Afternoon summary
- Chris Grayling, leader of the Commons, has refused Labour demands for an inquiry into whether Michael Gove was partially responsible for the leak of the Sun story about the Queen allegedly backing Brexit. (See 4.51pm.)
- Lord Mandelson, the Labour former business secretary and former European commissioner, has criticised Boris Johnson for complaining about President Obama wanting the UK to stay in the EU. In an extract released this afternoon from a speech he will give tomorrow Mandelson said:
There’s an increasing tendency from Brexiters to damn anyone who deigns takes the opposing argument as having no right to do so. Boris Johnson’s attack on President Obama is a classic of the genre. Instead of putting his fingers in his ears and screaming hypocrisy, Boris should be asking why Barack Obama would make the case for Britain to stay in the EU.
- A poll for ICM has found Labour neck and neck with the Conservatives. Both parties are on 36%, the poll says. But, in an unusual move, ICM has published a blog alongside the figures saying it thinks the poll is probably “rogue”.
Firstly, both the Conservative and Labour shares are affected by rounding, with the Conservative’s 36.4% being rounded down and Labour’s 35.6% being rounded up, thus creating parity. However, if only 1 or 2 people had fallen a different way on this poll, there would have at least been a 2-point Conservative lead.
Secondly, ICM has developed a new method of turnout modelling, which, we think, much better controls for raw poll samples’ often observed tendency to contain too many Labour voters/intenders. Had we applied our new model, it alone would have resulted in a 3-point Conservative lead on our headline figures. We plan on launching this new modelling in the very near future, although it will remain a work-in-progress.
Thirdly, this is the seventh out of ten ICM phone polls since the 2015 General Election which recalls voting in Ed Miliband as Prime Minister. Unfortunately the ability of Recall by Past Vote weighting to correct for this is mitigated on this occasion (and thus has only a negligible counter-impact), by a sizable and unusual number of 2015 Conservative voters transitioning to Labour on future intentions.
The word ‘rogue’ is too often used in polling analysis, but in our view it is hard to believe this phone poll will escape such labelling.
- The Labour MP Wes Streeting has questioned the party’s commitment to tackling anti-semitism after the party defended the readmission of a previously-suspended activist. Streeting was commenting on the re-admittance to the party of Vicki Kirby, who was suspended in 2014 when she was the party’s parliamentary candidate for Woking over social media posts. They included a tirade which described Israel as “evil”, another questioning why the Islamic State (Isis) hadn’t yet attacked it and one suggesting Hitler might be the “Zionist God”. As the Press Association reports, the Guido Fawkes website revealed however that Kirby was recently elected the local party’s vice-chair after being readmitted following the offence. A Labour spokeswoman said:
Following her resignation as a parliamentary candidate [Kirby] received a warning from the NEC on her future conduct and the suspension was then lifted. If new evidence comes to light, the Labour party will review that evidence and make sure the rules of the party are upheld.
Streeting responded to the Labour statement on Twitter with this.
This can't be right because @jeremycorbyn has said there is "no place" for antisemitism in our society. Minutes ago! https://t.co/lDbAf5N4lR
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) March 14, 2016
Streeting was referring to this tweet from Jeremy Corbyn (referring to a separate issue).
The vile anti-Semitic abuse being directed @lucianaberger is completely unacceptable. It has no place in our society.
— Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) March 14, 2016
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
Tom Watson's UQ on Gove and the Queen Brexit leak - Summary
Here are the key points from the urgent question.
- Chris Grayling, the leader of the Commons, refused Labour demands for an inquiry into whether Michael Gove was partially responsible for the leak of the Sun story about the Queen allegedly backing Brexit. Grayling also refused to endorse calls for Gove to be required to make a further statement himself clarifying his position. Grayling said that there was no need for an investigation because Nick Clegg, who was also present with Gove at the lunch where the Queen reportedly made her comments, had described the story as untrue.
- Grayling urged President Obama to stay out of the EU referendum debate. He said he would “discourage any foreign leader” from getting involved in the debate taking place in the UK.
