Afternoon summary
- Donald Trump has invited Theresa May to Washington and affirmed his belief in the special relationship between the UK and the US. The invitation came in May’s first conversation with the president-elect. Trump reportedly spoke to nine other world leaders before he spoke to May, but Number 10 sources have said there was no urgent need for a conversation.
- Philip Hammond, the chancellor, has announced plans to strengthen links between the London and Shanghai stock exchanges. He was speaking at a press conference with the Chinese vice premier, Ma Kai.
Philip Hammond says China and the UK are enjoying a "golden era" and are taking their relationship to a new level pic.twitter.com/w7rSur3NuJ
— Laura Hughes (@Laura_K_Hughes) November 10, 2016
- Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, has denounced Trump as a “a racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper” but also set out three lessons progressive parties can learn from his election victory. (See 2.33pm.)
That’s all from me for today. I have to get to a school parents’ “evening” - which is late afternoon.
Thanks for the comments.
This is from the Sun’s Harry Cole.
No10 source: Trump "affirmed Special Relationship" Wants to "strengthen bilateral trade and investment." Be "honoured" to invite her to DC.
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) November 10, 2016
Trump invites May to Washington
This is from the Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy.
I gather President-elect invited Mrs May to visit as soon as possible - and sd it would be a great honour to welcome her to Washington
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) November 10, 2016
Updated
May speaks to Trump
Theresa May has spoken to Donald Trump. This is from ITV’s Chris Ship.
Prime Minister had her conversation with President elect @realDonaldTrump at 1:45pm UK time this afternoon
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) November 10, 2016
Updated
It is worth noting that of the three lessons that Ed Miliband thinks progressives need to learn from Donald Trump (see 2.33pm), two are ones that Jeremy Corbyn has already embraced. Corbyn’s policy agenda is ambitious, not incremental, and he can credibly pose as an outsider. But he is not particularly comfortable championing nationalism or patriotism.
Miliband identifies three lessons that progressives can learn from Trump
Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, was on the World at One talking about Donald Trump. He expressed horror at Trump’s politics but, like Jeremy Corbyn yesterday, and Emily Thornberry this morning, he accepted that Trump won support because people were rightly fed up with the economic status quo.
Miliband said that he thought he had a “good analysis” of this problem when he was leader of the Labour party but that his solutions were obviously “not sufficiently convincing” (because he lost the general election).
However since then Miliband appears to have given the subject more thought because in his interview he offered some fresh thinking on how political parties could respond to these challenges. It was one of the most interesting interventions I’ve heard from any British politician since Trump’s election. Here are the key points.
- Miliband identified three lessons that progressive politicians could learn from the success of Donald Trump. Parties like Labour needed to offer big solutions, stop defending the system like insiders and embrace patriotism, he said.
I think there are deep lessons [from Brexit and Trump]. What are the lessons? First of all the economic lessons, because whatever you say about Trump and Brexit, they offer big solutions. I think they are false solutions, and we should not invent false gods of our own. But our solutions are too incremental and not big enough for the diagnosis of inequality and the problems that we see.
Secondly, being political insiders is a massive problem. Trump was the consumate outsider and I do think in a sense that got him permission to be heard. And I think we have to think very hard about how we don’t defend the existing, broken politics that people perceive, but actually want to change it.
Then, thirdly, this issue of nationhood and patriotism. And the truth is that Trump has invented a xenophobic, anti-immigrant, nasty view of nationhood, but we don’t yet have a convincing one of our own. Simply defending globalisation, openness on its own, without fairness, has been proved to be deeply insufficient.
- He said neoliberalism had failed.
We should certainly be saying neoliberalism has failed ... The current economic system does not work. It has accrued the gains to the top 1% and people have got squeezed and left out.
- He said that, following the Brexit vote, he accepted that there would have to be some controls on the free movement of EU citizens into the UK. Politicians had to understand people’s concerns, he said.
Having seen the referendum we have got, if at all possible, to see some change in relation to free movement.
He said that he still believed in openness, and the advantages of the single market, but that this needed to be combined with fairness too.
- He described Trump as “a racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper” and said people should be “deeply worried” about his election.
