Politics

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

Saturday

James Delingpole James Delingpole

Liberals are the true heirs of the Nazi spirit

Jonah Goldberg’s Liberal Fascism is a conservative’s wet dream. No, it’s better than that. The moment you read it — presuming you’re right-wing, that is — you will experience not only a rush of ecstasy, but also a surge of revolutionary fervour and evangelical zeal. You’ll want to email all your friends and tell them the wonderful news: ‘I’m not an evil bastard, after all!’ What Goldberg very effectively does is to remove from the charge sheet the one possible reason any thinking person could have for not wanting to be right-wing: viz, that being on the right automatically makes you a closet fascist/Nazi scumbag. By accumulating a mass of

Friday

The Spectator

The week that was | 27 February 2009

Matthew d’Ancona looks forward to the return of Blur. Fraser Nelson reveals the Spectator Inquiry’s questions for Lord Lawson, and watches Mervyn King’s blame game. James Forsyth picks up on an embarrassment for Gordon Brown, and reports on the British civil war in Afghanistan. Peter Hoskin gives his take on the Fred Goodwin pension controversy, and analyses the Government’s decision to have Northern Rock lending again. Martin Bright writes on the RBS bailout. Clive Davis raises the universal question. Alex Massie describes the danger of wanting to be Californian. Melanie Phillips outlines a less than engaging strategy. Faith Based laments the Vatican’s misogynistic slant on sin. Trading Floor analyses the

Martin Bright

What Do We Know?

I had the pleasure of guesting on Jon Pienaar’s political podcast yesterday. Inevitably we ended up talking about the death of Ivan Cameron and found ourselves lost for words. But Jon made a very interesting point. He noted that the story showed how little we really know about the lives of our prominent politicians, however much we might think they are public property. We talked about whether this tragedy will change the way we do politics in this country and decided that it probably won’t. Jon raised the example of the death of Labour leader John Smith, when everyone thought everything would change and nothing did. But I think something

Thursday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

King’s blame game

Mervyn King was doling out blame at the Treasury Select Committee today – while insisting there was nothing, at all, anywhere that the Bank of England could have done differently. He dumped on Brown, saying that Britain entered the recession “with a pubic deficit that was too high” so leaving less room for a meaningful splurge. I add in parenthesis that of the idea of borrowing in a boom would have appalled Keynes: this is why Brown’s claims to be following Keynes now ring hollow. King also blamed the regulators, the banks – everyone, except the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street.. Perhaps wrongly, I was struck by King’s assertion that

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Danger of Wanting to be Californian

Fraser’s article on the Californification of the Tory party is a splendid piece of work and highly recommended. I enjoyed it very much. And yet, the more one thinks about it, the more problematic, and perhaps even contradicory, some parts of this vision of a Tory future seemed to be. For one thing, it seems as though the California the Tories hope to learn from is actually a pretty small and exceedingly wealthy corner of a large and complicated state. That is, there’s rather more to California than Cupertino and Palo Alto. The Bay Area is a lovely, lovely part of the world but it’s hardly representative of its own

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Our condolences

The tragic news of Ivan Cameron’s death broke this morning, and all of us at The Spectator offer our deepest, heartfelt condolences to David and Samantha. It is impossible to imagine what they have come through so far, and what they are feeling now. It one of those moments where there is nothing more to say, apart from to offer our sympathy and prayers.

Martin Bright

Let’s Look at Who really undermined Cabinet Government

So Jack Straw has been the subject of an email scam. I hear some fraudster was putting it about that he was a politician of principle. His veto on the release the Cabinet minutes in the run-up to the Iraq war is a disgrace. The man who introduced the Freedom of Information Act has become the minister for secrecy. Listening to Charlie Falconer trying to justify the veto on the Today programme was just embarrassing. The idea that such a release would undermine Cabinet government is an insult to our intelligence. If the series of inquiries into the Iraq War have revealed anything it is that that the Blair administration

Tuesday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Spectator Inquiry: questions for Lord Lawson | 24 February 2009

Thanks for your suggestions on what to ask Lord Lawson, who will be the first ‘expert witness’ on our wiki-inquiry into the recession. The premise behind this whole exercise is that we can, with the internet, harness your collective wisdom – and take this inquiry in directions it couldn’t go on its own (or if powered solely by journalists). Here is a long list of questions for him, which we’ll hone down later. All other thoughts gratefully received. 1. If you were Chancellor the day before Northern Rock went bust, how would you have handled the situation? Granted, you wouldn’t have started from here. But did the banks have to be

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Spectator Inquiry: questions for Lord Lawson

It is a great pleasure to say that Lord Lawson of Blaby will be our first ‘expert witness’ for The Spectator’s wiki-inquiry into the recession. As a former Chancellor and editor of the magazine, it’s a tremendous way to start and we’d like your thoughts on what to ask him. Our inquiry is not intended as witch hunt, more to identify what went wrong and how to fix it. He is of a generation of Tory radicals who saved the economy the first time around – and I, for one, am keen to find out what he thinks went wrong. Did he think inflation targeting was too narrow a remit

Monday

Martin Bright

Why is Lord Ashcroft so important to David Cameron?

