Politics Archives

Saturday

8 Sep 2007

Anne Hyland

Coffee-shop trade suffers as the General keeps Thais guessing if he’ll run for office

Anyone who claims to understand Thailand’s politics should be sectioned. The country is preparing for a national election in December and the leader of last year’s bloodless military coup, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, is retreating on his promise to drive his tank back to barracks. Anyone who claims to understand Thailand’s politics should be sectioned. The country is preparing for a national election in December and the leader of last year’s bloodless military coup, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, is retreating on his promise to drive his tank back to barracks. Instead, he’s flirting with the idea of clinging to power by running for prime minister. Sonthi, 60, retires from the military at

John Andrews

Golfers with more clubs are more likely to win

You know Kipling’s words, about meeting triumph and disaster? Well, imagine this. You’re in your mid-forties, chief executive of one of Britain’s fastest-growing public companies. You know Kipling’s words, about meeting triumph and disaster? Well, imagine this. You’re in your mid-forties, chief executive of one of Britain’s fastest-growing public companies. Your personal fortune is in nine figures; you are fast becoming one of the Britain’s top philanthropists; you own a luxury hotel in France. You’re on holiday with your family in Botswana, enjoying the fruits of success; you’re right in the middle of a sentence when suddenly, categorically, you cannot say another word … and you have no idea what’s

Neil Collins

Who’s the mug at the table?

Once upon a time there was an investment banker. He was hardly today’s stereotypical WASP smoothie, but an overweight, sweaty trader from the Bronx who shouted a lot, ate pizza at his desk when he wasn’t standing on it, and treated colleagues as imbeciles. Once upon a time there was an investment banker. He was hardly today’s stereotypical WASP smoothie, but an overweight, sweaty trader from the Bronx who shouted a lot, ate pizza at his desk when he wasn’t standing on it, and treated colleagues as imbeciles. Lewie Ranieri was, according to Michael Lewis in Liar’s Poker (1989), a fat slob. He was a hugely industrious slob, though, and

Thursday

6 Sep 2007

The Spectator

Tories and education

The Tories seem very close to adopting the idea that children shouldn’t be allowed to pass into secondary school until they have passed certain tests as party policy. In the Independent today, Michael Gove, Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, makes a passionate case for it. “Earlier this week, our party’s policy group on education floated the idea that young people who are falling desperately behind at primary school be given intensive, remedial, help to master the basics. The usual suspects had a go at the idea, with the usual talk about stigma and self-esteem. I’m afraid I don’t have much time for that sort of attitude.

Tuesday

4 Sep 2007

Alex Massie

Iraq as cause of Scottish independence? Hmmmm…

Ben Crair has a piece at TNR today headlined, The Iraq War is Responsible for Scottish Independence. Really. Well, up to a point Lord Copper. The “Really” is an unfortunate indication that this pudding may be a little over-egged. Few people would deny that discontent with the war played a part in the SNP’s victory in this year’s elections. But other factors were at least as, and probably more, important. Among them: 1. Alex Salmond’s return from his Westminster exile. Salmond brings a heavyweight presence that trumped anything the SNP could put up in his absence; it trumped Jack McConnell’s pretensions to statesman status too. You wouldn’t feel embarrassed being

Alex Massie

Ice-cream or meatloaf?

The President of the United States of America: A moment later, press secretary Tony Snow stepped into the doorway to ask about the daily press briefing he was about to conduct. Bush offered some suggestions for how to defer questions about his Iraq strategy. “Good. Perfect. Sorry to interrupt,” Snow said as he vacated the room. “It’s okay,” remarked Bush. “This is worthless, anyway.” Then, in a sudden bellow: “I’d like an ice cream! Please! You want some ice cream, Robert?” Mr William Farrell, appearing in Wedding Crashers: [Many, many thanks to reader JT]

