Politics Archives

Sunday

6 Jun 2010

Lord Ashdown’s the right man for the Balkans

Last week, Europe’s foreign ministers gathered in Sarajevo under much fanfare – and did very little except issue a repetitive press release about the region’s future in the EU. The only highlight of the event was William Hague’s speech, which was excellent. Enlargement, however, is deeply unpopular among European elites, and the gathered foreign ministers seemed to be acutely aware of how little the market will bear by way of new ideas and initiatives. So the ideas I put out in a brief in the run-up to the summit for improving the EU’s accession process went nowhere. Only Austria and Estonia openly defended proposals at the meeting. Germany

Fraser Nelson

The other Rachel

The boat the Israelis peacefully intercepted was called Rachel Corrie – named after a young American protester accidentally killed when offering herself as a human shield in Gaza. Her name became immortalised, some 30 songs have been written for her, a London play named after her and a film last year. But another Rachel, completely forgotten, is Rachel Thaler – a 16-year-old British citizen murdered by a Palestinian suicide bomber in 2002. Only one British publication has ever mentioned her: The Spectator. Here, below, is Tom Gross’ article from 22 October 2005: ‘Dead Jews aren’t news: British newspapers care greatly about some victims of the Israel army, says Tom Gross,

Saturday

5 Jun 2010

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 5 June 2010

In Monday’s Guardian, Julian Glover wrote that David Laws broke the rules of parliamentary expenses ‘because he could not bring himself to reveal that he loved his landlord’. In Monday’s Guardian, Julian Glover wrote that David Laws broke the rules of parliamentary expenses ‘because he could not bring himself to reveal that he loved his landlord’. On the same day, in the Times, Matthew Parris, Glover’s civil partner, spoke of the ‘stinking hypocrisy’ which caused ‘the fall of a good man’ for no more than ‘an error of judgment’. The chief object of the couple’s onslaught was the Daily Telegraph, which broke the Laws story. It was the gay equivalent

David Blackburn

Labour leadership contenders eyeing the past, not the future

I wonder if the Labour leadership contenders worry that the previous generation’s forthcoming memoirs have created more excitement than them? I would be. The insipid campaign has laid bare the paucity of talent on Labour’s benches, and the party’s ideological exhaustion. No serving Cabinet minister lost their seat at the election; Tony Blair aside, the Milibands and Ed Balls are the best Labour has. That’s a grim prospect if your colour’s red. Ed Balls has the panache of a Vauxhall Zafira; and the two Milibands are trapped in a Beckettian whirl of meaningless jargon, convinced that using abstract nouns is a mark of vital intelligence. It isn’t; it’s irritating, and

Daniel Korski

Politicize aid? It already is – and good too

On Thursday, Andrew Mitchell rolled out the government’s first overseas aid initiative – a transparency watchdog – and took to the airwaves to explain the idea. It makes particular sense in a downturn to ensure that taxpayer’s money is well spent but also to give voters the feeling that independent assessments are carried out to guarantee value for their money. On Newsnight, the International Development Secretary ran into a criticism, often voiced by the aid community – that the Conservatives are too willing to “militarise” aid or to “politicise” it. He dealt with the criticism robustly – but I want to have a go too. Because while these are

James Forsyth

Osborne’s successful first outing on the international stage

George Osborne’s Asia trip has now been rounded off with a meeting of the G20 finance ministers in South Korea and he is now heading back to Britain and his Budget preparations. The trip must be marked up as a success for Osborne. In its communiqué, the meeting implicitly endorsed Osborne’s two major moves since becoming Chancellor, cuts this year and the setting up of the Office of Budgetary Responsibility: ‘We welcome the recent announcements by some countries to reduce their deficits in 2010 and strengthen their fiscal frameworks and institutions’ No one can doubt that the Tories have comprehensively won the argument for in-year cuts. With a growing domestic

