. Currently, there are 80-odd different pay rates, as this Unite infographic shows: Time to end the chaos on London’s bus network – one rate for all: http://t.co/fRCLv5FKXt pic.twitter.com/WWESxlbNI9 — Unite the union (@unitetheunion) January 13, 2015 27,000 striking bus drivers causing traffic and commuting chaos is annoying — but this strike comes at a sensitive time as the Tories

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Nigel Farage: a two-bit demagogue and believer in lazy ‘Root Causes’

Nigel Farage has performed a useful public service this week. Yes, really, he has. The UKIP leader, you see, is a believer in Root Causes. He is, in fact, a Root Causer and, like every member of that miserable tribe, liable to see every event as confirming the righteousness of his own longstanding, stale-breathed, prejudices. You see we – the west generally – bring all this trouble upon ourselves. At home and abroad. It’s western foreign policy that explains and motivates Islamic extremism and it’s uncontrolled (sic) immigration that’s given it room to flourish in France, the United Kingdom and other countries. How very convenient. The idea that the Charlie Hebdo murders

Steerpike Steerpike

Nick Robinson vs Russell Brand: Round Two

Last week Nick Robinson took a swipe at Russell Brand’s call for the public to refrain from voting, claiming that it could undermine democracy. He went so far as to say that in a choice between quitting the BBC and defending democracy he would choose the latter. Happily it didn’t come to that and instead the BBC’s political editor got to pester Brand on Radio 4 in the first episode of Can Democracy Work? During the programme Brand is asked by a member of the public why if he has such a problem with today’s politicians, he won’t stand for parliament himself. ‘I’d stand for parliament but I’d be scared that I’d become

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Has anyone seen Nigel Farage?

‘Ukip seems to have imploded,’ one ‘mainstream’ politician remarked to me yesterday. ‘We haven’t heard anything from them.’ True, Ukip have been rather quiet since Christmas, but anyone in the Tories or Labour who is dancing around imagining that they’re set fair for an election without Nigel Farage has got rather carried away. The truth is that Farage’s party has decided to stay a little quiet for a few weeks, at least while the main parties slug it out over who would really cut the deficit and who really cares about the NHS. Sources tell me that they think the effect of all these launches, counter-launches, dossiers and dossiers debunking

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What will the Lib Dem ‘red line’ on a ‘Snooper’s Charter’ mean for a future coalition?

One of the obsessions that will only get worse over the next few months – along with checking every poll that comes out every day to see whether you’re six points up, four points behind, or level-pegging – is what ‘red lines’ the parties will set out for their Coalition negotiations. David Cameron has made his EU referendum one, and it turns out that this isn’t as much of a problem for the Lib Dems as all their huffing and puffing on the subject would have you believe. Nick Clegg has been setting more red lines because he is the leader of the party that wants to talk about coalitions,