That’s all from politics live for Tuesday - thanks for reading and do join us again tomorrow morning.
Jeremy Corbyn has told buoyant Labour MPs that he will visit at least 65 Conservative marginal seats in preparation for the possible collapse of the Tory minority government and urged them to be a “government in waiting”.
The Labour leader also told MPs he wanted to learn lessons why they lost in some areas, and said he would be meeting candidates who lost their seats.
Labour’s hopes of unseating the Tories from power are now within its grasp if a general election is called within the next two years, according to Guardian analysis of the new electoral landscape.
Analysis of the new marginal seats shows that a swing of just 1.63% to Labour would deliver the 34 gains that Corbyn needs to make it the largest party in the Commons.
Last Thursday’s general election left 22 Tory MPs sitting on majorities of less than 1,000. The home secretary, Amber Rudd, is now defending a majority of 346 in Hastings and Rye, while the former Northern Ireland secretary, Theresa Villiers, has been similarly left defending a majority of 353 in Chipping Barnet.
Sinn Féin has issued a statement tonight reaffirming its intention not to take its seats in Westminster:
“We went to the people on an active abstentionist ticket looking for a mandate opposing Brexit, a border and Tory austerity and standing up for equality, rights and Irish unity. We received 238,00 votes from the electorate on that platform.
“Sinn Féin intends to honour its mandate and offer strong effective representation within constituencies, at Stormont, at the Dáil and with our All-Ireland EU MEPs in Brussels rather than sitting on the green benches of Westminster.”
At a press conference in London, the Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Michelle Gildernew, said: “There’s a lot of anxiety and fear for what is being discussed. Any agreement is going to have to come back to Stormont to be discussed. We have faced challenges in the past and we will face this one.”
DUP leader Arlene Foster has made some comments tonight, telling Ulster Television that one of her aims was to see a “frictionless border” after a “sensible Brexit” is reached.
However, she held back from releasing any substance regarding the deal between the DUP and the Conservatives that will keep Theresa May in Downing Street.
Government officials are drawing up the details of the package and are in close contact with the DUP high command tonight.
Party sources said that they aim to have the deal secured by the end of Wednesday before of the resumption of all-party talks in Belfast aimed at restoring power sharing government in Northern Ireland.
The Democratic Unionists are collectively in conclave tonight as they absorb the details of the deal being offered up for their supporting Theresa May and the Tories in government.
Radio Ulster reported that no members of the DUP, MPs, Assembly members or councillors were being put up to speak on its Evening Extra programme tonight in Belfast. Information is being very tightly controlled inside the DUP as to the nature of the deal with the Conservatives.
The substance of the deal will be known on Wednesday. The bulk is expected to be socio-economic, but there may be movement on tax such as air passenger duty being either cut in half, or abolished.
Back to Theresa May’s attempt to strike a formal deal with the DUP for a moment.
Martin Kettle argues that such an arrangement brings no added benefit to the Tories, while creating further reputational damage because of the DUP’s image as a socially reactionary, culturally conservative, climate-change denying party.
For a Tory leader who needs more than anything to reconnect with mainstream British voters after a tone deaf election campaign, this deal that makes no sense at all. The real challenge for the Tory party is not to scrabble together a Commons majority. It is to reset its relationship with British voters. The message to the Tories on 8 June was that the country does not want rightwing economic and Brexit policies. May’s real challenge now is to devise a programme with reordered priorities at home and a more open approach to the EU. As it happens, the DUP would probably vote for that anyway.”
Updated
Tommy Sheppard, the SNP MP who became a contender for the vacant post of Westminster leader following Angus Robertson’s election defeat last week, has withdrawn from the contest after admitting he did not have enough backing from SNP colleagues.
In a Facebook post, Sheppard, a former deputy leader of the Labour group on Hackney borough council, said he believed the SNP now had to tack to the left to take on Labour and prevent the party losing more seats in future to Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour unexpectedly won six new Scottish seats and held its Edinburgh South with Scotland’s largest majority of 15,514. In Sheppard’s seat of Edinburgh East, the SNP majority was heavily trimmed back by Labour to 3,425.
He said: “We need to win these voters back and we might not have long to do it. In my view this means our priority should be to focus on our left flank and take the battle Labour in Scotland. The SNP is Scotland’s radical voice. We need to assert that.”
Latterly the founder and owner of the Stand Comedy Club chain, Sheppard was one of four SNP MPs who stood to succeed Robertson, competing against Joanna Cherry QC; Drew Hendry, the former leader of Highland council; and Ian Blackford, an investment banker and former SNP treasurer.
Robertson earned a formidable reputation as a Commons speaker, and regularly out-performed Corbyn during first minister’s questions, increasing the pressure on his successor. With the SNP still the third-largest party in the Commons, its Westminster leader is guaranteed questions at PMQs.
He said: “I had hoped to present myself for election as leader of our group at Westminster to take these ideas forward. I have spent the last two days discussing matters with colleagues. It is clear to me that whilst there seems widespread support for many of the ideas I am arguing, I do not have majority support for becoming leader.”
Sky News political editor Faisal Islam tweets:
Macron suggests UK could change mind in front of May - French & Germans now interpreting GE2017 as reduced mandate for Mrs May's Brexit
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 13, 2017
More on those comments from Emmanuel Macron on Brexit. While the French president said France wanted talks to start as “quickly as possible”, the “door remains open, always open, until the Brexit negotiations come to an end”.
He added: “Until the negotiations come to an end, of course there is always the possibility to re-open the door. But let us be clear ... once the negotiations have started we should be well aware that it’ll be more difficult to move backwards.”
Updated
EU door remains open, Macron tells UK
Asked about John Major’s warning to the Tories about doing a deal with the DUP, May says her government remains steadfast in its support for the Belfast agreement and the peace process in Nothern Ireland.
Macron, who decides to continue answering in French, says he respects the decision by the British people to come out of the EU.
However, he adds that the possibility of reopening the door remains until the UK actually departs, though the longer talks go on it will become “more and more difficult to go backwards”.
And with that the press conference ends so both leaders can dash off to the Stade de France for the England v France friendly tonight.
Updated
Macron is asked about Brexit and says that talks will be led by the EU in a coordinated manner. He doesn’t want to spend too much time on the technicalities of Brexit, but instead talks about how France and the UK can work together to face the common challenges both countries face.
May says the UK wants a “deep and special partnership” with the EU and for the bloc to remain strong. Issues on security are also important to cooperate on, the prime minister adds.
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Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron’s briefing is under way in Paris:
May and Macron's press conference gets off to a flying start as the PM's paper blows off into the wind pic.twitter.com/L0s5I915XG
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 13, 2017
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Jeremy Corbyn also told the PLP meeting tonight that the government Theresa May was trying to put together is “weak, wobbly and out of control” and was on notice from voters.
“We are now a government in waiting and we must think and act at all times with that in mind. That is our responsibility to the huge numbers who voted for our manifesto last week: a programme to transform Britain for the many that caught the imagination of millions,” he said.
“This was a remarkable result achieved because we stayed united and worked as a team and I have no doubt together we can win the next general election, whenever that may be.”
More on the PLP meeting, where Jeremy Corbyn told Labour MPs and peers that Theresa May’s premiership has no mandate and declared: “We are now a government in waiting.”
The party leader was greeted with cheers and a 45-second ovation as he arrived at the meeting. The scenes were in marked contrast to the difficult meetings Corbyn had with his critics in the parliamentary party before the election.
