Politics

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

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Pizza Wars Continued…

Yeah, so Megan can’t find New York style pizza in Washington. Well, I can’t find Scottish pizza here either. I forgot to ask earlier if any readers know of anywhere on the eastern seaboard that does a good, proper deep-fried pizza*? *Photos from a fine chippie I used to frequent regularly: Piccante on Broughton Street in Edinburgh.  We were spoilt for choice, in fact, since we also had the Rapido 100 yards down the road. Their traditional – that is, only cooked once – pizzas were better but Piccante took the palm for deep-frying. It’s also one of the few places I know where, honoring the spirit of Scottish invention,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Abrahams speaks

The mysterious David Abrahams called into Newsnight this evening and his exchange with Jeremy Paxman makes things even murkier but does seem to bring the scandal closer to Downing Street. Just to add to the list of questions that now need answering, the Dunns have now remembered being given money by Abrahams and in exchange giving him a signed but blank cheque.  If the Brownites are into gallows humour, they’ll love this Daniel Finkelstein column. If you are not a Brownite, you’ll laugh out loud at it.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Two keys to the puzzle

I’d urge you to read Stephen Pollard on how well known David Abrahams was on the Labour circuit in the 1990s and this post from Boulton and co by Joey Jones, the two posts taken together suggest that this story will run and run, . Jones spoke to Baroness Jay this morning about why the Benn camp turned down the money and reports back as follows: The number of questions that need to be answered just keeps increasing. This could end up being as politically harmful as the last fundraising scandal to engulf Labour. “Essentially she backed Hilary Benn’s version of events. She told me how David Abrahams approached her

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Where’s Jack?

Has anyone heard from Jack Dromey? Last time a Labour funding crisis emerged, the party Treasurer was touring TV studios venting pious anger. Now, silence. There are plenty unanswered questions about all this. If Brown and Benn didn’t take this money from Janet Kidd (the secretary in whose name the cash was being donated) then why did Harman take it? What did they know that she didn’t? Isn’t it rather odd that, as Dromey’s wife, Harman was not better informed? One question Brown was not asked in No10: did any of his staff know about this dodgy cash? He has a political unit (someone had to replace poor Ruth Turner)

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Brown needs to recover and quick or he is doomed

When a patient’s heart stops beating, medics have about ten minutes to revive it. So it is with the Labour government. Gordon Brown is running out of time to get his defibrillator working. He failed yesterday, and failed again at his monthly press conference. He looks puzzled, bewildered and out of his depth. He is in grave danger of sharing the same verdict history served on the hapless Paul Martin of Canada: an over-promoted finance minister. No one event has done for him. It has been the accumulation of disasters, a long list which pushed him over the mishap/incompetence boundary on Black Tuesday last week.  There are so many its

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The latest twists in the fundraising scandal

Gordon Brown’s press conference was, unsurprisingly, dominated by the Labour fundraising scandal. Notably, Brown described Peter Watt’s resignation as a “necessary first step.” He also expressed his confidence in Harriet Harman’s explanation of how she ended up accepting an improper donation. Although, Nick Robinson thinks that Harriet Harman should be “Worry. Very worried” by what Brown said or, more accurately, didn’t say. For a contrarian take on this issue see Michael White’s Guardian Unlimited Diary. White writes, “Don’t fall for the latest ”sleaze” campaign now being run by the media and the opposition about David Abrahams, the Geordie developer who smuggled £600,000 into Labour’s coffers through intermediaries. Unless it can be

James Forsyth James Forsyth

More bad headlines for Labour

The morning papers are dominated by the Labour fundraising scandal and the resignation of the Labour Secretary-General Peter Watt. The Daily Telegraph reports that, “David Abrahams, the millionaire property developer at the centre of the furore, won planning permission for a controversial development after the Highways Agency, under the department run by the then Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander, one of the Prime Minister’s closest allies, removed its objections to the scheme. The decision was made after Mr Abrahams bankrolled the party via two of his employees. • Harriet Harman, Labour’s deputy leader, received financial backing for her campaign from Mr Abrahams, which was registered as coming from one of his

Monday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

First they take Canberra, then they take…?

Melanie Philips, I’m afraid, continues to show signs of becoming Britain’s answer to David Horowitz. Her latest salvo culminates in this absurdity: Annapolis is America’s Munich — and Israel is the new Czechoslovakia. Previously Philips, unsurprisingly, lamented John Howard’s defeat in Australia. For myself, I rather think that 12 years in office is long enough and, absent an entirely hapless opposition, it’s important to turf incumbents out of office, regardless of which party they happen to be. (It is not a good sign for Gordon Brown that Labour will have been in power for 13 years when the next election is held). Still, none of that matters. Philips concedes that

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Labour fall through the 30 percent floor

A new ComRes poll has Labour at 27%, Conservative Home is reporting tonight. This is the lowest number Labour has recorded in this poll since April 2007 while the Conservative lead of 13 points is the largest one they have had with ComRes since it started regularly doing voting intention polls in October 2006.  The Tories, however, have not made progress in terms of their own vote and are actually down one point to 40. This is the one thing that will give the Brownites cheer on what is a pretty ghastly night for them.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Fundraising scandal leads to key Labour figure’s resignation

Labour’s General Secretary Peter Watt has tonight resigned over the fundraising scandal that broke this weekend. Watt resigned because he knew that property developer David Abrahams was donating money to the party via friends, an arrangement that legally should have been disclosed. It remains to be seen if this swift departure marks an end to the affair. It is certainly another bad news story that Gordon Brown could have done without on the day that he tried to regain some momentum. 

