Simon Jenkins's Blog, page 20

Of course Boris Johnson is guilty of misleading parliament – stand by for another Tory civil war | Simon Jenkins

Just when there are more important things to be debated, it appears the Commons will again be distracted by party feuds

They fiddle while Rome burns. Forget Ukraine, the Brexit protocol or asylum seekers in Rwanda. What really has MPs worked up this week is whether Boris Johnson lied to them. They may as well ask, “Does he breathe?”

It has already taken nearly three years for the House of Commons to call the former prime minister to account for holding parties during lockdown. The Metropolitan pol...

Instead of killing HS2 bit by bit, ministers should just put it out of its misery | Simon Jenkins

The latest delays to this colossal folly offer a golden opportunity to cry halt – and use railway money where it’s really needed

It is death by gangrene. No government seems to have the guts to kill HS2, Britain’s biggest and craziest infrastructure project, so each merely lops off another limb. In 2021, it was Leeds. Now the opening of the Birmingham-to-Manchester and Acton-to-Euston lines has been delayed.

This railway is a southern project on which the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is blowing a stag...

Ministers are staging another Brexit coup – and only the House of Lords can save us | Simon Jenkins

The retained EU law bill is an outrageously undemocratic attempt to transfer law-making powers from parliament to Whitehall

The House of Lords may be doomed, so reformers say, but it has a last chance to redeem itself. It is currently being asked to approve a Boris Johnson legacy, the retained EU law (revocation and reform) bill. This bill is so outrageously undemocratic that it would have been flushed down the loo by any parliament before the gutless one that Johnson ushered in after the 2019 el...

A (partial) defence of Matt Hancock: leaders must be free to discuss policy in private | Simon Jenkins

His WhatsApp messages look embarrassing and chaotic, but such leaks could do genuine harm to political debate

Matt Hancock may be a complete idiot, but even idiots have rights. As the former health secretary charts his uncertain retreat from politics, he must suffer piles of ordure heaped on his head. Someone leaks CCTV footage of an office embrace to the Sun. Then his ghostwriter breaks a non-disclosure agreement not to divulge his private messages. Cue intense embarrassment to the image and rep...

Britain’s defence policy is not British, not defensive and not even a policy. It’s a mess | Simon Jenkins

There are no easy answers to what Putin’s war means for British defence. But mindlessly spending more and more won’t cut it

One tank that is not on its way to Ukraine is Britain’s latest super-tank, the Ajax. It has been more than 10 years in the planning and £5.5bn in the building, but it doesn’t work. Its tracks suffer from speed bumps and its interior keeps injuring its drivers. If I were the god Ajax, I would sue for my reputation.

It is nearly a quarter-century since Tony Blair unveiled his d...

Whatever the merits of the Hancock leaks, this much is clear: Britain needs to speed up its Covid inquiry | Simon Jenkins

Did decisions made by the former health secretary lead to more care home deaths? The point is, we should already know

The delay to the inquiry into Britain’s handling of Covid merits an inquiry of its own. The allegations in the Daily Telegraph about the then health secretary, Matt Hancock – including that he dismissed expert advice to test anyone entering a care home for coronavirus at the start of the pandemic – may not be sensational. (Hancock has strongly rejected the claim.) Hindsight is a ...

Sunak should remove the whip from Johnson – it's the only language he understands | Simon Jenkins

His opposition to the revised Northern Ireland protocol should be treated with the same contempt with which he ran the party

Rishi Sunak has no alternative. The United Kingdom which Northern Ireland is part of is a democracy ruled by the Westminster parliament. In the matter of the Northern Ireland protocol, the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) is claiming the right of veto over a classic function of any union – foreign trade. The party is supported by the Tories’ recent leader and prime minister,...

Rishi Sunak can’t compromise his protocol deal. He must face down the DUP | Simon Jenkins

The prime minister has to stand firm against Northern Ireland’s backwoodsmen and their cheerleaders in his own party

Rishi Sunak knows what he must do in Northern Ireland. He cannot cringe any longer before that region’s backwoodsmen and their cheerleaders in his own party. Unlike his predecessors, he has nothing to lose, with probably just two years in office. He clearly has a deal on a revised Irish trade protocol with the EU on the table, and he has the parliamentary votes to push it through. ...

There is a path to Scottish independence. Sturgeon was brilliant, but she just couldn’t see it | Simon Jenkins

So-called devo max, offering much more autonomy, had real possibilities. It’s probably the SNP’s best option even now

An independent Scotland has not been hindered by Nicola Sturgeon’s departure; it could well be advanced by it. Her eight years as first minister have been remarkable, but failed to bring statehood closer to reality. The question is whether her intransigence postponed it.

Sturgeon made a strategic error after her predecessor Alex Salmond lost the 2014 independence referendum. She as...

Sacking Richard Sharp would be a great loss to the BBC: after all, he has friends in high places | Simon Jenkins

Given his predicament, Sharp has much to gain from defending the corporation – and the connections to do it effectively

The affair of Sam Blyth helping to secure a loan of up to £800,000 for Boris Johnson has left Richard Sharp, the BBC chair, badly wounded. Assuming he survives, his reputation will depend on his defending the corporation to the death against its enemies – particularly those on the right. He was a friend of Johnson, was Rishi Sunak’s boss at Goldman Sachs, and has given generous...