Afternoon summary
Thanks for following the blog today and for all your comments. Have a good weekend. Here’s a summary of the afternoon’s main events:
- The no-confidence motion against Luciana Berger by her constituency party has been withdraw. Labour party deputy leader had branded the motion against Berger, who has been critical of Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism and been linked with leaving the party, “a disgrace”.
- A new Brexit party, supported by Nigel Farage, has been officially recognised by the Electoral Commission, the Telegraph reports. It says “the Brexit party” claims it is set to win over thousands of Tory defectors.
- A Tory MP, Chris Chope, has condemned for blocking a bill which would have have allowed courts to issue protection orders if they thought a child was at risk of FGM. Among those who criticised Chope, who last year blocked a bill on upskirting, were the home secretary, Sajid Javid, and health secretary, Matt Hancock. Labour called for him to have the Tory whip withdrawn.
- The Irish premier, Leo Varadkar, has said he will not be negotiating Brexit when he meets Theresa May for dinner in Dublin this evening. He said they could “share perspectives” but negotiations had to be conducted between the UK and EU.
- The former shadow chancellor, Chris Leslie, has hinted he could Labour over dissatisfaction with its Brexit policy. Amid reports that “at least” six Labour MPs are preparing to resign the whip and form a centre group, Leslie said his “patience is wearing pretty thin”.
Luciana Berger no confidence motion 'withdrawn'
The controversial vote of no confidence against Luciana Berger, who has criticised Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism and been linked with leaving the party has been dropped my colleague Jessica Elgot says.
Labour source says motion of no confidence against @lucianaberger has been withdrawn
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) February 8, 2019
In an interview with Talk Radio last month, Catherine Blaiklock, the leader of the new Brexit party said it wanted a no-deal Brexit although she rejected that expression, describing it as just being “a normal country, just an independent nation”.
She said she’d been called racist “even though I’ve got a Jamaican husband, and two half, half, you know mixed race children”.
Catherine Blaiklock, Brexit Party leader: "I’ve been called a racist this week even though I have a Jamaican husband and two mixed-race children." Is Britain ready for The Brexit Party?@EamonnHolmes | @SkyJacquie | pic.twitter.com/NT20B0FoZG
— talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) January 25, 2019
New Brexit party recognised
A new Brexit party, supported by Nigel Farage has been officially recognised by the Electoral Commission and is likely to win over thousands of Tory defectors, the Telegraph reports.
The party is called ...The Brexit Party. It says it will field candidates in England, Wales, Scotland and Europe.
The party leader is former Ukip candidate, Catherine Blaiklock, who the New European profiled her last month (it’s worth reading in full):
She is best-known for failing to win Great Yarmouth for UKIP in the 2017 general election despite an innovative campaign which saw her brandish a large photograph of her Jamaican husband at one hustings in an attempt to demonstrate that ’Kippers were not racist, later telling Vice “I sleep with somebody who is black.”
Her recent return to the limelight has provided equally startling quotes, with Blaiklock telling the Sun that “people feel treason has been committed” in the fight against Brexit ...
Blaiklock advised those on low income to heed the example of Sherpas in the Himalayas, who eat “practically nothing but boiled potatoes with a bit of salt and chilli on the side”.
The Telegraph says:
Farage, the former Ukip leader who is supporting the party, said “the engine is running” and he stood “ready for battle” to fight the Tories and Labour of the European Parliament elections are held.
Updated
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has joined the criticism of Tory MP Chris Chope for blocking the FGM bill (see 3.18pm).
Outraged Chris Chope has blocked the FGM safeguarding Bill in Parliament today. His actions are wrong, pure & simple.
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) February 8, 2019
Labour has called for him to have the Tory whip withdrawn:
“It’s unacceptable that this dinosaur of a Tory MP consistently gets away with blocking new laws to protect the safety and rights of women.
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) February 8, 2019
"It’s time for the Tories to show they care about these issues by stripping him of the whip.” - @DawnButlerBrent https://t.co/7tckZn9wnK
Updated
Japan and South Korea, like the US - see 11.22am post - are hoping to extract better trade terms from the UK post-Brexit according to the FT and its chief political correspondent.
business sources tell me South Korea is also hoping to use its leverage to extract concessions from the UK over a new trade deal: for example only letting UK count EU industrial parts in "rules of origin" calculations if Seoul can count Chinese parts
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) February 8, 2019
A Tory MP who blocked a bill on upskirting has now done the same for one which would have allowed courts to issue protection orders if they thought a child was at risk of FGM.
