Politics

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

Wednesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

David Cameron’s inaction has fuelled the row between Michael Gove and Theresa May over extremism in schools

The row between Michael Gove and Theresa May over how best to tackle Islamist extremism in schools is typical of how tense things get between these two whenever the subject of Islamist extremism arises. Gove wants to wage intellectual war on Islamist extremism, taking on the argument wherever it raises its head. May, heavily influenced by the civil servant Charles Farr, who is very much part of her circle, thinks that a distinction has to be drawn between extremism and violent extremism. But this problem would never have arisen if Number 10 had made the Prime Minister’s writ run on this subject. Cameron in his 2011 Munich speech made clear

Rupert Myers

Notes from a Tory foot soldier in Newark

Newark has become a destination for Conservative campaigners demoralised by the local & European results. Around this Nottinghamshire market town there are whispers of victory in the by-election on Thursday. If Robert Jenrick wins big, then the momentum created by that, and the effect upon Conservative volunteers will be great. Defeat or narrow victory here could cause some to doubt their faith. The operation for the Conservative party, led by George Hollingbery, has been impressive. Evidence of how seriously the party takes Newark is in front of any volunteer: the wall to the right of the entrance is one long roll of honour, the signatures and dates of MPs who

Christian Guy

Forget zombies – the Queen is fighting slavery

Two years ago a well-known MP told me that the Centre for Social Justice was wasting our time chasing political action against slavery, because it wasn’t a ‘doorstep issue’. I’m rather glad I didn’t take that advice because, as Theresa May has said, our 2013 report It Happens Here sparked the vital changes we will hear from the Queen today. Later this morning Elizabeth II will open Parliament for the 61st time. Labour claims she’ll have nothing much to say, with Shadow ministers attacking an impending ‘zombie parliament’. This is unfair. Especially because nestled in Her Majesty’s speech will be a landmark Modern Slavery Bill. The publication of that Bill,

Steerpike Steerpike

Lord Dobbs to the Lib Dems: time to sod off

‘There are three stages to any coalition,’ House of Cards creator Michael Dobbs told me at Tuesday’s annual Macmillan Lords vs Commons tug-of-war in the grounds of Westminster School. ‘First there is the seduction, tearing off each other’s bodices over five days of negotiations. Then came the consummation in the Rose Garden, followed later by a period of sober reflection.’ And which stage are we in now? I asked the Tory peer ‘The “sod off” stage.’

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The motherhood-and-apple pie Queen’s Speech

There are three main aims for today’s Queen’s Speech in the mind’s eyes of the two Coalition parties. The first is not to rock the boat at all, introducing pro-nice and anti-bad policies on motherhood, apple pie, childcare, ‘heroism’ and growth. In their joint statement on the Speech, which you can read below, David Cameron and Nick Clegg describe it as ‘unashamedly pro-work, pro-business and pro-aspiration’. Cabinet ministers with bills that are ready to go, quite important but likely to cause a fuss have been told to keep them in their drawers for the next year at least, while strategists cast around for other non-controversial ideas from MPs and aides.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Tories accidentally leak campaign database

The Conservatives have accidentally emailed a database of their activists’ details to other members, Coffee House has learned. The database, called ‘volunteer record NEWARK’ was accidentally attached to a generic thank you email for those campaigning in the by-election, and contained the email addresses of activists and MPs who had signed in at a certain station in the constituency. Sent from a generic email address belonging to the Tory chairman, the email thanked activists for visiting Newark, and asked them to continue campaigning by visiting the constituency again on polling day or making calls to voters from home or CCHQ. The database was attached at the bottom. This isn’t a

Sebastian Payne

Pensions, pubs, shale, slavery and recall — what to expect in tomorrow’s Queen Speech

The last Queen’s Speech of this Parliament is almost upon us. Will the final session prove right the claims that this is a ‘zombie parliament’? Or can we expect a packed and exciting legislative agenda? Here’s a guide to what to expect tomorrow. Freedom for pensioners Following on from George Osborne’s announcement in this year’s budget, two pension bills are expected in the Queen’s Speech. One will pave the way for Dutch-style ‘collective pension funds’, as opposed to purely individual funds at present. The notion behind these funds is to spread the risk and offer better value for pensioners. The second bill will allow people to withdraw their savings in

