Politics

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

Saturday

Irwin Stelzer

Now we know: Brown is a European, not an Atlanticist

There is little doubt, as Matthew d’Ancona and others have pointed out, that Gordon Brown is secure in the thought that he has established himself as what is called these days a ‘change agent’, cutting the ground out from Tory cries that ‘It’s time for a change.’ If you want change, go for the experienced clunking fist rather that the PR tyro. Unfortunately, not all change is in Britain’s interest. Which brings me to the by now, or at any rate soon to be, forgotten visit of the Prime Minister to President Bush’s retreat at Camp David. You know — the visit that the press hailed as a triumph for

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Shambo’s revenge: this is what happens when you mess with the gods

It took some of our farmers less than 24 hours after the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) last week to demand an immediate and comprehensive culling of Britain’s ramblers, dogs, badgers, Defra vets, tourists, van drivers, biochemists, etc etc. It is not enough that we should subsidise our farmers once over; when misfortune occurs we should then further compensate them — and suffer in silence as they demand that footpaths be closed, wildlife exterminated and so on. They have not yet gathered, or do not care, that the meat industry is of minuscule importance to the economy compared to the tourism and leisure sectors; still less that the land

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Politics | 11 August 2007

Brown has handled the crises well, but let’s not forget he is to blame for many of them There has been something almost Biblical about the challenges which Gordon Brown has had to contend with since moving into 10 Downing Street. It started with the curiously unseasonal weather, which plunged London into darkness one July lunchtime. Then floods which submerged Middle England, and now livestock pestilence, albeit at just two farms. There have been no locusts or frogs (yet), but it already seems as if the gods are testing the Prime Minister’s crisis-management skills. They found Mr Brown ready, waiting for them. He realises that crises mean showtime in modern

Friday

The Spectator

How long can Brown have it both ways on relations with the US?

Gerard Baker has a great column in The Times this morning about how Gordon Brown is trying to play it both ways on relations with America. Baker dubs it the bat’s piss strategy, in memory of the Monty Python sketch of that name. But as Baker notes there will come a time when Brown will have to choose between playing to the domestic gallery and the strategic relationship with Washington. Indeed, it is a mistake to think that whoever succeeds Bush will adopt a foreign policy that the likes of Mark Malloch Brown will approve of. Do read the whole of Baker’s piece and enjoy this wonderful quote that he

Wednesday

Matthew Dancona

What is Mark Malloch Brown up to?

Further to James’s post, when the prospect of a Darfur deal at the UN was raised on the PM’s plane to Washington nine days ago, I asked British officials this very question: where did the initiative leave Lord Malloch Brown, given that he is responsible for policy on both Africa and the UN? The answer, rather tersely delivered, was that His Lordship would, of course, be ‘involved’. Well, yes. But how ‘involved’? And how publicly? Since Malloch Brown is presently locked in his grace and favour attic, like the first Mrs Rochester, it is impossible to say.

The Spectator

A period of silence on Malloch Brown’s part

This morning’s Today Programme had an item on the Foreign Office Minister Mark Malloch Brown that’s well worth listening to. Malloch Brown has quickly become the most controversial of Gordon’s appointments. His desire for a “more impartial” foreign policy, for Bush and Brown not to be joined at the hip and his endorsement—albeit while still at the UN—of a unified EU seat on the Security Council has made him a ripe target for the press. Presumably, that’s why Malloch Brown turned down Today’s invitation to go on to talk about the new UN resolution on Darfur But if Malloch Brown is having to be shielded from the press just months

Tuesday

The Spectator

You don’t want to say that

Here’s the Guardian’s website reporting William Hague’s defence of David Cameron today: “Speaking at a press conference in central London, Mr Hague also dismissed claims that Mr Cameron was failing to bolster Tory support in the north. He said the party had raised more money from northern donors in the first seven months of this year than it had over the whole of last year.” This strikes me as entirely the wrong metric for Hague to use as it means that when another Tory donor takes pot shots at the leadership in public, as they surely will, the media will have a justification for treating it as a major story.  On today of

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron shouldn’t be cowed by Cowie

Sir Tom Cowie is always great value for journalists. When I was a business hack, I would call him up when reporting the annual results of Cowie Plc, the car company he founded (but, by then, had retired from). He would obligingly denounce its management, thus sprucing up my story. “Sir Tom Cowie attacks Cowie Group” made for a far better headline than “Cowie Profits Up 4%”. Judging by the regularity with which Sir Tom obliged me, he must have quite liked this arrangement. The company got so fed up with this that it actually changed its name to Arriva Plc (they had to spend a fortune making sure it

Monday

The Spectator

What Labour MPs should read instead of The God Delusion

The most popular book among Labour MPs this summer is, according to a new survey, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I have rather mixed views on Dawkins who is as dogmatic as those he so joyously bashes for their dogmatism. Rod Liddle brilliantly skewered this aspect of Dawkins in a Spectator interview with him back in December which is well worth reading if you want to save yourself the trouble of wading through The God Delusion.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Help, help me Rhondda, there’s been another defection

After Quentin Davies defected to Labour, Ed Balls hinted that there would be more to come. Well, one is about to be announced. Are you sitting down? It is none other than David Anstee, 26, former vice chair of the Rhondda Conservative party. Here are the words his new friends have written for him: “Like many political moderates I had hoped that David Cameron’s leadership of the Conservatives would herald a changed party that reflected the concerns of the people of our country. But unfortunately the Conservative Party has shown itself to be incapable of change. It has pandered to the views of its right wing whenever it has faced

The Spectator

Is Ashcroft’s money a reason for Brown to go early?

