Politics

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

Britain’s Palestinian statehood question

The Palestinians are seeking United Nations recognition as a state and a vote is apparently imminent. The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland has a useful account of the diplomatic arithmetic and explains how the possible vote could be decided by European countries and by Britain in particular. ‘Barack Obama has already said the US will vote against any Palestinian move towards statehood at the UN general assembly now gathering in New York. Large swaths of Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East plan to vote for it. Which leaves Europe as the diplomatic battleground. If the leading European powers side with the US, the Palestinian initiative will be seen as a

A report to worry the two Eds?

The Institute for Fiscal Studies enjoys quasi-divine status in Westminster: chancellors and their shadows bother it for its blessing, and Budget Day is never complete until its judgment has been passed. Both parties have bent a suppliant knee before the institute in the past, but the IFS became particularly important to Labour after it declared last autumn that George Osborne’s policies to be ‘regressive‘. This is why the IFS report on the tax system, released today, is important. The review, conducted by Sir James Mirrlees, is a damning indictment on tax system that has fallen from 5th to 95th in the World Economic Forum’s tax competitiveness rankings. Mirrlees’ findings have far

Alex Massie

Pawlenty: Rick Perry Must Be Stopped

File Tim Pawlenty’s endorsement of Mitt Romney in the drawer marked Fancy That! So, not a surprise but telling nevertheless and a useful signal that the battle for the Republican party’s presidential nomination can be summarised as Problem Solvers vs Firebrands. This may be a little unfair on Rick Perry since his candidacy is an attempt to fuse the two, albeit by pointing to Texas policies that may not be replicable in other parts of the great Union. Nevertheless, Perry’s campaign is, thus far at least, predicated upon an appeal to a certain kind of muscular conservatism whose appeal is largely a matter of aesthetics. That is, sound and style

Miliband: We can’t spend our way to a new economy

David Cameron and IDS have been promoting the Work Programme this afternoon and they reiterated that jobseekers must learn English to claim benefits if their language difficulties are hampering their job applications. It’s another indication of the government’s radical approach to welfare reform. Aside from that, the main event in Westminster today was Ed Miliband’s speech to the TUC. Miliband was widely heckled by the Brothers, especially when he told them: “Let me just tell you about my experience of academies as I’ve got two academies in my own constituency. They have made a big difference to educational standards in my constituency and that is my local experience of that.” The Tories

James Murdoch recalled by parliament

The Culture, Media and Sport committee has recalled James Murdoch to give further evidence into phone hacking and James Murdoch’s people are briefing journalists that he is happy to appear. Sophy Ridge reports that the committee had a long discussion about who to recall, but were largely in agreement and there was no vote. In truth, their decision was virtually inevitable after Tom Crone said he was certain that he and Colin Myler had spoken to Murdoch about the ‘For Neville’ email, which suggested that hacking was widespread. Myler has corroborated Crone’s claims.  Committee chairman John Whittingdale has said that Murdoch will be asked to clarify this and other questions.

Miliband versus the Brothers

Ed Miliband is the Brothers’ man, or so the popular myth relates. Miliband has been trying to shake that perception ever since his election was secured by the union vote. He will make his most visible show of defiance yet in a speech to the TUC conference today. Miliband will refuse to countenance the proposed general strike over public sector pensions and instead urge the unions to change their ways. The Guardian reports that he will say: ‘The challenge for unions is this: to recognise that Britain needs to raise its game if we are to meet the challenges of the future and to get private sector employers in the new economy

James Forsyth

Bumper turnout for Tory Euro-sceptic meeting

I hear that 124 Tory MPs attended the inaugural meeting of the Tory ginger group pushing for renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Europe. Those present included at least one minister — Theresa Villiers, several PPS and a few whips who were keeping a beady eye on proceeding. George Eustice, the convener of the group, told the room that he wanted the group to work with the government rather than against it and that he wanted front-benchers to feel comfortable attending the meetings. The group intends to put out a series of proposals as to which powers should be repatriated before issuing a white paper on how the government should renegotiate

Boundary review leaked

The Boundary review, which was embargoed, has been leaked. Here are some immediate headlines from the proposals: George Osborne’s Tatton seat appears to have been abolished, though you imagine he’ll have little difficulty in finding anohter. After much speculation that his Twickenham seat would be subsumed, Vince Cable may have survived. The new seat covers what appears cover to be a fair tranche of his current area, but it’s not exactly clear. Either way, Cable is someone you’d expect to find another berth if necessary.  Zac Goldsmith’s Richmond Park seat has been reworked, inheriting some wards from Lib Dem held Twickenham, and may now be a tougher proposition to hold. Ed Miliband’s minions, Chuka Umanna and Sadiq Khan, might fight over

Vice girl Rowe takes another hit at Osborne

“I said to George [Osborne] jokingly that when you’re prime minister one day I’ll have all the dirty goods on you, and he laughed and took a big fat line of cocaine,” says Natalie Rowe, a former madam of the Black Beauties escort agency, in an interview with ABC’s PM programme. She adds, “It’s been said in the newspapers that he was at university. He wasn’t. At the time he was working for [former Tory leader now foreign secretary] William Hague…I remember that vividly because he called William Hague insipid.” This is not the first time that Rowe has made these allegations against Osborne, as the above picture attests. The

