Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Farage says 'a lot more' diplomats should follow Rogers and resign – as it happened

Nigel Farage calls for more resignations after Sir Ivan Rogers quits

Afternoon summary

  • Sir Ivan Rogers has announced that he is resigning early from his post as Britain’s ambassador to the EU. He had been due to go in October, but he revealed today that he will stand down within the next few weeks. Some Brexiteers view him as an incorrigible Europhile who sabotaged David Cameron’s attempts to achieve a far-reaching EU renegotiation (see 2.08am) and the news of his departure has been warmly welcomed by those pushing for a “hard” Brexit. By contrast, pro-Europeans like Nick Clegg (see 2.18pm) and Lord Mandelson (see 2.49pm) have said that his premature exit is a blow for the government and that it suggests ministers are having problems accepting unpalatable expert advice. Rogers has not said why he is quitting early but no one is challenging reports saying that he clashed with ministers who wanted him to be more positive about Brexit. There is nothing particularly unusual about governments wanting the top civil service jobs to go to people who are at least not hostile to their political aims and it is conceivable that a more pro-Brexit replacement could help Theresa May’s government get what it wants (once it actually decides what it wants.) But May cannot take credit for forcing him out because his departure seems to have taken Number 10 by surprise. And it is also questionable whether there is anyone at all in the Foreign Office, or in the civil service generally, with the knowledge and experience to replace Rogers who would be pro-Brexit enough for the hardcore anti-Europeans putting pressure on May.
  • Jeremy Corbyn has rejected a Fabian Society report saying Labour needs to think about forming partnerships with other anti-Tory parties because it has no chance of winning the next general election on its own. (See 9.14am.)
  • Steve Hilton, David Cameron’s former head of strategy and a leave supporter during the EU referendum, has accused Theresa May of adopting a closed, “mean-spirited” approach to Brexit. Speaking on the Word at One, he said that he and others in the Vote Leave campaign called for an “open Brexit”. But the government has taken the opposite approach, he claimed, citing as an example the Conservative conference proposals (since abandoned) for firms to have to record the number of foreigners they employ. Hilton said:

What I worry about is that the tone that Theresa May has set so far is exactly the opposite of that [“open Brexit”], exactly what we don’t need; a kind of closed Brexit, a mean-spirited, narrow version of what leaving the EU should have been all about ...

What Theresa May is doing, certainly again in the tone that she and her ministers have struck, is to give the impression that the UK is pulling up the drawbridge, and instead of being open to the world, being closed to people. That is bad for our economy and our society.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, has now called for a “complete clear-out” of the Foreign Office.

Nigel Farage on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning.
Nigel Farage on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Leave Means Leave has welcomed Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation. This is from is co-chair, Richard Tice.

Sir Ivan was a remainer who consistently failed to acknowledge the benefits Brexit will bring to Britain. His claims that a Brexit deal would take ten years to secure demonstrates the pessimistic and unrealistic outlook he had for British independence.

It would have been completely inappropriate for him to stay in post and obstruct the Brexit process any further.

His successor must be someone 100 per cent committed to embracing the opportunities a swift, clean Brexit will bring Britain and crucially, someone independently minded who will stand up for what is best for Britain in the upcoming negotiations.

And here is my colleague Dan Roberts’ take on Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation. He says it is the latest sign that the UK is heading for a hard Brexit.

Osborne defends Rogers, praising him as 'perceptive, pragmatic and patriotic'

George Osborne, the former chancellor, has praised Sir Ivan Rogers.

His tweet is not hostile to the government, but it is implicitly critical of those in his party and elsewhere who have questioned Rogers’ professionalism.

Here’s Jonathan Isaby, editor of the pro-Brexit BrexitCentral website, on Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation.

Sir Ivan was due to leave his posting in Brussels later this year in any case; would those decrying his departure not have found it more disruptive for him to have to be replaced just a few months into the Brexit negotiations? Or are they simply upset at the prospect of a UK ambassador in Brussels who accepts the referendum result and can be relied on to support the prime minister in delivering a successful Brexit?

Dame Margaret Beckett, the Labour former foreign secretary, said Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation created a “crisis” for the Foreign Office.

If, as it appears, [Rogers] is lost because he gave honest advice, that is not a good precedent. I think it is a crisis for the prime minister and for the Foreign Office. It is deeply alarming.

