Politics Archives

Sunday

4 Apr 2010

For the Tories, finding “good” EU issues gets harder

I recently sat down with a European foreign minister to discuss the EU’s enlargement strategy and how it would deal with those applicant countries, like in the Western Balkans, who want to join the Union but whose chances of integration in the next ten years or so are limited. We tried to write down those of his ministerial colleagues who could be brought together for a regular discussion of the issue; we stopped at five names. Only five EU foreign ministers out of 27 could be counted on to join an unscheduled discussion about enlargement policy. That’s a problem, including for the Tories. Here is why. The Tories are not

Saturday

3 Apr 2010

David Blackburn

A battle with the EU may be closer than you think

Euroscepticism is David Cameron and Gene Hunt’s sole shared attribute. But, bequeathed a poisoned chalice at home, the EU is not a future Tory government’s immediate priority. Set-piece battles over rebates, defence procurement and the CAP can be avoided for a time, but skirmishes will be a regular occurrence. And some of these will be bloodbaths. The first test comes in June, when EU finance ministers will consider hedge fund and private-equity firm regulation. There is no more contentious a topic. Recent European regulatory initiatives have impeded British financial services to the extent that even Brown and Miliband have taken note. It may be tempting to perceive a grand conspiracy against Britain, but

Rod Liddle

Two sides of the same coin

There’s a revolt growing in the Surrey East Conservative Association about the candidate imposed upon them by David Cameron – a black businessman called Sam Gyimah. Some locals insist that Sam’s business ventures have been rather, you know, iffy and they were not terribly happy to have “selected” him from a shortlist which contained no straight, white males or indeed members of the Bullingdon Club. The implication is that Mr Cameron is so desperate to have black people standing as Tory candidates he would cheerfully have imposed upon Surrey East Robert Mugabe, Cheerful Charlie Taylor of Liberia or Ghost Face Killah out of Outkast, given the chance, but ended up

Peter Hoskin

Labour didn’t think this one through…<br />

There’s me thinking that Labour wouldn’t go negative with their latest poster, created via an online competition among their supporters. I mean, surely they wouldn’t want to undermine their whizzy, positive, digital energy by picking a design which didn’t present an equally positive Labour vision. But, oh, how they did. Here’s the winning design: Now, there are two immediate problems with this poster. The first being that I’d always thought the character Cameron is meant to be playing – DCI Gene Hunt – is actually quite popular with the public, despite his rough and less-then-edifying edges. Indeed, he even topped a recent poll as “Britain’s favourite TV hero”. If you’re

Peter Hoskin

Osborne confirms that there will be no more Tory cuts this year

David Cameron said as much in his Today Programme interview, but now we know for sure: we’ve heard everything we’re going to about Tory spending cuts this year. George Osborne confirms the news in an interview with the Guardian today: “In the interview, the shadow chancellor also disclosed, for the first time, that he would not reduce public spending by more than £6.5bn in the current financial year. He said £6bn would come from efficiencies, and £500m from cuts to child trust funds and working tax credits for the better off. There would be no further ‘in year’ cuts in his emergency budget, scheduled within 50 days of a possible

James Forsyth

Without Osborne, there’d be no Cameron project — that’s why both sides hate him

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics When all the Tory staff moved into the soulless Millbank complex for the election campaign, they were addressed by George Osborne in his role as campaign director. They were told that the next 60 days were the most important period of their professional lives. For no one in the room was this truer than for Mr Osborne. If the Tories triumph, he will be chancellor and (if he is lucky) hailed as the mastermind behind a winning campaign. If it ends in disaster, he’ll be held responsible. His dual role — campaign director and shadow chancellor — has been deeply controversial and has exposed him

Friday

2 Apr 2010

Ed Howker

“The only good Tory is a dead Tory”

Earlier this week, Coffee House pointed out that the Labour Party National Executive Committee’s decision to exclude local candidates from the Stoke Central candidate short-list might cause trouble. And, lo, trouble it has caused. Similarly unimpressed by the state of Labour democracy, Stoke Labour member Gary Elsby has decided to stand independently and passionately annouced his candidature on the BBC World at One programme today. He has already garnered the support of my colleague Toby Young. Elsby later stated: “By taking this decision I feel that I am doing something positive for all the unpaid Labour Party volunteers who could be the next victims of those paid enforcers of the

