Politics

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

Friday

Edward Boyd

Clegg’s dangerous drugs pledge misses the point

This morning Nick Clegg announced that the Liberal Democrats want to ban judges from sending those convicted of possessing illegal drugs to prison. This policy may make sense around the dinner tables of the liberal elite, but it would be a betrayal of Britain’s poorest communities who would suffer as a result. It would, for instance, render neighbourhoods less safe by giving a green light to drug dealers. Nick Clegg assumes it’s easy to tell dealers and users apart, but nothing could be further from the truth. There is no set quantity of drugs that automatically leads to someone being charged with ‘intent to supply’. Unless the suspect admits guilt

Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

At last! An Archbishop of Canterbury recognises that Islamists slaughter Christians

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has just issued a statement about the slaughter of Christians in Iraq that is both brave and perfectly judged. What an outstanding representative of English Christianity he is turning out to be – in sorry contrast to his predecessor. Here is the section of Archbishop Welby’s statement that illustrates his keen judgment. It makes clear that he does not think that Christian lives are worth more than those of Yazidis or Muslims. (The ordained Anglican priest Chris Bryant MP accused me of believing this when I asked him on Twitter today why, in common with many liberal Christians, he had remained silent on the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

What will Britain do to help the Yazidis? And will MPs get a say?

After President Obama announced air strikes against Isis and humanitarian aid drops to the Yazidis, British ministers have been clarifying the extent of their involvement in the response to the latest violence. Michael Fallon said this lunchtime that the UK government’s focus was on the humanitarian effort: ‘We welcome what the Americans are doing now to, in particular, to bring humanitarian relief, and to prevent any further suffering. But our focus is on assisting that humanitarian mission and using our military in support of the Americans in terms of refuelling and surveillance to underpin their missing and to add to it with food drops of our own. ‘Our focus is

Steerpike Steerpike

Tories select raft of women – in no-hope seats

It has been bought to my attention that amongst the Conservative Party candidates selected this week, women outnumbered men two to one. Tory HQ are clearly very proud that Mims Davies will fight Eastleigh; that Michelle Willis will take on Ynys Mon; and that Charlotte Haitham-Taylor and Laetitia Glossop battling on in North West and North Durham respectively. Mr S is no party-pooper; but he can’t help but point out that none of these seats are what might be described as ‘winnable’ for the Tories next spring.

Thursday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How the FOBs, FOGs and FOTs could trip themselves up in the Tory leadership fight

FOB, FOG or FOT? Which one are you? In this week’s Spectator, Harry Mount examines the machinations of the Friends of Boris as they set their star man up for a return to Parliament and a future Tory leadership bid against the Friends of George and the Friends of Theresa. It’s worth reminding all three contenders, though, that these long-drawn out contests between party big beasts rarely lead to those big beasts actually taking the leadership. David Davis, Michael Portillo, Ken Clarke and Michael Heseltine could all tell a few tales on that front. After years of moving against one another, spying and trying to convert friends of one contender into being

Charles Moore Charles Moore

How long before self-publicising Baroness Warsi pops up in another party?

At the impressive Westminster Abbey vigil to mark the centenary of the first world war on Monday night, there was one big candle for each quarter of the Abbey, and one dignitary assigned to each candle. At different points in the service, each dignitary would extinguish his or her candle. Then the rest of us in the relevant area, all equipped with candles, would follow suit. The lamps went out, as it were, all over Europe. One thing niggled. I was in the South Transept, and our big-candle snuffer was Lady Warsi, Minister of State at the Foreign Office. I complained to friends that her prominence fell below the level

Steerpike Steerpike

Kriss Akabusi and friends save the union

Forget Alistair Darling’s debate victory. Forget the lack of Salmond’s currency ‘Plan B’. Forget the tonne of Scottish ink that savaged Salmond in print this morning (see Alex Massie in today’s Spectator for the best example). No, historians will pin-point today as the moment that Kriss Akabusi saved the union. Awooga, awooga. It has become custom in any public debate these days to draw up a tiresome list of public figures who back one’s cause. ‘Stay Together’, which launched today, and includes celebrities who do not even have a vote in Scotland’s future, is classic of the genre. Akabusi is joined by the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, Bryan Ferry,

