Politics

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

Sunday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Clegg’s pitch for the middle

‘Governing from the middle for the middle’ was the message of Nick Clegg’s unapologetic speech to Lib Dem conference. His effort to redefine the Liberal Democrats continued as he tried to move the party away from its traditional yoghurt-weaving concerns and instead focus on appealing to ‘alarm clock Britain.’ Clegg’s view is that the left wing protest votes that the party used to get are gone for the foreseeable future, repulsed by coalition, and that the Lib Dems need to reach out to new voters. The calculation is that Labour is seen as being for those on benefits and the Tories for the rich, so the Liberal Democrats should try

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron’s principled stand over Libya

Slowly, David Cameron seems to be mutating into a hawk over Libya. I’ve been increasingly impressed with the way he has made the case for a no-fly zone – knowing that it is an unpopular cause outside of the Arab world. Since the evacuation chaos, which he apologised for, he has pretty much led calls for some form of military intervention to stop Gaddafi bombing his own people back into submission. He was laughed at to start with; accused of making it up on the hoof. But now the 22-nation Arab League backs this position, as does Sarko. It may have been messy at first – but that’s how these

Saturday

The Spectator

Leader: Gaddafi’s revenge

Not even a month ago, it looked as though Colonel Gaddafi was going the way of Mubarak and Ben Ali — a bloodier process, certainly, but a seemingly irreversible one. Gaddafi’s revenge Not even a month ago, it looked as though Colonel Gaddafi was going the way of Mubarak and Ben Ali — a bloodier process, certainly, but a seemingly irreversible one. His generals mutinied, and pilots sent to bomb Libyan rebels flew to Malta. His ambassadors resigned. There was talk of imposing a no-fly zone, to help the Libyan rebels in the same way the Kurds were assisted in 1991. But then Gaddafi realised that the only opposition he

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Clegg urges his party to face reality

The cultural change Nick Clegg is trying to bring to the Liberal Democrats was summed up by one exchange during his Q&A with party delegates. One delegate, a member of the Federal Policy Committee, got up and said how conference had “sent the government a message” with its decision to amend the coalition’s health reform plans. To which a visibly exasperated Clegg replied, “you’re part of the government.”   Clegg was uncompromising in his message that the party has to accept the realities of coalition government. After he had dismissed a series of questions about whether he was too close to Cameron, Clegg said — only half-jokingly — to the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Lib Dems vote to amend Lansley’s NHS reforms

Lib Dem conference has just overwhelmingly voted to amend Lansley’s NHS bill. In the end, the Lib Dem leadership simply accepted the amendments because it was so clear they were going to pass. Evan Harris, the former Lib Dem MP, warned that the party would not accept the leadership simply ignoring these amendments. He said “we expect Liberal Democrats in government to follow what we overwhelmingly vote for.” Harris predicted that if they went along with Lansley’s bill, the Lib Dems would be associating themselves with the “retoxification of the Tory brand”.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Politics: Is Cameron having a Jimmy Carter moment?

The government is struggling to retain its reputation for competence. The government is struggling to retain its reputation for competence. Ministerial ineptitude has become a dangerously large part of the major news stories in recent weeks, from the Libyan crisis to the scandal surrounding Prince Andrew. This should worry the coalition, because the public will not support government cuts or reforms to public services if people believe it is incapable of carrying them out. Appearing competent is a prerequisite for successful government. The government will only get credit for what goes right if it is seen to be in charge. The team in No. 10, which has its share of

Hugo Rifkind Hugo Rifkind

There’s nothing very posh about skiing when it’s a package holiday in the French alps

Call me a blinkered, moronic, mollycoddled idiot (seriously, I’m fine with this) but I only quite recently realised there was something intrinsically posh about skiing. Call me a blinkered, moronic, mollycoddled idiot (seriously, I’m fine with this) but I only quite recently realised there was something intrinsically posh about skiing. This isn’t because I grew up doing it; more because I didn’t, really. I thought I knew all about posh pas-times when I was a kid. They were the ones which smelled of waxed jackets and gun oil, which took you into fields in tweed. Skiing, if you lived in Edinburgh, meant a smell of cagoules and mothballs, and the

