Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Thursday

Peter Jones

Coalitions of the willing

Whatever the result of the election, it has become clearer by the day that our ‘democracy’ is run by politicians not in the interests of the dêmos but of themselves. If the polls have been right, the most egregious example is even now unfolding before our eyes: the attempts to stitch up a coalition, which will have no manifesto and, since no one has voted for it, will take power without any electoral legitimacy whatsoever. Ancient Athenians would have been appalled. As far as Athenians were concerned, they ran the political show through their Assembly of all Athenian-born males over 18. It made all the decisions, and there was no

The Spectator

Barometer | 7 May 2015

Party packs Is it possible to form a stable coalition with more than one political party? The Conservative/Lib Dem coalition of 2010– 2015 was in fact unique in being the only British coalition featuring just two parties. — Lord Aberdeen’s coalition on 1852–55 was made up of 11 Whigs, six Peelites and one Radical, Sir William Molesworth, who served as First Commissioner of Works and was later described by Gladstone as ‘perfectly harmless’. He did, however, give us Westminster Bridge. — The wartime coalitions of Asquith (1915–16) and Lloyd George (1916–22) were mostly Liberals and Conservatives but also had three Labour junior ministers and an Irish Nationalist, James O’Connor, who

The Spectator

Letters | 7 May 2015

Bees vs Belgians Sir: To answer Rory Sutherland and Glen Weyl’s question: yes, everyone should vote and no, just because someone is more interested in politics, his opinion should not count more heavily (‘Plan Bee’, 2 May). Belgium has had compulsory voting for over a century. The troubles that follow every general election may seem to make it a strange example to follow, but those troubles are a consequence of the fragmented political landscape and not of the polling system. Compulsory voting motivates people to stay informed and care about what is happening to their country. It is, however, only compulsory to show up at the polling station, not to

James Runcie

Diary – 7 May 2015

I am writing a play about Dr Johnson and his Dictionary. It will be performed in Scotland later this year. Five out of the great man’s six helpers were Scots (the only Englishman, V.J. Peyton, was considered a fool and a drunkard) and it’s timely to think of all those Scotsmen working away to consolidate the English language while their descendants try to define the general election. As a fully functioning Willie (‘Work in London, Live in Edinburgh’), I am startled by the zeal with which the SNP plans to take its revenge on Westminster after a decisive ‘no’ vote in the referendum. The Scottish rugby team is often accused

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Many Tories have been disappointed with their party’s ground war

So now the wait for results begins. Talking to Tories who have been on the ground today, I’ve been struck by how dissatisfied so many of them were with the get out the vote operation that their party ran. The VoteSource database crashed for an hour, which would have been fine on any other day, but it meant that canvassers didn’t know which doors they should be knocking on. Labour has, as expected, flooded key seats with activists. But campaigners were genuinely surprised by quite how many they saw on the doorstep. Many reported being outnumbered three to one by Labourites who not only knew whose door to knock on,

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Ed Miliband may soon be gone. But let’s remember what he got right

Most Conservatives I have spoken to in the last couple of hours are optimistic, hoping the prospect of RedEd in power has inspired a higher turnout amongst Tory voters. The Tories could still win, the polls could be as wrong as they were in 1992. But my concern is about the campaign. I hate to say that I think the Labour party fought the better one (not saying much, admittedly). Just as after the Scottish referendum I felt depressed that the unionists had relied so heavily on negativity, I find it depressing that the Tory campaign relied on anti-SNP sentiment. Yes, it has proved the most effective card they played – but

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Has Ed Miliband got something clever up his sleeve?

