Politics Archives

Thursday

18 Jul 2013

Steerpike

Philip Blond for Mayor of London?

While David Cameron, assisted by a trio of pyjama-clad children and the Chancellor, was entertaining the ladies and gentleman of Her Majesty’s Loyal Press Corps in No. 10, right-wing elements of the Conservative Party were carousing by the river in Chelsea. IDS, Welsh Secretary David Jones and venerable right-wingers Sir Gerald Howarth and Graham Brady joined former Tory head of press Nick Wood and his cohort from Media Intelligence Partners for a rabble-rouse. Unlike the Downing Street soiree in the Rose Garden, this was not a champagne free-zone. Ûber-wonk Philip Blond was overheard discussing his plans to run for Mayor of London. And as the evening wore on, Blond began to try

Isabel Hardman

Labour’s filibuster on the EU referendum bill cheers Tory hearts

As a rule, public bill committees aren’t really the kind of thing even the most insular Westminster bubble inhabitant buys popcorn to watch. But last night, James Wharton’s private member’s bill found itself the subject of midnight drama in the committee room. Labour MPs decided to filibuster on a series of troublemaking amendments, with the whips calling a late night cooling down break in an attempt to move the proceedings on. Even though Wharton and Tory colleagues on the bill committee may be rather dozy this afternoon, the late night drama, eventually resolved at 12.30, does allow them to make a political point out of what is normally a very

Steerpike

Cameron whiter than White’s

David Cameron has rescinded his membership of White’s. The most prestigious of the St James’s clubs was the unofficial headquarters of the Tory party at the end of the 18th Century and his late father Ian used to be its chairman. As the political row over all-male memberships rears its head once more, the Prime Minister has read the lie of the land correctly here. When he became leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, young Dave was attacked for turning a blind eye to the all-male policy of the Tory supporting Carlton Club. Picking his ground wisely then, he used his position to persuade the club to relax its

James Forsyth

The New Colonials can raise our sights beyond the Channel

There’s a quiet Colonial takeover of British public life going on. An Australian, Lynton Crosby is in charge of the Tories’ political strategy. A South African, Ryan Coeztee performs this role for the Liberal Democrats and the deputy Prime Minister. While a Canadian, Mark Carney is Governor of the Bank of England and, arguably, the single most economically power figure in Britain. I argue in The Spec this week that the rise of these New Colonials tells us something important about this country, its flaws and its place in the world. Crosby, Coetzee and Carney are, in some ways, the missing meritocrats. They are filling a gap in British public

Fraser Nelson

If David Cameron wants a military capable of toppling Assad, he’ll have to pay for it

Libya is a success from which David Cameron might not recover. This, at any rate, seems to be the fear of Sir David Richards who has marked his exit as head of the military with a Daily Telegraph interview. He appears to reinforcing a point David Cameron once made: ‘I am not,’ he once said, ‘a naive neo-con who thinks you can drop democracy out of an aeroplane at 40,000 feet.’ The Prime Minister was proved right in Libya: the Tomahawk missiles he fired at Libya cruised at just 400 feet before sinking into their targets which (in Gaddafi’s case) was enough to restrain the tyrant and introduce democracy. Bur

James Forsyth

Colonial rule: Why Aussies, Kiwis and Canadians are running Britain

Last month, David Cameron convened a meeting of his most important advisers at Chequers. The Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Conservative party chairman were all present, but there was little doubt who was in charge. The Australian strategist Lynton Crosby was dominant, doling out orders and drawing up ‘action points’. One of those in the room recalls: ‘Lynton was fantastic. He made sure there was an agenda, that everyone stuck to it.’ It might seem odd for an Aussie to be telling the British PM what to do, especially in this most English of settings, but it’s mainly because of his nationality that the ‘Wizard of Oz’ gets to

Norman Lamont

Does the EU really need 32 diplomats in Mozambique? And 44 in Barbados?

