Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.
Melissa Kite has a terrific scoop in the The Sunday Telegraph, revealing that Tory MPs have started to send letters to Sir Michael Spicer, the chairman of the 1922 Committee, demanding a vote of no confidence in David Cameron. Here’s my column on why they are mad and what Dave should do.
Gordon’s response to the floods shows that his political antennae are twitching ferociously in spite of the overall strength of his political position this weekend. If the car-bomb plot was his mini-9/11, this crisis threatens to be the new Prime Minister’s mini-Katrina. And he’s not going to repeat the errors made by Bush – who famously told the soon-to-be-ex-head of FEMA, Gordon’s near-namesake, Michael Brown, that he was doing “a heck of a job”. Already, the PM is making dark noises about the failure of the Highways Agency and Environment Agency to liaise properly. Meanwhile, Dave has tried to dust off the disappointment of last week’s Ealing by-election, by attacking
The queue party in Hampstead was more queue than party – a few Waterstones employees in witches’ hats and T-shirts saying ‘Muggle’ wandered up and down taking notes of children who had come in fancy dress, but the atmosphere was one of cheerful patience rather than festivity, with everyone waiting patiently until a New Year’s Eve-style countdown at midnight. The only remarkable thing about it was the number of people who had decided to come and get their hands on a copy of the book at midnight. At 11, it had stretched as far as the crepe van – by midnight, halfway down the high street. There were about 300
Stanley Johnson says that his son is no buffoon, that his ability to make people laugh doesn’t mean he’s a lightweight, and that he should not get bogged down in ‘consultation’ Boris was born in New York on 19 June 1964. I missed the birth since I had slipped outside for a moment to buy a pizza. When I first saw him he was bundled up in the hospital nursery with only the soles of his feet showing. These were completely black. This puzzled me. Had his mother, I wondered, somehow managed to give birth to the wrong baby? I later discovered that in New York, for reasons of security, newborn
Toby Young, our campaign correspondent, says that the candidate’s prospects in the London mayoral election hinge on his appeal as a great communicator, and on the hysteria of the Left, which completely misunderstands him ‘Boris is going to be standing here,’ announced a member of his campaign staff, pointing at a red handbag that she had just placed on the ground in front of City Hall. This was on Monday, the day Boris formally announced he’d be running for Mayor, and the assembled hacks looked on in bemusement. Who was this woman? And what planet was she on? Didn’t she realise that the moment the Blond Bombshell appeared he’d be
Beneath the dynamic surface, Brown is dismantling Blair’s public service reforms When ministerial limousines line Great Smith Street in Westminster it is normally a sign that the Cinnamon Club is doing brisk trade. This upmarket Indian restaurant has become so popular with MPs that it has wired up a division bell in its foyer to tell them when to vote. But last Wednesday evening the attraction lay in the building opposite, where the Trades Unions Congress was holding its summer reception. Inside, newly promoted ministers and unionists were gladhanding each other like old friends. Gordon Brown was, naturally, the star attraction. The Prime Minister delighted his hosts by promising that
When a British citizen is killed on British soil and a foreign government refuses to hand over the suspected killer for trial, then the British government must act. It was imperative that David Miliband demonstrated to the Russian government that their failure to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, the suspected killer of Alexander Litvinenko, would have consequences. If Miliband had confined himself to the usual diplomatic mutterings, as his critics think he should, he would have been effectively declaring open season on British citizens; inviting KGB alumni to knock off any turbulent priests who’ve settled in London. Litvinenko’s murder late last year was designed to send the message that critics of the
The Tory result in Ealing Southall is a setback for David Cameron that ensures he will be on the back foot over the summer. To come a poor third after Cameron’s repeated visits to the seat is embarrassing and suggests that the Cameron message is not resonating as strongly as it should be. Recriminations on the Tory side will be particularly bitter because Central Office played such a key role in Tony Lit being selected only for it to turn out that he had been happily hobnobbing with Tony Blair at a Labour fundraiser just the month before. Many in the Westminster Village see the failure to properly vet Lit as
So far we know from previous reports that Hazel Blears, Ruth Kelly, Yvette Cooper and Caroline Flint have admitted to taking drugs in the past. Jack Straw, the brothers Miliband, Peter Hain and, of course, Gordon Brown have said they have never taken them.