My colleague Matthew d’Ancona has written his take on Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation. Here is an excerpt.

As a former home secretary, May is perfectly well-acquainted with the nuances and complexities of the EU. But she expected and required more from the UK’s permanent representative than to be reminded querulously of the obstacles to exit. As a prime minister who owes her job to a referendum that brought down her predecessor, she wanted the top diplomat in Brussels to offer solutions – and fast.

That said, Sir Ivan has long been a favourite (and useful) whipping boy for senior Tories. It suited them to roll their eyes, accuse him of going native and blame the failure of this or that negotiation upon his lack of patriotic fervour. Now they won’t have Rogers to kick around.

He will be replaced quickly enough, doubtless by someone billed by No 10 as a “safe pair of hands” – code for “more competent”. May will weather this particular squall. But a troubling question will linger and loom over the Brexit talks long after Sir Ivan has moved on: what if he was right?

And here is his article in full.

And here is some reaction to his resignation from British MEPs.

From the leader of the Labour MEPs, Glenis Willmott

From the Conservative MEP Charles Tannock

From the deputy leader of Labour MEPs, Richard Corbett

From the Green MEP Molly Scott Cato

Here is some more reaction to Sir Ivan Rogers’ departure from commentators.

From Politico Europe’s Ryan Heath

From the Centre for European Reform’s Charles Grant

Here is the government’s statement about Sir Ivan Rogers’ departure.

Jean Quatremer, the Brussels correspondent of the French paper Libération and a fierce critic of British Eurosceptics, seems to be enjoying the news that Sir Ivan Rogers has resigned.

Gerard Batten, Ukip’s Brexit spokesman, has welcomed Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation. In a statement Batten says that the government should not replace him until the European Communities Act has been repealed. Then Theresa May should consider appointing Nigel Farage to the post, Batten says.

When Farage was asked about this proposal, he told the Press Association: “That’s very sweet of [Batten]. It would be lots of fun, but it’s never going to happen.”

Farage says 'a lot more' diplomats should follow Rogers and resign

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, told the Press Association that “a lot more” British diplomats should follow Sir Ivan Rogers and resign.

I think it would be appropriate if a lot more people in that position, British ambassadors, left. The world has changed. The political establishment in this country and the diplomatic service just doesn’t accept the vote.

He also said Theresa May should replace Rogers with a “firm Brexiteer”.

She should welcome it with open arms and put a firm Brexiteer in the position. Somebody who recognises that the world has changed, somebody tough, so we can get on with Brexit.

Mandelson says Rogers' resignation suggests diplomats becoming 'increasingly inhibited' about offering blunt advice

Lord Mandelson, the former Labour business secretary and former European trade commissioner, has described Sir Ivan Rogers’ resignation as “a serious loss” to the country. In a statement issued by Open Britain, which is campaigning for what would be seen as a “soft” Brexit, he said:

In terms of knowledge and experience of the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers is second to none in Whitehall. His resignation is a serious loss for us in Brussels.

I would not expect him to comment further but everyone knows that civil servants are being increasingly inhibited in offering objective opinion and advice to ministers.

Our negotiation as a whole will go nowhere if ministers are going to delude themselves about the immense difficulty and challenges Britain faces in implementing the referendum decision.

Lord Mandelson.
Lord Mandelson. Photograph: REX

Former Treasury chief accuses government of 'total destruction of EU expertise'

Nicholas Macpherson, the former permanent secretary the Treasury, has got a Twitter account. And he is using it to criticise the “wilful and total destruction of EU expertise” in the civil service.

Rogers spent much of his career working as a civil servant in the Treasury.

His tweet refers to Jon Cunliffe, who was the UK’s ambassador to the EU before being replaced by Sir Ivan Rogers in 2013 and who is now deputy governor of the Bank of England; Michael Ellam, who dealt with EU policy at the Treasury before leaving for a job at HSBC in 2013; and Tom Scholar, who was the prime minister’s Europe adviser before becoming head of the Treasury last year.

Here is my colleague Jessica Elgot’s take on Sir Ivan Rogers’ departure.