The Spectator

Ancram’s attack

I was just settling down to write something about Michael Ancram’s rather odd pamphlet knocking David Cameron for distancing himself from the party’s past, when I saw this on Comment Central which explains a lot. The more you read it does sound like Ancram just didn’t realise how the media would seize on this story. The other political question of the day is whether Gordon Brown and David Cameron should have a televised debate before the next election. I must admit to having mixed feeling on this subject. On the one hand, it would certainly pep up interest in politics and these debates are great theatre as the Sarkozy-Royal and Bush-Kerry

James Forsyth

Making sense of the polls

If you’re struggling to come to terms with the slew of polling data that is currently circulating take a look at Tim Hames’s column in The Times that does a good job of putting these numbers into perspective. This point is particularly worth paying attention to: “what has been missed,, though, is the extent to which Labour under Mr Brown has been running its own core vote strategy by stealth. For while the shift from the Blair to Brown era has seen the average Labour vote share increase by 6.5 per cent, that improvement has been strikingly more pronounced among working-class voters (the DEs) than the affluent ABs. To put

The Spectator

What Brown’s new politics is all about

Rachel Sylvester’s column in The Daily Telegraph today sums up brilliantly what Brown is up to with his call for a new politics. As Sylvester writes, “[Gordon Brown’s] aim is to crush David Cameron and the Conservative Party, not just when the country next goes to the polls but for ever. He shares Chairman Mao’s view that “politics is war without bloodshed”. His idea of consensus politics is a one-party state. Does anyone really believe that Mr Brown cares what Patrick Mercer, a man sacked by the Tory leader for what Labour MPs described as racist remarks, thinks about national security? Of course he doesn’t. The big clunking fist has

Monday

3 Sep 2007

James Forsyth

The political season kicks off

Today has been quite a day. Gordon Brown has burst back onto the political scene with an agenda-setting appearance on the Today Programme, a march into Conservative territory in The Daily Telegraph and a speech announcing the new politics which contained some very old fashioned points scoring. In Iraq, British forces have pulled back to Basra airport at the same time as George W. Bush has arrived to demonstrate his continuing support for the surge; illustrating just how much British and American strategies are diverging. While in London, Boris Johnson has launched his campaign for mayor. August is definitely over. Another poll will be out tomorrow that shows, according to

The Spectator

John Howard heading for defeat down under

Nobody in Australia has every come back from poll numbers this bad, this close to an election. According to Newspoll, Labor now leads the government 59 to 41 with 48% of voters preferring Ooposition Leader Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister to 37% for John Howard. Opinion polls in Oz are a lot more accurate than they are here thanks to compulsory and preferential voting and Newspoll is historically the best of them. Unless there is a political earthquake between now and December, Howard is toast.

The Spectator

A flying start for Boris

Boris is back: back Boris! Here at 22 Old Queen Street, the blond bombshell’s Spectator support team are punching the air. It wasn’t that we let the nay-sayers get to us, or that we ever, for a moment, fell for all that guff about him not being serious – it’s just that now we have the evidence to buttress our beliefs. His speech this morning was a corker. He was committed — spoke of “when” not “if” he becomes mayor – and ticked all the right boxes: the need to make first homes cheaper, to investigate the congestion charge, to champion civility, tackle yobbery and replace the murderous bendy-bus with

The Spectator

New Brown much like old Cameron

Moments into Gordon Brown’s speech about a new kind of government, it is already clear what the speech is about: copying David Cameron. Addressing a group of voluntary organisations, he has already talked about “top-down solutions” no longer working; the revolution he is announcing is precisely the revolution Cameron has been talking about for months. “Civic responsibiility”…”the empowerment of people”…”cultural and social change”. Even more flagrantly, his announcement that “I don’t want to carry on with politics as usual” with its “old tired political discourse” and “sloganising” is a direct hit at Cameron’s campaign pledge calling for an end to the “Punch and Judy politics” of Westminster. Could this be

