Politics

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

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Don’t blame Ireland for beating Britain in the Brexit negotiations

Plámás is an Irish word that lacks a precise English equivalent. It means a special kind of empty flattery, disingenuous praise, or pleasing, but soft-soaping, bullshit, offered the better to smooth over a particular difficulty or advance towards a particular objective. It is the currency, the bread-and-butter, of Irish politics where everyone is a ‘grand man’ or a ‘gas fella’ and all things may be possible, at all times, for all people. You may divide Irish politicians between the natural plámásers (Charlie Haughey, for instance) and those for whom it is a learned but never fluent skill (Garret Fitzgerald). Most of the time, the naturals win. Leo Varadkar is not

Steerpike Steerpike

Listen: Business minister’s Brexit money gaffe

It’s a busy day for the government, as they finally unveil their immigration white paper and begin the preparations for no deal. But as the government’s gears grind into gear, it appears that some ministers have been struggling with their own personal preparations for interviews. Energy minister Claire Perry was on 5 Live this morning to discuss the government’s plans, but fell at the first hurdle when she was asked this simple question by Emma Barnett: ‘How much [money for Brexit] has been allocated to your department?’ To which the minister could only reply: ‘Gosh, you know I actually don’t know the amount’ Pressed on whether she thought it slightly worrying

Katy Balls Katy Balls

No.10 tussle with Home Office over immigration policy

It’s the day of the government’s immigration white paper and what was supposed to be a Brexit deal vote winning announcement has descended into a Cabinet row. No.10 pressed ahead with the publication – and a briefing went out to hacks near 8pm. The delay has been put down to internal wrangling over several items in that paper – notable the call for a £30,000 minimum salary for five-year working visas. Several pro-immigration ministers say this will damage the economy – and send the wrong message by striking an anti-immigration tone. The tensions were apparent even this morning when Sajid Javid appeared on the Today programme to discuss the policy

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Can the government win back the DUP?

Theresa May’s Christmas holidays will hold little in the way of festive cheer for the Prime Minister. In order to win last week’s confidence vote, May had to make a number of promises that will be difficult to keep. Top of that list is her pledge to win back the support of the DUP, the party’s confidence and supply partners. Relations between the DUP and the government hit a low earlier this month owing to the fact No.10 pressed ahead with a backstop arrangement which Arlene Foster’s party say they cannot support. This led many Tory MPs to question whether they could support the deal given that it would also

Steerpike Steerpike

Jeremy Hunt’s direct channel to Trump

The past few months have been testing for the so-called special relationship. President Trump’s visit to the UK ended in disaster for Theresa May when the US President gave an interview to the Sun in which he declared that her proposed Brexit deal would kill any chance of a UK/US trade deal. However, not all Cabinet ministers had a wholly bad experience. On Tuesday night, Mr S headed along to Jeremy Hunt’s Foreign Office Christmas reception at Lancaster House – also known as the ‘Foreign Secretary’s leadership launch,’ according to a fellow Cabinet minister. In his speech, Hunt told guests how his own relationship with Trump had flourished on that

Tuesday

Tom Baldwin

The People’s Vote campaign made a mistake, but it wasn’t deliberate

A few months ago, the People’s Vote campaign was on the fringe of the national conversation. Today, we are seen by an ever-growing number of MPs as the best – perhaps only – way forward to break out of the current political impasse. As it becomes more likely that the British people will be given the right to have the final say about whether they wish to proceed with a Brexit that can never fulfil the promises made in the referendum of 2016 – or offer terms as good as the deal we’ve already got in the EU – we accept that the media will subject our every statement to increased

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Cabinet steps-up planning for no deal

A predictably lively Cabinet meeting today as ministers discussed no-deal planning. Jeremy Hunt said that EU attitudes were hardening because they could see a second referendum coming into view, in part, because of the speculation that people around the Cabinet table were indulging in it. The Foreign Secretary warned that a failure to deliver Brexit would be as devastating for the Tories as the Lib Dems’s failure on tuition fees was to them. Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, railed against the Treasury approvals process. He complained that because of it, the government had missed the boat and not booked as much ferry capacity as it wanted. Michael Gove complained about