Very disappointed by this. FGM is child abuse. I am determined to stamp out this despicable and medieval practice. We will do all we can protect girls at risk https://t.co/1ArrhD9tXG
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) February 8, 2019
Chope has form for delaying bills by shouting “object” during their second reading in the Commons, meaning they can not be put through to the next stage without debate and a vote.
After the upskirting bill controversy, he claimed he backed the intent of the bill but objected to it because he does not support the principle of legislation being passed without debate at second reading. It is an explanation Zac Goldsmith, who sponsored the FGM bill, is scornful of.
His argument is that he simply wants Bills properly debated. But it is a pretence. If today’s Bill goes through, we will have Committee Stage, Report Stage and Third Reading – all of which involve scrutiny and debate. If it is blocked, there is no debate. 4/5
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) February 8, 2019
(In case anyone is tempted to believe he has a principled objection to Private Member’s Bills, please note that once again he did NOT object to those put forward by his friends.)
— Zac Goldsmith (@ZacGoldsmith) February 8, 2019
The former shadow chancellor, Chris Leslie, has hinted he could quit the party over dissatisfaction with its Brexit policy.
Amid reports that “at least” six Labour MPs are preparing to resign the whip and form a centre group, Leslie said it was “absolutely understandable” that some of his colleagues may feel they have been driven to the edge.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme:
I have to be honest, my patience is wearing pretty thin with the Labour Party policy on Brexit.
This is the big issue of the moment and it’s going to affect not just trading relationships but percolate right through to the revenues that we have for our public services.
If I want to avoid another decade of austerity I can’t help but focus on what is happening on Brexit and what is the Labour Party’s policy on Brexit and that is why...
I’ve got some serious worries about where the leadership are going having basically dropped all of that Labour Party conference policy commitment from September and apparently trying to airbrush the concept of a public vote, letting the public have the final say on this, from where we stand.
Asked how close he is to leaving the party, Leslie said:
Like a lot of people, party members who are resigning or thinking of giving up, do I understand that they are being driven to the edge? I do understand that, I think that is absolutely understandable.
And I think the Labour leadership have absolutely got to address this right now.
The former taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has suggested that a border poll on a united Ireland could happen as a result of Brexit. He told the BBC:
I wouldn’t say inevitable, but I do think you will see a border poll.
I do think if the UK, which seems almost positive now, pull out of the EU, the issue then will not just be about whether there should be a united Ireland, people will also be reflecting do Northern Ireland want to be in the European Union or not?
Now, Scotland might have a similar position in years to come. But I do see that being a factor that people who want to be in Europe will say a united Ireland is more attractive.
Speaking in the Commons, Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has condemned the no-confidence motion proposed by Luciana Berger’s constituency party against the MP as disgraceful.
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson just said this in the Commons about Luciana Berger. Bit different from John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn's office. pic.twitter.com/SSlX84E1Nb
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) February 8, 2019
The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has insisted his dinner with the prime minister will not involve any negotiation on the terms of the Brexit deal.
It’s an opportunity for us to meet again to share perspectives on Brexit but, of course, not to engage in negotiations, as they can only be between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
Varadkar, speaking in Belfast ahead of meetings with the five Stormont parties, before travelling back to Dublin to host Theresa May at Farmleigh House, said:
I think everybody wants to avoid no deal, everybody wants to avoid a hard border and everybody wants to continue to have a very close political and economic relationship between Britain and Ireland no matter want happens.
There is much more that unites us than divides us and time is running short and we need to get to an agreement really as soon as possible, and I’ll be working very hard and redoubling my efforts, along with government, to do that.
The EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has offered niceties but no real grounds for hope to the Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay, ahead of their meeting on Monday.
I am looking forward to meeting @SteveBarclay in Brussels on Mon evening. I will listen to how the UK sees the way through. The EU will not reopen the Withdrawal Agreement. But I will reaffirm our openness to rework the Political Declaration in full respect of #EUCO guidelines.
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) February 8, 2019
Lunchtime summary
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The attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, is meeting his Irish counterpart, Séamus Woulfe, for talks this afternoon before a meeting between Theresa May and the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, to discuss the Brexit impasse on the Irish border.
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The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said the only way Theresa May will pass her Brexit deal is if she agrees to Labour’s five demands, otherwise a second referendum will be necessary. Labour’s official position is that the option of a public vote is on the table but it has not outlined the events which would make it necessary.
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McDonnell also said that the no confidence vote Luciana Berger faces from the constituency party is because of concerns about disloyalty rather than her criticism of Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism. The shadow chancellor said it was because she had been associated with a breakaway party and urged her to state that she was not jumping ship. He added that if the no confidence was because of her antisemitism campaigning it would be “completely wrong”.