Steve Hughes

Rachel Reeves’s ‘staggering’ and ‘astonishing’ future of welfare speech

Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, gave a speech earlier this week on the future of the welfare system. The choice that she presented was one between ‘…failing programmes and waste driving up social security spending under the Tories’, and Labour’s reforms to ‘…make work pay and get social security spending under control’. To claim that the current government has failed to control benefit spending is a bold tactic from a Labour Party economic spokesperson, and the numbers used to support the argument were so striking that they deserve some scrutiny. Claim One: The Conservatives have spent £13bn more on social security in this parliament than they had

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

For Boris, choosing the right seat will only be half the battle

[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”Harry Mount and Isabel Hardman discuss Boris’s parliamentary campaign”] Listen [/audioplayer]Boris Johnson is to stand as an MP in 2015 — but where? In the next few weeks, his secret parliamentary campaign team (and there is one) expects him to pick his constituency. The Tories need a decision by the beginning of September, as an announcement any closer to the party conference will overshadow David Cameron’s own plans to talk about the manifesto, rather than watch hopelessly as cameras and journalists trail after Boris, asking the same question over and over again. Uxbridge, where former deputy chief whip John Randall is standing down, is the favourite, with a

Harry Mount

Here comes Boris! The next Tory leadership fight has just begun

[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”Harry Mount and Isabel Hardman discuss Boris’s parliamentary campaign” fullwidth=”no”] The View from 22 podcast [/audioplayer]So Boris has made his great leap. The blond king over the water has revealed his plans to cross the river, return to Parliament and assume what he believes is his rightful destiny — to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first signs came with his uncharacteristically Eurosceptic speech this week. Yes, he said, Britain could — perhaps should — leave Europe, if it couldn’t negotiate more favourable terms. This set him at odds with David Cameron and sent a ripple of excitement through the Tory grass roots. Next came the

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Secret oil fields! Skewed polls! The Yes campaign is losing the plot

 Edinburgh When the histories of the Scottish independence debate are written, 13 February 2014 will be seen as a crucial date in the story. It was then that George Osborne suggested that no Westminster government, of any party, could countenance a currency union with an independent Scotland. Such an arrangement might be good for Scotland but it would make little sense for the rump United Kingdom. And with that observation, boom went much of the nationalists’ economic credibility. Osborne and his accomplice Alistair Darling might seem an improbable double act (though Osborne’s record in office bears a passing resemblance to Darling’s plans had Labour won) but together they might just

Mark McGinness

Hitler’s Valkyrie: Unity Mitford at 100

On 8 August 1914, four days after the declaration of war, Unity Valkyrie Mitford was born, the fifth child and fourth daughter of David and Sydney Freeman-Mitford, who admired the actress Unity Moore. Grandfather Redesdale suggested Valkyrie, after his friend Wagner’s Norse war-maidens. The fact that Unity Valkyrie had been conceived in the town of Swastika, Ontario, where her father was prospecting for gold, made it all the more portentous. A few weeks after her birth, Unity and her mother (‘Muv’) joined ‘Farve’, who was with his regiment in Newcastle. His quarters were so cramped that Unity was laid to sleep in a drawer. But this was nothing to the

Wednesday

Matthew Elliott

Boris Johnson lays down the gauntlet to David Cameron

Much has been made of the news that Boris Johnson intends to return to parliament at next year’s general election. The announcement, made in the Q&A session after his speech about London, Britain and the European Union, has got Westminster all hot and bothered. But another of Boris’s answers in that session also deserves to be highlighted. Gerard Lyons’s report for the mayor sets out 8 key points of European reform, ranging from changing the relationship between the Eurozone and non-eurozone countries, to the completion of the single market, to halting unnecessary regulations. But Boris went much further than this when responding to a question from Peter Wilding, director of