Clegg says Rogers' resignation could turn out to be a “spectacular own goal” for Brexiteers

Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem leader and former deputy prime minister, worked alongside Sir Ivan Rogers when Rogers ran Leon Brittan’s office (or cabinet, in Euro-jargon) when Brittan was the European commissioner for trade and Clegg was Brittan’s speechwriter. He says Rogers’ resignation could turn out to be a “spectacular own goal” for Brexiteers.

The resignation of somebody as experienced as Sir Ivan Rogers is a body blow to the government’s Brexit plans.

I worked for Ivan Rogers in the EU twenty years ago - then he worked for me and the rest of the coalition government several years later.

Throughout all that time Ivan was always punctiliously objective and rigorous in all he did and all the advice he provided.

If the reports are true that he has been hounded out by hostile Brexiteers in government, it counts as a spectacular own goal.

The government needs all the help it can get from good civil servants to deliver a workable Brexit.

Nick Clegg.
Nick Clegg. Photograph: Tom Nicholson/REX/Shutterstock

In his excellent book on the EU referendum campaign, All Out War, the Sunday Times political editor Tim Shipman says some Tories blamed Sir Ivan Rogers for preventing David Cameron from demanding more from his EU renegotiation. Shipman argues that Cameron’s failure to negotiate far-reaching reform was one of the key factors that led to his losing the referendum.

Here’s an extract from the book.

‘We were too beholden to Tom Scholar [Cameron’s EU adviser at the time] and Ivan Rogers,’ one Cameron adviser said. ‘They were status quo. They were happy to take “No” for an answer, happy to believe things weren’t possible when they could be possible. I’ve lost count of the number of times Ivan threatened to resign.’ The politicos say Rogers was aggressive in dismissing their arguments, and went over their heads to Cameron: ‘He would send emails that were the stuff of legend, saying why didn’t we know anything? We were just politicos, we didn’t understand.’ Another aide said Rogers’ emails were ‘notorious’.

Rogers also clashed with the special advisers over their desire to include reforms to the European court of justice in the negotiation. [Daniel] Korski [a Cameron adviser] had a long-running battle with officials saying that we needed to do something, and he kept getting told that it was impossible to do something,” a Number 10 source said.

Arron Banks, chairman of Leave.EU, has welcomed Sir Ivan Rogers’ surprise resignation. He said:

This is a man who claimed it could take up to 10 years to agree a Brexit deal. He is far too much of a pessimist and yet another of the establishment’s pro-EU old guard. He has at least done the honourable thing in resigning.

It’s time now for someone who is optimistic about the future that lies ahead for Brexit Britain. Enough talk, we need to get on with getting out.

And here is some Twitter reaction to Sir Ivan Rogers’ premature departure from two pro-European experts.

From Gregor Irwin, chief economist at Global Counsel, Peter Mandelson’s consultancy

From Jonathan Lis, deputy director at the British Influence thinktank

Here is some Twitter reaction to the surprise resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers.

From the Conservative MP Nicholas Soames, a pro-European

From Jack McConnell, the Labour peer and former Scottish first minister

From Leave.EU

From Labour MEP Paul Brannen

From James McGrory, co-executive director of Open Britain, which is campaigning for the UK to stay in the single market

From Michael Heaver, a former aide to Nigel Farage

Hilary Benn says Rogers' departure 'not a good thing' for the UK

Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Commons Brexit committee, is on the World at One now. He says this is a time for continuity and experience. That means Sir Ivan Rogers’ departure is “not a good thing”, he says.

He says Rogers needs to be replaced soon. Article 50 is supposed to be triggered by the end of March, and the negotiations will start soon after that, Benn says. He says the UK will need a new ambassador to the EU in place.

Ambassadors have to tell ministers what the reality is, he says.

I’ll post the quotes shortly.

On the World at One George Parker, the Financial Times’ political editor, says the departure of Sir Ivan Rogers came as a surprise to Downing Street. Rogers felt the honest advice he gave to London was not being well received, and tensions were growing, Parker says. He says in Number 10 the view was that Rogers was too “eeyorish” and too pessimistic. Number 10 wanted someone more positive about Brexit, says Parker.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform thinktank, thinks the departure of Sir Ivan Rogers will make it harder for the UK to get a good Brexit deal.

The Foreign Office is now confirming Sir Ivan Rogers’ departure. This is from the BBC’s Rachel Kennedy.