How will Ed Miliband manage tomorrow if Labour does end up the second largest party but with a viable ‘anti-Tory alliance’ in the House of Commons? The Tories are trying to craft a narrative that such a government would be illegitimate, and David Cameron will give a statement early on Friday. But there is a theory developing among some Tories who rate Miliband’s strategic skills that he could be about to produce his own clever game-changer too. He could be about to offer a significant devolution of powers to the regions, a huge transfer of power to Scotland and Wales, the elected Senate of the Nations and Regions that was

Niall Ferguson

The lesson of the 2015 election? No good deed goes unpunished

It was Clare Booth Luce, the witty and glamorous wife of the publisher of Time magazine, who coined the phrase that no good deed goes unpunished. It is all you need to know about British politics today. The UK had the best performing of the G7 economies last year, with a real GDP growth rate of 2.6%. In 2009, the last full year of Labour government, the figure was -4.3%. The coalition formed five years ago by Conservative leader David Cameron and the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg inherited an almighty mess from Gordon Brown, who had presided over feckless public sector expansion and reckless disregard for bank leverage and

Steerpike Steerpike

Let them eat (Sturgeon) cake

An interesting election day parcel has arrived at the Spectator office: it contains a box of ‘party leader cupcakes’ from Sky News. ‘We recommend eating David, Ed, Nick, Nigel, Nicola, Natalie and Leanne whilst they are still delicious and fresh,’ says the accompanying letter. Funny thing, though, somebody at the channel — we suspect a furtive Scot Nat — has packed our box full of Nicola Sturgeons (see picture). Not a David, Ed, Nick, Nigel, or Natalie in sight. Oh well, we are still grateful. Two of the cakes are now protecting Nicola’s modesty on this week’s Spectator cover image. Thank you Sky!

Steerpike Steerpike

Why E4’s election stunt may not stand the test of time

Today Channel 4’s sister channel E4 has made the bold decision to halt broadcasting any programmes until this evening in a bid to encourage their viewers to vote. The channel, which is aimed at youths between the ages of 16-24, will instead broadcast a cartoon of a purple creature asking viewers to get off the sofa and vote because ‘there is nothing more important than democracy and Hollyoaks‘. Happily, the broadcaster has managed to find a way to combine both democracy and their popular soap opera among their top priorities. Programmes will resume tonight at 7pm, just in time for Hollyoaks. In fact, statistics by Barb show that all the channel’s most popular programmes begin after 7pm. The only

Matthew Bailey

The moments between: the art of putting bums on seats on election night

When the cameras go live in the BBC studios tonight for their election coverage it will mark 65 years of televised analysis of the results. As the BBC’s own delightful paean to these programmes showed, it will also mark 65 years of an awful lot of hanging around. Election night coverage approaches what the film historian Charles Barr has called ‘pure television’: those occasions of live transmission with which cinema simply cannot compete. It can be excruciating stuff. On election night in 1964 the evening’s host, Cliff Michalmore, filled time with a libidinous survey of the ‘lovely gals’ on show for the audience at home. Come 1979 we were treated

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

How reforming Conservatives fall: an interview with Fredrik Reinfeldt

A modernising, young Prime Minister advocates free schools, cuts taxes and oversees a job creation miracle – could voters really kick him out? It happened in Sweden six months ago when Fredrik Reinfeldt lost the general election, even though his successor failed to win a majority. Earlier this year, I caught up with Reinfeldt to talk to him about politics – and the problems of converting economic success into political capital His defenestration seemed horribly unfair. While much of Europe was in economic agony, Sweden was not: at the time, if you asked about the recession you were met with a blank stare. To an outsider visiting Sweden, its economic

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Is Ed Miliband really proud to have fought alongside me? I’m not so sure

Sheesh, sometimes you read something and it makes you go all gooey inside. Take this email I got from Ed Miliband. Dear Rod, As I write this, Justine and I are on our last trip on the Labour campaign bus. We’re heading back from an incredible supporter rally in Leeds to Doncaster so we can vote there first thing tomorrow morning. So while I have this rare, quiet moment, I want to say this: thank you. I am so proud to have fought this campaign alongside you. If our country votes for a Labour government tomorrow, it will be because of the dedication, passion and generosity of hundreds of thousands

