Politics

How did David Cameron get into such a mess on Europe so quickly? For those whose heads are still spinning (and this probably includes the Prime Minister) over what on earth just happened to upset the Tory party so much and force Downing Street into a frenzied climbdown, here’s the anatomy of David Cameron’s European U-turn. 4 January 2015 David Cameron says there will not be a free vote on the referendum during an interview with Andrew Marr. Here is the transcript of the Prime Minister’s answers: ANDREW MARR: Would you give cabinet ministers and other Conservatives who want to campaign for an out, the freedom to do so in such

Tristram Hunt’s education policy was assumed to be a victim of Ed Milband’s straitjacket. But now, the shadow education is free to speak his mind about where Labour went wrong and his actual thoughts on education policy. On the Today programme this morning, Hunt explained why he was sticking the boot into Miliband for the second time in 24 hours: ‘It’s right that every shadow cabinet member reflects on their area of policy. We suffered a crushing defeat and we need to know what went right and what went wrong. One of the frustrations of the election campaign is that many of the public’s priorities on education — smaller class sizes, better apprenticeships, better qualified teachers

David Cameron’s recently departed speechwriter Clare Foges earned the affectionate nickname ‘the Prime Minister’s Larynx’ for her work assisting Cameron with his public speaking, so her Times column today will make for some interesting reading for her former colleagues in No. 10. Despite the Tories winning a majority in the election, Foges, who used to work as an ice cream driver, has offered the Conservatives a shopping list on how they can ‘reset their image’ and shrug off their ‘nasty party’ tag. The poet, who has been working for Cameron since 2009, calls for the Department of Health to be made a cross party department – presumably by appointing both Burnham and Hunt,

So after a few hours of outrage in the Tory party, David Cameron’s aides have announced that he didn’t say ministers would have to support his stance during the EU referendum or leave government. Number 10 has clarified the Prime Minister’s remarks, saying they only apply to ministers’ stances during the renegotiation, not the period of campaigning leading up to the referendum. The Prime Minister’s official spokeswoman said: ‘The PM was clearly talking yesterday about the position on collective responsibility during the renegotiation, a position that the PM has set out previously, including in the House during the Queen’s Speech debate, a position that, I think, has been over-interpreted by

There have been a number of articles recently by American liberals warning about the intolerance of academia, in particular pointing to the dangers of a generation who’ve never had their views challenged. The latest is by an academic using the pseudonym Edward Schlosser, who writes in Vox last week: Things have changed since I started teaching. The vibe is different. I wish there were a less blunt way to put this, but my students sometimes scare me — particularly the liberal ones. I once saw an adjunct not get his contract renewed after students complained that he exposed them to ‘offensive’ texts written by Edward Said and Mark Twain. His response,

I suppose David Cameron had little choice but to offer a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. How else could he have held his party together? Indeed, it is possible that he owes some part of his small majority to that promise. Nevertheless, it will all end badly. I think there is no plausible scenario in which it can end well for Cameron. Indeed, it is entirely possible that having begun this parliament with a majority he – or, rather, his successor – will end it leading a minority administration. The most important thing to remember is that perhaps a quarter of his backbenchers actually want the Prime