Politics Archives

Sunday

1 Sep 2013

George Osborne: I’m still passionate about HS2

George Osborne is not relinquishing his love for High Speed 2 anytime soon. On his welcome return to television this morning, Andrew Marr gave the Chancellor a grilling over the new line. Osborne in return defended the government’s position both on monetary and ideological grounds. With the most recent costings of £50 – 80 billion thrown around, the Chancellor added some clarity on how much he will authorise for construction of the new line: ‘We have set the budget for £42bn for the construction costs. That includes, by the way, a big contingency. As we demonstrated with the Olympic Games, we can deliver these big projects actually sometimes under budget.

James Forsyth

George Osborne: There’ll be no second Commons vote on Syria

There’ll be no second parliamentary vote on Syria, George Osborne stressed this morning. There had been speculation that following President Obama’s decision to go to Congress before using military force, meaning that strikes won’t happen before the week of the 9th of September, there could be a second parliamentary vote on UK military involvement. But Osborne scotched that idea on the Andrew Marr show this morning. listen to ‘Osborne – No second Syria vote’ on Audioboo Obama’s decision, though, has eased the political pressure on David Cameron. Judging by some of the coverage this morning, he’s not a bungling leader who couldn’t get his way with his own parliament, but

Saturday

31 Aug 2013

Isabel Hardman

Could there be a second UK vote on Syria?

After the special relationship was found still breathing this afternoon, is there a chance UK involvement in Syria action might have life in it yet? If Congress does not debate and vote on action until 9 September, there is time for the UN weapons inspectors to report and the UN Security Council to vote. This assumes Congress does approve action (and Obama said he was confident he would get the support, hopefully based on better intelligence than that which led Cameron to be equally confident at the start of this week). But if all of those conditions are met, would the Labour party support action? If they would – and

Fraser Nelson

Barack Obama’s decision to consult Congress pays David Cameron the highest compliment

When seeking election, both David Cameron and Barack Obama promised to seek a vote before going to war. Until an hour ago, it seemed that the Prime Minister was as good as his word but the president was not. His decision to follow Cameron’s example and consult Congress has stunned Washington, not least because popular support for a missile strike is even lower in America than in Britain (about 20pc). So what helped shift opinion in Washington? Obama did not attempt to disguise it. Those asking him to recall Congress, he said, were… “undoubtedly… impacted by what we saw happen in the United Kingdom this week when the Parliament of our

Isabel Hardman

Obama follows Cameron by seeking Congressional approval for Syria strike

As he licks his wounds after this week’s Commons defeat on Syria, David Cameron will have been given a huge boost this evening to hear that President Obama has decided to seek approval from Congress before starting any strikes. Obama said: ‘Over the last several days, we’ve heard from several members of Congress who want their voices to be heard. I absolutely agree.’ This suggests that those who tried to certify the special relationship dead probably need a refresher course in vital signs as it clearly isn’t headed for the mortuary, rather an acute unit (and Fraser explained why that assessment was wrong this morning). Perhaps it shows that Obama

Fraser Nelson

Syria defeat: the anatomy of an omnishambles

Britain has not rejected America nor abdicated its role in the world. The Sun’s reports of the death of the special relationship are exaggerated. Thursday’s vote may have given John Kerry a chance to indulge his Francophillia (‘our oldest ally,’ purred the Swiss-educated State Secretary) but this was not us chickening out. It was a very British omnishambles. Today’s Daily Telegraph splash carries the depressing details of what went wrong. This is not the first time Cameron has conjured up an historic defeat from nowhere. Remember the Health Bill? The 2012 Backfiring Budget? The 71 U-turns? You could add the general election campaign, perhaps the biggest self-inflicted wound of all.

