Katy Balls is The Spectator’s political editor.
Is Theresa May a feminist? That’s the question that’s dominating Westminster today following the Prime Minister’s reluctance to back reform of Northern Ireland’s strict abortion law. The Republic of Ireland’s decisive vote to overturn its own law on Friday has seen May come under pressure from Cabinet ministers and some of her own MPs to
Theresa May’s government is supposed to decide within the next two months what type of migration policy Britain should adopt after Brexit. So it didn’t go unnoticed that both Michael Gove and Ruth Davidson used the launch of a new Conservative think tank – Onward – on Monday night to argue for a more relaxed
John Bercow has finally spoken out over reports alleging that he called Andrea Leadsom a ‘stupid woman’ in the Chamber on Wednesday. In a statement to the House, the Speaker admitted using the word ‘stupid’ but refrained from saying whether he had also used the accompanying words ‘woman’ or ‘f—— useless’. Bercow insisted that he
Thanks to a weekend of nationwide jubilation over Prince Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle, politics has – for once – taken a backseat. However, there’s one story in the Sunday Times that is still likely to cause mild alarm: ‘Tory MPs prepare for snap autumn election as Theresa May hit by Brexit deadlock’. The paper
‘Trump Make Israel Great’ reads the banner on the deserted hotel next to the new American embassy in Jerusalem. Unlike most of the world population, Israelis regard the US President as a big improvement on Barack Obama. In government, his decision to move the embassy here from Tel Aviv has elevated him to near godlike
How long can John Bercow hang on for as Speaker of the House of Commons? In recent months, he has come under pressure to resign his position amid allegations from former parliamentary staff that he bullied them. Adding to that, today Bercow has found himself the centre of a fresh row over his alleged behaviour.
‘Trump Make Israel Great’ reads the banner on the deserted hotel next to the new American embassy in Jerusalem. Unlike most of the world population, Israelis regard the US President as a big improvement on Barack Obama. In government, his decision to move the embassy here from Tel Aviv has elevated him to near godlike
Jerusalem It’s a sunny day in Jerusalem where Israelis are waking up to fresh conflict on the country’s border with Syria. I’m in town as part of a Bicom delegation and the picturesque scenes give little indication of the events of the night before which saw 20 rockets fired by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at
Ahead of the local elections – and the predictions of a bloodbath for the Conservatives – it seemed a safe bet that on the night the official Tory MP WhatsApp message group would be filled with complaints about bad results – possibly bad leadership – and a number of Conservative MPs warning emotional colleagues to
The Conservatives have had a successful night – at least when it comes to their expectation management campaign. There will be sighs of relief in CCHQ this morning over the first influx of local election results after the much anticipated Tory bloodbath in the local elections appears to have been more of a light wound
Theresa May will be wishing Amber Rudd was still Home Secretary tonight following a fiery meeting of her Brexit inner cabinet on the issue of the customs union. The Prime Minister convened a three hour long meeting of her senior ministers in a bid to finally thrash out a plan for a post-Brexit customs arrangement to
Sajid Javid has only been Home Secretary for seven hours but already he appears to have settled into the role with gusto. In his first appearance at the despatch box as Home Secrtary, Javid was greeted with cheers from the Tory benches before warning Diane Abbott – his opposite number – that she did not
With Amber Rudd gone, talk has turned to who will replace her as Home Secretary. Downing Street has suggested that hacks should be on standby for an announcement later today. However, choosing a successor will be no easy task. The bookies’ favourite is Michael Gove, the government’s resident eco-warrior who currently resides at Defra. However,
Amber Rudd has had a torrid few weeks thanks to the Windrush scandal and her department’s failure to get a grip on the issue. Matters weren’t helped on Wednesday when Rudd told the Home Affairs select committee that her department doesn’t ‘have targets for removals’ of illegal immigrants – only to have to today admit that
The Home Secretary cut a solemn figure in the Commons today as she attempted to clear up the Windrush immigration mess. After a weekend of torrid headlines and claims the Home Office knew of the problem long before they acted, Amber Rudd tried to make amends. Rudd apologised again before attempting to spread the blame
The Sunday Times set the cat among the pigeons over the weekend with a report claiming that Theresa May ‘may surrender over customs union’ after a secret wargaming exercise concluded that Brexiteers including Michael Gove and David Davis would not resign if the UK stayed in a customs union with the EU. The paper quoted a
The government ends what has been a truly dismal week with a row over whether or not Theresa May supported ‘go home’ vans and reports that Amber Rudd privately boasted to the prime minister that she would give immigration officials greater ‘teeth’ to accelerate the UK’s deportation programme. There is much frustration in No 10 over
And we’re back to Brexit with a bump. After a brief pause in the negotiations and legislation, the government has this afternoon been defeated on a customs union amendment in the Lords. The defeat was by no means minor either – peers voted by 348 to 225 in favour of a plan requiring ministers to
Labour’s anti-Semitism problem has been going on for so long now that what would once be seen as a disturbing incident can now struggle to be classed as news. However, Tuesday’s House of Commons debate on anti-Semitism still managed to surprise for several reasons – though none of them good. After Sajid Javid tabled the
The government is currently busying itself trying to win retrospective Commons votes on Theresa May’s Syria intervention and clearing up the Home Office’s Windrush mess. But should they have time for some morning reading, today’s Resolution Foundation research on millenials’ property prospects ought to give cause for alarm. The think tank predicts that one in
