Politics Archives

Sunday

11 Jan 2015

Boffo new Tory election strategy: reinforce negative stereotypes

Following the success of the Tories’ last anti-UKIP strategy session, I’ve been leaked details of the latest election planning at CCHQ: […] I say, what’s the most damaging – and widely-held – perception about the Conservatives? Hmmm. That we’re the party for the rich? Most unfair, I think we can all agree. Right, moving on, what’s next? Let’s cut inheritance tax. Hurrah! It’s the least we can do for ordinary wealthy Britons… If it weren’t for Ed Miliband this election would be over by now. Thank heavens for Ed, then.

Fraser Nelson

Revealed: the truth about Ed Miliband’s ‘1930s’ porkie

Today, on the Andrew Marr show, Ed Miliband repeated his porkie that David Cameron plans to reduce state spending to 1930s levels. When he first made this bizarre and obviously untrue claim, even your baristas here at Coffee House didn’t have 1930s spending data to hand. Now we do, so the extent of his deceit can be laid bare. The above graph (which you can explore by moving your cursor over the lines) shows total UK government spending, adjusted to today’s money. At £720 billion, the level of state spending in 2020 under George Osborne’s plans will be almost ten times higher the levels of the 1930s. Now that the Tories have agreed to drop their claim

James Forsyth

Why Cameron doesn’t want any TV debates

Before Christmas, David Cameron tightened up the rules about ministers going overseas. He wanted them in this country campaigning as much as possible. But, unsurprisingly, his visit to President Obama in Washington this week hasn’t fallen foul of his edict. This trip to Washington is the source of much satisfaction at the heart of government. There are some serious issues on the agenda—the world economy and cybersecurity—but as one of those involved in preparing for it admits, ‘‘There’ll be some crunchy stuff, but it’ll be a very nice photo op, too!’. Indeed, Cameron standing next to Obama at the White House will be a useful way of reminding voters of

Fraser Nelson

The Tories need to ‘weaponise’ Ed Miliband’s incompetence

Ed Miliband was on Andrew Marr’s sofa this morning, drawing 2015 battle lines. It all looked very encouraging – if you are a conservative, that is. Miliband started discussing the Paris attacks, saying he wants to give the security services what is necessary — but as MI5’s director-general said on Thursday evening, that means more than money. It means the powers to put a wire on the bad guys, intercept emails and do so quickly. Does Miliband agree that these capabilities are also needed? On the deficit, he tried to play the fiscal hawk… “Most Labour leaders go into elections saying we’re going to raise spending. “I’ve got great news”,

Saturday

10 Jan 2015

Rod Liddle

Nothing to do with Muslims, of course

Utterly brilliant piece by Brendan O’Neill at Spiked on what would have happened if Charlie Hebdo had been published in Britain, rather than in France. It does not strike me as being terribly far-fetched. Meanwhile, the BBC, yet again, has misjudged the story in its news coverage, wringing its hands over the treatment of French Muslims, while at the same time insisting that the murders were nothing to do with Muslims – it was just mad terrorists.

Friday

9 Jan 2015

Fraser Nelson

Six key points from MI5’s Andrew Parker speech on the terror threat in Britain

A lot of rot is written about what MI5 thinks, because the spooks don’t talk –even to deny wrong stories (like the supposed Remembrance Day Plot to kill the Queen, etc). But now and again, they do speak. Andrew Parker, the agency’s director-general, gave a wide-ranging speech last night which worth reading in full. It makes the front pages today. Here are half a dozen points which jumped out at me: 1. The terror threat is heating up. ‘Terrorist-related arrests are up 35 per cent compared with four years ago. Since 2010, more than 140 individuals have been convicted for terrorist-related offences’. 2. Three Islamist plots have been intercepted ‘in

Thursday

8 Jan 2015

Peter Jones

What MPs need is an oath with consequences

Before taking their seats in Parliament, all MPs must swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen. Mark Durkan, MP for Foyle in Northern Ireland, recently suggested that they should also swear an oath to do no wrong. In this election year, that could set a useful precedent. Political orators in the Greek world talked of the good citizen as one who cared for the like-mindedness of all citizens and for his city’s interests — defending the fatherland, obeying the laws and authorities, and honouring the state’s cults — and young Athenian males swore to this effect when they reached the age of 18. The Roman emperor Augustus made all

