Politics

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

Wednesday

Anne Mcelvoy

Will the Tories attack the ‘bloated’ BBC?

Does Cameron think the Beeb impedes fair competition? Will he cut the DG’s salary? The closer Cameron comes to power, the more the Corporation panics, says Anne McElvoy What does David Cameron really think of the BBC? A spectre (or several, perhaps) haunts the taupe corridors of White City, Television Centre and Broadcasting house as a likely Tory victory grows closer. Memories abound of Mrs Thatcher’s Peacock Report, which was intended to begin the dismantling of the licence fee, of Norman Tebbit’s 1986 broadside, unleashed by coverage of the Libyan embassy siege, but really a Kulturkampf against a perceived left-liberal bias. The BBC may not have had an untroubled relationship

Jan Morris

Mocking the Welsh is the last permitted bigotry

‘Don’t let’s be beastly to the Germans’ went a sarcastic lyric of Nöel Coward’s at the end of the second world war, and nowadays nobody of civilised instinct is beastly to them. Quite right too. Political correctness, so often stultifying to free expression, has at least ensured that racial bigotry is recognised as the cruellest kind of yobbery, distantly but recognisably related to genocide. Few of us now blame ‘the Germans’ for the evils of the war, and generalised mockery of Jews, blacks, wogs, frogs, Micks, Poles or Eyeties, let alone Muslims, has to be witty indeed to raise even a guilty laugh. One class of person, though, one race,

Irwin Stelzer

This shotgun marriage of minds between Labour and the Tories won’t last

It just might be that out of the shouting at Prime Minister’s Questions, the sallies and charges, a set of sensible fiscal and financial policies is emerging. The leader of the opposition is right: Labour is planning to cut capital spending in half in the next few years. The Prime Minister is also right: the cuts result from a decision to bring forward into these recession years spending that had been planned for what policymakers call ‘the out years’. That decision inflates spending this year, but will reduce it in later years, unless when the time comes Brown can’t bring himself to ‘cut’, which might be the reason he has

Tuesday

David Blackburn

Coulson escapes unscathed 

So far, so good for Andy Coulson and the Tories. The former News of the World editor’s appearance before the Culture Select committee earlier today passed without further revelations. And, despite the efforts of Labour spin doctors, this remains a media scandal, not a political one. The real drama occurred when the News of the World’s lawyer, Tom Crone, and editor Colin Myler gave evidence, and even that was pretty tame. Illustrating that there are no new revelations, the committee asked further questions concerning the emailed transcript of a tapped conversation sent by a junior reporter to Neville Thurlbeck, NotW’s chief reporter. Collective amnesia seems to have beset the NotW:

Monday

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 20 July 2009

…here are some posts made over the weekend at Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson remembers exemplary soldier Lt. Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, and argues that James Purnell is building a platform to run for the Labour leadership. James Forsyth doubts Russia will help to squeeze Iran, and highlights a strategic dilemma for the Tories. Peter Hoskin notes that Lord Sainsbury seeks a new mode of political operation, and laments a procurement strategy that puts troops in danger. Martin Bright discusses the campaign to change the libel laws. Clive Davis says that Norman Tebbit has great humanity. And Alex Massie gives a potted history of cricket’s most heroic victories.

Friday

Martin Bright

The Saddest Thing I Have Seen in a Long Time

The moral of the story is: don’t mess with the British state. I woke up this morning to a message from my old Observer colleague Antony Barnett, who now works for Channel 4’s Dispatches, urging me to look at page 31 of the Daily Mail. There in all her glory was a transvestite called Delores Kane, who bore a distinct resemblance to the former MI5 officer David Shayler. It’s not so long ago that David announced he was the messiah and now he has decided Jesus was a transvestite and that he, Shayler, must take the form of Delores. I was one of many journalists who worked with David when he left the

Alex Massie Alex Massie

New Tories: Eurosceptic, Gay Friendly, Barely Unionist and Definitely Not Libertarian

Conservative Home’s survey of 144 of the Tory candidates most likely to enter parliament after the next election is very interesting. It’s hardly a surprise that the Tories want British history to be taught in schools, nor that they’re in favour of school vouchers and strongly euroscpetic. Nor is it an enormous shock that 48% of them say they would have voted for Barack Obama in the US presidential election (that says more about the state and temper of the contemporary Republican party than it does about either Mr Obama or the Tories). But it’s a sign of how the times have changed that 62% of the Class of 2010

Alex Massie Alex Massie

In Praise of Ken Clarke

James’s comments on Ken’s latest are all very germane and all that. But whatever the party’s differences with Big Bluff Ken, this is a sentiment all sensible people can endorse: Jogging is for people who are not intelligent enough to watch breakfast television. Quite so. UPDATE: Buzzards join the anti-jogging movement. [Hat-tip: Tory Bear]

Wednesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What Dougie didn’t say

The New Statesman’s interview with Douglas Alexander is making waves for Alexander’s admission that he was briefed against by Brown’s inner circle following the election that never was. The treatment of Alexander, a man who had been a Brown loyalist for his entire political career and was only following instructions, was particularly brutal. But what strikes me about the interview is how Alexander, who is still Labour’s general election coordinator, did not produce a single positive domestic policy argument for re-electing Labour that the New Statesman thought was worth printing. Indeed, when the interview turns to British politics, all we hear from Alexander is negative slogans about the Tories: they

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Helicopters hover over PMQs<br />