John Kampfner has a piece in The Guardian today urging caution on Labour and its supporters about the party’s electoral prospects because of the amount of resources Lord Ashcroft is pumping into the Tory’s target seats. Kampfner’s argument is that that the Tory money advantage combined with the fickle nature of the press means that come September Cameron’s fortunes will start to revive which suggests that an early poll is not the risk free exercise that some seem to think that it is. Yet there is a case to be made that Ashcroft’s efforts are a reason for Labour to go early rather than spending the next 18 months trying

The Spectator

Malloch Brown wanted a joint EU seat on the UNSC

The Tories have dug up a rather good story. When Mark Malloch Brown was still at the UN he was a strong advocate of the EU having one collective seat on the Security Council, saying that it should happen “as quickly as possible. I’m a huge fan of it.” Now admittedly, Malloch Brown wasn’t in the government at the time. But it does seem rather odd that Gordon Brown has put a man who aspires to this as the minister in charge of UN reform. It also puts the proposal for the EU High Representative to automatically speak for the EU as a whole, whenever the Union is agreed, at the Security

Sunday

The Spectator

What are Britain’s best blogs?

Iain Dale is compiling a list of the best political blogs in the UK and wants to know what  y’all think. If you want to take part just send iain AT iaindale DOT com an email, type Top 20 in the subejct line and then list your top twenty, or at least top ten, political blogs. The results should make for interesting reading.

The Spectator

Gordon’s retirement plan

With Brown celebrating what Matt rightly calls a triumph of a first month, it is a strange time to consider his retirment as I do in my column in today’s News of the World (not online). My information is that Brown believes he has only one election in him: he’ll fight it, then hand over. This makes sense: Brown may be all for working past retirement age but I doubt the electorate would let him lead by example. He has already started succession planning, by putting a new generation of ministers in key posts but being careful not to over promote (and therefore risk ruining) them. But as Blair showed,

The Spectator

Miraj row rumbles on

The Ali Miraj saga takes another twist with a piece by him in The Sunday Times alleging that a current member of the shadow cabinet offered him a peerage soon after 7/7. Miraj writes that: “What is not commonly known is that I was, in fact, asked whether I would consider accepting a seat in the Lords in 2005 following the 7/7 London bombings tragedy, when the party was seeking to appoint a “Muslim” parliamentarian to that House. The approach was made by a present member of the shadow cabinet and I declined it. I am choosing not to disclose names at this time, but should the party elect to

Saturday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Top UK political blogs. (Shameless self-promotion alert)

Iain Dale, the eminence grise of the UK blogosphere, is asking for submissions for his latest guide to the best political blogs. Apparently the top blogs will be decided by a public vote this time, meaning that you, dear reader, can have a say. Exciting stuff, no? Iain tells me that he may compile a ex-pat category too which means blogs that criss-cross the Atlantic such as, well, this one, would be eligible. My friend Toby Harnden‘s blog would also be eligible, for that matter. No compulsion, of course, but I wouldn’t hold it against you if you did feel like nominating this blog. What harm can it do? You

The Spectator

Screening the PM

The Times has a cracking story this morning about how everyone in Whitehall is coping—or not—with Gordon Brown’s ferocious appetite for work. Apparently, “His weapon of choice is the mobile phone, which will ring from 6.30am, with the bright-eyed, perky Prime Minister demanding papers, discussing strategy and even asking for feedback.” The Times reports that it has got so bad that people are now not picking up when Brown calls. There’s lots of other great details in the piece; including how he kept Ruth Kelly, Ed Miliband, Hilary Benn at No. 10 until one in the morning while he waited to be satisfied that a moment of danger during the

The Spectator

Brown’s Darfur triumph is also his test

Those who have exchanged fierce views on the invasion of Iraq have a fresh challenge this week: how to react to the UN resolution, tabled by Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy with support from George W. Bush, to send 19,000 peacekeeping troops to the Darfur region of western Sudan. This is one deployment of foreign troops, we trust, of which all but the most ardent pacifist or isolationist will approve. Over the past four years 200,000 Sudanese have keen killed in rebel fighting and a further two million turned into refugees. If this is not a humanitarian disaster on a scale which justifies international intervention, it would be difficult to

Matthew Dancona

On the road with Gordon in the search for hearts and minds

It was a gamble, more than Gordon Brown’s aides had cared to admit. It was a gamble, more than Gordon Brown’s aides had cared to admit. Every last detail of the new Prime Minister’s press conference at Camp David had been planned, from the tone of the Prime Minister’s voice to the colour of his tie. The President’s team had taken issue with a few passages of Mr Brown’s text, and amendments were made. But it was not the content of the text that mattered. It was — well — the whole damn thing. As we waited in the sweltering Maryland heat of Camp David, on a huge expanse of

Melanie Phillips

A major defeat in the war to defend the free world

Shortly after the release of Alan Johnston from Gaza the website of Conflicts Forum, a group advocating engagement with Islamists and which is run by the former MI6 officer Alastair Crooke, posted a fascinating transcript. Under the title ‘Hamas briefing’, it was a conversation between Michael Ancram, the former Tory Northern Ireland minister, and Osama Hamdan, a senior representative of Hamas, which took place secretly in Beirut in June while Johnston was still in captivity. Hamdan suggested Fatah was behind the kidnap — in particular, Fatah’s security minister Mohammed Dahlan — and said it had three times thwarted Hamas attempts to rescue Johnston. ‘The most important thing,’ he said, ‘is