Politics Archives

Friday

27 Mar 2009

Another trip, another embarrassment for Brown

For a while it looked like Brown was about to go to a country without some comic mishap. But he didn’t let us down. Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean President, noted at her joint press conference with Brown how her government had been able to introduce a significant fiscal stimulus because of their “decision during … the good times in copper prices, we decided to save some of the money for the bad times and I would say that policy today is producing good results.” – a prudent approach that Brown, sadly, didn’t take in Britain. It’s worth noting that Bachelet is authentically Keynesian: the whole principle behind stimulus is that

The Spectator

The week that was | 27 March 2009

Here are some of the posts made over the past week on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson wonders whether we’ve witnessed the beginning of the end, and says that Cameron should learn to love the bankers. James Forsyth tracks the internet success of Daniel Hannan’s attack on Gordon Brown, and says that Brown is hemmed in. Peter Hoskin wonders how significant Mervyn King’s intervention could turn out to be, and claims that the system of MPs’ pay and allowances needs an overhaul. Daniel Korski sets out the three Talibans. Martin Bright gives his take on the Left and radical Islam. Clive Davis laments the contestants on The Apprentice. Alex Massie asks: has Obama already failed?

Fraser Nelson

Standing up for our financial sector

I was on the Today programme this morning (here) defending bankers, up against Michael Meacher who has drafted a private members’ bill imposing a punitive retrospective tax on bonuses. This, of course, is simply vengeance – the political equivalent of smashing Fred Goodwin’s windows. And for such a bill to be even before Parliament sends a dangerous message about the mood in Westminster. My argument is simple: Britain does banking phenomonally well, and we profit from hosting this highly mobile breed. I didn’t give statistics on air, but the financial sector generates a quarter of all corporation tax, the richest 1 percent pay 23 percent of income tax. What happens

Thursday

26 Mar 2009

Alex Massie

Gordon Brown is Not My Leader, Whatever Labour MPs Think

Tom Harris didn’t much care for Dan Hannan’s speech setting about Gordon Brown. Fair enough, as a Labour MP you wouldn’t expect him to find it a hoot. But then he says this: What was truly repugnant about his speech was the total absence of any sense of patriotism. Some Tories on the extreme right of the party share the problem of some Republicans in the States: they don’t regard the head of government to be the nation’s leader unless he or she is also a member of their little party. Gordon Brown isn’t just Labour’s prime minister; he’s Britain’s prime minister, and for any UK politician to launch such

Andrew Neil

The shape of things to come | 26 March 2009

Today the Daily Politics stages the battle of the bloggers — on the New Labour left, Dolly Draper, on the libertarian right, Guido Fawkes — and we do so on a day when we have a compelling example of how the internet is re-shaping our media and politics. After Gordon Brown delivered his speech to the European Parliament on Tuesday, he was subjected to a three-and-a-half minute riposte in the Chamber by Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, which many thought devastating. Established broadcasters, while recognising that the Hannan attack was a cut way above normal party political banter, didn’t quite see how “Tory MEP savages Brown” made it a story. Then

Alex Massie

Tony McNulty, Benefit Cheat

Exhibit A: From the Daily Mail, November 8th 2008. Man caught in £30,000 benefit fraud: After the case, employment and welfare reform minister Tony McNulty said: “Lying to the DWP to get money you aren’t entitled to is a crime. Expecting to get away with it is criminally stupid. This man thought he could live a life of Riley at the taxpayers’ expense. He was wrong. Our investigators caught up with him and now he’ll face the penalty for his crimes.” Exhibit B: On December 4th 2008 the BBC reveals how councils are using “voice recognition lie detectors” to crack down on benefit fraud: DWP Minister of State Tony McNulty