The idea that we have shared values with a racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper beggars belief.
I think we should be deeply worried about the implications for many of the things that we care about: tackling climate change, he says it’s invented by the Chinese and it’s a hoax; dealing with problems in the Middle East, he says he’s going to recognise Jerusalem almost immediately [as the capital of Israel] with all kinds of implications that has for the Middle East peace process; his attitude to Russia.
And then this fantasy about trade. This guy is anti trade; he’s an odd combination of protectionism plus the old trickle-down tax cut formula that has got us into a lot of this mess in the first place.
- He said Trump’s election was symptomatic of a “sickness” in America.
Updated
Lunchtime summary
Sturgeon says some of Trump's views are 'deeply abhorrent'
Nicola Sturgeon has warned that legitimate concerns about economic alienation must never be allowed to give a veneer of respect to racism, misogyny and intolerance, in a strongly worded response to the election of Donald Trump.
Addressing the Holyrood chamber at FMQs, Sturgeon went further than her initial statement on Trump’s shock victory yesterday – in which she urged the president elect to prove that he can act for all US citizens regardless of race or background – declaring: “I’m not prepared to be a politician that maintains a diplomatic silence in the face of racism, misogyny or hatred of any kind.”
Describing some of the views expressed by Trump during his campaign as “deeply abhorrent”, she said that there was more of an obligation than ever “for people of progressive opinion the world over to stand up and be counted”. She added:
There is no doubt whatsoever that many people feel economically alienated, but we must never allow those legitimate concerns to give a veneer of respectability to racism, misogyny and intolerance.
Responding to a series of questions from Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, who herself travelled to the United States last week to campaign for Hillary Clinton, she said that the Democratic candidate’s defeat ‘tells us we are not as far down road to gender equality as we hoped we were’.
Dugdale warned that Donald Trump’s behaviour towards women sent “a dangerous signal across the world”.
But Sturgeon also insisted that, whilst she regretted the result, she respected the decision of the American people and wanted to engage “positively and constructively” with the next US administration.
Sturgeon has previously stripped Trump of his honorary role as a Scottish business ambassador last year, after his attack on Mexicans and Muslims, describing his rhetoric as “obnoxious and offensive”.
It has been a bumper autumn for political publishing. I am still ploughing through the EU referendum books, but here are three memoirs that have landed on my desk in recent weeks that are worth reading.
Speaking Out by Ed Balls: This is Ed Balls’ memoir of his time in politics. It is not an account of everything he did, and anyone hoping for an insider account of the Blair/Brown rivalry will be disappointed. Instead it is structured thematically and all the chapters focus on lessons learnt from his time as an adviser and a minister. Occasionally the anecdotes are a bit cheesy, but the book is exceptionally readable and anyone interested in learning about the craft of politics will find it riveting. Surprisingly, with his strong plea for a politics combining social justice with faith in the markets, Balls also emerges from the book sounding like the very last survivor of New Labour.
Sample extracts:
One of the important lessons I’ve learnt in politics over two decades is that it’s not only common for people to hold two seemingly contradictory opinions at the same time, but it also makes a good deal of sense.
So when I think of the conversations I’ve had with voters in recent years, I recall people ranting about the bankers and what they had done to the economy and how angry they were about it. But when asked, the same people would agree that banks are important for our economy and just want them to work better in the future, not to be permanently weakened. They know they matter for their savings and mortgages, and for small-business lending, and more widely for jobs and wealth creation in the economy.
From before 1997, it was my job to organise the annual Christmas party for Gordon [Brown] and his inner circle of political advisers in a Westminster restaurant or later in the Downing Street flat, sometimes the only time in the whole year where he’d stop and thank all of us collectively for the punishing and occasionally painful hours we put in.
As well as dinner and secret santa, and the handing out of presents from Gordon and Sarah, and from Sue Nye - usually lurid but fashionable ties - there were also certain customs that became established over the years, most sacred of all the singing of ‘Jerusalem’ (twice) complete with the elaborate acting-out of the lyrics - shooting arrows, wielding spears, and so on.
