Politics Archives

Wednesday

9 Sep 2009

Mission accomplished for Cameron’s cost-cutting speech

So what has David Cameron achieved with his speech on “cutting the cost of politics” yesterday? Quite a lot, judging by this morning’s papers. The coverage it receives ranges from wholehearted scepticism in the Guardian to front-page celebration in the Daily Mail, but – more importantly, from a Tory perspective – it steals the thunder from Alistair Darling’s public spending speech. The Chancellor’s innuendo about “nasty Tory cuts” is much less resonant when juxtaposed against the Tory leader calling for cuts in MPs’ perks, whether those cuts are regarded as populist or not. What’s more, Cameron has drawn quotes from Labour and the Lib Dems that may look a little

Richard Orange

The dark heart of India’s economic rise

Richard Orange investigates endemic corruption, from pilfering and kickbacks to mafia rackets, in the state-owned coal mines that provide almost half of India’s energy needs The first sign of illicit industry in the West Bengal district of Raniganj is the number of bicycles wobbling precariously down its village tracks, their panniers piled to an improbable height with coal. Then there are bullock carts and the occasional truck, all carrying the same cargo. At New Kenda Colliery, one of the underground mines owned by Coal India, the state coal monopoly, it becomes obvious where it’s all coming from. A couple of dozen blackened villagers squat over a coal stockpile the size

Trevor Kavanagh

The new politics of decline

Trevor Kavanagh says that Britain’s pitiful standing on the world stage is not just about al-Megrahi or the recession, but is the result of Labour’s disastrous mismanagement. Everything now depends on Cameron For the incurable optimist — of which there are no doubt several in the Downing Street bunker — there are signs that Britain is starting to recover. The stock market is booming once more, confidence is returning to the housing market and the recession may soon be over. Is it possible Gordon Brown really has saved the world — even if it is too late to save himself? Or, as Labour used to warble, might things only get

Tuesday

8 Sep 2009

James Forsyth

Cruddas’s intervention

Jon Cruddas’s speech tonight poses a question that cuts right to the heart of Gordon Brown’s leadership, ‘what does Labour stand for any more?’ There is no clear answer to this question, which explains why Labour has no clear domestic policy message. The retreat into ‘the philosophical framework of the right’, Cruddas argues, means that Labour has lost its language, empathy and generosity. Considering Cruddas’s decision to stay on sidelines during the most recent leadership plot played a key part in saving Brown, this is a pretty devastating assessment (it also suggests that Cruddas made the wrong call in not intervening then). The speech is making clear that the soft

Martin Bright

Labour Leadership Speculation is Back with a Vengeance

Rachel Sylvester’s column today provides more than the usual share of insight and high-level gossip — what more do you want from a political columnist? The following paragraph is devastating about the Prime Minister’s handling of the Megrahi affair: “Even members of the Cabinet who remain publicly loyal are privately scathing about Mr Brown’s performance in recent days. “We can’t go on like this,” says one minister. “It’s beyond difficult — it’s farcical. We’re going from one fiasco to another and Government by fiasco doesn’t work. I’ve never been a plotter but I feel total exasperation.” Rachel is right to say that this is the Labour Party’s Groundhog Day. As

Peter Hoskin

One giant leap for David Cameron?

It’s a busy day here at Spectator Towers, so we’ll have more on Cameron’s speech on “cutting the cost of politics” later. For now, here’s Sky’s edited footage, and you can find a great summary over at ConservativeHome.

Peter Hoskin

Will Polly Toynbee have to eat a rack of hats?

In today’s Guardian, Polly Toynbee sets out a shopping list of policies by which Labour could “set national politics alight”; everything from personal carbon trading to bringing back media ownership rules. But she adds that she’ll “happily eat a rack of hats if any of this happens”. In which case, part of me thinks that Toynbee may have to start investing in some hats and some ketchup, as I wouldn’t be massively surprised if Labour did put its name to one of her proposals. Namely, this one: “Spread the pain of the recession: make the coming 50% top tax rate start at £100,000, as those in good jobs are doing

Peter Hoskin

Sir George Young to replace Alan Duncan

After Alan Duncan’s demotion, it’s emerged that Sir George Young is to fill the position of shadow leader of the Commons. It’s a canny move by David Cameron: Young is the chairman of the Commons’ Standards and Privileges Committee, and was a popular choice among Tories to replace Michael Martin as Speaker. As Paul Waugh says, Young did get the Telegraph Treatment, but you imagine he’ll be seen as a much cleaner pair of hands than Duncan, especially in the wake of the infamous “rations” video. Now, how long before someone points out that Young is another Old Etonian…

Peter Hoskin

Labour’s cutting confusion

Yesterday, the Guardian told us that the health and overseas aid budgets wouldn’t be spared from Labour cuts. But, today, Steve Richards suggests that may not be the case: “The preliminary manoeuvring begins today when the Chancellor delivers a lecture on the principles that will guide the Government’s approach, in effect arguing that while the Tories ‘wallow’ in the prospect of spending cuts he will take a more expedient approach, in terms of timing, pace, depth and in his view that the Government can still play a creative role as an enabler in the delivery of public services. But even this early message is hazy. Contrary to some authoritative briefings,

Monday

7 Sep 2009

Peter Hoskin

Alan Duncan demoted from shadow cabinet

So was the “rations” video a gaffe too far? The news has just come in that Alan Duncan has been demoted from the shadow cabinet, going from shadow leader of the Commons to shadow prisons minister. Having spoken to various Tory sources, I understand that the decision was made in an “amicable” meeting between Duncan and Cameron – where the former acknowledged he has become a “lightning conductor” for public anger over expenses – and that, apparently, Duncan is “relaxed and relieved” to be working under Dominic Grieve. Some people might be surprised at the timing: many expected Cameron to hold off until next year, so as not to rile

James Forsyth

New Com Res poll has the Tories 16 points ahead

Andrew Grice has just blogged about a new poll in the Indy tomorrow which has the Tories 16 points ahead. The poll also shows that the majority of the population favour scrapping Trident. However, the public wants real term increases in health and education spending every year.

