Politics

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

Monday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Place your bets | 17 March 2008

This is asking for trouble. Ladbrokes has opened a book on the first question David Cameron will ask in PMQs. There will be at least a dozen Tories who will know the answer to this on Wednesday morning, and be sorely tempted to ask their cousin to place a large bet. As you can see from the high ranking of taxes – and the featuring of MPs expenses – these bookies don’t always get it right. So there’s money to be made. Mind you, someone had to put Frank Roy out of business… Ladbrokes odds:- What will be the topic of David Cameron’s first question at this week’s PMQs? Childcare/Family

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 17 March 2008

Here are some of the posts made over the weekend: Peter Hoskin is impressed by David Cameron’s Spring Forum speech, and asks whether we should talk with terrorists. Fraser Nelson highlights Britain’s welfare ghettos. James Forsyth writes about the Tories’ commanding poll lead.  And, over at Americano, James also reveals how John McCain wants to define his candidacy.

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Dick Holbrooke as Captain America?

Dan Drezner’s at a high-powered conference in Brussels from where he relates this interesting tidbit concerning Richard Holbrooke: I have it on good authority that, not only does the former UN ambassador believe that he’ll be Secretary of State if either Clinton or Obama wins, he genjuinely thinks he’ll have a comparable position if McCain wins.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

More voters want Delia Smith as the next Chancellor than Ed Balls

Tucked away in today’s YouGov poll is a rather amusing question about who voters think would make the best Chancellor if Alistair Darling were to step down. Perhaps unsurprisingly considering the current anti-political mood, the politicians don’t do particularly well. Sir Alan Sugar tops the list at 21 percent, followed by Sir Philip Green at 11 percent with Gordon Brown coming in third. Rather embarrassingly for Ed Balls, who is said to covet the job, he comes in dead last behind both Jack Straw and Delia Smith. Although to be fair to Balls, he does beat Green and Smith among Labour voters.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Tories spring into a 16 point lead 

Two new polls this morning offer real encouragement to the Tories. YouGov for the Sunday Times has them 16 points ahead of Labour at 43 percent, if replicated in a general election these figures would give them a three figure majority. ICM for the News of the World has the party on 40 percent, nine ahead of Labour. The details of the YouGov poll provide further cheer for the Tories. 59 percent think Brown is doing badly as Prime Minister, while 51 percent say Cameron is doing well as opposition leader. The Tories have a 12 point lead on who the electorate trust to raise their standard of living which

Saturday

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 15 March 2008

In the cut and thrust of debate, David Cameron won easily against the Chancellor in the Budget battle. In the cut and thrust of debate, David Cameron won easily against the Chancellor in the Budget battle. He was crisp and effective. But Alistair Darling did not attempt thrust and certainly will not cut. The fact that his Budget had nothing in it and could barely be spun out for 50 minutes was wholly intentional, and was, in fact, the right thing to do. Mr Cameron said that Mr Darling and Gordon Brown were in a hole and were digging. That might be true of the government more broadly, but it

Peter Hoskin

A wider philosophy

David Cameron’s given his speech at the Conservative Spring Forum.  I haven’t got access to a television at the moment, so I don’t know what his delivery was like – (can any CoffeeHousers fill us in?) – but the content certainly reads well. As Fraser said yesterday, the big theme is family.  So plenty of talk about rewarding marriage in the tax system and extending parental leave etc. etc.  However, what’s particularly impressive is how Cameron makes this message part of a wider philosophy.  Take, for instance, this passage: “But let me make a firm commitment right now. Labour are planning an increase in outreach workers at Surestart centres, as

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The bard of Whitehall

Some cabinet ministers are not fully reconciled to the Brown era if a few lines of verse supposedly written by a cabinet minister that have been doing the rounds in recent days are anything to go by. “At Downing Street upon the stair,   I met a man who wasn’t Blair,  He wasn’t Blair again today,  Oh how I wish he’d go away.” Hat tip: The Guardian

Peter Hoskin

Talking with terrorists

There’s a punchy interview with Jonathan Powell – Tony Blair’s former chief of staff, and a key figure in the Irish peace process – in today’s Guardian.  He’s quite candid about the Blair years – suggesting, for instance, that New Labour didn’t govern boldly enough because it was too scared about losing power.  But his words on dealing with al-Qaida are particularly controversial: “There’s nothing to say to al-Qaida and they’ve got nothing to say to us at the moment, but at some stage you’re going to have to come to a political solution as well as a security solution. And that means you need the ability to talk …

Christopher Fildes

Under starter’s orders

Christopher Fildes on the business dealings at Newbury Forget Cheltenham. That was just a warm-up. The big meeting next week is at Newbury, and it will have everything — fierce contests and driving finishes and bitter objections and stewards’ inquiries and prize-money running well into eight figures — everything, that is, except horses. Trooping into Newbury Racecourse on Wednesday morning, its shareholders will find themselves invited to sack three directors: Nicholas Jones, Brian Stewart-Brown and Sir David Sieff, the chairman. All three are boardroom heavyweights and two of them are members of the Jockey Club, but the Guinness Peat Group wants them out and wants one of its own directors, Richard

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Shamrockery: Hillary’s Travesty

Lord knows there are plenty of reasons to be appalled by Hillary Clinton, but her claim to have been “instrumental” (I kid you not) in bringing “peace” to Northern Ireland is (for me) the single most enraging element of her campaign. Of course this is monstrous nonsense but, alas, it seems to be being treated with undue respect by the American media. Take for instance this remarkable exchange between Terry McAuliffe and a CNN anchor on March 4th: ROBERTS:What are those life experiences that she has that would make her more qualified? MCAULIFFE: Well, sure, John. First of all, being first lady, she traveled over 80 countries, met with world

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Is Boris Johnson the Tory Party’s George W Bush?

