Politics Archives

Saturday

12 Nov 2011

Politics: Miliband pitches his tent with the protestors

During the Depression, tent cities sprung up across America. Today, in the second great contraction, they are appearing in the financial centres of the western world. But there is a crucial difference: the contemporary campers are there out of choice not necessity. Pitching your tent has become the fashionable form of protest. It is easy to dismiss the attention heaped on ‘Occupy London’ and its criticisms of greed in the City as a classic example of left-wing media bias. The rally for an EU referendum attracted nearly ten times as many people, but didn’t receive even a tenth of the news coverage. But the reason Occupy is causing such a

Fraser Nelson

Europe’s hit squad

If you thought the EU couldn’t get any less democratic, meet the Frankfurt Group The Old Opera House in Frankfurt — once Germany’s most beautiful postwar ruin and now its most stunning recreation — has become a symbol of European rebirth. And it was here, last month, that Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy met the EU’s bureaucratic elite in what would, in another era, be described as a putsch. They had grown tired of eurozone summits, with leaders flying here and there but getting nowhere. A smaller group needed to be formed, who would wield power firmly but informally. That evening, as they gathered to hear Claudio Abbado conduct the

Nicholas Farrell

Arrivederci il Magnifico

Berlusconi is the only person who could have sorted out Italy’s problems Where the monstrous regiment of judges, journalists and the other toxic derivatives of Italian communism failed, the Germans and the French, armed this time only with the euro, have triumphed. Silvio Berlusconi, or ‘Silvio il Magnifico’ as I am still not ashamed to call him, the 75-year-old media tycoon who has dominated politics in Italy since 1994, has lost his majority and has promised to resign as Prime Minister, and not to stand again. First the Germans and their French ‘caniche toy’ did for the Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou, riding roughshod over the Greek people. Now it

Carla Powell

The young pretender

Can Florence’s youthful mayor save Italy from herself? If ever a country’s politics needed a shot in the arm, it is Italy’s. As the economy wobbles on the brink of catastrophe, we Italians are desperate for a new face from outside the discredited political caste: an Italian Obama, if you like. But who could possibly step into the breach? Some eyes are turning towards Florence’s handsome young mayor Matteo Renzi, who at 36 makes David Cameron and even George Osborne look like grizzled veterans. To go from running the world’s most beautiful city to leading the world’s most ungovernable country would be a huge, and daunting, step. In Italy politicians

James Delingpole

Don’t expect the BBC to tell you, but Ukip is on the march

‘Farage has only got one ball.’ The last time I made reference to the Ukip leader’s monotesticular status, I got a rocket from an outraged reader. But the reader had missed the point entirely. Nigel Farage’s handicap is a strength, not a weakness. He’s open about it, he’s unembarrassed by it and he’s a better man for it. Yes, Farage may have lost a bollock to cancer, but by God he’s got more cojones than almost any Conservative you could name. Our Nigel is a Conservative himself, of course. Just one who has been temporarily dispossessed by the mainstream party. When you talk to Farage he’s perfectly upfront about what

Friday

11 Nov 2011

Peter Hoskin

Where does Cameron stand on 50p now?

One letter, that’s all it takes. After 38 City types wrote a letter to the Daily Telegraph this morning, urging George Osborne to drop the 50p rate of income tax, Westminster types have been chirruping on about it ever since. All three party leaders have had their say, except, so far as I can tell, Ed Miliband — although Ed Balls stood in for him anyway. Of all the responses, it is David Cameron’s that is the most noteworthy and perhaps even surprising. Speaking about deficit reduction on the Jeremy Vine Show earlier, the PM was unequivocal: ‘We have to try and do this in a way that is fair

James Forsyth

How European sovereign debt became the new sub-prime

The New York Times has a great piece today on how banks became so exposed to the sovereign debt of European countries with a history of defaulting. Here’s the nub of the argument: “How European sovereign debt became the new subprime is a story with many culprits, including governments that borrowed beyond their means, regulators who permitted banks to treat the bonds as risk-free and investors who for too long did not make much of a distinction between the bonds of troubled economies like Greece and Italy and those issued by the rock-solid Germany. Banks had further incentive to overlook the perils of individual euro zone countries because of the

Daniel Korski

Britain: a European pariah?

