Politics

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

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Some questions for the Tories to ponder

Charles Moore’s column in the Telegraph today rightly praises the Tories for their impressive election performance. But he also raises some issues which the party are going to have to think about. 1. How can a party that has “gone green” adjust to the fact that voters, increasingly short of money, hate green taxes – especially high imposts on cars – and long to put fortnightly refuse collections into what the Left, in other contexts, calls “the dustbin of history”? 2. How can a party that believes in the legitimacy of parliamentary government and the need to defend ourselves against terrorism put up with the ever-growing power of judges to

Peter Hoskin

Boris speaks

For those who missed it, here’s Boris’ victory speech from City Hall last night.  His tribute to Ken is a highlight:

Peter Hoskin

The great what-if

The Tories’ recent success has got people looking back to Gordon Brown’s failure to call a general election in October last year.  In today’s Sun, George Pascoe-Watson calls that decision “one of the worst blunders in political history”.  Although it certainly set up a glorious what-if: what if Brown had called (and, most likely, won) an election?  Would Labour have received such a thumping in the local elections?  Would Livingstone still be Mayor?   True, Brown would have made many of the same errors in the following months – after all, the 10p tax decision was formulated in Budget 2007, and was always going to come into effect last month.  But they might have been cushioned by the buzz surrounding a Labour election victory, and by

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What’s next? | 3 May 2008

The calls for Labour to get rid of Gordon Brown come from both the left (Martin Kettle) and the right (Matthew Parris) in this morning’s newspapers. It still seems almost impossible that this will happen but Brown will have a hideous next few days, coming under attack from both sides of the party.  What will worry Labour MPs most is what the numbers from these elections mean for the next general election. When even as sober an analyst as Peter Riddell describes the results as “unreservedly poor” and a sign that Labour has, fatally, lost its political authority then there is a real problem.  Perhaps, the most damming part of

Peter Hoskin

Boris: the vanguard of a Tory revolution?

I’ve just been enjoying a cup of tea in my local cafe (Jose’s, Morden), and listening to the general chatter about Boris’ stunning election victory.  Here, at least, there’s a bit of regret that Ken’s going – but this was tempered by talk about the cost of living.  In the face of rising food and energy prices, most were angered by the extra costs that Londoners face – with the C-Charge coming under particular attack.  The consensus, then: anything Boris can do to lower the burden would be alright by us. Of course, Team Boris will be more than aware of all this.  But it’s worth repeating nonetheless, and I’m sure CCHQ will

The Spectator

Mayor Johnson

Scroll down for full Coffee House coverage. Here are some selected highlights: Matthew d’Ancona congratulates Boris. Mary Wakefield reflects on how Boris and Ken came to like each other during the campaign. Can Brown change or is he doomed to go down to defeat asks James Forsyth. Pete Hoskin points to the moment that summed up Labour’s election nightmare. And Fraser Nelson reveals what Boris’s secret weapon is.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can Brown change?

When Gordon Brown was enjoying his honeymoon nine short months ago, you would have got long odds on the Tories winning London and being twenty points ahead of Labour in the national vote share at the local elections. But a combination of Brown’s missteps—most notably his trip to Iraq during the Tory conference, the election that never was and the 10p tax debacle, David Cameron and George Osborne’s political judgement and Boris’s unique skills have brought us to this point. The question now is can Brown recover or is he fatally wounded? It is hard to see how Brown can turn this round. Over the last few months as things

James Forsyth James Forsyth

It is official: Boris has won

It is confirmed, Boris Johnson is the next Mayor of London. Boris won by close to 140,000 votes once second preferences had been counted, a 53 to 47 margin. Boris’s victory puts the icing on the cake for the Conservatives who have done better in these elections than they would have dared hope at the beginning of the week. For Boris, it is a phenomenal achievement. He has routed a politician who neither Margaret Thatcher nor Tony Blair could beat. First Round: Boris 43, Ken 37 Second Round: Boris 53, Ken 47

Irwin Stelzer

Balls wants a 100 per cent tax on inherited brains

Irwin Stelzer admires the Schools Secretary, and so regrets that his admissions policy prevents schools from taking account of a pupil’s prospects of success. Bad news all round Seemingly alone among my acquaintances, I see virtues in Ed Balls. He certainly is not media-friendly, partly because he has the Brownian habit of trying to bury questioners under a barrage of verbiage, only some small portion of which is relevant to their questions. He does have the annoying habit of believing that facts can be the enemy of truth, and therefore need, er, adjustment before they can be made available to the less skilled at their interpretation. Still, it is impossible

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Labour politicians are already preparing for opposition. The race to succeed Gordon is on

