Politics Archives

Monday

17 May 2010

Frank Field would complete the Tories’ welfare reform jigsaw

So now the coalition stretches as far as Labour, with the news that Frank Field is being lined up as an anti-poverty advisor for the government. In itself, this is an encouraging development: Field is one of decent men of Westminster – committed, informed and passionate. But when you look at it beside the Tories’ other appointments in this area, then it really becomes exciting. Field, IDS, Grayling and Lord Freud – all are deeply knowledgable about the welfare reform agenda, to the point where it’s difficult to think of many more impressive teams in recent political history. So perhaps there is hope for this most difficult of policy areas,

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 17 May 2010

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson highlights an important lesson for all new MPs, and outlines why Labour are still within striking distance of government. James Forsyth reviews David Cameron’s first TV interview as Prime Minister, and observes the Labour candidates moving towards the Cruddas position on immigration. Peter Hoskin watches Ed Balls following Ed Miliband’s lead, and highlight’s George Osborne’s Big Choice. Daniel Korski suggests how the coalition can build on its good start. Rod Liddle is left bemused by BA’s response to the ash cloud. And Alex Massie says that the British people have not been betrayed.

Peter Hoskin

Osborne rolls his sleeves up

Just in case you didn’t see the front cover of the Guardian, let me tell you: it’s a big day for George Osborne. This, after all, is the day when he finally launches the Office for Budget Responsibility’s audit of the public finances – zero hour for the age of austerity. Accordingly, then, Osborne has given his first major newspaper interview since becoming Chancellor. Here, from that, is a quartet of observations for you: Office for Budget Responsibility. The more I hear about it, the more I like this Office for Budget Responsibility. Sure, it’s another quango of sorts. But anyone who has lamented the government’s wildly optimistic growth forecasts,

Sunday

16 May 2010

Peter Hoskin

Osborne’s Big Choice: how much of our debt to reveal

The cover of today’s Sunday Times spells out what we all suspected anyway: that the Labour government left behind acre upon acre of scorched earth for the Tories to contend with. There’s the £13 billion contract for tanker aircraft, the £1.2 billion “e-borders” IT project, a £420 million spend on schools, and so on – most of them put in place just before the election. As James said earlier, Sir Alan Budd’s audit of the public finances is likely to show that things are much worse than the last Budget dared admit. All this throws open the wider question of our debt position. Even by Labour’s measures, our national debt

James Forsyth

Prime Minister Cameron’s first TV interview

David Cameron’s first broadcast interview from Downing Street contained two significant pieces of news. First, George Osborne will commission an independent audit of the public finances and state spending on Monday. I suspect that this audit will reveal that things are even worse than the official figures suggest. The political purpose of this audit will be to provide cover for the necessary cuts, to show that they are necessary because of Labour’s economic mismanagement. I also expect that the new Office of Budgetary Responsibility will provide a new, more cautious set of economic forecasts. The other piece of news was Cameron confirming that the vote on the 55 percent clause

Saturday

15 May 2010

The Spectator

Victory!

This magazine had hoped for a Conservative government. We have what is arguably the next best thing: a government led by David Cameron but supported by some political mercenaries put in the positions where they inflict the least harm — and reform-minded Tories in positions where they can do most good. The strategy is fairly clear: give Lib Dems more Cabinet crowns and chauffeurs than they could have dreamed of. Tie them in for five years, and have them defend Tory policy on the airwaves. And then, crucially, let them share the blame for the Irish-style spending cuts to come. Three appointments make this government, on balance, a victory for

Alex Massie

The British People Have Not Been Betrayed

Norm does a good job pointing out the sillyness of this silly Johann Hari column in which Hari complains that the Liberal Democrats have betrayed themselves, their voters and the country by agreeing to advance Liberal Democrat goals from government. How shocking! Nevertheless, Hari complains that “the British people have not got what they voted for”. Well nor have BNP voters but I doubt that Hari is bothered by that. Nor should he be. In any case, no-one votes for a government of any stripe. All anyone gets to do is endorse a given candidate in their local constituency. After that it’s a case of letting the national chips fall