“Last Thursday, we turned the tables on Theresa May’s gamble and gained seats in every region and nation of Britain and I’m particularly delighted that we have increased our representation in Scotland. We increased the Labour vote by the largest margin in any election since 1945 and gained seats as a party for the first time since 1997,” Corbyn said.
“So now the election is over, the next phase of our campaign to win power for the majority has already begun. We must remain in permanent campaign mode on a general election footing. We achieved what we did last Thursday because we were a united party during the campaign and we need to maintain that unity and collective discipline in the weeks and months ahead.”
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The parliamentary Labour party is holding its first meeting since the election in Westminster this evening and MP Clive Lewis tweets:
I know leaking PLP meetings is naughty but given the two years we've had: @jeremycorbyn receiving a rapturous PLP standing ovation ✌🏾#unity pic.twitter.com/SEQhkr5sQQ
— Clive Lewis (@labourlewis) June 13, 2017
Theresa May has made it to the Élysée in Paris - in a Range Rover, of course.
Theresa May arrives at the Elysee Palace in Paris - the friendly football match tonight is unlikely to be the first thing on her mind though pic.twitter.com/Bi8cON3pxL
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 13, 2017
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Tory MP Nigel Evans tells Sky News it’s understandable why the Queen’s speech is going to be delayed for a week or so given the time it will take to sort out a deal with the DUP.
Meanwhile, Labour peer Lord Foulkes, who has been something of a Jeremy Corbyn critic, admits he is eating humble pie following the election result and says he has not seen as much joy among Labour MPs since Tony Blair’s election in 1997.
“We are beating the Tories, we are beating the SNP – and we are looking forward to another election – bring it on,” he tells Sky, adding: “Jeremy ran a brilliant campaign.”
Sky’s Jon Craig notes that the 170-odd majority Blair won 20 years ago is a little different to Thursday’s result for Labour, however.
Updated
The Guardian’s Jessica Elgot in in Paris, where Theresa May is about to meet the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for the first time since his election.
Awaiting the PM's arrival at the Élysée which was probably supposed to be triumphant - and had ended up a bit of a sideshow. pic.twitter.com/75PXpOJuvA
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) June 13, 2017
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Afternoon summary
- Sir John Major, the Conservative former prime minister, has warned that a Tory/DUP deal at Westminster could threaten the Northern Ireland peace process. (See 2.27pm.)
- The idea that the Westminster parties should cooperate on Brexit negotiations is gaining support from the public, businesses and senior politicians from across the political spectrum.
- Steve Baker, one of the most prominent and influential hardline Tory Brexiteers, has been appointed a junior minister in the Brexit department. Intriguingly, shortly before his appointment was announced, he used Twitter to try to recast the debate about soft/hard Brexit by calling for the “softest” version of a real Brexit. (See 4.12pm and 4.24pm.)
- Theresa May has marked her return to parliament with a notably more conciliatory approach, telling the new contingent of MPs that parliament should “come together in a spirit of national unity” to tackle issues such as terrorism and Brexit. As Peter Walker reports, in a brief address to the Commons following the re-election of John Bercow as Speaker – formal parliamentary business does not resume until next week – May employed some self-mockery over the surprise election result. She began by congratulating Bercow for his unanimous re-election, adding to laughter: “At least somebody got a landslide.”
That’s all from me for today.
My colleague Chris Johnston is taking over the blog now.
Updated
The Lib Dems have criticised the appointment of Steve Baker as a Brexit minister. (See 4.24pm.) This is from the Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael.
Far from softening her stance on Brexit, Theresa May is doubling down by appointing an arch Brexiteer to help lead the negotiations.
It flies in the face of last week’s election in which the British people clearly rejected her extreme version of Brexit.
She is putting a fox in charge of guarding the henhouse.
That is one interpretation. It is just as likely, or perhaps even more likely, that Theresa May has appointed Baker in the hope that he will be able to persuade his fellow hardline Tory Brexiteers to accept the compromises that DExEU is likely to end up negotiating.
Updated
Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, has been using Twitter today to urge Britain to get on with clarifying its Brexit position.
We are impatiently waiting for the negotiating position of the UK gov. The current uncertainty cannot continue.
— Guy Verhofstadt (@GuyVerhofstadt) June 13, 2017
He expanded on this point earlier today during a press conference.
Updated
The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) is not just taking on new ministers. It has also in the past week advertised for spin doctors to help in “shaping government messages” in Brexit talks.
In an advert for press officers, it says it’s “not often an opportunity comes along to work on a subject as big as Brexit”.
It also says that “it’s arguably the greatest issue facing the country for a generation” and that DExEU is looking at hiring on a two-year timeframe. Which might be a tad optimistic ...
It is probably worth reminding readers what Dominic Cummings, the Vote Leave campaign director, once said about Steve Baker and his colleagues. This is from Tim Shipman’s excellent book about the EU referendum campaign, All Out War.
After Michael Heseltine’s attack on Boris Johnson, [Paul] Stephenson [VL’s communications director] remembered a conversation he had had with Cummings weeks before about how some of the more hotheaded Eurosceptics would have their uses at points in the campaign. Cummings, with his usual delicacy where MPs were concerned, had said, ‘We just need to kick the flying monkeys in the cage and release them at the right point.’ Now Stephenson went in search of a flying monkey to turn up the pressure on Cameron. He called Steve Baker [chair of Conservatives for Britain] ...
Leading Tory Brexiteer Steve Baker appointed Brexit minister
Good job I got that last post up in time. No 10 has just announced that Steve Baker, the shop steward of the hardline Tory Brexiteers, has been made a Brexit minister.
This is from the No 10 news release
The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Steve Baker MP as parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Department for Exiting the EU.
Baker replaced David Jones, who has been sacked as a Brexit minister. As the Telegraph reports, Jones was also a hardcore Brexiteer.
Baker’s appointment may help to explain his tweeting earlier. (See 4.12pm.)
The Conservative MP Steve Baker has been tweeting about the “whither Brexit?” debate going on within his party. Baker is effectively leader of hardline Tory anti-European MPs (or “flying monkeys”, as Vote Leave’s Dominic Cummings once called them) and heads the European Research Group, a caucus of Tory MPs. The ERG are generally seen as champions of a hard Brexit, but Baker is trying to reclaim the language, saying what he wants is the “softest” version of a real Brexit.
1. The language of "hard" vs "soft" Brexit is so misleading. We need a good, clean exit which minimises disruption and maximises opportunity
— Steve Baker (@SteveBakerHW) June 13, 2017
2. In other words, we need the "softest" exit consistent with actually leaving and controlling laws, money, borders and trade
— Steve Baker (@SteveBakerHW) June 13, 2017
3. (of 3) and that means delivering on the whitepaper so @tradegovuk can get on with improving UK and global trade https://t.co/SXGuwKNLES
— Steve Baker (@SteveBakerHW) June 13, 2017
Baker’s tweet suggest he thinks the term “hard” Brexit is pejorative. But there is evidence from focus groups suggesting that some leave supporters like the idea of “hard” Brexit because that implies a firm stance on immigration. This is from a Britain Thinks presentation (pdf) based on the findings of focus groups earlier this year.
Downing Street has announced another series of appointments.
Here are the promotions. These five have all been made minister of state (a middle-ranking minister – better than parliamentary under-secretary, not cabinet rank).
Foreign Office – Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (previously a more junior minister) and Mark Field (previously a Conservative party vice-chairman).
Communities department – Alok Sharma (previously a more junior minister).
Defence – Mark Lancaster (previously a more junior minister).
Foreign Office and International Development (joint post) – Alistair Burt (a minister of state until last summer).