Sebastian Payne

Updated: The final polls are in — and it’s still neck and neck

The polling stations open in under 10 hours and the final opinion polls are out. As we’ve seen throughout this campaign, there’s not much variance at all, with all of the pollsters putting Labour and the Tories tied — or with a small lead within the margin of error. There’s a few still to come and we’ll update the list below as they are released: Ipsos MORI: Conservative 36 per cent, Labour 35 per cent, Ukip 11 per cent, Lib Dem eight per cent, Green five per cent ICM: Labour 35 per cent, Conservative 34 per cent, Ukip 11 per cent, Lib Dem nine per cent, Green four per cent Lord Ashcroft: Conservative 33 per cent, Labour 33 per cent, Ukip 11 per cent, Lib Dem eight per cent,

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Revealed: the party with the most negative election campaign

Which party is the most negative in this election campaign? All of them have spent a great deal of time being negative about their opponents’ apparent negativity, claiming that only their own party is running a positive campaign about the future for this country, and so on. But it’s easy to make grand claims, and even easier not to measure up to them at all. To give us an answer, academics at British Election Leaflet Project at the University of Nottingham have analysed leaflets from the parties in this campaign. They looked at 1,300 pieces of election literature from nearly 300 constituencies. All the leaflets were uploaded on electionleaflets.org. Their

Sebastian Payne

Election night: the ten ‘Portillo moments’ to watch out for

Election night is going to be a long affair but some excitement will ensue if any prominent politicians lose their seats — unexpectedly or otherwise. There is likely to be at least one ‘Portillo moment‘ — akin to the the 1997 election night when then-Tory MP Michael Portillo lost his seat and signalled that the Tories were on course to be out of power for 13 years. In chronological order, here are the big name politicians to watch out for tomorrow morning: 1. Douglas Alexander in Paisley and Renfrewshire South Expected declaration time: 3:00am Region: Scotland Majority: 16,614 MP in 2010: Douglas Alexander – Labour 2010 result: Lab 60%, SNP 18%, Con 10%, Lib Dem 10%

Sebastian Payne

The moment of Ruth

Unusually for a modern Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson seems to enjoy meeting voters. When I joined her on the campaign trail, she had been posing with a giant eagle in Kirkcaldy. Then she jumped on to a Harley Davidson in Stirling. Such props, she says, are a ‘springboard’ to talk about Scottish Conservatism — which, thanks to her, is no longer an oxymoron. Davidson’s sparkling performances in the various debates stood in welcome contrast to David Cameron’s. Not once has she mentioned the ‘long-term economic plan’, or the other clichés issued from Conservative HQ. Her message is simple: thanks to a Conservative-led government, she says, Britain now has less pensioner

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

Scotland’s nasty party

You get bad losers in politics and bad winners, too, but it’s surely a rare business to get a bad winner who didn’t actually win. Yet this, since they lost last September’s referendum, has been the role of the SNP. Dismay, reassessment, introspection, contrition, resignation; all of these have been wholly absent. Instead, they have been triumphalist. Lording it, with cruel and haughty disdain, over their vanquished foes. Who, we must remember, they didn’t even vanquish. Well, maybe they’ve vanquished them now. I write this pre-election, with the polls all saying that the Nats will win something between almost every Scottish seat and actually every Scottish seat. Only, of course,

Paul Wood

Washington Notebook | 7 May 2015

This week has been all about the election, the US presidential election that is. It is 18 months away but already the race is sending out sparks and popping like a newly lit fire. On the one hand, there’s Hillary. She takes a trip by van across ‘the real America’ — a near-faultless launch of her campaign, everyone agrees, until she eats a meal in a fast food restaurant and forgets to tip. Then there’s the Republican field, heading for a dozen strong, but perhaps ending up whittled down to just Jeb Bush. This state of affairs caused one frustrated challenger to complain: ‘The presidency of the United States is