Friday

30 Aug 2013

Isabel Hardman

Cameron and Obama: our relationship is still special

David Cameron and Barack Obama spoke this evening about their special relationship. Normally when people start talking a lot about their relationships in public, it’s because something is wrong (or they’ve just started out and like to hold loud and impressive conversations about whether to cook the salmon or the homemade ravioli in front of as many people as possible). So the fact that the importance of the special relationship was not just raised in the call, but included in the Number 10 readout suggests the pair were calling in the marriage counsellors. A No 10 spokesperson said: ‘The President stressed his appreciation of his strong friendship with the Prime

Tiffany Trenner-Lyle

Revealed: the Tory tribes who defeated Cameron

So who were the rebels, and what were they up to? The list of the men and women (but mostly men) shows a striking absence of certain usual suspects: no Nadine Dorries, no Peter Bone and no Greg Mullholland for the Lib Dems. But most were bloodied rebels – all but three of the 39 Coalition dissidents had rebelled before. Half were serial rebels, having defied the whip over ten times this Parliament. Some of them are borderline unwhippable like Philip Hollobone who has disagreed with the Tory party a total of 129 times over three years and Philip Davies who has done so 85 times.(Full details here from my

Sebastian Payne

Syria debate: the sensible and profound punditry on Twitter

At 10.00pm last night, Parliament votes against giving British approval to an American missile strike that was going to happen with or without us. But to the New York Daily News, it’s a sign that the British have gone AWOL. And to many in Britain, it’s a sign that the world has ended. Here’s a selection of the more emotional responses to last night’s vote: @paddyashdown In 50 years trying to serve my country I have never felt so depressed/ashamed. Britain’s answer to the Syrian horrors? none of our business! The Respect MP George Galloway who rediscovered his liking Labour… @georgegalloway It was also a victory for Ed Miliband who

The Spectator

Syria: How MPs voted

Here is a list of all MPs and how they voted – or did not vote – in last night’s division on the government’s motion on Syria. MPs who voted on Labour’s amendment and then did not vote on the government motion: Adam Afriyie (Conservative) Christopher Chope (Conservative) Justine Greening (Conservative) Edward Leigh (Conservative) John Redwood (Conservative) Andrew Rosindell (Conservative) Mark Simmonds (Conservative) Tim Yeo (Conservative) Annette Brooke (Liberal Democrat) Lorely Burt (Liberal Democrat) Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat) Greg Mulholland (Liberal Democrat) John Thurso (Liberal Democrat) Mark Williams (Liberal Democrat) Ben Bradshaw (Labour) Ann Clwyd (Labour) Meg Munn (Labour) John Woodcock (Labour) Active abstentions on the vote on the government’s

Alex Massie

On Syria, parliament has voted to have no policy at all.

A muddle and a cock-up. For all the talk of parliament reasserting itself, last night’s vote on Syria showed a parliament that voted, twice, to oppose actions it actually supports. David Cameron has been humiliated but this was hardly a banner day for Ed Miliband either. The House of Commons has, for now, cut off its nose to spite its face. Perhaps surgery can repair the damage. Perhaps it can’t. Because the longer and more deeply one contemplates yesterday’s events the more evident it seems that there were no winners. The government motion was defeated. So was Labour’s amendment. Since these motions were, in essence and in most practical respects,

Isabel Hardman

MPs didn’t want to kick Cameron, but they didn’t want to trust him either

One of the lines doing the rounds this morning in the post-mortem of what this means for David Cameron’s leadership is that it shows yet again that backbenchers do not trust the Prime Minister. This is true, but it is worth being as specific as possible. This rebellion was not like the other revolts over Europe and House of Lords reform, where it was as much about sticking two fingers to the leadership for not listening to MPs as it was about the issues at stake, serious though they are. The number of conversations I’ve held with backbenchers in the run-up to and aftermath of those votes made it quite

Freddy Gray

Don’t be daft – last night’s vote was nothing to be ashamed of

Are you ashamed of your country and depressed following last night’s vote against intervening in Syria? David Aaronovitch the journalist is. I do not give a fuck what this means for Miliband and Cameron. It’s the message it sends to Assad that counts. I am ashamed. — David Aaronovitch (@DAaronovitch) August 29, 2013 Tim Shipman of the Daily Mail is. Glad I’m in France today, a country that understands the responsibilities of being a military power — Tim Shipman (Mail) (@ShippersUnbound) August 30, 2013 So is Sarah Vine, the columnist, as well as, apparently, her husband Michael Gove. Paddy Ashdown says that Great Britain is plunging towards ‘isolationism’. Even our own Toby Young

