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Friday 12 March 2010

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‘We shouldn’t stop him sleepwalking — it’s the only exercise he gets.’

Friday, 12th March 2010

At last, the Tories get organised

David Blackburn 10:49am

Three weeks ago, James’ argued that the Tories’ incoherence emanated from their disjointed campaign management. Steve Hilton, Andy Coulson, George Osborne and George Bridges were not communicating and the stark clarity on the economy and ‘Broken Britain’ was obscured.

James urged the Cameroon duma to put its house in order. Cameron heeded some of his advice, but this morning brings the most significant change. Tim Montgomerie reports that Andy Coulson and Steve Hilton have at last joined forces and will report direct to George Osborne, who will be replaced by Ken...

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Affluence for influence

David Blackburn 9:07am

I'd assumed the left was dead, but Mehdi Hasan says otherwise. The left is triumphant. Whilst Hasan defines left with abstractions like ‘progressive’ and ‘empowerment’, I prefer something more concrete. Unionism is triumphant.

With New Labour in rigor mortis, the Unions slipped their moorings and struck out for old havens. Whelan, Crow, Simpson and Woodley are fixated on disruption. Crow will close the railways next Friday, the BA cabin crew suicide pact is now all but signed in blood, and thousands of civil servants will exchange the pen for the sword.

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Thursday, 11th March 2010

Hague’s modern Realism

Daniel Korski 6:02pm

In a splurge of activity, William Hague gave both an interview to the FT and another foreign policy speech at RUSI outlining the views of a Conservative government. It was time for an update on Tory thinking, not least because David Cameron’s description of his policy as “liberal conservatism” and his unwillingness to march into a “massive euro bust-up” has had little effect.

That is because a struggle over how to engage with the world continues to run beneath the party leader’s message of party unity. Four main schools of diplomatic...

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Uptown girl

David Blackburn 4:39pm

David Cameron warns the nation to “get ready” for Samantha, who will be interviewed by Sir Trevor Macdonald on Sunday.

If Sarah Brown is the damsel in distress, saved by her heroic husband, Sam Cam is the trouser-wearing uber-bitch. Allegedly, she is terrifying: cowering Smythsons’ interns refer to her as Anna Wintour. She never does hyperbole. She will extol her husband’s virtues succinctly, saying he’s never let her down in 14 years of marriage. Presumably she will then talk about her career, the tragic loss of her son and her Bohemian youth.

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Endless saga

David Blackburn 2:22pm

The four members are before a magistrate, attempting to clear their names. I’m not sure if it’s more preposterous than it is shaming to claim that conventions protecting free speech apply to false accounting. If only Enron’s lawyers had been as ingenious.

In addition to Morley et al’s abuse of parliamentary privilege, Alan and Ann Keen have been fined £1,500 today, which, as Paul Waugh notes, is lenient compared to the Parliamentary Privileges and Standards Committee’s damning verdict. Expect to hear more on that decision as public anger over expenses remains unabated.

Some...

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City middlemen don’t like Osborne precisely because he is competent

David Blackburn 12:33pm

The City’s elopement with New Labour has ended violently. A poll of leading financiers, conducted by City AM, reveals that 73 percent think that a Tory majority would be best for the economy; a mere 10 percent support Labour. But the City has little enthusiasm for George Osborne: 23 percent believe he has the mettle to be Chancellor, 13 percent behind Ken Clarke.

So where is it going wrong for Osborne? James Kirkup observes that the Tories recent collapse in the polls coincided with Osborne and Cameron obscuring their economic message. But...

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Highlights from the latest Spectator

Fraser Nelson 10:45am

The latest issue of the Spectator is out today, and here are my top five features:

Nick Clegg takes to the stage. With a hung Parliament looking increasingly likely, I thought we should pay a bit of attention to the Lib Dem leader in this week's issue. Interviewed by me, he does his best to reach out to Tory voters - pointing to his party's tax-cutting agenda and its spending cut-heavy plan to lower the deficit. He even cites Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration - we put up an excerpt on Coffee House...

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Clegg's conditions

David Blackburn 9:00am

Nick Clegg is the rage of the papers this morning. His interview with the Spectator is trailed across the media and the Independent has an interview where Clegg once again lists the four demands that would be his initial negotiating tests for backing a minority government. They are:
- Raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 through taxes on the rich.
- An education spending boost for the poorest in society through the 'pupil premiums'.
- A switch to a Green economy, less dependent on financial services.
...

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Newsnight education debate shows the potency of parent power

James Forsyth 12:13am

The winner of the education debate on Newsnight was a woman called Lesley from Yorkshire. Her local school is being closed and so she, along with other parents, want to set one up themselves. Her case for why she should be allowed to do this left Ed Balls floundering, wittering on about he sympathised but she needed to get agreement from various bureaucracies. If parents like Lesley get more time on TV, people will begin to understand how transformative the Tory policy of letting parents and teachers set up their own state funded schools...