Politics

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

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

Responsibilty-dodger <em>extraordinaire</em>

Did any CoffeeHousers watch Ed Balls being grilled in the Commons, just over an hour ago?  Unfortunately, I had to miss it, but reading the transcripts over on Politics Home it seems like Balls is shamelessly continuing to dodge responsibility.  Here’s a snippet of what he had to say: “I share the frustration and anger – this should not have happened… …The contract with ETS had been drawn up at arms length to ministers – any contractual discussions are for QCA and ETS.” Gove’s reponse was typically punchy.  Here’s the killer line, which deserves to be plastered all over the news this evening: “Don’t pupils, parents and teachers deserve better than a Secretary of State

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Resigning was the best thing David Marshall ever did for Glasgow East

As soon as David Marshall resigned as Glasgow East’s MP, everyone was looking for the “real” story. Unkind souls say that most MPs stay in office through invalidity so their families can receive the mammoth death-in-service payout (a lump sum of four times their pensionable salary, plus whatever their ill-health pension would have been – details here). Given there are (scandalously) zero requirements made of an MP – you can jet off to Barbados for four years after being elected if you want – it is possible for the infirm to be elected from their hospital beds. So an MP who stands down due to ill health (like Marshall) is,

Peter Hoskin

The Purnell path to power

James Purnell is on manoeuvres.  That certainly seems to be the consensus, and it’s one that I agree with.  The same’s also been said of Ed Balls and David Miliband.  But I’m struck by just how differently Purnell is going about things from his potential rivals.  His approach could pay dividends. You see, the manoeuvres of Ed Balls and David Miliband have largely consisted of showy efforts of support for Gordon Brown – the kind that say “Vote for me, Labour MPs; I’m a good guy”.  Hardly any print or broadcast outlet has been spared their outpourings of devotion for the Dear Leader, and they’ve managed to cram in their “visions for the future of the party” whilst

Peter Hoskin

This has got to stop

The Sun reports that British taxpayers subsidised the House of Commons Refreshment Department to the tune of £5.5 million over the past year. That’s 43 percent of its running costs – and means that MPs enjoy cheaper drinks than the rest of the country, as well as 12 bars which operate without licence and with no restrictions on hours. I’d sound like a Viz letter writer if I fell back on the “It’s one rule for them, and another for us” cliché. But it’s perfectly applicable in this case… Hat-tip: Iain Dale

Monday

Peter Hoskin

A decreased lead for the Tories, but more bad news for Brown

The Guardian have just published their latest ICM poll.  The headline numbers: the Tories are on 43 percent (down 2 from last month); Labour on 28 percent (up 3); and the Lib Dems on 19 percent (down 1).  So Labour have cut into the Tory lead. When you look at the other findings, though, the picture looks bleaker for Brown.  The vast majority of respondents think the UK’s heading towards a recession.  And, when asked who they trust to run the economy, 46 percent picked Cameron and Osborne, compared to only 27 percent for Brown and Darling. It’s a similar story to the Times/Populus poll of a couple of weeks ago. The combination of an improved Labour position with

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

When did the moral crusade turn into a plateful of Brownies?

Gordon Brown must have been at his happiest in Opposition, delivering sermons about how Labour would deliver employment to cure the Tories’ wicked devil-take-the-hindmost approach. In launching the New Deal in Feb98, he had this to say: “Young people are our future. Yet unemployment among the under-25s is twice the national average”. It was true then. But the OECD data flagged up by David Willetts shows it is now a shameful four times the national average. Ten years ago, Brown called the unemployed young people “Major’s children.”  Major, of course, had a recession to contend with – last year, after a decade of growth, youth unemployment rose above the level Brown

Peter Hoskin

Will Purnell’s reforms see the light of day?

The response to James Purnell’s welfare proposals has been near-unanimously positive. Here at Coffee House Towers, the feeling – outlined by Fraser here – is that they’re a positive step towards getting some of the UK’s 5.1 million benefit-claimants back into work. And even Purnell’s opposite number, Chris Grayling, has been gracious enough to call the proposals “the right package” (whilst also claiming that they’ve been nabbed from the Tories). There’s one major dissenter though – Frank Field. He went on the attack on Today this morning, arguing that the proposals still place too much stress on claimants getting a higher rate of benefit. But it’s his later suggestion that the Purnell reforms

Peter Hoskin

Your questions for George Osborne

It’s been a couple of weeks since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for George Osborne.  We’ve since picked out the best ten, which have now been put to the shadow chancellor.  He’ll get back to us over the next couple of days. The CoffeeHousers whose questions were chosen can e-mail me on phoskin @ spectator.co.uk to claim their t-shirt and 180th Anniversary issue of the magazine. Anyway, here are the questions: Tiberius   “I understand the reasons for not committing to upfront tax cuts, but there are bound to be some savings available from reform. Do you have any idea at this stage how much could be

Peter Hoskin

Wasting funds for the future

I’m open to alternative suggestions from CoffeeHousers, but if I were to summarise this government in one word, that word would be “wasteful”. Today’s Guardian, for instance, tracks yet another example of massive squander. Remember the Government’s £35 billion ‘Building Schools for the Future’ scheme (BSF), which Brown says will result in UK schools being the “best equipped in the world for 21st-century learning”? Well, according to the Government’s architecture watchdog, some eight-out-of-every-ten new school designs are “mediocre” or “not yet good enough”. Best in the world? Certainly doesn’t sound like it. But the greater waste may be that this money’s being spent in the first place. BSF has always

Sunday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Breakfast briefing

Spotted: Alastair Campbell tucking into a full Scottish breakfast in the Crutherland House Hotel in East Kilbride – a mere 20 minutes drive from the Glasgow East constituency. Coincidence?