The Foreign Office has not yet formally confirmed the FT story, but government sources are saying it is correct.

UK's ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, 'resigns early', FT reports

Sir Ivan Rogers, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, has resigned, the Financial Times is reporting.

Britain’s ambassador to the EU has unexpectedly and abruptly resigned, just a few months before the UK is expected to start formal Brexit negotiations in which he would have played a crucial role.

Sir Ivan Rogers told staff on Tuesday afternoon that he would be step down from his post early, leaving officials in shock over the loss of one of Britain’s most experienced EU negotiators.

He did not explain the reasons for the move, according to people who have seen his note to diplomatic staff. Sir Ivan played down the decision, saying he was leaving a few months earlier than his original departure date of November.

Rogers angered anti-Europeans last year when it emerged he had told ministers it could take 10 years to negotiate a free trade deal with the EU. The Daily Mail said at the time that the knives were out for Rogers and that there were “demands for Sir Ivan to be replaced with a diplomat who is more energetically pro-Brexit, amid speculation that his comments were deliberately leaked to undermine his position”.

Updated

Devolution in Northern Ireland is facing fresh destablizing shocks in early 2017 with a scandal over a bungled green energy scheme threatening to undermine the authority of first minister Arlene Foster. Meanwhile questions have been raised about the future of deputy first minister Martin McGuinness with rumours of a major health scare afflicting Sinn Fein’s most senior representative in the Stormont assembly.

Foster is under fire with serious questions about the so-called ‘cash for ash’ scandal which is estimated is going to cost the taxpayer £400m in lost revenue. The first minister survived a vote of no confidence in the Assembly just before Christmas.

However, questions continue to be raised over what Foster knew about the scheme which has been described as a ‘fiasco’ and ‘the worst scandal since devolution was restored. With the DUP rallying around Foster and the party insisting there is no need for her to even temporarily stand down during the inquiry, other parties are now warning about a collapse of the assembly and a fresh election.

Sinn Fein’s national chairman Declan Kearney raised the prospect of an election on Irish broadcaster RTE on Monday night warning that Foster staying in power would be “entirely untenable.”

The Ulster Unionist leader on the opposition benches at Stormont Mike Nesbitt has put his party on an election footing too.

However it is Sinn Fein’s position which will prove decisive given that the republican party is the DUP’s only partner in the regional government. The party refused to back a vote of no confidence in Foster back in December but has come under sustained pressure to distance itself from the DUP.

Sinn Fein spokespersons have also had to field questions about Martin McGuinness’ health particularly after the deputy first minister was deemed too ill to travel on a recent Northern Ireland trade mission to China. There have been rumours - unsubstantiated thus far - that McGuinness could be replaced as deputy first minister by Sinn Fein assembly member and former Stormont Minister Conor Murphy.

The multi-party opposition in the regional parliament scents blood but also risks plunging Northern Ireland into an election for which there is probably little public appetite. It is also a gamble for the opposition parties that the outcome of an election this month or next would produce any radical change in numbers on the green benches at Stormont after the votes are counted. Because the most likely result of a winter election would Sinn Fein and the DUP emerging once again as the two main dominant parties in the Assembly.

Arlene Foster with Martin McGuinness
Arlene Foster with Martin McGuinness Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

Anas Sarwar MSP has put out a statement about the Fabian Society report on behalf of Scottish Labour. He flatly rejected the idea of some form of alliance with the SNP.

Repeated talk of a ‘progressive alliance’ is laughable. The SNP is not a progressive party.

There have been no redistributive polices from the SNP in government. Under the SNP we have seen the worst reports on our NHS and education system since devolution. Just last month the SNP and the Tories joined forces to defeat a Labour proposal for a progressive tax system.

Under the SNP, Tory austerity is simply being passed on in Scotland, with the Nationalists planning a £327m cut to valued local services in 2017. That is not progressive - it is a budget a Tory chancellor would be proud of.

There is also nothing progressive about seeking to break away from the rest of the UK - our biggest trading partner. That’s why there will be no support from Scottish Labour for a second independence referendum.

And, of course, the SNP doesn’t want an alliance with Labour – it hates the Labour party and believes its destruction and the continuation of Tory government in Westminster is the route to independence.

