Sea Change

I know that many people rate Jeremy Corbyn’s conversion to ‘a’ customs union as tactically astute, although let’s get things in perspective. When we see Jez say something vaguely sensible, we’re inevitably left wondering who could possibly be behind it.   In this instance, t he veteran leftist has been under immense pressure from his backers in the trade unions and from fellow MPs to align with moderate Tories against the May government.  As a staging post along the way to a softer Brexit, his pronouncement should, I suppose, bring some modicum of comfort. But there’s plenty to provoke serious head-scratching too. As Lib Dem Leader Vince Cable pointed out, the UK doesn’t need to be part of ‘a’ customs union. It needs to be part of the Customs Union. The one that already exists. The one that the EU negotiators are prepared to talk about. Not the hypothetical, bespoke arrangement that probably only exists in the imaginations of wishful thinkers. And take this gem f...

At what point was the Labour Party actually lost? Historians may make an argument for the moment of madness in which Sadiq Khan, Margaret Beckett et al lent Jeremy Corbyn their charity nominations in 2015, allowing him on to the leadership ballot paper. Maybe it was the actual election of the veteran leftist a few months afterwards? Or perhaps it was when Jez won for a second time in September 2016? (This was my own personal watershed and when I decided I could no longer give money to the party for the first time in 30 years.) Everyone has their own lines in the sand. The disgracefully lacklustre campaign against Brexit. The whitewash over anti-semitism. The coup in Haringey against Labour’s most senior female figure in local government. But if anyone had any doubt that the party now belongs irrevocably to the far left, the departure today of general secretary Iain McNicol should clear it up. Whoever it is that ends up replacing the outgoing official, we can be ce...

The speed at which the hard left seized control of the Labour Party in 2015 took many by surprise. In one summer of madness, an unlikely veteran backbencher went from near-forgotten has-been to happening hero. Social media played an important part in spreading Corbyn’s message and supercharged the pace of the initially preposterous, yet ultimately remarkable, coup. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, activists in groups such as Militant and Labour Briefing would work tirelessly and painstakingly to control branches and constituencies, aiming to advance the revolution one resolution at a time.   Fast forward to the 21 st century and the takeover was achieved in just a few months, in no small part due to shared posts and viral memes. Many of the people involved in turning the Labour Party upside down three years ago had never attended a meeting and advanced Corbyn’s cause from the comfort of their front room. In this way, social media is the amphetamine of modern...

If you want to see what a Corbyn government might look like, keep an eye on Haringey. The north London borough is set to be taken over by the hard-left Momentum faction, after moderate Labour councillors were deselected in a bitter dispute over housing. The respected and long-standing council leader, Claire Kober, has said that she won’t be contesting her seat again in May – probably forfeiting her own place on the council to another representative of the Corbyn fan club. She’s also effectively pulled the plug on her £2bn housing initiative – known as the Haringey Development Vehicle or HDV – by saying that the incoming administration can make the final decision on whether it proceeds. Part of the pressure on Kober came from the extraordinary decision of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee to weigh in on the issue. Thankfully, their intervention provoked a backlash from outraged councillors right around the country. Whatever they thought of the specific model for hous...

2018 is set to be a year of political reckoning in both the UK and the USA. It’s very easy to imagine the crises that are likely to unfold, but much harder to predict their consequences or the way in which they will be resolved. Trump will clearly come under increasing pressure as a result of the investigation into Russian collusion by former FBI Director Robert Mueller. If there is to be any realistic prospect of the current President being removed through an impeachment process, we’ll need to see some spark of activity in 2018. Otherwise we’ll be moving inexorably towards the next primary cycle and attention will turn to the removal of Donald Trump in the traditional, tried-and-tested way – at the ballot box. The mid-term elections in November might prove to be decisive in terms of forcing the hand of Republican Senators and Congressmen. After all, if polling evidence is to be believed, the Democrats look set to make significant gains with Trump’s popularity at a record low....

David Davis is the guy who knocked on the door and persuaded you that your roof needed fixing, when it actually didn’t. He and his mates have been half-heartedly hammering away for an hour or two and you’re a bit worried about the end result, so you insist on inspecting the work when its finished. Once you’re up on the ladder, he’s dismissing your concerns and telling you that everything’s fine. He’d love to spend more time on it, but unfortunately the crew is off to another job. And that will be five grand please. So as Parliament gives itself the right to ‘scrutinise’ the final deal and hold a ‘meaningful’ vote, let’s not get carried away. All the ridiculous hullabaloo over the Article 50 case in the Supreme Court a year ago demonstrates that such rights are meaningless unless you’re prepared to exercise them. Let’s think about the likely scenarios. Perhaps there isn’t a meaningful deal for Parliament to vote on. Some Brexiters online speculate that the insistence on t...

There is a sense of real spiralling decline about British politics right now. The Tories appear to be in full kamikaze mode. Their plane has lost an engine and the last drops of fuel are being siphoned out of their depleted policy tank. The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg tweeted that the average age of the party member is now 71. Some observers claimed this was fake news, but it seemed for a brief moment all too plausible. Freezing student loans or offering more money for people to buy their own homes just aren’t dramatic enough gestures for the scale of resentment. When you’re a teacher or doctor, aged 35, and you’re sharing a room in a communal house in London, you might indeed feel you were being treated with contempt. The Tories have no big ideas. Theresa May spouts half-hearted platitudes. And her leadership rivals look woeful. The only remotely credible candidates currently have long odds at the bookies. Sajid Javid, for example. Or the talented Ruth Davidson, who can’t currentl...