Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Friday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Harman’s turn in the limelight

Some of the most memorable PMQs of recent times were when John Prescott faced William Hague. The two-men both went at it with vigour and the total contrast in styles made for entertaining viewing. Now, it looks like we’re in for another classic contest because, as Sam Coates reports, Harriet Harman will be standing in for Gordon Brown next week. No official word yet on who will deputise for David Cameron, but if past performance is anything to go by it will be Hague; a Hague-Harman contest would be good for Tory morale if nothing else.

Peter Hoskin

Getting down to business

The problem with speeches on matters fiscal is that they can often be quite dull – full of dreary statistics and technical lingo. The oratory efforts of Brown and Darling are full testament to that. But today – in his speech to business figures – David Cameron makes a good fist of it. It’s fairly engaging stuff.   It helps, of course, that he talks a lot of sense, even if it’s still in quite general terms. Here, for instance, is what he had to say on responding to the banking crisis:  “We need to avoid a rush to judgement and an instant rewriting of all the regulatory rules. Indeed, the worst response to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Carter clear out continues

Sam Coates flags up an article in PR Week which says that Stephen Carter is looking for a new speechwriter for Gordon Brown and is considering the position of Deborah Mattinson, Brown’s pollster. It seems that the re-Blairisation of Downing Street has now reached such a point that Carter is approaching Blair’s old speechwriters to see if they can be tempted back into the fold which is quite ironic considering how some of those being invited back were hardly Gordon’s biggest fans.

Peter Hoskin

More good news for the Tories

There’s more poll cheer for the Tories this morning. The latest YouGov poll for the Telegraph puts them on 43 percent (up 3 from last month); Labour on 29 percent (down 4); and the Lib Dems on 17 percent (up 1). Another double-digit lead, then. What’s most encouraging for the Tories is how voters are turning away from the Government over the economy. The “feel-good factor” stands at minus 52 percent, its lowest-ever level. And only 27 percent of respondents think that Labour have the best economic policies, compared to 35 percent for the Tories. Gordon Brown has always boasted that he’s the best man to have at the helm

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Hillary of Belfast (Again)

Gosh, from this remarkable exchange with Jamie Rubin you could almost be forgiven for thinking that Hillary Clinton had more to do with the Northern Irish “peace process” than, hmmm, David Trimble. As Toby Harnden relates: You can watch the video here. The relevant part starts about 5 minutes and 30 seconds in. Andrea Mitchell is asking him why Hillary Clinton appears to be exaggerating her role, which the former First Lady recently described as “instrumental”. He pulls out a piece of paper and reads a quotation from the late Mo Mowlam, former Northern Ireland Secretary, about Hillary helping to bring about an economic boom. Mitchell: “As you know, there

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron talks tax

David Cameron has an interview with tomorrow’s FT where he comes up with lots of reasons why there will be no tax cuts. Here’s the gist. 1. The tax burden is a not a useful yardstick to judge a government by. As he says: “Using the tax burden is never a good idea because you can reduce or increase the tax burden depending on what you do with government borrowing. It is not a good measure of our success.” 2. The “success” of a Conservative government should be judged not on tax cuts but on whether it delivered economic stability. 3. Public finances are in a “bad state” although that

Peter Hoskin

Prepare for 2010

As Iain Dale reports, Wendy Alexander may have let slip with with the date of the next election.  Here’s what she told the Glasgow Herald: “We’re now in a continuous campaigning environment where we look forward to European elections next year, the General Election the year after that, the Scottish Parliament election the year after that and the council elections the year after, and really transforming our organisation for that environment.” So that makes it 2010.  No huge surprise, but now we can mentally prepare for (at least) two more years of Brownies.

Peter Hoskin

One hundred days

What’s the verdict, then, on Nick Clegg’s first 100 days as Lib Dem leader? Not good, I’d say. Sure, he got off to a solid start – making positive noises on public service reform and the economy. But things went rapidly awry with his appalling actions over the Lisbon Treaty. The bizarre way in which he forced his MPs to back down from a manifesto commitment has quite rightly attracted a lot of negative press. And there will be few more embarrassing incidents than that orchestrated walk-out in this – or in any other – Parliament.   What’s more, the subsequent recovery attempt hasn’t been all that impressive. Clegg’s started to peddle the anti-Westminster approach (Exhibit

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why Blair backed the Iraq war

Do read Steve Richards in The Independent today. He makes an interesting case that Tony Blair’s decision to support the war in Iraq was a result of political pragmatism not moralism. He also suggests that Blair might have thought that backing Iraq would position him perfectly to take Britain into the euro: “At some stage, Mr Blair wanted to fight a referendum on the euro. If he stayed close to the US on Iraq, he could never be accused of being anti-American and indiscriminately pro-European.” What Richards has also reminded us of, is just how crucial the position of the opposition will be if the Iran crisis reaches a point

Peter Hoskin

Brown turns his back on Ken

According to a Times report this morning, Gordon Brown is set to jump from the sinking ship that is HMS Livingstone.  Downing Street has “all but written off” Ken’s chances, and the Prime Minister will be out-of-the-country when the Mayoral race comes to a climax.  Although – the way things have been going for the Government – it might be a blessing for Ken not to be shadowed by Brown and his pained grin. 