- Tom Watson, the deputy leader of the Labour party, called for an investigation into the leak. He says Gove’s denial about being the source was “hardly categoric”. If Gove were responsible, he should resign or be sacked, Watson said:
If the justice secretary were to have disclosed this information, he would have breached the principle of confidentiality and prayed in aid the monarch in a politically controversial manner. But he would also have undermined his role as the minister responsible for upholding the law. Does the minister therefore agree that the public have a right to know whether or not the justice secretary was a source of this story? ...
Surely any member of the privy council who was a source of this story, or whose special adviser or ally was, stands in contempt of his pricy council oath and should be removed from office if he won’t honourably resign himself.
Updated
Tom Watson's UQ on Gove and the Queen Brexit leak - Snap verdict
During the coalition Conservative and Lib Dem ministers generally got on reasonably well, but there were some blue/yellow feuds and, at cabinet level, none was more acrimonious than the one between Michael Gove and Nick Clegg. For example, Gove’s former aide Dominic Cummings described Clegg as “self-obsessed”, “dishonest” and “a revolting character”. Clegg described Gove as “absurd”.
Yet today Clegg ended up serving Gove as a human shield. Faced with repeated demands from Labour for a leak investigation, or a categorical assurance from Gove that he did not leak the Queen’s views, Chris Grayling, the leader of the Commons, was able to brush them all aside by insisting that Clegg had claimed that said conversation with the Queen did not happen. And, if it did not happen, Gove could not have leaked it, he suggested.
The logic of this is tenuous, to say the least. (Clegg’s denials, at least initially, were not 100% robust, and even though the Sun has had trouble justifying its “Queen backs Brexit” headline, the substance of its story - that the Queen is personally very critical of the EU, and has said so in private to politicians - has not been disputed.) And Labour’s Paul Flynn was right to point out that Gove’s weekend statement does not amount to a proper denial. But “the Clegg defence” was enough to get Grayling through these exchanges quite comfortably and it never felt as if Labour were getting close to the kill.
It helped that that it was Grayling, one of the “gang of six” attending cabinet who favours Brexit, defending Gove, another cabinet minister if favour of Britain leaving the EU. But, given David Cameron’s refusal to order a leak inquiry, even the pro-EU crowd in government seem reluctant to push Gove out over this. Maybe after the John Longworth row they feel they have created enough EU martyrs for the time being.
This morning the Mail said Gove was “clinging to office”. Now, unless any new evidence comes to light, it looks like he’s safe - at least until after the referendum.
Updated
Labour’s Naseem Shah asks if Gove has the support of this prime minister and his colleagues.
Yes, says Grayling.
And that’s it.
I’ll post a snap verdict in a moment.
Labour’s Melanie Onn asks why the government is not taking this seriously by holding an investigation.
Grayling says Ipso is the proper body to investigate this.
Labour’s Clive Efford says Grayling is having to answer a question because Gove did not issue an unequivocal denial.
Grayling says Efford is asking Gove to say that something that did not happen did not happen. That does not make any sense, he says.
Labour’s Paul Flynn says Gove’s carefully-constructed statement (see 1.12pm) did not amount to a full denial.
Labour’s Stephen Pound says his Sunday was ruined by having to read the memoirs of David Laws. Shouldn’t we impose a self-denying ordinance?
Bercow says a self-denying ordinance would be a contradiction in terms.
Grayling says he thinks Pound may change his mind when he gets an offer for his memoirs.
Henry Smith, a Conservative, asks when the government will introduce a sovereignty bill.
Grayling says that the Queen will be visiting parliament soon for the Queen’s Speech, and that that will set out the government’s programme.
UPDATE: I’ve amended the second paragraph, replacing “the Commons” with parliament. The Queen visits the Lords, not the Commons.
Updated
Labour’s Jo Stevens says public confidence in the referendum depends on ministers on both sides behaving fairly.
Grayling agrees.
Labour’s Dennis Skinner says he has never been to the Palace. He says that to him the most strange aspect of this is: “What on earth was the Queen doing confiding in Clegg?”
Grayling says he hopes Skinner will get to go to the Palace before he ends his career.
Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative, says someone may have taken notes of the meeting, perhaps for a book.
Grayling says, again, that Clegg has said the story is untrue.
Philip Hollobone, a Conservative, asks how it can be justified for any foreign leader to intervene in the EU referendum. Doesn’t this show how the Bilderberg group is trying to influence the referendum.