The Spectator

The week that was | 2 April 2010

Here are some of the posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the past week: Fraser Nelson says the joke’s on Gordon Brown, and explains why Tony Blair’s return is good news for the Tories. James Forsyth thinks the Tories have a clear message on taxation, and watches the Tory campaign sharpen up. Peter Hoskin admires David Cameron’s winning optimism, and says that Vince Cable and George Osborne put in solid performances in the Chancellor’s TV debate. David Blackburn wonders whether David Davis is talking off-message, and waits for Gordon Brown to act. Daniel Korski honours the righteous. Martin Bright observes a possible new dawn for the “decent” left. Susan Hill discovers

James Forsyth

The Tories still want to repeal the hunting ban

It might be Good Friday, but with the election only a little more than a month away politics is continuing pretty much as normal. This morning, we’ve already had more business leaders coming out in support of the Tory position on National Insurance, a combative Bob Crow demanding that John Humphrys apologise for using the word rigged in connection with the RMT strike ballot and later on David and Samantha Cameron are making a joint appearance at a social action project in Hackney. One thing that surprised me in the papers this morning was a quote in the Indy from the head of the League of Cruel Sports suggesting that

Peter Hoskin

A bad news day for Labour, as the Tories get positive

Oh dear. Today’s frontpages form the most eclectic set of damaging headlines for Labour for quite some time. On the front of the Mail and the Times: allegations that the government – specifically, Ed Balls – “interfered” with a report on the Baby P tragedy. On the Independent: a claim that Brown “misled” the public over waiving VAT on a charity single for Haiti. And on the Telegraph: news that more business leaders have backed the Tories’ national insurance policy. Even the Guardian wades in with the headline: “Labour and business fall out”. Of these, the first story is potentially the biggest scandal. But it’s the latter two which more

Thursday

1 Apr 2010

Fraser Nelson

The joke’s on Brown

It took a while, but I spotted Labour’s April Fool trick: an attack document on the Tory economic agenda. It looks real at first, but when you go through it the con becomes transparent. APRIL FOOL ONE: “The Conservative Party wants to face two ways at this election, promising extra tax cuts and spending commitments while at the same time claiming they would reduce the deficit further and faster than Labour’s plan to halve it in four years.” REALITY: Labour pretends to be unaware of the basic economic concept that if you have a lower tax rate, business grows faster – generating more revenues. There is such a thing as

James Forsyth

Gordon Brown claims his inheritance tax policy recognises marriage

Despite what the headline might make you think, this item is not an April Fool. In a web chat with Saga magazine, Brown said: “We made it possible for people to transfer their allowances so…between husband and wife…and that means widows for example can have the full benefit of the husband’s previous allowance, and that meant for a large number of people the effective point at which they started paying inheritance tax was above £600,000. So you know for most people that situation has changed quite dramatically over the last few years by the doubling, effectively, of the allowance that is available to a family, and it’s a recognition of

David Blackburn

Revolt fermenting in Surrey East

Michael Crick reports that the Sunday Mirror will splash the news that 100 members of the Surrey East Tory association have signed a petition to urge David Cameron to de-select Sam Gyimah. The original selection process was controversial – members complained that the shortlist excluded straight white men. That dissent has never subsided. On Tuesday, Crick reported that dissent was turning to revolt. Private Eye’s allegations about Gyimah’s failing business interests, which were apparently suppressed during hustings, were the tipping point. In reality, the infamous A-list has struck again. Having reinvigorated their campaign, the Tories could do without the party’s re-branding being called into question, regardless of whether the

