Politics Archives

Thursday

24 Jan 2008

The strange conversion (and eventual downfall) of a cabinet minister

Call it incompetence, if you like – it may turn out to be criminality – but Peter Hain’s clearly underperformed as a Cabinet minister. After his resignation today, blogs, newspapers and politicians are quite rightly sticking their collective boots in. Just to strike a different tone, I thought I’d give Hain a bit of credit where it’s due – if only for a mid-office conversion on the topic of welfare reform. By now, the facts are well-stated: Wisconsin-inspired welfare reform– which places extra stress on claimants finding work and uses private companies to help them do so – gets more people off benefits and lowers the burden on the taxpayer.

Fraser Nelson

James Purnell is the new Work and Pensions Secretary

For the three hours after Hain resigned, several names flew – none James Purnell. But thinking about it, his appointment makes sense. Aged 37 he will add zest to Brown’s team, and he knows the DWP (he was pensions minister until Brown took over). He gave his first-ever interview to me in June (read it here) and I quizzed him about welfare. He’d stonewall, saying his brief was pensions. He’ll be getting his head around it rather quickly now. A clever appointment, made far sooner than I expected.

Fraser Nelson

Who will step into the breach at the DWP?

The last thing Gordon Brown can afford is to dither over the reshuffle. I hear he will, indeed, name a new Work and Pensions Secretary today – so the story by the evening news is one of him taking the initiative. The DWP moves at a glacial speed, but welfare reform will be a major electoral issue. If I were Brown, I’d look beyond the inner circle (ie, Ed Miliband and wee Dougie) and promote a sure hand like John Denham. Blair never got reshuffles right. Let’s see if Brown does better.

Peter Hoskin

Peter Hain resigns

Peter Hain has resigned as the donations made to his deputy leader campaign have been referred to the police. There’s no doubting that this will be extremely damaging for the Government. Whether or not Hain eventually clears his name, the public perception will surely be that corruption is endemic throughout the Labour Party – especially given that his was not the only name linked with malpractice. How many other names will be tainted by this affair, even if only in the public eye? However, the nature of Hain’s departure is potentially even more harmful than any spreading rot. The Spectator argued weeks ago that Hain should be sacked. Sacked, that is: shown the door rather being allowed to find it himself. Hain’s resignation will

Fraser Nelson

Boos, wine and tax cuts at the Channel 4 political awards

I was at the Channel Four political awards last night, where the strangest thing happened. Their main award – (most inspiring political figure of the last decade) – was given to the Countryside Alliance, introduced by Jeremy Irons. As he spoke, boos came from the crowd. At first, I thought it was a joke. Then when the award was accepted (by Ann Mallalieu, president of the Alliance) the booing grew louder and cries of “get off” could be heard as she delivered her acceptance speech. In front of an invited Channel Four audience. Incredible. One of the books up for an award was Peter Oborne’s one on the rise of the

Peter Hoskin

Ken’s personal fiefdom

If you missed the Today programme’s interview with Ken Livingstone, make sure you tune in when it’s available on Listen Again – some quite startling revelations were made. When asked whether he headed a “personal fiefdom”, Livingstone seemingly assented and went on to say that (and – for now – I’m quoting as closely as typing-whilst-listening will permit): “That’s exactly what Tony Blair set out to do …. I was originally opposed to it at first”. Since taking up the role, however, his views have changed. Now – as he expressed in the interview – he believes the Mayoral set-up has distinct advantages over those operating through “networks” of Sir

Wednesday

23 Jan 2008

Fraser Nelson

Dogged resistance from Brown over Northern Rock

In India, Brown was full of beans – boasting at one stage that he’d outlasted Dame Kelly Holmes who had to retire to her hotel. He should have saved his energy. He looked exhausted at PMQs today. Until Cameron piped up on Northern Rock, that was. Then he sprang to life and put up a hell of a fight. Much rests on whether Cameron can make Northern Rock stick. Brown is like a used car salesman – “he’s gone from Prudence to Del Boy without even touching the ground” (sure I’ve heard that before). “It’s a sub-prime deal from a sub-Prime minister”. Good. Ditto the line on liquidisation. But he

Peter Hoskin

Will a downturn help or hinder Brown?