This is the fourth time Burt has joined a government as a minister. His three previous ministerial careers came to an end when he was sacked by the electorate (in 1997), by David Cameron (in 2013) and by himself (he stood down voluntarily last summer).
This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
V interesting - Mark Field and Alistair Burt, two Remainers have gone back into govt
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 13, 2017
Updated
The Commons has now adjourned. It meets again tomorrow, when MPs will start being sworn in.
Updated
The SNP’s Stewart Hosie and the Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, have spoken in the debate welcoming John Bercow’s election and Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Westminster, is speaking now.
He says the DUP is looking forward to this parliament. And he says his party is looking forward to the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Updated
Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now.
He starts by congratulating Ken Clarke on being father of the house. He jokes about seeing Clarke in the tearoom smoking, drinking lager and eating a bacon sandwich while taking a break from a debate on healthy living.
He says he hopes that May will agree with him that democracy is a wonderful thing, and can throw up unexpected results. He says he looks forward to the Queen’s speech, when the “coalition of chaos” is ready. If it cannot form a government, the Labour party is ready to provide “strong and stable” government, he says.
He says this weekend marks the election of four black MPs 30 years ago, including Keith Vaz and Diane Abbott. It is vital all voices are represented in the Commons, he says.
He says Labour looks forward to this parliament, “however short it might be”.
He welcomes the fact that so many young people took part in the election. He is looking forward to this parliament to bring about change, he says.
Updated
Theresa May is speaking now.
She congratulates John Bercow on his election. “At least someone got a landslide,” she jokes.
She says he is the first Speaker since the war to be re-elected three times.
And she welcomes the return of Ken Clarke as an MP.
May says she wants to break with tradition, and welcome the mother of the house back too, Harriet Harman. She says Harman has been a great champion of women. There are a record number of female and BME MPs, she says, and more gay and disabled MPs too. She welcomes the fact we have the most diverse Commons in history.
She says MPs come here because they want to serve the public. Elections are about our democracy and values, the values terrorists sought to attack.
She says this is the first time the Commons has met since the terrorist attacks. Defeating extremism is one of the main challenges the Commons faces, she says, along with Brexit and tackling social divisions.
Politics is how we face these challenges. It is a noble calling, she says. She says MPs in this parliament should tackle these problems in a way that tries to bring people together.
Updated
John Bercow has now been “dragged to the chair” to take up his post.
He says being Speaker is the greatest honour the Commons can give an MP.
He says 87 MPs have been elected for the first time.
Updated
The Conservative MP Cheryl Gillan is giving a speech now paying generous tribute to Bercow in the Commons.
John Bercow’s comment about “testing times” was a reference to how he has decided to stay on until 2022. When he was elected speaker in 2009, he said that he would just stay until 2018.
Explaining his U-turn recently, he suggested that, if Theresa May was allowed to change her mind over an early election, he was allowed to change his mind too. As Sky News reports, he said last month:
I had originally indicated an intention to serve for approximately nine years. If I may legitimately say so, I made that commitment eight years ago, it was before the Fixed Term Parliament Act, it was before the EU referendum.
We’re in a very different situation … the prime minister very properly is entitled to change her view about whether the national interest would be served by an earlier election rather than a later one.
I made no criticism or complaint about that whatsoever.
So if people are entitled to change their minds over a relatively short period of time I think I’m entitled to take a somewhat different view now to the one I took back in 2009.
Updated
John Bercow agrees to serve as Speaker
Ken Clarke, as father of the house, asks if John Bercow is willing to be chosen as Speaker of the Commons.
John Bercow starts by congratulating Clarke on adding father of the house to his many achievements. He says next Sunday Clarke will have been an MP for 47 years.
Bercow is willing to serve as Speaker, he says.
He welcomes the fact that this house is more diverse than any of its predecessors.
He says he will champion the rights of backbenchers, and help them hold to account the government of the day.
He says it will come as a relief to MPs to hear that he does not intend to serve for 47 years, either as a parliamentarian or as Speaker.
But “we appear to be destined for testing times”, he says. He offers himself to the Commons as a “tested Speaker”.
Updated
Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications chief, has welcomed Sir John Major’s decision to speak out about the Tory/DUP deal.
Very glad that John Major has spoken out about this deal May is doing with the DUP. wrong in principle and dangerous to the peace process
— Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) June 13, 2017
Talks between May and Foster over Tory/DUP deal 'going well'
Talks between Theresa May and the DUP over a deal that would prop up the Conservative government have been “constructive” and are “going well”, the Press Association reports.
The discussions, which have so far lasted nearly two hours, have moved from Number 10 to Parliament to allow the prime minister to speak in the Commons.
May, who will address MPs after the Speaker’s election, left for the Commons without answering reporters questions about how negotiations were progressing.
Foster said on Twitter: “Discussions are going well with the government and we hope soon to be able to bring this work to a successful conclusion.”
And a Downing Street source said the talks had been “constructive”.
The prime minister may not be present as the talks continue because she is heading to Paris for a meeting with newly-elected President Emmanuel Macron.
Discussions are going well with the government and we hope soon to be able to bring this work to a successful conclusion.
— Arlene Foster (@DUPleader) June 13, 2017
In his World at One interview Sir John Major suggested that the DUP would demand extra money for Northern Ireland as the price for a deal with the Tories.
On Twitter yesterday Nick Macpherson, the former Treasury permanent secretary, said that “the sky’s the limit” when it comes to how much money the DUP can extract from a minority government in these circumstances.
you will recall from HMT days, DUP's ability to wrest money from a nervous PM. If DUP play it long, the sky's the limit.
— Nick Macpherson (@nickmacpherson2) June 12, 2017
MPs are now proceeding to the House of Lords, where they will hear a royal commission being read out asking them to elect a Speaker.
Updated
Election of speaker
MPs are now gathered in the Commons chamber for the first time. Their only job today is to elect a Speaker.
Jeremy Corbyn received a standing ovation when he arrived in the chamber.
Jeremy Corbyn receiving rapturous applause from Opposition benches, as bemused Conservatives watch on as Commons returns: pic.twitter.com/bPe8QvVqDI
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) June 13, 2017
Updated
Sir John Major's World at One interview - Summary
Here are the main points from Sir John Major’s World at One interview.
- Major warned that a Tory/DUP deal could threaten the Northern Ireland peace process. (See 1.39pm.) He even suggested not having the Westminster government as a neutral arbiter in Northern Ireland affairs could in some circumstances risk violence returning.
We have seen in Northern Ireland over very many years that events always don’t unwind as you expect them to unwind. Here, with the peace process, we need to be prepared of the unexpected. We need to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.
The last thing anybody wishes to see is one or other of the communities so aggrieved that the hard men, who are still there lurking in the corners of the community, decide that they wish to return to some form of violence. We really need to do everything we conceivably can to make sure that doesn’t happen.And that does require an impartial UK government.
- He said that Theresa May did not need a deal with the DUP anyway.
I can’t believe that every other party in Westminster would want another election at the present time and I’m absolutely stone-cold certain that nobody in the country would like another general election and would not forgive anybody who triggered it. So I don’t think an immediate general election is really the point.
And, in any event, she’s a tiny minority in the event that everybody lined up against her. Well, I can’t see the DUP, with or without a deal, taking part in a vote that would create a general election with a possibility of a Labour government. That isn’t remotely likely to happen. So I’m not entirely convinced that, although a deal would make parliamentary votes easier, that it is absolutely necessary for Mrs May to remain as prime minister and for the government to continue with its work.