James Forsyth

New Labour, a question of dates

Ed Balls makes an interesting definitional point in his interview with The Times. He says that to him “new Labour was 1994 to 1997, us translating from being a party of opposition to a party of government, understanding that our radicalism had to be based on credible foundations, that no one would trust you on public services unless you were trusted on interest rates and inflation.” What many other people mean by New Labour is the public service reform agenda. But that didn’t really kick into gear until after 2001. Balls claims that, that was when New Labour lost its way. Balls is trying to argue that it was the

James Forsyth

Laws’s resignation is a disaster for the coalition in all but one respect

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics Straight after David Cameron had announced his final offer to the Liberal Democrats — a referendum on Westminster’s voting system in exchange for entering into coalition — I bumped into a member of the Tory Cabinet. I asked him if he thought that the offer was unnecessary seeing as a ‘coalition of the losers’ between the Labour and the Liberal Democrats was so unlikely to succeed. This Tory disagreed. He argued that the reward — the reunification of the right — was well worth the risk. My companion soon warmed to his theme. He set about explaining how a Liberal-Tory coalition is what

Andrew Gilligan

We need a compact with Muslim Middle England

Andrew Gilligan says the new coalition must reformulate our relationship with moderate Muslims — and marginalise the extremists for good One of the unsung heroes of this year’s election campaign was the Labour MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Jim Fitzpatrick. Alone in his party, Mr Fitzpatrick stood up before the election and said something that everyone in east London Labour knew, but no one else had the guts to put on record. To my newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph, and Channel 4’s Dispatches, he blew the whistle on the way that, in his words, the Tower Hamlets Labour party had been infiltrated and ‘corrupted’ by a radical Islamist group, the Islamic

Arthur Laffer

Where’s the gain in the capital gains tax?

The idea of ‘squeezing the rich’ may be politically attractive. But, says Arthur B. Laffer, it means less tax revenue — as the coalition may be about to learn the hard way Britain’s new coalition government has a simple mission: to walk the thin line separating huge deficits and political correctness. Just how can a government patched together from former political adversaries raise the revenues needed — and still be fair to the poor, the various minorities and the disenfranchised? The answer they seem to have alighted on is the old saw of ‘tax the rich’. The first salvo in this new class warfare skirmish is to raise the capital

Matthew Parris

Did David Laws have to jump, or did we push him?

In the world of political commentary, to quote Enoch Powell’s dictum that for politicians to complain about the press is like ships’ captains complaining about the sea has become almost tedious. But the brisk finality of that remark is too useful to dispense with. Is it, though, correct? Observing the awful story of David Laws’s resignation unfolding over last weekend has caused me to question whether Powell’s really is the last word on the subject. On one thing Powell was right: it is not for politicians to complain. That Mr Laws has not complained (and, I think, genuinely doesn’t complain) has made him the more admirable, and admired. But what

Friday

4 Jun 2010

The Spectator

The week that was | 4 June 2010

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson comments on the Commons’ bizarre new chemistry. James Forsyth notes that more than a thousand schools have applied for academy status, and watched David Cameron impress on his first outcome. David Blackburn analyses a PR disaster for Israel, and sees a tacit endorsement of David Miliband from Peter Mandelson. Daniel Korski calls for change at the DfID. Rod Liddle believes that Israel’s standing in the world has been harmed. Alex Massie challenges some received opinions about immigration. Melanie Phillips defends Israel’s actions. And Cappuccino Culture is hearing whispers from Hay.

Daniel Korski

Noises off, officers

David Cameron is caught between a rock and a hard place. His government is rightly committed to its AfPak policy and the need to keep ties with the United States strong and close. But the Prime Minister and his aides probably also know that the assessments offered by a number of senior military officers of the campaign are rose-tinted, and suspect that the US administration may pivot and head for the exit far quicker than is comfortable for its allies. This is a tough choice; a wrong move could damage transatlantic ties and set back the fight against Jihadism. Staying the course will mean greater opposition from both Right and

