Politics Archives

Tuesday

13 Sep 2011

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

Monday

12 Sep 2011

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

David Blackburn

Osborne lays out his support for Vickers

George Osborne made a firm statement on the Vickers report this afternoon; if he felt uneasy about the proposed abolition of his seat or Natalie Rowe’s latest sally against him it didn’t show. As expected, he accepted Vickers’ proposals “in principle”, giving himself and his coalition partners enough room to manoeuvre within an agreed timetable that is equitable to both parties. Osborne also said that the annual £7 billion burden of Vickers’ capital requirements “should fall on shareholders and the wholesale debt holders, not small depositors or taxpayers.” Politically, it’s imperative that he achieves that objective. There is yet uncertainty on the subject and Barclays sought a clarification earlier this afternoon.

David Blackburn

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

David Blackburn

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

The Spectator

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.

David Blackburn

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

Sunday

11 Sep 2011

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.

Hamish Macdonell

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

Saturday

10 Sep 2011

The Spectator

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

Friday

9 Sep 2011

The Spectator

The week that was | 9 September 2011

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the last week. Freddy Gray says the riots were informed by a “hip hop culture” and reports on Wednesday night’s Republican debate. Fraser Nelson asks “Who were the rioters?” and says Osborne should drop the 50p tax rate. James Forsyth reports on the breakdown of relations between Nick Clegg and his Tory Cabinet colleagues and reveals that Eric Pickles will be in charge of dealing with Britain’s “problem families”. David Wooding says the News of the World fire is still burning strong. Justin Marozzi, our man in Triploi, reveals the contents of a Gaddafi’s school notebook and says that oil

James Forsyth

Cameron’s well-schooled argument

When Michael Howard offered David Cameron the pick of the jobs in the shadow Cabinet after the 2005 election, Cameron chose education. Howard was disappointed that Cameron hadn’t opted to shadow Gordon Brown but Cameron argued that education was the most important portfolio. A sense of that commitment was on display today in his speech on education, delivered at one of the new free schools that have opened this term. His defence of the coalition’s plans to make it easier to sack bad teachers summed up its refreshing radicalism. He simply said, “If it’s a choice between making sure our children get the highest quality teaching or some teachers changing

Thursday

8 Sep 2011

Martin Bright

What Alistair Darling and I have in common

The coverage of Alistair Darling’s memoirs at the weekend was fascinating, not least for the almost universal respect he was shown. Some senior Labour figures tried the old “ancient history” line. But this was ridiculous given the fact that the events described are relatively recent and that they continue to have a profound effect on he Labour Party. Darling was one of the few key players during the banking crisis to have kept a cool head. The extracts from his memoirs demonstrate just how difficult that must have been considering the utter chaos around him. The process of publishing these memoirs must have been difficult as he is someone who,

James Forsyth

Pickles to take charge of dealing with Britain’s 120,000 “problem families”

I understand that following a meeting in Downing Street this morning, Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, has been put in charge of dealing with Britain’s 120,000 “problem families”. In the aftermath of the riots, David Cameron promised to put all of these families through some a family-intervention programme by the time of the next election. This policy, though, was bogged down in the bureaucracy as it cut across so many different departments. Pickles’ department will now have sole responsibility for this commitment. It will receive extra budget, with the money coming from education and work and pensions, and staff to deal with this. As I revealed in

Alex Massie

Bush and Reagan on Immigration

The times they change but the questions remain the same. It’s the Republican party that has changed. A candidate who talked about (illegal)immigration the way Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush did in this 1980 debate would receive pelters. Now, in part that reflects the fact that 30 years on the problem remains unsolved and I suppose you could argue the Reagan amnesty made matters worse still. Nevertheless the difference in tone is striking: [Hat-tip: Alex Knapp]