Friday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

In protest at the Lib Dems

The Liberal Democrats have, as Clegg’s team like to joke, gone from being the party of protest to the party people protest. Here in Sheffield, at Lib Dem spring conference, there’s a growing group of demonstrators standing just outside the secure zone. They are keeping up a steady chant of ‘Lib Dem scum, Lib Dem scum.’ The authorities are clearly nervous about trouble this weekend. There are a huge number of police out on the streets, a number more akin to a full party conference rather than one of these smaller spring affairs. There is a 10,000 strong demo planned for tomorrow. If there is going to be trouble, it

The Spectator

The week that was | 11 March 2011

Here is a selection of articles made at Spectator.co.uk over the last week. Fraser Nelson analyses Labour’s inflation pitch. James Forsyth thinks that Cameron needs a Praetorian Guard, and reports on SpAd Wars. Peter Hoskin is intrigued by MiliD’s reappearance, and gives some context for police cuts. David Blackburn watches Eric Pickles go on the offensive, and considers Theresa May’s unenviable task. Martin Bright considers the enemies of enterprise. Nick Cohen denigrates Cameron’s decision to close the Quilliam Foundation. Rod Liddle is not at all surprised. Alex Massie puts tobacco into the Laffer curve. And Melanie Phillips laments a moral and strategic error.

David Blackburn

The growing clamour for intervention

In the last two days, Nato and European leaders have declared that Gaddafi must go, but both have baulked at taking unilateral action. Their reticence has sparked a response from those in favour of intervention. Speaking in Brussels today, David Cameron said that situation on the ground may be getting worse and that Europe and the West in general “must be ready to act if the situation requires it”. Liberal interventionist Bill Clinton went further. Speaking at the Women in the World summit, he said: “I wouldn’t do it if they [the rebels] hadn’t asked… [But] it’s not a fair fight. They’re being killed by mercenaries. I think we should

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Clegg’s unedifying slip reveals an underlying truth

Project Merlin, the deal between the government and the banks, was meant to turn the page on banker bashing. But the deputy prime minister is still stuck on the previous page, telling Radio Sheffield today ‘I want to wring the neck of these wretched people’ the bankers.   The language isn’t very statesmanlike and is sure to infuriate many of his coalition colleagues (it is also hardly sensible for the deputy prime minister to be using language which appears to condone violence ahead of a conference where the police are preparing to deal with a riot). But it does reflect a political reality: the banks remain public enemy number one.

Peter Hoskin

Clegg ushers in the next phase of the coalition

What have the Lib Dems ever done for us? That’s the question that Nick Clegg sets about answering in interview with the Independent today — and he does so with righteous vigour. “Brick by brick, policy by policy, decision by decision, sometimes almost invisibly,” he insists, “we are putting in place good policies that will make a long and lasting difference.” He dwells, and rightfully so, on the pupil premium and raised personal allowance. “All these things will outlive the immediate task of dealing with the deficit.” This salesmanship is only to be expected from Clegg, speaking on the eve of his party’s spring conference and in the aftermath of

Thursday

Daniel Korski

Liberal hawks

From the moment David Cameron started agitating for a no fly-zone, he’s been looking for allies. France and Denmark look like they will support him, with Russia and India opposed and China perhaps willing to abstain at the United Nations. But what about closer to home, inside the coalition? Since the formation of the coalition, every policy has been tested by what will it do for relations between the parties? Oddly, however, there has been no such test about Libyan policy. Newspapers have not been writing about splits, differences and agreements. That may be because Lord Ashdown went on the Today Programme and voiced conditional support for a no-fly zone.

David Blackburn

What is happening to the Conservative party?

