Politics Archives

Thursday

13 Aug 2009

In Kosovo, progress is clear but work remains

Today Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the new NATO secretary-general, is visiting Kosovo as part of his get-to-know-the-job tour. What is so remarkable about this particular visit is, well, that it’s so unremarkable. That there is so little attention paid to the newly-independent country at all. Those, particularly on the Left, who railed against the war – and Kosovo’s declaration of independence almost ten years after NATO’s air campaign – have moved on. Their interest in Kosovo, let alone the Western Balkans, was instrumental. Those who predicted that the declaration of independence would spark another cycle of violence and the election of irredentist Serbs in Belgrade were wrong. Violence has been minimal

Wednesday

12 Aug 2009

Peter Hoskin

Duncan’s rations: now with added video

Further to my post earlier, Sky have now produced an embeddable copy of Don’t Panic’s Alan Duncan video. The offending remarks come around 04:30 in: I know I said before that I’m inclined to believe Duncan’s excuse – that the comments were made in jest – but the more I watch the clip, the less convinced I am. Intentional hyperbole – perhaps. A joke – hmm. Either way, it’s a stark error of judgement on the shadow leader’s part.

James Forsyth

Does Mandelson remember that Blair thought cross-dressing was a good idea?<br />

Peter Mandelson has been getting very cross, and rather personal, about George Osborne’s ‘political cross dressing”. But during the Blair era, it was New Labour politicians who were keen on cross dressing. Indeed, on his farewell tour Tony Blair went out of his way to declare it as something that was here to stay: “Most confusingly for modern politicians, many of the policy prescriptions cross traditional left-right lines. Basic values, attitudes to the positive role of government, social objectives – these still divide among familiar party lines, but on policy cross-dressing is rampant and a feature of modern politics that will stay. “The era of tribal political leadership is over.”

Peter Hoskin

Something the Tories could do without…

…Alan Duncan saying on video that MPs are treated “like sh*t”, and that they’re forced to live on “rations”. He’s just apologised, saying that the remarks were meant in jest. And I’m inclined to believe him: he was, after all, in conversation with the political pranksters over at Don’t Panic (although he didn’t know he was being filmed). But, either way, it’s easy work for his opponents to take these things out of context. And many will argue that the expenses fiasco isn’t a laughing matter in the first place.

Fraser Nelson

Brown’s children

Why is this recession so cruel to the young? The unemployment figures – now up to 2.44 million – are bad enough. It’s the largest single quarterly drop since data began in 1971. But look deeper and there’s a striking disparity amongst the age groups. The under-18s – school leavers – are hit the most, with their employment numbers down 17% year-on-year. The 18-24 year olds are next worst hit. But there is actually a rise in pension-aged people returning to work. The bottom line: unemployment amongst the under-25s is a third higher than when Labour came to power. CoffeeHousers may remember how full of pious anger Gordon Brown was

Peter Hoskin

When Mandelson can’t launch a convincing counterattack, you know things are bad for Labour

Whatever you might think of George Osborne’s speech on progressive politics yesterday – and I have some doubts of my own – it’s hard to take Peter Mandelson’s Guardian article about it particularly seriously. As Tim Montgomerie says over at ConservativeHome, there’s little in there beyond personal attacks on Osborne and a caricature of the Tory position, all underpinned by the insistent claim that progressive ends can only be delivered by Labour means. For someone who lambasted the media for not “not talking about policy” in his interview with the Guardian on Monday, it’s a rather poor show. But, worst of all for Labour, is that Mandy’s position is confused

David Blackburn

Renaissance of the Prince

‘Kindly pussycat’? ‘Minister for fun’? ‘A benign uncle?’ This was how Lord Mandelson described himself in that pantomime of an interview with the Guardian earlier this week. But this morning, the Prince of Darkness returned. Perhaps running the government for three days maligned the would-be Widow Twanky of Monday, but it is more likely that Mandy couldn’t resist crossing swords with George Osborne again. He launches a scathing personal and political attack on Osborne and his progressive agenda in today’s Guardian. Here are the key sections: ‘To be a progressive is to believe that we can make a better society and improve the conditions of individual lives by acting together…It