- He said that the Tories would lose votes “by the bucketload” at the next election if people saw Northern Ireland getting more money as a result of the Tory/DUP deal.
The DUP, entirely understandably, are going to ask for a great deal in for supporting the government, predominantly, I suspect, they will ask for money.
If they ask for money, how is that going to be received in Wales, or in Scotland, or amongst the just about managing everywhere across the UK? It is going to create friction amongst them. They would see it as the government paying cash for votes in parliament, and in doing so I think that could well cost votes in the country for the Conservative party, by the bucketload, at a subsequent election. So I have that political concern.
- He said a Tory/DUP deal would put a strain on relations with Dublin.
- He said it would be “trebly important” to consult widely on Brexit if there were a Tory/DUP deal.
If the government do form a deal with the DUP, and I can see that well might feel that they have to, then it is doubly important, trebly important, to consult on Brexit widely, both in and out of parliament. I think if that were a joint announcement with any deal with the DUP, I think it would be very helpful, because people would see that there isn’t going to be disproportionate pressure from one part of the United Kingdom.
- He said a hard Brexit was “increasingly unsustainable” because people did not vote for it at the election.
I think the concept of what we crudely call a hard Brexit is becoming increasingly unsustainable. The views of those who wish to stay in are going to have to be born in mind to a much greater extent after this election. A hard Brexit was not endorsed by the electorate in this particular election.
- He said the government should consult much more widely on Brexit.
It would be very wise indeed to bring in much wider parliamentary opinion so that when the prime minister has a deal, she can be certain that she’s going to have parliamentary and public support for that deal.
He also suggested that the government should be “more generous” on immigration, and consider remaining in the single market.
Updated
Theresa May has left Downing Street for the Commons, where she will be in the chamber for the election of the Speaker when MPs meet for the first time.
The talks with the DUP have, at least temporarily, broken up. According to Sky, Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has left No 10 by a side entrance, avoiding the TV cameras.
Updated
John Major warns May that Tory/DUP deal could threaten Northern Ireland peace process
This is what Sir John Major, the Conservative former prime minister, said on The World at One about how a Tory/DUP pact could undermine the Northern Ireland peace process.
I am concerned about the deal, I am wary about it, I am dubious about it, both for peace process reasons, and for other reasons as well ...
My main concern is the peace process. A fundamental part of that peace process is that the UK government needs to be impartial between all the competing interests in Northern Ireland. And the danger is that however much any government tries, they will not be seen to be impartial if they are locked into a parliamentary deal at Westminster with one of the Northern Ireland parties. And you never know in what unpredictable way events will turn out. And we cannot know if that impartiality is going to be crucial at some stage in the future.
If there difficulties with the Northern Ireland executive or with any one of a number of things that might well arise during the Brexit negotiations, it is very important that there’s an honest broker. And the only honest broker can be the UK government.
And the question arises, if they cease to be seen as such by part of the community in Northern Ireland, then one can’t be quite certain how events will unwind. And that worries me a great deal about the peace process.
Updated
Here is the audio of Sir John Major’s World at One interview.
Major says voters did not support hard Brexit at election
Major says the government did not get a mandate for hard Brexit at the election.
He says the government now needs to consult widely about a revised Brexit strategy.
Echoing what William Hague says in his Telegraph column (see 9.08am), he says the government should consult much more with other parties.
The interview is now over.
It’s worth a full summary, and I will post one shortly.
John Major says he is 'dubious' of proposed Tory/DUP pact
Sir John Major, the Conservative former prime minister, is on the World at One now talking about the proposed Tory/DUP deal.
He says he is “wary” and “dubious” about it. The deal could undermine the Northern Ireland peace process, he says.
He says he does not think it is necessary, because he says the DUP would never bring down a minority Conservative government anyway.
And he says other parts of the UK will be angered if the deal involves Northern Ireland getting extra funding.
On the Today programme this morning Lord Trimble, who was one of the architects of the Good Friday agreement as Ulster Unionist leader and who went on to become first minister of Northern Ireland, said he did not accept the argument that a Tory/DUP deal would undermine the peace process.
It has been argued that a deal would stop the UK government being a neutral arbiter in negotiations between unionists and nationalists. But Trimble claimed that “a fair amount of scaremongering” was going on and he said the Tory/DUP talks would not put the Good Friday agreement at risk.
Instead, he argued, the deal posed a risk to the DUP.
The DUP, by doing this, are putting themselves in a position where they may have to take responsibility for unpopular actions ... so they are taking a significant risk in going in.
Asked if any deal should go ahead, he said:
They are perfectly entitled to do it, this is not in any way different to what [James] Callaghan did in his arrangements with the liberals way back in the 70s, it’s not any different to what Nick Clegg did.
The Sun’s political editor Tom Newton Dunn says there is no guarantee we will get a Tory/DUP deal today.
Latest: I understand that a deal with the DUP today is by no means guaranteed. Quite a bit of hard ball is being played.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) June 13, 2017
Here is the No 10 read-out from today’s cabinet meeting. This is from a spokesperson.
In the first cabinet meeting since the election, ministers discussed the forthcoming Queen’s speech, including the legislative programme required to deliver the best possible Brexit deal for the whole United Kingdom.
Ministers also received an update on the appalling terrorist attacks in Manchester and London during the general election campaign. The home Secretary and the health secretary praised the extraordinary response of the police and emergency services to both incidents.
Cabinet also discussed the ongoing talks with the DUP to secure a confidence and supply arrangement.
DUP leader Arlene Foster arrives at No 10 for talks with Theresa May
Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, and her deputy Nigel Dodds, the leader of the DUP group at Westminster, have arrived at No 10 for talks with Theresa May about the Tory/DUP “confidence and supply agreement”. This is the deal that will keep the minority Conservative government in power by ensuring that the 10 DUP MPs vote with it on confidence motions and key budget votes.
On the Daily Politics the Conservative MP Dominic Grieve said that he agreed with Gavin Barwell and Iain Duncan Smith (see 11.08am) about the need for the government to rethink austerity. He told the programme:
I think it was quite clear that austerity was a necessity born of the 2008 financial crisis. It is why the coalition was set up, and it is also why we were re-elected in 2015; it was an appreciation that our financial management made mistakes but was pretty good. And the economy was recovering.
The difficulty that we now have is that the events of last year create instability and anxiety about the future. And if that becomes a state of permanence, people then start asking: ‘I’m quite prepared to make sacrifices if I think it’s leading to an outcome which is going to be good for me and my family’, but if it becomes a state of semi-permanence, and you can’t show the direction of travel in which you’re going, then it’s going to become much harder to persuade people.
Updated
Ed Miliband and Iain Duncan Smith to guest present Jeremy Vine Show
Talking of Ed Miliband, he’s got a new job. The former Labour leader will guest-present Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine Show for the week beginning Monday 19 June, while Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, will guest-present for the following.
Phil Jones, editor of the programme, said:
This follows a tradition of Radio 2’s popular current affairs show, being occasionally guest-presented by prominent politicians, which began with figures such as Neil Kinnock and the late Charles Kennedy in the early 1990s. Political coverage is the bedrock of the programme and this is a sign of how important politics is to Radio 2, especially at such a key time in the nation’s history. Each day we will cover the big stories that affect our listeners and continue to inform, educate and entertain the Radio 2 audience.
Updated
It is not just the departure of two Brexit department ministers that has caused surprise. Some of other apparent sackings raised eyebrows too. (I say apparent sackings, because ministers do sometimes choose to leave the government of their own volition, although none of the four MPs on the Downing Street list last night has said publicly they wanted to go.)
