Politics Archives

Wednesday

22 Sep 2010

All so predictable from Cable

If Vince Cable has achieved anything, it’s to enliven a Lib Dem conference that had settled into cosy anonymity after Clegg’s speech on Monday. He has now delivered the address that David blogged about earlier – and all of the firebrand passages trailed in this morning’s papers were present and correct. “Capitalism,” Cable warned, “kills competition where it can.” And he followed that lead to kick the bankers where he could. In between passages extolling the virtues of “pro business, pro market” policy, he set about the “spiv and gamblers” who had triggered the financial crisis. To be honest, though, I find it hard to get too worked up about this. Sure,

James Forsyth

Lib Dem activists less than gleeful about the coalition

Last night, Liberal Democrats gathered for their traditional conference glee club. It is a light-hearted occasion with lots of communal singing and jokes. But some of the gags did seem to vocalise a certain unease about the coalition. There was a very lusty rendition of a song that went like this, to the tune of The Twelve Days of Christmas: On the first day of coalition The Tories gave to me A referendum on AV On the second day of merger The Tories gave to me Absolutely zilch And a referendum on AV On the third day of coalition The Tories gave to me Sweet FA Absolutely zilch And

David Blackburn

Cable shows his true colours

‘[Capitalism] takes no prisoners and it kills competition where it can’. ‘Markets are often irrational or rigged.’ A snob would describe those as the ravings of a chippy provincial university lecturer. In fact, they are the considered thoughts of Vince Cable, the business secretary, the very man tasked with selling Britain to international markets. Cable will address the Lib Dem conference later today, vowing to shine the ‘harsh light into the murky world corporate behaviour’. Limiting short-term speculation when linked to high pay is government policy, but Cable will go further than a spot of banker bashing. Much further. He will say: ‘Why should good companies be destroyed by short-term investors looking

Tuesday

21 Sep 2010

Alex Massie

Liberal Democrat Misanthropes

Bagehot had the misfortune to attend a Liberal Democrat fringe meeting on education reform. But I’m glad he did because he’s produced a righteous post that demands to be read in full. Here’s a taste of it: The title of the meeting was blunt: “Will Schools Have Too Much Freedom in a Big Society?” Mr Hames tried pluckily to defend the idea of radical, permissive reforms to British education policy. Such change might be messy, he conceded, as different sorts of schools and academies sprang up. But his audience—well-meaning and “progressive” local councillors, school heads and school governors—appeared convinced that changes to education policy (and certainly any changes to the

James Forsyth

Whither the Lib Dems?

A striking aspect of the Liberal Democrat conference is how discussion of cooperation with Labour takes place in public while talk of any future work with their current coalition partner happens in private. Tonight, Paddy Ashdown told an Observer fringe meeting that the Liberal Democrats’ long-term goal should still be to become the dominant party of the centre-left in Britain. I must admit that I struggle to see how this is possible. The steps that the coalition needs to take to deal with what Nick Clegg calls the ‘invisible crisis’ of the deficit will alienate the party from the centre left. But then again, as one liberal Liberal Democrat said

James Forsyth

Keeping the flame alive | 21 September 2010

In the early hours of this morning, Lib Dem conference looked like any other party conference. A throng of people—mostly men in suits—standing around outside the conference hotel having come from the various media parties. Indeed, it is surprisingly hard to tell the difference between Lib Dem conference and the others now. There are a large number of lobbyists here and a whole host of corporate types. But there are some activists trying to keep the flame of the traditional Lib Dem conference alive. Julian Glover has a lovely story over at Comment is Free about what happened after Nick Clegg’s speech yesterday: “In the hall yesterday evening, where

Rod Liddle

Specialists in self-delusion

I wasn’t able to get to the Liberal Democrat party conference this year, which is a shame as it is probably the first time it’s been interesting since Jeremy Thorpe’s mate shot that dog. There is an irony in the fact that the least compelling Liberal leader of the last fifty years, and the one who presided over the most disappointing election result, given the expectations, is nonetheless the first to have some form of role in government. Of the previous six leaders only Thorpe, I think, would have signed up to the current coalition, largely out of vaulting ambition. Despite his protestations of support, it is hard to think

