Politics

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

Tuesday

Steerpike Steerpike

TM4PM: It’s on

Most Secretaries of State tend to lay low the night before their big conference speech, redrafting and practising. Not so Theresa May. The glammed-up Home Secretary was working the party scene hard last night, flanked by a bolstered entourage. After losing her Special Adviser Fiona Cunningham in blue on blue briefing row, May has brought in former Mail journalist Liz Sanderson to handle her media. If it looks like a leadership campaign… May’s speech this morning was steely. She talked about freedom and a free society. With her smart new haircut, it was not long before obvious comparisons were being made to a the last strong woman to dominate the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Theresa May was a tough act for Boris Johnson to follow

Boris Johnson and Theresa May both fancy a pop at the Tory leadership and both gave speeches today that showed they were keen. That much is so well-known that it is a little tiring to analyse either speech simply in those terms (though it’s worth noting that Boris supporters have been very keen indeed to tell us that this was a ‘grown-up, loyal speech that shows he has a track record of delivery. Boris has a vision that is optimistic’). Both did a good job of rallying the troops in the conference hall, although in quiet different ways. May was sober but passionate about the threat posed to Britain by

The Spectator

Theresa May’s speech on terrorism and extremism – full text and audio

Our values will prevail in the fight against terrorism and extremism Thank you, Alexander, for that thoughtful and inspiring speech. listen to ‘Theresa May’s speech on terrorism and extremism’ on audioBoom It’s difficult for most of us here in this hall to really appreciate the effects of stop and search. You see, most of us are white. Most of us are of a certain age. Well, we’re certainly not teenagers anymore. But imagine walking home, or driving to work one day, and being stopped by the police. Imagine, having done nothing wrong, you are patted down, you have your pockets turned inside out, and your possessions examined. Imagine you ask

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Is London’s Richard Barnes the final Ukip defector?

The gossip here in Birmingham is that there is a third defector from the Tories to Ukip, that David Cameron knows his name and isn’t too bothered. But if that person is Richard Barnes, a former deputy Mayor of London who has announced his defection today, you can see why the PM is quite chillaxed about it. He’s someone with no national profile who was expelled from the Party earlier for this year for standing as an Independent against the Conservative Party’s approved candidate. He is also defecting in part of the country where Ukip support is at its lowest. Barnes has recited the now-familiar list of reasons for defecting to the Evening Standard. The former London Assembly member

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Chris Kelly distressed by Ukip rumours and has denied them to closest family

Like all MPs suspected as potential Ukip defectors, Chris Kelly is being hounded by colleagues, whips and journalists all desperate to find out what he’s up to. He and his family are distressed by the pressure that the MP is under and suspect that Ukip are putting his name about to create a smoke screen around the next defector. Kelly has told his long-term girlfriend that he is not defecting. His girlfriend’s mother is Nadine Dorries, who says Kelly is so loyal to the government that she’s quite ‘disappointed’ he doesn’t take more principled stands against it. But she is confident he will not defect. Neither, in case you’re wondering,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Loyal Boris rallies the troops

Boris Johnson was on loyal form tonight at the Conservative Home rally. He told the audience that the Tory advantage on leadership and the economy would see voters coming over to the party ‘in droves’. He even predicted a 1983 style win for the Tories—which considering that the Tory majority then was 144 seemed more than a little bit over optimistic. The Mayor of London was so in sync with the leadership’s strategy that he even moved straight from Europe to English votes for English laws, the issue that Cameron and co believe can stop the bleeding to Ukip. There were, though, perhaps a few markers laid down for the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Turncoats, ‘dickheads’ – what the Tories think of Ukip

The Tories are bracing themselves for another defection to Ukip which may or may not come today or in the next few days. MPs and whips have been chasing after Adam Holloway and Chris Kelly as the figures who seem the most at risk, and have been extracting the sort of point blank denials that Mark Reckless claims to have never been asked for. Daniel Hannan has been denying again that he is leaving his party, while another rumour is doing the rounds that the next defection could be from a London Conservative working with Boris, rather than the Commons or the European Parliament. MPs are angry and determined to

The Spectator

Podcast: George Osborne’s conference speech

Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth were both at George Osborne’s speech this afternoon. Here’s a special podcast, with analysis of the speech and a look at what else we might expect from this year’s conference: listen to ‘Podcast special: George Osborne’s speech’ on audioBoom

Steerpike Steerpike

Dan Hannan boycotts Tory conference (but promises he won’t defect to Ukip)

No Mark Reckless, no Brooks Newmark and now no Bow Group.  The oldest conservative think-thank has announced that they are boycotting this year’s Tory conference. It seems, for Dave at least, bad news really does come in threes. The venerable think tank, founded in 1951 and counting Lords Howe and Heseltine among its members, has charged the Conservative Party Conference with being ‘a corporate venue for press and lobbyists’ rather than ‘a genuine forum for conservatism and Conservative Party members’. With MEP and Bow Group member Dan Hannan refusing to attend and Lord Tebbit worrying that CPC was no longer ‘anything to do with Party members’, the Tories might have reason to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Osborne’s speech gambled on voters accepting more austerity

George Osborne’s speech to Conservative conference was politically brave. He is gambling that the voting public will applaud his candour about the tough choices that the country is still facing, rather than chafing at the fact that five million working households will lose money from the freeze in working age benefits he announced today. When questioned about the politics of this move, those close to Osborne make three arguments: listen to ‘Podcast special: George Osborne’s speech’ on audioBoom

Steerpike Steerpike

The Tory MP who thinks Vince Cable is ‘obsolete’

Out on the party scene, Mr S enjoyed BIS minister Matt Hancock’s description of his job to the Institute of Directors bash: ‘Working at BIS is a lot a like sending a telegram. You have to speak in short sentences. With a clear message. With everything going through an increasingly irrelevant and obsolete Cable.’ Boomtish, though Hancock was quick to stress that since he attends cabinet now, he doesn’t have to clear everything through mean old Vince. A point he felt must be stressed. One joke that is already getting old is anyone standing up at an event, without notes, and making a laboured attempt to ‘remember to mention the deficit’. 