Losing Robert Halfon, the skills minister, and Mike Penning, the defence minister, is surprising because they are both champions of the blue-collar Conservatism that Theresa May is supposed to champion. Penning is a former soldier and fireman and one of the few Tory MPs with experience of a working class job. Halfon has long been an advocate of “white van Conservatism”.
Among those paying tribute to Halfon today has been Ed Miliband. Halfon tweeted this.
It's been an honour to have served as Apprenticeships Minister. I'm proud we have a record 900K apprentices & to have passed the FE/TE Bill.
— Robert Halfon (@Halfon4Harlow) June 12, 2017
And in response Miliband tweeted this.
A political opponent but I always thought he was the one man who had an idea what blue collar Conservatism meant. Fired by the Maybot... https://t.co/iNe83YRHI2
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) June 12, 2017
Here is the FT’s George Parker on Halfon and Penning.
really surprised about Halfon and Penning - excellent ambassadors for Tories in the real world
— George Parker (@GeorgeWParker) June 12, 2017
And this is from Sky’s Beth Rigby.
Me too - exactly the type of blue-collar Tories that embodied May's 'JAMs' pitch #reshuffle https://t.co/Lpdy9LhBNQ
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) June 12, 2017
And Sir Oliver Heald says he was sacked as a justice minister because he was too old.
Enjoyed my time as a Justice Minister. Great department, great officials. Sad to leave. Have been asked to make way for a younger person.
— Sir Oliver Heald MP (@OliverHeald_MP) June 12, 2017
Heald is 62. In any other walk of life he would probably be able to take this to a tribunal.
He has been replaced by Dominic Raab, who is 43.
Updated
Two of Brexit department's four ministers leave week before Brexit talks start
Last night Downing Street announced a new round of ministerial appointments, along with the news that four ministers have left the government: Mike Penning, Sir Oliver Heald, Robert Halfon and David Jones.
Jones was a minister in the Brexit department. The department has also lost another minister, Lord Bridges, although No 10 has not announced this. Bridges has resigned to pursue business interests, according to a Whitehall source. A Old Etonian and a former Conservative party official, Bridges was made a peer by David Cameron.
The departure of two of DExEU’s (Department for Exiting the European Union) four ministers just a week before Brexit talks begin might be regarded as less than ideal – although a new one, Lady Anelay, was appointed yesterday.
The BBC’s diplomatic correspondent James Landale says Bridges will be a loss to the government.
George Bridges standing down as DExEU Lords' minister a big loss for Tories. Old Major hand who knew about minority government #reshuffle
— James Landale (@BBCJLandale) June 12, 2017
Dominic Cummings, the former Vote Leave campaign director and former special adviser to Michael Gove, is using his Twitter account to argue that the whole department is a shambles.
1 of Heywood's many disastrous decisions was creating the shambles of DEXU. Whitehall is exact OPPOSITE structure to what Brexit talks need
— odysseanproject (@odysseanproject) June 13, 2017
Doesn't matter what ministers you shuffle in/out, when the management structure as fkd as Downing St/DEXU individuals = irrelevant
— odysseanproject (@odysseanproject) June 13, 2017
Top Whitehall officials are screaming that DEXU under Heywood/DD is total shambles & disaster likely: news today just tip of iceberg
— odysseanproject (@odysseanproject) June 13, 2017
Updated
Donald Trump was “wrong” to pull the US out of the global Paris climate change accord, the new environment secretary Michael Gove has said.
“I think he is wrong,” Gove told ITV’s Good Morning Britain show.
I think that we need international cooperation in order to deal with climate change. The only way in which you can deal with this challenge, the only way in which we can enhance the environment to pass on to our children in a better state is by working across borders.
Theresa May was criticised for failing to join other EU leaders in condemning Trump’s decision, which met with near universal derision.
Gove, touring the broadcast studios, told BBC Radio 5 Live that he will re-examine the science of the controversial badger cull, which is aimed at curbing tuberculosis in cattle, and seen over 14,000 badgers shot. Almost all scientists outside government say the cull is ineffective and that the disturbance it causes could actually increase TB infections.
Gove said he would also reconsider the government’s planned ban on elephant ivory sales, which currently excludes “antique” ivory more than 70 years old. Campaigners say any trade in ivory give the opportunity for newly poached and illegal ivory to be laundered.
One of the biggest challenges is replacing the huge EU subsidy scheme for farmers after Brexit. On on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he confirmed the Conservative manifesto pledge that subsidies would remain at today’s levels until 2022.
Farmers are also extremely concerned that Brexit may mean the migrant workers who pick much of their harvest will not be available after Brexit. Gove said:
As we bring migration down to sustainable levels, we’ll do so in consultation with industry and one of our most important manufacturing industries is agriculture, so we need to make sure that the workforce is there and the support is there.
Gove’s appointment was attacked on Monday by the Green party MP Caroline Lucas, who said he was “entirely unfit” to hold the post. But Gove said it was a “misrepresentation” to say he had often voted against measures to tackle climate change.
My own approach has always been to argue for strong action to deal with man-made climate change.
While Arlene Foster arrives in Westminster with the Democratic Unionist party’s 10 MPs, the talks back home in Northern Ireland aimed at restoring power sharing have stuttered and spluttered once more.
There will now be no more roundtable talks between all the parties with the DUP busy over in London negotiating with Theresa May and the Tories. The cross community Alliance Party said today that this latest halt to all party discussions in Belfast hardly inspired confidence in the talks process there. Dr Stephen Farry, Alliance’s deputy leader said:
This has been branded an intensive three-week process. However, no roundtable between the parties until Thursday at least means the first week will have effectively passed by without meaningful discussions between the parties at the same table.
I understand there is a new UK government and changes in the government in the Republic but there remains no impetus to this process, which doesn’t inspire confidence. We need people to step up to the plate and do so without delay. The consequences of not doing so are too severe.
His point about big changes in Dublin brings us to the other big political development on this side of the Irish Sea today. This is Enda Kenny’s last day as Taoiseach before he hands over the reins of power to the new Fine Gael Leader Leo Vradakar.
Kenny will resign after speeches are made paying tribute to the Irish prime minister who in his final hours in office expressed concern about how the Tory-DUP axis at Westminster might negatively impact on the Stormont devolution talks.
In his Today programme interview Michael Gove, the environment secretary, suggested that the government would need to adopt a more generous approach to public spending. Here is Peter Walker and Henry McDonald’s story.
Iain Duncan Smith urges government to rethink public sector pay freeze
Theresa May’s failure to win a majority is encouraging some Tories to demand a new approach to Brexit. But it is also leading to calls for a rethink on austerity, and this is what the Times has splashed on this morning.
TIMES: Austerity is over, May tells Tories #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/8ZclskEr29
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 12, 2017
Here’s an extract from the Times’ splash (paywall.)
Sources said that [Theresa May] accepted that voters’ patience with austerity was at an end after Boris Johnson, David Davis and a series of Tory MPs told her that she had misjudged the public mood.
In a Panorama documentary broadcast last night Gavin Barwell, who was appointed as May’s chief of staff after losing his Croydon Central seat in the election, said austerity cost the Tories votes.
There’s a conversation I particularly remember with a teacher who had voted for me in 2010 and 2015 and said ‘you know I understand the need for a pay freeze for a few years to deal with the deficit but you’re now asking for that to go on potentially for 10 or 11 years and that’s too much’. That is something that Jeremy Corbyn was able to tap into.
Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative former leader and former work and pensions secretary, may not want a rethink on Brexit (see 10.58am), but he told BBC News that, on austerity, he did favour a new approach.
I resigned over a year ago because I disagreed with George Osborne’s direction of travel. And I have for some time asked us to rethink whole areas of where we are. The length of time that we were likely now to be asking public servants and others to put up with reduced, flattened salaries has been an issue for me and for many other people. We would like to see that revisited.
Updated
Iain Duncan Smith hits back at Tories trying to shift Brexit policy
William Hague’s Telegraph article (see 9.08am) is significant because there is a briefing war going on between different factions in the cabinet over whether or not Theresa May’s failure to obtain a majority will, or should, lead to a change in government policy on Brexit.
Yesterday the Evening Standard, which is edited by George Osborne, the former chancellor, did its best to stir things up with a splash depicting it as conflict between the “sensibles” and the “Creationists”. Osborne wants Brexit to be as open, pro-business and pro-immigration as possible, and so there are no prizes for guessing who the “sensibles” are.
Our second edition @EveningStandard has more on Cabinet splits + on the Queen's Speech delay before it was confirmed - quite extraordinary. pic.twitter.com/qKdcEHRR2d
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) June 12, 2017
The Daily Telegraph has picked up on the same issue for its splash this morning.
Tuesday's Telegraph: "Tories and Labour hold secret talks on soft Brexit" #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @hendopolis) pic.twitter.com/FYvdWkCGuj
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 12, 2017
This is what the Telegraph story says about said “secret talks”.
Senior Labour sources told The Telegraph that conversations have taken place to allow back-channels between the two parties to negotiate amendments to Brexit bills which would soften the exit.
If there is no agreement to set up a Brexit Commission, one alternative would be for Labour backbenchers to table amendments, with agreement from pro-remain Conservatives, which would be easier for Tory MPs to support than if they came from Mr Corbyn’s own team.
The shadow cabinet would then “fall in behind” the same amendment, the source said, making it look like the change had not been won by Mr Corbyn himself.
They claimed that many Conservative MPs are “horrified” by Mrs May’s decision to hammer home her message that “no deal would be better than a bad deal” - seen as a devastating outcome for many low-paid workers.
These reports are likely to alarm Tory MPs who are staunchly pro-Brexit and on BBC News this morning one of them, Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader and former work and pensions secretary, said that it would be a mistake to shift policy on Brexit. He said only “a minority” wanted this and that all they would achieve would be to generate a “row”.
The party overall is settled. What we want is to engage and discuss these matters with people, but in essence those negotiations are due to start very, very shortly, ie next week, and the Conservative government needs to get on and make sure they now start talking to our European allies and friends ...
I think the Conservative party, people in cabinet who may well seem to think that they are going to start reopening all of this, the answer is I would not try and reopen this before you start the negotiations. Because all that you’ll get is what we don’t want at the moment, which is another argument and row going on in the governing party. It had a settled position. We had agreed that position before we went into the last election.
So in a sense what you’ve got is a minority of people who are just trying to prise this open again. And my answer is: it should not be opened, we should just get on with it really.
The former Irish taoiseach and former EU ambassador John Bruton told a gathering at the Irish embassy last night that he believed the EU divorce bill was designed to tease out Britain’s financial red lines before they get down to substantive talks.
The one thing the UK has is money – if it puts out its card on money, it has no other negotiating [position].
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, put the EU on a potential collision course with Theresa May earlier this year by insisting it made “no sense” to negotiate a future UK-EU relationship without first reaching agreement on the UK’s financial commitment to the EU.The bill has been estimated at anything between £50bn and £85bn.
Speaking after giving the Henry Grattan speech at the Irish embassy on Monday, Bruton also told the audience that he had been told that Boris Johnson was being obstructive for no reason in day to day relations with the EU.
“I think the UK is being obstructive .... a lot of this is in private so there is no electoral gain for Boris Johnson or anybody else,” he said. He said he thought the attitude had to change because “failure in this negotiation is going to be very damaging for everyone.”
Listening to Michael Gove talking about a collaborative approach to Brexit on Today this morning I was reminded that in his original Vote Leave victory speech on the morning after the referendum result was declared in 2015, he called for representatives of “different political traditions” to be involved in shaping what he called Britain’s “gradual divergence” from the rest of the EU.
“It’s important that representatives from every part of the United Kingdom, every community, every religion and different political traditions are involved in shaping our future, and we should draw on wisdom from great minds outside politics”, he said at the time.
Many of Theresa May’s colleagues complained over the ensuing year that she wasn’t terribly good at drawing on wisdom from within her own cabinet, let alone outside politics. Perhaps the new parliamentary arithmetic will force her into adopting something more like the approach her old rival Gove favoured at the outset?
Gove says government must proceed with 'maximum possible consensus' on Brexit
Here is the key quote from Michael Gove’s interview on the Today programme earlier. Gove, the new environment secretary and one of the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign, said the government should proceed with the “maximum possible consensus’” on Brexit.
It’s also the case that we need to recognise that we as Conservatives were not returned with a majority. And that means we need to proceed with the maximum possible consensus and we also need to ensure that the concerns of people who voted remain - many of whom now actually want us to press ahead with leaving the European union as quickly and in as orderly fashion as possible - we need to make sure that their concerns are part of our conversation.
SNP shelves fundraising for second independence referendum campaign
The Scottish National party has withdrawn a £1m fundraising appeal to help fight a second Scottish independence referendum, the Herald has reported, after its heavy election defeats on Friday.
The SNP launched the ref.scot campaign when Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister and SNP leader, launched her quest for a second independence vote by spring 2019. That goal has now been dropped, and Sturgeon admitted on Friday she had to re-evaluate her referendum strategy after the loss of 21 SNP seats in the general election.
The SNP’s remaining 35 MPs have to elect a new Westminster leader after Angus Robertson, who previously held the role, lost his Moray seat to the Tories.
With that vote taking place tomorrow, four MPs have put their names forward: Drew Hendry, the former leader of Highland council; Ian Blackford, a former SNP party treasurer; Joanna Cherry QC, an advocate; and Tommy Sheppard, a former comedy club director and previously deputy leader of Hackney council’s Labour group.
Robertson remains the SNP’s deputy leader despite losing his seat. The party’s rules only require the deputy leader to be an party member.
The disappearance of the fundraising appeal, which had raised £482,000 with 10 days of its 100-day operation still to go, was first spotted by the Times reporter Daniel Sanderson on Friday morning.
Interesting - the SNP appears to have ditched its crowdfunder from its indyref2 website. First screengrab from May 13. #ge2017 pic.twitter.com/2xBKbUH6GY
— Dan Sanderson (@DSandersonTimes) June 9, 2017
The Herald reports today that the SNP confirmed the appeal had been taken down, although the campaign website remained online. “Our fundraising efforts were focused on the general election,” a spokesman said.
Updated
Inflation up to 2.9%, a four-year high
Inflation has gone up to 2.9%, a four-year high.
That increase is higher than expected, and bad news for living standards, obviously.
My colleague Graeme Wearden has more on his business live blog.
The BBC’s Norman Smith is in Downing Street for the cabinet meeting. And he is following the rule that you can never go wrong with a cat pic on Twitter.
Morning folks. Those cabinet meetings are just so dull. Brexit.. blah blah.. Brexit blah... #LazontheLoose pic.twitter.com/smhpbqy3jB
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) June 13, 2017
The cabinet is meeting this morning. There was a meeting of the political cabinet yesterday, but this is the first meeting of the new cabinet devoted to government business. It is due to start at 9.30am.