Nicky Haslam

Nicky Haslam’s diary: Marie-Anna Berta Felicie Johanna Ghislaine Theodora Huberta Georgina Helene Genoveva and other big names

I was once bundled into a police car in Palm Springs to explain why I didn’t have snow-tyres on my pick-up in the red-hot California desert. I don’t remember the outcome of the ‘arraignment’, but will never forget the lady cop’s name, L. Nevada Yonkers. Other weird names have stuck with me. Reading The Most of Nora Ephron, whom I met once and immediately fell in love with, I realised that when I was working on Vogue in New York in the 1960s, she had been on the staff of Newsweek. I used to be obsessed by the weird names of the girls on Newsweek’s masthead. I would reel them

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron will refuse to take part in the TV debates if the Greens are not included

Unsurprisingly, David Cameron has this afternoon said he won’t take part in the TV election debates if the Greens are no included in one of the line-ups. Currently the proposal is for Cameron vs Miliband, then Cameron vs Miliband vs Clegg, then Cameron vs Miliband vs Clegg vs Farage. The Greens have been excluded, as have the SNP and Plaid Cymru. This is the exchange between the Prime Minister and ITN’s Tom Bradby: Me; ‘Time is running out; are you saying you are not going to go in as it stands unless at least the Greens are in?’ Him; ‘Correct.’ — tom bradby (@tombradby) January 8, 2015 Why is Cameron

James Forsyth

What’s better than a tax cut?

What’s the most important political development this year? The falling oil price. As of 2.30pm, Brent Crude was trading at $50.80 dollars a barrel—massively down on the $115 dollars a barrel it was trading at back in the middle of June. If the plunging price of crude is passed on to consumers, it’ll be the equivalent of a mega tax-cut and might just produce the feel-good factor that has been so lacking in this recovery so far. The Tory leadership is acutely aware of this. As Cameron did the rounds before Christmas, the falling oil price was often the first thing that he brought up. While Tory Ministers now are

Steerpike

Baroness Brady won’t confirm a return to The Apprentice

After Nick Hewer announced last month that he will not return for the eleventh series of The Apprentice, Lord Sugar ought to take care that he doesn’t end up having to recruit two new sidekicks. When Steerpike last caught up with Karren Brady, the recently appointed Baroness Brady of Knightsbridge would not confirm her return for the next series. Instead, she suggested that her seat in the House of Lords would factor into her decision. ‘Ah well, I just have to check my availability and my schedule. I’ve now joined the House of Lords,’ Brady told Mr S. The 45-year-old businesswoman took her seat in the House of Lords in November when she was introduced to the House by Lord Sugar, the Labour peer.

James Forsyth

Five reasons why winning in May won’t be that much better than losing

Defeat in May would be dire for either Cameron or Miliband. It would end their political career in ignominious failure. But winning would not be much better: they would be the weakest PM in living memory. Here’s why it won’t be easy for either of them: Miliband would be a prisoner of his own MPs: The best that both Labour and the Tories can hope for is the narrowest of outright victories. The 21 seat majority that John Major ground out in 1992 is, probably, beyond either of them. Miliband would then find himself having to steer swingeing cuts past a party that is simply not prepared for them. It

Isabel Hardman

Refusing the Greens ‘major party’ status is bad for voters (but good for the Greens)

Who benefits from Ofcom’s daft draft ruling that the Greens not be listed as a ‘major party’ for the General Election? Well, though the Greens are cross and have warned about the ‘damage it risks doing to British democracy’, they must know that this will help cement their credentials as an anti-establishment party. Nothing quite like a ruling shutting you out from having the same number of party political broadcasts as the major parties to make your supporters feel as though the Establishment is out to get you. And that sort of feeling is good for attracting supporters. It certainly worked after the broadcasters decided they would exclude the Greens from

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: the 2015 campaign begins, Charlie Hebdo and Britain’s A&E crisis

