Politics

It is common knowledge that John McCain and David Cameron get on. By convention, politicians do not enter into electoral politics in other countries, but the Conservative leader has made clear how McCain impressed him when he spoke at the 2006 Conservative Party Conference while McCain has described Cameron as a Kennedyesque figure. Their staffs are said to be in regular touch and the two men talk on the phone.   At first blush, the Russo-Georgian War show how close they really are. Looking at their respective statements, it is hard to distinguish between the views of the two politicians. In response to the invasion, it was McCain who struck a

Here are Eric Pickles’s answers to the questions posed by Coffee Housers:  Victoria Street “Devolving power downwards from Westminster doesn’t mean that the blame can always be devolved downwards. Are you prepared for the inevitable slew of critical media that is an inevitable result of letting go the reins? Can you resist the temptation to intervene? Can you take the pressure of Labour and Liberal Democrat authorities demanding central government action to pay for their local mistakes?” If we are truly to be the Party of real localism, we must trust local councillors to determine what is right for local communities and be confident that those communities will hold them

The death of John MacDougall, Labour MP for Glenrothes since 2001, will trigger yet another nightmare for Gordon Brown. No other word will do. Glenrothes in Fife is on the PM’s very doorstep and – after Glasgow East – looks distinctly vulnerable. In the 2005 general election, Mr MacDougall polled 19,395 votes, well ahead of the SNP’s John Beare on 8,731. But Labour’s majority of 10,664 accounted for only 28.5 per cent of the vote. In Glasgow East, Labour’s 2005 majority was larger in absolute terms – 13,507 – but accounted for more than 43 per cent of the turnout. In other words, Glenrothes looks like an even juicier target for

It’s been a week since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for Eric Pickles.  We’ve since picked out the best five, which have now been put to the shadow communities secretary.  He’ll get back to us in a 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: Victoria Street “Devolving power downwards from Westminster doesn’t mean that the blame can always be devolved downwards. Are you prepared for the inevitable slew of critical media that is an inevitable result of letting go the reins? Can

Western policymakers are finally making their official statements on the crisis in South Ossetia.  Our own Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has said he “deplores” the Russian attacks on Georgia.  George Bush has called Russia’s actions “disproportionate,” and told Vladimir Putin that “this violence is unacceptable”.  Whilst the most ominous warning comes from Dick Cheney, who stated that Russian aggression “must not go unanswered”. But for all the pejorative languange, just what can the West do?  There are several factors counting against military intervention, whether by NATO forces, or by individual countries, such as the US or the UK.  Here are some brief outlines: 1) Fullscale war.  The number one fear is that

For much of his time as Chancellor, it’s been hard not to feel sorry for Alistair Darling.  He’s been parachuted into what are rocky economic times, and has had to deal with – and often reverse – decisions made during Brown’s Chancellorship. The recent stamp duty fiasco seems different though.  It was embarrassing enough that the idea of temporarily suspending stamp duty leaked from the Treasury in the first place (usually a sign of a minister not in control of his department).  But the uncertain response of Treasury officials – and Darling himself – has only compounded the situation.  How so?  Well, potential house-buyers have held back from purchases until