Mark Wallace has been passed some very interesting information about local Conservative associations. He writes: ‘Apparently Andrew Feldman reported (at a meeting this morning) on a study CCHQ has carried out into the effectiveness of local Conservative Associations. In a “mystery shopper” exercise, CCHQ wrote to over 300 associations under the guise of being a person who wanted to join up, and asking how to do so. Over half of the letters received no response at all, which is bad enough. Weirdly, a handful who wrote back saying the applicant would need to pass a membership interview before they could join the Conservatives. Most worryingly, though, around 10% wrote back

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The British Bill of Rights stalls

A British Bill of Rights has long been the Tory leadership’s sticking plaster solution to the problems posed by the ECHR. The idea is that a British Bill of Rights would give this country a greater margin of appreciation in interpreting the convention. But this morning this plan is in tatters.   The long-awaited commission on the British Bill of Rights is clearly going nowhere.  Any commission which includes Lord Lester and Helena Kennedy, two of the Lib Dem appointees to it, isn’t going to improve the situation.   The failure of this commission even before it has started is a reminder that this problem isn’t going to be solved

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Tobacco and the Laffer Curve

Lefties like to think the Laffer Curve never applies; righties are too fond of thinking it must apply to any tax in almost any circumstances. Both views are mistaken. Cutting tax does not always increase revenue, but sometimes it can. As this excellent piece by Donna Edmunds observes, at least 80% of the £6.63 it costs to purchase a packet of smokes goes to the Treasury. At that level of taxation there is no shame in seeking ways to circumvent the Treasury. No wonder at least 10% and perhaps as many as 20% of all cigarettes bought in Britain (and perhaps 50% of rolling tobacco) is contraband, smuggled from abroad.

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Labour’s inflation pitch

Curiouser and curiouser. We in Coffee House have been saying for some time now that – whatever Mervyn King thinks – Britain has the worst inflation in the Western World apart from Greece. An OECD report out today shows we’ve got it worse than most eastern countries too. Korea, Turkey and Estonia are the only eastern nations with higher inflation: But what strikes me most about today is that food prices are soaring here, to an extent far worse than the rest of the world. This is what voters notice most: putting food on the table is very expensive. As Micawber might put it: annual food price inflation 6.3 per

David Blackburn

The hunt for Hague’s mojo

All hands to the Defence Select Committee this afternoon, for questions about the nation’s security apparatus. Of course, most onlookers were not remotely interested in the answers. For them, this gathering was convened to see if William Hague might regain his “mojo“. He didn’t get the chance. This was Letwin Hour. Or Letwin’s Two Hours, to be precise. After a difficult fortnight for the government, the brain behind Cameron’s premiership high-jacked proceedings. In insouciant tones, he explained the manifold complexities of the government’s security policy to the committee. Real terms defence spending is likely to increase after the next spending round and Trident will be replaced; both are a response

Matthew Hancock-Mp

Abel fights back

One of the hardest tasks of any opposition is to gain the trust and credibility to run the economy. After what happened over the last few years, Labour have an enormous credibility gap. Ed Balls’ decision to oppose any measure to deal with the deficit has reduced Labour’s economic credibility still further. So too has the two Eds’ decision to make attacks based on mis-truths, like denying there was a structural deficit before the election; or attacking the coalition for cutting bank taxes, when it is actually putting them up; and like backing another bonus tax, despite opposing it at the election, and despite Alistair Darling’s careful explanation of why

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

A tasty contest

Today’s PMQs was full of verve and bite. A welcome change after last week’s washout. It’s all getting a bit tasty between Ed and Dave. The Labour leader opened with Libya and after making ritual noises about wanting to support the government’s foreign policy he admitted he found it hard not to voice his ‘concern about incompetence’. Nice tactics there. Pose as a statesman and stick the blade in under the table. But Cameron wasn’t standing for it. ‘I don’t want to take a lecture from Labour about dealing with Libya and Gadaffi,’ he said furiously. And the cheers from the Tory benches redoubled when he called for Labour to