Simon Hoggart

My dream of Mandelson as Labour leader

A semi-conscious Simon Hoggart attends a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party in which the Prince of Darkness has replaced Gordon — and is cheered to the rafters It was one of those dreams we all have. It had its own internal logic: everything that occurs seems to make perfect sense, and it’s only when we wake up that we realise the whole thing was absurd and silly. The other night I dreamed I was a Labour MP and we were in the Grand Committee Room welcoming the new leader of our party. In my semi-conscious lucubrations, it seemed perfectly natural that this should be Peter Mandelson. The fact that

Tuesday

11 Aug 2009

Martin Bright

Akehurst v. Harris: The Labour Battlelines Are Drawn

As readers of a right-wing magazine there is no reason you will have heard of the following individuals, but as this is supposed to be coming to you from enemy territory, listen and learn. Luke Akehurst (activist, councillor, Labour parliamentary candidate in 2001 and 2005) has always been a passionate advocate of the centrist New Labour orthodoxy. Funny thing to get passionate about, you might think. But Luke’s Blog has been essential reading for those fascinated by the minutiae of Labour politics for some time. Now there is a real possibility of Labour meltdown, those of Luke’s persuasion is convinced that the true enemy of the party is, wait for it, “the soft left”

Peter Hoskin

Supplementary notes on Osborne’s progressive speech

Earlier, I wrote that Osborne’s speech today seemed to be a significant moment for Project Cameron. Having attended the Demos event a few hours ago, I still think that’s the case. Sure, there wasn’t anything particularly new in it – and the delivery didn’t quite zing – but its central point that Brown’s approach to the public finances is regressive, while spending cuts and the right reforms could deliver better services for all, is a necessary refinement of the Tory message. Come election time, Brown is going to deploy all kinds of attacks on the “nasty Tories” and their “cuts in frontline services”, so it’s important for Cameron & Co.

James Forsyth

The press’ obsession with the Tories, Rachel Whetstone and Google is immature

Nearly all the papers have run articles on Rachel Whetstone today. These pieces concentrate on the fact that she’s the partner of Steve Hilton, Cameron’s chief strategist, and that the Tories mention Google quite often. Frankly, this strikes me as a nothing story. The Tories are mentioning Google so much because it is the kind of modern, successful brand that they want to be associated with, not because Whetsone, who was Michael Howard’s political secretary and who used to be close for Cameron, works there. Also, considering how Google has become shorthand for so much of the technological change going on around us, it would be rather hard for a

David Blackburn

Another Conservative MP won’t be standing at the next election.

Michael Ancram is standing down at the next election on grounds of ill-health, you can read his resignation statement here. Former leadership candidate Ancram was embroiled in the expenses scandal, claiming £98.58 on swimming pool repairs and more than £4,250 in one year on cleaning and maintaining his second home. According to the Telegraph, he is understood to have been unhappy with David Cameron’s handling of the expenses scandal. William Hague paid tribute to Ancram’s work as Conservative Party chairman through what were the Tories’ “darkest times in opposition.”

Peter Hoskin

Gove stirs up trouble for Balls

I gave it a passing mention in my last post, but it’s worth highlighting Michael Gove’s mischievous comment piece in the the Guardian today. Why “mischievous”? Well, because its purpose seems to be to rile Ed Balls and mobilise his internal opponents: ‘In a series of not so subtle signals to the grassroots, Ed has been emphasising, whenever the opportunity arises, that he is the socialist candidate for anyone in the party who wants to move away from the sullied compromises of Blair era. In a recent interview he explained that the battle for the leadership would be a struggle between David Miliband and himself – setting up the contest