Anas Sarwar.
Anas Sarwar. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Number 10 lobby briefing - Summary

Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.

The prime minister’s spokeswoman defended this arrangement. She told reporters:

It is important to be clear what these are. These are cash transfers that are effectively making sure that aid it targeted to those who need it when they need it. The effectiveness of such transfer schemes has been recognised by the public accounts committee and the National Audit Office who have spoken about the clear economic benefits of the system.

She also said that “robust systems” were in place with cash payments to counter fraud.

  • Number 10 refused to endorse the Change Britain claim that leaving the customs union could create 400,000 jobs. Change Britain, a pro-Brexit group, made the claim in a report issued overnight. Asked if the government agreed, the spokewoman said that this was an analysis produced by Change Britain and that she was not aware of any government analysis covering this specific issue. As my colleague Jessica Elgot reports, economists have disputed the Change Britain figures.
  • The spokeswoman rejected Nigel Farage’s claim that Theresa May had done nothing to implement Brexit. (See 9.52am.) The spokeswoman said that May had set up two government departments to oversee the Brexit process and that Brexit department ministers had met more than 130 companies to discuss what they wanted. She also said that Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, had had “many fruitful discussions” with other countries about strengthening trade links after Brexit.
  • The spokeswoman confirmed that May still intends to give a speech on Brexit “early in the new year”. But she would not say whether that meant this week or next week.
10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Street. Photograph: Steve Back / Barcroft Images

I’m back from the lobby briefing, but I’m afraid the Downing Street news machine isn’t exactly firing on all cylinders. In fact, it’s barely ticking over. It won’t take me long to write up the summary.

Jeremy Corbyn and other Labour MPs have been out today campaigning against rail fare increases.

Corbyn has also used Twitter to post a tribute to the writer and art critic John Berger who has died.

I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.

In the light of what the Fabian Report is claiming about the need for Labour to former a “partnership” with other anti-Tory parties, this letter in yesterday’s Guardian, from Neal Lawson, chair of the leftwing group Compass, is worth flagging up.

Compass is actively pushing the case for a “progressive alliance”.

Perhaps John Healey also thinks he sounded a bit too despondent on the Today programme this morning. (See 9.46am.) The shadow housing minister has posted a corrective tweet with a slightly more upbeat message about Labour’s prospects.

On Twitter the academic Matthew Goodwin is flagging up an article the psephologist John Curtice published just before Christmas showing how the electoral system now disadvantages Labour. It backs up point six in the Fabian analysis. (See 10.31am.)

Here’s Curtice’s summary of his argument.

Labour won fewer seats in 2015 than in 2010, even though its share of the vote increased. The decline in representation was occasioned by three features of the electoral geography of the 2015 contest—a collapse in Labour support in Scotland, a particularly strong Conservative advance in marginal seats and the fact that in England and Wales Labour’s vote rose most strongly in seats that the party already held. As a result, Labour’s vote became markedly less efficiently distributed than that of the Conservatives—a development that could make it very difficult for the party to win an overall majority at the next election. Meanwhile, the redrawing of constituency boundaries that is currently in train will make winning a majority even more difficult. However, the next election could well produce a hung parliament, and the party should be prepared for that eventuality.

Summary of Fabian Society's report about Labour, "Stuck"

The Fabian Society report about Labour’s plight consists of seven claims, with analysis backing them up. Here they are, with extracts from the analysis. (The seven headlines are direct quotes, not paraphrasing by me.)

1 - Approaching half the people who voted Labour in 2015 no longer support the party

Labour’s problems today start with its own former voters. 4 million people who voted for the party in 2015 (44 per cent) would not vote Labour today. Some of this group have switched their allegiance to other parties, but more than half say they are undecided or would not vote.

2 - Outside Scotland Labour is now no less popular than in 2010, but it is set to win far fewer seats

Labour’s Scottish collapse has already happened (the party only has one seat left to lose), but in 2015 Labour gained MPs in England and Wales - winning 231 seats - so it now stands to lose lots of MPs south of the border. On the basis of current polling, Labour can expect to lose around 40 seats at the next election – all but one in England and Wales.