Peter Hoskin

Hughes retracts his claws (for now)

Few observers would have expected Simon Hughes to tear into the coalition with full force in his speech today. The mood in Liverpool is geared towards support, not destruction. But the deputy Lib Dem leader’s effusiveness was still fairly surprising. He reassured the audience that he is a “rock solid supporter of the coalition – which our party has democratically agreed will last for five years”. He echoed one of Clegg’s central messages from yesterday, saying that “when you move from the touchline to the pitch, there is a risk you may get some knocks and pick up a few bruises – but on the touchline you never get the

James Forsyth

A lot done – and a lot still to do – for Nick Clegg

There’s always an after the Lord Mayor’s show feel at conference the today, after the leader’s speech. Adding to this feeling today is that the programme is relatively light; Simon Hughes and Chris Huhne are the star attractions. Last night at the various parties one sensed a certain satisfaction among those close to Clegg at how the conference has gone. They feel they have got though it without any serious trouble and that the leader’s speech has warned the party of what is to come. But I do think that it is next year’s conference, when the cuts are biting, that will be the real test of what the

Peter Hoskin

Why David Miliband is the most dangerous candidate for the coalition

Now how’s this for an opinion? Writing for Labour Uncut, Dan Hodges announces that David Miliband has won the Labour leadership contest. His piece starts: “This Saturday David Miliband will become leader of the Labour party. He will have won a majority of his Parliamentary colleagues and the wider membership, along with sufficient support from unions and other affiliates to secure not just victory but an overwhelming mandate. The New Labour era will be over.” To most other observers, myself included, it still looks too close to call. But the more I think about it, the more I feel that David Miliband is best equipped to win this contest. If

Peter Hoskin

Is Laws writing himself out of a return to government?

A noteworthy snippet in Andrew Pierce’s column this morning: “[David Laws] is hard at work on a book. The title – 22 Days In May – is hardly likely to set pulses racing, but the book will be the first insider account of the negotiations which led to the coalition. Laws is also planning to cover the early days of the Government – days which, of course, include his downfall.” Not that this would completely scupper his colleagues’ plans to draft Laws back into government, of course. But, as we’ve seen with the spate of New Labour memoirs, insiders’ accounts do tend to wait until the insider has left government

Alex Massie

Nick Clegg’s 15% Opportunity

Who would have thought, even a year ago, that the future of the Liberal Democrats would arouse such interest? Perhaps I was too harsh on Nick Clegg’s speech to the party’s conference; certainly Fraser was more impressed by it and the gang at Liberal Vision also seem pleased. Perhaps I was wrong to hope that Clegg would disavow the social democrats in his party in this speech. One should always be wary of criticising politicians simply because they decline to do what you would have them do. Equally, one should not assume that doing what one would want them to do is the path to either political or policy success.

Monday

20 Sep 2010

The Spectator

The reaction to Clegg’s speech

Here is a selection of responses to Clegg’s from across the blogosphere. Fraser Nelson reflects on Clegg’s bout of political S&M. James Forsyth hears Clegg talk to party not country. Peter Hoskin watches Nick Clegg shade the coalition yellow. Alex Massie describes it as ‘lacklustre’, but reckons the audience may have seen it differently. Iain Martin says that Clegg looked confident, but the Lib Dems aren’t very sure about this government business. Nick Robinson reviews a ‘largely defensive speech’ from Nick Clegg. Comment is Free’s Jackie Ashley and Deborah Orr give their verdict. And Left Foot Forward condemns Clegg’s conversion to the Thatcher school