The Prime Minister recently professed himself shocked at waste in the European Union. In particular, he was incensed by an EU-funded colouring book portraying the daily lives of ‘Mr and Mrs MEP’. It is appalling, certainly, but far from unusual. The propaganda that comes out of Brussels has long been full of such idiocies. Some may remember Captain Euro, a cartoon superhero who won sporting events for the honour of the single currency. But if the Prime Minister was looking for truly conspicuous examples of waste, he might turn his attention to the EU’s diplomatic service. The European External Action Service was an important institutional innovation brought about by the

Wednesday

17 Jul 2013

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: Cigarettes and alcohol and Lynton Crosby

Cigs and booze. These issues dominated PMQs today. Ed Miliband tried to portray the PM as a puppet of ‘Big Tobacco’ whose decision not to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes was influenced by his electoral guru, Lynton Crosby. Had the PM ever ‘had a conversation’ with Crosby about fag packets? Shifty Cameron dodged sideways and declared that Crosby never ‘lobbied me about anything’. ‘Weasel words,’ said Miliband, looking triumphant. He quoted a Tory GP, Sarah Wollaston, who labelled the decision ‘a day of shame’ for the government. Up popped the lady herself from the backbenches. Dr Wollaston begged the PM to re-think his decision against ‘minimum unit pricing’, which she

Isabel Hardman

The Lynton Crosby question Number 10 can’t quite answer

It’s difficult to find a Tory MP who doesn’t think Lynton Crosby is making their party more aggressive and impressive. The Wizard of Oz has been a good thing. Most MPs think his tough-talking vision for how the party can fight Ukip and Labour rather than fighting one another has made a huge difference. Crosby was hired to advise the party on strategy (as well as swear at people), but the one thing that makes a few MPs want to swear back is the possibility he has had some undue influence over the government’s public health policy, which has zig-zagged one way and then another. As James said earlier, this

James Forsyth

PMQs: Cameron cheers MPs with ‘every day this country is getting stronger and he is getting weaker’ attack

PMQs today was not as noisy an affair as last week. But the opening exchanges between David Cameron and Ed Miliband still had plenty of needle in them: things are becoming increasingly personal between these two. The Cameron/Miliband exchanges were initially relatively even. I noticed a fair few Tory backbenchers having to stifle a laugh at Miliband’s line that Cameron was the Prime Minister for ‘Benson and Hedge funds’. His attack on Cameron’s ‘weasel words’ about whether or not Lynton Crosby had spoken to him about plain packaging, combined with Labour’s call for an inquiry by the Cabinet Secretary, will keep this story going. But Cameron’s last line that ‘every

Isabel Hardman

Labour could be jumping the gun with early EU mischief-making

If you’ve felt your heart beating a little faster than usual, and a strange sense of excitement creeping all over you, it’s because #letbritaindecide fever is back in Parliament. Yes, folks, the fun returns, and this time for the committee stage of the bill, from 2pm today. I’ve already reported Mike Gapes’ amusing amendments to the legislation which are designed to cause trouble. He has put a few more down of a similarly mischevious ilk, changing the question about Britain’s membership of the EU to a question about whether Britain should join the Schengen Agreement, or the euro. But Labour’s frontbench has also tabled some changes to provoke a row.

Isabel Hardman

Reshuffle delay leaves Tories dwelling on many reasons to be cheerful

David Cameron has decided to delay his mini-reshuffle until the autumn. He had been planning to have it this week, and as we reported last week, rumours were circulating about who was vulnerable. But it is sensible to delay. The party is in a serene mood currently. Sacking good ministers and failing to promote equally good backbenchers again will cause strife, and the party management machine will struggle to keep tabs on the really hurt members over the summer. Better to send everyone back to their constituencies in a good mood that will rouse the grassroots a little, rather than brooding about what they perceive to be poor treatment. There

Steerpike

Soggy Tories decamp to the National Liberal Club

This may be a question to which the answer is no, but have you heard of the Tory Reform Group? The TRG is a marginal Conservative club these days because it is generally regarded as being less than sound, if not outright soggy, on the issues. Indeed, there was some embarrassment earlier in this parliament when Ed Miliband tried to use the TRG’s thinking to shape his NHS policy. The TRG numbers Ken Clarke, Lord Patten, Lord Heseltine and David Curry among its illustrious alumni. Goodness knows what these august men and their heirs have planned for Mr Cameron (or his successor) during the EU referendum, should it ever materialise.

