Politics Archives

Sunday

4 Oct 2009

The European issue gets the Tory conference underway

The Conservative conference is just hours old, but already Cameron faces a battle to hold the line over Europe and the Lisbon treaty. He produced his standard response on the Andrew Marr show: that he wanted a referendum if the Czechs refuse to ratify the treaty. And he added: “I don’t want say anything or do anything that would undermine what was being decided and debated in other countries”. Meanwhile, rent-a-quote Europhiles and Eurosceptic Tories exchange blows in Manchester. Leon Brittan described a possible referendum on the Lisbon Treaty as “ludicrous” and Dan Hannan has just told Sky News: “This is not the Conservative party of the past. This is

Fraser Nelson

Signs of the changing political landscape

So how radical is David Cameron? I was on a Radio Four panel yesterday for “Beyond Westminster” (now online) where, for once, I was not the only token right-winger. It was presented by Iain Martin and had Bruce Anderson, who wrote this week’s cover piece about Cameron, and Jackie Ashley. I was begging Iain to introduce her as being from “the left-wing Guardian” to repeat the intro that the BBC so often gives the “right-wing” Spectator (“Warning: the views you are about to hear are not from the consensus”). Iain asked me if I thought Cameron had the courage and the character needed to transform Britain. I concluded with words

Saturday

3 Oct 2009

The Spectator

How to ‘seal the deal’

David Cameron will be Britain’s new Prime Minister by next summer — this was the main conclusion drawn from the Labour party conference. David Cameron will be Britain’s new Prime Minister by next summer — this was the main conclusion drawn from the Labour party conference. It did not need to be announced formally, but it suffused everything, from the desperation in the platform speeches to the gallows humour in the Brighton bars. This week, Britain has seen the spectacle of a party whose MPs are going back to their constituencies and are preparing for retirement — or abject defeat followed by a brutal civil war. There is now only one party of

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 3 October 2009

For years, I kept Labour’s shortest version of its 1997 ‘pledge card’. For years, I kept Labour’s shortest version of its 1997 ‘pledge card’. On one side, in red, were the party’s key pledges and a photograph of Tony Blair beside which it said, ‘strong’ (Daily Telegraph). The other side was blue, stated the main shortcomings of the Tories and carried a picture of John Major beside which it said ‘weak’ (Daily Telegraph). Sadly, I have now lost the card, and have forgotten what the famous pledges were. A colleague recently asked me if the Conservatives, now approaching New Labour’s winning position in 1997, were to produce their own pledge

Fraser Nelson

Time to start banging on about Europe

It’s not yet official, but everyone is couning on a big “yes” from Ireland – to the tune of about 64% says The Guardian. I say in my News of the World column tomorrow that this is far from a disaster for the Conservatives. It works well for them, in fact: it isn’t nerds who want a UK referendum but any fair-minded person who has just witnessed the way Brussels bullies, bribes and cajoles to get its way. Tony Blair was the one who reneged on his promise of a rederendum – something which, in my opinion, should be a criminal act (but, as Stuart Wheeler tested, is not technically

David Blackburn

The politics of hope are dead. Cameron has everything to gain by being realistic

Publicly at least, Labour MPs are jubilant that Gordon Brown has agreed to appear, in principle, in a televised election debate. They give the responses to the creed first spun by Blair: that Brown is an arch-realist and heavyweight who will undo the vacuous Tories in debate. Certainly, Mr Brown is blessed with talents. As proud wives like to do, Brown’s listed his the other day – intelligence, hard work, dutifulness, diligence and patriotism. All laudable attributes, but even from environs of the cosy Labour conference, Mrs Brown did not dare suggest that her husband was in any way a realist. Brown’s, and Labour’s, messy divorce from political reality was

