Politics

Harriet Harman has just finished addressing the PLP about the party’s official position on welfare cuts. There was a reasonable amount of applause for the interim Labour leader when she finished speaking, but party sources described the meeting as ‘quite split’ and that ‘obviously there were a lot of people who were quite uncomfortable’. She started by telling MPs that all of them recognised what a profound shock the election result was, and that many of her constituents will be affected by the changes that will take place as a result of this Budget. But she also reminded people that in the last phase of Opposition, Labour voted against every

Conventional wisdom has it that David Cameron’s decision to make the ‘In’ cause in the European referendum the one that asks Britons to vote ‘Yes’ is one that gives the Prime Minister the upper hand. Saying ‘Yes’ makes people feel good. It’s positive. It’s progressive. Perhaps that was true in 2008 when Barack Obama swept to power, but times have changed. Last Sunday 61 per cent of Greeks voted ‘No’ to the bailout terms proposed by the country’s creditors. Many commentators argued that ‘no’ had a stronger case, whatever the question, in Greece given its history.  On October 28, 1940, Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas was faced with an ultimatum: allow

From ‘Parliament and Registration‘, The Spectator, 10 July 1915: The modern rigidity of the party system has enabled Ministers, once they have attained to power, to despise the House of Commons, for they know that the Whips will see that the party votes straight, and that is all they care about. This is a fundamental mistake, for the House of Commons in war time quite as much as in peace time is, with all its defects, one of the most valuable of our institutions. It provides the machinery for the criticism of the Government under conditions in which that criticism can most effectively be made and most effectively be answered.

Yesterday Nick Robinson confirmed reports that he is leaving his role as the BBC’s political editor to join the Today programme. Now the race is on to find a worthy successor. Helpfully Ladbrokes have released a rather intriguing list of favourites for the job. Robinson’s deputy political editor James Landale is the favourite for the role at 5/2. David Cameron’s revelation to Landale that he wouldn’t ‘serve a third term’ if re-elected became one of the big stories of the elections. While this ought to win him favour upstairs, Landale has two problems: (a) he is not a woman (b) he is an Old Etonian. It’s thought that — in the interests of