Politics Archives

Wednesday

21 Oct 2009

Who cares about the BNP?

Everyone, naturally, is all flustered and boggled by Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time tomorrow. This has occasioned near record-breaking amount hand-wringing even though the BNP are, whisper it, less popular than the Greens. When you’re beaten by the loopy eco-warriors you know you have a popularity problem. Chris Dillow reminds us just how few BNPers there really are: Nothing, in other words, can help the BNP as much as our apparent determination to take these clowns and clods seriously. In doing so we elevate their status and grant them massively more influence than they either have or merit. Judging from all the attention they’ve received this week you’d think

David Blackburn

PMQs Live Blog | 21 October 2009

Stay tuned for live coverage from 1200. 12:00: Brown is to give a short statement on policing in Northern Ireland, in the hope that recent problems over power sharing can be resolved. Brown is offering a financial settlement to fund devolved justice and policing in Northern Ireland 12:03: Crispin Blunt opens up with the cuts in funding to the TA. Brown argues that increased recruitment into the regular army means that funds have had to be diverted – small reward for the TA who are being sent to Afghanistan. 12:05: Here’s Cameron. Will Brown condemn the Royal Mail strikes and urge the CWU to drop its threats? The answer is:

David Blackburn

In Griffin’s world, squaddies will have to follow their Generals to Nuremberg

Well, as Britain’s senior Generals goosestep their way to Nuremberg, plucky squaddies and veterans have leapt to their defence. In the video below, provided by Nothing British, Andy McNab plays loyal Fritz to General Dannatt’s Keitel. And these veterans of the Second World War, the Malaya campaign, the Falklands war and current conflicts, will feel the hangman’s noose on their necks also. The BNP has its roots in ‘Eurofacist’ movements that aligned Aryanism with hardline, regressive socialism, and believed that change would be effected by regenerative violence, not mainstream politics. The BNP remain national socialists and racial supremacists – opposed to all non-white British nationalities and ethnicities, not merely Islamic

Martin Bright

Now the Tories Need to Get Serious About Their Euro-Allies

The Guardian splash today puts some serious meat on my story in last week’s Jewish Chronicle about growing US unhappiness about the Tories’ new friends in Europe. Jonathan Freedland adds some important analysis. When I first put it to the Conservative Party press office that there might be an issue here I was told that it was unlikely the Obama government was troubling itself with such a parochial British issue. To me this demonstrates a fundamental failure of understanding that stretches right up to David Cameron himself. There has always been the suspicion that, for Cameron and his circle, politics is a game. The original ruse to leave the European

Ruth Lea

There’s worse to come as we all get older

The state of the public finances and the need to cut public borrowing were, quite rightly, the issues which dominated the political conference season this year. Whatever the country’s other problems, and there are many, the burgeoning sea of red ink in the Treasury’s books should concern us all. In his April budget, the Chancellor forecast borrowing of around £175 billion, equivalent to about 12 per cent of GDP, for this financial year and next. Borrowing was then expected to fall back, reflecting economic recovery. But the projected improvements in the figures should not remotely be interpreted as signalling a return to fiscal normality or sustainability. Very hard decisions will

Brian Carney

The godfather of Europe

First the Irish, then the Czechs. José Manuel Barroso is eliminating enemies of the Lisbon Treaty — setting things up for the arrival of President Blair, says Brian M. Carney At first, the European Union’s critics had high hopes for José Manuel Durão Barroso. If Jacques Delors represented Brussels’s unbridled ambition and Romano Prodi its weakness for buffoonery and bumbling incompetence, then this soft-spoken Portuguese lawyer seemed to bring some modesty to the post of president of the European Commission. His appointment, some fancied, showed the institution was finally come of age. And, just maybe, was scaling back its centralising, federalist ambitions. How naive that all seems now. Barroso this