Hague urges May to adopt Labour-style approach to Brexit and to set up cross-party commission
In his interviews this morning Michael Gove, the new environment secretary and one of the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign, stressed the importance of achieving a consensus on Brexit (see 8.12am) - although he said almost nothing about what this might mean in practice.
For a much clearer idea of what this might mean, do read William Hague’s column in the Daily Telegraph today (paywall). Hague is a former Tory leader and a former foreign secretary. He backed remain in the EU referendum, but he won the Tory leadership in 1997 because he was seen as a Eurosceptic and he probably has more clout with hardline Tory leavers than many of his remain colleagues.
Essentially Hague is backing calls for a cross-party commission to take charge of Brexit. This is an idea also being pushed by, among others, Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister (here), and Yvette Cooper, the senior Labour MP (here, in the Guardian).
But the Hague argument is quite detailed. Here are the main points.
- Hague says Theresa May needs to adopt a new approach to Brexit because a minimalist one is risky.
In the worst-case scenario, we end up with a poor Brexit deal rejected in parliament but with no alternative available, presided over by ministers suffering mounting public and business dissatisfaction, leading to the election of a Labour government led, in effect, by Marxists.
Faced with such dangers, sitting tight is not an option. Napoleon’s maxim that “the side that stays within its fortifications is beaten” applies fully to this situation. Breaking out of these problems will require a change both of style and substance, treating last week’s terrible outcome as an opportunity and a duty to tackle intractable issues in new ways.
- He says May should make the economy, not controlling immigration, the priority in the Brexit talks.
Change the emphasis given to the UK’s objectives, with a clear indication that economic growth will have priority over controlling the number of people entering the country for work. This would show a readiness to accommodate the views of Scottish Conservatives, business organisations and, to some degree, opposition parties, within certain parameters.
Hague does not put it like this, but essentially he is urging May to adopt a Labour-style approach to Brexit. Labour’s Brexit policy is in some respects ambiguous, and in many respects very similar to the government’s, but one key difference is that the party says the economy, not curbing immigration, must come first. It is calling for a “jobs-first Brexit”, a phrase Jeremy Corbyn used three times when he appeared on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.
- Hague suggests that that UK should stay in the European Economic Area (ie, adopt the Norway option) for two years after Brexit, as part of the transition.
- He suggests the UK should grant free movement to EU citizens after Brexit if they have a job. This would be one stop short of full free movement, he says.
We can negotiate the “bold and ambitious free trade agreement” that the British people would like to see if we take a pragmatic approach to how we use the control we will have won back.
There are various ways of doing this. One of them – put forward in this column before – is to bring in work permits for workers from the EU but agree to grant them to anyone who gets a job in Britain, unless they have a criminal record, or extremist connections. They would not receive any support if out of work, and the same rights would have to apply to British citizens throughout the EU. This approach, just one significant step short of free movement, would set the stage for a promising trade negotiation, and avoid damaging our own industries relying on European workers, from banking to fruit picking.
- He calls for a cross-party commission to help decide who the government implements Brexit.
Call in the CBI, the Institute of Directors, the British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the TUC, the first ministers of the devolved governments, and the leaders of all the opposition parties – yes, even Corbyn – leading MPs of all parties, and say: “If you are willing to discuss how to make this work within these parameters, come in and we will be open to your views. There isn’t a perfect solution, but on how to conduct a transitional period and how to help the economy through Brexit as a priority we will work with you. Otherwise, we will just have to try to do this without you.”
Hague admits that getting consensus would be difficult. But he says that, even if the government fails to obtain agreement, it will get credit for changing “both the style and the substance” of its approach.
Updated
Q: Will you guarantee that farmers will keep the funding they get from EU subsidies to the end of this parliament, to 2022?
Yes, says Gove. He says that was a manifesto commitment.
Q: Will farmers still be able to hire foreign workers?
Gove says he wants to listen to what the farming sector says about this.
Q: You have generally voted against measures to combat climate change?
Gove says that is a misrepresentation.
Mishal Husain cites two examples of votes.
Gove says he was a member of a government and voted with the party whip.
He says before he became a minister he did argue for measures to combat climate change.
He says that in the Times he wrote in favour of Roger Harrabin, the BBC’s environment analyst, praising his work in raising awareness about climate change.
Q: How did it feel to be called back by Theresa May less than a year after she sacked you?
Gove says he is a “great fan” of May. He says as home secretary she did a lot to tackle Islamist extremism.
Q: You accused May of “failing to drain the swamp” in relation to extremism.
No I didn’t, says Gove.
Q: That is what you briefed the Times.
Gove says that is a mischaracterisation.
He praises May for tacking the factors that encourage extremism, the “upstream” issues.
And that’s it.
I will post a summary of all the Gove interviews soon.
Updated
Q: The DUP want something in return for backing the Tories. They want to avoid customs checks on the Irish border. Could we stay in the customs union?
Gove says the DUP wants a stable government.
The talks with the DUP are about ensuring this.
As for the border, he says there are a number of “pragmatic steps” that can be taken to ensure trade is as frictionless as possible.
Q: So you think that can be achieved by the government’s plans?
Yes, says Gove.
Q: The DUP want to end the bedroom tax and keep the triple lock. Will the price of the pact with them be ending austerity?
Gove does not accept the premise of the question. He says he wants to relieve the next generation from the burden of debt.
He says the phrases austerity and cuts programme come from “a part of the political lexicon” (ie, they are Labour terms, he is saying).
He says public spending has to be kept at a sustainable level.
But the government has to respond to “legitimate public concerns” about public services being funded properly.
Updated
Q: But what does this mean in practice? What will change from the Lancaster House speech?
Gove says May made it clear she was determined to honour the result of the referendum.
But we know have to think about what comes next.
He says he is now environment secretary. As we leave the common agricultural policy, we need to ensure we maintain high-quality environmental protection.
Q: William Hague has proposed a cross-party Brexit commission. Do you back that?
Gove says there is already a cross-party Brexit committee in the Commons. He used to sit on it.
He says he does not want to endorse specific ideas.
Q: So you would oppose this idea?
Gove says this idea is Hague’s copyright.
He says the Brexit department has been talking to the widest possible group of people.
Updated
Michael Gove's Today interview
Good morning. I’m taking over from Matthew.
Michael Gove has given at least two interviews already this morning, but now he is on Today.
Q: You say in the Telegraph today that the EU referendum was a vote for leaving the single market and ending free movement. But you also say the Brexit outcome must command the widest possible support.
Gove says the Tories must recognise they did not win a majority. They must obtain the maximum possible consensus. So the concerns of people about leaving the EU must be part of the conversation.
Q: That sounds like softening Brexit.
No, says Gove. It means ensuring the the referendum result is honoured in the right way.
Michael Gove has confirmed he has discussed Brexit with Labour politicians after a report in the Telegraph claimed that senior cabinet ministers were in secret talks with Labour MPs to secure cross-party backing for a soft Brexit.
Asked about the report, Gove said he rejected the terms soft and hard Brexit. But speaking to BBC Breakfast, he added: “I talk to politicians from every party in order to make sure that we get the right approach. During the referendum campaign I worked with Labour politicians like Gisela Stuart and in this [last] parliament I’ve been on the Brexit select committee with Hilary Benn and a variety of others, so of course I talk to people from different parties, that’s what governing in the national interest is all about.”
On Monday, the former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper called for a cross-party commission on Brexit. Writing in the Guardian, she said:
After the referendum last year, I called for the government to approach this in a cross-party way to get the best deal. Now it is more important than ever. There is neither strength nor stability in a narrow, bunkered one-party approach; you need to include people with different ideas to get the best deal and widest support.
