Politics

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

The transparency revolution gets under way

The press has gone to town on the government’s spending spree; more than £80bn of central government expenditure, itemised in this imposing document published today by Francis Maude. The government will squirm at some findings, notably on redacted defence procurement contracts, Libyan oil agreements and the 194,000 payments made to individuals and private companies (Capita has been paid £3.3bn for outsourcing government work, and De Beers, the diamond cutters, received nearly £1,200 from the Business Department). Already the blame game has begun, with Labour and the coalition sparring from a distance. But, for the most part, ministers will be gleeful: the Civil Service and public sector have been forced to expose their

James Forsyth

Ed Miliband needs to make some noise

Today’s press will not have made happy reading for Ed Miliband and his supporters. Alan Johnson’s comments to The Times about the need to change the way Labour elects its leader has revived the debate about the legitimacy of Ed Miliband’s victory. Meanwhile in the New Statesman there’s a piece setting out the internal tensions within the party. Intriguingly, Lisa Tremble, who was David Miliband’s press chief during his leadership campaign, has put what could be considered a rather provocative quote on the record. She tells the magazine, ‘David’s rediscovered his excitement in politics…He’s looking forward to the new challenges. He’s not going anywhere.’ As I say in the new

Fraser Nelson

Dave v Boris wars: a prequel?

David Cameron was on sparkling form last night, at our Parliamentarian of the Year awards. He joked about his photographer – saying he didn’t arrive for dinner because he saw fish was on the menu and didn’t want to pay for his own snapper. His remarks about the magazine were thoughtful, and well-researched. But what did he mean by the below? It certainly had the guests talking afterwards: some regarded it as the verbal equivalent of a horse’s head thrown into the bed of the Mayor of London. Me: I offer no opinion. But this is what he had to say: “I think the great thing about the Spectator is

Dave on the defensive

There is no sign of the heir to Blair at the Commons Liaison Committee this afternoon; in fact, David Cameron has been possessed by the ghost of Gordon. So far the Prime Minister’s answers have been cumbersome and statistic-heavy; and his delivery has had the dexterity of a three-legged elephant. He will have expected cannons to the left of him, but to the right as well? If he imagined that Tory backbenchers would coo appreciatively he will have been sadly disabused. Andrew Tyrie, James Arbuthnot and Bernard Jenkin have eviscerated him over the conduct of the strategic defence review. They deplored the culture of leaks and counter-briefing and probed Cameron

Britain may not be able to avoid bailing out the Irish

This morning, it sounds as though Ireland has finally buckled to demands that they accept a bailout from the EU. Their central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, has said that he expects a “very substantal loan” from Europe – although the details, and debtees, are yet to be clarified. In the UK, of course, backbench MPs and others have been quick to condemn any move which would force British taxpayers to cough up cash under the EU’s various bail-out arrangements. Only problem is: the UK may not have a choice. The part of the eurozone bail-out package which Britain could be underwriting to the tune of £6-7 billion – the so-called

Labour’s ice cream moment

This from Matthew Taylor – the former No.10 head of policy, speaking to the Times for their series (£) on the fall of New Labour – deserves a post of its own: “For me, New Labour died when Tony bought Gordon an ice cream in 2005. I remember sitting in Downing St two days after the election win and chucking into the bin the proposal to break up the Treasury.” 

Ed Miliband has a choice to make about the unions

On the surface, there are one or two baubles to delight a Labour supporter: their party leader has just had a second son, of course; they are pushing ahead of the Tories in a number of polls; and the coalition will surely come under sustained and heavy attack as the cuts make themselves felt. But strip back the gloss veneer, and Labour has some agonising problems to worry about. Chief among those problems – as I’ve written before – is their uncertain message on the economy, stretching into an uncertain policy prospectus overall. Just what do Labour stand for? Then there’s the simmering resentments between teams Ed and David, with

Parliamentarian of the Year award recipients 2010

The Spectator held its annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards ceremony this evening. Here, for CoffeeHousers to deliberate over, is the full list of winners: Newcomer of the year: Caroline Lucas Inquisitor of the year: Tom Watson Peer of the year: Lord Young of Graffham Speech of the year: David Cameron (for his “big comprehensive offer to the Lib Dems” and the apology for Bloody Sunday) Double act of the year: George Osborne and Danny Alexander Campaigner of the year: Ed Miliband Survivor of the year: Gisela Stuart Backbencher of the year: Graham Brady Statesman of the era: Margaret Thatcher Parliamentarian of the year: Ed Balls Politician of the year:

Phil Woolas, four investigations and a funeral wreath

It may take another week to discover if Phil Woolas has the right to challenge the election court ruling that destroyed his career. To the delight of his cadre of supporters in the House, judges have said there are “difficult questions to resolve” – not about the evidence of Woolas’ campaign making “false statements”, but about the specific application of the Representation of the People Act (RPA). Before the last die is cast, here are two quick contextual points. First, it is not just Harriet Harman who is keen to shut down this episode – many folks on all sides of the House of Commons would like to pretend skulduggery

The British taxpayer should not be bailing out Ireland

Everyone is talking about the royal wedding today.  It will be a great occasion but the public finances are tight and people are already asking about the cost.  There is a bigger issue for British taxpayers, though.  Our politicians have arranged for them to get hitched to the bride from hell: the ongoing fiscal disaster in the eurozone.   Under current plans it is reported that we could be liable for up to £7 billion in any Irish bailout.  At the TaxPayers’ Alliance, we have just this morning started a petition against British taxpayers’ money being put at risk for a euro-bailout of Ireland; you can sign it here.  

Lloyd Evans

A day off for Dave

The giraffe was back. Hattie Harman came to PMQs today wearing That Frock with its eccentric pattern of burnt umber pentagonals framed by light squiggly outlines. A great colour scheme for camouflaging giraffes in Africa. And an even better one for attracting attention in the house. Why does Hattie feel herself particularly giraffic? Her noble breeding naturally aligns her sympathies with an animal that has evolved upwards over many generations and can enjoy the lush topmost leaves not available to lowlier creatures. Or perhaps it’s her unsteady gait as she lumbers through her questions. Or perhaps it’s the fact that if she leans forwards and touches her knees with her

Alex Massie

To Solve The Irish Question, Ireland Must First Admit there Is a Question

Alas, poor Hibernia. According to RTE, Brian Cowen Denies Any Bailout Talks. The rest of the world is not so easily fooled, however. These may be “technical” discussions but they’re not discussing the finer points of hurling, are they? Among the more creative solutions to Ireland’s predicament: rejoin sterling. According to Mark Reckless, Tory MP for Rochester: Every MP I have spoken to says they would be happy for Ireland to have a guaranteed seat on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee. This would mean that, unlike before 1979, Ireland as a sovereign country would have a proper say in setting sterling interest rates. When we raised the idea

Sovereignty, and the loss of it

The superb Slugger O’Toole blog highlights what is certainly the most resonant quote if the day: “When you borrow, you lose a little bit of your sovereignty, no matter who you borrow from.” Those words were uttered by the Irish finance minister Brian Lenihan this morning, and they capture his country’s grisly predicament perfectly. The Irish government has been fighting the European attempt to bail them out because they believe, quite understandably, that it would mean a final handover of control to Brussels and Berlin. But their loose economic policy – built on debt, and structured around a stubborn currency – has already seen them lose control to the point

The divide over the Guantanamo settlements

After being pre-empted by the morning newspapers, Ken Clarke’s statement this afternoon contained nothing that was unexpected. “We’ve paid the money so we can move on,” he said. And he went on to emphasise that the Guantanamo payouts are not an admission of culpability, but rather all about sparing the public’s money and the spooks’ time. More striking were some of the responses from Clarke’s coalition stablemates. Take Tom Brake, the Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington, who suggested that the government wouldn’t have made the payments if the UK didn’t have a case to answer. Or Andrew Tyrie, who claimed that this underlines “a period of what appears

James Forsyth

Bonfire of the vanity photographers

Today is a very good day to bury bad news. Prince William and Kate Midddleton’s engagement is going to dominate the news and the front pages for at least the next 24 hours. Almost any other story can be slipped out unnoticed in the current circumstances. So it was a convenient time for Downing Street to announce that the photographer and the videographer would be moved off the public payroll and back onto the Tory one. This means that their work will not be able to appear on any government websites. Downing Street’s correction is welcome. But in reality, the damage has already been done by this story. It will

A 2015 Afghan exit will be tricky

William Hague told the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that British combat troops will leave Afghanistan in 2015 – even if parts of the country remain violent. Speaking to a number of senior military officers and civilians who have recently returned from Kabul and Helmand, I have come away with the clear sense – whisper it – that the tactical tide is in fact turning against the Taliban insurgency but that a number of facts will complicate further progress. First, the next few months in Helmand may unfortunately be quite bloody. The drop in British casualties over the summer has made the story disappear from the newspaper headlines but most military

Alex Massie

Au Revoir, Tom Harris

Blogging is a risky business for any MP*. There are some whose blogs would persuade one to cast a vote for almost any other candidate, regardless of party. But if I lived in Glasgow South I’d be quite happy to have Tom Harris as my MP. Hell, I might even vote for him despite disagreeing with him on many issues. Admittedly, since it’s a safe seat this is not such a sacrifice but I think electing good people to parliament is as important as the colour of the rosette they wear. So it’s disappointing, even a shame, that he’s decided to stop writing his blog. (At least for now.) He