Grayling says he thinks foreign leaders should not get involved in the campaign.
Labour’s Joan Ryan says, as a member of the privy council, she thinks this story undermines it. So it is beholden on the government to ask Gove to make a statement laying this matter to rest.
Grayling says being a member of the privy council is a great honour. But Clegg has said this story is categorically untrue.
Labour’s Kevin Brennan says it would be better if Gove were to come to the Commons and issue a categorical denial.
Grayling says Clegg has said this conversation did not take place, so a denial is unnecessary.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative, asks how privy counsellors can become European commissioners, given they have to swear an oath of allegiance to the European Union.
Grayling says this “says it all”.
Liam Fox, the Conservative former defence secretary, says this affair shows how Labour are playing “the man not the ball”.
UPDATE: Earlier I said it was not clear whether Fox was talking about Labour “playing the man, not the ball” or the pro-Europeans. Either would have made sense in the context. But, having listened to the tape again, I can report that Fox did specify that he was talking about “the party opposite”. I’ve corrected the paragraph above.
Updated
The SNP’s Stephen Gethins says the Cabinet Office was able to carry out a successful leak inquiry into the anti-SNP leak of a document during the election.
Grayling says Nick Clegg said the story was categorically untrue. So it is a matter for Ipso, he says.
Grayling rules out privy council leak investigation
Grayling says Nick Clegg said the story was not true.
Given that Ipso is investigating, there is no need for a further investigation.
- Grayling rules out privy council leak investigation.
Tom Watson says the Sun published a story last week.
Privy counsellors have to swear an oath keeping their breifings secret.
Three members of the privy council have denied being the source of the story, but Michael Gove has said he does not know how the Sun got its information. That is not a categoric denial.
If Gove were to have disclosed this information, he would have breached the principle of confidentiality, and prayed in aid the Queen in a political manner.
So the public have a right to know if Gove did this.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation is investigating. But it cannot investiate whether Gove broke his oath.
Watson says, if Gove was responsible, he should resign or be sacked.
Updated
Tom Watson asks for a statement.
Chris Grayling, the leader of the Commons, describes the role of the privy council. Privy counsellors swear an oath to maintain the confidentiality of their briefings.
John Bercow, the Common Speaker, tells MPs that Erskine May says the Queen cannot be presumed to have private opinions. What matters are the views of her ministers, it says.
He says he hopes MPs will take note of that, and that he will not have to reprimand them.
Tom Watson's urgent question covering Gove and the Queen Brexit leak
Tom Watson will be asking his urgent question any minute now.
This is what my colleague Roy Greenslade wrote last week about suggestions Michael Gove was the source of the Sun’s story.
And here is an extract.
Anyway... back to the hunt for the source. According to the Daily Telegraph, the Times and the Daily Mail, the man in the frame is Michael Gove, the Brexit-backing justice secretary.
The stories you need to read, in one handy emailRead more
The Telegraph splashed on the claim: “Gove faces ‘Queen Brexit’ questions”. It based its belief on the fact that he “refused to deny that he was the source of the leaked exchange.”
By contrast, the Mail relied on “Whitehall sources”, claiming they had “pointed the finger of blame” at Gove “for allegedly leaking comments made by the Queen at a lunch with ministers in 2011.”
The Times, in an article headlined “Focus on Gove as palace denies that monarch wants to quit EU”, reported that “suspicion over the leak” fell on Gove because he had been among the guests at a private lunch at Windsor Castle.
One paragraph stated: “Senior government sources speculated that, if proved, the leak would provide legitimate grounds to sack the justice secretary.”
Duncan Smith announces pilot scheme that could reduce number of benefit claimants being sanctioned
Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, has just told MPs that the government will start piloting a system to give people who face being sanctioned (losing benefits temporarily, because they have failed to comply with a condition) 14 days in which to provide information that will excuse their conduct and stop them having to lose money.
Updated
Duncan Smith says PIP changes will 'improve the lot of those worse off'
On Friday last week the government sneaked out news of cuts to the personal independence payments (PIP), a benefit for disabled people replacing disability living allowance (DLA). The amount of money being cut is huge, around £1bn.
Here’s the Guardian’s news story.