3 - Things could get even worse for Labour

Both historic trends and current polling suggests that Labour could secure a smaller share of the vote than mid-term opinion polls suggest. A plausible, if pessimistic, scenario is that Labour could be reduced to 20 per cent of the vote at the next election.

4 - If Labour’s vote plummets the party will win fewer than 150 MPs at the next election, but the electoral system will create a ‘firebreak’

A disastrous election result for Labour would see the party lose around 90 MPs, but it would still be the second largest party by some margin with sufficient MPs to form the platform for future recovery. The Lib Dems or Ukip could only breakthrough if they won many more votes than Labour nationally.

5 - There is no easy answer to Labour’s Brexit dilemma

Fabian Society estimates based on published YouGov data tables indicate that since the 2015 election, Labour has lost around 400,000 votes to the Lib Dems; and only around 200,000 each to the Conservatives and Ukip. It seems that Labour is equally vulnerable to losing support to another liberal-minded, pro-European party; and to the socially conservative, Euro-sceptic parties.

6 - An outright Labour victory is now virtually unthinkable, so partnerships will need to be considered

Today Labour needs to win 94 seats to win a majority of one (compared to 68 before the last election). But this actually understates how much harder Labour’s task has become. Not only does the party need to win more seats, there are also fewer competitive marginal constituencies compared to previous electoral cycles (just 48 seats can be won with a 5 percentage point swing from the incumbent to Labour, compared to 74 in the last parliament). This is partly due to Conservative majorities being higher than before in England and Wales. But it is also because, in Scotland, the SNP are way ahead in most of the seats they hold (only 2 of those 48 marginal seats are in Scotland). This is a critical issue for Scottish Labour: not only does the party have only one MP, but it will need a huge turnaround in support to gain many more.

7 - The proposed boundary changes are a distraction, given Labour’s other problems

The Labour Party has expended a huge amount of energy opposing the proposed boundary changes, and there is still a chance they will not be implemented because they are being resisted by Tory backbenchers too. However, compared to the party’s other electoral challenges, the proposed changes are a sideshow.

Here is the Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards on the Fabian Society report.

Scottish Labour has also rejected the idea of a pact with the SNP, PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield reports.

In his interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, accused Theresa May of doing “nothing” to implement Brexit since the referendum last summer. He told the programme:

I’m concerned that we have a government that is not really committed to carrying out the will of the people. [May’s] indecision is putting us on the back foot…

What we need is some much clearer, firmer leadership. And we may well lose some fantastic opportunities: over 20 countries have approached us since the referendum to say ‘can we do a trade deal?’. At the moment we’ve started formal discussions with not one of them.

This last allegation is unfair. Under EU rules, the UK cannot open formal trade talks with other countries while it remains an EU member.

On the Today programme John Healey, the shadow housing minister, was also asked about what the Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said in a Daily Mirror interview about Labour’s poll ratings being “awful”. Healey said:

Of course [McCluskey’s] right, they’re awful. The challenge now for me and the shadow cabinet and the whole of the party and Jeremy Corbyn as leader is to demonstrate that we can be a strong opposition and a convincing alternative to the Conservatives and that we can win over and win back public opinion, particularly those voters we’ve lost in recent years.

Nick Robinson, who was interviewing Healey, pressed him on whether he thought the party might have to replace Corbyn at some point, but Healey deftly sidestepped this, saying the priority was winning the trust of voters.

The Independent’s Rob Merrick says Healey sounded despondent.

John Healey.
John Healey. Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

This morning the Daily Mirror has splashed on a story about a former aide to Nigel Farage facing up to 20 years in jail after admitting fraud.

Farage, the former Ukip leader, was asked about the story on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning. He played down his links with Cottrell, telling the programme:

[Cottrell’s] not an employee, he was a volunteer. He was unpaid. He was helping me do stuff. He’d been part of our party for a couple of years. We never had any suspicions about him at all. He faced 21 charges in America, 20 have been dropped. He’s pleaded guilty to a C grade felony.

Listen, I can’t be responsible for what everyone around me does.

Asked if he was disappointed in the former aide, Farage said:

Surprised ... he was 20 years old at the time this happened. Guilt, no guilt, fallen into bad company - I’m not sure.

Corbyn rejects report saying Labour needs pact with other parties to win election

Happy new year everyone.

