London underground

One of the oddest features of the cabinet majority for staying in the EU is that almost no one in it admits to being a Europhile. How is it, then, that the very last-century ideas of Edward Heath, Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Chris Patten can still exercise so much power over those who have so strongly and, in some cases, consistently criticised the EU in the past — Philip Hammond, Theresa May, Michael Fallon, Sajid Javid, Oliver Letwin, Liz Truss, Stephen Crabb, and, of course, David Cameron himself? Obviously one factor is that Tory MPs have found it convenient in recent years to adopt Eurosceptic protective colouring in their constituencies.

As some light relief from all this EU discussion, I thought readers might like to hear about Isis. Or at least what to do about Isis. The week before last I teamed up in London with General John Allen to argue that Western boots may be needed on the ground in Syria and Iraq to destroy Isis. We were opposed in the Intelligence Squared debate by Ken Livingstone and the journalist Rula Jebreal. A video of the event went out over the weekend on BBC World and is now available to view here. I should add a note to say that in order to fit the schedules the BBC edit has

Although Jeremy Corbyn has only been Labour leader since September, there has been much talk from various fractions of the party about who might succeed him. While many Blairites hope someone like Dan Jarvis or Chuka Umunna will be next, Ken Livingstone has now offered his prediction. In an interview with Sam Delaney — on Russia Today — the former Mayor of London says that if Corbyn were killed tomorrow, it would be John McDonnell who would become Labour leader: ‘If Jeremy was pushed under a bus being driven by Boris Johnson, it would all rally behind John McDonnell. Because John, like Jeremy, like me, he’s been in this game for 45 years. [He’s]

The first week of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership in September was reminiscent of a The Thick of It omnishambles. The Labour leader pulled out of scheduled media appearances, ran away from camera crews, was falsely accused of stealing sandwiches from war veterans and suffered the misfortune of having hacks eavesdrop his shadow cabinet deliberations. Four months on and — although one could argue that his leadership remains chaotic — things have certainly improved. He now has a loyal team in place, his office is made up of a mix of those behind his leadership bid and trusted allies. Yet with a larger schism than ever existing between the PLP and the leader’s office, his closest allies are regarded with suspicion by

A number of Labour MPs have become increasingly riled with Jeremy Corbyn this week over the much-delayed Beckett report on Labour’s General Election loss. Despite calls from Dan Jarvis and Caroline Flint for Margaret Beckett’s investigation into the reasons Labour lost the election to be published, Corbyn has so far refused even though he has been sitting on the report since November. While many Labour brains have put this down to Corbyn not wanting to face some of the reasons Labour lost the election, there may soon be a more Corbyn-friendly analysis on offer. Step forward Ken Livingstone. Red Ken is to publish a handy new book which will lay out his advice

Funnily enough, after Ken Livingstone told the Daily Politics that the defence review that he is co-chairing with the new Labour Shadow Defence Secretary Emily Thornberry would consider whether Britain will leave Nato, the party has issued a statement shooting down the former Mayor’s suggestion: ‘The terms of the defence review are still to be agreed but will not look at our membership of Nato.’ Livingstone said the following to the BBC: ‘That’s one of the things we will look at. There will be many people wanting to do that. I don’t think it’s a particularly big issue because in the Cold War it was; it isn’t now. Russia is

Now Jeremy Corbyn has passed his first electoral test in Oldham West, the Conservatives are focusing on the next one: the 2016 London Mayor election. CCHQ has launched SadiqWatch today, a new website which shows off the Tories’ lines of attack against Sadiq Khan for the first time. Just like the Not Ken Again site from the 2012 Mayoral race, the videos and graphics don’t mention they’re from the Tories, but the site’s footer does say (in small print) they are produced at CCHQ. The most striking attack line is in the standfirst of SadiqWatch: ‘Holding Corbyn’s candidate to account’. As one of the 35 Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader, the

It’s not a great surprise that Ken Livingstone is a member of Momentum, the Corbynite grassroots organisation that is definitely not at all like Militant, and definitely not going to campaign for de-selections in constituencies. He revealed his membership on BBC News, saying ‘I mean, I’m a member of Momentum. Our task, the first thing we’re focusing on, is getting those two million voters who have been kicked off the voting register by the government’s new rules, getting out to them, getting them back on that register. It’s a campaigning organisation, not some nasty bit of work like the old Militant. Seb found the same when he spent an evening

Two weeks after Paris we finally have some clarity from the political left. The current stance of their leadership (as expressed in the Parliamentary Labour party) is that while there is no justification for bombing ISIS, there are many reasons to bomb London. On the same evening that Jeremy Corbyn told his party that he could not support airstrikes on ISIS his old comrade (and head of the Labour party’s new ‘defence review’) Ken Livingstone shared his view on Question Time that the 7/7 bombers ‘gave their lives’ in an act of supremely selfless objection to the 2nd Iraq War. Now I know that there are a few people still

Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as Labour leader, the party has struggled to put on a united front. In fact, MPs from the moderate section of the party have regularly found themselves at loggerheads with the Corbynistas during meetings of the PLP. Happily the majority of MPs did at least manage to find common ground at one meeting earlier this month, where Steerpike understands Jess Phillips’ call for Corbyn’s old comrade George Galloway — who was expelled from Labour in 2003 — to never be allowed back into the party was met with loud cheers. So Mr S can’t imagine a disclosure from Galloway over the weekend is likely to prove helpful to ‘Team Corbyn’. In an

One moment from PMQs today will stick in the mind for a long time. After Corbyn had asked his last question, Cameron declared ‘Hasn’t it come to something when the leader of the opposition thinks that the police, when confronted by a Kalashnikov-waving terrorist isn’t sure what the reaction should be?’ At that point, the Labour front bench just looked utterly dejected and beaten. They will soon have to decide how much longer they can let this farce continue for. If they do not act soon, then the damage done to the Labour party might be irreversible. The essential problem is that Jeremy Corbyn’s views on foreign policy and security