Politics Archives

Monday

6 Feb 2012

Cameron’s coming battle over the ECHR

The coming release of Abu Qatada on bail is going to put bellows under the whole debate about the European Court of Human Rights. In his recent speech to the Council of Europe, David Cameron rightly protested about a situation with terror suspects in which ‘you cannot try them, you cannot detain them and you cannot deport them.’ We will now find out how quickly Cameron is prepared to act on this issue. If Cameron wants to makes changes to the Courts and the Convention, then he is going to have to get agreement from every member of the Council of Europe. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to

The Spectator

From the archives: Britain’s new Queen

To mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne in 1952, here is the leader that appeared sixty years ago on our front cover. It was written under the editorship of Wilson Harris, who had been in the position nearly 20 years. Queen and Nation, 15 February 1952 The slow days are dragging their sad length along to the climax, when the mortal remains of King George VI will be laid, where so many of his forbears have preceded him, in the historic St. George’s Chapel at Windsor. The tributes have been paid; the set orations have been delivered; the papers, after their manner, have seen to

James Forsyth

An important intervention on energy policies, but will the Lib Dems pay attention?

The economist Dieter Helm is one of the few policy thinkers respected on both sides of the coalition. Oliver Letwin is a long-standing friend of his and Clegg’s office views him as one of the best economic brains in the country. All of which makes Helm’s attack on Chris Huhne’s energy policies in The Times today as interesting as the anti-wind farm letter signed by a 101 Tory MPs. Helm argues that the policy of huge subsidies for renewables is a mistake and that shale gas is a game-changer. Helm writes that, while renewables have a role to play, ‘Coal burning is not going to go away because of wind.

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 6 February 2012

…here are some posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: Fraser Nelson says the richest 1 per cent pay 28 per cent of the UK’s income tax, so let’s not scare them away. James Forsyth says Lords reform is going to dominate the next parliamentary session, but the government will have a tough time passing it. Jonathan Jones reports on two attacks on David Miliband, and finds that public opinion is split on Gove’s school reforms. Daniel Korski thinks a massacre in Syria now looks inevitable, and argues that old comments by an Indian minister don’t mean we should reduce aid. On the Book Blog, Sam Gyimah answers our questions

Sunday

5 Feb 2012

James Forsyth

The government will have to fight for Lords reform

House of Lords reform is one of those subjects that make most people’s eyes glaze over. But it is going to dominate the next parliamentary session. The Queen’s Speech will include a bill for elections in 2015 for 20 per cent of the seats in the Lords using a ‘Proportional Representation’ voting system. This bill will take an age to get through the Commons, where it has to start if the coalition is to use the Parliament Act to push it through, let alone the Lords. One of the things that’ll be fascinating to watch is how large a Conservative rebellion there is on the issue. There are already Tory

Daniel Korski

Storm in an Indian teacup

So, does India want the UK’s aid or not? If you believe the Indian finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, the funds are unnecessary, ‘peanuts’ even. The Daily Telegraph reports that British ministers ‘begged’ the Indian government to take the money. The story is likely to garner attention, especially as aid to a growing power like India is a contentious proposition. But before taking the Indian Finance Minister’s word — and the Telegraph’s reporting — as truth, it is worth looking at a few facts. First, Mukherjee made the statement in 2010, as reported in the Financial Times at the time. Since then the Finance Minister has publicly described himself ‘very pleased’

Saturday

4 Feb 2012

Martin Bright

Opening up Westminster’s closed shop

I was immensely proud to co-host an event at the House of Commons with Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow, to promote apprenticeships in parliament. The workaholic Mr Halfon came up with the idea of launching a Parliamentary Academy last year after taking on an apprentice in his own office. To me it seems the ideal way to get MPs to put their money where their collective mouth is, which is why my charity New Deal of the Mind has started a pilot scheme with four apprentices in and around Westminster in partnership with the National Skills Academy for the creative and cultural sector and North Hertfordshire College. To