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Lib Dems must start to claim credit for the Coalition’s economic successes

Jokes about their lock-in aside, today’s re-launch by Nick Clegg and Vince Cable apparently heralds the Deputy Prime Minister’s attempt to get the Lib Dems to take credit for policies announced in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech. Reform of the pub sector is one of those policies – although wooing CAMRA members is a rather Lib Demmish thing to do (HQ sources tell me that they’ve never polled Lib Dem support among CAMRA members, though. Perhaps they should). Beyond pubs, what the Lib Dems really need to do is to claim or at least share credit for the Coalition’s economic successes. Nick Clegg pleased his base but alienated the electorate with his ‘party

Steerpike Steerpike

Coffee Shots (boozy edition): Nick and Vince’s lock-in

After a tricky few weeks, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable have decided to thrash things out over a pint of ale. At 11am. The pair are hanging out in a pub (having locked the media outside in the rain, which is possibly one of the cruellest things you can do to a journalist) to promote the reforms to the pub industry that the Lib Dems want to claim as a win from tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech. Cable finished his pint. It’s strange that Clegg didn’t want to sink his too in celebration of the bitter end of Lord Oakeshott. Still, an awkward morning pint looks considerably more fun than other food-and-drink-related

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

UK govt still confident of success in junking Juncker

Government sources are very keen to dispel the impression in Westminster that David Cameron’s tough guy act over the candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker is a last-minute thing, insisting that the Prime Minister has been involved in behind-the-scenes negotiations for months. Interestingly, they’re still very bullish about the UK’s chances of getting its way, with one government source telling me: ‘We are confident we can stop him, we are confident we can stop this process.’ The expectation is that a package deal will be agreed that involves a figure other than Juncker being appointed president. If this is so, then it will be a big boost for the Prime Minister as

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

George Osborne vs eurocrats

Improving the supply of new housing, adjusting the Help to Buy scheme if necessary, revaluing council tax bands and accepting that universal credit won’t solve all of Britain’ welfare ills: all ideas batted around in domestic political debate in this country by politicians and commentators who manage to secure a reasonable hearing each time they suggest them. But the problem with this latest list is that it comes from the European Commission: poorly supported by last week’s European elections and not preaching from a position of runaway economic success. The EC has published recommendations for each EU member state which are ‘designed to strengthen their growth potential, increase competitiveness and

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tories’ tax pledge could see them recover in Scotland

Today’s announcement that the UK Tory party is backing the full devolution of income tax to Holyrood, and will commit to that in its 2015 manifesto, is hugely significant. It means that both coalition parties now support some tax competition between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. By contrast, Ed Miliband has made clear that he will never sign off on any devolution deal that allows Scotland to undercut the rest of the UK on tax. Instead, he wants a system where the Scots could only choose to have the same tax rates as the rest of the UK or higher ones. This difference raises the possibility that

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Newark campaigning strategy cheers up Tory activists

One of the spin-offs of Grant Shapps’ cheesy-sounding yet quite impressive ‘Team 2015’ strategy for campaigning in the local elections and now in Newark is that the energetic campaigning atmosphere seems to be making activists and MPs very happy. This sounds like a minor consideration when by-election campaigns are for winning seats, not counselling party members. But given the rather fractious few years that the Tory party has had, this is rather important. Activists and MPs need to feel  they’re sailing with the wind behind them as they approach the election, and so gathering large numbers of campaigners together at once, rather than leaving them to canvass and deliver in

Sebastian Payne

Tories on course to win Newark by-election, says Ashcroft poll

The Tories are looking ever more likely to hold Newark in Thursday’s by-election. In a new poll from Lord Ashcroft this afternoon, the Conservatives are now on 47 per cent of the vote, compared to 36 per cent in the last week’s Survation poll and 53 per cent at the 2010 general election: [datawrapper chart=”http://static.spectator.co.uk/OevDw/index.html”] As you can see from the chart above, Ukip have dropped behind slightly their position last last week, but will certainly do better than their 2010 result. By-elections are notoriously hard to predict but this ultra-local poll doesn’t offer any indications that Roger Helmer has the momentum to take Newark. Labour’s vote continues to be

