Theresa may

‘We take the view that while things are bloody awful, we don’t want to risk making things worse.’ That is how one senior Tory backbencher sums up the mood of the parliamentary party. No one disputes that the Conservatives are in the doldrums. There is no wind in the government’s sails. No. 10 doesn’t know where it wants to take the country. This general sense of drift is interrupted by the occasional squall. The latest storm was caused by Nick Boles’s criticism of Theresa May. On Friday evening, the former housing minister took to Twitter to lament the lack of a radical government agenda and to tell the Prime Minister

The UK government has today announced plans to establish a new unit to counter ‘fake news’. This will serve as a ‘dedicated national security communications unit’ which aims to combat ‘disinformation by state actors and others’. Announcing the move, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘we are living in an era of fake news and competing narratives.’ Its creation has led to inevitable jokes, with Tim Farron declaring that the three Brexiteers – Boris, Gove and David Davis – ‘should be the first investigations’. Meanwhile, others online have taken the swift government action as an indicator that Russian activity could have played a role during the EU referendum. However, the big Brexit

A predictable epidemic of froggy bashing has erupted in Britain as Emmanuel Macron brings his global victory tour to Britain. He is rubbing-in his humiliation of Theresa May with the ‘gift’ of the Bayeux Tapestry, although in truth merely the loan of it, which you do not need Trumpian genius to know commemorates the last time anyone from France was able to claim any kind of creditable victory against Albion. Not since De Gaulle has Britain faced such a cunning adversary. Macron makes no secret of his ambition to punish the City for Brexit, and provoke an exodus of bankers to Paris. This is unlikely as Paris it must be

Theresa May hosts Emmanuel Macron at Sandhurst tomorrow, an encounter that is unlikely to paint the British Prime Minister in a flattering light. Their styles of leadership are chalk and fromage, one assertive and confident, the other apologetic and diffident. In particular, May’s growing custom for contrition is eroding her authority. Unless she’s personally responsible for spreading Aussie flu why did May say sorry for the recent NHS crisis? It’s not a Prime Minister’s job to grovel to the public; it’s her ministers. But now she’s set a precedent and so every time something goes wrong her opponents will demand an apology. If she refuses, they’ll say she’s callous. Macron

Emmanuel Macron and half a dozen of his top team are heading to the UK late next week. I write in The Sun today that they’ll sit down with Theresa May and a handful of senior Cabinet Ministers at Sandhurst for an Anglo-French defence summit. The occasion should be a perfect opportunity for Theresa May to bend Macron’s ear on Brexit. After all, the whole meeting is devoted to the Anglo French security relationship which will be important, and continue, long after Brexit. But May’s ability to lobby Macron will be impeded by the fact the British government still hasn’t decided precisely what Brexit deal it wants. The Cabinet didn’t

‘They are not as strong as they thought they were,’ one Whitehall source remarked to me on Monday night as he contemplated the fallout from Theresa May’s attempt to reshuffle the cabinet. No. 10 had come to believe that a successful Budget and ‘sufficient progress’ in the Brexit talks meant that much of May’s political authority had been restored. This emboldened them to think that she could now pull off a proper reshuffle, something Gavin Williamson had regularly cautioned against when he was chief whip. But a reshuffle that was meant to confirm the Prime Minister’s return to political health has ended up highlighting her three biggest weaknesses. The first

Although Theresa May’s reshuffle of junior ministers was less gaffe-prone than the main event on Monday, there’s a feeling in the party that overall it has been an underwhelming event. With little change in the top ranks of May’s Cabinet, critics have been quick to suggest that she is too weak to carry out a proper reshuffle. But now there’s a new criticism being levied at the Prime Minister: too much change. Ed Vaizey – the former culture minister and resident Cameroon – took to social media on Tuesday to congratulate Michael Ellis on his appointment as the arts, heritage and tourism Minister. However, he went on to complain that

Today’s reshuffle was meant to demonstrate Theresa May’s return to political health. But it hasn’t worked out that way. This reshuffle has been chaotic even by the standards of these things. I can’t remember an official Twitter account getting the first appointment of the day wrong before. It has also advertised the limitations to May’s authority. She has not got her own way on several appointments either because of a minister declining a move (Jeremy Hunt) or refusing to take the job they were offered (Justine Greening). The appointment of Caroline Nokes as Immigration Minister attending Cabinet is also bizarre. Before today, who thought she was the right person to

