Politics

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

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron must carry out a thorough reshuffle

With Parliament heading off for recess, politics will — barring some unforeseen event or the Eurozone crisis moving into one of its acute phases — be dominated by the Olympics for the next few weeks. David Cameron will be hoping that the global CEOs arriving in town will bring some good investment news with them. Boris Johnson, meanwhile, will revel in the global media attention. Indeed, Boris is already demonstrating an ability to brush off the organisational hiccups that other politicians can only envy. But most ambitious Tories will spend the summer thinking about the reshuffle, currently pencilled in for the third of September ahead of a Tory parliamentary dinner

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Making an independent adviser truly independent

The row over Jeremy Hunt’s dealings with the Murdoch empire during its takeover bid for BSkyB seems rather a long time ago, even though only a month has passed since it peaked. But even though other rows have eclipsed this one, MPs are debating a very interesting backbench motion in the Commons this afternoon which criticises some of the decisions that the Prime Minister took around the Hunt affair. The motion is being led by Bernard Jenkin, chair of the Public Administration Select Committee, and runs as follows: ‘That this House calls on the Government to implement the recommendation made by the Public Administration Select Committee in paragraph 44 of

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Olympic censorship row

Nick Cohen’s Spectator cover story on Olympic censorship has been a smash hit, and is still being tweeted all over the world. It was followed up this morning by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on its 8.10am slot, and CoffeeHousers who missed it can listen again here. Freddy Gray, assistant editor of The Spectator, is quoted at the beginning on the appalling heavy-handedness of it all. Even the Cubans didn’t copyright the now-famous Che Guevara image (which was drawn by an Irishman in any case). A liberal society like Britain should let people do what they want with words and images of major people and events. Including words like ‘Olympics’ and those rings. The Radio Four

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Five questions for Nick Buckles

G4S chief Nick Buckles will face MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee today. Here are some key questions they will want to ask him about the security firm’s handling of staffing for the Olympics: 1. When did you start processing applications from potential staff? G4S launched its recruitment drive at the end of January, and just days later told the press it had been swamped by 20,000 applications. Ministers say they were repeatedly assured that the firm would overshoot its targets. So why did it take so long to realise that those 20,000 applications were not going to translate into 10,000 staff? 2. When did you realise that you

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Railing against government policy | 16 July 2012

The cabinet is out and about today, trying to smooth feathers ruffled by last week’s Lords reform row by splashing out on £9 billion worth of investment for railways. Today’s announcement by David Cameron and Nick Clegg is, as much as anything else, an attempt to put into practice the Prime Minister’s claim yesterday that the coalition is still capable of making real progress on big issues, despite differences on constitutional reform. Handily for Nick Clegg, today’s announcement may also encourage some friendly feelings from his own constituents, as it includes electrifying the line between Bedford to Sheffield. But the work isn’t starting tomorrow, which means this announcement could be

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The benefit cap is a key test of compassionate Conservatism

David Cameron and Nick Clegg’s railways announcement wasn’t the only attempt today by the coalition to bounce back from the strife of the past few weeks. Iain Duncan Smith also chose to point to another area where the Government is delivering on voters’ demands: welfare. In an op-ed in the Daily Mail, the Work and Pensions Secretary said the £26,000 benefit cap for workless families, which is one of the government’s most popular policies, is already effecting the behavioural change ministers hoped it would, with a third of claimants saying they are going to look for a job in order to avoid the cap, which comes into effect in 2013. In

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The danger for Labour in the G4S shambles

The row over G4S’ failure to provide sufficient security cover for the Olympics is starting to feel a little awkward for Labour. This afternoon in the Commons, Yvette Cooper managed to rouse a sardonic chuckle from not just the benches opposite but also the hacks perched in the press gallery when she said that everyone wanted the Olympics to be a success. Why the laughs? Well, the danger for Labour is that in slamming the government’s handling of G4S, the party gets too carried away and appears to be branding the Olympics a shambles too. That would be fine if we had six months before the games, but the opening

Jonathan Jones

Osborne’s ‘hideous choice’ if growth downgrades continue

So the IMF has revised its forecasts for the UK’s GDP growth downwards — to 0.2 in 2012 and 1.4 in 2013 from the 0.8 per cent and 2.0 respectively it predicted in April. It’s bad news, certainly — not least because we’ve been downgraded more than most other countries, and we’re now forecast to grow more slowly than Germany and (this year) France. But it’s worth bearing in mind that the IMF — for all its ability to drive headlines — is just one of many organisations playing the forecasting game, and these downgrades actually just bring them into line with the average. What’s worrying for George Osborne — and his fiscal

Interconnect

A crowded island – but mainly in the South East

By Matt Cavanagh The 2011 Census, published today, shows that the population of England and Wales reached 56.1 million, up by 3.7 million since 2001, and slightly higher than previous estimates. The three facts which are likely to make the headlines are: that this is the largest ten-year increase since the Census began in 1801; that over half (55 per cent) of the increase was due to net migration; and that the population density of England, at just over 400 people per square kilometre, is higher than G8 countries and all major EU countries except the Netherlands. But there is more to the Census than these headlines suggest. If 55 per

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Downing Street: G4S is a ‘good story’

I’ve just returned from the morning lobby briefing, where the Prime Minister’s official spokesman was grilled on the unfolding G4S debacle. He rather surprised journalists by claiming ‘the story is a good one’ on the Olympics because all the venues have been delivered on time and the Government had thought to put contingency plans in place on this matter, which it can now use given G4S’ failure to recruit sufficient numbers of security staff. ‘There are going to be millions of additional visitors to London over the next few weeks and people will notice the difference, but we have plans to deal with those challenges and we have contingency plans

