Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.
Daniel Kawczynski has written a web exclusive article for The Spectator, apologising for his recent online quarrel with Melanie Phillips. You can read it here. To catch up on the original debate, read Melanie’s posts here and here, and Daniel’s post on Centre Right.
And so the Labour leadership struggle rumbles on, with claims by Team Miliband that the Milburn for Chancellor story was “fictional” – an effort by the Brownites to smear their man as an uber-Blairite, and thereby alienate him from the left of the party. But Rosa Prince of the Telegraph has since claimed, in no uncertain terms, that the Milburn story came from “friends of Miliband”. And a new article on the Telegraph website suggests that the Team Miliband denials are an attempt, on their part, to quell criticism from other Labour MPs. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with all the speculation. And I can currently see only one winner emerging from
I’ve just re-read this Q&A that the Independent conducted with Gordon Brown on 27 June, 2007. One of our Dear Leader’s responses jumped out at me. Here it is, with the question that prompted it: How will life be different under a Brown government? JOHN BROOKS, by email I will let you answer that question in a year’s time. I hope you’ll say you feel safer on the streets and more prosperous, more confident in your local schools and hospitals, and you’ll have a bit more trust in the political system. Generally, I hope you’ll say you think the Government’s on your side and listening to you. Well, it’s over
Eric Pickles – the mastermind behind the Tory success in Crewe & Nantwich – has kindly agreed to a Q&A session with Coffee House. So, post your questions for him in the comments sections below. And, on Sunday, we’ll pick out the best ten and put them to the shadow communities secretary. 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.
The Daily Telegraph story about David Miliband offering Number 11 to Alan Milburn rings true for a number of reasons: not least that Milburn has also been in to see Gordon Brown about a possible return to Government. At a time when Labour is desperately in need of combative talent in its front row, the absence of Mr Milburn is – as he would say – “plain daft”. Like Fraser, I admire AM and his restless energy enormously. It is a shame that he has not felt comfortable simply staying in Government or, better still, defecting to the Tories. But the Brownites will be thrilled by this story, for reasons I
Today’s Telegraph reports that David Miliband has lined up Alan Milburn to be his Chancellor, should he manage to oust Gordon Brown from office. A good move by Team Miliband? Well, Milburn is certainly a capable political performer, and his presence will help solidify Blairite support. But two potential problems spring to mind. The first is that, whilst Milburn is popular with the Blairites, he is anathema to the Brownites and to the left of the party (remember the unions’ response when he was appointed as Labour’s general election co-ordinator for 2005?). In a struggle that is rapidly reducing into a Blairite vs Brownite feud, the received wisdom is that Miliband needs to look for support beyond
One Cabinet minister described it to me with dark wit as the ‘Eden Project’: the idea being that, after a summer of reflection, Gordon Brown is gently or not-so-gently persuaded to retire, in the manner of Anthony Eden, on the grounds of ‘ill health’. To which the PM’s entirely predictable response is: have you seen how many press-ups I can do? The revelation that he has hired a personal trainer may have been clunky, but it was a clear signal that he is not going to oblige those who would like him to quit on medical grounds. I would call the first round of the great Miliband–Brown bout a dead
After years of financial struggle, say Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid, the Paris theme park has finally found a path to profit — just as the European economy hits a downturn Disney and happy endings go hand in hand. But after 16 years, shareholders in Disney’s theme park near Paris are still waiting for their frog to complete its transformation into Prince Charming. In November, Euro Disney is set to announce its first net profit for more than five years — a success achieved not by pixie dust but by hard, old-fashioned graft. Despite an economic slowdown in Europe, things have never looked better for Mickey Mouse’s maison secondaire. Attendance
Via Andrew, a fascinating collection of cartoon maps from the First World War. This one, by the Dutch artist Louis Raemaekers, is, for obvious reasons, my favourite:
Here are Chris Grayling’s answers to the questions put forward by CoffeeHousers: Marcus Cotswell “What are your plans for reducing the incidence of means-testing in the benefit system, with particular reference to the impact on incentives to save?” None of us would have wanted to see means testing spread as far as it has throughout our benefits and tax credits system under Gordon Brown. However once a system is in place, it’s much more difficult to change things without creating losers amongst the most vulnerable in our society. So initially our focus will be on simplification. I am, for example, extremely concerned about the number of elderly pensioners who are
There’s little to say about the Ian Oakley case that Iain Dale didn’t write in his excellent post on the matter earlier. In which case, I’ll echo Iain by saying that Oakley-style campaigns of intimidation have absolutely no place in politics; that the Tories should investigate why their former candidate for Watford could get away with it for so long; and that the other parties should not try and make political capital out of this. But I would add one other point. Iain writes that he hopes Oakley “gets what is undoubtedly coming to him”. Perhaps he’s right to think that. But we shouldn’t forget that the case has been adjourned until 16 September, until Oakley’s received a psychiatric assessment. People are saying he’s a
“Don’t worry,” the Government told us when Northern Rock was nationalised, “the £100 billion debt is secured against the bank’s assets.” And what assets might they be? As Guido points out in an excellent post this morning, there’s not a whole lot there. And what is there is rapidly being sold off to get government debt levels down. Hardly the kind of security that taxpayers want. And the picture’s looking even worse now the bank’s announced it lost £500 million in the first half of this year. This is far from being a profitable company. And things can only get worse for them as the credit crunch bites even deeper. The likely result? The burden on the taxpayer
The latest is that Brown is going to temporarily scrap stamp duty as part of his economic recovery plan. Read Michael Millar’s take on it over at Trading Floor.
