Let’s leave behind the argy-bargy and speculations surrounding Jeremy Corbyn and his leadership, and turn our attention to the Conservatives and who will succeed Theresa May. It’s not exciting anyone at the moment because the issue is beyond settled. May convincingly took the farce of the Tory party leadership contest and now rides high in the polls. And yet, as everyone obsesses about Labour’s difficulties we have a tendency to forget that May possesses a sliver of a majority, and adding Copeland to her tally does nothing to change that. Brexit is a destruction derby’s worth of car crashes waiting to happen, little of which is going to reflect positively on her. The backbenchers might start getting restless, especially if sense is imbibed and a hard Brexit avoided. And there are those pesky events – the economy, NHS, schools, disability cuts – threatening to throw a spanner in the works. Oh, and lest we forget, the Tory electoral fraud story is menacing the outer edges of the problems piling into the PM’s in tray. Continue reading
Tagged with Theresa May
The Revolt against Trump Begins at Home
Labour Campaign Against Prevent
Why the Labour Campaign Against Prevent must be the cornerstone to combating the Trump effect in Britain
The weeks since Donald Trump’s inauguration have already heralded a hideous acceleration of sexist, homophobic, racist and xenophobic rhetoric and legislation. This has emboldened the populist far right and created a palpable sense of fear and uncertainty for vulnerable minority communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
However, as the headlines centre on Trump’s ‘Muslim Ban’ it is imperative that we remember the new President and his Islamophobic policies did not materialise in a vacuum. Muslims across the Western world have been increasingly subject to abuse, scapegoating and state surveillance for over a decade now. And whilst the spotlight has focused on the US in recent weeks, less attention has been paid to the racism that runs deep within our own institutions. Continue reading
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Theresa May in Stoke
The Prime Minister managed a double whammy of the unexpected yesterday. First, she visited Stoke, which is something PMs rarely ever do. And second, her presence and parade in front of the local media means she’s effectively campaigned for a Conservative candidate who doesn’t stand a realistic chance of winning, which is usually a no-no when it comes to playing the Westminster game. How to explain this most unlikely of high profile interventions? Continue reading
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The Tories and the Special Relationship
Stoke-on-Trent might be the centre of the political universe, but that isn’t to say tumultuous events don’t take place outwith the gilded city limits. And while by-election fever and an altogether unpleasant illness have gripped me, Donald Trump marked his first week in the Oval Office by unleashing a hurricane-level shit storm. His “temporary” travel ban on people born in seven Muslim countries where Trump happens to have no business interests drew near unanimous condemnation. And yet he found backing from Boris Johnson in the Commons this afternoon. The foreign secretary said this isn’t as bad as his pledges on the campaign trail and that means his bark is worse than his bite, and so we should be thankful. Just how we should thank racists for firebombing one Mosque as opposed to two, or the EDL for beating up an Asian kid instead of tearing up a town centre. May is no better. Her craven performance as the first overseas courtier to meet the new president was, remarkably, regarded as something of a coup across the official commentariat and established media. How fast things change. Dismissing Trump’s travel ban merely as a “matter for the Americans” speaks for the moral vacuity at the heart of her project. Continue reading
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Trump exempts British citizens from “Muslim ban” after pressure from UK
Donald Trump conceded ground to opposition last night by exempting British dual citizens from his Executive Order, dubbed by many as a ‘Muslim ban’, which prohibits any entry to the United States from seven majority-muslim countries, namely, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya.
After Theresa May instructed Amber Rudd and Boris Johnson to lobby their US counterparts, the policy seems to have relaxed marginally, as the Foreign Office confirmed that the ban will only apply to British dual citizens flying directly from the countries identified, meaning that dual citizens could fly from the UK or another, unaffected country. It will still, however, prevent millions of Muslims from the seven countries from travelling to the US at all. Continue reading