The British government has worked hard to counteract any perception that it is being marginalised in Europe. Before the election, the Tory party went around to different capitals to assuage any fears that may have existed. The message: despite the Conservative departure from the EPP, and their anti-Lisbon Treaty remonstrations, they would not be a problem. They would be businesslike. Once in power, David Cameron unleashed his charm, showcased his polyglot Deputy Prime Minister and sent William Hague out to make everyone feel that they had a partner not a pariah in London. Further, the energetic and amiable David Lidington replaced the combative Mark Francois as Europe Minister. Links with

Fraser Nelson

Britain: a safe haven?

The Bond Bubble is growing even larger over Britain, pushing 10-year yields down to 2.1 per cent. The FT splashes on it this morning, and uses the “safe haven” line, which is also being advocated by the Conservatives. Understandably. If I were George Osborne, I’d spin this as a standing ovation from the markets for my deficit reduction plan. In fact, it’s just a grim reflection of the fact that Britain’s low-growth, high-debt economy is less unattractive than Italy’s. But it does have another side effect, that people won’t quite admit to. Osborne’s cost of borrowing is going down (partly due to expectations of more QE) and since the Budget,

Thursday

10 Nov 2011

James Forsyth

Murdoch denies all knowledge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0T0OVKIYog James Murdoch’s great advantage today was that he didn’t mind if people came away thinking he was a bit of an idiot. As various members of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee attempted to goad him into saying that he knew about this or that, Murdoch simply pleaded ignorance. Why was Murdoch ignorant of what was happening in the company of which he was executive chairman? Apparently becase he asked very few questions. Even the obvious ones about what the lawyers had said or why such large settlements were being made seem to have escaped him. Murdoch was also helped by Tom Watson’s over the top invocation of

Rod Liddle

May’s a goner

That’s it for Theresa May, isn’t it? I realise that Cameron is loathe to lose the woman, especially so recently after having (with rather less anguish) lost Dr Fox. But it seems to me, from what I’ve read, that the case against her seems fairly watertight. Brodie Clark will go to court and sooner or later, through fair means or foul, we will have the written or electronic communications between the two of them in our hands. The fact we haven’t now suggests to me that May is in trouble. The Home Office is a graveyard for all politicians, of course, but especially so for Conservatives, who find themselves up

James Forsyth

The Italian domino effect

For all the debate about Theresa May and border security, the big news has not been at Westminster today. Instead, people have been watching what is happening in Italy. For it is far from certain that Europe, or the Western world for that matter, has a bucket bigger enough to bail out a country that owes more than Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain do combined. As the New York Times reports, the European Central Bank is reluctant to step in and start buying Italian bonds because it fears that its previous bond buying efforts have simply enabled the Italians to avoid necessary reforms. It feels that only market pressure will

Wednesday

9 Nov 2011

Lloyd Evans

The return of Ed Nauseam

Hot summer, drippy autumn. Ed Miliband’s performances have declined steeply after the heady highs of July. He came to PMQs today badly needing to fight like a champion. Things looked rosy for him at the weekend. And they got better overnight. We learned that a pilot scheme to fast-track incoming tourists last summer had allowed Britain’s border controls to slip so far that visiting bombers and convicted sex-criminals were being greeted at Heathrow with high-fives, goody-bags and a slice of Theresa May’s blueberry tart. Or so it seemed. Worse still, a suspended UKBA official, Brodie Clark, had contradicted the Home Secretary’s statement and was threatening her with unfair dismissal proceedings.