Saturday

Elliot Wilson

Who’s in charge? It’s hapless Hank

It’s becoming harder and harder to believe that anyone is really in charge of the world’s largest economy. Each day brings a new catalogue of woes, miscues and missteps, each of which should have been foreseen long ago. And at the centre of each fresh foul-up stands one man: Treasury secretary Hank Paulson, ‘Hammerin’ Hank’, once boss of mighty Goldman Sachs, now reduced to a sort of Frank Spencer figure, constantly bemused by domestic disaster. Only in Hank’s world it’s the American mortgage industry that’s falling apart, not just the kitchen table. The latest stress test for America’s embattled economy is the sudden, alarming decline in the shares of Fannie

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The cross-party consensus on welfare reform echoes the Gingrich–Clinton revolution

The Conservatives are making about as much headway in next week’s Glasgow East by-election as they would on Mars. ‘I told one guy I was from the Conservative party,’ moans one shadow Cabinet member who was campaigning there. ‘He said, “Oh, aye. Where’s that happening then?’’’ Hatred would at least entail some kind of recognition. And yet the emerging Cameroon mission is precisely to help places like this — where the party is, quite literally, beneath contempt. The curse of Glasgow East is worklessness — not just its 6.7 per cent level of unemployment. For every unemployed person, there are seven other people on some other form of welfare dependency.

The Spectator

The mugger’s accomplice

‘Inflation,’ Ronald Reagan declared, ‘is as violent as a mugger.’ In response, the world pursued zero-tolerance policies for two decades, to the point at which politicians and central bankers began to believe they had actually eradicated the menace. When Gordon Brown used to boast that there would be ‘no more boom and bust’, he was relying in large part on a belief that inflation had been permanently defeated by monetary and fiscal prudence combined with globalised trade. But now we know that inflation is on the loose again, and all the more frightening for being unfamiliar. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) stands at 3.8 per cent, a 16-year high and

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Brown’s Scorched Earth policy

Mr E is correct to highlight this significant post from Fraser Nelson: The Scorched Earth policy has begun. The FT has a hugely significant story – that the Treasury is “working privately on plans to reform Gordon Brown’s fiscal rules” which would “initially allow for increased borrowing”. In the vernacular, Brown has realised that if the Tories win the next election the he is now spending with Cameron’s Gold Card – every by-election bribe, every union sellout will be funded by borrowing with the bill sent to D. Cameron Esq. Cameron will have to tax us to pay for what Brown is today spending. The Treasury is claiming that it

The Spectator

The week in posts

Fraser Nelson wondered if Labour’s welfare reform proposals would cost it Glasgow East and critiqued the Tory plan to import US-style bankruptcy protections for failing firms. James Forsyth looked at where the SATS scandal will go next and what Brown might offer the Unions for their support. Sarah Standing recommended that we all cheer ourselves up by going to see Mama Mia.  

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Going places on welfare

It is a red letter day for welfare reform. James Purnell’s Green Paper, leaked today, is a clear, honest and robust approach to the scandal of Britain’s 5.1m on benefits. I say in my political column in this week’s magazine that it is so close to Chris Grayling’s report (mainly because David Freud essentially wrote both parties’ policies) that the Tories should accept it and wish Purnell well. This is precisely what Chris Grayling has done today, praising Purnell’s bravery and pledging to support him. This is a breakthrough.   Bipartisan agreement is the condition for welfare reform. As I say in the column, this was true in Wisconsin in

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Brown is not playing by the rules any more

The Scorched Earth policy has begun. The FT has a hugely significant story – that the Treasury is “working privately on plans to reform Gordon Brown’s fiscal rules” which would “initially allow for increased borrowing”. In the vernacular, Brown has realised that if the Tories win the next election the he is now spending with Cameron’s Gold Card – every by-election bribe, every union sellout will be funded by borrowing with the bill sent to D. Cameron Esq. Cameron will have to tax us to pay for what Brown is today spending. The Treasury is claiming that it was always going to “review” its 40% limit after the current economic

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Labour Isn’t Working

Would even the west of Scotland Labour party stoop to producing a fake war hero to endorse Margaret Curran in the Glasgow East by-election? According to Guido, why yes they would…

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Will Labour’s welfare reform proposals cost it Glasgow East?

Has Glasgow East influenced the postponed 2p increase in fuel duty, as David Cameron implied today? I doubt it, for a depressing reason. The place is so poor that most households in that constituency – 59% to be precise – simply don’t have access to a car (let alone own one). For the record, here are the car ownership figures for some of the estates in Glasgow East (from the 2001 census). In Parkhead North, 77.2% have no car. In Easterhouse it’s 71%. In Banlanark, 71%. In Bridgeton, 64%.  I can understand why, in Westminster, they may have a vision of the motorists of Glasgow East punching the air in

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Clegg shines at PMQs

I watched PMQs from the vantage point of Simon Mayo’s Radio Five studio today, with John Pienaar. We both scribble furiously during the PMQs – John has to select clips and present a narrative instantly. Now Cable has gone, only Cameron provides the jokes. And he was on especially good form today. John spotted that Cameron used the word “useless” three times. This must have been deliberate. I can easily imagine Andy Coulson in a meeting saying Brown’s main claim to fame is being dull-but-competent. Strip out competent, and you’re not left with much. “The Prime Minister has a nerve to accuse me of inconsistency,” said Cameron. “I said he