Politics

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

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The IMF delivers its verdict

While Dominque Strauss-Kahn was in a New York court room, pleading not guilty to charges of sexual assault, his former IMF colleagues were delivering their verdict on the UK economy at the Treasury. The IMF are very polite guests and their report has provided some timely support for the coalition’s fiscal approach by declaring that there is currently no need for a Plan B. The Osborne operation has been quick to point out that even in various alternative scenarios the IMF set out in their report, they don’t call for more spending or smaller cuts. But there are things which the IMF says that won’t be music to Osborne’s ears.

Peter Hoskin

Cable tries to keep everyone happy – apart from the unions

When the GMB union invited Vince Cable to address their conference today, I doubt they wanted this: a warning that the government could legislate if the brothers decide to militate. The Business Secretary does add that “the case for changing strike law is not compelling,” so long as industrial action remains limited. But, on the surface, this is still the firmest coalition attack on the unions since David Cameron and Boris wrote that angry article for the Sun in January. And it comes from the side of the coalition, the Lib Dems, who were thought to be opposed to taking on the unions in the first place. Perhaps Cable really

Sunday

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

The C-word is no longer the most dangerous word of all

Should we be as worked up as the Mail on Sunday about a BBC Radio Four panellist implying the word “cunt” in a show broadcast at six thirty in the evening? The paper has got itself into a right old lather. Apparently, Sandi Toksvig made the typically hilarious “quip”, that “The Tories have put the ‘n’ in cuts,” while appearing on The News Quiz. The supposed pun doesn’t work semantically; it is just ad hominem abuse of the Tories, which I why I suppose the BBC let it go through. They would have baulked at the word “nigger”, I would guess, and probably cavilled at “motherfucker”, unless it was implied

Peter Hoskin

The return of the signature parade

Oh dear, we’re back to letter-writing again. 52 academic sorts — including the Labour advisor Richard Grayson and Blue Labour proponent Stuart White — have a letter in today’s Observer urging George Osborne towards a ‘Plan B’ for the economy. They even sketch out, in less than 150 words, what that Plan B might look like. And, strangely enough, it has more than a tinge of Ed Miliband about it, including — and I quote — a green new deal; a focus on targeted industrial policy; the empowerment of workers; “unsqueezing” the incomes of the majority, and so on. I say we’re back to letter-writing again, because it’s all so

Saturday

The Spectator

Barometer | 4 June 2011

This wek’s Barometer Crime lords — Lord Taylor of Warwick was jailed for 12 months for fiddling his expenses. He is the fourth peer of the realm to be jailed, after Lord Archer (jailed for four years in 2001 for perjury), Lord Watson of Invergowrie (16 months in 2005 for setting light to hotel curtains at the Scottish Parliamentarian of the Year awards) and Lord Ahmed of Rotherham (12 weeks in 2009 for dangerous driving). Lord Hanningfield, convicted last week of fiddling his expenses, is also likely to receive a custodial sentence. — If five out of 789 peers are jailed over a ten-year period it suggests an annual imprisonment

David Blackburn

Glasman sings the blues

Maurice Glasman, a favoured thinker of Ed Miliband’s, has given an interview to someone called Filippo Sensi who writes for an Italian magazine called Europa. I sound a firm note of caution here because there is a distinct possibility that it’s a spoof. Take Glasman on the etymology of Blue Labour: “There is a sense of bravery and tragedy in our position and that is one meaning of the word blue, that links Miles Davis with Picasso and Aristotle. It is not mentally ill or depressed to feel triste and out of that understanding can flow a deeper understanding of the world and a more durable courage in resisting it than

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Charles Moore warns that the Downing Street machine isn’t working

Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher’s biographer, is one of the columnists most sympathetic to and best informed about what David Cameron is trying to do. So when Charles warns that the current set-up of Downing Street isn’t working for the Prime Minister, Number 10 should take notice. Charles’ worry is that the new Downing Street set up is insufficiently political, that policy and politics are being kept too far apart. I think Charles is right about this. The Number 10 policy unit is now made up mostly of civil servants or former management consultants who, by their very nature, aren’t intellectually or ideologically committed to the Cameron public service reform agenda.