James Forsyth

The dangers of the government’s “mic-strike”

Jackie Ashley complains in her column today about Labour misters going on ‘mic-strike’ saying that it will lead to Labour being beaten so badly that it might not be able to come back. Ashley is speaking for a lot of people in the Labour party, one hears frequent complaints these days about Minister who are prepared to pick up the cheque each month but not to put in the hard yards. The consequences of ‘mic-strike’ were evident this morning. William Hague was on the Today Programme talking about the latest revelations concerning the government’s relations with the Gaddafi regime but no Foreign Office minister was prepared to do a response.

Peter Hoskin

Are the Tories actually doing ok in the North?

Over at the indispensable UK Polling Report, Anthony Wells runs the rule over the latest Telegraph/YouGov poll: “The Telegraph today has looked at their Yougov poll and decided it shows the Conservatives doing badly in the North. For what it’s worth, it doesn’t even do that – it shows the Conservatives 2 points behind in the North, an aggregate of government regions in which they trailed the Labour party by 19 points in 2005 – so it actually shows a swing to the Conservatives of 8.5 points in the North, marginally better than this poll suggests they are doing in the country as a whole. That, however, is beside the

Peter Hoskin

Meekly does it

You wait days to see the word “meekly” in print, and then it crops up twice at once. Today’s Sun reports on a Jon Cruddas speech tomorrow, in which he claims that: “[Labour] seem to be meekly accepting defeat, unable to show what we believe in… …We have only months to get this right, otherwise we will go down to catastrophic defeat.” While Jackie Ashley develops the same theme in a piece for the Guardian, highlighting the same Cruddas quote along the way. The Cruddas intervention is significant mainly because of its timing. The MP for Dagenham has clarified his views on Labour’s plight before now (including in the latest

Peter Hoskin

Labour may outflank the Tories on health and overseas aid spending – but will struggle to do so on reform

If you want some insights into where Labour are going next, then do read this story in today’s Guardian. The main points are that Brown and Darling have agreed not to spare the health and international development budgets from cuts; that Labour’s public spending cuts will be set out over the next couple of months, beginning with a couple of speeches this week; and that Labour wants to frame its cuts as a return to the public service reform agenda. As one “cabinet source” tells the paper: “The new economic context is a challenge for us, but New Labour in its original form never saw spending more money as the

Sunday

6 Sep 2009

James Forsyth

Unite not united about its support for Labour

To my mind the most interesting political story of the weekend is tucked away inside The Sunday Times. Jonathan Oliver reports that Unite, a trade union which donates huge sums of money to Labour, might be taken over by those who believe that the union should stop funding Labour. (The new leadership would not be in place this side of the election, though. Labour will still be able to rely on Unite’s help during the campaign). Unite provides 15 percent of Labour’s funding and the loss of this money after an election defeat would be painful for Labour financially. However, I suspect that many Labour figures on the right of

Peter Hoskin

Another smear plot story to damage Gordon Brown

After the abortive plot to smear Richard Dannatt, you’d have thought Labour would have learnt their lesson: that it’s often politically foolish, not to mention indecent, to pick petty fights with the military top brass. But – what’s this? – today’s Mail on Sunday reports that certain Labour figures may have been priming another smear campaign against Dannatt’s successor, General Sir David Richards: “The threat to target the General, who took up his new job just nine days ago, was one of the real reasons that Labour MP Eric Joyce resigned as an aide to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth last week. Former soldier Mr Joyce has told friends he attended

Peter Hoskin

Question time for the BNP

The Beeb’s admission that they have invited Nick Griffin onto a future episode of Question Time is causing quite a stir. Two main questions are emerging from it all. First, should the BBC give a platform to the BNP? And, second, should other politicians appear on a show with BNP figures? The Tories have already said they’re “very happy” to put forward a shadow cabinet member to debate Griffin, while Labour are wrestling with their “custom” not to share a platform with the BNP. My take on each question is that, first, the Beeb aren’t wrong to give the BNP a platform. Personally, I find the party’s views and its

Peter Hoskin

Another Darling vs Brown battle

Well done, Alistair. After taking on Brown over the crude “Labour investment vs Tory cuts” dividing line – and winning – it sounds as though the Chancellor is challenging another of the PM’s lies: that the government’s “stimulus” measures have “saved 500,000 jobs” during the recession. According to the Mail on Sunday, Darling has told the PM to stop repeating this claim because it can’t be substantiated, and he’s resisting having it put in the Budget, too. As soon as the government started mentioning “500,000 jobs”, Westminster’s lie detectors started sounding; especially as it gradually morphed from “up to 500,000” to “at least 500,000”. We at Coffee House Towers have

Saturday

5 Sep 2009

James Campbell

Blair the chameleon?

A new book on John Howard’s government, by the veteran Australian politcal journalist Paul Kelly, has a nice account of the Australian PM’s first encounter with Tony Blair: “At one point John Howard, trying to be clever, asked Tony Blair: ‘What are you going to do with the Thatcher legacy?’ Blair paused, he sat up straight, extended his arms and broke into a huge grin. ‘I’m going to take the lot,[ he chortled. Blair laughed but Howard seemed stunned. It wasn’t the answer he expected. On his return to the hotel Howard was fuming. ‘That man’s a bloody chameleon. He doesn’t stand for anything,’ Howard declared.”