The Conservative Party’s reliance on Michael Ashcroft has always mystified me. How a once great political party has allowed itself to become quite so dependent on one man, I will never know? The conventional wisdom is that his money rescued the Tories from the abyss. It is certainly true that Ashcroft’s pamphlet, Smell the Coffee, was a cogent analysis of the reasons behind the Tories’ defeat in the 2005 election. But his continued position at the heart of the Conservative Party machine can only really be explained by a nagging feeling of insecurity within an organisation that has grown used to defeat. Now the Electoral Commission has finally decided that donations made

Martin Bright

Don’t Mention the Legacy!

As the Cabinet meets in Southampton today there is one issue that will be strictly off the agenda: the Brown legacy. I have it on very good authority that Gordon and those around him will not even allow the subject to be discussed in case it suggests that he knows the next election is lost. People coming to him with new ideas are told not to use the “L word”. I think this is very unwise. How can the Prime Minister expect anyone to come to him with innovative recession-busting ideas unless they can talk in terms of the legacy such projects will leave behind? No. 10 needs to get real.

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 23 February 2009

…here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson says that David Cameron needs to level with the public, and observes that Jade Goody’s dying wish indicts the British education system. James Forsyth urges British politicians to start talking about Iran, and notes that Gordon Brown still believes. Peter Hoskin previews a flurry of government activity, and comments on the extent of Allen Stanford’s fakery. Alex Massie picks up on Polly Toynbee’s Captain Oates analogy. Martin Bright asks whether anyone feels sorry for Tessa Jowell. Clive Davis jots another entry in his notebook. Melanie Phillips wonders whether there’s been an American addition to the Islamists’ armoury.

Martin Bright

The Faultline At The Heart of the Government

Francis Elliott’s story in The Times this morning is well-sourced and identifies the dangerous faultline that runs through the Labour Party right up to the Cabinet. Francis reports that Lord Mandelson is (once again) considering ripping up the equality legislation announced inthe Queen’s speech because of fears of its effect on small businesses during the recession. He will do so in the face of fierce opposition from Harriet Harman, but surely calculates that the mood of the country (and certainly the business community) will be with him. The trouble is that this blows a hole in what remains of the New Labour political settlement. During the good times ministers were able to

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

No Scottish Referendum?

It’s not been a great couple of weeks for Alex Salmond, has it? First there was the budget hullabaloo, then the SNP was compelled to abandon (at least for the time being) its plans to replace the council tax with a local income tax and now the leaders of the opposition parties have each confirmed that they will vote against the nationalists’ referendum bill. As matters stand, then, there will be no independence referendum next year. The Tories, Lib Dems and Labour all say it would be “inappropriate” to have an independence debate in the midst of an economic downturn. Well perhaps it would and perhaps it would be a

Martin Bright

Bloody Students: The Next Generation

I’ve been teaching the politics specialism at City University’s journalism course and I’ve been pleasantly surprised how much fun it has been. I was warned before I started that my student would be barely literate, apathetic lumps with just a passing knowledge of British politics. I was surprised how few of them regularly read a newspaper, but I have found them, for the most part, well informed and engaged. My job is to provide them with insights into the job of a political reporter, which mainly involved me droning on about my scoops and great victories over the forces of darkness. But from time to time I wheel out a special guest.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

If Cameron wants a second term, he needs to level with the public now

Might David Cameron be a one-term wonder? The pendulum of British politics does tend to move slowly and as little as 18 months ago the Tories could expect two terms at least. But the economic stars are aligning in a way that will make sensible Conservatives shudder. Cuts – real ones, not the type Gordon Brown accuses the Tories of – are looking inevitable. Those Dublin protests could be coming here next. Brown may borrow just enough to avoid making cuts, leaving Cameron to burst the public spending bubble. I outline this scenario in my News of the World column today. I’m not saying it’s likely, just that it should

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Clarke’s comments suggest the Tories are moving towards favouring a ‘bad bank’ 

Ken Clarke’s interview with Patrick Hennessy of The Sunday Telegraph is notable both for Clarke’s continuing message discipline and for his hint that the Tories are moving towards favouring a ‘bad bank’. When pressed on what he would do if David Cameron did call a referendum on Lisbon with the Tories calling for a no vote, Clarke replies:  “”If we have a referendum, I doubt that Central Office [Tory HQ] will be on the phone asking me to campaign on it. I think if the other campaign got hold of me I’d have to say I am not available.” This answer gives almost nothing to anyone trying to write a

Martin Bright

Anyone Feel Sorry for Tessa Jowell?

I have already been teased by the readers of this blog for suggesting that it was possible to feel sympathy for Tessa Jowell and her family over the conviction of her solicitor husband David Mills. Now you have the chance to read my thoughts on the Olympics minister at more length in today’s Observer, where I have written a profile of Jowell.  It is easy to understand why the traditional left despises Jowell. For them she is the very essence of the business-worshipping Blairite. Jowell herself would not be entirely unhappy about this. As said told me in an interview in 2006: “Just as we should be proud of our relationship with the trade

Saturday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Gordon Brown, Lawrence Oates and Polly Toynbee

Polly Toynbee is always worth reading. Her latest column is no exception. For all that one might disagree with her, indeed even be infuriated by her, there’s always something useful to be gleaned from her columns. Still, there’s a kind of panicked resignation about this latest one and an implied acceptance that Labour are doomed. The only thing that can save them? Massive increases in spending and government debt apparently. Well it’s an idea… I confess that, rather mean-spiritedly, my favourite bit was this: In the dream scenario, Brown ascends the world stage to head a beefed-up IMF, but few imagine the man who wanted it so much can confess