Fleur Macdonald

Bookbenchers: Sam Gyimah MP

This week’s bookbencher is Sam Gyimah, the Conservative MP for Surrey East. Which book’s on your bedside table at the moment? Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel: a great historical novel, covering a fascinating period. The personalities may change, but the human dynamics of politics are the same today as portrayed in the 16th century. Which book would you read to your children? I don’t yet have children and I didn’t learn to read myself until late in my childhood because of a family upheaval, so a lot of children’s books passed me by. That said, I recently shared the story of the ‘Hummingbird’ read by Wangari Mathai at a

James Forsyth

The danger for the Lib Dems

Today’s papers make clear just how damaging the next phase of this whole Chris Huhne business could be to the Liberal Democrats. The danger is that because this story is a very human drama it cuts through to the public in the way that some minor dispute over policy would not. The Mail, for instance, reveals that Nick Clegg’s wife Miriam called Vicky Pryce as soon as the news broke about the charges saying ‘If you need somewhere to stay, if the kids need support, we’re here’. Patrick Wintour is surely right when he writes that the concern for the Liberal Democrats ‘must be the consequences of a drawn-out court

Jonathan Jones

The other Miliband under attack

By now, we’re all used to waking up to newspaper columns describing Ed Miliband’s flaws and proclaiming him unfit to lead the Labour party. But today, it’s David Miliband who’s under fire in two articles – one by Roy Hattersley in the Guardian and the other by Matthew Norman in the Telegraph. They’re both in response to the elder Miliband’s New Statesman article, the significance of which Pete wrote about on Thursday. In Hattersley’s case, it’s a direct response, as it is his views that Miliband rejected, labelling them ‘Reassurance Labour’ and saying: ‘The problem with the definition of social democratic politics by the Reassurance Labour tendency is not just

James Forsyth

Politics: Parliament’s power surge

Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays bank, is not a man inclined to bend to the public mood. ‘There was a period of remorse and apology for banks,’ he told MPs this time last year. ‘I think that period needs to be over.’ His remarks presaged the coming confrontation between Diamond and Parliament over the Barclays bonus pool. He may think the bankers’ period of remorse and apology should be over but MPs and the public do not. The Labour leadership, sensing a political opening, is determined to have the Barclays bonuses debated on the floor of the House. We will soon find out where this Diamond scores on

Hugo Rifkind

The City is used to ignoring MPs, because they don’t matter. Or at least they didn’t

It’s not strange that bankers have so much more money than anybody else. It’s like the way that women who work in sweet shops are always fat. Not a profound point, I’ll grant you, but it’s striking how rarely you see it made. In other industries, this sort of thing is pretty much a given. If you went around to Christian Louboutin’s house, you wouldn’t be surprised if Mrs Louboutin had an unusually vast number of shoes, would you? Sure, there might not be a Mrs Louboutin; not a punt I’d like to make with a French shoe designer, but you get the point. People who work in theatre get a

Friday

3 Feb 2012

The Spectator

The week that was | 3 February 2012

Here are some posts made on Spectator.co.uk during the past week: Fraser Nelson champions John Sentamu as the next Archbishop of Canterbury, and examines Labour’s chances in the 2015 election. James Forysth contemplates what Chris Huhne’s resignation means, and reminds us of the coalition’s political purpose over Fred Goodwin. Peter Hoskin has a six-point guide to the IFS’ Green Budget, and disregards Miliband’s Eurospecticsm. Jonathan Jones highlights the importance of the Scottish referendum question, and reveals the tuition fee effect. Sebastian Payne looks into the politics of the Falklands standoff. Peter Robins asks how dangerous cycling really is. Nick Cohen reckons that Ed Miliband might be Britain’s greatest leader of

Alex Massie

Mike Russell and the Mythical Anti-Scottish Conspiracy

Mike Russell is a genial chap who, most of the time, is not much of a fool. Most of the time is not all the time, however, and this week he has, inadvertently, illuminated some of the reasons why the SNP struggles with what the Americans call “high-information*” voters. Mr Russell, the Scottish government’s education minister, became the latest senior SNP figure to accuse his opponents of being “anti-Scottish”. This is an increasingly tedious line of attack and one suggesting both a certain defensiveness and a bleak lack of imagination. There is also a Boy Who Cried Wolf problem: kneejerk suggestions that policy differences are motivated by anti-Caledonian spite or

Alex Massie

Falklands Talks? There Is Nothing To Talk About.