Ed West Ed West

Ukip need not fear Boris Johnson

So Boris Johnson is standing for parliament next year, triggering speculation about what would happen if David Cameron lost the election. Could we have Ed Miliband as prime minister, followed by Boris Johnson? Jon Stewart would have a field decade. Boris is easily the most popular Conservative politician around, both inside and outside the party, and is the only one to have genuine appeal with the public. People go up to him to shake his hand in the street, rather than just vomit everywhere, as is the case with most other Tories. Both he and Nigel Farage are jovial figures whose cheery, bumbling persona enables us to forgive any private

Douglas Murray

Violence, threats and blackmail ought to have no place in politics

[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi’s resignation” startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]I have never issued a call for violence before, and I’m certainly not going to start now. But I wonder if people might consider the following, purely hypothetical situation. In her resignation letter over the UK government not being anti-Israel enough for her, Sayeeda Warsi backed up her ‘case’ by writing: ‘Early evidence from the Home Office and others shows that the fallout of the current conflict and the potential for the crisis in Gaza and our response to it becoming a basis for radicalisation could have consequences for us for years to come.’ Let us ignore

Nick Cohen Nick Cohen

Anti-Semitic double standards: the arts and the Jews

‘Would you force anyone else to behave like this?’ the promoters of the UK Jewish Film Festival asked the artistic director of London’s Tricycle Theatre. Indhu Rubasingham and her colleagues dodged and hummed. They didn’t like the question and did not want to reply to it. The silence was an answer in itself. Of course the theatre would not hold others to the same standard: just Jews. Accusations of racism are made so often it is hard to see the real thing when it looks you in the eye. Let me spell it out for you. Racism consists of demanding behaviour from a minority you would never dream of demanding

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Boris is ‘not expecting to get special treatment’

So what now for Boris? He’s got to go through the selection process for a constituency, which he hasn’t yet settled upon, although I’ve outlined some of the options that might work for this week’s magazine. The favourite is Uxbridge; but his camp today are adamant that other seats are in play. One source tells me: ‘He is not expecting to get any special treatment at all, and he is prepared to go through the selection process like any other candidate.’ But the important thing for Boris is that he’s answered the big question before the Scottish independence referendum and party conference season, which were the two deadlines his secret

Steerpike Steerpike

Team Boris vs Team Osborne — the first skirmish

Today was set to be a boring day in Westminster. Sajid Javid, a courtier to George Osborne, was billed to give (yet another) speech about how the economy is going ‘gangbusters’ and why evil Labour would trash the recovery. Dutiful hacks were pottering off to the Centre for Policy Studies, the venue for Javid’s speech, when news broke of Boris Johnson’s ‘off the cuff’ announcement that he might stand in 2015 after all. This political hand grenade blew the government’s media plan completely apart. Javid was spotted calling CCHQ for a line to take on the Boris comeback. He duly took to the podium and prepared for questions that would

Steerpike Steerpike

The punters back Boris for Tory leader

The money is moving. Boris Johnson is now the bookies’ favourite to become the next leader of the Conservative Party. According to Ladbrokes he’s at 9/4, with Theresa May and George Osborne trailing him at 4/1 and 5/1, respectively. Plainly, Boris reckons that David Cameron is on-course to lose the next election, or else he wouldn’t have made today’s annoucemnent. The turf accountants agree with him. They have Ed Miliband at 4/5 on to be the next Prime Minister, while BoJo stands at 5/1. Could it ever happen for BoJo, though? He’s 7/2 to make it to Number 10 ‘at any time’. Talking of bets, our own columnist Toby Young

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Post-Warsi reshuffle kills off ‘senior minister of state’

[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_07_August_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”Douglas Murray and Tim Stanley discuss Baroness Warsi’s resignation” startat=462] Listen [/audioplayer]Baroness Warsi’s shoes have now been filled. Her ministerial roles have been divvied up, with Baroness Anelay appointed Minister of State at the Foreign Office, attending Cabinet, Lord Bates working as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Home Office, and Eric Pickles taking on the faith brief. Lord Taylor of Holbeach is now chief whip in the House of Lords. But no-one has gained the title of ‘Senior Minister of State’, which was invented just to compensate Warsi for being moved from Tory chairman in 2012.