Politics

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

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Glasgow East is Brown’s dirty little secret: a hideous, costly social experiment gone wrong

Glasgow East symbolises — as few other places in Britain can — the fact that the problem Labour faces is not just lack of leadership but lack of mission. What is to be seen in this constituency encapsulates and dramatises Labour’s abject failures to comprehend, let alone tackle, the nature of the poverty which grips our council estates. For all the latest on the Glasgow East by-election, visit Coffee House When Tony Blair was Prime Minister he used to joke in private that his writ — like that of the Roman Empire — ended at Hadrian’s Wall. Beyond that lay Gordon’s land, a graveyard for Conservatives, home of the murky

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

SNP favourites to win in Glasgow East

Ladbrokes have released their odds for the Glasgow East by-election. They’ve chalked the SNP up as favourites to win: SNP — 8/13 Labour — 6/5 Conservatives — 100/1 Liberal Democrats — 100/1 Remember, Labour currently hold the seat with a 13,500 majority – that’s almost double the majority they enjoyed in Crewe and Nantwich before the Tories won there recently.  Yet still the bookies – as well as Politics Home’s panel of Westminster insiders – are predicting victory for Alex Salmond’s nationalists.  It’s almost getting to the point at which no seat can be considered safe for Labour.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Clarke waters down the West Lothian Answer

I have always considered the West Lothian Answer to be fairly simple. The Speaker decides if legislation is England-only, and if so then only English MPs get to vote on it. This has been in the last two Tory manifestos – but Ken Clarke today offers something different. He suggests all MPs vote on second readings of all legislation, but only English MPs vote at the committee stages of England-only legislation. Scots MPs would be unable to block any amendments, but would have the right to team up with government rebels and vote the whole thing down. Or, in the deplorable case of English university top up fees and foundation

Peter Hoskin

Brown faces another 10p tax rebellion

Oh dear. It looks like Brown and Darling could be facing yet another rebellion over the abolition of the 10p tax band. Last night, No.10 confirmed that there’ll be no compensation for those 1.1 million people who are still worse off as a result of Brown’s Great Tax Con. And, as a result, certain Labour MPs are pushing to defeat the Finance Bill as it passes through the Commons today. Perhaps we should be grateful that the Government won’t be adding to the £2.7 billion of extra public borrowing that the existing compensation package has already required. But that’s scant reward for those 1.1million taxpayers. Especially as they’re worse-off because

Monday

Peter Hoskin

And now Davis responds…

Here’s the text of David Davis’ response to Gordon Brown’s letter: Dear Gordon, Thank you for your letter of 26 June. This is the second time you have responded to me directly, since my resignation from the House of Commons in protest at your relentless assault on British liberty. First, you gave a speech on 17 June at the IPPR, a favoured Labour think-tank, hardly an environment that allows for the vigorous and open debate we so sorely need. Now, you insist that any questions I wish to ask on this vital national issue be raised within the narrow confines of Prime Ministers Questions, where you have developed the novel

Peter Hoskin

Gordon Brown writes to David Davis

Benedict Brogan has a copy of a letter sent by Brown to David Davis.  It challenges David Cameron over his relative silence on civil liberty issues.  Here’s the text: Dear David As you know, Prime Ministers are available once a week at Question Time to debate all the issues of the day, and I was disappointed that you chose to step down as a Member of Parliament in advance of Question Time on Wednesday, 11 June rather than coming to the House to debate with me the issues around the use of CCTV and DNA evidence, and the measures we have taken to protect our national security. Nevertheless, the leader of your party

Peter Hoskin

And the winner is… | 30 June 2008

Congratulations to ‘Patrick, London’ for making the best contribution to last week’s CoffeeHousers’ Wall, and for winning a bottle of champagne in the process. Patrick both kickstarted and contributed to a debate on energy policy that I recommend you take the time to read – some great insights from TGF UKIP, Elizabeth and Puncheon, among others. Patrick: if you’d like to claim your bubbly, you can fire me an e-mail on phoskin @ spectator.co.uk, with your address details.  Or leave a comment on this post, with the same info (we won’t publish it).

Peter Hoskin

Brown poisons Labour’s health reform message

It’s the week of the 60th Anniversary of the NHS.  And, to mark the occasion, the Government is today releasing the final report in Lord Darzi’s review of the health service. It’s set to be reform-minded and geared towards ending the “postcode lottery”. Early signs, though, suggest Brown’s reputation has poisoned the operation from the outset.  A YouGov poll for the Telegraph finds that only 23 percent of voters think Labour will improve the NHS over the next ten years.  That contrasts with 31 percent who think the Tories will. The poll also records an important public shift away from spending towards value and reform.  Only 24 percent of respondents