At DWP questions in the Commons Owen Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, asked Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, to justify this move. He said:
Politics is about choices, about priorities and about values and I think this weekend we saw the values and priorities of the current government laid bare in the decision to implement the so-called welfare reform that will see £1.2bn cut from the incomes of disabled people to pay for, we’re told, a tax cut for top-rate taxpayers. So can the secretary of state can come back to the despatch box and describe that, honestly, as a welfare reform.
Duncan Smith replied with a very technical answer, but he claimed the changes would “improve the lot of those worse off”.
The changes that have been announced on PIP are about changing and reforming and improving what goes to those who most need it in this disability allowance. And the key point about this is that we put a consulation out long before the Christmas period ... And we listened to all those submissions that came back. And, as a result of those submissions, we are not implementing any of the first four options. It is right to continue to recognise aids and appliances and all the activities, as we previously did, but with a change to activities five and six changing the points numbers from two to one. And that brings them into line with activity three ...
And finally activities five and six are less reliable indicators of additional cost.
And this all came on the back of an independent review published just after the last election asking us to look again at the way these indicators are used. We have done that. And in fairness I believe this is the right way to go and will improve the lot of those worse off.
In response, Smith said Duncan Smith was taking £1.2bn from disabled people. He went on:
So before I came here I asked disabled people what question they would like to put to the secretary of state. And one answer stood out. And it was quite simply: How does he sleep at night?
Duncan Smith replied saying the government spending £50bn on sickness and disability benefits and that this was more than any other OECD country of equivalent size. This was 6% of all government spending, he said. And he said that, even with the changes, spending on PIP would rise every year for the rest of the decade.
Later today MPs will be debating the energy bill. Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader and a former energy secretary, is planning to intervene.
Will make case later to put zero emissions in law in Energy Bill debate. Hopeful of positive response from government following discussions.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) March 14, 2016
Chris Grayling, the leader of the Commons, will be responding to Tom Watson’s UQ. He’s also lord president of the [privy] council and the UQ is about privy council rules and conventions. (See 1.12pm.)
Lunchtime summary
- Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has been granted a Commons urgent question that will allow him to raise claims that Michael Gove, the justice secretary, was partly responsible for the Sun story saying the Queen backs Brexit. At the weekend Gove seemed to suggest he was partly responsible for the story (see 1.12pm) and this morning at least one paper claimed he was “clinging to office”. Watson’s question is clearly aimed at Gove, although he will have to raise the story with some ingenuity because the Speaker will not let him talk directly about the Queen and her views on the EU. (See 1.26pm.)
- Number 10 has defended President Obama’s right to speak out in favour of Britain staying in the EU. (See 12.36pm.) In his Telegraph column this morning Boris Johnson, the Conservative MP and London mayor, said Obama’s intervention was “outrageous and exorbitant hypocrisy”. (See 8.50pm.)
- The Liberal Democrats have attacked Labour’s decision to abstain on a key vote on the “snooper’s charter” bill, accusing them of “sitting on their hands while the government rams through a law that will erode our civil liberties”. As Rowena Mason and Alan Travis report, the shadow home secretary, Andy Burnham, has confirmed Labour will not vote against the investigatory powers bill at its second reading in the Commons on Tuesday. Instead, the party said it is prepared to delay parts of the legislation until next year if ministers fail to address concerns about privacy and state intrusion.But the Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, said Labour failed to provide serious opposition. “Previously, Labour were for the bill then against the bill and now are abstaining,” he said.
- Abta, the trade body representing travel agents and tour companies, has said foreign travel is “likely to become more expensive” if Britain leaves the EU. (See 10.58am.)
- The Scottish government has launched a consultation on plans to cut air passenger duty (APD). APD is being devolved to Holyrood, where the administration has committed to halving the rate from 2018. Under the SNP’s plans, the 50% reduction would begin in April that year and be delivered in full by the end of the next parliament in 2021. The tax would be abolished completely when resources allow, ministers have said.
- The government has accepted recommendations from the Low Pay Commission to increase the minimum wage for under-25s from October. Over-25s are covered by the “national living wage” which is coming into force in April. The government says almost half a million people will receive a pay rise of almost £450 as a result.
