Politics

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

Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

It is personal between Brown and the electorate

There is a fantastic chart on page 7 of The Times today (annoyingly, I can’t find it online) which shows just how deeply and personally unpopular Brown is. Here are his personal ratings on a series of ‘gut check’ questions with Cameron’s in brackets.    Strong  29 (57) Or Weak  67 (33) Winner  21 (60) Or Loser  74 (31) Good for you and your family 22 (48) Or Bad for you and your family  73 (36) Up to the job of being Prime Minister 25 (55) Or Not up to the Job 72 (37) In touch 27 (56) Or Out of touch 71 (37) Mean what he says 31 (30) Or Says what he thinks people want to hear 66 (630 For

Monday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Scottish sectarianism

Is it significant that Cameron will speak in a Catholic church in his visit to Glasgow East today? You can bet any Scottish politicians would have avoided any church in a constituency where sectarianism remains a factor – and one not very well understood in Westminster. Church observance may not be high, but the east of Glasgow is still an area where pubs are known as Catholic, Protestant or mixed. It is still shaking off a long and deep legacy. My father grew up in one of Glasgow East’s council schemes, and in those days Protestant kids like him simply didn’t know any Catholics. The self-segregation was complete. It has

The Spectator

In case you missed them | 7 July 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend: Fraser Nelson notes that Gordon Brown is only “currently” leader of the Labour party. The Skimmer wonders how a bunch of Labour talking-points got turned into an FT editorial. James Forsyth reflects on the resignation of Ray Lewis and the rather hysterical reaction to it in some parts of the media. Clive Davis bemoans John McEnroe’s absence from the BBC commentary box. Americano wonders how the McCain campaign will deal with its Bush problem at the convention and Melanie Phillips chortles at the left’s shock that Obama is tacking to the centre.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Glasgow East moves centre stage

The Glasgow-East by-election is going to dominate the news for the next few weeks. The Westminster Village has concluded that if Labour can’t hold its 25th safest seat under Gordon Brown then the Labour party will move to get rid of him. Although, The Guardian reports this morning that one cabinet member believes that Brown should be given one final chance after a possible defeat to try and connect, suggesting that there would be no challenge until late autumn.    In a sign of Labour discipline having broken down almost completely, tensions about the running of the campaign have already spilled into the press. The Telegraph reveals that there is concern

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Situation soon to be vacant?

When John Reid was given his last-ever appointment, he’d have fun introducing himself at meetings by saying “I’m John Reid and I am the current Home Secretary.” It was a good joke, both at the instability of the post and his own itinerancy. But if you Google “Labour” then its first line of introduction is “Britain’s democratic socialist party currently led by Gordon Brown”. I just love that “currently”. If I were the Labour Party webmaster, I wouldn’t put anything more permanent there either.

Saturday

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 5 July 2008

As the new Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans challenges the current running of the Church of England, where does this leave Gordon Brown? I ask because one of Mr Brown’s first acts as Prime Minister was to get rid of his office’s traditional role in the appointment of bishops. In that distant period a year ago when he announced ‘the work of change’, Mr Brown decided unilaterally to hand over all power of appointment to the Church itself. Very modern, very correct, you might think, to separate Church and state. But in fact he created an anomaly. So long as we have an Established Church, it has privileged legal status and

The Skimmer

Pink nonsense

It looks like Gordon Brown broke into The Financial Times last night and wrote its second leader – which is a summary of all Labour’s clichéd attack points, strikingly unworthy of the newspaper’s normally excellent comment pages. It reads like Brown’s more awkward moments in PMQs.  Here are a few examples.  “The Tories have given the impression they are opposed to the abolition of the 10p tax rate, without pledging to reinstate it. They are against raising vehicle excise duty on older cars without saying what they would do to plug the gap in tax receipts.” Demanding the Tories propose a specific tax hike for every tax they propose to

Friday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Why Brown will be cheering on the Tories in Glasgow East

David Cameron is heading up to Glasgow East on Monday to make a visit with Iain Duncan Smith – and they will be campaigning like mad. You may think they’d take their foot of the pedal and leave it to the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders (aka the Scottish National Party). But it suits the Tories better when Brown clings on. They want him wounded, but surviving. He is, after all, the Tories’ most powerful recruiting sergeant. Remember this is a 13,500 majority on a 30,900 turnout – ie, Labour had a stonking 61% of the vote last time and the SNP 17%. Cabinet members I have spoken to uniformly predict

Peter Hoskin

London: the best of

Here’s one for whilst you’re winding down on a Friday afternoon: a Guardian article outlining Ken Livingstone’s 10 favourite London haunts. I’m not sure whether they’re in any particular order, but the restaurant Vasco & Piero’s Pavilion fills the number one spot. And Livingstone also finds room for Tate Modern and the Natural History Museum, among others. I quite like the format, and it got me thinking. What would Boris’ top 10 be? What – indeed – would my top 10 be? Without further thought, I’m not sure – but it would have to include St James’s Park, Sadler’s Wells and the Sir John Soane’s Museum. But this is one

Peter Hoskin

Put your questions to George Osborne

George Osborne has kindly agreed to a Q&A session with Coffee House.  So, post your questions for him in the comments sections below.  And, in a week-or-so’s time, we’ll pick out the best ten and put them to the shadow chancellor.  He’ll get back to us all a few days later.  And the commenters whose questions are chosen will all win Coffee House t-shirts and copies of the special 180th Anniversary issue of The Spectator.  