Fraser Nelson

A lesson for all new MPs

Ed Miliband has given a surprisingly good speech this morning: free from all the junk language that his older brother has a weakness for. But he raises an interesting question: Why did Gisela Stuart win in Birmingham Edgbaston? Why did Karen Buck win Westminster North? Why did Andy Slaughter win in Hammersmith? Might it have been because all three of these politicians were, at one point, thorns in the flesh of their government? That they all at times campaigned, on principle, against the Labour government? As I said in The Times yesterday, the German-born Ms Stuart was a committed foe of the EU Constitution – who denounced it, and the

Kate Maltby

The equality dilemma

Spare a thought for poor Theresa May. Judging by the reaction so far, she now faces the unenviable task of shouldering almost everyone’s preconceptions about Tory women in government – with Caroline Spelman, Baroness Warsi and the lower-profile Cheryl Gillan for back-up. She will no doubt continue to disappoint feminists and irritate reactionaries, and she will do so while responsible for the notoriously unwieldy Home Office, which has rapidly taken over from the Department of Health as the ministry where political careers go to die. Representation in politics does matter. It is not unreasonable to claim, as Katharine Viner did in Thursday’s Guardian, that “democracies simply don’t work unless they

Daniel Korski

Building on the coalition’s good start

A week in, and I am loving the Conservative-led government. The new line-up of Secretaries of State is very impressive and, though a few solid Tory politicians missed out on Cabinet posts, the inclusion of the Liberal Democrat bench has swelled the government’s talent quota. David Cameron has infused No 10 with energy and purpose. You can just feel the umpf. As the former MP John Gummer said, there is now “smile on the face of Britain”. Foreign Secretary William Hague’s trip to the US set the right tone by calling the UK-US link “an unbreakable alliance”. If he now goes on to places where the “economic action” is, to

Peter Hoskin

Ed Balls follows Ed Miliband’s lead

So fraternal rivalry it is, then, as Ed Miliband prepares to announce his leadership bid at a Fabian Society conference today. And, reading his interview with the Guardian, it’s clear that Ed Balls is soon going to follow suit. Two Eds, two leadership bids, and much shared rhetoric about “listening” to voters. But the similarities don’t end there. The passage where Ed Balls argues in favour of “progressive universalism” – a welfare system which stretches to the middle classes – echoes an interview that Ed Miliband gave to the Guardian in March. Both claim that it’s important to make sure tax credits and other benefits reach those higher up the

Patrick Marnham

Is it all over for Sarko?

The French president’s chances of re-election look bleak. But the problem is not his politics, says Patrick Marnham, so much as his embarrassing personal life Gordon Brown is not the only European leader who is regarded as an electoral liability by his own party. With two years to go before France’s next presidential election Nicolas Sarkozy’s chances are not looking good. He is entitled to run for a second five-year term, but in 2012 it will be 24 years since the French chose a president from the left. Many voters think it is time for a change. Mr Sarkozy is now one of the most unpopular political personalities in France.

James Delingpole

It is left to me to point out this regrettable, overlooked fact: Dave blew it

This is a column I never thought I’d have to write. I’d assumed that the conclusions to be drawn from the general election were so bleeding obvious that I could leave all the post-match analysis to the experts, while I distracted you with something more cheerful like, say, a piece about Fergal Keane’s brilliant new book on the battle of Kohima. Apparently not, though. It seems that my job today is to point out an awkward fact that seems to have eluded about 98 per cent of political commentators in the mainstream media and 99.99 per cent of those Conservatives who invested their faith in Project Cameron: Dave blew it.

