Relations between Andy Burnham and Harriet Harman must be disintegrating quickly. After the leadership favourite abstained during last night’s vote on the Welfare Bill, Burnham attempted to his logic on the World at One. Burnham said his mind hadn’t changed and he has always been in favour of a ‘reasoned amendment’ — but he was unhappy with how the vote
One in five members of the Parliamentary Labour Party voted against the party whip last night. Although the second reading of the government’s Welfare Bill passed, it shows that the party is divided. I’ve been through the list of the 48 rebels are there are two trends amongst the rebels: many nominated Jeremy Corbyn for
The row in Ukip over parliamentary Short money has finally been resolved. Guido reports that Douglas Carswell, the party’s sole MP, has been advertising for a £60k per annum speechwriter, funded out of public money. This is the first indication that Ukip is setting itself up as a proper Westminster party through use of Short money. To
Liz Kendall’s chances of winning the Labour leadership contest appear to be slipping away. On several measures, she has fallen into fourth place. Kendall has just 12 nominations from constituency Labour parties, compared to 58 for Yvette Cooper, 67 for Andy Burnham and 70 for Jeremy Corbyn. Leaked internal Labour party polling also put her in last
David Cameron will outline the ‘struggle of our generation’ today: tackling Islamist extremism. The Prime Minister is set to deliver a significant speech in Birmingham, where he will say ‘the root cause of the threat we face is the extremist ideology itself,’ attacking those who blame the West’s foreign policy for the rise of extremism. Cameron will outline
The four Labour leadership contenders took part in another televised hustings today, this time chaired by Andrew Neil on the Sunday Politics. With just over 50 days left of this contest, the candidates are now more comfortable in each other’s company and seem much happier to attack each other. Although no one spectacularly won or failed, a
Tim Farron’s election as leader of the Liberal Democrats is the first piece of positive news for the party since its disastrous election result on May 7. The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale celebrated his victory over Norman Lamb at the Islington Assembly Hall last night. I want along to find out how the Lib
Tim Farron has been duly announced as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats. The party revealed that 56.5 per cent voted for Farron to succeed Nick Clegg, compared to 43.5 per cent for his rival Norman Lamb. Although Farron was the favourite to win before the leadership race kicked off, Lamb has still put in a
The British Election Study is continuing to dig into why the pollsters called the general election incorrectly. Its latest batch of research suggests that the theories of a late swing to the Tories, a shift in the ‘don’t knows’ or ‘Shy Tories’ emerging on polling day may not hold the answer. Instead, the BES’s evidence suggests that ‘lazy
How has al-Qa’eda become the ‘moderate’ option in the Middle East? On the latest View from 22 podcast, Ahmed Rashid and Douglas Murray discuss this week’s Spectator cover feature on how a fear of Isis is leading Arab states to support the lesser of two evils. Is working with al-Qa’eda offshoots the only choice for Western countries? How significant was the decision
In an impressive cross-party signing, the government has appointed Lord Adonis, the former Labour transport secretary, to oversee delivery of the HS2 railway. Lord Adonis gave birth to the idea of HS2 prior to the 2010 election and has remained a vocal advocate for the project ever since. The transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said in a
Who is being more rational in the dispute over new striking laws: the government or the union barons? With just under a week to go until the summer recess, the government will begin fulfilling another manifesto commitment by introducing new legislation to the Commons today that will reform striking rules. The Trades Union Bill will
Liz Kendall spent an hour on Facebook this evening answering questions from Labour supporters. Those sitting on a social network on a Tuesday evening are clearly not entirely representative of the party’s membership, but this Q&A suggests Kendall has a perception problem in some quarters. The sheer vitriol of the comments from those who claim to be Labour
Tim Farron is a confident man. By this time Thursday, he will be announced as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats — if the bookies are to be believed. Ladbrokes currently say he is a ‘huge odds-on certainty’ to win at 1/33, compared to 12/1 for his rival Norman Lamb. Farron graced the front seat
In 48 hours, either Tim Farron or Norman Lamb will be announced as the next leader of Liberal Democrats. Lamb kindly agreed to hop in my Mini for a chat about the leadership contest two weeks ago (during the hottest day of the year) — you can watch the highlights from our chat above. If you
It has only taken the SNP 68 days to jettison its principles for some good old Tory bashing. On the Today programme, Nicola Sturgeon gave three reasons as to why the SNP will be voting against relaxed foxhunting restrictions in England. Combined with an ‘overwhelming demand from people in England’ and a potential future debate about Scottish foxhunting laws, the First Minister happily admitted that the
Jeremy Corbyn is finally receiving the scrutiny he deserves. On Channel 4 News this evening, the hard-left Labour leader hopeful was quizzed by Krishnan Guru-Murthy on comments about engaging with ‘friends’ in Hamas and Hezbollah over the Middle East conflict. Corbyn refused to apologise for using the word ‘friends’ and snapped several times at Guru-Murthy for not letting
This podcast is sponsored by Berry Bros, The Spectator’s house red The crisis in Greece is rapidly turning into a tragedy. In this week’s View from 22 podcast, Harry Mount and Vincenzo Scarpetta discuss this week’s Spectator cover feature on the situation in Greece. What are the feelings on the streets of Athens about the crisis? Will Sunday’s referendum mark the
Now that the Davies Commission has made its recommendation, the ball is back in the government’s court. The biggest immediate challenge the government has to face is David Cameron’s 2009 remark that ‘the third runway at Heathrow is not going ahead, no ifs, no buts.’ As James noted at PMQs today, the Prime Minister’s body
Is it time for a lesbian couple on Peppa Pig? Norman Lamb thinks so. In an interview with PinkNews, the Lib Dem leadership candidate said it should ‘absolutely not be out of the question’ to have a gay character on the children’s cartoon series. Lamb kindly graced the front seat of my Mini today for an interview