- The government must rule out a no-deal Brexit to end the uncertainty that is gripping business and local government services, Bob Kerslake, the former head of the civil service has said. Kerslake also called for a second referendum.
- Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership ratings have crashed to their worst level yet as a result of Brexit, according to a poll for the London Evening Standard. It found that his net Ipsos-MORI satisfaction ratings has dropped from a net minus 32% to 55% and just 17% of the public are satisfied with his performance.
- The Conservative MP, Ross Thomson, has said allegations that he groped men in the Commons bar on Tuesday night are “completely false”. On Wednesday, Scotland Yard confirmed that officers had been called to the Strangers’ Bar after claims of “sexual touching” but added that no formal complaint had been made.
A cross-party group of 13 MEPs and 11MPs has complained to the BBC director-general, Tony Hall, claiming that Fiona Bruce misled viewers on Question Time on 25 January by saying there were “questions on both sides” of the Brexit campaign in relation to their probity.
Molly Scott Cato, Green party MEP for the south west, who coordinated the letter, said the broadcaster had fallen prey to “ false propaganda narratives”. She said:
To have suggested there is an equivalence in wrong doing between the Leave and Remain campaigns was totally inaccurate and misled millions of viewers. This false assertion came after both Leave campaigns were found to have acted illegally and just days before the Information Commissioner’s Office slapped fines totalling £135,000 on Leave.EU and Brexiteer Arron Banks. The Remain campaign have never been accused of breaching electoral rules in this way.
Proud to have signed this letter. Shameful of Question Time to imply equivalence between the Remain campaign & the proven criminality of the Leave campaign. #brexitshambles #PeoplesVote https://t.co/xtk5JcejS9
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) February 8, 2019
*This post was amended as it originally had the wrong date of the relevant edition of Question Time
Updated
The Conservative MP, Ross Thomson, has said allegations that he groped men in the Commons bar on Tuesday night are “completely false”.
On Wednesday, Scotland Yard confirmed that officers had been called to the Strangers’ Bar after claims of “sexual touching” but added that no formal complaint had been made.
Here is the statement put out by Thomson on Twitter today:
Statement in response to recent media reports: pic.twitter.com/7THfbZ94c6
— 𝗥𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗣 (@RossThomson_MP) February 8, 2019
With the usual caveat about the unreliability of polls, the London Evening Standard reports that Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership ratings have crashed to their worst level yet as a result of Brexit.
Corbyn's net Ipsos-MORI satisfaction ratings drop from a net minus 32% to 55%. Chart from @standardnews pic.twitter.com/w7YRizjdmJ
— Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 8, 2019
The poll also found that:
- The proportion of the public satisfied with Corbyn’s performance has dropped to 17% per cent — the lowest figure recorded by any Labour leader apart from Michael Foot.
- The proportion dissatisfied with the Labour leader has risen to 72%.
- Under half of Labour voters (44%) are happy with him.
Conservative MEPs are under fire for hosting a controversial leader of the Swedish far-right, Business Insider reports.
It obtained a picture of Conservative MEP for London, Syed Kamall, who chairs the parliament’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, on a panel alongside Mattias Karlsson, the leader of the Sweden Democrats far-right political party.
It says:
The Sweden Democrats are a hugely controversial party which has its roots in neo-nazi movements of the 20th century and joined the ECR group alongside the UK Conservative Party in July last year.
Karlsson is a Swedish MP and the Sweden Democrats leader in the Ricksdag having served as its overall leader from 2014 to 2015. In 2017 he penned an article titled Trump Is Right: Sweden’s Embrace of Refugees Isn’t Working, which argued that Muslim immigrants were chiefly to blame for a rise in crime in Sweden.
Labour and the Lib Dems both criticised Conservative MEPs for their association with the Sweden Democrats but a spokesperson for the Conservative MEPs described the meeting as “routine”.
Donald Trump is being urged to play hardball with the UK when it negotiates a trade deal with the US after leaving the EU, Huffington Post reports.
It says the US Department of Trade asked industry what the president should extract from post-Brexit Britain and the answers from lobbyists for big firms included:
- Changing how NHS chiefs buy drugs to suit big US pharmaceutical companies.
- Britain scrapping its safety-first approach to safety and food standards.
- Law changes that would allow foreign companies to sue the British state.
- Removing protections for traditional British products.