Tuesday

20 Oct 2009

Alex Massie

The GOP Declines to Rump Status

The good news for the Republican party is that it can’t get much worse; the bad news is that it’s pretty bad already. As Rod Dreher points out, a new Washington Post poll finds that just one in five Americans are prepared to identify themselves as Republicans. That’s some achievement in a two-party system. With apologies to Evelyn Waugh, you see, we may class political parties into four grades: Leading Party, First-Rate Party, Good Party and Party. Frankly, Party is pretty bad. Now this may be a rogue poll and the GOP may still do well in next month’s gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Equally, the conservative base

Peter Hoskin

The BNP responds with hate mail

On Thursday night, we will most likely see a restrained performance from Nick Griffin – one which, in itself, gives little clue as to some of the disgraceful tenets of his party. But, as Sunder Katwala points out over at Next Left, Griffin’s official response to the letter released by military figures today leaves no room for doubt. Here’s a passage from it: “Those Tory generals who today attacked the British National Party should remember that at the Nuremberg Trials, the politicians and generals accused of waging illegal aggressive wars were all charged — and hanged — together. This was the reaction of Nick Griffin MEP to the announcement that

Peter Hoskin

Inscrutable polls

And so the strangeness continues: the latest Ipsos MORI poll has the Tories leaping a hefty 7 points to 43 percent, while Labour climb 2 to 26 percent, and the Lib Dems fall 6 points to 19 percent. It’s most likely a correction from their last poll – which had the Lib Dems above Labour for the first time since the 1980s – but the Tories’ 17-point lead is still at odds with some of the other polls we’ve seen recently. I’m sure CCHQ will be pleased, but, as I said yesterday, it’s worth waiting a few weeks until the polls settle before drawing judgement. UPDATE: Guardian/ICM also gives the

Alex Massie

Snooper Britain

Many thanks to Iain Dale for digging up this Tory poster from 1929. Prescient and useful though it may be, I cannot share his confidence that the Conservatives will be very much better. That is, we may modestly expect an improvement in degree but not in kind. Alas. Here, at least, is an opportunity for the Tories to surprise us. In a good way. That’s the optimistic take, anyway. [Hat-tip: Samizdata]

Peter Hoskin

Women only shortlists

Now this is going to stir up some trouble. Addressing today’s Speaker’s conference, David Cameron has said that the Tories still don’t have enough women candidates, and, as a result, he may impose women-only shortlists on those constituencies which are yet to pick a candidate for the next election. Putting aside the many persuasive arguments against “positive discrimination”, you imagine this will just fuel more questions about the amount of central control that the Tory leader wields. Cameron & Co. clearly believe that those questions are a price worth paying for the modernisation of their party, but I have my doubts. I’m sure CoffeeHousers do too, so your thoughts please…

David Blackburn

The BNP’s appropriation of British institutions must be resisted

Hardly a day passes without Nick Griffin cosying up to a poster of Churchill and the Few. Valour provides potent nationalist imagery, but Griffin has no right to it – as his distinctly ambiguous stance on the Ghurkhas’ residency rights makes clear. This morning, senior officers, in conjunction with Nothing British, condemned Griffin’s opportunism: ‘We, the undersigned, are increasingly concerned that the reputation of Britain’s Armed Services is being tarnished by political extremists who are attempting to appropriate it for their own dubious ends. We deplore this trend for two reasons. First, the values of these extremists – many of whom are essentially racist – are fundamentally at odds

Peter Hoskin

Are we about to see a double-act?

It’s Tuesday, so it’s time to sift through Rachel Sylvester’s column for juicy quotes. In her latest, she saves the best for last: a Cabinet minister saying that “It’s up to the brotherhood now”. No, not that brotherhood – but the brothers Miliband, Ed and David. The intimation being that they need to take over from Brown – and sharpish. There’s been plenty of speculation about the Milibands recently, so this latest titbit shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. But, to my mind, it’s interesting how this minister packages Ed and David together – as the “brotherhood”. It has generally been assumed that one or the other wouldn’t

Rod Liddle

Labour’s stance on the BNP is morally and intellectually wrong

It’s not just death and taxes you can depend upon – you can also be absolutely certain that the Labour Party will, at every opportunity, take precisely the wrong decision about the BNP. You may have seen Fraser’s blog about Labour MPs voting not to allow democratically elected BNP MEPs into the House of Commons. It is a convention that our European Union representatives are allowed the use of Westminster facilities, but not one which Labour will extend to the BNP for the simple reason that they do not like them. One of the first members to sign up was Andrew Dismore, MP for Hendon, who has a long and

Peter Hoskin

When will they learn?