If that sounds awful, it at least served as the best possible induction into the team for relative newcomers.
Hinterland by Chris Mullin: Mullin has already written three superb volumes of diaries covering his life as a Labour minister and an MP, and this is an autobiography that fills in the gaps, mostly focusing on his career as a writer and campaigner before he entered parliament. Andy Beckett was probably right in his Guardian review when he said this was too incidental to Mullin’s other writing to be a classic political memoir, but Mullin is such a good observer that he could make even a dull life seem interesting, and his has been anything but. I enjoyed it very much.
Sample extract:
What have I learnt in my (almost) seventy years on this planet?
That life is short and one should make the most of it (although I expect most people my age have reached the same conclusion).
That it is stupid to waste time on feuds and vendettas.
That happiness comes from doing stuff, not buying stuff, and that the greatest happiness comes from helping others.
That in any walk of life it is better to go while people are asking ‘Why?’ rather than ‘When?’
That the art of good government (and the key to success in many other professions) is an ability to compromise, though not necessarily at the lowest common denominator.
That no religion, ideology or political party has a monopoly of wisdom.
That anyone who claims to have discovered a perfect formula for human happiness is deluded.
That although there are admirable people in all walks of life, put not thy faith in heroes; they often have feet of clay.
That one should never overlook the possibility, however remote, that one is mistaken; or that one’s critics - or political opponents - are right.
That, as I have learnt from the experience of my wife and her family in Vietnam, state control of the means of production, distribution and exchange does not result in greater happiness. And neither does rule by corporations. In short, big is not necessarily beautiful. Our best bet is the regulated market.
That taxation, fairly raised and efficiently used, is the subscription we pay to live in civilisation.
That an economy built on shopping does not have long to live.
That the human race must adapt to survive: if human beings continue to use the resources of the planet as if there is no tomorrow, then there will be no tomorrow.
That the great strength of capitalism is its ability to adapt to changed circumstances: its greatest (and potentially fatal) weakness is its voracious appetite for resources. One way or another the future is green ... or black.
Politics: Between the Extremes by Nick Clegg: This is in part a book about Clegg’s time as the Lib Dem deputy prime minister in the coalition, but it does not set out to be a full account of that government and Clegg’s main aim is to defend liberalism and explain how the politics of reason can survive and flourish in the age of Brexit/Trump-style populism. It would be wrong to pretend he has all the answers, but his book is well-written, clear-headed, refreshingly free of self-pity and upbeat. In fact, very upbeat. Clegg suggests he has not given up hope of the Lib Dems returning to power in a national government - or even of Brexit being reversed.
Sample extract:
If that were to happen [Brexit leading to economic turmoil] the political consequences would be brutal. The millions of British voters who were lured by Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and others to vote for a sunny Brexit future will be enraged that their personal economic well-being has been damaged, and will demand different leadership in Westminster and possibly even a rethink of the decision to quit the EU in the first place ...
For a start, there should be an early general election, once Theresa May has published a full, detailed plan for the Brexit negotiations, so that voters are given an opportunity to express their approval, or otherwise, of what life outside the EU may actually look like. If the British people decide that they do not wish to grant the Conservative party a majority in that election, it will be up to other parties to try to form a government - possibly a government of national unity - whose sole purpose will be to steer the country through this unprecedented period of constitutional and economic turmoil by striking a better deal for Britain with the EU.
Updated
Nigel Farage has claimed to be “the catalyst” for the rise of Donald Trump, referred to Barack Obama as a “creature”, and joked about Trump’s alleged sexual assaults on women, my colleague Peter Walker reports.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, has launched a very strong attack on Donald Trump in the Scottish parliament this afternoon. My colleague Libby Brooks will be filing more on this soon, but this is what she has tweeted.
On US election, Sturgeon says that Clinton's defeat 'tells us we are not as far down road to gender equality as we hoped we were' #FMQs
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) November 10, 2016
Sturgeon says, since Trump victory, there is more of an obligation on her generation than ever to stand up for progressive values #FMQs
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) November 10, 2016
Sturgeon on Trump: I never want to be the kind of politician who maintains a diplomatic silence in face of racism & misogyny #FMQs
— Libby Brooks (@libby_brooks) November 10, 2016
The women working for the Green party earn on average 1.45% more than the men. To mark equal pay day, the party has published its own gender pay gap figure. It is considerably better than the national average, which sees women earning on average 18.1% less than men. The party has 42 people working for it, either full-time or part-time.