Over lunch about a year ago, I tried to tease out the intentions of someone tipped as a possible successor to Gordon Brown. He was feigning optimism and loyalty to the anointed leader-in-waiting, so I advanced some hypothetical scenarios involving various MPs being run over by buses. So would he maybe… ‘Me? God, no,’ he replied, cutting me off. ‘Forget it. As soon as this party gets into opposition then — boof.’ He mimed an explosion with his hands. ‘Trust me. The queue to be Labour’s William Hague will not be a long one.’ Here were two striking assumptions: that Mr Brown was certain to lose, and that the Labour

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

IQ2 debate: America has lost its moral authority

Big names at last Tuesday’s Intelligence Squared debate. Our beaming chairman Adam Boulton called on Will Self to propose the motion that America has lost its moral authority. In his sharp black suit, Self glared at us like an undertaker whose hearse has just failed its MOT and rattled through the sins of ‘the paternalistic superpower’. America guzzles up vast quantities of nature’s resources. It has a ‘systematically biased corporate media’ and a justice system ‘where 25 per cent of black males are either in jail or on bail’. He produced a killer statistic to highlight its oligarchical political system, ‘The re-election rate for congressmen is 98 per cent.’ An

Friday

Matthew Dancona

Congratulations Boris

Greetings to all CoffeeHousers from the 29th Floor of Millbank Tower, where the faithful have gathered to toast our new Mayor – who, poor fellow, is stuck at the count waiting for official public confirmation of the triumph that Downing Street conceded hours ago, the bookies have already accepted, and the Evening Standard has announced in a special late edition. It is a pleasure and a privilege to congratulate Boris on his victory – as his successor at the Spectator, his friend and (above all) a Londoner. Be in no doubt: this is a sensational achievement. Ken Livingstone has dominated London politics for a quarter century and presided over a

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Boris’s secret weapon: driving the left crazy

The conventional wisdom is to regard Mayor Boris as a loose cannon and, ergo, a liability to Cameron. But he may help oust Brown by another skill that has only become apparent in recent weeks: he drives the left mad. By mad, I mean he drives them to inverted snobbery and making personal and ludicrous attacks which strike the onlooker as hysterical. His education and background just seem to flick a switch in a certain sort of Labour supporter – leading to behaviour that even that even their peers find distasteful. Just look at the comments to this Toynbee piece where she called Boris a “sociopath” or the language in

The Spectator

The week that was | 2 May 2008

Peter Hoskin reports from Israel on life in the town of Sderot, and on efforts to forge peace with Syria. James Forsyth says Gordon Brown has spectacularly failed his first electoral test, and suggests that Cameron is walking into trouble over the 42-day detention plans.   And Fraser Nelson keeps track of the Prime Minister’s Brownies, and highlights Mervyn King’s attempts to reveal the truth behind Treasury spin.

Peter Hoskin

Blair trumps Brown (again)

If Brown feels like taking his mind off things, he shouldn’t flick through the latest Time 100 – the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.  Thing is, he’s not in it.  But Tony Blair is, complete with a glowing tribute from Bill Clinton.  I’m sure a few Labour MPs will be reading through it today, filled with deep, deep regret.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

When will we get a result?

Dire rumours flying about the Mayoral count, hopefully all untrue. The worst is that we may not have a winner by midnight. Adam Boulton at Sky News confident of getting one tonight – but perhaps not until 10.30pm. One Tory Shadow Cabinet member says he has been told there’s 1% in it, so they will have to do a recount anyway – this conflicts with numerous reports that Boris is comfortably ahead. Even Brian Paddick has called it for Boris. But we were supposed to get the first vote at 3pm and the final result at 5pm. It’s now 6pm and most votes remain uncounted. The high turnout has overwhelmed

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Next Labour leader odds

The latest William Hills odds for the next leader of the Labour party make interesting reading in the light of last night’s results and the list of cabinet ministers at risk. D Miliband 2/1 E Balls 5/1 A Johnson 7/1 J Straw 10/1 J Purnell 10/1 J Denham 14/1 A Burnham 14/1 Y Cooper 16/1 H Benn 16/1 D Alexander 16/1 E Miliband 16/1 H Harman 20/1 Personally, I quite fancy a sly fiver on Jon Cruddas but William Hills doesn’t offer odds on him yet.

Peter Hoskin

“Boris has got it”

Over at Comment Central, a senior Conservative tells Daniel Finkelstein that “Boris has got” the role of mayor.  It isn’t quite the fat lady singing, but enough for the Times to run an article on.  Not too long to wait now for proper confirmation…  

Peter Hoskin

These minsters will be very, very worried

A nice summary from ConservativeHome: “All these ministers would lose their seats if last night’s elections were repeated at the General: Ed Balls, Jacqui Smith, James Purnell, John Hutton, Caroline Flint, Ruth Kelly, John Denham.”