Politics Archives

Wednesday

6 Aug 2014

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Isabel Hardman

Where could Boris stand?

This week’s Spectator charts Boris Johnson’s return to Parliament – and examines the network of MPs already helping him get there. You’ll have to wait till tomorrow to read Harry Mount’s piece, but here’s a preview, examining where the Mayor could stand as an MP. Boris Johnson has spent an impressively long time dodging questions about whether he is going to stand as an MP in 2015, and where. He manages to do this by pulling a special bewildered face, as if he’s just an innocent chap who finds himself inexplicably in a spot of bother, rather than someone who has been leading everyone on about his political ambitions for

Isabel Hardman

Breaking: Boris Johnson says ‘I will try to stand’ as an MP in 2015

Boris Johnson has just told journalists that he will in ‘all probability’ stand as an MP in 2015. After his speech on Europe, he was asked whether he would stand, and finally the Mayor chose to drop what he called the ‘weasel’ method of wriggling about whenever he’s asked whether he will go for Parliament or not. He said: ‘I might as well be absolutely clear that in all probability I will try to find somewhere to stand in 2015. It is highly likely that I will be unsuccessful in that venture, by the way. You should never underestimate the possibility of things going badly wrong, but I will try

Isabel Hardman

Labour and the ‘Tory lie machine’

Sajid Javid is giving a speech today that doesn’t seem to have a great deal to do with his brief as Culture Secretary. He’s also a pretty good Tory attack dog, and his address to the Centre for Policy Studies will focus on Labour’s ‘basic instinct’ to spend and a warning that this instinct would leave Britain £500bn worse off. It’s not so much the speech itself from the Culture Secretary that’s interesting, but the reaction from the Labour Party. Chris Leslie has said: ‘These numbers have been totally made up. Labour has not set out any plans for extra capital spending after the election, so this is just another

Tuesday

5 Aug 2014

Hamish Macdonell

Alex Salmond fails to land the blow he desperately needed

Many people, I’m sure, will already be calling the first TV debate in Alistair Darling’s favour. That is a fair point to make but it was not quite as straightforward as that. I think a truer reflection would be this: Darling won on substance but lost on style, while Alex Salmond won on style but lost on substance. That may seem a bit pedantic, but it matters. First, the question of style: Salmond was – as we knew he would be – calm, composed and articulate. Darling was – as many in his camp feared he would be – anxious, shouty and irritable. The former Chancellor looked nervous. He had

Isabel Hardman

Scottish independence debate: Alex Salmond vs Alistair Darling – live

The Spectator

Warsi resignation: David Cameron replies

[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]Dear Sayeeda, Thank you for your letter today, in which you set out your reasons for resigning from the Government. I was sorry to receive this. I realise that this must not have been an easy decision for you to make and very much regret that we were not able to speak about your decision beforehand. I understand your strength of feeling on the current crisis in the Middle East – the situation in Gaza is intolerable. Our policy has always been consistently clear: we support a negotiated two state solution as the only way to resolve

Isabel Hardman

Tory minister: Govt ‘failure’ on Gaza is sowing seeds of General Election defeat

[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]One of the risks of Sayeeda Warsi’s resignation was that it would encourage other ministers uneasy about the government’s response to the situation in Gaza to break ranks. She is certainly trying to encourage that by alleging that other Foreign Office ministers have been uneasy with the decisions being taken recently. But I’ve just spoken to another Tory minister who is unhappy, and worried particularly about the effects that this will have on the Conservatives’ chances next year. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the minister tells me: ‘Warsi knows that our failure in Gaza will damage

Steerpike

Baroness Warsi ‘wanted to be Foreign Secretary’

Now, now, no laughing at the back. Less than 12 hours after representing the government at WW1 commemorations, Baroness Warsi has quit — citing the government’s policy toward Gaza and the Middle East as the reason behind her departure. However, there is growing belief that the bungling baroness’s exit has something to do with the ‘government’s policy towards Baroness Warsi’, as Dan Hodges puts it. One Tory source said today that she has been in a sulk ever since the reshuffle, when she was passed over for promotion to Foreign Secretary (a delusional desire, if ever there was one, if indeed it was her desire). Tory MPs say that Warsi

Isabel Hardman

Baroness Warsi’s resignation letter: the key points

[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]Now that Baroness Warsi has revealed her letter to the Prime Minister in which she resigns over Gaza, here are the key criticisms that she levels at the government. They are notably not just about Operation Protective Edge and the British government’s response to it. She doesn’t resign until the penultimate paragraph, after a long letter that is clearly designed to cause maximum damage. 1. British policy in the Middle East generally is ‘morally indefensible’. Warsi includes the current conflict in that, and warns that it could wreak long-term on Britain’s international reputation: ‘My view has been that

Alex Massie

The argument about Britain in Europe is just the same as the argument about Scotland in Britain

I know some readers have tired of Scotland’s independence debate. That is understandable, even forgivable. It has, after all, been rumbling along for 40 years. There may only be six weeks of campaigning left but these arguments won’t go away. You’ll be hearing them again and again for the next few years at least. This is true even if Scotland does vote Yes next month. Because the argument about Scotland’s place within the Union is really not very different from the argument about Britain’s place within the European Union. Of course the similarities are not absolute but they are significant enough to be striking. And just as Scottish nationalists have

Isabel Hardman

Baroness Warsi resigns

[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]After disagreeing with the Prime Minister on a great deal for a great while, Baroness Warsi has this morning resigned from the government, citing its position on Gaza. She tweeted a few minutes ago: With deep regret I have this morning written to the Prime Minister & tendered my resignation. I can no longer support Govt policy on #Gaza — Sayeeda Warsi (@SayeedaWarsi) August 5, 2014 There had been a concerted campaign in the Conservative party from senior figures with a great deal of influence to get Warsi moved. They felt she was being deeply unhelpful to

Monday

4 Aug 2014

Isabel Hardman

Why the Miliband wreath row is unfair and unseemly

So Ed Miliband is in trouble with some angry people over whether or not he took enough trouble over signing a remembrance wreath. Here is the offending wreath, on the right besides the Prime Minister’s which bears a personal message. Messages on the wreaths laid by David Cameron and Ed Miliband. #WW1Centenary #c4news pic.twitter.com/gDNMxvc2tQ — Ciaran Jenkins (@C4Ciaran) August 4, 2014 Mark Ferguson at LabourList reports Labour sources saying they were just handed the wreath at the very last minute, and had no chance to add a personal message. Nick Clegg’s wreath was similarly bland. Number 10 says it’s standard practice for the Prime Minister to sign his wreath

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