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Time to quiz Clegg

Thanks to all the CoffeeHousers who posted questions for Nick Clegg over the past two weeks. Phone lines have now closed, so to speak – and we’ve picked out the best ten to put to the Lib Dem leader. Here are the winning entries: “If the Lib Dems hold the balance of power in 2010, which Cabinet portfolios are you after, and who would fill them?” – Peter “You have made rather anti-government spending noises recently. Is there a figure for spending as a %age of GDP which you would regard as roughly about right – 35/40/45/50%?” – Tim Hedges “I am a small “l” liberal. Why should I vote

Peter Hoskin

Simple but effective politics

Today Boris has pledged to scrap Ken Livingstone’s “newspaper” The Londoner, and use the money to plant an extra 10,000 trees throughout the capital. It’s a simple but effective proposal. For starters, I doubt anyone will miss the most disingenuous rag since Pravda stopped operating. And secondly, it’s a plan which slices right through Livingstone’s green rhetoric. The message from Boris is: “He talks green. I do green, and I’ll plant the trees to prove it”. The more he gets this across, the more voters will follow CoffeeHouser J H Holloway’s lead by questioning Ken’s existing green agenda.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Brownies galore at PMQs

My, what a lot of Brownies. I can only assume today’s PMQs was one of those weird things, where no two people can agree. Many of my colleagues in the press gallery thought it was dull. I was riveted. Cameron was taking Brown on home turf and having him resort to his litany of fake facts. Cameron was full of unscripted remarks, showing fluency and confidence. Sure, his gags weren’t roof-raisers, but it’s like Dr Johnson’s dog with improvised lines at PMQs. It’s not that improvisation is done well, it that it’s done at all. You could almost feel the two men’s contempt for each other. Brown dismissing Cameron as

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Under fire

After Hillary Clinton’s hilarious “mis-speak” – whereby she concocted a story about arriving in Bosnia under sniper fire – the betting markets have moved again towards Barack Obama, who is now the clear favourite to become president (Obama – evens; McCain – 6/4; Clinton – 7/2). No wonder she got on so well with Cherie Blair. And in case Gordon Brown is thinking of using any McPorkies in the next election campaign, the below is a taste of what might await him:

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tories need to get serious about Iraq

As Tim Montgomerie points out, it is a sad indictment of the Conservative party that the only time it seems to be able to get excited about Iraq is when it is calling for an inquiry into the war. Reading William Hague’s speech yesterday, one couldn’t help but notice the difference from his pre-war contributions, when his statements about WMD went far beyond what even the government was claiming and he was happy to throw around the term “appeasement”. Take the intervention that Hague made on 24 September, 2002: “Does the Prime Minister recollect that, in the half-century history of various states acquiring nuclear capabilities, in almost every case—from the

Peter Hoskin

Entente cordiale

With Nicolas Sarkozy set to meet Gordon Brown later today, it’s well-worth reading Simon Heffer’s article in the Telegraph. He characterises the meeting as one between two beleaguered premiers who are desperate to prop each other up. But the major claim is that Brown’s “woken up” to his “errors over the Lisbon Treaty”, and is trying to tweak the diplomatic landscape accordingly. Here’s the relevant passage: “France in particular wants greater co-operation in defence and defence procurement. Britain is cautious, not because of any principled objections, but because Mr Brown has belatedly, and very privately, woken up enough to the extent of his errors over the Lisbon Treaty to realise

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

Freedom for schools

David Cameron and his front-benchers seem to be reeling off one impressive speech after another at the moment.  And today Michael Gove continued the run, with a key address on the inequalities which blight the British schools system.  It’s well-worth reading in full – for the revealing statistics and fizzy slogans – but Gove’s impassioned plea for school independence jumped out at me: “What allows [successsful] schools to operate in the way they do are structures which are truly liberal… …academies, and the city technology colleges which came before them and on which they were modelled, were designed to be free. Free to choose and shape their own curriculum. Free

Peter Hoskin

Back down Brown

And so Gordon Brown has backed-down over the Embryology Bill.  Now he won’t be forcing Labour MPs to vote in favour of the Bill outright – instead, they’ll get a free vote on three of its particularly controversial parts. Andrew Porter gets it spot-on over at Three Line Whip – it’s a great shame that Brown ignored the wishes of so many in his party for so long, only to buckle as soon as it looked like there’d be a wholesale rebellion.  In this light, I doubt too many Labour MPs will be that grateful to Brown, even if the outcome was the one they wanted.  Once again, our Prime Minister has been damaged by his own dithering.

Peter Hoskin

Get your questions in

Today will be the last day for you to quiz Nick Clegg – so rush over to this post and register your questions in the comments section.  Tomorrow we’ll pick out the best ones and pose them to the Lib Dem leader. 

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The new Labour faultline

For the Kremlinologists among us, Rachel Sylvester’s column on the ideological divisions between the old Brownites and the new recruits in today’s Telegraph is essential reading:  “The ‘old Brownites’ – including Ed Balls, Damian McBride and Ian Austin – are Labour tribalists who think the way to victory is through class war. Personally, they are laddish, football-loving street fighters. Politically, they are ruthless in the way they operate, demanding absolute loyalty (to Mr Brown, rather than to Labour) in return for favours. Having honed their skills creating dividing lines with Tony Blair, now they want to fight a highly personal campaign against David Cameron, portraying him as an Old Etonian