Updated
Back to the urgent question, and the challenge Tom Watson will face trying to raise Michael Gove without mentioning the Queen. This is what John Bercow, the Speaker, said in the chamber on Thursday when the SNP’s Pete Wishart started talking about the Queen and her views on Brexit during business questions last week.
I hesitate to interrupt the honourable gentleman. He said what he said, but for the benefit of the House, and particularly for the benefit of new members, may I underline that we do not discuss the views of the monarch in this chamber? There have occasionally been debates on matters appertaining to the royal family, which I have happily granted, but we do not discuss that matter. I think it better if we just leave it there.
Sir Nicholas Soames has also been on Twitter this morning having a go at Boris Johnson and what he said in his Telegraph column. (See 8.50am.)
Almost inconceivable Boris could be so wrong .Strong evidence in DT today that he is seriously adrift in the argument #compassbroken
— Nicholas Soames (@nsoamesmp) March 14, 2016
Outers running on toxic combo of whinge and grievance. Defeat will come intellectually and politically
— Nicholas Soames (@nsoamesmp) March 14, 2016
Worth reflecting that the bite of EU / US have been vital in managing post post Cold War fallout including Iran #essentialtogether
— Nicholas Soames (@nsoamesmp) March 14, 2016
Global trade major source of stability. EU should be expanding free trade deals with Asia and TTIP #getonwithit
— Nicholas Soames (@nsoamesmp) March 14, 2016
Text of Tom Watson's urgent question
Here is the text of Tom Watson’s urgent question. He will ask the minister for a statement “on the adherence to the rules and conventions of the privy council in light of the suspension of collective responsibility in connection with the European Union referendum.”
Labour sources have confirmed that Watson will not be allowed to refer to the Queen directly, so he will have to use some ingenuity to raise the allegations about Michael Gove being the source for the Sun’s story.
At the weekend Gove responded to a question about this with a phrase that suggested he was at least partially responsible for what appeared in the Sun. He said:
I don’t know how The Sun got all its information.
When pressed, he gave the same answer, with the same wording.
The Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Soames responded with a tweet suggesting that Gove’s statement was an admission of guilt.
Is the Gover now owning up to an inexcusable mistake in breaching an oath and a confidence? If so now VERY serious #consequences
— Nicholas Soames (@nsoamesmp) March 12, 2016
The Cabinet Office tell me they do not know yet who will respond to Tom Watson’s urgent question about the privy council. Oliver Letwin or Matthew Hancock, who are both Cabinet Office ministers, or Chris Grayling, who as Commons leader and lord president of the council is actually in charge of the privy council, are all possibilities.
Tom Watson to raise Gove Queen EU leak allegations in Commons urgent question
Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has been granted an urgent question this afternoon on privy council rules. This will allow him to ask about the suggestion that Michael Gove was responsible for leaking information about the Queen’s views on the EU to the Sun, although Watson may have to phrase his question carefully because John Bercow, the Speaker, will not allow MPs to discuss the Queen’s views.
No statements. 1 UQ at 3.30pm - @tom_watson to ask on Privy Council rules/conventions and suspension of collective responsibility on EU ref
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) March 14, 2016
Updated
No 10 lobby briefing - Summary
Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing
- Downing Street defended President Obama’s right to speak out in favour of Britain staying in the EU. Asked about Boris Johnson’s attack on Obama in his Telegraph column, the prime minister’s spokeswoman said:
[The prime minister] said when he was in France at the summit that lots of people are making their views known on this issue, including international leaders, and these are people that wish Britain well and they are worth listening to.
The spokeswoman would not comment on reports that Obama is planning to visit the UK in April to express his support for Britain remaining in the EU in person. Obama’s travel plans were for the White House to announce, she said.
- Number 10 defended its decision to sent out multiple articles in David Cameron’s name proclaiming his “love” for different parts of the UK. The spokeswoman said that Cameron wanted to support the tourism industry and that there were many parts of the UK that he felt strongly about. The tourism industry was worth £60bn in 2014, she said. And visits by overseas visitors to the UK went up by 5% last year, she said. “That is something worth supporting.”
- Cameron is hoping to speak to the Turkish prime minister later today to offer his support in the light of yesterday’s bomb attack in Ankara. Britain is already working with the Turks on counter-terrorism measures, but Cameron ask if Britain can offer further assistance.
