All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
The Tories have pushed ahead of Labour again after George Osborne’s successful Budget. In tonight’s poll from YouGov/The Sun, the Conservatives are ahead by two points on 35 per cent while Labour are on 33 per cent. The Lib Dems have seen no shift, remaining steady on eight per cent, while Ukip is on 13
Last week the Green Party was forced to cancel a planned black tie fundraiser after their members complained that the champagne-fuelled event was at odds with what Natalie Bennett’s party was supposed to stand for. So Mr S was surprised to see that the Guardian has gone one step further and sponsored a white tie ball. The
I have been most interested in recent posts here by Alex Massie and Matthew Parris. Here is a poll which might interest them both. YouGov recently carried out a survey in the UK which sought primarily to judge public opinions on the issue of posthumous pardons to people convicted of homosexuality. So far so hip,
How has George Osborne’s Budget gone down with his party? The Tory MPs I’ve spoken to in the past 24 hours or so since the Budget seem reasonably content with it. They’re not skipping through the corridors singing, but they’re equally not furious or despairing. Most seem to have sympathy with the lack of a
George Osborne this morning said that people should judge him on his track record, as he refused to set out the detail of welfare cuts planned in the next parliament. The IFS’s Paul Johnson didn’t seem to think this was good enough when he gave his verdict on the Budget today. He said: ‘It is
I think I have seen Nigel Farage’s future, and it is not pretty. A copy of Farage’s The Purple Revolution reached my desk today. The cover instantly reminded me of a cover manifesto for Ron Paul, the once inspiring libertarian radical who has turned into something of a crank. On Farage’s book, the word LOVE has been mirrored
Did George Osborne hide any surprises in yesterday’s Budget? The Institute for Fiscal Studies delivered its post-budget analysis this afternoon and presented a generally positive picture — noting that, as expected, the Budget ‘did not usher in any dramatic changes’ and Osborne ‘resisted the temptation to offer lots of pre-election goodies.’ Here are five things you need
After David Cameron was asked in a live Q&A this week who his favourite Game of Thrones character was, the Prime Minster replied Ned Stark – the heroic head of the Stark family, who died at the end of series one. While many commentators were quick to claim that Cameron would be much more at home with the villainous
The Tories described the Liberal Democrats’ alternative Budget statement today as ‘part of price they had to pay to have a Budget.’ But the Liberal Democrats, oddly, didn’t seem to take their own statement particularly seriously. When Danny Alexander got to his feet there were only six Liberal Democrat backbenchers present. Two of the Liberal
I suppose we’re going to have to suffer these confections until the first week of May. But it’s beginning to get my goat. First we had Ed Miliband trying to pretend he was a normal human being. Inviting a camera crew into his house. Ed posing in one of his many kitchens, looking about as
If there’s one major takeaway from this morning’s Budget interviews, it is that voters won’t get the opportunity to make as informed a choice as many would like in May. George Osborne refused to set out the detail of the £12 billion of welfare cuts he will make in the next Parliament and gave a classic politician’s answer on
This morning Danny Alexander is scheduled to reveal the Liberal Democrats’ proposed alternative budget. Alas, Vince Cable appears to have missed the memo. Speaking about the budget on LBC yesterday, Cable claimed he would be leading the Lib Dem budget: Presenter: Is it difficult to sit through a Budget like that and be barely mentioned? As a party, not personally.