Isabel Hardman

George Osborne: We’re not trying to make a fetish of division

When will today’s politicians be able to stop wrestling with Tony Blair’s ghost? Not for a while it seems – partly because they don’t want to. George Osborne decided to use the Kind of Spin as a means of spinning last night’s terrible defeat for the Coalition government on Syria when he appeared on the Today programme. As well as referring to the shadow Blair and Iraq cast over the debate, yesterday, the Chancellor made clear that the Prime Minister had tried to shake off that shadow by conducting things ‘in a different approach’. he said: ‘The shadow of Iraq pervaded the whole debate yesterday both on the media and

Fraser Nelson

George Osborne’s tendentious logic on Syria

A sombre George Osborne has just popped up on the Today programme saying that parliament last night triggered ‘soul searching’ in the country. ‘I think there will be a national soul-searching about our role in the world and whether Britain wants to play a big part in upholding the international system, be that big open and trading nation that I’d like us to be or whether we turn our back on that.’ listen to ‘George Osborne on Today’ on Audioboo

The Spectator

Syria defeat: The Tory and Lib Dem rebels

These are the names of the MPs who voted against last night’s government motion on Syria: Conservatives (30): David Amess, Steve Baker, Richard Bacon, John Baron, Andrew Bingham, Crispin Blunt, Fiona Bruce, Tracey Crouch, David TC Davies, Philip Davies, David Davis, Nick de Bois, Richard Drax, Gordon Henderson, Philip Hollobone, Adam Holloway, Dr Phillip Lee, Dr Julian Lewis, Tim Loughton, Jason McCartney, Nigel Mills, Anne Marie Morris, Andrew Percy, Sir Richard Shepherd, Sir Peter Tapsell, Andrew Turner, Martin Vickers, Charles Walker, Chris White, Dr Sarah Wollaston. Liberal Democrats (9): Gordon Birtwistle, Michael Crockart, Andrew George, Julian Huppert, Dan Rogerson, Andrew Stunell, Ian Swales, Sarah Teather, Roger Williams.

Thursday

29 Aug 2013

Alex Massie

Why must we worry about London’s success?

For a long time my view of the Imperial Capital — as, like other Scots, I am still prone to considering London — was borrowed from Joseph Conrad’s description of its riverside: ‘It is a thing grown up, not made. It recalls a jungle by the confused, varied and impenetrable aspect of the buildings that line the shore, not according to a planned purpose, but as if sprung up by accident from scattered seeds. Like the matted growth of bushes and creepers veiling the silent depths of an unexplored wilderness, they hide the depths of London’s infinitely varied, vigorous, seething life.’ London was mysterious, huge and confusing. I disliked it

Isabel Hardman

The PM is preparing for another coalition. His colleagues have other plans

Conservatives have been returning to their Westminster offices this week to find the wind behind them. Something suddenly seems to be going right: there’s good news on the economy, jobs and immigration and Labour seems to be in gentle meltdown. The idea of an outright majority in a 2015 election suddenly seems a lot more plausible. Which is why ministers and advisers are so dismayed at reports last week that David Cameron was planning for a second coalition after 2015. Just when a Tory election victory seemed possible, the Prime Minister has been mulling over a change in party rules so that MPs could vote on a new coalition agreement.

Andrew Marr

Andrew Marr’s diary: Holidays after a stroke, and what the Germans really think of us

It’s been a strange summer. After a stroke, holidays are not what they used to be. We went to Juan-les-Pins for a week in a hotel. It seemed perfect because it had beaches for the family, and at nearby Antibes there is a great little Picasso museum for me to haunt. It has the best drawing of a goat ever made. My daughters and wife doggedly manhandled me across hot sand into and out of the water and I enjoyed that. But being surrounded by so many fit people running, cycling and swimming was a little dispiriting. Mind you, I’ve always been useless at holidays. I hate being too hot.

The Spectator

Let Osborne finish the job

Upon taking office, David Cameron promised himself that he would resist the temptation to sack ministers in response to every scandal. He would have a major reshuffle halfway through his government and another one before the election. That would be all. He is now understood to be weeks away from deciding who should go where, and Labour-supporting newspapers are commissioning opinion polls to help the Prime Minister in his deliberations. The main verdict: sack George Osborne. Some Tory MPs agree. If there is to be a new Chancellor, now would be the time, because any new economic strategy would take three years to have much effect. This argument is as