- Downing Street played down the prospect of Turkey joining the EU for at least a decade. Asked about the government’s stance on Turkish accession, the spokeswoman said that there was a strict process for joining the EU and that it should apply to Turkey as well as other countries.
The reality is that there is a very long way to go in this negotiation. There are 32 so-called chapters relating to the EU acquis. Negotiations formally opened in 2005. In that time we have only opened 15, and only one has been concluded. There are about the same number of chapters to open. And every time we seek to open or close a chapter, every country [in the EU] has a veto.
- The spokeswoman played down, but did not deny, a claim that Cameron once described Michael Gove as “a bit nuts”. The claim is one of many in a new book by the former Lib Dem minister David Laws, serialised in the Mail on Sunday yesterday. Asked if Cameron still felt this way about Gove, the spokeswoman said he shared the view expressed by George Osborne on the Andrew Marr show yesterday. Osborne said he did not “recognise” the comments.
- The spokeswoman said the government was still committed to bringing forward some kind of sovereignty bill - but would not say when, or why it has been delayed. Asked what had happened to this, the spokeswoman said that Cameron said last month that the government would set out plans for asserting the sovereignty of parliament “within days” and that “there is no change, that remains the plan”. (In his Sun column at the weekend James Forsyth said the plan, which was mainly announced in the hope of persuading Boris Johnson to back staying in the EU, “appears to have been buried in an unmarked Whitehall grave”, revealing “how superficial the whole sovereignty exercise was in the first place”.)
- Cameron has been visiting the Harris Academy today to promote a government-backed mentoring initiative.
Prime Minister David Cameron visits Harris Academy in Bermondsey, south London https://t.co/j5CAGsJN3x pic.twitter.com/xADEaJMTMK
— PA Images (@PAImages) March 14, 2016
- Cameron is attending a service at Westminster Abbey this afternoon with the Queen to mark Commonwealth Day. (Michael Gove, the justice secretary, is not attending, she may be pleased to hear.)
- The prime minister’s spokeswoman would not comment on whether Cameron thought Top Gear was right to film a stunt near the Cenotaph.
Updated
Foreign travel 'likely to become expensive' if UK leaves EU, travel industry says
Foreign travel is “likely to become more expensive” if Britain leaves the EU, travel agents are warning.
Abta, the main trade association representing travel agents and tour operators, has produced a report on the impact Brexit would have on the industry, in association with consultants Deloitte.
Here’s an excerpt.
It is difficult to foresee how the travelling consumer would react to Brexit in the immediate aftermath of the vote. Trade negotiations between the UK and the EU are likely to span over a number of years, and the related uncertainty could affect consumers’ propensity to travel during this period.
Even if there were no changes to travel requirements, in terms of freedom of movement restrictions, consumers might worry about other issues, such as access to health care, currency fluctuations or even perceptions of the UK, when travelling to EU countries. As a result consumers might opt for other destinations, or even reduce their travel abroad altogether.
In the longer term, following a Brexit, travel is likely to become more expensive. Depending on trade agreements, new taxes and levies could be introduced, and travel businesses are also likely to raise prices in order to recoup any costs absorbed during a transition period, such as increased supplier contracting costs owing to a weakening in the value of sterling.
And this is from the Abta chief executive Mark Tanzer.
Our assessment of the report’s findings is that a vote to leave will lead to uncertainties and may lead to increased costs for travel businesses and the travelling public.
We recognise that people will approach this referendum by considering many factors - personal, professional and economic - before casting their vote.
Abta has considered what a vote to leave the EU might mean purely from a travel perspective. Our view is that the potential risks and downsides are not matched by an equal upside for the traveller.
I’m off to the lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.
Steven Woolfe, Ukip’s immigration spokesman, has joined Boris Johnson in criticising President Obama for opposing Brexit. Woolfe told the Express:
When he is not insulting this country on the international stage as he did last week, President Obama should take a careful look at EU policy and how it often acts against America’s interests as well as Britain’s.
Also as a head of a foreign government he should stay out of a decision which is one for the British people and only the British people.
Denis MacShane, the Labour former Europe minister, has also had a go at Boris Johnson over his Obama column.