Tuesday

16 Jul 2013

Jeremy Brier

Zimmerman verdict: the American Left only likes juries when they get the result they want

There is almost nothing more emotive than a murder trial, particularly when it takes place in the United States and involves the shooting dead of a black boy on the basis of self-defence. Public sympathies are inevitably roused and divided on the basis of prejudices and predilections. That is understandable. It is understandable that disaffected black youngsters in Florida hoped to see George Zimmerman found guilty and Trayvon Martin vindicated: for all that it would do, for all that it would say. The converse is also true. Neighbourhood activists like Zimmerman, many members of the American public who live in fear of kids on the streets, those who themselves have

Isabel Hardman

NHS political football, full-time report: Hunt and Burnham’s fouls and fury

Jeremy Hunt’s statement on the Keogh review marked one of the uglier Commons sessions in this parliament. Amid shouting, muttering and angry pointing from the Opposition benches, the Health Secretary announced that 11 of the 14 hospitals in the review would be put into ‘special measures’, while making clear that he blamed the culture the Labour government had nurtured in the NHS, and pressure from ministers to cover up bad news. Labour MPs hated the last assertion in particular, roaring with disagreement as Hunt said: ‘It is never acceptable for the government to put pressure on the NHS to accept bad news because in doing so they make it less

Isabel Hardman

NHS political football, half-time report: Crosby and warnings ignored

Labour and the Tories played the first half of NHS political football this morning at health questions. The scrap began with Opposition MPs asking what influence Lynton Crosby had over the decision to drop plain packaging for cigarettes. It is their equivalent of the Tory attack on union influence, and as such has a fair bit of clout. The first question came from Labour’s Cathy Jamieson, who asked: ‘Given some of the previous pronouncements by the Public Health Minister I think some of us could be forgiven for thinking that the government’s policy has changed in relation to this. And I wonder therefore if she could advise the House, who

Mary Wakefield

To infinity and beyond! George Osborne invests in space plane

Hooray for George Osborne! I never imagined I’d ever write those words, but George has done his country a great service. He’s put £60 million behind one of the most inspiring British inventions of our age: Skylon, a space plane with a revolutionary new engine. When Skylon’s up and running, it’ll be able to transport satellites – well, anything — into orbit for a 20th of the current price, and go at a scorching 3,500 mph. It’ll be the envy of the world – which sounds like hyperbole, but isn’t. The Spectator championed Skylon four years ago, pointing out that the world is on the brink of a new space race,

Monday

15 Jul 2013

Isabel Hardman

Tory MPs see gains on justice and home affairs opt-outs

Justice and Home Affairs ministers have spent a muggy afternoon in the Commons slogging through several hours of tetchy questions from backbenchers about the government’s plan to opt out of European Union justice and home affairs measures, before opting back in to the ones the government has decided it likes. It’s at times like this that anyone other than Theresa May, who spent a considerable amount of time hopping up and down to take endless interventions from her own Tory colleagues, would start to wonder whether the party leadership really was a prize worth working so hard for, given the amount of reassurance MPs need on just one policy area.

Isabel Hardman

Sticks and stones won’t break the Bones

If you’re looking for the big Westminster row this week, chances are you’ve missed where the real action is. On Wednesday afternoon, MPs and peers will vote again in the elections for chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking. Normally APPG elections are so tame that few MPs outside their own membership even know they are going on. But the APPG on Human Trafficking has had to call a second vote because of a contentious draw in the first election. The group has printed more than 1,000 ballot papers in anticipation of a huge turnout from groups supporting rivals Peter Bone and Fiona Mactaggart. Tensions are rising between

James Forsyth

Conservatives ramp up the pressure on Andy Burnham

One of the striking things about politics at the moment is how the Tories are behaving like an opposition, campaigning against Labour with even more intensity than they managed in 2009. The Tories intend to use the Keogh report, out tomorrow, to — in the words of one Number 10 insider — give Labour ‘both barrels’ over the NHS. As one Tory minister puts it, ‘Labour’s argument about Mid-Staffs is that it is one isolated, bad case. Keogh disproves that.’ As part of this, the Tories are going after Andy Burnham. The Tory leadership is convinced that Ed Miliband will move Burnham in the reshuffle, there’s a reason why people