So much for today’s Guardian. In the Independent, Philip Hensher has a grand solution for the “Falklands Problem”: we should jst sell the islands to Argentina. [I]t might be worth raising the question with the Argentinians. We’ve got absolutely no money. I really doubt we have much stomach for another Falklands War, and then another. They are clearly passionately keen to acquire some territory with rich resources, high GDP and as much sentimental value as you can maintain for something 300 miles from your coastline. It might be worth a lot of money in the future, but actually we could quite do with some money now, this second. Perhaps we

James Forsyth

Clegg confirms the reshuffle

Nick Clegg’s statement just now was notable for how he stressed that he would like Chris Huhne back in the Cabinet if Huhne emerges from these current difficulties. This echoes what he said in his exchange of letters with the departing Energy and Climate Change Secretary. Cameron — notably — made no such comment in his letter to Huhne. The reshuffle is widely as expected with Ed Davey coming into the Cabinet and Norman Lamb taking his post in the Business Department. But David Laws, who is already acting as an unofficial policy adviser to Clegg, doesn’t make a formal return to the government. Instead the spare pay roll

Peter Hoskin

Huhne resigns

We’ve just had a short statement from Chris Huhne — and, unsurprisingly, he’s resigning as Energy Secretary. His words and demeanour, though, were strikingly defiant. He described the CPS’s decision as ‘deeply regrettable,’ adding that, ‘I’m innocent of these charges, and I intend to fight this in the courts, and I’m confident that a jury will agree.’ In terms of a reshuffle, the likeliest outcome is that Ed Davey will glide into Huhne’s former job, and Norman Lamb will in turn take Davey’s place as a junior business minister. But there may be a pause before that’s confirmed, as Nick Clegg is currently travelling back to London from the Lib

James Forsyth

What Huhne’s case means for the Lib Dems

The biggest danger for the Liberal Democrats from this coming trial is that it turns the party into the butt of everybody’s jokes. Having gone into government and lost much of their original support by taking tough decisions, they have consoled themselves with the hope that they have now established themselves as a serious political party. Their aim at the next election will be to present themselves as a credible party of government who will make the Tories more compassionate and Labour more fiscally responsible. But at the top party they are aware that there is a danger that a trial of Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce

Peter Hoskin

Chris Huhne charged by the CPS

The CPS was building up to a bang, not a whimper, after all: the Director of Public Prosecutions has just announced that Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce will have criminal charges brought against them for ‘perverting the course of justice’. Both will appear in court on 16 February. We have not yet heard from the minister himself, although there are reports that he will resign to ‘clear his name’, etc. And even if he didn’t volunteer to leave, all signs are that Cameron and Clegg will act on the advice of the cabinet secretary and shunt him out anyway. And his replacement? As it stands, the Lib Dems’ Ed Davey

Thursday

2 Feb 2012

Alex Massie

Is Ed Miliband Really a Debate-Changer?

According to Nick Cohen Ed Miliband is Britain’s Greatest Leader of the Opposition. Blimey, that’s quite a statement. He’s a plucky wee chap too: Ed Miliband is a geek, a failure and a loser. All the press says so, so it must be true. Yet the apparent no-hoper retains the ability of the boy who confronted the naked emperor to change the terms of debate. But what debates has he changed? Nick suggests Miliband was brave to stand-up to Rupert Murdoch and that he’s been right to lead the way in banker-bashing. Perhaps so. But few people outside Westminster (and parts of north London) actually care very much, if at