Denis Skinner, the Beast of Bolsover, has taken to making drug jokes at David Cameron in the chamber
From the always entertaining Beau Bo D’Or
Gordon Brown has just announced that they’ll be a review in to whether cannabis should be reclassified as a Class B drug. As we know, Brown only holds a review when he’s already made up his mind so we can expect cannabis to be back to being a Class B substance by the next election. Like his u-turn on super casinos last week, this is an announcement designed to demonstrate to Middle Britain that he shares its values and to deny Cameron this fertile electoral territory.
One of Britain’s best columnists, The Sun’s Jane Moore, backs our candidate today. “Electing him as Mayor would be outrageous,” Jane writes. “He should be PM and nothing less.” Her support is as important to the Project as Polly Toynbee’s opposition. More as we have it.
George W. Bush’s former speechwriter Michael Gerson takes a swing at Rudy Giuliani in today’s Washington Post saying that the Republican president Rudy resembles is not Reagan but Nixon. Gerson lays out how Giuliani is on the wrong side of Catholic teachings on everything from abortion to torture and claims that, “No one inspired by the social priorities of Pope John Paul II can be encouraged by the political views of Rudy Giuliani.” Do read the whole thing.
Boris mania has, understandably, rather crowded out coverage of this Thursday’s Ealing Southall by-election. But the result will be key to the political mood over the summer. If the Tories get within 3 figures of Labour, it will ease the pressure on David Cameron that has built as Labour’s lead has widened. It will show that his more inclusive, less tribal politics appeals not only to commentators but voters. While if the Tory campaign belly flops, there’ll be much grassroots muttering about how on earth someone who’d been photographed beaming with Blair at a Labour fundraiser just last month got picked as a Tory candidate. The result, though, will have
Mike Read, the former Top of the Pops presenter who was touted as a possible Tory Mayoral candidate, has announced today that he’s backing Boris. If Coffee Housers see any other Boris endorsements send them along to us.
It has been a blistering first 24 hours for The Candidate. But who would have thought that Day Two would begin with the passing of such a significant Non-Electoral Milestone – the condemnation of Boris by the Guardian’s in-house funster and Coffee House’s choice to write the next Bond novel, Polly Toynbee? In a column of intergalactic joylessness that would have had Malvolio saying “hey, lighten up a bit, Pol”, she takes a hatchet to Boris, claiming that he is right-wing (wrong), a Europhobe (wrong) and a sociopath (about as wrong as you can be). All this is worth many votes for our man. Her opposition was essential to the
As Boris steps up to the plate, a word in praise of the man who is now advising him and would, barring an illness, be running as a first-class candidate for London Mayor himself. Nick Boles is one of the best and the brightest of the Cameron Conservative Party, very much in its in innermost counsels, and a thoroughly decent person to boot. It is absolutely typical of Nick that, even as he has been beginning treatment for early stage Hodgkins Lymphoma, he has also been helping Boris out and transferring the impressive resources he had marshalled over to his care. Not much is certain in politics, but, once he
“Surely what Londoners want is a Mayor who not only gives a lead – and champions the arts and culture of the city in every way – but who also keeps his government simple, doesn’t trample needlessly over the councils, and directs his intellectual energy at the core problems: transport, housing, crime.” If that’s what you want, head to Boris’s website and sign up to help his campaign.
Even as I write, the television screen is alight with the long-awaited words: “Boris to stand.” The great man is, as Coffee Housers know, the Spectator’s official candidate and there is much work to do in the months ahead to get him into the mayoral office and at the helm of the greatest city the world has ever known (apologies to Rome, Boris). For the duration of the campaign, Toby Young will be our roving correspondent, keeping you up to date on the progress of the tousle-haired one. This blog and the magazine will keep you in touch at all times. For now, I only need say: we were with you