Politics

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

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cash for honours returns

I’m just out of the Public Administration Select Committee meeting with John Yates. No revelations, but a clear clash of cultures – and philosophies. Tony Wright, the PASC chair, said that cash-for-honours has been going on for years. “It’s the way of the world,” he said at one point. So why, they wanted to know, did Yates investigate? One line of his sticks out, in response to Paul Flynn (who had been asking him why he caused an “ordeal” to those interviewed). “Mr Flynn, when I joined this organisation I took an oath as an officer of the crown to work by four guiding principles: fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The MP who thinks David Kelly was murdered

Norman Baker, the Lib Dem MP, has gained a reputation in Westminster as one of the best ferreters out of information. But his new theories about how David Kelly died appear a little far-fetched. (Anything which involves letters from people who sign themselves ‘Nemesis’ seems a little suspect to me). David Aaronvitch in The Times does a great job of debunking Baker’s thesis and poses a challenge to Baker: “Since the fearless Mr Baker believes it is impossible to die in the way Dr Kelly is supposed to have done, then he should be able to meet the simple challenge of himself taking 29 co-proxamol tablets and then slitting his

Monday

Neil Obrien

Why won’t The Independent print this letter?

On Thursday, when I saw that The Independent had reprinted almost word for word Foreign Office talking points without attribution or any indication to its readers that this is what it was up to, I sent in a letter to the editor. Oddly enough, it hasn’t yet been published. If the Indy is “completely unapologetic” about what it did, why is it so scared of its readers finding out about it?   ——Original Message——   To: letters@independent.co.uk   Sent: 18 Oct 2007 11:19 AM   Subject: For publication.   How amazing that the Independent should simply reproduce a foreign office briefing note on the EU on page three without any

James Campbell

Howard’s end?

Nothing is going right for John Howard at the moment. Following a slight improvement in the polls last week came a poor showing against Kevin Rudd in the only debate of the Australian election campaign.  Now a devastating poll has Labor with a crushing lead of 58-42%.  Most worrying for the government must be the news that Rudd has made big strides on the issues of economic management and national security. These are supposed to be Howard’s strong suits and suggest that having made up their minds to vote for Rudd, voters are now telling themselves that he can be trusted with these issues.  Howard opened his campaign with a

James Forsyth James Forsyth

One of Labour’s worst ideas yet

Even by the high standards of this government the idea that schools should have to give back 5% of any money they save to the government seems particularly half-baked. Whatever happened to Gordon’s love of prudence? Calculations by the Lib Dems indicate that up to 80% of schools in England could be affected.

The Spectator

Melanie Phillips joins Spectator.co.uk

Matthew d’Ancona, editor of The Spectator, writes: I am proud to welcome Melanie Phillips to Spectator.co.uk as one of our regular bloggers. The essence of The Spectator, in print and online, is distinctive voices and great writing. Melanie is one of the best and most fearless columnists in Britain today, constantly forcing us to reconsider our preconceptions and to challenge stodgy orthodoxies. In her writings on politics, education, family policy, the Middle East, Islamism and countless other subjects, she is simply unmissable: she has received acclaim around the world, quite rightly, for her magnificent book, Londonistan, which exposed the extent to which our capital city had become a hub in

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The cost of Brown’s indecision

The Guardian this morning reveals that the election that never was cost the Labour party about  £1 million with poster sites being pre-booked, staff hired and election communications printed. By contrast, the Tories are thought to have spent only about a fifth of this amount. One anecdote concerning Martin Linton is particularly cruel: “Martin Linton, who has a majority of 163 over the Conservatives in Battersea, south London, sent out letters to thousands of Labour members and supporters asking for their help. Because of the postal strike, hardly any reached their destinations until well after the election was called off.”

Sunday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The latest on the row over The Independent’s lack of independence

Coffee House’s scoop about how The Independent reprinted in its pages a Foreign Office talking points on the EU Treaty with only the most minor of changes and without attribution is making waves. There is, as Neil O’Brien argued in his original post, something deeply disturbing about a newspaper reproducing the government line yet presenting it to readers as the newspaper’s own considered opinion. The Independent has declared itself “completely unapologetic” about the incident and said that, “The Eurosceptics, who have monopolised this debate for so long, appear to be shooting the messenger because they don’t like the message.”  But this isn’t about Europe—although, it does say a lot about the intellectual demoralization of

Saturday

The Spectator

De quoi avez-vous peur, Gordon?

Let us step aside for a moment from the political posturing and horse-trading at the Lisbon EU summit and go back to the beginning. On 20 April 2004, Tony Blair announced to the House of Commons that there would, after all, be a referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty. It is important to restate the precise reasons the then Prime Minister cited for his dramatic U-turn. Mr Blair was emphatic that his decision did not in any sense signify a recognition that the proposals represented a fundamental constitutional change. ‘The Treaty,’ he stressed, ‘does not and will not alter the fundamental nature of the relationship between member states and the

Stephen Pollard

Nick Clegg or Chris Huhne: no one can change the Lib Dems’ failure to find a niche

The past week has seen history repeating itself, skipping the tragedy and moving straight to farce. Two weeks ago a Scottish MP, tipped from his first days in the Commons as a future leader of his party and hyped for years as his party’s one true statesman, stood exposed as a leader with a reputation built on so much hot air, and took a decision which plunged his party into chaos. On Monday a Scottish MP, tipped from his first days in the Commons as a future leader of his party and hyped for years as his party’s one true statesman, stood exposed as a leader with a reputation built