Boris right to say Nafta not Single Market. Hence 11 mn illegal immigrants in US. This what B wants? https://t.co/uNlfp1JRpw
— Denis MacShane (@DenisMacShane) March 14, 2016
But Andrew Gimson, author of a fine (and favourable) biography of Johnson, thinks it was one of his best columns ever.
@montie @BorisJohnson One of the strongest columns Boris has ever written: what oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed
— Andrew Gimson (@AndrewGimson) March 14, 2016
It is Commonwealth Day, apparently, and Ukip has marked it by saying the Commonwealth marks “a real alternative” to EU membership for the UK. This is from its Commonwealth spokesman, James Carver MEP.
Commonwealth Day celebrations show clearly the continuing support for this voluntary organisation of nation states. It is increasingly evident that a reinvigorated Commonwealth, co-operating ever more closely on trade and sharing historic and democratic values, offers a real alternative to our membership of the European Union.
The future prosperity of the UK is dependent on making every available use of every available network to penetrate deep into the giant and rising markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The best network we have to hand to assist with this aim is the ready-made Commonwealth network - reinvigorated in an age of almost total connectivity and interactivity, with a common working knowledge, and embracing a dozen or more of the world’s fastest growing economies.
(By “every available network”, presumably he means “apart from the EU”.)
Tristram Hunt, the Labour MP and former shadow education secretary, says Boris Johnson’s attack on Washington over Brexit (see 8.50am) is “ridiculous”.
Ridiculous attack on Obama by Boris today. Have the Brexiteers really run out of proper arguments already? #StrongerIn
— Tristram Hunt (@TristramHuntMP) March 14, 2016
Greens say EU story 'should be celebrated' as they launch campaign to stay in
The Green party is launching its campaign for Britain to stay in the EU today. The launch will be attended by Natalie Bennett, the party leader, Caroline Lucas, the party’s one MP and Jean Lambert, one of the Green’s MEPs. Lucas said the party would be proud to defend the EU.
We won’t sit idly by when our environmental protections and our rights at work are threatened by brexit. Our campaign for British membership of the EU will be loud and it will be proud ...
In a fast-changing world we need international rules to control big business and finance, and to ensure that people’s rights are protected - at work and as consumers. The EU has also given us the freedom to live, study, work and retire across an entire continent.
The European story should be celebrated. Countries with different histories and cultures have come together, opting to share sovereignty while keeping their own traditions, in order to work together for the common good.
We know that the EU isn’t perfect, nor is Westminster. We want it to be more democratic, and accountable to the citizens of Europe. But to make the EU better for every European we need to stay in and reform it. Let’s not leave the argument to the old political elite.
Much of the main pro-EU campaigning has been relatively negative, highlighting the risk of leaving.
The Greens have produced their own video making the case for staying in the EU and, by contrast, it is unrelentingly positive.
And while we’re on the subject of the budget, George Osborne indicated yesterday that he would have to announce cuts worth £4bn by the end of this parliament in his statement on Wednesday.
On the Today programme this morning Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that in practice these cuts may very well not materialise because, by the time they are due to be implemented, the economic situation may have changed. He explained:
[Osborne] needs to make plans all the way through to always ensure that it looks like he is in balance by the end of the parliament. One of the things I am guessing he is going to do is say that these cuts will be planned to happen in 2017 or 2018 and then, frankly, hope that the numbers move back in his direction before he actually has to implement them. So what actually turns out to happen, I don’t think we will necessarily learn this week.
I think we will learn ‘this is how I will balance the books if I have to’ but frankly hoping that he doesn’t have to because things don’t have to change very much at all to reverse this again.
In keeping with what appears to be the new policy of unveiling budget announcements over a five-day period ahead of the actual budget statement, it has been announced that the Treasury will set up a new scheme to help low-paid workers save. Under the help-to-save scheme, some 3.5m people could have their savings topped up by up to £1,200.
Owen Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, says George Osborne will only be partially replacing money he has already taken from workers in this category. In a statement Smith said:
This is like stealing someone’s car and offering them a lift to the bus stop.
It is right that there should be incentives to save, that’s why a Labour government introduced the almost identical ‘Saving Gateway’ that the Tories scrapped.
