Politics Archives

Tuesday

31 Jul 2007

Cameron hits back

Criticism from Ali Miraj, a Tory activist who was an early supporter of David Cameron and sits on two of the party’s policy review groups, of the Tory party’s lack of substance is getting some ink this morning. But in a combative interview on the Today Programme, David Cameron revealed that just yesterday Miraj asked the Tory leader to make him a peer and implied that Miraj’s criticisms are just sour grapes. I suspect that we haven’t heard the last of this. Update: Conservative Home reports that Miraj is going on the World at One to respond to Cameron. The last thing that Cameron needs now is a personal squabble with

Monday

30 Jul 2007

Alex Massie

While Smeaton watches, Scotland never sleeps…

Memo to terrorists: you’ve missed your opportunity. It’s too late now. Just pack up and go home. John Smeaton – the Pride of the Clyde and scourge of terrorists everywhere – returns to work today. Mr Smeaton, sharp-brained readers will recall, is the baggage handler who famously “set aboot” the lunatics who tried to bomb Glasgow Airport last month, delivering a swift and punishing kicking to the would-be terrorists. Mr Smeaton became the embodiment of Glasgow’s image of itself: pawky but hard as nails, proud to live up to the old motto of Kings of Scotland, Nemo Me Impune Lacessit – roughly translated as Wha Daur Meddle Wi Me? or

Alex Massie

Why vote Tory?

While Gordon Brown visits Camp David for the first time as Prime Minister (on which more later), David Cameron takes stock. The Tories have been surprised by the goodwill that seems to have accompanied Brown as he begins his time in office. The Brown honeymoon has been all sweetness and joy, prompting thoughts that Broon may go to the country early. A nine-point Tory lead in the polls has been reversed; now it is Cameron who looks shallow and opportunistic. There’s time enough, of course, to change this picture, but… Fraser Nelson asks: Try to finish the sentence “I really want the Conservatives to win the next election because…” I

Alex Massie

The George and Gordon Show Begins Its Run

UPDATE: Welcome TNR Plank people. Nice to see y’all again… Gordon Brown’s approach to the United States has followed the traditional “Good cop, Bad Cop” approach. Having let his subordinates off the leash to disparage US foreign policy and hint that Washington should no longer be able to count on whole-hearted British support, Brown today played the role of the reassuring and conciliatory policeman who just wants to be your friend. The Prime Minister’s visit to Camp David followed criticism of the US from Brown’s protege Douglas Alexander and Mark Malloch Brown, formerly head of the UN Development Programme and newly installed at the foreign office. Though the White House

The Spectator

The George and Gordon show

Gordon Brown will be pleased by how his first press conference with George W. Bush went. There were no disasters even if Bush’s ragging of the press and boast that Brown is a ‘humorous Scot’ will rather grate on British ears. While on the plus side, Bush affirmed that Britain is America’s most important bilateral relationship. Brown’s tactics for this meeting have worked a treat. He has kept his distance from Bush by dressing formally, keeping everything workmanlike—he rattled through agenda items in his opening statement as he used to do economic statistics in his budget statements, and by avoiding the mutual banter that Bush and Blair were so fond of.

Fraser Nelson

Finish that thought

“I really want the Conservatives to win the next election because…” A few CoffeeHousers have offered some endings to the above sentence, and I’d like to offer the bribe of a bottle of champagne for the best entry. One rule (sorry, Tiberius) it can’t just be “because Brown is a villain” etc – it has to be a way in which the Tories would change Britain for the better: a reason to look forward to Cameron arriving, not just to Brown departing. So far, Oz says the Tories will be cheaper and “do it for 99p against Labour’s pound” – that’s the idea, but not quite an agenda to set the

The Spectator

Brown hits all the right notes

Gordon Brown’s op-ed in the Washington Post this morning shows how fluent he is in the language of the special relationship. (Although, Brown speaks it with a less emotional and more intellectual accent than Blair). His piece hits all the right notes and by approvingly quoting Ronald Reagan he shows Washington’s Republican elite that he is not the Cape Cod partisan that some fret that he is. The most notable line in the essay is Brown’s description of terrorism as “not a cause but a crime. A crime against humanity.” This is yet another example of Brown’s balancing skills. He avoids referring to the war on terror but by calling

The Spectator

Gordon Brown’s American tour

Gordon Brown’s first Prime Ministerial visit to the United States is working well so far. He has kept his personal distance by wearing a suit and not bringing along his wife but balanced this with a statement expressing admiration for the United States and invoking the usual Churchillian rhetoric. He is not playing to the gallery on Iraq but has come up with appealing policies on Darfur and trade and all this is winning him favourable press coverage right across the spectrum. Ben Brogan is blogging the visit in his usual inimitable style. He has some particularly interesting thoughts on the new special relationship between Miliband and Brown.

Sunday

29 Jul 2007

The Spectator

Time for Cameron to reflect

Perhaps the best outcome of these torrid last few weeks is that the Cameron project has been brought down to earth. After winning the party leadership against all the odds, some of the Cameroons had the idea they could walk on water, and rewrite the normal laws of politics. They thought if they said the mantra “social responsibility” long enough, the phrase would mean something. That they could change society by exhortation, not legislation. That companies could be dragooned into implementing government priorities. All of this new-age nonsense has proved as useful as a chocolate fireguard in the heat of Brown’s first few days. Try to finish the sentence “I