Fraser Nelson

Clegg’s little bit of political S&M

Nick Clegg is making life horribly difficult for those of us on the right who spent the last few things portraying him as a figure of fun. He is now delivering the best speeches of anyone in the Cabinet, characterised by a quiet sense of urgency and direction. He’s in the business of making the case for cuts. He spoke to a party that spent much of the last decade attacking Labour from the left. For those delegates, it was a little bit of political S&M. It must have hurt – but they liked it. “We haven’t changed our liberal values,” he said – and then went on justifying Conservative

James Forsyth

Clegg speaks to the hall

Nick Clegg chose to speak to his party not the country today. His address was a justification of his decision to go into government with the Tories and a plea for his party to stick together over the next five, difficult years. The crucial bit of the speech came when Clegg said of his party ‘maybe we got used to [being against every government that came along] ourselves’ but ‘imagine if we had turned away. How could we ever again have asked the voters to take us seriously?’ Clegg’s point was that opposition was not an option and ‘this country could not have borne five more years of Labour’.

Peter Hoskin

Clegg shades the coalition yellow for his Lib Dem audience

It’s hard to know quite what to make of Nick Clegg’s speech just now. It never really soared as a piece of oration, but he skipped quite expertly across all the issues that might concern, delight and enliven a Lib Dem audience. And so we heard about how much the Lib Dems are contributing towards government; about how the cuts are a prerequisite for fairness; and about how the party will maintain its independence. On the whole, this was coalition politics shaded yellow. But Clegg managed to drop in a few unadulterated sweeteners for his audience – including a dig at the “still illegal” Iraq War. The overall response was warmer than he

Alex Massie

Clegg’s Lacklustre Speech

As rallying cries go, “Stick with us” lacks a certain something. But that’s how the Liberal Democrats roll and so it was that Nick Clegg was forced – or believed himself forced – to deliver a disappointingly defensive speech to the party’s annual conference this afternoon. Perhaps that’s what he needed to do. This was Operation Reassure Sensitive, Confused, Liberals. This being so it wasn’t quite the valiant proclamation of Orange Book liberalism I’d have wanted to see*. Nevertheless, there were times when Clegg was unecessarily defensive, even about being in government. Rather than challenge his party, Clegg played nice. Perhaps this too was necessary but it left one noting

Peter Hoskin

Clegg speech live blog

1653, PH: And that, aside from Clegg’s stroll around the crowd, is that. There’ll be further analysis on Coffee House shortly. The applause continues… 1652, PH: Clegg ends with a flourish: “Stick with us, and we will change Britain for good.” The crowd is on its feet. 1651, PH: Is Clegg moulding his party as the party of coalition? He says that the next few years may make the case of “liberal, pluralist politics”. 1650, PH: Clegg says that if AV triumphs in the referendum next year, then “the clapped-out system of first-past-the-post will be gone for good.” 1648, PH: A return to the theme of the beginning of the

Alex Massie

Irish Austerity Update

Paul Krugman is back banging a familiar drum: austerity is not a good idea. Anywhere. As always, Ireland is one of his favourite examples: [V]irtuous Ireland never did better than malingering Spain. And now, Ireland’s risk premium has exploded, here; Spain’s not so much, here. Of course, it’s not at all a clean experiment; Ireland’s banks were arguably second only to Iceland’s in their irresponsibility, and the Irish government’s blanket guarantee has exposed it to huge losses. But bear in mind that when Ireland seemed, briefly, to have regained the trust of the markets, this was touted as proof that austerity will be rewarded. Funny about that. As always, I’m

Fraser Nelson

The Lib Dems face the public

The most brutal session the Lib Dems will see is the studio audience currently assembled by Victoria Derbyshire for her Five Live phone-in. It’s a rare event in conference time, where the general public are put into contact with the politicians. The result is normally a bit of a bear pit, and for that reason it’s become one of my favourite conference events – I’m in the audience, in the rather beautiful Liverpool Maritime Museum. And poor Danny Alexander is in the bearpit. “This is toughest job I’ve ever had,” he said at the offset. Erm, yes – the competition being his time as press officer of the Cairngorms National