David Blackburn

Brown agrees in principle to TV election debate

Despite trying to turn Adam Boulton to stone on Tuesday night, Gordon Brown has agreed in principle to appearing on the Sky election debate. It’s long been suspected that he would agree to participate, today merely confirms the rumour. If the debate goes ahead, it would represent a huge change in British electoral procedure. Mr Brown deserves credit for contributing to that change. Why he did not choose to announce this positive move, illustrating that he’s prepared to take the fight to Cameron and Clegg, in his conference speech defies belief and speaks volumes about his political courage and instincts. As ever, Brown’s appearance is subject to certain as yet undefined caveats and conditions and the party leaders will have to agree

Christopher Fildes

Advice to the next Chancellor

The best moment in a chancellor’s life comes early. ‘Mr Deputy Speaker,’ he says, ‘we have examined the books. The position is grave. My first duty is to put the public finances in order.’ He then sends for the Hungarian middle-distance runner, Savij Kutz. This bogeyman, first identified by Alan Watkins, has been off the track for years but is making a comeback. Nick Clegg for the Lib Dems gave him a friendly wave. Gordon Brown mutters his surname through gritted teeth. David Cameron lets it be known that he wouldn’t want Kutz to be confrontational. He may not have the choice. Public profligacy has seen to that. Public spending

Hugo Rifkind

Shared Opinion | 3 October 2009

How is it that Hollywood has made Roman Polanski into a cause célèbre? He’s a paedo, but he’s our paedo. That’s what bricklayers say. Weird, I know, but there you go. He might have drugged and sodomised that little girl, these bricklayers will say, but he’s had a hard life, and he’s so damn good at laying bricks and doing that slathering thing with his little cake slice that surely that should outweigh the time he took that 13-year-old back to his friend’s house, plied her with booze and Quaaludes, joined her in a hot-tub and… oh no, wait. Silly me. I don’t mean bricklayers, do I? No, bricklayers are

Friday

2 Oct 2009

Martin Bright

David Cameron’s strange European bedfellows

I just don’t understand David Cameron’s stubbornness over his alliance with his new friends in fringe European parties. Why make a stand for these people? William Hague’s insistence of an apology from David Miliband following his comments at Labour Party conference is plain daft. Miliband may have gone over the top in what he said about Cameron’s new allies. But there’s no way he will withdraw his comments. Why draw attention to the Conservative Party’s connections with these people? I don’t know if Poland’s Michal Kaminski really is an anti-Semite or a homophobe or whether he was a member of a neo-fascist group in his youth. Everything David Miliband said about

The Spectator

The week that was | 2 October 2009

Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk this week. Fraser Nelson can’t believe the lines Labour MPs are coming out with, and says it’s game over for Labour in Brighton. James Forsyth says that getting shirty with the media won’t do Labour any favours, and sees Brown’s speech fall flat in Brighton. Peter Hoskin believes that Brown’s fightback is already over, and reckons Brown’s drinking in the last chance saloon, again. David Blackburn argues that the banks are our route to salvation, and observes Labour begging for the return of Blair. Martin Bright asks why say it if you won’t act. Rod Liddle wants to eradicate his inner

David Blackburn

A glimpse of Home Secretary Grayling?

Chris Grayling’s reputation as a one-dimensional attack-dog was accentuated by his ill-judged comparison of Britain with Baltimore. The argument laid against Grayling is that he shouts about the government but provides no more than a whisper about policy. However, Grayling shows deep and nuanced consideration of policy when interviewed by Martin Bright in the Jewish Chronicle. Grayling’s subject is extremism and failing multi-culturalism. I apologise for its length, but here is the key section: ‘“I think the government has to make it absolutely clear that anyone in our country who espouses violence is not going to be able to do business with the government of the day and in many

David Blackburn

The Hague Miliband Euro-feud hots up

Much has been made of David Miliband’s vitriol against the Tories and their EU parliament grouping, and the intimation that Eric Pickles is Anti-Semitic. William Hague complained yesterday, and has now formalised that complaint by writing to the Foreign Secretary, highlighting the factual errors and misconceptions that dominated Miliband’s speech. Hague ends the letter by writing: ‘Democratic politics is at its best when it is a civilised and constructive debate between different points of view. It is deeply regrettable that you have listened to those who prefer the politics of slur and smear. Your duty as the country’s Foreign Secretary is to support our nation’s good relations with our allies.