Peter Hoskin

Brown turns to the Blairites

“It worked for Tony, so it might just work for me.” That’s what must be going through Gordon Brown’s head at the moment, as – according to this story in the Independent – he’s turning to leading Blairite figures, such as Alistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson, for advice. If true, it’s fairly astonishing – after all, these are people whom Brown undermined and attacked, for the best part of a decade, in his effort to reach the very top. But it’s perhaps even more surprising that the Blairites are going along with it all. Campbell, for example, is said to be “talking regularly” with Brown, and may even take up some

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

More poppycock from Gordon

Justin at Chicken Yoghurt is bang on: It’s difficult to think of another public-facing job where this kind of evasiveness and inarticulacy would be tolerated…. Picture Gordon Brown getting a job in a supermarket or in a bar. ‘Do you know when you’re getting more tuna in?’ ‘This store is working towards fulfilling its demand for tuna in the very near future.’ …or… ‘Pint of lager, please.’ ‘While we regret that supplies of lager are currently causing difficulties for the public, we have taken the right long term decisions to secure lager supply in the coming years.’ Also note how Brown continues to talk nonsense about Afghanistan while refusing to

Peter Hoskin

David Davis on Brown’s security strategy

We uploaded the content from the latest issue of the magazine this morning.  It includes an article by David Davis, which you can access here.  In it, Davis argues against Brown’s security strategy, and outlines why he’s opposed to the Government’s thinking on ID cards, 42-day detention and the use of CCTV, among other things.  Here’s the bottom line: “Mr Brown’s security strategy is the worst of all worlds — draconian, expensive and ineffective. This contortion of British security and liberty is the result of pervasive ministerial amateurism, driven by a desperate thirst for headlines. Policy-making for the news cycle cannot be properly assessed, checked and tested. That is why I

Peter Hoskin

Frugality, please

Today’s vote on MPs’ pay and expenses is one in which I hope Gordon Brown gets his way. He’s already frozen the pay rises of his ministerial colleagues. And now he’s pushing for MPs to accept a 2.2 percent pay deal that’s in line with what the rest of the public sector is getting. Trouble is, many MPs are keener on a 4.4 percent rise, and will vote accordingly. Many are also unhappy about the necessary – if not quite sufficient – changes to the expenses system which are being proposed. A victory for the 4.4-percenters and their greedy ilk would be disgraceful. After all the expenses scandals of recent

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron drops the Hoon bomb in PMQs

With a little help from the Daily Telegraph, David Cameron staged an ambush for Gordon Brown at PMQs today – the letter to Keith Vaz from Geoff Hoon promising he will be “rewarded” for supporting the government. It went up on the Telegraph website just before midday, and either David Cameron’s Blackberry is working with efficient speed or he had advance notice. Certainly more notice than Brown who was stuffed. Poor Hoon tried to look composed, knowing the television cameras would be turning to him. But his face went beetroot red, as Cameron read out his letter to Vaz. “I wanted you to know how much I appreciated all your

Peter Hoskin

Hoon to Vaz: “I trust you’ll be rewarded”

The Telegraph have scored a great scoop.  It’s a letter in which Geoff Hoon thanks the Labour MP Keith Vaz for his crucial U-turn over the recent terror bill – a U-turn which contributed to Brown’s eventual victory.  All fine, until Hoon gets onto Vaz being “appropriately rewarded”…  “Dear Keith…Just a quick note to thank you for all your help during the period leading up to last Wednesday’s vote. I wanted you to know how much I appreciated all your help … I trust that it will be appropriately rewarded! … With thanks and best wishes, Geoff.” I’m sure Downing St will be fuming that this made its way into the public realm, and that it was even

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Times they are a-changin’

If you haven’t already done so, do read this morning’s Times editorial on the Conservatives. It argues, correctly to my mind, that the Tories should not be satisfied to win the next election simply on the back of the public’s disappointment with Labour. It concludes that Cameron’s “challenge is to offer British voters a real choice.” The editorial took me—and Nick Robinson —by surprise. The brilliant Daniel Finkelstein recently became chief leader writer of The Times, but today’s leader seems to go against what Danny was arguing just a fortnight ago. Then, he wrote that the “party that is first to let the voters know what it really stands for…

Peter Hoskin

Eight new laws a day under Brown

This passage jumped out at me from Irwin Stelzer’s excellent article in the Telegraph this morning: “[Gordon Brown] has had some 2,823 laws passed during his first year in office – eight per day and 64 per cent more than Lady Thatcher averaged – many aimed at regulating businesses and commercial transactions between private parties, such as the buyers and sellers of property. This at a time when it is crucial to reduce taxes on entrepreneurs and small businesses, and the red tape that makes it so difficult for small businesses to start and to survive.”