So we should set up a small cross-party commission to conduct the negotiations, and have a clear and transparent process to build consensus behind the final deal. It should be accountable to parliament but avoid getting caught up in the inevitable hung parliament political rows.
Gove claimed the government was in “listening mode” after the election.
He said: “We underestimated some of the reasons behind Labour’s support. It is important after this general election that we do two things. One, that we form a government that is capable of carrying through the public’s wishes, including leaving the European Union. And at the same time we reflect on the fact that we didn’t get that majority that we wanted, and therefore we need to be properly in listening mode to appreciate what the public’s concerns are.”
On his relations with the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, whose leadership bid he scuppered last year, Gove said: “Boris and I spoke at the weekend and we had a great friendly conversation. He was kind enough to welcome me back to the cabinet with a very generous tweet. And we were chatting yesterday in the margins of cabinet.”
Updated
Harriet Harman, the veteran Labour MP and former party deputy leader, has been speaking before this evening’s meeting of the parliamentary Labour party. Traditionally, under Corbyn’s leadership, these have been quite feisty, occasionally mutinous affairs. Not any more.
Harman is among many Labour MPs since the election to concede she was wrong in thinking Corbyn could not lead the party to election success, even the limited success of gaining seats while remaining out of government.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “My concern about Jeremy Corbyn was he could not take us towards government let alone into government. And he has confounded those expectations. Just as, if we’d have lost seats under his leadership, he would have had to take responsibility, we’ve gained seats under his leadership, and he can take the credit for that.”
She said the atmosphere among Labour MPs even shortly before the election was morbid: “We were expecting the Tories to lay waste to us. Instead it turned around, and we come back coherent, united. The atmosphere is verging from on one hand relief to jubilant, and the Tories are in disarray. And Jeremy Corbyn has to take the credit for that, because he was the leader and he’s gone forward.”
Updated
Gove accuses Tom Watson of 'mischief making' over his return to cabinet
Michael Gove has dismissed claims that he was brought back into the cabinet at Rupert Murdoch’s behest as “political mischief making.”
The Labour deputy leader, Tom Watson, has written to Theresa May asking if Murdoch asked her to reappoint Gove to the cabinet or face bad press in his newspaper titles.
Gove’s shock return as environment secretary comes just under a year after May fired him as justice secretary following his ill-fated attempt to lead the Conservative party.
Gove accused Watson of pedalling conspiracy theories. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said:
Tom sees Rupert Murdoch’s hand behind everything. I think Tom believes that Rupert Murdoch picks the England cricket XI and the rugby first XV as well as decide who is on Britain’s Got Talent. This is par for the course for Tom when it comes to political mischief making.
Updated
It’s worth noting that in his GMB interview Gove was asked about the Daily Telegraph’s front page story which claimed senior cabinet ministers have been “secretly” talking with Labour about a cross-party agreement to soften Brexit. (See our Paper round up below).
PA again reports:
Mr Gove, a staunch Brexit supporter, was also asked about a Daily Telegraph report that senior Cabinet ministers were engaged in secret talks with Labour MPs to secure a soft Brexit.
Despite writing a column for the same edition of the paper, the former journalist said it was “news to me”, adding that the story may have involved a “slight amount of top spin”.
Updated
The effusive Mr Gove:
‘She’s got my backing for as long as she wants to be Prime Minister’ - Michael Gove MP speaks on supporting Theresa May pic.twitter.com/KI2Ge6eUab
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 13, 2017
Michael Gove is doing the rounds of the media this morning after his surprise Cabinet re-entry. He’s written a column for the Daily Telegraph, is on the BBC Today programme at 8.10am and has just appeared on Good Morning Britain where he has been super effusive about his boss Theresa May, saying she has “amazing gifts and incredible talents”.
The Press Association reports:
Asked how long he would support the woman who sacked him less than a year ago, he told Good Morning Britain: “For as long as she wants to be Prime Minister.”
So to this morning’s papers ...
The election remains the focus although notably – on a day when Theresa May has owned up to the full “mess” of the Conservative election campaign – the Daily Mail decides to splash on a legal aid story. “An insult to terror victims” says the headline on the splash, which tells how a “terrorist fighting deportation has won £250,000 in legal aid”. May’s mea culpa is a single column.
The other papers are more obsessed with recording the day and what lies ahead. The Sun – previously very supportive of May – has the witty headline “Mess, Prime Minister” and says the PM was “hauled” before Tory MPs and “grovelled” as she admitted the “disaster” of the election result was all her fault. The Mirror goes all Star Wars with a picture of May as Princess Leia and the headline “May the farce be with you”.
The Times extrapolates what it thinks was the message from May to MPs, saying she told them: “Austerity is over” and seven years of cuts are poised to come to an end. The Guardian’s front has the May quote about getting everyone into this mess but also says her new approach with MPs has bought her time in office and there are signals of a new approach to Brexit.
The Telegraph has a splash that claims senior cabinet ministers have been “secretly” talking with Labour about a cross-party agreement to soften Brexit – no names, no real detail in the story, but obviously interesting if true. Lastly, the FT turns to Europe with a warning from the EU’s chief negotiator: “Stop wasting time or risk and exit without a deal”.
So much going on that you will need more than one pair of eyes to keep track of all the developments. That’s sort of where we come in.
We will be following the critical talks at Downing Street between Theresa May and Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Arlene Foster who the Tories hope will do a deal to prop up a minority administration.
Read our Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald’s piece here about what the DUP hope to get out of an informal tie up with the Conservatives.
Hello and welcome to politics live where we will chart the highs and lows in Westminster and beyond in the wake of last week’s election. I’m Bonnie Malkin holding the fort until Andrew Sparrow takes over later on.
First up: Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet meets today for the first time since the election and the Labour leader is being urged to reappoint its members because of their loyalty during the campaign.
There have been indications that Corbyn might reach out to past critics including Yvette Cooper, Angela Eagle and Chuka Umunna, who have said they would be willing to serve. But Clive Efford, chair of the party’s Tribune Group, said: “Jeremy has got a shadow cabinet that remained loyal and allowed him to perform extremely well during the general election. He can’t sack those people. They deserve to be rewarded for what they have done.”
That is today. But I think it is worthwhile recapping the extraordinary goings on of yesterday.
Theresa May gave a “contrite and genuine” apology to backbench MPs for her election failure, telling the party’s 1922 Committee: “I got us into this mess, and I’m going to get us out of it.”
Hard Brexit is increasingly sounding like a thing of the past, with the Tories looking to drop the “no deal is better than a bad deal” mantra. Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, said she was pushing for an “open Brexit” with maximum economic access. May needs to cobble together a Queen’s speech – due on 19 June, but possibly delayed. Brexit and counter-terrorism policy will figure prominently, but items like new grammer schools could be scaled back.
There’s still a list of other Conservative factions Theresa May needs to appease – from David Davis and the senior cabinet “greyhairs” who offer stability, to Boris Johnson and those who think he’d do a better job, as well as both Brexiters who still want a clean break and Remainers determined to salvage an economic relationship with the EU.
The Moodys ratings agency meanwhile says the inconclusive election is likely to delay Brexit progress and could harm Britain’s international credit rating. Domestically though, UK employers are saying they plan to continue hiring despite slow growth and uncertainty about the EU exit negotiations.
May and the new French president, Emmanuel Macron, will announce a war on online terror today and attend the England v France friendly at the Stade de France tonight.
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