Politics

Harriet Harman, now 3-1 favourite to be the next Labour leader, has a cunning plan to shaft the Tories. For some time now, she has been badgering Brown to outlaw MPs having second jobs. As I disclose in my News of the World column today, the PM is now warming to it because he thinks Cameron would not support it, thus allowing him to draw another of his beloved dividing lines. It would also exploit Cameron’s own sensitivities about the number of his shadow cabinet with second jobs. And, of course, underline her class war credentials to Labour’s selectorate. There is, however, only one problem. By the time it would

I’ve noticed that Gordon Brown has stopped bragging about how this recession is not as bad as 1990s. And with good reason. It’s far worse – and not just because unemployment and repossessions are rising more quickly. It’s summed up in a graph – and CoffeeHousers who are into this sort of thing may find it useful. It’s from CitiGroup, which warns that even the below picture for the current downturn is optimistic. Citi is now forecasting a 3.3% contraction of the economy this year – last month it was forecasting a 2.5% drop. It says in the note “Apologies for the frequent updates, but the economy is in freefall”.

Cameron’s little talk to Demos today (to launch their Progressive Conservatism Project) was full of pleasant abstract stuff about de-centralisation as a means to fairness. But what was most interesting was how dangerous the Tory schools policy suddenly seemed. Why? Because when education came up during the Q and A (after an hour of generalised and fairly soporific Burkean rhetoric) Cameron’s whole demeanor changed. He had actual, even workable, policies to communicate (courtesy of the excellent Gove) and he was suddenly charismatic, believable — even a little Obama-ish? But having energised his audience, DC’s lack of anything concrete to say on any other subject became all too woefully apparent: no

Ken Clarke walked back into the chamber to cheers as if he’d just won a by-election, itself an indication of how little we’ve seen from the man who took an MP’s salary for the last 11 years but has seldom been seen around the House. It was his first time, ever, on an opposition front bench and he looked around at the view. Together with Cameron, he flanked Osborne. Clarke hasn’t worked out yet that his job is to make facial expressions of support when Osborne speaks, and to feign disdain at Darling. It’ll take a while to relearn the techniques of active politics. Osborne was on good form. How

So it’s official – Ken Clarke is back in a reshuffle to be announced tomorrow, replacing Alan Duncan as Shadow Business Secretary. Clarke promised to behave over a lunch with Cameron and Osborne yesterday. He apparently told them he does not accept the party line on Lisbon or the EPP, but will shut up about it and not try to change the party line. No moves in the top jobs (i.e. Hague and Gove staying put, as are Fox and Grayling), yet I hear there may be extensive reshuffling in the lower ranks. My initial take: 1. Cameron is taking a large gamble. Clarke has said precisely what he thought