Universal Credit cuts will take £1,600 a year from over 2m low and middle paid working families. While new analysis shows that 2.3m of the 3.1m families on tax credits will see their in-work support fall as they are moved to universal credit. With some families up to £3,000 a year worse off.
These cuts will mean families are going to struggle to have enough money to make it to the end of the week, let alone save for the future. If the Tories were serious about supporting low and middle paid workers in the Budget they would listen to Labour’s calls to fully reverse the universal credit cuts.
Johnson says concept of 'pooling sovereignty' is 'a fraud and a cheat'
Although Boris Johnson’s Telegraph article is mostly about America, at one point in it he also responds to David Cameron’s arguments about the sovereignty case for Brexit.
To recap: one of the arguments for Brexit, and one particularly favoured by Johnson and Michael Gove, is that leaving the EU would enable the UK to regain control over its own affairs. It would take back sovereignty. But Cameron (and others) have argued that there is a difference between having power and having sovereignty and that, while leaving the EU may give “the illusion of sovereignty”, it is belonging to the EU that gives the UK real power. (The Economist’s Jeremy Cliffe put this argument particularly well in a recent Bagehot column, noting: “If sovereignty is the absence of mutual interference, the most sovereign country in the world is North Korea.”)
Johnson is now saying that pooling sovereignty does not enable the UK to wield power in the EU because national governments have lost control. It is all run by the bureaucracy, he claims.
The whole concept of “pooling sovereignty” is a fraud and a cheat. We are not really sharing control with other EU governments: the problem is rather that all governments have lost control to the unelected federal machine. We don’t know who they are, or what language they speak, and we certainly don’t know what we can do to remove them at an election.
President Obama is expected to visit London next month to reaffirm Washington’s long-held belief that the UK should remain in the EU. But this morning Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London who is now a leading figure in the Brexit campaign, has used his Telegraph column to engage in pre-emptive retaliation. He is accusing Washington of “hypocrisy” because, he argues, America would never dream of compromising its national sovereignty in the way that EU membership requires.
The Telegraph has splashed on the story.
Monday's Telegraph front page:
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) March 13, 2016
Boris rage at 'hypocrite' Obama#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers #euref pic.twitter.com/o1iwYLDH0t
Here’s the Guardian’s version.
Here is the key quote from Johnson’s column.
The American view is very clear. Whether in code or en clair, the President will tell us all that UK membership of the EU is right for Britain, right for Europe, and right for America. And why? Because that – or so we will be told – is the only way we can have “influence” in the counsels of the nations.
It is an important argument, and deserves to be taken seriously. I also think it is wholly fallacious – and coming from Uncle Sam, it is a piece of outrageous and exorbitant hypocrisy.
There is no country in the world that defends its own sovereignty with such hysterical vigilance as the United States of America. This is a nation born from its glorious refusal to accept overseas control. Almost two and a half centuries ago the American colonists rose up and violently asserted the principle that they – and they alone – should determine the government of America, and not George III or his ministers. To this day the Americans refuse to kneel to almost any kind of international jurisdiction. Alone of Western nations, the US declines to accept that its citizens can be subject to the rulings of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. They have not even signed up to the Convention on the Law of the Sea. Can you imagine the Americans submitting their democracy to the kind of regime that we have in the EU?
And here is some early reaction.
The Lib Dem MP Tom Brake has said that Johnson himself is the hypocrite.
Outrageous & exorbitant hypocrisy @BorisJohnson ? In Jan16 you were In, in Mar16 you are Out, cos it's your best chance of being Tory leader
— Tom Brake MP (@thomasbrake) March 14, 2016
The Labour MP Barry Sheerman also accuses Johnson of hypocrisy, and says that he is ignoring Washington’s arguments.
Only world leader supporting Britain leaving EU is Putin! Boris Johnson has hissy fit about Obama @BBCr4today
— Barry Sheerman (@BarrySheerman) March 14, 2016
Boris Johnson now an expert on hypocrisy but ignores value of NATO & Europe in delivering peace & prosperity @BBCr4today
— Barry Sheerman (@BarrySheerman) March 14, 2016
I will post more on this as the story develops.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: The Green party launches its campaign for Britain to stay in the EU.
11am: Number 10 lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
As usual I will also be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
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