Sarah Cope, the Greens’ spokesperson for women, said:
From this day until the end of the year women in the UK are effectively working for free because of the ongoing and unacceptable gap in pay between men and women. It is up to political parties to lead by example.
That’s why today the Green Party are releasing figures to show our gender pay ratio, making the pay that we give to men and women open for all. We call on other political parties to do the same and ensure that they are doing what they can to end the unequal treatment of women in work.
Ephraim Mirvis, the chief rabbi, has told Radio 5 Live that Donald Trump is a racist.
Britain's @chiefrabbi tells @emmabarnett that he's "nervous" and "concerned" about the election of Donald Trump as US president pic.twitter.com/9vqsFtBzOD
— BBC Radio 5 live (@bbc5live) November 10, 2016
Suzanne Evans, the former Ukip deputy chairman and a candidate in the leadership contest, has announced that she has withdrawn her application to be Ukip’s candidate in the Sleaford and North Hykeham byelection. In a Facebook post she says she is doing this because she has been told that, if she were selected as the byelection candidate, she would have to withdraw from the leadership contest.
The byelection is being held on Thursday 8 December. It was triggered by the resignation of the Conservative MP Stephen Phillips.
Ukip’s chances of winning in Sleaford are slight. The party came third in the seat in the general election, and Phillips had a majority of more than 24,000.
Ukip’s trade spokesman, William Dartmouth MEP, is calling for Nigel Farage to be made the next ambassador to Washington. Farage, the outgoing Ukip leader, spoke at a Trump rally during the election campaign and has a cordial relationship with the president-elect. Dartmouth said:
Nigel Farage already has good ties and a relationship with the US President-elect Donald Trump - much better than any one else in British public life. His appointment would materially assist the UK in getting a UK-USA trade agreement for the first time. We in the UK would then be “at the front of the queue”.
Nigel Farage’s appointment is clearly in the national interest. The alternative is some establishment Foreign Office “high flyer” with neither empathy nor understanding for the next US president and administration.
Nigel Farage is the best choice for UK ambassador in Washington and the only rational one. The UK’s national interest should come first.
Farage himself has joked about wanting to be Trump’s ambassador to the EU.
Hammond suggests Trump's protectionism would damage prosperity
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, has given a brief interview to the BBC this morning about Donald Trump. He said that he was sure that Britain would have “a very constructive dialogue with the new American administration”. But he also signalled that he did not support Trump’s protectionist policies. Asked if he agreed with Trump’s plans to increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 45%, he replied:
Britain has always believed that the best way long-term to protect jobs and promote prosperity is free markets and free trade.
And, when asked if he thought free trade deals needed to be fundamentally rethought, as Trump suggests, he suggested he didn’t. He replied:
We believe that free trade and open markets are good for prosperity, good for the protection of jobs in this economy. But we do also recognise the concerns that there are around dumping and unfair practices, and it’s about getting the right balance in the global trading system so that we can have the benefits of open markets, while being properly and appropriately protected from unfair practices.
This is from the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent, James Landale.
Special relationship? Trump yet to call PMTM. But has spoken to leaders of Egypt Ireland Mexico Israel Turkey India Japan Australia & SK
— James Landale (@BBCJLandale) November 10, 2016
The government should phase out level 2 apprenticeships for 16 to 18-year-olds, the IPPR thinktank says in report today. There are 90,000 people doing these apprenticeships and the IPPR report says they are of limited use.
There is a particular problem with level 2 apprenticeships, which are not currently well designed to meet the needs of 16–18-year-olds: they are often very job specific, they do not include much off-the-job training, they only last one year, and – from next year – they will not be required to include a recognised qualification.
It recommends replacing them with a pre-apprenticeship programme.