Although, if you’re a Labour supporter, the Fabian Society is doing its best to quash any new year cheer. It has published a report this morning with a title, “Stuck: How Labour is too weak to win, and too strong to die”, which sums up its entire argument perfectly.

Here is the summary from the Fabian Society. Here is the full 12-page report (pdf). And here is the Guardian’s overnight splash story summarising its contents.

The report is mostly devoted to analysing Labour’s problems, not proposing solutions, but it does suggest that the party needs to think about working “in partnership” with other parties.

For the time being Labour has no realistic chance of winning an election outright. To win a majority of one the party will probably need to beat the Tories by more than in 2001; such was the scale of its Scottish meltdown. So a wounded Labour party will have to get used to the idea that it will need to work alongside others ...

It is much more plausible to imagine a group of anti- Conservative parties securing sufficient votes to form a governing alliance than for Labour to govern alone – although even this would still require a very large reversal in Labour’s present fortunes. For example, Labour, the SNP and the Lib Dems would secure a shared majority if they gained 30 seats between them (but not from each other). This could be achieved if there was a swing away from the Conservatives of around 3 percentage points (to give Labour 24 gains and the Lib Dems 6 gains). This is consistent with Labour and the Conservatives being tied in share of the vote, which would also give Labour the moral authority to assert the right to govern.

Another intermediate goal would be to win a majority in England or in England and Wales, which would enable Labour to legislate under the terms of ‘English Votes for English Laws’. Reaching this milestone would help ward off concerns about undue SNP influence, in the context of Labour requiring SNP support to maintain a UK majority. The two scenarios are:

England and Wales majority – 56 gains (5.7 per cent swing, 5 point Labour GB lead)

England majority – 61 gains (6.5 per cent swing, 6.5 point Labour GB lead

All these possibilities may sound rather theoretical, considering how the gap between Labour and the Conservatives has widened sharply since the last election, not closed. But we are living through very fluid political times. By 2020 Labour and the Conservatives could each face very different political contexts.

However Labour this morning is rejecting the idea of forming pacts with other parties. A spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn said:

Rebuilding Labour support after its fragmentation at the 2015 election was always going to be a challenge. But Labour under Jeremy Corbyn will be taking its case to every part of Britain in the coming months with a radical policy platform, offering the only genuine alternative to a failed parliament political establishment and the fake anti-elitists of the hard right.

And, when John Healey, the shadow housing minister was asked about the report on the Today programme this morning, he said:

It’s a serious warning and, quite rightly, the Fabian Society say the roots of Labour’s problem predate Jeremy Corbyn, were there at the 2015 election and in some ways there at the 2010 election. These are big challenges for Labour. But I do not see the answer to Labour’s challenge as being to team up with the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and a ragbag of other parties.

I will post more on this as the day goes on.

The Commons is in recess, and there is not much in the diary today, but we are getting a Number 10 lobby briefing at 11am.

As usual, I will also be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on@AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
“I laughed my head off! Like, ‘Oh my God, what have we spawned?’” Keith Richards shares his response to the Sunset Strip shredders of the 1980s
Richards never had any interest in becoming a lead player – and the early innovators of the shred movement did not change his mind
Guitar World
Guitar World
“A few years ago, I decided, ‘I'm just going to play trumpet every day, no matter what. And after a couple of years of doing it, I'm going to make a record’”: Flea covers Frank Ocean and explains why he’s scratching a long-standing itch on his new album
Watch him doing double duty on trumpet and bass in the company of Jimmy Fallon
MusicRadar
MusicRadar
Anna Kendrick And Kieran Culkin’s Reactions To An Interviewer’s Michael Cera Comment Are Going Viral Again
“I think the interview is projecting his own insecurities here.”
Bored Panda
Bored Panda
Nicki Minaj Sued Over $275K Unpaid Concert Production Costs — Firm Claims Bills Ignored for Years
Nicki Minaj is embroiled in a legal battle as a production company claims she owes over $275,000 for concert production costs. The lawsuit highlights financial risks in the entertainment industry.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
Age Of Attraction Could Become My Love Is Blind Replacement, But It Needs To Fix Some Things
I can see a future but with many changes.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Weird Al Just Unexpectedly (And Brutally) Trolled The Rock’s Live Action Moana Wig
Ouch!
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play