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The tide continues to turn

Hot on the heels of Adam Boulton speculating about whether Gordon Brown is cut out for the job of being Prime Minister, we have Trevor Kavanagh predicting in his Sun column that, “Gordon will never govern in his own right as an elected Prime Minister.” Kavanagh is no natural Brownite but he’s one of the most astute and influential political commentators in the land. For him to declare that Gordon will lose the next election will hardly improve the mood in the Brown camp and will likely drive them further into the bunker.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

How bad is it for Brown?

Jackie Ashley is one of the columnists who is normally most sympathetic to Gordon Brown. So her take on the issue of how much trouble the Prime Minister is in is essential reading. Here’s how she starts, “ After days of talking to a wide range of ministers, Labour backbenchers and veteran party figures, my first conclusion is that, yes, this is very bad indeed. It is not just a few rabidly anti-Gordon Brown columnists getting in a lather. It’s more than a passing, soon-to-be-forgotten lurch in the opinion polls. Though there has been no great national disaster of the Black Wednesday kind, the past fortnight has been a big

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Ron Pauls Libertarian Revolution

Isaac Chotiner links to Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch’s splendid piece on libertarianism and calls it pretty absurd: I have no idea what most citizens think about smoking bans and online gambling restrictions. But I do believe they are smart enough to know that these issues neither matter much, nor are worth voting on. Well, I don’t think Ron Paul is going to win the Republican party’s presidential nomination either. But I’m willing to bet that for every person who votes for Ron Paul – knowing full well that he’s not likely to win – there’s at least one other person who would vote – or seriously consider voting for

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

My friend James Forsyth picks up on another of my favoured non-trivial campaign trivia questions*: Barack Obama got the question about who he would invite to his ideal dinner party from a newspaper in New Hampshire. The guest list of Jesus, Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln was revealing about how he sees himself. First, it is noticeable that Obama doesn’t pick a Democrat. Second, no figure from the civil rights movement is included. Finally, the mention of Jesus is typical of Obama’s comfort with talking about faith. Well, with all due respect to James, maybe. But if any normal person gave this answer you would, quite rightly, laugh at them. Could

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Educating Gordon Brown

One of the least explored defects of this government is what Rabbi Lionel Blue calls “moral short-sightedness” – the ability to see problems on another continent, but not on one’s own doorstep. I was reminded of this when Brown announced £106 million of our money to open schools in Nigeria. It’s the latest example of what I’ve described as his neo-colonialism: his desire to rewire Africa along New Labour lines. Yet its not as if it’s “mission accomplished” with English education – some 40,000 kids leave primary school in Britain unable to read or write properly, setting them up for a lifetime of poverty.   Brown’s blind faith in state-monopoly

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Key Clinton adviser wants more US troops sent to the Balkans

Richard Holbrooke, America’s UN Ambassador under Bill Clinton who is expected to become Secretary of State if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, has an op-ed in the Washington Post today arguing for more US troops to be sent to the Balkans to deal with the fallout from a Kosovan declaration of independence which is expected before the end of the year. As Holbrooke notes, if Kosovo declares independence then the Serb portion of Bosnia will likely follow suit. On top of this, the Russians will try and link the issue to that of breakaway republics in the former Soviet Union. Holbrooke pins the blame for the current situation on

Saturday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Not good news, Darling

Tomorrow’s News of the World has a poll which gives the last rites to Brown’s reputation for economic competence. It is truly devastating on many levels. 1. Two months ago Labour had a 12 point lead over the Tories on managing the economy. At the last election it was 30%. Now it is zero: they are neck and neck. 2. And among the under-25 Labour are a staggering 16 points behind (31% vs 47%). 3. The Tories are winning (or, should I say, Brown is fast losing) the intellectual battle. When asked who has the best policies and ideas’, the Tory lead is 10%. Thus the effect of Black Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can Gordon recover?

With Labour down to 31% in the polls, talk has already started about whether the Brown premiership is salvageable or not. It is premature, if tempting, to declare that it is game over for Brown. This morning’s poll shows the Tories have yet to take advantage of the government’s plight and Labour are still a fairly united party unlike the post Black Wednesday Tories. As Martin Kettle writes, “Labour is united, albeit united at the moment in its misery. There is no equivalent of the self-destructive mood of the past.” There is, though, a feeling that Brown isn’t quite good enough. Maybe, we have all been spoiled by Tony Blair—who

The Spectator

He’s incompetent. So sack him

It must come as something of a relief to Peter Mandelson that when Labour sources now refer to ‘the Peter Problem’ they mean Peter Hain, the beleaguered Work and Pensions Secretary. Mr Mandelson’s conduct came to be seen by many as an emblem of all that was wrong with the Blair era. The Hain saga, in contrast, symbolises what is wrong with the Brown era (assuming it lasts long enough to be called an ‘era’). Mr Hain’s failure to register £103,000 of donations to his disastrous deputy leadership campaign last year chimes with the impression of shambolic mismanagement that now clings to this government, from its handling of the Northern