Madness this week: Keir and Covid, sex bans, Phillip Schofield and Laurence Fox

    The insanity of the week commencing 12 October 2020.

Why I haven't written about politics for a while

If there is such thing as a seasoned reader to my blog, they will have noticed that I haven’t written about politics for a long time.

The Tory quitters walked away and made a no-deal Brexit that little bit more likely

Who would have guessed that Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Dr Sarah Wollaston would quit the Tory party? They have sounded off, voted against the government and openly criticised virtually everything the party has done for ages.

There's no alternative to Theresa May's deal – we're going to find that out the hard way

Last night, the government experienced the worst defeat since the 1920s, as 432 MPs voted against the EU’s withdrawal agreement. Be in no doubt, this throws the Brexit process in to absolute chaos and makes the bleak prospect of leaving the European Union without a deal a stark and very real one.

There will be no new centrist alliance in British politics

Recent political chatter about a new, centrist force for so-called moderates grew louder yesterday with the revelation that, at some point, Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable plans to quit once Brexit is resolved – so no time soon then! There is also talk of the Lib Dems reforming to permit the choosing of a leader who does not sit in Westminster, a sure sign of their rather tragic fall and loss of place in British political discourse.

Labour must do better and Tories must think different

Local elections are a funny old business. The results, however the chips have fallen, tend to be viewed by almost everyone as proof that things aren’t that bad. Indeed, it always makes a nonsense of the journalistic proclivity to translate local results to general elections, even if said elections are 4 years away.

I'd rather be a red Tory than a wet Tory

Every party is a coalition. No party is illustrating that more explicitly at the moment than Labour, though commentators, journalists and politicians alike have ideologically categorised the British Conservative party’s different wings in a lot more detail and with a much wider degree of specificity. I’m the kind of Tory sometimes pejoratively but, I’d like to think, nonetheless affectionately labelled ‘red Tories.’ Others describe themselves as “Ken Clark Tories.” Whatever!

Lords, tax credits and those point-scoring Lib Dems

Confused as to why a debate on tax credits has become one centred on the very British constitution itself? You’re in good company, so here’s a rather excellent guide to help you understand it.
With that out of the way, we should be absolutely clear that if a fatal motion succeeds against the statutory instrument through which the Conservative government seeks to implement its tax credit changes, it will raise serious questions about the political legitimacy of the House of Lords.

This hard-working mother shows us why changes to tax credits are fair

This is the moment a mother-of-4 confronted Tory minister Amber Rudd on the BBC’s Question Time last week, and she turned away in shame.

Conservative Party: an inspiring conference and a vision for the future

The pictures couldn’t have contrasted more. On the one hand Conservatives young and old, smartly dressed, filed in to a packed venue in Manchester. On the other, a mob of spitting, bottle-throwing louts shouting “Tory scum!” One 18 year-old eruditely described on last night’s Question Time how she was called a “paedophile and child murderer” as she attempted to enter the conference. This is the last gasp of a political left that has truly and utterly taken leave of its senses.

Corbyn's first PMQs: a joyless spectacle

Jeremy Corbyn’s first performance at Prime Minister’s Questions was bland, boring and uninspiring.

Jeremy Corbyn: the triumph of easy answers, dangerous ideas and the one-party state

There is no sniff of smugness coming from the Tories over yesterday’s victory of Jeremy Corbyn as the new leader of the Labour party. Writing in today’s Telegraph, Michael Gove has written persuasively of his belief that Jeremy Corbyn actually poses a real, serious risk to the security of this country – a line repeated by Michael Fallon and Priti Patel on news programmes yesterday; there will be other voices repeating much the same message from the big guns of the Conservative party.

I'm sorry ladies, but Labour thinks you're second-best

I’m sorry ladies, but Labour thinks you’re second-best. Yes, that’s right: Labour is the party that has a problem with women.

Labour: and so the disaster continues

Labour is now so gripped by paranoia that it’s gone on a purging frenzy so sudden and aggressive that even the most hardened Soviet apparatchik would probably tell this lot to calm down and have a few slugs of Vodka to steady the nerves before continuing to rigorously investigate who gets rejected and whose vote should retrospectively be cancelled.

Dear Labour, you were once a formidible foe

Dear Labour,
My o my. What a pickle you are in. One should not only gently try and guide a friend heading down a calamitous path, but should be generous enough to do so also to a respectable foe, which you have proved over the years.

Analysis of Labour leadership debate: a hopeless horror show

On Sunday, the BBC gave the 4 Labour leadership hopefuls the opportunity to compete in a televised debate on Sunday Politics. My view: it’s looking really bleak for Labour.

No decent Tory should play their part in the ruin of Labour

It started as a bit of a joke. It was a hyped but misplaced story planted by a few mischief-makers, but now the Telegraph has published a step by step guide on how to sabotage the Labour party by registering as a supporter, paying a mere £3 and returning a vote for socialist firebrand Jeremy Corbyn.

Only an epic battle to shape its future can save Labour

As well they might, the Mail and Telegraph are getting rather excited about Yvette Cooper’s statements today, chiefly that Labour has to articulate a vision for the future, not end up “swallowing the Tory manifesto or looking back to our past.”

It’s believed the reference to the past was a swipe at Andy Burnham, whilst reference to the Tory manifesto is a dig at Liz Kendall, though Ms Cooper didn’t actually say this at all.