Ross Clark Ross Clark

The reason Corbyn is afraid of a general election

There is at least one person in Britain who would beat Theresa May in a contest to see how far they could kick a proverbial can down the road. Fortunately for her, it is the leader of the opposition. Why won’t he do it? Why won’t he table that motion of no confidence in Her Majesty’s government while it is bleeding by the roadside? Given a chance to deliver the coup de grace, he chooses instead to table a personal motion of no confidence in Theresa May which he knows the government can put off through lack of time, and which he knows would have no great consequences if she

Steerpike Steerpike

Clive Lewis fails to get into the Christmas spirit

Christmas – the time for peace on earth and goodwill to all men. It’s also the time of year for giving. Except that is if you’re Clive Lewis. The Labour MP – and sometime Corbynista – has managed to raise eyebrows in Parliament over his attempt at a Christmas bash. While the bulk of Christmas drinks events in Parliament come with warm wine, crisps and the odd G n T, Lewis’s Christmas bash could be described as less generous on the catering front. Mr S understands that guests invited to his drinks this week were asked to bring… their own refreshments and snacks. Still, it’s merrier than anything the Leader’s

Monday

Henry Newman

For all its faults, May’s Brexit deal might be the best option Leave MPs have

Several cabinet ministers have publicly backed a series of indicative votes in the Commons on the various Brexit options. I understand why, but they’re wrong: this approach is both messy and misguided. The best thing for MPs is to spend their Christmas break thinking carefully. Those who have criticised Theresa May’s Brexit deal should carefully think through their opposition. It’s my view that reports of the death of May’s deal are greatly exaggerated. It’s obvious there are only now three real options when it comes to Brexit: Leave with no deal; Leave with May’s deal; or, don’t Leave. Every possible path falls into one of these three boxes. Managed no deal (whatever that is

Katy Balls Katy Balls

Corbyn tables a motion of no confidence in May – will it backfire?

After an afternoon of will-they-won’t-they over Labour’s threat to table a motion of no confidence, Jeremy Corbyn has told the Speaker he will do just this. However, where earlier reports suggested the no confidence vote would be in the government, it will now be in Theresa May herself. This is important because a confidence motion in the Prime Minister personally has no legal or constitutional force – were May to lose it she would not need to resign. It is also up to the government whether they make time for it – they don’t have to. Given that Labour have no opposition day debates left to set the agenda, it

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Theresa May’s Brexit deal isn’t dead yet

One might have expected today’s Commons statement to go rather badly for Theresa May. After all, she had gone to the European Council seeking legal and political assurances and come back with very little. Her anger was shown by the way she confronted Jean-Claude Juncker over his description of her as ‘nebulous’. But it actually turned out rather well for her. May’s decision to say that the meaningful vote will take place in the week of the 14th of January meant that Jeremy Corbyn’s threat – that he’d call a no confidence vote in her personally, if she wouldn’t name a date for the meaningful vote – lost whatever force

Steerpike Steerpike

Watch: Leave MP kicked out of Sky News interview

As we get closer to Brexit day in March and the campaigners for a second referendum begin to gain momentum, tensions are starting to run seriously high in the Westminster village. But the most recent spat between two MPs might just be the most remarkable sign yet of how fraught relations have become between Remainers and Leavers. On Sky News, Labour MP and second referendum supporter Anna Turley locked horns with Conservative MP David TC Davies about the impact no deal Brexit would have on the country’s economy. As the two sparred over which economic forecasts by the Treasury should be taken more seriously, Davies – unable to get a

Matthew Lynn

Why business and the City should speak out against a second referendum

Parliament is deadlocked. The cabinet is split down the middle and Brussels won’t compromise on the deal it has already offered to the Prime Minister. As the clock ticks steadily towards March 29th, there seems little way out of the impasse surrounding our tortured exit from the European Union. No one can agree on how to leave, or how to stay either. Against that backdrop, it is probably no great surprise that a second referendum is gaining momentum. It is at least a way out of the mess, and possibly a more decisive one than any of the alternatives. Theresa May has spoken out against that today, even if many

Robert Peston Robert Peston

Can David Cameron rescue Theresa May from her Brexit crisis?