James Forsyth

Managing the boundary changes

MPs are queuing down the corridor on the first floor of Portcullis House as they try to get hold of a copy of the proposed boundary changes which have just been released under embargo. Boundary changes can make a huge difference to an MP, converting a marginal into a safe seat and vice-versa. Boundary reviews are a whip’s nightmare as they will set MPs of the same party against each other. The danger for the two coalition partners is that MPs’ take to rebelling on emotive issues for their parties in an attempt to win any selection head to head. This is why Cameron went out of his way to

Just in case you missed them… | 12 September 2011

…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson witnesses the commemorations of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 in New York, and considers the ramifications of more QE. Siobhan Courtney asks if it is better to be married. Hamish MacDonell reveals that the SNP is opening up its lead in Scotland. James Forsyth examines the coalition’s conundrum over Europe, and explains the Stark divisions prevailing in the Eurozone.      Daniel Korski asks where the Arab Spring leaves Israel. And the Arts Blog has a compilation of songs remembering 9/11.

Vickers provides the best of both worlds for George and Vince

It’s the moment of the truth for Britain’s banking sector: the publication of the Vickers report. The headline is as expected: the Commission recommends the imposition of a ringfence on banks’ ‘core operations’ (such as consumer deposits and small business lending) from the riskier elements of their business. According to the FT (£), the banks will have discretion over where the ringfence will fall, giving lenders and users a degree of flexibility, which suggests that Vickers is not recommending the full separation of retail and investment banking, as some had hoped. Vickers also proposes that banks reserve 10 per cent of the capital in their ringfenced operations to guard against future crises, which is expected to

James Forsyth

A reminder of two of the political battles ahead for the coalition

If anyone had any doubts about how difficult the politics of banking reform and planning would be for the Conservatives, they’ll be dispelled by a glance at a couple of tomorrow’s front pages.  ‘Osborne to let banks off the hook—for now’ screams The Independent. This a reference to the Chancellor’s plans to consult with the banks on the conclusions of the Vickers report—which the government has seen but is officially published tomorrow morning. The political problem for Osborne is that anything other than the immediate implementation of Vickers’ recommendations will be seen as a favour to the banks. But pushing the reforms through now could undermine an already weak economy.

SNP stretch lead over woeful opposition

How long will Alex Salmond’s honeymoon with the voters of Scotland continue? Given that his next mission is to hold and win an independence referendum, much depends on his popularity and that of his party. Today, a third opinion poll puts support for the Scottish National Party at just under half of the national electorate. Angus Reid, polling for the Sunday Express, puts support for the SNP has now hit a remarkable 49 per cent. Given that the Nationalists only won 45 per cent of the votes in May’s election – enough to sweep all the unionist parties into the background – this new high just shy of 50 per

Nick Cohen

Labour must make up for its failure on banking

It is a sign of how serious economic thought disappeared in the bubble – “who needs it when we’re all making money?” –  that public opinion is not pummelling Labour for its failure to regulate the banks. Even the most conservative of Spectator readers might have once have said, “Well I expect Labour governments to increase spending and throw my money around. I expect them to waste it on schemes that won’t help me, but at least I can count on them to treat the bankers like potential enemies of the state.” I’m sure readers will correct me if I am wrong, but I cannot find one example of a

James Forsyth

Huhne ramps up the rhetoric on 50p

Chris Huhne’s comments to Prospect magazine about the 50p tax rate are typically provocative. The millionaire, former City boy accuses the Tories of wanting to abolish the 50p tax rate to help ‘their friends in the City to put their feet up’. He even suggests that the Lib Dems would not vote through any Budget that contained its abolition. Huhne’s intervention comes at a time when George Osborne is trying to build support for abolishing—or, at least cutting—the 50p rate. Tellingly, the letter from economists opposing the 50p rate was drawn up with the help of one of the Chancellor’s closest lieutenants. But, as with so much Lib Dem rhetoric

Leading article: A failure of planning

David Cameron has been struggling to get across what he means by his Big Society project, but he has nonetheless succeeded spectacularly in motivating previously apathetic and distant neighbours to get together and give up their time for a common purpose. Unfortunately for the Prime Minister, that purpose is to stop his planning policy. True, the National Trust — which launched a campaign against the government’s planning reforms last week — often comes across as a lavender-scented enemy of progress. But there is little question that its views reflect those of millions of people who ought to be this government’s natural supporters. However great the need for more housing and

James Forsyth

Hague says he’s been held back on Europe by the Lib Dems

William Hague’s comments in an interview with The Times that the Liberal Democrats are restraining the Tories on Europe will increase the grumbling among Tory backbenchers about the power of the junior coalition partner. Hague tells the paper that ‘A point of difference in our manifesto was the aim to repatriate some powers. Clearly that’s something I’m in favour of, but that’s the area we had to compromise on in return for other compromises.’ (In many ways this is a statement of the obvious. But in the current uncertain European environment, his remarks are news). In an attempt to reassure euro-sceptics, Foreign Secretary stresses that the Conservative party ‘would like

Mary Wakefield

Let’s bring the abortion debate to life

No one ever really expected Nadine Dorries’s ill-fated abortion bill to succeed — not after the Lib Dems had made a fuss, and the PM had withdrawn his support with his usual principled grace. But what’s more surprising has been the strange and unpleasant consensus which has risen up from the debate about the bill, and has been twisting into the minds and out of the mouths of journalists all week — not just on the left, but across the centre too, and throughout Westminster. The consensus that’s taken shape seems to be this: that abortion is not just a necessary evil, but a jolly good thing. That being pro-choice