If you’re still eating your breakfast, the idea of Jacob Rees-Mogg naked may not be one you want in your mind but the arch-Brexiteer has been challenged to take off his clothes to debate leaving the EU with a Cambridge academic.
Dr Victoria Bateman, an economics fellow at the university, proffers the benefits of the European Union in the nude. She had the words “Brexit leaves Britain naked” written across her body as she was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning. She said:
I invite Jacob Rees-Mogg to do a naked debate with me and we will get to the roots of this issue.
Britain faces many, many problems right now from housing to the NHS, and the European Union is not the cause of those problems.
She said she decided to talk about Brexit with nothing on to demonstrate that leaving the EU is the “emperor’s new clothes”.
Bateman said:
For thousands of years men have controlled what women can do with their bodies, and women’s bodies have been seen as something purely existing for sex and for babies.
“So what is wrong with a modern day woman taking control of her body and using it to give voice to what is the most depressing political subject in Britain right now?
Updated
The government must rule out a no-deal Brexit to end the uncertainty that is gripping business and local government services, a former head of the civil service has said.
Bob Kerslake also called for a fresh referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, denying it would itself prolong the uncertainty even though it might take as long as a year to organise
Lord Kerslake told BBC Radio 4 parliament had no alternative on the basis that MPs did not support leaving the EU without a deal and there was no majority in the House of Commons for any single form of Brexit. He said
Where else do we go? A huge amount of quite unnecessary fear is being created among the public … The government can stop this now.
In a foreword to a People’s Vote campaign paper, the crossbench* peer also claimed diplomats would take years to negotiate Britain’s future relationship with the European Union, and accused Theresa May of preparing for a “blindfold Brexit” in which the substantive issues about the UK’s future had not been confronted. He writes:
On the central question of Brexit – how closely the UK will align with the EU on customs and rules – the political declaration merely says that there are ‘a spectrum of different outcomes’. That the country is being asked to embrace this uncertainty, or risk the disaster of a no-deal outcome, is extraordinary.
*This was amended, as it originally incorrectly said Labour
Updated
The shadow chancellor has been busy this morning. He was also on Sky News, where he claimed that the decision by Liverpool Wavertree constituency Labour party to subject MP Luciana Berger to a no confidence vote was unrelated to her criticism of Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism.
McDonnell said:
If people are saying ‘look, we are expressing a vote of no confidence because Luciana has stood up and exposed anti-Semitism in our party’, that would be completely wrong and, of course, we would say that is not right.
But it looks as though there’s other issues. It seems on social media, from what I’ve seen, what’s happened is Luciana has been associated in the media with a breakaway party.
Some local party members, the media, have asked her to deny that. She hasn’t been clear in that. So my advice really, on all of this, is for Luciana to just put this issue to bed. Say very clearly ‘no, I’m not supporting another party, I’m not jumping ship’.
And for local party members to sit down with Luciana and actually say ‘how can we support you? How can we work together in the future?’ And then overcome the present difficulties.
Berger, who is Jewish, has been highly critical of antisemitism within Labour and has faced a torrent of abuse from online trolls . She required a police escort at last year’s Labour party conference after receiving death threats.
There is some scepticism about McDonnell’s take on reasons for the no confidence vote.
Completely disingenuous of John McDonnell & others to say the Wavertree CLP motion has nothing to do with antisemitism when that’s clearly partly the motivation dressed up behind the breakaway claims.
— Jane Merrick (@janemerrick23) February 8, 2019
This is pretty disingenuous of John McDonnell. The motions make no mention of a new party, but are about Luciana Berger criticising Jeremy Corbyn and, her critics claim, not doing enough to force an election or attack the Tories. https://t.co/C8QtFveanI
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) February 8, 2019
Good morning, Andrew is off today and on Monday so I’m stepping into his sizeable shoes for both days. Regulars will know that this blog attracts a lot of comments so if you want to get my attention it might be easiest to Tweet me.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said this morning that Theresa May must accept Labour’s five demands to get her Brexit deal through or else a second referendum will be necessary
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said:
If Theresa May said ‘I’ll sign up to Labour’s deal’ and we went to parliament, I think we would have a secure parliamentary majority.
But we’re at that stage now where we’re saying very clearly to everybody that people have looked over the edge of a no-deal Brexit and it could be catastrophic for our economy ...In the national interest we have got to come together to secure a compromise, and then if we can’t do that, well yes, we have to go back to the people.
Only yesterday, Labour sources confirmed that the party’s official position continues to be that the option of a public vote is on the table but denied it would automatically move to back a second referendum if May rejected Jeremy Corbyn’s offer of support for a revised Brexit deal,