Why argue your case when you can smear your opponent’s name? According to this morning’s Telegraph, that’s the approach that a group of MPs are taking over the Sir Thomas Legg letters. The plan they’re apparently considering is to use parliamentary questions to find out details such as Legg’s pay, his team’s expenses and how much they’ve spent on media advice. One Tory MP tells the paper that there are “legitimate questions” about these things. Hm. It’s not only a pernicious strategy, it’s also stupid. Even if MPs manage to uncover some sort of hypocrisy on Legg’s part, do they really think it will divert public anger away from them?

Monday

19 Oct 2009

David Blackburn

The political position in Kabul deteriorates

It seems that a second Afghan election is now probable after Hamid Karzai’s share of the vote fell below 50%. The BBC reports that the drop is the result of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission ordering that ballots from 210 polling stations be discounted. The pro-Karsi Independent Electoral Commission will deliver its verdict shortly, but is bound by the ECC, so a run-off seems likely. This turn of events is no surprise – rumours of corruption circulated months before polling. But the coalition is now in a very awkward position. Mr Karzai’s state of mind is frenetic – he views these allegations as more evidence that there is an Anglo-American

Peter Hoskin

Those strange post-conference polls

So what’s the deal with the opinion polls we’ve been seeing in the newspapers recently? There was some hubbub in Tory circles yesterday over the fact that two weekend polls – YouGov for the Sunday Times and ComRes for the Indy on Sunday – had Labour either gaining ground on the Tories or a maintaining boosted level of support around the 30 percent mark. What had happened to the 19 percent lead that the Tories enjoyed in the immediate aftermath of their conference? Had the Labour conference really been more successful than the Tory one, despite all appearances? I’ve heard these, and similar questions, doing the rounds over the past

Peter Hoskin

Sheerman on the offensive

Just what was in Barry Sheerman’s coffee this morning? So far today, the schools committee chairman has used a couple of media appearances to a) call Ed Balls a “bully”, and b) criticise all three party leaders – including Brown – for their “cowardly party leadership” over the Legg review. Punchy stuff, which makes you wonder whether he’ll be the de facto “Get Gordon Out” candidate for PLP chairman, after all.

David Blackburn

5 Labour ‘refusenik’ MPs threaten to resign over Legg letters

Paul Waugh reports that 5 ‘refusenik’ Labour MPs are threatening to trigger by-elections over Brown’s reluctance to curb Sir Thomas Legg’s retrospective cap. Clearly, Brown is in an invidious position – it is conceivable that Labour will lose these by-elections in any event, but Brown would be committing very protracted and very painful electoral suicide if he demanded that Sir Thomas retract his demands. Brown is indecisive when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing in his favour, so God knows what agonies the Hamlet of Kirkcaldy is wrestling with at the moment, and I suspect most of us would have died of old age if the refuseniks

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 19 October 2009

…here are some posts made on Spectator.co.uk over the weekend: Fraser Nelson says that the horror story of the BNP’s success is not over, and argues that current Tory health plans are backward-looking and reactionary. James Forsyth reports on the end of a convenient fiction, and thinks the Tories have found the right way to repeal the hunting ban. Peter Hoskin thinks that Gordon Brown will struggle to sell himself as a reformer, and gives his take on the latest development in the expenses scandal. David Blackburn fears that Parliament may have to dance to a Scottish jig, and reports on the Vaclav Klaus’s decision to ratify the Lisbon Treaty.