Has George Osborne produced a successful Budget? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman discuss the last major act of this Parliament and what it means for the impending election campaign. Did the Chancellor announce anything of particular interest? Is this a Budget targeted purely at savers and pensioners? How influential were the Liberal
Zac Goldsmith recently wrote in the Spectator that it was his father – not the Labour party – who had stopped Britain from joining the euro. The Conservative MP claimed his dad Sir James Goldsmith was to thank, after his Referendum party battled to ‘ensure that Britain would never join the euro without the consent of the people’. One man
Douglas Alexander claimed this week that Facebook has made it difficult for politicians to campaign successfully. He said that Labour were struggling to win back voters in Scotland as a result of conspiracy theories being posted on social media. Perhaps Labour’s campaign chief was simply trying to make early excuses for his own performance in the upcoming election. Alexander is predicted to lose
From ‘Unofficial News’, The Spectator, 20 March 1915: THE exclusion of war correspondents from the firing line has greatly reduced the volume of unofficial news available for the enlightenment of the general public. What remains, moreover, has to run the gauntlet of the Censorship. How some of it manages to get through is a mystery
If George Osborne’s Budget is going to end up in a mess, it hasn’t done so yet. The worst criticism that the front pages of even hostile newspapers can come up with is that the Chancellor has produced a very political Budget which is hardly a surprise. Most splash on the retail offers in the
That was a motto-blaster of a budget. George Osborne deployed half a dozen chewy new Tory slogans during this afternoon’s statement. ‘Britain walking tall again. … a country built on savings not debt … ten pounds off a tank under the Tories … Britain – the comeback country …’ It’s unclear whether: a) Lynton Crosby
George Osborne has delivered the last budget of this Parliament, was it a success? In a View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss the Chancellor’s speech and what it means for the impending election campaign. Did Osborne announce anything of particular interest? Who was the Budget targeted at? How influential were the Liberal Democrats
Two of the biggest media circuses are set to collide. The 2013 press storm that greeted the arrival of Prince George looks likely to return when the Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to her second child. Today Catherine revealed that the baby is due next month. ‘I’m due in mid-April, to the end of April,’ the young royal told a crowd
Ed Miliband didn’t produce a spectacular response to the Budget, but neither did he have a bad outing at the despatch box. It was certainly better than his performance last year, and Labour MPs seem – in public at least – quite cheered by the whole thing. The Labour leader did have to contend with
Mr Deputy Speaker, never has the gap between the Chancellor’s rhetoric and the reality of people’s lives been greater than it was today. This is a Budget people won’t believe from a government that’s not on their side. Because of their record. Because of their instincts. Because of their plans for the future. And because
Here is a preview of James Forsyth’s political column from this week’s Spectator, out tomorrow George Osborne usually tells his aides to prepare for each Budget as if it were his last. This time round, the Chancellor and those around him needed no reminding of what is at stake. They knew that this statement had
The re-election of Benjamin (‘Bibi’) Netanyahu in Israel has not gone down well in the chancelleries of Europe, let alone the White House. During his terms of office, a majority of western politicians and commentators have become opposed to Netanyahu, viewing him as an obstacle to peace. BBC reporters claimed that his win was down
As ever, the story of the Budget was hidden in the small print. There are no hidden tax rises, but the story isn’t really in the tax. It’s about the cuts to come, the incredible jobs recovery and the games already being played for the general election campaign. Here’s my take:- 1. The rollercoaster of cuts to come:-
George Osborne delivered his final Budget of this Parliament today. Here is what you need to listen to: Full speeches George Osborne’s speech, in full: listen to ‘Budget 2015: George Osborne’s full speech’ on audioBoom
Mr Deputy Speaker, Today, I report on a Britain that is growing, creating jobs and paying its way. We took difficult decisions in the teeth of opposition and it worked – Britain is walking tall again. Five years ago, our economy had suffered a collapse greater than almost any country. Today, I can confirm: in
The PMQs before the Budget is always pretty pointless, and David Cameron turned up clearly determined to trivialise his exchanges with Ed Miliband as much as possible. He came armed with a plethora of jokes about second kitchens, chuckling about throwing two kitchen sinks at problems, that if the Leader of the Opposition couldn’t stand
Nick Clegg is turning up to the Budget today, which is an improvement on the Autumn Statement, which he bunked off in order to hang out in Cornwall with Lib Dems trying to get re-elected. He’s even got his own Lib Dem alternative Budget tomorrow. This may mean his party doesn’t get much of a hearing
Today a quick game of ‘spot the difference.’ First, here are some photos, released yesterday, of Isis pulling down the crosses on ancient churches and desecrating Christian holy sites in Mosul, Iraq. They admit to doing this because they wish to destroy all records of pre-Islamic civilisation and because, they say, they are following Islamic law. And
The Cabinet met this morning to discuss the Budget, with the Chancellor telling ministers that today the Conservatives will ‘set out the next stage in a plan that is working’ and deliver a ‘truly national recovery’, a reiteration of the comments he’s already posted on Twitter. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told journalists that ‘there was
Yesterday at SXSW, the world’s grooviest ‘interactive festival’, the head of Google X – the company’s mysterious research lab – finally admitted it. Google Glass was one gigantic embarrassment. Or, as Astro Teller put it, ‘We allowed and sometimes even encouraged too much attention for the programme’. You don’t say. For a glimpse of the sort of
Ed Miliband will respond to the Budget today (the Shadow Chancellor responds to the Autumn Statement, and has a Budget speech the day after the main event). In the past couple of years the Labour response hasn’t been fantastic, partly because the Tories have got a very well-organised (and at times just rather brutish and
While the nation is on tenterhooks for the 2015 Budget, the Tories have filled the news gap this morning with a new attack video. As you can watch above, Conservative HQ has dug up 18 year old TV footage from the Treasury, featuring Messrs Miliband, Balls and Brown promising to spend money wisely and keep unemployment down.