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

I don’t want to believe that we’re cocking up Libya. But we are, aren’t we?

I’m not sure it’s fair to call Colonel Gaddafi ‘paranoid’. I’m not sure it’s fair to call Colonel Gaddafi ‘paranoid’. Not really. ‘Paranoid’ is what the King of Bahrain would be if he decided that western governments actually did care that he was rounding up protestors — and the doctors who treat them, and reporters, and students, and pretty much anybody else with the wrong sort of beard — and that these western governments were actually secretly planning to do something about it, despite giving every outward appearance of not giving a monkey’s arse. Say. Whereas Gaddafi just seems to think everybody is out to get him, and they are.

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 3 June 2011

Here is a selection of posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson has been reminded of the proximity of evil. James Forsyth asks if FIFA really matters, and reveals the extent of Ken Clarke’s crimes. Peter Hoskin reveals the scale of Britain’s debt crisis, and notes that Clegg has ermine troubles. David Blackburn sees the Lords trying to frustrate the coalition’s EU referendum lock, and examines Labour’s malfunctioning front bench. Jonathan Jones believes Sarah Palin hasn’t a chance of becoming President. Rod Liddle has a complaint. Alex Massie anatomises Sri Lanka’s dramatic collapse. And Melanie Phillips awaits the arrival of the floating theatre of jihad.

David Blackburn

The green consensus in action

A couple of days ago, I wrote about the deleterious effects of political consensus on energy policy. A good example of this has emerged today. According to Politics Home, Luciana Berger and Caroline Lucas are seeking an amendment to the Green Deal to impose a target for domestic carbon reduction. A number of salient points emerge from this. First, it’s a fine instance of the obsession with targets; itself an indication that this area of policy is largely a top down initiative – driven by targets, taxes and penalties. The Green Deal, as it currently stands, is one of the few areas that put incentive before directive. The idea was

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron’s European opportunity

Jean-Claude Trichet’s speech yesterday proposing a ministry of finance for the eurozone (£) can be taken as setting out how the European Central Bank wants to resolve the eurozone’s problems. It is yet another example of how the European elite use crises to advance integration.   But just as important from a British point of view is Trichet’s admission that the overall package of changes he is talking about “naturally demand a change of the [EU] treaty”. This, as Fraser has written previously, presents David Cameron with a glorious opportunity to take advantage of this moment to redefine Britain’s relationship with the European Union. There are those who say that

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Mitt Romney: Presidential Candidate & Dog Abuser

Mitt Romney launched his campaign for the Presidency today. Officially, that is. Good luck to him. Here’s a clip of Mitt last time he ran: Who let the dogs out? Not Mitt Romney. He prefers to put his luggage in the boot and strap his dog to the roof rack. This does not end well but Mitt and his advisors suggest that the way Romney deals with this shows his expert crisis-management skills. Yeah, right. Sure, if you want a friend in Washington you should get a dog but who would want to be Mitt Romney’s dog? This is a superficially trivial but actually non-trivial character indicator. What do we

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Building a yellow-beating strategy

If the Tories are to win an overall majority at the next election, they are almost certainly going to have to take some seats off the Liberal Democrats. Given that the Tories have problems in Scotland and the urban north, the party needs to win seats like Somerton and Frome.  This fact is why Tory MPs are paying such attention to a piece by Rob Hayward on Conservative Home. Hayward, a former Tory MP who has advised the party on the coming boundary review, points out that where the Lib Dems had an MP, their vote in the local elections pretty much held up.  This implies that removing Lib Dem