Irwin Stelzer

Listen to Adam Smith: inheritance tax is good

Politics trumps economics. That’s the best summary of the Tory and Labour competition to pander to those who until now have been threatened with paying to the Treasury a portion of the money they receive for just ‘being there’. Let’s de-emotionalise this issue. An inheritance tax is not a death duty. The slogan ‘No taxation without respiration’ is too clever by half. Even a Chancellor of the Exchequer as powerful as the previous occupant of the office could not get a corpse to sign a cheque. It is a tax paid by the recipient of this income, the inheritor, the lucky winner in the sperm lottery. Nor, finally, is it

Sinclair McKay

Hammer’s Dracula is now a beloved British institution

Hammer’s 1958 Dracula is being re-released To some, the spectacle of heaving bosoms, goblets and hideous bloodshot eyes might simply signify an average night out in Boujis. For the rest of us, however, these are the amusingly persistent leitmotifs of Hammer Horror — together with brightly lit Transylvanian inns, horses clattering through Home Counties woodlands, huge fangs and glass paintings of distant castles. Cinema horror these days is largely to do with gruellingly repulsive scenes of realistic torture — from the Hostel films to the Saw series. So how is it that the now-antiquated scare devices of a gimcrack British outfit of the 1950s and 1960s remain so extraordinarily pervasive?

Friday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why can’t the people have their say?

On the Today programme this morning David Miliband contended that there was no need for the referendum that Labour promised in its 2005 manifesto as “the constitution is dead, last night marked the end of the constitution”. This argument is flawed on two levels. First, this treaty is–as pretty much every European leader other than Gordon Brown has conceded–the same document as the constitution. Second, as this week’s leader argues, Tony Blair promised a vote not because he believed that the constitution represented a fundamental change in the relationship between Britain and the European Union but to nail the ‘myths’ peddled by Euro-sceptics. It is hard not to agree with

Thursday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Then there were nine

As the New Hampshire primary and the Iowa caucuses grow ever closer, the 2008 nominating contests are heating up. Today, word came that Sam Brownback—a standard bearer for religious conservatives—is to quit the Republican race. Brownback’s campaign has never caught on as many pundits thought it would and he simply doesn’t have the money or the name recognition to be a serious contender any more. Brownback’s withdrawal is good news for former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee who has been competing for the same Christian conservative voters. Indeed with Brownback out, Huckabee has a real chance of sneaking a shock win in Iowa which would deal a huge blow to the

James Campbell

Can John Howard pull it out?

John Howard has been trailing in the polls for months and time finally seemed to be up for the Australian PM. But under the headline ‘Lazarus Stirs’ the Sydney Morning Herald has a poll showing a swing back to Howard at the end of the first week of the Australian election campaign. Although Labor is still in front by an election-winning margin of 54-46% the gap is closing. The result is mirrored in News Ltd’s polling which has Labor up to 53-47%. However the government’s best news came from the preferred Prime Minister rating which has closed a massive 9 points in the last two weeks. Despite nearly being dumped

Neil Obrien

How independent is The Independent?

With wearying predictability The Independent splashes today on “10 Myths about the EU Treaty” – and prints a rebuttal of those eurosceptic “myths” on page three. They looked curiously familiar to me.  And then I figured out why.  The piece is an almost word-for-word reprint of a Foreign Office briefing note – but without any attribution that that is the source. Have a look at this thing, circulated by the FCO which Open Europe obtained a copy of. And then read the Indie piece. They are almost exactly the same. (Rather like the relationship between the “new” treaty and the re rejected constitution, you might say…) When we called for comment

James Forsyth James Forsyth

More signs of progress in Iraq

Obviously, the vote in the Turkish Parliament yesterday authorising incursions into northern Iraq to combat Kurdish terrorists threatens to undercut much of the progress that has been made in Iraq recently. But the security success of the surge in recent months has been quite remarkable as this sniper from Joe Klein’s Today in Iraq slot for Time magazine demonstrates. “Tonight, ABC news reported that there were no–zero–violent incidents in Baghdad today. But I can’t find that fairly amazing story anywhere on the ABC website, or on Iraqslogger. So maybe it didn’t happen. But if it did…” In a way, the issue isn’t whether there were no attacks at all in

James Forsyth James Forsyth

And they’re off

Nick Clegg scores the endorsement of the most impressive Lib Dem in public life, Paddy Ashdown, this morning. Writing in The Guardian, Ashdown argues that Clegg is the man to take the Lib Dems to the next level and the candidate the Tories fear. Chris Huhne, the main threat to Nick Clegg’s, has given interviews to both The Guardian and The Independent touting his ability to take on Gordon Brown and emphasising the dangers of appearing to be too similar to David Cameron. Talking to the Independent Huhne makes one of the oddest campaign pledges in recent British political history, “You will not find me or Nick streaking down the

Wednesday

Matthew Dancona

Miliband’s constitutional muddle

Glutton for punishment that I am, I watched all of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee’s cross-examination of David Miliband on Tuesday (you can share my pain by going to the committee’s website). Most of the press coverage has focused on the angry exchanges between the Foreign Secretary and the MPs, and particularly his justified fury at the invocation by the chairman, Michael Connarty, of the Munich agreement and Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler. This was a deplorable allusion, and Mr Miliband had a duty as well as a right to express the strongest possible objections. That aside, the hearings were also a fascinating – if often impenetrable – exploration of the