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The ECHR rules supreme

Sometimes you really do wonder if Labour’s wide-eyed Euro supporters realise just how tightly they have tied their own hands. Take Jack Straw, proposing new “emergency legislation” to allow anonymous witnesses in trials. No one seems to have mentioned the European Convention on Human Rights, which is senior to English law since our gullible MPs incorporated it in the 1998 Human Rights Act. In doing so, they handed to Strasbourg the right to decide what was a “fair trial”. Straw is understandably furious about the £6m murder case collapsing when the Law Lords said anonymous witnesses were inadmissible. As The Times pointed out, dozens more cases are now at risk.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

1066 votes, and all that

John Major’s mistake was to believe time would be a healer. It was not for him, nor will it be for Gordon Brown. Instead of nursing his wounds from the English locals, Crewe and Henley, he is facing a meltdown in his own back yard, as the Scottish Labour Party faces a by-election in Glasgow East next month without a leader, a mission or a discernable purpose. But that’s not quite right. Wendy Alexander was leader of the Labour MSP group. The leader of the Scottish Labour Party is one G. Brown. This is his mess to fix, no one else’s. This is his stronghold which is melting, his home turf

Saturday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Dreary Downfall of Wendy Alexander

Briefly*: So, Wendy Alexander is resigning as leader of the Scottish Labour party. In the brave new Scotland even our political scandals are pygmy-sized and fourth-rate. In normal circumstances scandal and disgrace should provide fine entertainment for the public who from time to time like, after all, to see one of their tribunes tossed to the lions. But there was no mirth, no schadenfreude to be enjoyed in this instance. After all, Wendy is leaving because she forgot, or couldn’t be bothered, to register donations to her office worth a few thousand quid. Well, colour me un-enraged. The complexity of the registration details and all the other stuff is head-melting

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Could the SNP win out?

With a 13,500 Labour majority, Glasgow East is as unwinnable for the SNP as Crewe was for the Tories. Expectation here in Edinburgh is that the election will take place next month, and will be a test as to whether Salmond can take a big a chunk out of Brown in the north as Cameron can in the south. Glasgow East is one of these places where life expectancy is closer to Bagdad than Kent. It is perhaps the most deprived and socialised constituency in Britain and probably Western Europe.  For Labour to lose this would be truly totemic. And there’s more. You may remember reading in Ben Brogan’s blog

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The referendum pantomine

I’ve been catching up with some old friends here in Edinburgh and in between speculation about what will happen next – the Glasgow East by election would be miles worse than Crewe to lose – I have assembled the rather hilarious story of Wee Wendy and her call for a referendum on independence. You may remember Brown claiming at PMQs, implausibly, that she hadn’t said it. As I said at the time, this was no surprise to Brown. She had been discussing this lunatic idea with him for ages and got frustrated with his indecision. They had a conference call on the Friday before this all kicked off, when he

Peter Hoskin

Where it all went wrong for Brown – your verdict

As of midnight, the voting on where it all went wrong for Brown stood as follows: The election that wasn’t  —  24.4% His addiction to Brownies  —  17.1% The 10p tax debacle  —  16.5% His uncontested rise to power  —  16.5% His inability to say sorry  —  13.4% Other  —  12.2% Many thanks to all the CoffeeHousers who registered their votes.  

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Happy Anniversary Gordon…

The Henley by-election result is striking: John Howell (Cons) 19,796Stephen Kearney’s (Lib Dem) 9,680Mark Stevenson (Green) 1,321Timothy Rait (BNP) 1,243Richard McKenzie (Lab) 1,066Chris Adams (UKIP) 843 Admittedly, Labour didn’t run much of a campaign (and would like to have avoided even contesting the seat if they’d been able to) while the Lib Dems pressed them hard. But still… 3% of the vote? If John Major’s Tories had endured such a result, even in a Labour stronghold, you can imagine that the BBC would be full of chatter about how much longer Major could last and whether, in fact, the game wasn’t already up. Today? not so much… And of course,

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Debating Issues

Julian “heterodox and hard to label” Sanchez (David Brooks, today) asks a terrifying question. Looking back to undergraduate debating days, he wonders: How many of us are unwittingly broadcasting our membership in that weird fraternity?

The Spectator

The week that was | 27 June 2008

Some highlights of the week on Spectator.co.uk The new CoffeeHousers’ Wall feature has been launched. David Davis answers CoffeeHousers’ questions. We ask CoffeeHousers to vote on where it all went wrong for Gordon Brown. Maurice Gerard reports from inside Zimbabwe. Matthew d’Ancona thinks Brown’s uncontested rise to power is a major factor in his poor first year as Prime Minister. Fraser Nelson argues that one shouldn’t shoot the critic, and suggests that Brown is addicted to Brownies. James Forsyth reflects on a positive aspect to Brown’s legacy, and asks what Cameron should say in his Queen’s speech if the Tories win the next general election. Peter Hoskin outlines the 10p tax