Thornberry says there are 'some similarities' between Trump supporters and Corbyn supporters
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, was on the Today programme this morning talking about Donald Trump. She was asked about the statement that Jeremy Corbyn put out yesterday about Trump’s election and she said the vote showed that Americans recognised the need to change the system. But that did not mean she welcomed it, she said.
Here are two points that stood out.
- Thornberry said there were “some similarities” between Trump’s supporters and Corbyn’s supporters. Asked if Trump was tapping into the same anger that led to Corbyn being elected Labour leader, she paused for what seemed quite a long time before she replied. She told the programme:
Well - yes and no. I think it is right to say that there are too many people who feel that the political system doesn’t work on behalf of everyone. I think it’s right that there are hundreds of thousands of people who have now been energised in Britain by Jeremy Corbyn being leader of the Labour party. So I think that there are some similarities.
But she went on:
I think that it is quite clear that the values and principles that Jeremy Corbyn espouses are very different to those espoused by Trump.
- Thornberry suggested that Trump’s “simplistic solutions” would not work. She was asked about his policy on immigration, and she replied:
I wonder what will happen in the next four or five years in the United States when you’ve had a presidential candidate who gets elected on the back of very simplistic promises, and whether he’s going to be able to put those policies into fruition and what the effect of that will be, because I suspect that it will show that simplistic solutions do not work.
But she said that some of Trump’s other ideas were sound.
What you need to be doing is things like investing in skills and jobs. And - to give him credit, I never thought I would hear myself say that - Donald Trump was talking about the importance of investing in jobs, investing in infrastructure, getting the economy going in all parts of the country, not just the main cities, and that’s right.
Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Updated
AT the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue Philip Hammond will be trying to persuade Chinese investors to invest in 13 projects in what’s called the northern powerhouse investment portfolio. Collectively they are worth more than £5bn. The details are set out here, in a Treasury news release.
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, says this shows the UK is open for business.
Attracting trade and investment is the foundation of our strong economy, helping to create local jobs, build local businesses and contribute to our national wealth.
These real-time and market-ready projects will build on the successes of the northern owerhouse region, which has for centuries been a global hub of commerce, science, technology and innovation. Setting out opportunities like these show to Chinese investors, and to the world, that the UK remains open for business.
Parliament is in recess, there is very little UK politics in the diary, and most MPs are probably spending the day trying to work out what the election of Donald Trump as president means for America, for Britain and for the entire world. Their best starting point may well be the Guardian’s US elections 2016 live blog.
If there is more UK reaction I will be posting it here, but otherwise I will be focusing on what is happening at Westminster and the highlight seems to be - Philip Hammond, the chancellor, holding talks with the Chinese vice premier Ma Kai in London. They are due to hold a press conference at 2.30pm. Ma also met Theresa May and Hammond last night.
This is what the Press Association has filed ahead of today’s meeting.
Theresa May has reaffirmed her commitment to maintaining the “golden era” in Britain’s relations with China as the government hosts talks aimed at boosting Beijing’s investment in the UK’s infrastructure.
Chancellor Philip Hammond is meeting a Chinese delegation headed by vice premier Ma Kai in London for the eighth UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue as ministers seek to underline that Britain remains “open for business” following the vote for Brexit.
The move will be seen as a fresh attempt to reassure the Chinese after a rocky start to relations under May.
One of her first acts on becoming prime minister last July was to order a review of the project to build the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant - part-financed by the Chinese - to the intense annoyance of Beijing.
But having finally given the green light to the plant last September, May has again echoed the deal’s architect, former chancellor George Osborne, in speaking of a “golden era” in Sino-UK relations.
In a statement ahead of the UK-China dialogue May said:
I’m determined that as we leave the European Union, we build a truly global Britain that is open for business.
As we take the next step in this golden era of relations between the UK and China, I am excited about the opportunities for expanding trade and investment between our two countries.
Hammond also said UK/Chinese relations were in a “golden era”. He said:
The golden era in UK China relations continue to deepen. With our complementary bilateral trade ties, China and the UK remain natural partners and building on this relationship will form the cornerstone of this year’s dialogue.
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.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.