Martin Vander Weyer

Wolfpack? Markets have been behaving more like a truckload of stolen puppies

Martin Vander Weyer’s Any Other Business ‘Why do we care what the markets think?’ asked the comedian Jeremy Hardy on Radio 4’s News Quiz last Friday. Whingeing leftie though he may be, Hardy had a point. ‘The markets’ were identified by spokesmen of all three political parties as the invisible presence at their secret post-election negotiating tables. A solution would have to be found ‘before markets open on Monday’ — and when it wasn’t, markets would still have to be reassured ‘very soon’. The real truth was that markets weren’t terribly interested in who was winning Nick Clegg’s favours during the four-day dance-athon before Tuesday’s denouement, because they were too

Friday

14 May 2010

The Spectator

The week that was | 14 May 2010

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson offers reasons to hope amid the misplaced optimism, and comments that Brown saved the worst till last. James Forsyth reveals who missed out on Cabinet, and watches the coalition pass the easy bit with flying colours. Peter Hoskin argues that the coalition’s first test will be the emergency budget, and critiques the Tory campaign. David Blackburn urges the Tory right to put up and shut up, and believes that Labour must recognise the scale of its defeat. Daniel Korski wants the reforms to begin. Martin Bright says the Labour party must move on. Susan Hill

Peter Hoskin

Hurd weighs in on the 55 percent debate

Plenty of eyes on the Tory grandees at the moment. I mean, the right of the party isn’t exactly delighted with the LibCon coalition – so the search is on for figureheads to lead the resistance. Which is why Andrew Neil’s interview with Douglas Hurd on Staight Talk this weekend is worth paying attention to. As it happens, Lord Hurd is quite complementary towards David Cameron and his role in organising the coalition. Here’s the actual quote: “I think it was a brave thing to do. It might have gone terribly wrong, but he went straight for it and he was completely straightforward in saying this is what this is,

Peter Hoskin

Who will be Labour’s cuts candidate?

As Guido and Jim Pickard have pointed out, Liam Byrne’s article in the Guardian today reads like the launch of a leadership bid. But if it is, then it’s not a well-judged one. Amid some sensible points about Labour’s demise, there’s too much “if we’d have done what I said” bravado which, I imagine, won’t go down well with the party faithful right now. A bit like pouring vinegar on an open wound. But it’s worth considering another angle to a Byrne leadership bid. A couple of weeks ago, I wondered whether Brown’s departure would also take Labour away from the “investment vs cuts” dividing line of the past decade,

Daniel Korski

When will the government be mugged by reality?

One of the most interesting questions is whether the Tories and the Lib Dems will be able to move from the talking points to the action points. Besides Ken Clarke, Francis Maude and William Hague none of the ministers have any previous government experience. They know government from the outside, from the sidelines, from parliamentary questions but not from the inside. It will be really interesting to see how the Cameron-Clegg government copes not just with the issues where they can set the agenda – like police reform – but where the Goverment is mugged daily by reality – like Pakistan or Yemen. I suspect they will find Labour acted

Peter Hoskin

Why fraternal rivalry will be good for Labour

With the Sun reporting that Ed Miliband is going to stand for the Labour leadership, it’s probably a good time to dig out Anne McElvoy’s profile of the Miliband brothers for the Sunday Times last month. To my mind, its opening neatly encapsulates the choice between the wonkish one and the slighty-less-wonkish one that Labour may have to make: “When David and Ed Miliband were teenagers, their north London household rang to the chatter of some of the most prominent left-wing names of the era: Tony Benn, Tariq Ali, the ANC leader Joe Slovo and the late Michael Foot. David, one regular guest recalls, would sit ‘absorbing it all’ and

Daniel Korski

Government, Russian-style

Правительство, в русском стиле Britain is being governed by a duumvirate. Britons may not understand how two-headed government works; but Russians should have no trouble at all. They have long been accustomed to a two-headed form of government. Perhaps at the next UK-Russian summit, the quartet of Cameron, Clegg, Putin and Medvedev can swap tips. Clegg’s importance to the Conservative-Liberal government will transform the previously honorific role of deputy Prime Minister. He will retain the right to fire Liberal Democrat ministers, if not directly then by threatening to remove their party whip. And, like on the continent, government re-shuffles, sackings and promotions will be negotiated between the Prime Minister and