Harry Cole

Grant Shapps has built an activists’ team to fight for the Tories in Newark – and in 2015

The CCHQ strategy is to never to talk about strategy, but Tory chairman Grant Shapps cannot hide his excitement on this Saturday afternoon. Just a week after the Conservative Party came third in a national poll for the first time ever, 650 Tory activists are out campaigning in the Newark by-election. That is enough boots on the ground to deliver 40,000 leaflets and canvass the entire Nottinghamshire constituency ahead of Thursday’s vote. ‘I haven’t seen anything like this since Crewe,’ one seasoned activist tells me, referring to David Cameron’s narrative shaping by-election victory over Gordon Brown in 2008. Shapps is particularly pleased with a text from the Telegraph’s Dan Hodges, said to be

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: Eurosceptic plotters mull Queen’s Speech revolt

David Cameron managed to extract promises from some of the more troublesome backbench MPs that they wouldn’t get up to any monkey business around this year’s Queen’s Speech. Last year’s motion of regret tabled by John Baron and Peter Bone caused all sorts of trouble, but it did lead to the Conservatives publishing their own EU referendum bill, which was taken up by James Wharton and provoked #LetBritainDecide fever. I have learned that the thinking in some Eurosceptic circles is that someone should table another similar amendment to the vote on this year’s Speech which similarly expresses regret for the absence of an EU referendum bill. But this time the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

European Commission president row is example of PM’s ‘essay crisis’ strategy, MPs grumble

David Cameron might be hoping that the eurosceptics in his party are chuffed with his tough guy stance on Jean-Claude Juncker. And by and large, they are. But they’re not wholly impressed. One eurosceptic remarks that this intervention is simply about the Newark by-election, given its timing. Another, who is minded to at least believe that the Prime Minister is thinking about European reform, rather than Patrick Mercer’s old seat, says: ‘This is no way to do diplomacy. Cameron has left this to the last minute yet again and it could be too late to do anything. He has had months to express a view yet is only engaging now.’

Steerpike Steerpike

Ken Clarke’s yellow badge of honour

Despite trying to fend off Ukip in the Newark by-election, the Tories have thought it a good idea to put neighbouring MP, and devout Europhile, Ken Clarke on their candidate’s literature. The Tories seem desperate to feature him in their campaign, even though it’s rumoured that Clarke may soon be shuffled out of the Cabinet. However, they seem to have overlooked the fact that Clarke is wearing a private enclosure badge from some society sporting event. To top it off, Nick Clegg’s favourite Tory is even wearing yellow. Just the image the Tories need when their candidate’s multi-million property empire is in the spotlight as polling day approaches.

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Are we witnessing the strange rebirth of Conservative Scotland?

Perhaps. Because when you cross the Rubicon you obliterate a line in the sand. Or something like that, anyway. Ruth Davidson was elected leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party on a platform promising no more concessions to the SNP. She was the candidate favoured by the party establishment, the candidate for continuity not change. By contrast, Murdo Fraser’s tilt for the leadership argued that the party should dissolve itself and start again. Four in ten Tory members voted for euthanasia. The publication today of the Strathclyde Commission’s report on further devolution of powers to the Scottish parliament is perhaps best understood as a synthesis of the Davidson and

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Campaign to junk Juncker continues

The campaign against Jean-Claude Juncker becoming President of the European Commission continues, with Martin Callanan (who might hope to benefit from another campaign against someone getting a job, namely Andrew Lansley becoming the UK’s European Commissioner), telling the Today programme that the former Prime Minister of Luxembourg is the ‘business-as-usual candidate’ who is not the ‘reformer who will institute bold and radical change’. Callanan argues that members of the European People’s Party are not bound to support Juncker, because ‘less than 10 per cent of the electorate in any of the countries that the EPP are now saying they have the votes from actually knew they were voting for anybody