Gove lays out the Tory first-term agenda

12:19pm

Yesterday, we asked what the Conservatives would promise to do in their first term. Today, Michael Gove goes a long way to answering that question in a typically smart column in the Telegraph.

Acknowledging that, realistically, governments have to choose an area to prioritise, Gove sets out what the Conservatives will seek to achieve:

"the areas where a Conservative government will act first, and fast, to make a difference are improving education, reforming our welfare system and providing practical support to families.”

The theme—unblocking opportunity—that Gove is proposing for the Conservatives is politically potent and the most effective way to defuse the class issue that Labour, in its desperation, is so keen to play up. It, crucially, has the benefit of demonstrating that the Conservative party stands not for powerful but for empowerment. 

One other thing worth noting is how Gove showers praise on various Blarities. This is not only mischief making but clever political positioning as it is hard to depict the Conservatives as dangerous right-wing extremists when they present themselves as the heirs to Blairism.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (14)

The right result

10:23am

The Michael Martin-led effort to block the disclosure of MPs' expenses has been turned down in the High Court.  The right result.  Hopefully, Martin will accept it with grace and dignity - although he has until 20th May to appeal against the decision (at a further cost to the public).

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (6)

The chances of a Brown comeback

9:01am

Some good reading material in today's Economist.  Bagehot charts the recent attacks and apologies that have coursed through Labour, concentrating on the case of Frank Field.  Here's the concluding paragraph:

“But for Labour to revive, and maybe for Mr Brown to survive, it will take more than a semblance of unity and the odd crowd-pleaser. It will (among other things) require the prime minister to change: his style, his demeanour, the way he treats his ministers—the very things Mr Field apologised for criticising. In fact, beneath the hostility, and perhaps partly explaining it, the two men are oddly similar. Both are hard-working, religious ascetics who care about the poor. Both are (or were) more respected than liked. Both have been thought of as stubborn and prickly. Mr Field managed to swallow his pride; Mr Brown needs to renounce his altogether. Sometimes, saying sorry is not enough.”

Whilst it's more bad news for the Prime Minister elsewhere in the magazine.  This article tots up the fiscal clouds on the horizon, and ends thus:

“As the economy suffers from falling growth and rising inflation, it will be hard for Mr Brown to mount a sustained fightback. As Eden discovered, voters are especially unforgiving when a prime minister fails his special subject.”

Combined, the two points indicate just how difficult it is for Brown to relaunch himself.  On the one hand, he's got to change his essential nature – stop disingenuously saying that we have “low inflation”, for example.  And, on the other, he's got to hope that things don't get too bad with the economy.  However unlikely, the first of these is achievable for our Prime Minister.  What will worry him is that the second is increasingly out of his hands.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (15)

How depressed is the left?

8:26pm

Martin Bright and Jackie Ashley are two of the most astute and influential commentators on the left. So I was particularly struck by how bearish about Brown’s prospects they both are; it is a sign of the times that the fact that Ashley does not totally rule out the possibility that Brown might recover is considered news.   

.Here’s how Bright ends his typically excellent politics column in this week’s New Statesman:

“in the present atmosphere of seemingly terminal pessimism, many MPs on the government benches would happily take the Wilson outcome: four years in opposition followed by a Labour return to power has to be better than the 18 years in the wilderness after Callaghan's defeat.”

While Ashley in her column about how Brown started to fight back today, concludes thus:

“Brown's major task is to stop looking and sounding like a loser, whether it's in the chamber of the House of Commons, or in the TV studios. As one disappointed Brownite told me last week, he's been giving the impression of a man who has lost his confidence and, once that happens, it's very hard to rebuild yourself.

Yet, today at least Brown gave the impression that he was trying. As one of his inquisitors pointed out at this morning's press conference, whatever he does, he always seems to get a negative reaction. Undoubtedly, he'll be written off again, and again, and again. But while he may be down, he's not yet out.”

The silver lining for Brown is that a Tory victory in Crewe and Nantwich is now factored into the calculations of most pundits. If the Dunwoody name can save Labour there, then Brown will have an opening to come back.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (7)

Exam meltdown?