One of the strangest and most dramatic parliamentary terms ended today in bizarre fashion. The fiasco over fiddled expenses has preoccupied Westminster for months but it was helicopters in Afghanistan that dominated PMQs. From whoppers to choppers. The Speaker seems to have ruled against public lamentations over battlefield casualties and, without these solemnities, our MPs had more time to ask questions and the PM had more time to avoid answering them. David Cameron said the Afghan mission needed, ‘a tighter definition, greater urgency and more visible progress,’ in order to maintain public support. Brown’s definition was looser rather than tighter. ‘To prevent terrorism coming to the streets of Britain, to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

How close we came to Chancellor Balls

Sue Cameron’s Notebook in the FT is one of the best guides there is to the mood in Whitehall. The main focus of her column today is the discontent among the Mandarins about the fact that huge cuts will have to be made but they are getting no guidance from their current ministers as to where and how this is to be done. But the bit which stood out to me was how advanced Ed Balls plans for moving to the Treasury were. Cameron reports that: “Some in Whitehall have still not recovered from the reshuffle drama when schools secretary Ed Balls had his hopes of becoming chancellor dashed. ‘It

Peter Hoskin

PMQs live blog | 15 July 2009

Stay tuned for live coverage of PMQs from 1200. 1202: And we’re off.  John Maples asks Brown to clarify our objectives in Afghanistan.  Brown says that “since 2001, our main objective has been to stop terrorism”. 1204: In response to a question from Anne Begg, Brown says he is “committed to increasing the diversity of Pariament”. 1205: Cameron now.  He asks whether to maintain support for the Afghanistan mission, we’ve got to “make more visible progress”.  Brown repeats his point about “tackling terrorism,” and that the mission also aims to bring “social and economic development” in the country.  He adds that the Government will review “equipment and resources” after the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A mutual decision?

There is an interesting little story tucked away in today’s Daily Mirror, the government might only sell off Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley on condition that they are turned into mutually-owned societies. Jason Beattie reports that the idea of turning them back into building societies is being backed by John McFall, the chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, and 29 other Co-Operative party Labour MPs. I suspect that if Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley are de-nationalised this side of the election, something that I suspect Brown would like to do, the price will be the key determinant. But, politically, I can see the appeal of insisting that they

David Kilcullen

For answers to the Afghan-Pakistan conflict, ask: what would Curzon do?

David Kilcullen, the influential counter-insurgency strategist, seeks inspiration in Curzon’s experience as Viceroy of India to assess what Pakistan must do to deal with the extremist threat — and how Nato can help drive the ‘steamroller’ Britain’s eyes this week are on southern Afghanistan. US Marines have doubled Coalition troop numbers in Helmand and are moving to clear Taleban base areas as part of Operation Khanjar. A major British offensive is also underway: Operation Panchai Palang, an effort to extend Coalition control along the Helmand River valley, one month ahead of the Afghan presidential elections currently scheduled for 20 August. Though the Taleban seem so far to be mostly melting

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Political reform mustn’t be left to politicians

The House of Commons is not, technically, the ‘mother of all parliaments’. This phrase was coined in 1865 by the radical MP John Bright, who was referring to England. She was, he said, the ancient country of parliaments: men had held these august gatherings for 600 uninterrupted years, even before the Conquest. So of course, he argued, the vote should be extended to the urban working class: anything that took greater account of English opinion would necessarily enrich our political system. In this spirit, The Spectator has been asking readers over the past six weeks to make proposals for constitutional reform. It is, we have argued, too important an issue

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Another goat goes

News is breaking that the Health Minister Lord Darzi is leaving the government. By my count, that means Lord West is the ony one of Gordon’s goats still in post.

Peter Hoskin

The slowdown in government

It’s no secret around Westminster that civil servants are giving up on the Labour government and are wait-wait-waiting for the Tories to shuffle into power.  But few articles have captured that process so well as Rachel Sylvester’s column in the Times today, which contains this striking passage about the suspended animation along Whitehall: “It is said that the Civil Service has the engine of a lawn mower and the brakes of a Rolls-Royce. And slowly but surely the government machine is coming to a halt. Contracts are delayed, decisions deferred, reviews welcomed. When Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, announced a U-turn on ID cards recently, he was only catching up

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The tide turns on public spending

If further proof were needed that the public’s attitude to public spending has changed it comes in the latest Guardian / ICM poll. It finds that 64 percent of voters think that spending should be being reduced now as opposed to 28 percent who want it increased: the electorate is on the other side of Brown’s favourite dividing line. Even among Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters, a majority favour cuts. Amongst those who favour cuts, the Tories have a significant advantage. 46 percent of those who support cuts think Labour would cut too little with 21 percent saying it would cut too much. With the Tories, 30 percent worry they

Daniel Korski

Time for a British Manley Commission?

If the government wants to stem the haemorrhaging of elite support for NATO’s Afghan mission, there is one major thing it can do at this stage: establish a British version of the Manley Commission. In Canada, ex-Deputy Prime Minister John Manley was asked by the Harper government to take a hard look at Canada’s role is Afghansistan, and lay out a clear plan. Its work effectively rebuilt Canadian support for the war effort. The Brown Government is simply not trusted to give an honest assessment of what is happening on the ground or give the military what it needs. The Defence Secretary is an unknown entity outside of Westminster (and

Peter Hoskin

Coulson in the clear?

It’s worth following Andrew Sparrow’s typically excellent live blog of the Commons culture committee’s first public hearing into the recent NotW “phone-hacking” claims.  So far, the biggest revelation has come courtesy of Nick Davies – the Guardian journalist behind the story last week – and it’s one which will please the Tories: “Davies says he has the names of 27 journalists from the NoW and four from the Sun who used a private investigator to get information. Some of the requests were legal, like electoral register searches. But many were not. Davies says he does not want to name the names. “I’m a reporter, not a police officer.” But there