Wednesday

25 Mar 2009

Martin Bright

New Deal of the Mind at 11 Downing Street

I don’t think it’s quite right for me to keep promoting New Deal of the Mind here on my Spectator blog. That should happen elsewhere and will. But just in case readers are interested, the launch meeting at Number 11 Downing Street was a fascinating affair. Cabinet Ministers Andy Burnham and James Purnell pledged their support as did opposition culture spokesman Ed Vaizey. It’s probably best to let others who were there speak about this so check out Lynne Featherstone’s report of the event. Lynne has been a great supporter of the initiative, designed to harness the innovative potential of the creative industries during the downturn. She made the following key point: “Admiration for

James Forsyth

One pledge that David Cameron can, and should, make on tax

The state of the public finances means that it is going to be very hard—if not impossible—for the Tories, if elected, to cut taxes during their first term. But it is important that the electorate, and the base of the party, still know that the Tories believe in the benefits of low-taxation. One easy and eye-catching way for David Cameron to signal this would be for him to declare that he’ll freeze the salaries and allowances of the Prime Minister, Ministers and MPs until the government can cut taxes overall. This would be a tax pledge that would cost nothing and tap into the public’s discontent with the political class’s

Lloyd Evans

Harman lays out Labour’s election strategy in PMQs

The B-team were back today. With Gordon Brown abroad on Superman duty it was left to Hague and Harman to slug it out. Harman was as useless as ever, unsteady, inarticulate, hectoring, self-satisfied. Rather than engage with the debate she ducks incoming fire and replies with a prepared weapon. Yet again we heard that the Tories would ‘do nothing’, that they opposed the fiscal stimulus, they fought the VAT cut and so forth. Her killjoy mannerisms suggest a head-girl scolding trouble-makers for pillow-fighting after lights out. But she looked less obviously uncomfortable at the despatch box today. Hague, by contrast, seemed too relaxed, almost detached. Instead of taking his Lamborghini

James Forsyth

Can the Internet turn Dan Hannan’s skewering of Brown into a story?

Dan Hannan’s speech yesterday was magnificent, in three and a half minutes he absolutely eviscerated Gordon Brown. Unsurprisingly, the speech received little attention on the broadcast news—Tory MEP attacks Labour Prime Minister is a dog bites man story. But the speech has already has more than twenty-five thousand views on YouTube, Downing Street’s video of Brown’s address has had only 219 views. If Hannan’s speech was to become an internet sensation, hitting, say, the million views mark, then the media would be likely to cover that as a story in and of itself. P.S. The Vote Different video has had more than five and a half million views.

Alex Massie

Obama and the Blair Succession

There was the pretence that all government spending is “investment” and there was some familiar-sounding talk of “bubble and bust” but most of all Barack Obama’s press conference was designed to send the message that, look, “I’m a pretty straight kind of guy”. As we know, that’s what Tony Blair said once upon a time and as we also know the public, more or less, believed him. So no wonder something in Obama’s demeanour seemed so oddly familiar to British viewers. There are differences – there always are when comparing British and American politics – but Obama has essentially spent recent days imploring the public to ignore the details and

Fraser Nelson

The beginning of the end?

Is the Government about to go pop? If Britain does go to the IMF it would be because the Government fails to find buyers for its debt. And this morning, for the first time in seven years, this happened. It could be a one-off, it could be for technical reasons as yet undisclosed. But given how dependent Brown is on being able to bum money from the City, a so-called buyers’ strike (ie, when investors say ‘we don’t want your crappy debt’) will be hanging over him like the sword of Damocles. Britain this year will need to raise £180bn according to Ernst & Young, equal to the entire economic

James Forsyth

Hemmed in

Gordon Brown is now hemmed in. Both the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England have now indicated that they would rather walk than go along with a full scorched earth policy. The Prime Minister must know that the resignation of either man would destroy him so we can be confident that Brown will not be able to wreak irreparable damage on the public finances before he leaves office. There have been precious few pieces of good economic news recently. But the fact that there is now a check to Brown’s actions is deeply reassuring. P.S. Sadly, there’ll be no chance for Brown to be questioned about King’s