6:08pm

Could the first major league disaster of the summer be about to break? There are rumblings about problems with the computer system marking exams. It’s to do with ETS, an American company that won the contract to run English SAT exams. The BBC has the first sniff of this – a fairly innocent problem of not being able to log on to the registration system to see which papers they should have. But postings on the Times Educational Supplement website complain of far worse – “major organisational problems”. There are rumours of a collapse in the “standardisation system”, which ensures markers use the same criteria in the Key Stage 3 tests. That the system which re-assesses borderline failure has also crashed. That markers have been so shocked by the incompetence, they have refused to take part.

It is difficult to understate how bad this could be. Eight years ago this happened in Scotland – and started as “teething problems” and ended up with thousands being given wrong exam results. This only affected a minority – 4,000 pupils were sent out the wrong exam certificates - but this cast a shadow over every single pupil’s exams. Those who had bad marks were never able to be sure if they’d flunked the exam, or been the victim of a computer crash. Brown and disaster tend to go together. So watch this space.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (14)

Celebrity matters

4:39pm

We have just seen Naomi Campbell coming out of No10 – her appointment was with Mrs Brown, apparently, but she bumped into Gordon while he was there. So where does that take us in the celebrity stakes? Well, Shakira, Clooney, Beckham and Kylie have all met with our Dear Leader. This quote sprang to mind: “I think we’re moving from this period when, if you like, celebrity matters, when people have become famous for being famous. I think you can see that in other countries too. People are moving away from that to what lies behind the character and personality.” This was ahead of the publication of his book on courage. One wonders what his post-No10 biography would be called.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (9)

Write Cameron's version of this ad

3:27pm

John McCain’s latest ad is a simple message to voters about what a McCain presidency would achieve in its first term. Here’s the script:

The year, 2013.

The Middle East stabilized.

Nuclear terror threat reduced.

Border security strengthened.

Energy independence advanced.

Wasteful spending reformed.

Health care choice delivered.

Economic confidence restored.

The year, 2013. The President, John McCain.

This set me thinking, what would the Tories’ version of this ad say? What I’ve come up with so far is.

Our schools transformed

A welfare system that rewards work

A tax system that supports the family

What else would Coffee Housers add?  

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (31)

Cameron on top form

2:33pm

A number of CoffeeHousers asked that we put up video of Cameron's superlative response to Brown's Not The Queen's Speech yesterday.  It's been put up on YouTube now, so here goes (Cameron starts at the 2:26 mark):

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (10)

Greed or need?

1:30pm

Just to flag up another article from the latest issue for CoffeeHousers.  This one's by Rod Liddle, and he takes issue with the recent deluge of memoirs from Blairite figures.  As he puts it: 

"There is something simultaneously vile and pitiable in the procession of these famous names into their agents’ offices, determined to tell everybody that they were not remotely a party to the bad things that went on, that history should judge them much more kindly because they were on the side of the angels. And then, upon being exhorted with the lure of a few extra thousand quid, cheerfully sticking the boot into their former colleagues, some of whom, for obvious reasons, have a certain limited ability to defend themselves. And at the heart of all these outpourings, of this quick march to the lucrative confessional, is the thing which was at the very essence of Blairism — an infinite, consuming and unquenchable narcissism and vanity."

So what do CoffeeHousers think?  Are all those Blairites treacherous and avaricious?  Or are the memoirs a legitimate response to a decade of being undermined by Brown?  Head over to Rod's article and have your say in the comments section.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (4)

Not Gordon's Today

11:08am

If you didn’t hear Gordon Brown’s Today Programme interview this morning, do go and listen to it. You can almost hear Brown’s frustration as he tries to—unsuccessfully—wrestle back control of the news agenda. At one point, Brown has to pause and take a breath before continuing as he is getting so riled by the questions.

On BBC News, though, Brown managed to get his line out:

"I have taken the British economy through difficult times in the past - I have done it before and I will do it again."

Brown is clearly trying to position himself so that his political fortunes recover if the economy does. It’s a gamble but in the current circumstances Brown has no other option available to him.

Email to a friend  |   Permalink  |   Comments (22)