David Blackburn

The High Court saves Labour’s bacon, for the moment

Commuters won’t be alone in celebrating tonight. The High Court’s award of an injunction against the RMT’s planned Strike Action will have champagne corks popping in Downing Street. The Union movement’s sudden renaissance is both embarrassing and dangerous for the government. First, it has shifted the election spotlight back onto Labour. Before the BA strike, the Tories were driftwood – powerless to determine the direction in which they were headed. Unite’s political and social prominence exacerbated tensions within the Labour party, with divisions between New and quintessentially Old Labour becoming more stark. As Ed Howcker wrote last night, the next line in the prelude to internecine war is being written

James Forsyth

The Tories’ campaign is sharpening up

As declaration day (the rather pompus name that news organisations have come up with for the moment when Gordon Brown actually calls the election) draws nearer, the Tory campaign is sharpening up. This morning’s operation on National Insurance was impressive, enabling the party to get a second set of headlines out of its plan to stop Labour’s National Insurance rise. The letter from 23 business leaders supporting the Tory position worked on several levels. First, it got the Tories’ tax cut back on the top of the news agenda along with its clear message: seven out of ten workers will be better off under the Conservatives. Second, it strengthened the

Peter Hoskin

There’s a serious message behind the Tory April Fools’ campaign

Most press releases don’t really catch the eye. But when one hits your inbox from The Department of Government Waste, you can’t help but take notice. In it, the Secretary of State for Government Waste, Robin Ewe (geddit?), celebrates 13 years of “waste-maximisation,” and there are links to a departmental website, complete with reports and videos. No surprises that it’s a Tory campaign. And to up the fun quotient, CHHQ have even managed to plug it via a cheeky advert in the Guardian. But although there’s a comic tinge to it all, and although it’s rather straightforward, this is still a smart message for the Tories to get out there.

David Blackburn

A morning of to-and-fro

Who’s in the ascendant this morning? As Pete noted earlier, David Cameron’s barnstorming morning stalled on the Today programme when pressed to cost his National Insurance tax cut. The government went to it press conference scenting blood – understandably vague Tory tax pledges can be easily represented as indicative of general incoherence. Mandelson was in political warlord mode, flanked by Liam Byrne and Alistair Darling, his unlikely musclemen. But they blew it. First, Byrne and Mandelson asserted, with absolute certainty, that the Tories will raise VAT. Opaque pledges cannot be successfully criticised by baseless soothsayings. Alistair Darling then compounded the error by suggesting that the Tories were too incompetent to

Peter Hoskin

Cameron defends his spending cuts – and suggests there won’t be more before the election

Want some more David Cameron? Well, the Tories are happy to oblige. After their party leader’s speech yesterday, he is interviewed in the FT and appeared on the Today programme earlier. The FT interview was certainly the more comfortable of the two. In it, Cameron stikes a confident note – saying that his party have “come a long way,” and that “people are gagging for change”. And he stresses that he thinks – and, apparently, Ken Clarke thinks – that George Osborne is “the right person” to be Chancellor. But Cameron had a tougher time in his Today Programme interview. It started well, with Today highlighting the supportive letter that

Wednesday

31 Mar 2010

Ed Howker

Mandelson finally gets his man

For months now Lord Mandelson has been encouraging his friend and former colleague Tristram Hunt to continue the quest for a safe Labour seat. Indeed, there was a furore last month when Labour supporters in the Leyton and Wanstead constituency – a Labour stronghold – objected to the support Hunt was receiving from Downing Street in his bid for that candidature. At the time, the Standard ran quotes from a local member stating bluntly: “We do not want a No 10 candidate being pushed on the constituency.” Duly, the candidature was given to John Cryer and not another word was mentioned. Until this Monday that is, when the FT

Fraser Nelson

A new Brownie Buster

Michael Scholar: hero. The newish head of the UK statistics authority is finally coming to the aid of the statistics nerds who have been protesting that Gordon Brown makes things up. Normally, the ONS do not censure Mr Brown when he misrepresents their data: that’s not their job. But as head of the Statistics Authority, Sir Michael has – wonderfully, inspirationally – written an open letter to the Prime Minister telling him not to lie. Well, not quite in so few words, but this is the plain implication. What is significant is that Sir Michael is using his job to protect the integrity of statistics in Britain. One of my