Peter Hoskin

Osborne makes progress

It’s a big day for George Osborne. The Shadow Chancellor is using his new platform at Demos — the think-tank which is credited with much of the brainwork behind the initial New Labour project, but which is now turning to the Tories as well as to the Purnellite wing of the Labour party — to deliver a speech on progressive politics. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but the snippets which have been published in the papers make it seem like a significant moment in Project Cameron: when the Tories extrapolate their attacks on Brown’s fiscal legacy further, and perhaps more resonantly, than they have done before. Here’s a

Monday

10 Aug 2009

James Forsyth

If the Tories are serious about being ready to govern from day one, they should be examining whether or not Vat needs to be raised

The Tory response to the story that they plan to raise Vat to 20 percent after the next election, worried me. The Tory line is that there are no plans to do this and that there have been no high-level discussions about it. But, frankly, there should have been. Not because increasing Vat is necessarily the right thing to do, but because the Tories should be exploring what can be done to get this country out of the huge fiscal hole that Brown has dug it into. I find it less than encouraging that less than a year out from an election, the opposition hasn’t even — or so it

Peter Hoskin

Now the Tories foresee a “zero percent rise” of a different sort

When Brown comes to weigh up his prime ministerial legacy, maybe he’ll be satisfied that – if nothing else – he seems to have enshrined the idea of a “zero percent rise” in political discourse. Here’s a passage from the Times article today on how the Tories plan to freeze the pay of local government workers: “Conservative town hall employers told The Times that ‘a zero rise’ for workers next year would be the ‘maximum’ that Tory councils would support.” More seriously, the Times article indicates a toughening of the Tories’ stance towards the unions, and perhaps even over public spending cuts more generally (although Andrew Lansley does rather

James Forsyth

Mandelson’s lines to take for the press

Peter Mandelson’s spat with Starbucks is clearly over. In February he went on a tirade after seeing the chairman of Starbucks talking the UK economy down on US TV: “Why should I have this guy running down the country? Who the fuck is he? How the hell are they [Starbucks] doing?” But today he is pictured on the front of G2 drinking out of a Starbucks cup. The most interesting thing, though, about the G2 interview is how Mandelson seems determined to almost write it himself, producing quotable line after quotable line. When Mandelson describes himself as a “kindly pussycat” or details how Carole Caplin converted him to green tea

Peter Hoskin

Is Brown starting to accept defeat?

The FT report on how Labour MPs aren’t putting themselves forward to be parliamentary private secretaries – or “ministerial bag-carriers”, as they’re known around Westminster – says a lot about the party’s confidence in Gordon Brown. After all, as one source tells the newspaper: “Why would you bother if you know that there is no chance of becoming a minister in the next government?” But it’s this snippet from the FT’s analysis which could be more noteworthy: “One Downing Street insider said the prime minister was more relaxed because he now realised that he was certain to lose the next election and was powerless to defy political gravity.” Sure, another

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 10 August 2009

…here are some of the posts made over the weekend at Spectator.co.uk Fraser Nelson asks if David Cameron can afford the ‘untouchable’ Andrew Lansley. James Forsyth argues that a hike in Vat is inevitable, and discerns growing splits in the Pakistani Taliban. Peter Hoskin analyses General Richard’s claim that the Afghan conflict could last 40 years, and remembers one of the most indelible moments in 20th Century politics. Daniel Korski wonders how should Cameron structure his security team. Alex Massie dissects a very English cricketing fiasco. And Melanie Phillips notes an important postscript to the evictions in Sheikh Jarrah.

David Blackburn

To restore confidence, there must be an inquiry into alleged British involvement in torture.

Following Alan Johnson’s and David Miliband’s denial of British collusion in torture, Sir John Scarlett, the head of MI6, has inadvertently added a further denial. In a Radio 4 interview, recorded prior to the publication of Johnson’s and Miliband’s joint article, and which will be broadcast this morning, Sir John asserted that there has been “no torture and there is no complicity with torture.” Asked if Britain was ever compromised by its allies’, and particularly the Americans’, “different moral standards”, Scarlett replied: “Our American allies know that we are our own service, that we are here to work for the British interests and the United Kingdom. We’re an independent service