The Coffee House | Politics and News Discussion Forum

Brown's U-turns analysed

James Forsyth — , 03 Jul 2009 18:28:58 GMT

Steve Richards’ column in today’s Independent - analysing Brown’s u-turns on the Post Office, 42 days and the abolition of 10p tax rate - is superb. As Steve notes, all these u-turns have in common the question of where does Brown stand in relation to Blairism; is he break from it or its continuation?

Steve’s conclusion sums this up brilliantly:

“The U-turns show that Brown has never acquired a clear voice of his own as Prime Minister and has failed to break away from his complicated past. Perhaps an early election

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The week that was

, 03 Jul 2009 18:03:29 GMT

Here are some of the posts made over the past week on Spectator.co.uk:

Fraser Nelson reveals Ed Balls' lies, and outlines the scale of the debt crisis.

James Forsyth says a shadow Cabinet member needs to call Brown on his lies, and sets out the Tories' higher goal for education.

Peter Hoskin looks at how cuts can be advertised, and tracks the Government's approach on a spending review.

Martin Bright reveals how New Labour policy making works.

Clive Davis gives his take on the death of Michael Jackson.

Alex Massie has a]]>

One crisis after another

Fraser Nelson — , 03 Jul 2009 17:25:07 GMT

Many CoffeeHousers will give a horse laugh to the idea of “green shoots” – especially the idea of Gordon Brown winning a fourth term because a grateful nation will thank him for a recovered economy. It’s a delusion, nothing surer, and the same one Callaghan and Major suffered from. In both cases, there were firm signs of an economic recovery – but the electorate never forgave the government which landed them in the mire. But is Britain recovering? We’ve seen a few developments lately which, given the fun and games elsewhere, have gone unnoticed. So here’s a catchup.

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The candidates for cuts

Peter Hoskin — , 03 Jul 2009 16:20:43 GMT

Over at the Beeb website, Mark Easton flags up a new Ipsos MORI poll on public spending; you can view the whole thing here. There are plenty of eye-catching results in there. For instance, most people strongly agree that many public services are a waste of money and can be cut, while 40 percent of the public think that the Conservatives would be most effective party at getting good vaule for money from public services (compared to 25 percent for Labour). In particular, I think these two charts deserve attention:

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Another one for Miliband's collection of cock-ups

Peter Hoskin — , 03 Jul 2009 14:35:26 GMT

Great spot by Paul Waugh, who's got evidence of the latest Miliband cock-up over at his blog. Basically, Miliband told the Commons earlier this week that British aid to India would be decreased and eventually stopped because "India is becoming a richer country". But now he's had to sneak out a complete retraction, which even makes reference to India's "continuing levels of poverty":

"We have no plans to scale down the provision of aid to India, nor to stop the provision of aid by 2011. Our aid expenditure under current spending

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Brown announces his agricultural policy

Peter Hoskin — , 03 Jul 2009 12:05:42 GMT

I think it's fair to say that the Dear Leader is out of his comfort zone here:

Hat-tip: Paul Waugh

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Can Brown's inner circle be broken?

Peter Hoskin — , 03 Jul 2009 11:28:53 GMT

Given the speculation that's whirling around Westminster about plots to oust Brown in the autumn, it's worth noting this passage from Steve Richards' article for the latest New Statesman:

"The most significant change since the hopelessly disparate attempted coup last month is how the rest of the cabinet relate to Brown, Mandelson and Balls, the trio who are working closely together. Recently a friend asked one cabinet minister on the so-called Blairite wing whether he thought Mandelson would tell Brown that the game was up if polls suggested Labour was heading

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Darling's position of strength

Peter Hoskin — , 03 Jul 2009 09:01:16 GMT

Interviewed in today's Indy, Alistair Darling's "get real" warning to the bankers seems to be grabbing the headlines - but his comments on public spending rather jumped out at me. After Peter Mandelson said that their wouldn't be a spending review before the next general election, there were rumblings that Darling was actually still thinking about a pre-election review. Here, he confirms that:

"Mr Darling insists the uncertain economic position means he cannot decide now whether to go ahead with the scheduled comprehensive spending review (CSR).

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Things the Tories shouldn't do

James Forsyth — , 02 Jul 2009 17:40:23 GMT

It strikes me as being in both bad taste and politically foolish for Alan Duncan to suggest that Gordon Brown is “vandalising” the despatch box when he uses a thick pen to take notes during PMQs. It is bad taste because the reason Brown uses a thick, black felt-tip because he is blind in one eye and has poor sight in the other. Whatever one’s opinion of Brown, his eye problem is not something that should be mocked. It is politically foolish because one of the themes that Labour is trying to get into the national conversation is]]>