Although they look at it from different angles, I think that James Forsyth and Daniel Finkelstein have both identified one of the most interesting political questions of 2008 – will an economic downturn boost or deflate support for Brown’s Government? Contrary to James, Finkelstein claims in an article today that the gathering economic storm-clouds will be good news for the Prime Minister: “The understanding that global forces are at work helps the government rather than hinders it. The refusal to credit politicians turns into a reluctance to blame them. Most polls seem to suggest that voters will not regard this Government as responsible for the downturn …. A global downturn

James Forsyth

While avoiding one trap, Mr Cameron might fall into another

David Cameron is understandably eager not to allow Gordon Brown to present the Tories as slash n’ burn merchants intent on starving schools and hospitals of funding. However, unfair it was the £35bn of Tory cuts jibe at the last election hit home—as the IFS points out, by Brown’s own logic he will have cut spending by £9bn by the next election—and the current Tory pledge to match Labour spending commitments until 2011 is probably a necessary act of reassurance. But the danger is that Labour box the Tories in by projecting their spending plans further and further into the future. Here’s how Cameron responded when asked about whether he

Allister Heath

Fleecing non-doms is the thin end of a bad wedge

Allister Heath says that Brown’s poll tax on Britain’s 114,000 non-domiciled residents will drive away talent when our economy most needs it. Shame the Tories would do the same You would have thought that with the economy weakening, the stock market sliding, house prices tanking and Northern Rock’s botched rescue a daily humiliation, Gordon Brown would be doing all in his powers to help the City of London weather the gathering storm. Instead, he appears intent on making life even more difficult for it. His reckless plan to crack down on Britain’s 114,000 non-domiciled residents, including many of the City’s most important financiers, will be the most damaging in a

Tuesday

22 Jan 2008

Clarke Hayes

Bay State Blues

I have just returned from Massachusetts, where I cast my vote in an absentee ballot for Super Tuesday. This wildly wide-open presidential race is like mainlining for political junkies, and it’s a pretty exhilarating rollercoaster ride for the ordinary voter too. But what happened last week, when the economy crashed headlong into the election bandwagon, will be fascinating to watch – the battle of the Big E’s, I call it. Now Massachusetts politics is an incestuously Democratic affair, and with John Edwards effectively out of the running in the state, it’s the big clash once again between Hillary and Obama. I can’t see a cigarette paper between them. In fact,

James Forsyth

More worrying signs

The Federal Reserve cut rates by 0.75 points even before the markets opened in New York in what looks worryingly like a panic move. (At the very least, it will convince the markets that if they scream loudly enough, the Fed will always give them what they want.) Meanwhile, in Britain Harriet Harman has taken it upon herself to reassure us all that we’re not heading into recession. On a more serious note, it will be interesting to see how the tense relationship between King and Brown and Darling plays out as the Bank of England and the government scramble to respond to this crisis.

James Forsyth

Brown no longer gets the benefit of the doubt

If you had told most people in the Westminster Village a year ago that the economy would hit choppy waters, then most people would have thought that this would actually strengthen Gordon Brown’s electoral position. The logic behind this was that Labour’s advantage on the economic competence question was so deep set that the public would prefer Brown’s experienced hand at the tiller rather than the untested Cameron and Osborne combination. This is what played out after the run on Northern Rock. Populus recorded that Labour’s lead over the Tories on who was trusted to deal with economic problems actually rose, climbing from 31 points to 38. The voter’s reaction appears

Monday

21 Jan 2008

James Forsyth

Our defeatist Home Secretary

Jacqui Smith’s comment about why she doesn’t walk around at night sums up what is wrong with the establishment attitude to crime. Here’s the exchange between the Home Secretary and Isabel Oakeshott: IO: Would you feel safe, walking round, say, Hackney, at midnight on your own? JS: Well, no, but I don’t think I’d ever have done. You know, I would never have done that, at any point during my life. IO: Why not? JS: Well, I just don’t think that’s a thing that people do, is it, really? Implicit in Smith’s answer is the belief that crime is inevitable and that if you don’t want to be mugged you

Peter Hoskin

Tougher on crime, tougher on the causes of crime?