Will the next Parliament be impossible to handle? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, James Forsyth and Compass’ Neal Lawson discuss the latest Spectator cover feature on the challenges facing Ed Miliband or David Cameron if either manage to secure a majority on 7 May 2015. Will the Labour left or Tory right prove too troublesome for the respective leaders? Should Miliband or Cameron be the most worried? And are we on the brink of major electoral reform? Hugo Rifkind and Isabel Hardman also discuss the A&E crisis facing Britain and the problems of the NHS being used a political football. Who is to blame for the current crisis and will the government

Mark Mason

A museum of dirty postcards and Britain’s coolest bulldog: visit the strange side of the Isle of Wight

Every day the Isle of Wight becomes England’s smallest county: when-ever the tide comes in, the island steals the crown from Rutland, if only for a few hours. Taking the Wightlink ferry reminds you that the isle gave us the hovercraft, Christopher Cockerell’s early experiments there involving a hairdryer and some empty cat-food tins. Less successful as a seafarer was Lord Lucan, who once sank a powerboat off the Needles. It never surfaced, leading some to believe that when the time came to disappear he returned to the area and drowned himself. Current exports include most of the signage for the London Underground (A.J. Wells and Sons, vitreous enamellers of Newport), and

James Forsyth

Why no one will win on 7 May 2015

On 19 June 1815, after the battle of Waterloo, the Duke of Wellington declared that ‘nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won’. Two hundred years later, David Cameron or Ed Miliband might feel the same way as they sit in Downing Street. Any elation over victory will be quickly overshadowed by the thought of troubles to come — in all likelihood insurmountable troubles for either man. Everyone has known for years when this election will take place, with the result that the campaign starting gun has been fired even earlier than usual. Cameron is busy prophesying economic chaos if Labour wins; Miliband is

Tom Stacey

The deep instinct that Britain’s immigration debate still ignores

The issue of immigration won’t go away, because it threatens the soul of the nation. Nobody in political authority uses such language today, because they are unsure of the validity of ‘soul’ and of the political safety of the term ‘nation’. They will use the term ‘we’ in the context of Britain and its people, but would surely dodge defining it. Try as he might this election year, neither Cameron nor Miliband can do anything to persuade anxious voters they care about immigration, because they don’t use language which reaches the soul. No one else does either, not even Nigel Farage — it just won’t do. Yet only this abandoned

Hugo Rifkind

So the near collapse of A&Es around the country is all my fault?

Oh, I see. So it’s my fault. There I was, thinking that the general swamping and near collapse of accident and emergency services in hospitals across Britain might be the result of, you know, some sort of systemic problem within the NHS. With me, a mere member of the public, just being an occasional victim. But no! Apparently it’s all because I took my wailing two-year-old daughter in, one Sunday afternoon last year, to get some antibiotics for her ear. This is good to know. For, had I not been told that all this was the fault of chumps such as me heading to such places for the sorts of

Wednesday

7 Jan 2015

Steerpike

It’s rich of Cameron to joke about press conferences

There were very few smiles at Downing Street this afternoon as a mustard clad Angela Merkel spoke of a ‘moving moment’. Yet that steely resolve had to crack eventually and with the final question at her joint press conference with David Cameron, the German Chancellor’s perma-frown turned into an impish grin for just a split second. Scolding ITV’s Tom Bradby, Mrs Merkel announced that she ‘never answered speculative questions’ and she certainly would not be starting today, danke very much. ‘I think the policy of not answering speculative questions will make all press conferences much shorter in the future’, piped up David Cameron, seeing a chance to wrap things up.

Steerpike

Why Cabinet Exec won’t ‘poo in the pool’

If you hear any government officials talking about blue rivers in the coming days, it’s down to Google. Steve Vaughan, the head of media monitoring at the Home Office, has just spent a week with Google to develop his digital skills. The reason we know this, is that he has written a government blog about it. In it, Vaughan reveals the 17 things he has learned from the experience. While Steerpike dares not bore you with all the details, Vaughan does urge civil servants to refrain from being a ‘poo in the pool’ and instead try ‘jumping into the pool of creativity,’ as well as urging staff to ‘greenhouse your ideas’. He goes so far as