David Blackburn

How to form a government

The change from being in opposition to being in government is almost impossible to gauge. How does a new prime Minister assume control of government? Peter Riddell gives David Cameron 10 tips that would ease the process. To emphasise the scale of Cameron’s impending problem, the only tip he can enact now is to ensure a smooth transfer from Shadow Cabinet to Cabinet. Riddell writes: ‘Do nothing that would make governing harder. When appointing Shadow spokesmen, think whether you want them to do the same job in office. In 1979 and 1997, two fifths of the new Cabinets had not held the same posts in opposition. The most successful ministers

David Blackburn

Council tax freeze is a cracking wheeze for Labour

Paul Waugh has the scoop that all eight Labour councils in London will freeze council tax from next April. The councils worked with Communities Secretary John Denham, who emphasised that 2010-2011’s increase in the central grant means that tax rises are unacceptable. As Waugh puts it, the “low-tax era seems finally to have begun”. This is very early to announce rate levels and represents a pre-election skirmish, suggesting that Labour will campaign on the issue of maintaining low council taxes nationwide. Labour face annihilation in the capital, so freezing unpopular rises whilst not embracing equally unpopular cuts is politically smart. Although it will be interesting to see if Tory councils

Thursday

1 Oct 2009

Peter Hoskin

Memo to Brown: compromise can be a good thing sometimes

Iain Martin writes a typically insightful post on Labour’s conference capitulation. His central point is that Brown & Co. are following a misguided “no compromise” strategy: “These difficulties with the media are part of a wider problem with the so-called ‘fight-back’ strategy being used by Gordon Brown. It is based on an analysis which is highly unlikely to convince any voter to change his or her mind. In short, it runs like this: ‘We have looked at the many opinion polls which tell us the vast majority of you think we’re untrustworthy and have messed up monumentally. But we think you’re wrong. We’re actually brilliant, and we’re going to keep

James Forsyth

A conference that changed nothing

The red flag has been sung and the delegates are heading home. But no one I’ve spoken to believes that this conference has really changed anything. Labour is still heading for defeat at the next election. Perhaps, the biggest thing to come out of this conference is that Labour’s relations with the media are rapidly heading back to where they were in the days of Neil Kinnock. The party is in a rage at both the BBC and Sky News and seems intent on picking a fight with News International. If Labour does carry on running against the media, the only winner will be the Tories. Labour is also

Alex Massie

Labour’s Next Leader, Darling?

Photo: Max Nash/AFP/Getty Images Brother Liddle says that Jon Cruddas is the only one of Gordon Brown’s potential successors that gives him any great hope for the future of the Labour party. And given the competition that may not be so very surprising. But if the party conference this week has proved anything, it’s that one of the reasons Brown remains leader is that he is by far and away and for all his faults the most substantial figure in the party. Still, Labour will, as things stand now, need a new leader next summer. That, actually, is the lesser of the party’s two major problems. Before it decides what

Alex Massie

Memo to Labour: the Press is Always Revolting

The press really is beastly, isn’t it? According to Jonathan Freedland, The media’s conviction that Labour, and Gordon Brown in particular, are doomed has grown so intense that it has turned into a kind of sneering disdain for the government, casting aside all conventions of respect for those holding elected office… You don’t have to yearn for a return to the days of dinner-jacketed deference on the BBC, or want an end to robust questioning, to feel uncomfortable at all this playground bullying of a man deemed weak. Like it or not, Brown does lead the democratically-elected government of this country. True, he does not have a personal mandate. But

James Forsyth

Is Miliband the elder up to the job afterall?

If there was an award for most improved conference speaker it would go to David Miliband. Last year his lacklustre effort helped put an end to his putative leadership challenge. This year he showed delegates why he might be up to the job of being Labour leader after the next election. He has dropped his voice making him sound more serious and cut out the gurning. His comments about military force which sounded so absurd last year carried more weight this time round. However, he’s far from presentationally perfect. He still managed to get ahead of his autocue and hit the microphone with his hand when trying to emphasise a