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron and Clegg push the pro-coalition line

This morning’s press conference by David Cameron and Nick Clegg marked an attempt to scotch all the talk of the coalition moving to confidence and supply sometime before the next election. Cameron declared that he was more committed to the coalition than he was back in 2010. He also stressed that he believed Britain needed stable government ‘throughout this term’, an implicit rebuke to all those Tories talking about a move to minority government in 2014. Nick Clegg, for his part, spoke about how this was going to be a ‘proper coalition government for a full five years’. There was also an announcement that the coalition’s mid-term review will set

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Railing against government policy

The cabinet is out and about today, trying to smooth feathers ruffled by last week’s Lords reform row by splashing out on £9 billion worth of investment for railways. Today’s announcement by David Cameron and Nick Clegg is, as much as anything else, an attempt to put into practice the Prime Minister’s claim yesterday that the coalition is still capable of making real progress on big issues, despite differences on constitutional reform. Handily for Nick Clegg, today’s announcement may also encourage some friendly feelings from his own constituents, as it includes electrifying the line between Bedford to Sheffield. But the work isn’t starting tomorrow, which means this announcement could be

Sunday

Jonathan Jones

The fight for the Senate

The battle for control of the White House is, of course, the big US politics story of the year. But what about the building at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue — the Capitol, which houses Congress? All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for re-election, as well as 33 of the 100 Senate seats. Currently, the Democrats control the Senate, with 51 Senators and two independents who caucus with them. But it will be tough for them to retain control, as they are defending 23 seats this time to the GOP’s 10 — and most of the seats up this time were last up for election

David Blackburn

Memories of a ‘monster’

You’ve probably heard about Enoch at 100 already. This collection of essays in honour of Enoch Powell’s centenary has captivated that section of the public which argues that Powell should be remembered for more than his aberration, the egregious ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech. He campaigned for gay rights and the abolition of capital punishment, among many other ‘progressive’ totems. Over at the Books Blog, Jerry Hayes, the former Conservative MP, has reviewed the book, drawing heavily on Powell’s visionary writings on monetarism, Lords reform and the European project. Powell’s analyses remain pertinent, and I urge you to read the review if only to digest them. Jerry has also taken the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Cameron’s coalition healthcheck

The coalition is doing pretty well, thank you very much. In case last week’s rebellion of the 91 on Lords reform and continuing tensions over Europe had you fooled, up pops the Prime Minister this morning with a soothing comment piece in the Sunday Times.  David Cameron tries to shrug off Lords reform within three paragraphs of his op-ed. ‘What’s far more significant is that we are working together on so much else – and after last week, it’s vital that everyone reminds themselves of that fact,’ he argues. As part of his health-check piece, the Prime Minister details signs that the coalition is functioning well. When he mentions the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The post-‘Cuban missile crisis’ coalition compromise

At the top of the coalition there’s a concerted effort to calm tensions, to de-escalate after its ‘Cuban missile crisis’. As part of that, I understand that David Cameron has indicated privately that if the Lib Dems do not get their elected peers, he won’t push the matter of the boundary reforms. I’m told he has no desire to end up in a situation where he’s sacking Lib Dem ministers en masse for voting against the government. Although, officially Number 10 is still stressing that it expects government ministers to vote for them when they come back to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister is, I’m told, currently considering

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Who’s afraid of the Lib Dems?

James Forsyth’s Mail on Sunday column is my first read every Sunday, and it’s choc full of details as ever. Here is his account of the Liberal Democrat reaction to last week’s House of Lords defeat:   On Thursday morning, Nick Clegg and David Cameron agreed a new phase of the Coalition after what one No 10 insider called ‘the Coalition’s Cuban missile crisis’.  Tensions were so high amid the vote on Lords reform that some feared the Coalition would implode, but things have now begun to ease.  Both sides stress ‘this  isn’t back to the rose garden’, and what is needed is not  ‘an idealised romance but cold, hard

Saturday

The Spectator

The Tories are back

This week marks 50 years since Harold Macmillan’s ‘Night of the Long Knives’, in which he sacked a third of his Cabinet. As if to mark the anniversary, Tory MPs this week sunk the dagger into the Liberal Democrats’ plans for House of Lords reform. So great was the potential defeat — the largest in Tory party history — that the government cancelled its vote on its attempts to place a time limit on debating the Bill. The proposals would have been rejected entirely had it not been for the opportunistic support of the Labour party. Coalition government was not supposed to be like this. Many of those who welcomed

The Spectator

Bookbenchers: Stewart Jackson MP | 14 July 2012

Over at the Books Blog, Stewart Jackson, the Conservative MP for Peterborough, has answered this week’s Bookbencher questionnaire. As the race to the White House heats up, with Mitt Romney making a controversial speech on race to the NAACP earlier this week, Jackson recommends Richard Ben Cramer’s peerless account of the 1988 presidential election, What It Takes. Click here to read more about Jackson’s reading habits.

Shiraz Maher

Romney’s risky campaign focus

There’s a belief among the strategists surrounding Mitt Romney that his campaign should focus almost exclusively on the state of America’s economy. It’s an obvious battleground with unemployment figures hovering around 8 per cent, a sorely depressed manufacturing sector, and soaring petrol price. Sacrificed to this belief are a broader spectrum of policies. Throughout his entire campaign, for example, Romney has given just one major foreign policy speech. The single-issue approach adopted by Romney’s team – essentially turning the election into a referendum on Obama’s handling of the economy – is a risky strategy, and one the campaign is not playing as best it could. Romney was heckled the other