Politics

It’s a new year, a new dawn, a new day – and for many Brits a fresh start. Unless you’re Theresa May. The Prime Minister begins 2019 with things much the same as they were in 2018. Her party is at war over Brexit, she still has a hugely unpopular piece of legislation to pass and her rivals are circling – attempting to boost their appeal to the Tory membership in anticipation of an eventual leadership contest. After a briefing war between No.10 and the Home Office over the Christmas period – which saw details of leadership frontrunner Sajid Javid’s luxury holiday wind up in the papers – it’s now

None of us can predict the potential fallout from Brexit, good and bad. What began as a vote of confidence in our institutions has shown them to be dangerously fallible. A country where people usually rub along together is now marked by a cultural and emotional rift. If Brexit does continue to dominate our politics for years, will it mean a reform of our institutions, or a battening down of the hatches by a beleaguered elite? Will the House of Lords, having alienated its natural defenders, at last be seriously reformed? Shall we try to restrain the dangerously capricious powers of prime ministers? Shall we empower local government? Both Brexiteers

2018 has hardly been a year which has inspired faith in our political class. From the bungled Brexit negotiations to botched resignations, at every turn our elected representatives have managed to outdo themselves in bids to prove how useless they can be. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the numerous political interviews viewers and listeners have been subjected to. To see off the year, and to remind readers of how bad things were, Mr Steerpike has rounded up the ten worst (or best) interviews of 2018: 1. Alastair Campbell caught out  Following the ‘People’s Vote’ march in October, Remainer-in-chief Alastair Campbell was in a triumphant mood. After all, when

Why us? Why is the UK the first – and only – country to decide to leave the EU? Greenland, Algeria (when it was part of the French empire) and the French Caribbean island of St Barthélemy have all been in the EU and are no more, but the UK is the first full member country to hold a referendum and decide ‘enough’. Why us, and not one of the many other members nursing doubts about the EU? There are many reasons, none of which are to do with us being more inward looking or racist. We are an island, but arguably the most outward looking EU nation. We do

Oh dear. Fiona Onasanya’s 2018 didn’t go exactly as she would have hoped with the Labour MP found guilty of perverting the course of justice, after a court found that she had lied to police about speeding to avoid putting points on her driving license. Despite the Labour whip being withdrawn, Onasanya has since compared herself to Jesus and hinted that she may continue on as an MP regardless. So, Mr S was curious to read Onasanya’s review of the year for her local paper, the Peterborough Telegraph. In the article, Onasanya looks back at the big events of ‘an incredibly busy, and sometimes fractious year in the House of Commons’

I stood next to Jean Claude-Juncker, then president of the European Council and prime minister of Luxembourg, when news flashed up on the TV screens of the astonishing rejection by French voters of the draft European Constitution in their 2005 referendum. He could have responded in so many ways, to try to understand why the voters in traditionally one of Europe’s most Europhile countries emphatically rejected further EU integration. But his immediate response, without drawing breath, was: “They will just have to vote again.” In fact, the French voters weren’t trusted to give the right answer second time around, and so the treaty was pushed through the French parliament instead.

Q. Christmas could be tricky in our home this year: roughly half our dinner guests are Remainers, the rest Brexiteers. Before I carve the turkey, should I announce that any discussion about the EU is strictly off-limits, or would it be wiser to divert differences of opinion into a harmless party game afterwards (charades would seem appropriate)? A. Traditional Christmas resentments will be heightened if Brexit differences are used to wage proxy wars — so yes, do decree the toxic topic off-limits. Distract with proxy referendums. Take votes on whether you attend Midnight Mass, bother with Brussels sprouts etc. With luck you will have landslide Yes votes for roaring log

I didn’t agree with much that Paddy Ashdown had to say. But what a man! If we could all die knowing that we have given a tenth as much to our country as Ashdown, we should be very pleased indeed. This is from a review of his autobiography I did nine years ago for the Sunday Times. – – – IT IS DOUBTFUL doubtful that when George Osborne’s autobiography, say, hits the bookstands it will reveal that he once slashed his arm open on a viciously sharp bamboo panji while camped in the jungle of Borneo fighting a covert guerilla war against the Indonesians. Still less, I reckon, the method

For more than a decade, I have been a public critic of Saudi Arabia. I should, therefore, be applauding recent global efforts to cast the Kingdom into pariah status and punish the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). But I fear that such calculations are flawed, short sighted and will weaken the West. Instead, Britain should be the voice of sanity and take a longer view. Such a move would be warmly welcomed by our Arab allies. Across the Middle East, there are daily skirmishes and battles, but there is a much larger war underway for the future of Islam and the type of region that will emerge in