James Forsyth

As Brown heads to America, Cameron hits out at Iraq policy

With Gordon Brown en route to Camp David, David Cameron has chosen to deliver his sharpest criticism of Iraq to date; telling the Sunday Times that we must “Learn the lessons of Iraq. Liberal democracy can’t be dropped from a distance of 45,000ft. Order and stability must come first. A bit of scepticism is needed in the mix. Tony Blair’s foreign policy was liberal interventionism, without a reality check.” Cameron’s comments will actually help Brown in his relationship with the Bush administration as they reinforce the point that there is no pro-American alternative waiting in the wings. While the ideological divisions on the Tory front bench and the fact that

The Spectator

Why Dave needs David

David Davis’s warning to his party to show discipline and stick to the centre ground in today’s Sunday Telegraph is the best news for the other David in a while. Davis is scarcely a woolly liberal, a Soho brand manager or a tree hugger. His voice reaches parts of the party Cameron cannot reach. Well-read and supremely intelligent, Davis is in a different league to John Prescott: Davis would make a fine party leader, which is something that could never have been said of Prescott. But Cameron should be using Davis much, much more as a public guarantor of his party reforms, just as John Smith and Tony Blair used

Saturday

28 Jul 2007

James Forsyth

How bad is it for the Tories?

There is some very astute commentary in the papers this morning about the situation that the Tory party finds itself in. Do read Charles Moore in the Telegraph on how Cameron needs to be ready for when the story changes, Peter Oborne in the Mail on the consequences if Cameron fails and Matthew Parris on why the Tories would be suicidal to destabilise the leadership now. All three pieces give you a sense of how high the stakes are.

Rod Liddle

The floods that really matter are composed of migrant labour

England’s habitually well-mannered and inoffensive chalk streams have been uncharacteristically full of themselves this last week or so — as you may have gathered from your television evening news programmes or, if you’re unlucky, your kitchen. PangbourneEngland’s habitually well-mannered and inoffensive chalk streams have been uncharacteristically full of themselves this last week or so — as you may have gathered from your television evening news programmes or, if you’re unlucky, your kitchen.The Pang in West Berkshire, for example, rarely bothers anybody. Scarcely 15 miles in length, its job is simply to adorn the Thames in agreeable manner, as if purchased from a sort of riparian Accessorize. Not this week, though.

Harry Mount

‘Turkish students smell less than British ones’

It’s four in the afternoon in the Garrick Club and Norman Stone is steaming with rage. The steam is not alcohol-fuelled. Professor Stone — historically no flincher from the glass — is on the wagon at the moment but is feeling no undue withdrawal pangs. He is, though, longing for a cigarette, and his beloved Garrick has just outlawed smoking, in line with the new legislation. It’s four in the afternoon in the Garrick Club and Norman Stone is steaming with rage. The steam is not alcohol-fuelled. Professor Stone — historically no flincher from the glass — is on the wagon at the moment but is feeling no undue withdrawal

Clemency Burtonhill

I am proud to have been on Dave’s Rwanda trip

He was damned because he did, but he would have been equally damned if he hadn’t. David Cameron’s decision to come to Rwanda this week — which honours commitments he had made both to the country and members of his own party who are out here working on a two-week volunteering scheme called Project Umubano — appeared controversial because it was taken in the wake of terrible flooding in Britain and two thumping by-election defeats. Kigali He was damned because he did, but he would have been equally damned if he hadn’t. David Cameron’s decision to come to Rwanda this week — which honours commitments he had made both to

Charles Moore

The Spectator’s notes

David Cameron was in a tight spot because of the floods. He had arranged to address the Rwandan parliament, and this fitted with his wish to proclaim his welcome interest in development issues and his party’s new document on the subject. David Cameron was in a tight spot because of the floods. He had arranged to address the Rwandan parliament, and this fitted with his wish to proclaim his welcome interest in development issues and his party’s new document on the subject. He could not convincingly have told the Rwandans that the rains forced him to stay in Britain. And yet his absence has been a mistake. ‘Middle England’, as

Friday

27 Jul 2007

The Spectator

Tony Blair meets the Simpsons

With Gordon jetting off to Camp David and the Simpsons movie coming out this weekend, here’s Tony Blair–he used to be Prime Minister, you know–doing a cameo on the show. Somehow, I think, that this is one invite Gordon will never get.

The Spectator

Another Colgate Moment?

George W. Bush and Tony Blair famously bonded over their mutual use of Colgate toothpaste at their first meeting at Camp David. With Gordon Brown heading there this weekend, one can’t help but wonder which product he and Bush have in common? Anyone have any ideas? One thing we can be confident of, though, is that Brown won’t turn up in—what Christopher Meyer so memorably described as—“ball-crushingly tight dark-blue courdroys.”

The Spectator

How Brown is reversing Blair’s reforms

Doesn’t anyone spot what Gordon Brown is really up to? The great Peter Riddell isn’t convinced that he has altered the Blair reform agenda, and thinks that “changes are at the margins”. Well, you could say that. If you snap the brake cable of a car, change is at the margins – but the consequences will be rather profound. Brown has ingeniously sabotaged the City Academy programme, keeping the name but ensuring new ones will be indistinguishable from existing schools. Meanwhile the NHS establishment is freezing out (or, as happened yesterday, just sacking) independent healthcare providers. They will now never get the critical mass they need. The CBI says it

The Spectator

More poll woe for the Tories

Today’s Telegraph poll is disastrous for Cameron. That the Tories are 9 points behind Labour is not even the worst news in it for him; what should worry him most is how his personal ratings have plummeted. In February, 43% of the electorate thought he was proving a good leader and 27% that he wasn’t with 30% undecided. Those numbers have now been reversed. Today, 44% think he is not a good leader compared to the 27% who view his leadership positively (29% remain undecided). How to pull out of this nosedive is now priority number one for the Tories. Toby Helm reports this morning on a love bombing of