If you want a symbol of the catastrophe Theresa May faces over Brexit here it is: her predecessor David Cameron is advising her how to get some kind route out of the EU – that isn’t the fast one over the cliff – through Parliament. This is like the Pope asking the Chief Rabbi on the true meaning of the Eucharist: when Theresa May became Prime Minister she defined herself by defenestrating all things and people of a Cameroonish hue (including, most notoriously – and some would argue most self-destructively – packing Osborne off to the backbenches). But now the former prime minister has become her personal Brexit-crisis adviser, as she desperately

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Leo Varadkar is being played like a fiddle by Brussels

A few decades ago, Irish people would march through the streets of London to holler at the British government: ‘Hands off Ireland!’ As an Irishman, I wish Irish people would now take to the streets of Dublin to say to Leo Varadkar’s government: ‘Hands off Britain!’ For Varadkar’s meddling in British politics, his and his minions’ attempts to scupper Britain’s break from the European Union, is profoundly anti-democratic. What we have here is a foreign leader interfering in Britain’s domestic, democratic affairs. It was wrong when the British did that to Ireland, and it is wrong for the Irish now to do the same to Brexit Britain. The way Varadkar,

Steerpike Steerpike

Six reasons why revoking Article 50 would kill Brexit, not pause it

Have you noticed how many siren voices are suggesting that Britain rescinds Article 50 to buy time? The Irish Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, tells us that it is in the UK’s gift to avoid a no deal Brexit and buy “more time to decide what it wants” We have Sir John Major saying “We need to revoke Article 50 with immediate effect. The clock must be stopped. It is clear we need the most precious commodity of all: time.” Versions of this can be heard elsewhere. But it’s legal nonsense, for reasons that are not properly understood. The ECJ did not give us carte blanche to revoke the notice and then

Stephen Daisley Stephen Daisley

Opposition to Brexit is sincere, but it has nothing to do with democracy

It seems only fitting, living as we do in the Banter Timeline, that Theresa May won an indecisive vote decisively and Jacob Rees-Mogg refused to accept the will of the electorate. The Prime Minister did not secure the confidence of her party last week; she confirmed their lack of confidence that there is any alternative. Mr Rees-Mogg and 116 of his colleagues know this. I dare say a sight more do too. The net result of last week’s melodrama is that the Prime Minister is both strengthened and weakened and those who want her gone have been defeated and elevated. Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make

Sunday

Matthew Taylor

Sunday shows round-up: loss of a confidence vote

Liam Fox – Parliament could have a free vote on Brexit The International Trade Secretary joined Andrew Marr this morning to discuss Brexit’s next steps following a turbulent week which saw the Prime Minister win a vote of confidence by 200 votes to 117. With the date for Parliament’s ‘meaningful vote’ on the Brexit deal now pushed back until mid-January, Liam Fox entertained a potential course of action still open to the government: AM: Shouldn’t Tory MPs… be allowed a free vote? LF: Well that’s not something that we have considered. I have to say, personally I wouldn’t have a huge problem with Parliament as a whole having a say

Saturday

Ivan Rogers

The nine lessons of Brexit

The stakes could not be higher now. We face the biggest political crisis for at least a couple of generations. The risks are now both a democratic crisis and an economic one. We just cannot go on as we have been: evading and obfuscating choices – indeed frequently denying, against all evidence, that there are unavoidable choices. And the public will understandably not, for a very long time, forgive a political class which on all sides of the divide fails to level with it on the choices being made. This feels a rather unseasonal theme but as we are approaching Christmas I thought I would therefore talk about nine lessons