Given everything that happened to her in 2017, Theresa May could be starting this year in a far worse position. But that’s not to say that she hasn’t started in in the best position in the circumstances, either. That the Prime Minister and her team recognise this seemed apparent from her decision to pre-record her Andrew Marr interview, rather than appear live and chance being asked about new awkward stories in the Sunday papers. Perhaps booking a pre-recorded interview is a sign that Number 10 has a bit more of a clue than it did in the months after the snap election, but only really in the sense that it

Theresa May is expected to reshuffle her Cabinet early next week. Unfortunately for Theresa May, she’s been expected to do this since before Christmas – after she refrained from appointing a new First Secretary of State in light of Damian Green’s forced resignation/sacking. This means the reshuffle has dominated the news agenda for several weeks now. Each day this month, there have been several – often conflicting – stories about what the Prime Minister plans to do in the upcoming reshuffle. Depending who you believe, Boris Johnson may be moved or not moved, David Davis is in trouble, Jeremy Hunt is to be appointed Secretary of State (or to the

The last full year before Britain leaves the EU has been foretold by some as a time of increasingly desperate negotiation. According to this view the government is drifting towards an economically painful Brexit, so consumed by the whole sorry business that it is unable to address any of the country’s other problems. Yet there is no reason why 2018 should turn out this way, and every reason to hope that it will prove to be the year when the Conservatives finally emerge from the tumult of the referendum to achieve other things. While the deal struck between the government and the EU in December — and the prospect of

Will Theresa May really go for a wide-ranging reshuffle in the next few weeks? Westminster wisdom has long been that it is dangerous to move your top team around, as sacked ministers make troublesome backbenchers. This does ignore the inconvenient truth that most of the trouble that May has faced over the past few months has come from within her Cabinet – albeit with an extra helping of Brexit rebels on the Conservative backbenches too. She is understood to be deliberating over whether to appoint a direct replacement for Damian Green as First Secretary of State, though even if she scraps that role, there is still a hole to fill

The newspapers are full of end-of-year round ups, photographic highlights of the year and so on. And I thought I would add to the melee by mentioning my ‘person of the year’. There are plenty of people who I could think of who have made my year more interesting, more enjoyable and more besides. But one person stands out for having made all of this even vaguely bearable in the first place. My person of the year is — without doubt — Theresa May. It’s slightly surprising because I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Prime Minister. Like most other people I have had – and will keep having

Although the Boxing Day hunt is one of the biggest events of the year for the hunting community, it’s safe to presume that the Christmas cheer at yesterday’s hunt was dampened by reports the Prime Minister is expected to abandon all plans for a free vote to overturn the fox hunting ban. After having to bin the manifesto pledge to bring forward a free vote on the Hunting Act in this parliamentary session, Theresa May is reported to be preparing to go one step further in the new year and announce plans to drop the commitment permanently. As I write in the i paper today, it was only really a matter of time until

The news of Damian Green’s ‘resignation’ (some would call it a polite sacking) as First Secretary of State has broadly speaking been accepted as necessary by Conservative MPs. David Davis has valiantly reneged on his pledge to resign from Cabinet in protest if Green was shown the door. Meanwhile, the at times outspoken Andrew Bridgen has busied himself on the airwaves this morning waxing lyrical about the government. What helps May is that Green broke the ministerial code because he made misleading statements – meaning she hasn’t had to make the decision based on a judgment on his alleged actions. The next question: will May replace Green? It’s a matter up

Third Cabinet departure in as many months. Loss of close friend and ally. Scandal at the top of government. Cue questions about Theresa’s future. Has she been ‘rocked’ by the ‘sensational’ exit of Damian Green? Is this, at last, the beginning of the end for her? I’m sure some enthusiastic members of my old trade will do their best to write this up as a mortal threat to Mrs May. They may talk about a shift in the balance of power in Cabinet. Or maybe a PM ever more isolated and friendless. Actually, the boring truth is that Damian Green’s departure won’t end Theresa May. It probably won’t even harm