Ordinarily the useful rule is that the answer to any question asked in a headline is a resounding “No”. (“Can Illegal Immigrant’s Guinea Pigs Give You Cancer?” or “Was Princess Di Murdered by Cherie Blair’s Gurkha Lover?” or “Is there a Secret EU Plot to Hang the Queen?”) Still, there are times when the rule can be put aside… Hence – via Clive Davis – this eye-catching passage from David Aaronovitch’s column on the London Mayoral race: The notion that a Boris administration will, as his website promises every few lines, subject London’s finances and procedures to the most rigorous of scrutinies, is beyond parody. I was discussing this problem

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Mamet reads Friedman: Obviously Can’t Write Anymore

Marvellous stuff – to the point of self-parody- from the Guardian’s Michael Billington: I am depressed to read that David Mamet has swung to the right. In an essay for the  Village Voice, Mamet claims he is no longer a “brain-dead liberal” and increasingly espouses a free-market philosophy and social conservatism. As a citizen, Mamet is free to do as he likes. What worries me is the effect on his talent of locking himself into a rigid ideological position. Surely shome mishtake? You mean the wong ideological position? Indeed so: I’ve always seen Mamet as an inordinately complex writer: one whose apparent tough-guy, Hemingway-esque stance conceals a sensitivity to social

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: SNP Sympathiser or Labour Agent?

Crivvens. Whatever next? An apology for 1978? IRAN sought to ally itself with Scotland last night, praising Alex Salmond’s administration for its anti-war stance and suggesting Tehran has more in common with Holyrood than Westminster. Rasoul Movahedian, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, told The Scotsman that Scotland and Iran shared “similar views” on many issues, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and nuclear non-proliferation. And he said there was “fertile ground” for a stronger relationship with the controversial government of Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “I think that Iran and Scotland enjoy similar views on many regional and international topics and issues,” he said. “The views

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The First Global Political “Reality” TV Show

The Politico’s Ben Smith is an excellent reporter and blogger. Which makes this post rather rum: The global interest in the Clinton-Obama contest is really quite amazing. Marc Ambinder finds that they’re talking about Jeremiah Wright on Peruvian TV. And I spent last night talking politics with a Latvian friend who displayed an alarming familiarity with the rules surrounding superdelegates. Well, yeah… Then again, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. In my years in Washington I never ceased to be surprised by the frequency with which folk expressed surprise that people in lil’ old Scotland might be interested in what was happening in US domestic politics. It was a curious sort

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Do the reverse Salisbury

Last week, The Spectator called on the House of Lords to apply the Salisbury convention in reverse to the Lisbon treaty and use its power to force the government to honour its manifesto pledge to hold a referendum on the treaty formerly know as the Constitution. This morning, Lord Strathcylde, the Tory leader in the Lords, endorsed the idea on the Today programme. The arithmetic in the Lords is tricky but it would make an important statement if the Lords was to at least make the government sweat a little on this issue. As our editorial argued, Labour has been fundamentally disingenuous about the reason why it supported a referendum

Peter Hoskin

A tale of two polls

As the Tories descend on Gateshead, two polls will be giving them food for thought.  The first is one of party members conducted by ConservativeHome.  It’s worth flicking through all the results, but here’s the headline finding:  79 percent of members want the Tories to stop matching Labour spending targets, and use the money to fund tax cuts and get government borrowing down.  The second is in the Times.  Post-Budget, it suggests, public support is slowly starting to crystallise around Brown and Darling on the economy.  The Labour line has been well-and-truly swallowed; with some two-thirds of respondents believing that “Britain’s economic position and prospects are affected much more by the conditions of

Mary Wakefield Mary Wakefield

Play the Dave game

So Dave has let cameras into his house, to show that ‘the anxieties of parenting are universal’. And what cosy fun the clip is too, and how lovely Sam looks first thing, (what about a fulltime SamCam?). But though the trials of parenting are universal, the cost of soft furnishings are not. So let’s all play my new game: The cost of being a Cameron. The rules are easy: watch the video; spot a posh accessory, clothes item or soft furnishing you recognise. Then post it. Here, just for starters – Item 1: Mason and Pearson hairbrush  (25 quid or so); Item 2: Heals birch-wood laundry basket  (60 quid or

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Family-friendly politics

The urgency behind the “family friendly” agenda – which is to be the theme of the Tories’ spring conference in Gateshead – can be traced to an internal opinion poll presentation delivered by Lord Ashcroft a few weeks ago. Mothers were going off David Cameron, apparently – which panicked the Cameroons not a little, as one of their favourite boasts was that women liked the Cameron/Osborne duet while considering Brown a clunking great fist. Queue panicked policy production: that declaration that they’d claim back the playgrounds from the yobs, and today headlines about six months of fathers’ leave. There will more of this stuff, I’m told, until Ashcroft’s poll improves