The Spectator

Gordon’s new friend

There is nothing new in Gordon Brown’s taste for citizens’ juries and new forms of consultation – the cornerstone of his speech on the “New Politics” today – although his plan to review the Speakers’ Conference will repay careful study as part of what will clearly amount, in the end, to a substantial package of parliamentary reforms. It had emerged overnight that John Bercow, previously expected to defect to Labour from the Tories, will be advising the Government on children with learning difficulties, and the appointment of the Lib Dem, Matthew Taylor, to advise ministers on land use scarcely quickens the pulse. But for now let us acknowledge the truly

The Spectator

Brown courts small ‘c’ conservatives

Gordon Brown’s interview in the Daily Telegraph sums up how Brown thinks he can appeal to small ‘c’ conservative voters. He talks, as he did on the Today Programme this morning, heavily about service; telling the Telegraph that, “The only purpose of being in politics is to serve your country. If you are not able to discharge that duty you should not be in that job.” He is also trying to mend ties with the armed forces which he shamefully under funded as Chancellor. Later this year, he’ll be releasing a book on British military heroes. Brown emphasises his socially conservative upbringing which resonates with some right of the centre

Sunday

2 Sep 2007

James Forsyth

An autumn election is becoming less and less likely

The chances of Gordon Brown opting for an early election are rapidly receding. The latest polls show the Tories level and behind by three respectively; hardly the kind of margin that is going to encourage Gordon Brown to go now when he has so much road to play with. Even before these polls were published, Douglas Alexander went on TV to rubbish rumours that an election would be called this week It is not all good news for Team Cameron though, Ben Brogan reports that a deputy Tory treasurer has quit over the ‘lurch to the right’. This should guarantee Labour’s favourite soundbite gets some decent play in the media. While John

Saturday

1 Sep 2007

The Spectator

In real elections, little sign of the Brown bounce

The Populus data James mentions has been a major factor in soothing nerves within the Tory ranks. I had been told about these figures on two separate occasions by Shadow Cabinet members, but asked not to use it. The data is central to Operation Don’t Panic, Cameron’s main mission since returning from Brittany. Within some CCHQ quarters, there is concern that Populus data is luring the Cameroons into a false sense of security. But here’s another factor to consider: there were 11 council by-elections in August and the Tory lead averaged 12.5% according to Press Association analysis. In these real elections, there is little sign of a Brown bounce. Anyway,

Matthew Parris

Dishonesty in television may arise from lofty principle: but it still bears the devil’s fingerprint

My concern was born of direct personal experience. There was something rotten in the business of television programme-making, and it was endemic in the ethos of the small screen rather than (as TV bosses often prefer to insist) the influence of ‘a few bad apples’. I have written about this now more times than I can remember, and come at it from many angles: repeating (because it has never quite caught the public imagination and I keep hoping that with one more heave it will) the same argument. My argument is that Beelzebub has achieved something more cunning than subverting a few editors and producers into immoral practices driven by

Friday

31 Aug 2007

James Forsyth

Tories internal polling has them one point behind Labour

Anthony Wells has the details of the Tories private polling, done by Populus, which puts them on 36% to Labour’s 37%. The results are very different from YouGov’s in the Telegraph this morning that put Labour eight points ahead. If this Populus poll is right it surely makes an autumn election too risky for Gordon Brown. If YouGov is right then an autumn election is a distinct possibility. Iain Dale is tipping the fourth of October as a possible date. Hat tip: Tory Diary

The Spectator

Blair’s Diana moment

Thinking back to the events of ten years ago, it is quite remarkable how Blair’s statement grabbed the mood of the nation. Watch this clip and note how Martin Lewis, who up to that point had been sombre but not grief-stricken, choked up summarising Blair’s remarks. In time the public came to resent Blair for his ability to read its mood and steer it but it is remarkable the extent to which he possessed this skill. One of the odd things about watching The Queen is how the Queen Mother’s cynicism about Blair’s emotionalism that in 1997 seemed to sum up how out of touch the Royals were, now strikes