In a great post over at Centre-Right, Robert Halfon analyses the Sun’s return to the “Anarchy in the UK” line that it ran with last August. Halfon claims that the Sun’s campaign is indicative of wider worry about anti-social behaviour and crime in this country, and that this is a concern that the Conservatives can capitalise upon: “This is an issue of real potency to the Conservative fight-back …. What is interesting is that there is a universal recognition (‘Labour’s flop pledges’ in Sun lingo), that years of Labour initiatives and legislation on crime have made little headway.” If the general reaction to Jacqui Smith’s admission that she won’t walk

Matthew Dancona

Boris strengthens his position

Excellent news for the Spectator’s mayoral candidate in today’s Standard. A YouGovStone poll of 533 influential Londoners shows Boris well ahead of Ken on voting intention (44 to Livingstone’s 38), and with a narrower lead as the candidate who “will do most to enhance London’s reputation”. Boris trails Ken on the issue of trustworthiness in the event of another terror attack and has some work to do with second preference votes (interestingly, Sian Berry, the Green candidate, leads on this question). But it is clear that Boris can win. Tonight is a big night in the mayoral contest: Martin Bright’s Dispatches programme on Ken airs at 8pm on Channel 4,

Peter Hoskin

Brown’s politicking on the world stage

No-one thought that Gordon Brown would be much of a statesman but, even so, it’s still surprising just how clumsy his efforts in India and China have been. His speeches may have contained words such as “co-operation” but the substance of them has been self-serving and – as the Spectator’s Fraser Nelson has pointed-out – domineering. Take the talk that Brown delivered to business leaders in Delhi today, in which he claimed that the International Monetary Fund needs to be reformed and given a new “early warning” power so that it can stave off crises such as Northern Rock. In other words: Northern Rock was the fault of international organisations

Fraser Nelson

Are Brown and Darling the Del Boy and Rodney of British Politics?

Have a look at the stock market today, then the housing market, and then ask what kind of idiot would try to flog a mortgage bank like Northern Rock right now? Brown and Darling are fast becoming the Del Boy and Rodney of British politics – churning out dodgy figures, mesmerised by their own little scams and then getting fleeced when they engage in the real market and try to do deals with real business people (remember that gold sale?). The truly terrifying thing is it’s our money – about £60bn of it – bundled in the back of their Robin Reliant as they head off to see a man about

James Forsyth

Rock solid support for the EU Reform Treaty

One would have thought that being Chairman of Northern Rock at the moment was an all consuming task. But Bryan Sanderson, the stricken bank’s chairman, has clearly had enough time to read the document formerly known as the EU Constitution in depth as he has come out and endorsed it in an open letter released by Business for a New Europe. Seeing as Northern Rock shareholders look like having about as much choice about what happens to the bank as voters do about whether or not the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, this is all rather ironic. Then again, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

James Forsyth

How the government plans to shift Northern Rock

The details of the government’s latest scheme for Northern Rock shows just how long the taxpayer will be left supporting the stricken bank. The government will guarantee £25bn plus of bonds designed to cover both the loans given by the Bank of England and the bank’s need for cash to cover its operations with these bonds taking five years to repay. Rock shareholders are being increasingly sidelined. The BBC reports that once business plans re submitted by February 4th, it will be the Chancellor Alistair Darling who decides which bid to accept with the greatest emphasis being on which would allow taxpayer backing to be withdrawn soonest. However, the government