Steerpike Steerpike

Angry Dave’s jibe at ‘fat arse’ Reckless

While last week’s Labour conference felt like a wake, the mood is a little better here in Birmingham for Tory party conference. There is a certain amount of gallows humour in the bars, with regard to both the resignation of Brooks Newmark, and – more significantly to Tory fortunes – the latest defection to UKIP. From the very top down, the word Reckless is a dirty one. The Prime Minister toured the regional receptions getting steadily more pumped up in his anger about Reckless’s duplicity. Rumour is rife the words ‘effing Reckless’, ‘fat arse’ and ‘dick head’ were blurted out in various versions of a tub-thumping turn by Cameron. The Tories are

Steerpike Steerpike

Did Osborne’s speech just finish with an ode to Trainspotting?

George Osborne has just finished delivering his speech at the Tory party conference. More analysis to come, but Mr Steerpike couldn’t help noticing a distinct flavour to it. Edinburgh. Drugs. Irvine Welsh. Ringing any bells? The final part – ‘choose the future’, ‘choose David Cameron’ – felt very much like a re-run from the opening scene of Trainspotting. Who knew Welsh’s cult film about Scottish junkies was so close to Osborne’s heart…

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

George Osborne’s speech in six graphs

George Osborne normally shines at Tory conferences. A historian by training, Osborne knows the power of narrative and he had a clear one for the activists today: the recovery started when he took office and its progress has been extraordinary. Many of his claims were well-founded, some less so. Here’s my selection. Let’s start with his statement that ‘Britain is the fastest-growing most job-creating most deficit-reducing country on earth. Britain we did this together.’ listen to ‘George Osborne’s speech to the Tory conference’ on audioBoom

Lara Prendergast Lara Prendergast

White Dee: I might back Ukip instead of Labour

Back in February, Benefits Street star ‘White Dee’ promised to give David Cameron a ‘run for his money’. In her Spectator diary, she described how ‘Ladbrokes has made me 50-1 to be the next MP for Birmingham Ladywood, and until I read that patronising nonsense I wasn’t going to stand. Now, I think I will. As an independent, mind. How far will I get? Let’s just see.’ Dee hadn’t yet made it clear which party she was thinking of joining. She’s speaking at the Tory conference today, although she has been a strident critic of their policies. Previously, she has indicated that she used to vote LibDem, until they joined forces with

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Liz Truss and Sajid Javid hit Labour

Two of the brightest rising stars in the Conservative party, Sajid Javid and Liz Truss, addressed the Tory conference. After an angry day yesterday where Grant Shapps and the PM furiously attacked Ukip and their backbench colleagues piled in to savage Mark Reckless, the pair needed to use their slow to re-focus party minds on fighting Labour in the general election. They are both well-equipped for such a task: Javid started his speech with a passage on his values as a British Tory, then moved onto attacking the snobbery he encountered from the Labour Party when he was appointed Culture Secretary, and Ken Livingstone’s comments that he saw Javid as

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

What George Osborne should learn from the Scottish ‘yes’ campaign

George Osborne will give his speech in a few minutes, and we’ll analyse it straight after. But I’d like to pick up on something he said this morning on Radio 4. It was an aside, a claim that For the first time in my lifetime, the march of the separatists in Scotland has been reversed This is, of course, not quite true – the SNP have been pushed into reverse many times. Depressingly they tend to bounce back, stronger than ever. After devolution, it looked as if their fox had been shot. After Salmond quit the first time, they looked like a quaint irrelevance. Yet just eleven days ago the ‘yes’ campaign won 45pc

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

George Osborne’s task: to make his party enthusiastic about government

There’s a funny mood at this Tory conference. It has more energy than the Labour conference, but partly that energy is anger at Mark Reckless’ defection, rather than enthusiasm. MPs and advisers are jittery that another defection will come at another terribly inconvenient moment. A third MP leaving the party will suggest real momentum. So George Osborne’s task when he speaks a little later this morning is to turn the energy that’s buzzing about the hall into enthusiasm for government. The Labour conference, for all its desire to get the Tories out of office, lacked that sincere excitement about the idea of the party being in charge. The Tories need

Ros Altmann

Seven things you need to know about George Osborne’s abolition of the pensions death tax

The good news on pensions just keeps on coming. Today, at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, George Osborne will today announce the abolition of the draconian 55 per cent pension death tax. There’ll be no inheritance or income tax if funds passed on as pension. There had been expectations of this being cut, perhaps to 40 per cent, but the Chancellor has decided to abolish this altogether. I gather this wasn’t due to be announced until the Autumn Statement on 3 December, but the Chancellor has brought the news forward to gather some positive headlines. A chunk of his speech has been trailed: “People who have worked and saved all their lives will be able to pass on

Sunday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Don’t trust this woman: Tory whips warn MPs off Brooks Newmark trap

If you’re a Tory MP who hasn’t been paying much attention to the news and is wearing paisley pyjamas tonight, the Conservative whips are looking out for you. They’ve sent a message out to their party warning them off the ‘woman’ who managed to entrap Brooks Newmark into revealing his bedwear and long-term economic plan. The message, passed to Coffee House by an amused Tory, reads: ‘Please take care with a “Sophie Witams”. You follow her on Twitter. “She” is the person who ensnared Brooks Newmark. Please check you haven’t been approached. You should certainly having no contact and take care.’ It’s nice to know whips are so concerned about protecting their