Tuesday

24 Mar 2009

Alex Massie

An Irish Grand Slam and a Lions Party

It wasn’t a great championship this year, though few in Ireland can be expected to give a damn about that. And while there are plenty of folk who might think that Ireland’s Grand Slam (sixty one years in the waiting) was hardly vintage stuff, that’s often been the case with Grand Slam winning sides. The great England team of the early 1990s didn’t play much champagne rugby while outside observers might say the same thing, and with some reason too, of Scotland’s twin triumphs in 1984 and 1990. Nonetheless, there’s little denying that there was no truly outstanding team in the championship this year. Apart from their performance against France

Monday

23 Mar 2009

Alex Massie

45p is Not the Problem; 40p is the Problem

I think James and Danny Finkelstein are correct. Political considerations trump the need to satisfy the Conservative party’s right-wing. And that means that, regrettably, George Osbourne is probably right not to promise to abolish the new 45% income tax band for the rich. At the very least this should be an aspiration not an immediate priority. But the problem is not so much the 45p band, but the number of people trapped by the existing 40p band. This has been one of gordon Brown’s most successful stealth taxes, drawing more and more middle class voters into his clutches every year. Even this years’ widening of the bands does little to

James Forsyth

Why the Tory leadership is right not to engage Brown on 45p

I suspect the phrase decontaminating the brand makes most Coffee Housers want to decontaminate their screens. But I do think the Cameron strategist who told Conservative Home that ‘Only when the party has decontaminated itself as the party of the rich will we have the authority to attack the size of the state’ is right. Fairly or unfairly, the Tory party–as the party’s own focus group show–is seen as the party of privilege by many swing voters. Two-thirds of the shadow cabinet are millionaires and to compound this perception problem, both the leader and the shadow chancellor come from moneyed backgrounds. In these circumstances, it would be a huge liability for the

Alex Massie

A Hungarian Lesson for Gordon Brown

This seems an idea worth copying, doesn’t it? Hungary’s Prime Minister said today he is resigning because of his government’s low popularity amid a worsening financial crisis. Ferenc Gyurcsany, of the ruling Socialists, told the party’s congress that he considered himself a hindrance to further economic and social reforms. Alas, I can’t imagine Brown being quite this, er, bold or noble.

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 23 March 2009

…here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson says that a 45p tax rate is not what’s best for this country, and reveals that that Tories’ current plans would leave national debt 60% higher than it is today. James Forsyth sets out what George Osborne is playing it right on 45p tax, and makes the case for prison reform. Peter Hoskin says that Cameron should avoid dancing to Brown’s tune, and warns about the state of the public finances. Martin Bright asks whether the left is waking from its slumber. Clive Davis looks into what happened in Gaza. Alex Massie reflects on the life

Sunday

22 Mar 2009

Fraser Nelson

The Tories’ current plans would leave national debt 60% higher than it is today

I had a text a while ago saying “you doing Gordon Brown’s work for him then?” and that was from someone who had not the seen graphic which the News of the World designed to go with my column today. I know many CoffeeHousers will take it as prima facie case of treason, but I’m afraid my sole loyalty is to The Spectator (1828) Party and these things have to be said. Cameron’s original poster claimed a baby born in Britain is saddled with £17,000 of Brown’s debt. Under the plans the Tories are pursuing – ie, raise spending regardless of the tax base – this figure would be £27,000

Martin Bright

Is the Left Waking From Its Slumber?

A rather impassioned piece on unemployment from Polly Toynbee in yesterday’s Guardian made me realise that there are a number of people on the liberal-left in Britain thinking very hard about the implications of the global recession. “Has the horror of it all struck Westminster with full force?,” asks Polly? I think they are beginning to, but the problem is that they are stuck in the politics of the late-1990s census, which had us all triangulating like mad. All the clamour for an apology from the Prime Minister stems from a desire for him to atone for all our sins. It was difficult not to embrace the market when the