I’d recommend you read Rachel Sylvester’s column in today’s Times. In it, she identifies a split between David Cameron and George Osborne on recognising marriage in the tax system. Cameron’s extremely keen on the idea, and wants to reintroduce the married couple’s allowance. Osborne, on the other hand, isn’t and doesn’t. Here’s the key passage: “Mr Osborne disagrees. For him, it is not the State’s job to tell people how to live their lives. He would prefer to use scarce Treasury resources to support parents, whatever family structure they are in, than to reward a childless millionaire hedge fund manager who happens to be married to a lady who likes to lunch. He is
Those readers who are tiring of the constant stream of Labour leadership speculation would be best advised to look away now. For the rest of you, here’s a quote from Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, speaking on Sky News earlier: “I’m fully behind the Prime Minister. Actually, what I’m talking about today [investment in British sport] was Gordon Brown’s own decision in one of his last budgets as Chancellor. Gordon has a record of taking far-sighted and long term decisions that were good for this country.” Of course, this may be nothing more than yet another (meaningless?) message of support from yet another minister. But it might reveal something else as well. You
We all know about Brown’s control-freakery when he was at the Treasury. And that he maintains a tight grip on matters economic from No.10 is equally common knowledge. But I still find stories like this one in today’s Standard grimly amusing. This quote from a “Whitehall official” just about sums it up: “Is there an economic plan [coming from Gordon Brown]? We keep reading about it in the press but, if there is one, we have not been told about it or shown it. Frankly, nobody seems to be very sure what is going on. Presumably the Chancellor is involved but even that is not absolutely clear.”At the risk of
We’re introducing a new feature to Coffee House – the Sunday Essay. Each Sunday, we’ll post an essay by one of our readers, on any political, cultural or sporting topic. The first essay will appear on Sunday, 10 August. If you’d like your writing to be considered, just e-mail an article of between 500 and 1500 words to me at phoskin @ spectator.co.uk – the Coffee House team will pick out the best submission each week, and post it on the website the following Sunday. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an MP, a member of the policy wonk world, or have nothing to do with politics whatsoever – all submissions will be read and evaluated. So,
Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – provided your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there’s no need to stay ‘on topic’ – which means you’ll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There’s also no constraint on the length of what you write – so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything’s fair game – from political stories in your local
…here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Daniel Korski says that Britain needs to support a European defence initiative. Fraser Nelson points out that curbing drinking by taxing alcopops isn’t as straightforward as it looks, and suggests that Blair should have stopped Brown from getting to No10. Peter Hoskin explores the ramifications of the leaked Blair memo, and wonders what the impact of Polly Toynbee’s praise for David Miliband will be. And Clive Davis laments the quality of the British Summer.
One of the more startling aspects of the nascent Labour leadership struggle is just how quickly it’s dissolved into a Blairite-Brownite feud. Of course, it helps that David Milband – the key, would-be challenger – was one of Blair’s most trusted lieutenants. Then that Blair memo appeared, to stoke the flames of internecine struggle. And now the papers report that Blairites such as Charles Clarke and Stephen Byers are drafting a series of policy challenges and proposals – their aim being to keep up pressure on Brown, and boost David Miliband’s cause. The Blairites will be loving every minute of it. After Brown’s decade as Chancellor – during which he did everything he could to