Venetia Thompson

Wrong kind of sex in the City

By far the most surprising twist in the sorry tale of the demise of David Laws, is that it has yet to unleash another round of banker bashing. There is plenty potential for it. Why, it might be asked, would such a confident and accomplished MP refuse to admit to being gay? Why in this day and age, when so many have paved the way before him, couldn’t he have just come out? The answer may well lie in his career background. Laws came from one of the very hardest places for gay man to be open about their sexuality: the City of London. As I know from my own

Thursday

3 Jun 2010

Daniel Korski

Flotilla follies

Two groups in the Conservative party that have worried most about Con-Lib government are the social conservatives and the neo-conservatives. The latter have been particularly worried about UK relations with Israel. There is a real concern in parts of the Conservatives Party that three factors would come together to sour Anglo-Israeli relations: what the neo-conservatives see as the Foreign Office’s knee-jerk Arabism, the presence of many supposed Arabists in Cameron-Hague’s teams, and the anti-Israel bias exhibited by many leading Liberal Democrats. Whatever the truth of these allegations, they are held with considerable fervour. But Nick Clegg’s reaction to the conflict shows that the Lib Dem leader is both holding to

David Blackburn

Will the coalition fall over Europe?

Well, well. Simon Hughes has just made firm Eurosceptic comments in the Commons. He said: ‘I’m also clear…that we need to revisit some of the decisions like the working time directive where I think we made a mistake, and there have been mistakes in the European Union. “And my great enthusiasm for the European Union and for better collaboration across Euope doesn’t make me blind to things that have not gone well and where we need to do better. And overly prescriptive regulation such as the working time directive is one of those. “I don’t take the view that there’s only ever a one-way traffic of power from this parliament

Alex Massie

Mods & Trads: Australian Edition

An interesting piece from the BBC’s Nick Bryant, arguing that Australian conservatives have concluded that Cameron failed to win an overall majority because he was insufficiently clear – that is, right-wing. The Liberal leader Tony Abbott appears determined not to make the same mistake [sic*] and is modifying, that is to say abandoning, some of his predecessors modernising touches as Australia prepares for its election next year. If Abbott wins – though at present the polls suggest the electorate doesn’t like Abbott’s Liberals or Prime Minister Rudd’s Labour party and would, in a burst of Aussie Cleggmania hand the Greens 16% of the vote – then we can expect the

Alex Massie

Immigration: A Question of Patriotism

Ben Brogan’s column in the Telegraph urges David Cameron to get tough on immigration and act quickly. He need have no fear on that front. Since Labour seemed to have decided – erroneously – that immigration cost them the election the Conservatives and Labour are racing one another to see who can be beastliest about and to folk born outside the United Kingdom. He writes: It [immigration] fell [from 233,000] to 163,000 in 2008, but only because more people left the country. The number of people entering Britain that year actually rose, from 574,000 to 590,000. Even now, they keep on coming, drawn to a country that offers more opportunities

David Blackburn

Harman’s schtick

Harriet Harman is irresistibly attracted to the absurd. This morning, she has decreed that the shadow cabinet be split 50:50 between men and women. Naturally, she would pervert Labour party rules to ensure the quota was a statutory requirement. To be honest, I’ve lost track of Harman’s myriad ruses to increase the female presence in high politics; and to be equally honest I’m no longer interested. It’s Harman’s schtick, leave her to it. Speaking to the national Unite conference, Harman made some sensible points about Labour’s electoral failure. She said: ‘We must listen and learn… Our biggest loss of support was from hard-working families who, worried about housing and jobs,

David Blackburn

The Third Man for the third way

Peter Mandelson’s Machiavellian streak runs deep. Like the wily Florentine, Mandelson wants to retire to the country to farm and be close to the earth; but first, there is the small matter of a book for political princes. In this morning’s Times, Mandelson has written an exhaustive plug for his forthcoming book, The Third Man: Life at the heart of New Labour. In the course of writing his publisher’s press release, Mandelson makes two important points: one historical and one current. He admits his greatest mistake was to broker Blair and Brown’s deal in 1994; the soap opera that followed, Mandelson argues, would never had occurred had they fought it