Nick Cohen

The Strange Death of Scottish Nationalism

A few months ago a German magazine phoned me to talk about Scotland leaving the UK. The reporter had bought the SNP line that Scottish independence was a practical proposition, and that Scotland could survive and indeed flourish as an independent state in the Eurozone. But, I told her, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of Scotland, which were meant to be leading Scotland’s charge to become a Celtic tiger economy, have collapsed. ‘Does the EU really want another country with a failed financial system? Try selling that to the readers of Bild.’ On the BBC on Sunday, Alex Salmond became increasingly tetchy when John Sopel questioned him

James Forsyth

Miliband’s immigration attack no threat to Cameron

Ed Miliband broke with his post-conference policy of always asking about the economy at PMQs to devote all six questions to the whole Brodie Clark/Theresa May border dispute. Miliband, though, had no new killer fact or question. Instead, he stuck to general criticisms of the government’s approach. This gave Cameron an easy ride. He simpy backed the Home Secretary unequivocally before turning on Labour’s immigration record. By the end, Cameron was at his most disdainful towards Miliband. Indeed, the most interesting element of the exchange was how the Liberal Democrats looked at their feet as Cameron rattled off the coalition’s greatest hits on immigration. The rest of the session was

James Forsyth

Why is Huhne still shunning shale?

Chris Huhne’s article in the Telegraph this morning attacking those who think that shale gas can solve Britain’s energy needs is built around a straw man of an argument. Huhne claims that, ‘Some therefore argue that we should abandon everything else and devote ourselves wholly to shale.’ This is, to put it mildly, a dubious claim. Advocates of shale gas don’t want to abandon all other forms of energy, they just want Britain to properly exploit an energy resource which could be as significant for Britain as North Sea oil has been. The Energy Secretary’s aversion to shale is even more puzzling when you consider how keen he is for

Peter Hoskin

Clark rounds on May

Has anyone used the “Mayday” gag yet? Perhaps it’s too cheap and obvious, but it’s certainly applicable today. Not only are Theresa May’s troubles still splayed across the newspapers — sure to come up in PMQs later — but they have also been aggravated by the man who just quit as head of the UK Border Agency’s border force. So far as the bookies are concerned, the Home Secretary is now second-favourite (behind Chris Huhne) to be the Cabinet’s next ejectee. As for how the former head of the UK Border Agency’s border force, Brodie Clark, has made things difficult for May, I’d suggest you read his resignation statement here.

Tuesday

8 Nov 2011

Alex Massie

George Osborne Slays the Tobin Tax

George Osborne was filmed laying into the idea of a Tobin Tax on financial transactions at today’s Ecofin meeting in Brussels. As he says: if you want to tax bankers, tax them but don’t create a tax that will only be paid for by their customers. Here’s Osborne: All this is well said (transcript here) and is, incidentally, a revealing glimpse into parts of euroworld that are rarely broadcast. Also, calling this a “Robin Hood Tax” is perverse: in fact it’s a Sheriff of Nottingham ploy that appears to target the rich while actually being paid by the poor. It’s equally worth observing that Osborne’s position is broadly the same

James Forsyth

Osborne gets frank with Europe

George Osborne’s attack on the European Commission and his fellow finance ministers, for wasting time talking about a financial transactions tax when it is not going to happen, is quite a significant moment. It marks an attempt by Britain to knock this idea, which would hit this country far harder than anywhere else in Europe, off the agenda. The Treasury, the Foreign Office and Number 10 have become increasingly exasperated about how this issue keeps coming up again and again. This feeling has been intensified by the fact that this issue is being discussed even as the crisis in the Eurozone is worsening by the hour. Osborne’s remarks

Matt Cavanagh

‘Guest worker’ plan would hurt the economy

The economists who advise the Home Office on immigration policy have come out against a plan to turn economic migrants into ‘guest workers’. Last week, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) published their response to the government’s proposals on restricting settlement rights for skilled workers from outside the EU. With all the debate around David Cameron’s pledge to cut net immigration to the ‘tens of thousands’, many of the detailed policies for achieving that overall aim have been somewhat neglected. It should be clear, however, that these particular proposals would represent a very significant change, with serious implications for employers. While a few exceptional migrant workers would be invited to stay,