David Blackburn

Labour’s malfunctioning front bench

The old adage that it’s hard to make an impact in Opposition is ringing true. Dan Hodges has denigrated Labour’s opposition thus far in the New Statesman’s political column today. He charts the party’s competing interests to create the sense that Miliband’s lack of direction, which is marketed as consensual politics, is the prime cause for Labour’s passivity. A listening exercise and numerous policy reviews are under way, but Labour is still stuck at Robert Frost’s fork in the road. Sooner or later, Miliband will have to act. Without firm leadership, shadow ministers are being left to their own devices; which perhaps allows the coalition to escape misfortune because often

Wednesday

David Blackburn

The Tory euro-wars make a brief return

The Europhilic ghost of Ted Heath is stalking the House of Lords, upsetting the passage of the European Union Bill, the bill containing the coalition’s EU referendum lock. Lord Armstrong of Illminster, who was PPS to Edward Heath between 1970 and 1975, is trying to introduce a ‘sunset clause’ to ensure that the bill lapses at the end of this parliament. (He is working with Labour whip Lord Liddle, although Labour insists that this is not party policy.) Another amendment has been tabled to guarantee that referenda are binding only if turnout exceeds 40 per cent. This could mean that Britain succumbs to legislative creep from Brussels because only major

Peter Hoskin

More ermine troubles for Nick Clegg

Tory backbenchers have been whispering to the Times (£), and their words will not hearten Nick Clegg. If the coalition pushes for Lords reform, one says, then about 50 of them will rebel. “If you were listing priorities for the Tories, I’m not sure you would put this at the top,” another adds, “[it might be] bumped down by other priorities that come along.” Much hinges on how eager David Cameron is to confront this resistance, and hasten a policy that was more or less writ into his party’s manifesto. In the weeks following the AV referendum, the Tory leader has been happy for Clegg to act alone as the

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

The coalition’s 2015 problem

The generals and the politicians are at odds with each other. This much has been clear since the run-up to last year’s Defence Review, but it finds a particularly clear expression in the Telegraph’s interview with Lt Gen James Bucknall today. Britain’s most senior commander in Afghanistan may not say, in terms, that we should avoid a timetable for withdrawal from the country — but he skirts awfully close to it. “It is of utmost importance that we stay the course, that we stay as long as it takes to finish our job,” he says, only a fortnight after David Cameron announced that 450 troops will be pulled out of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Does the trouble at FIFA really matter?

The news that the votes which ended up with Russia and Qatar winning the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups might not have been model, clean elections is about as surprising as the news that the faeces discovered in the woods are believed to be of ursine origin. In the Independent today, Dominic Lawson cuts through the seemingly continuous media coverage of the matter to the question of whether it actually matters: “More to the point, given that there are no objective economic benefits to the nations holding such competitions (whatever the kudos to local political dignitaries such as Boris Johnson) shouldn’t we as taxpayers feel grateful

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 31 May 2011

…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the Bank Holiday weekend. James Forsyth says you couldn’t make the Wayne Bishop story up, and wonders if Sarah Palin is about to launch a bid for the Republican nomination. David Blackburn reveals the unlikely triumvirate opposing the government’s energy policy, and argues that the Shoesmith case is about much more than the tragedy of Baby P. Daniel Korski is back in Cairo, finding out where the Egyptian revolution has got to. And Melanie Phillips says that Cameron has been drinking the Kool-Aid.

Monday

David Blackburn

In England’s green and pleasant land

What do the TUC, heavy industry and the European Commission have in common? This is not the start of a bad joke; the answer is that they all oppose the government’s energy policy. Ten days ago, Tata (formerly British Steel) announced that it was to cut more than 1,500 jobs at plants in Scunthorpe and on Teeside. The directors later confirmed that their decision was influenced, in part, by the introduction of a costly carbon floor price at the last Budget. The floor price, which exists on top of levies imposed by the EU, has increased the burden of taxation on energy consumption to subsidise renewable energy research. In last week’s