Latest from Coffee House

Latest from Coffee House

All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories

Steerpike

Exclusive: Nigel Evans: I’ll be back

Mr Steerpike can exclusively reveal that former Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans is to run for a senior position on the 1922 Committee executive. The recently vindicated Tory MP remains popular on the backbenches, and has been keeping a deliberately high profile since being cleared on nine counts of sexual abuse. The all-powerful committee is the repository

Rod Liddle

World Cup diary: Italy were poor but England were worse

Another fairly unpleasant evening spent watching England playing football. Ah well. It used to be that England were renowned for two things: we could score from set pieces, and we knew how to defend set pieces. In fact we rarely scored from open play – but give us a corner, or a free kick, and

Rod Liddle

The Guardianista mind-set

A moron has written a letter to The Guardian. I realise that this is not ground-breaking news. In the journalistic canon it is very much “dog bites man”, sure. But this brief letter exemplifies the mind-set of these awful, stunted, absolutist people. The letter was from a man called Conor Whitworth, and was in regard

Isabel Hardman

Ex-Tory minister: free schools will let extremists in

The row about extremism in schools has over the past week widened out to the role of faith in education in general. This morning I interviewed Crispin Blunt, a former Conservative Justice Minister and Duncan Hames, a Lib Dem MP, for Radio 4’s The Week in Westminster. Blunt told me he fears that the Coalition’s

Rod Liddle

World Cup diary – Spain humiliated

You see – that’s the trouble. You write off the World Cup for moral reasons because of FIFA sleaze (and that opening game). And then Spain are magnificently humiliated, cheering me up more than I could have thought possible. Undoubtedly talented, Spain have nonetheless been boring us rigid for too long, with that self-regarding, tippy

Michael Gove and the Ship of Fools

It lies rigged and fully masted in the harbour, the Ship of Fools, and soon it will be crewed by some of our favourite smarties. Is that Shami Chakrabarti charging down the gangway? It surely is. Those sharp elbows can be identified at a hundred paces. And is she being followed by Hanif Kureishi and

How should we respond to events in Birmingham?

As metaphors go, calling the alleged plot to take over schools in Birmingham a ‘Trojan Horse’ is a pretty powerful one. This allegedly was a devious attempt by a group of extremists to invade a protected space, ousting headteachers, making false allegations against staff and employing dirty tricks with the aim of imposing a fundamentaist

Fraser Nelson

The British jobs miracle, in six graphs.

No one quite expected it, and even now ministers struggle to explain it. But the British jobs miracle has become the single biggest fact of economic life – proving that sometimes, things go badly right as well as badly wrong. Cameron has now overseen more job creation than his last six predecessors did at this

Ed West

Don’t apologise for holding The Sun, Ed

I’d like to say that when I’m low and feel I can’t go on anymore that it’s the thought of a child’s smile or a better future for humanity that gets me through, or maybe one of those inspiring Maya Angelou quotes people were sharing last week: but to be honest, it’s actually that picture

Ed Miliband apologises for endorsing The Sun

Ed Miliband’s love affair with The Sun has ended almost as soon as it had begun. Following reports that he was ‘very very sorry’ for endorsing the newspaper, the Labour leader appears to have u-turned under pressure from his own party. A Labour spokesperson said this afternoon: ‘Ed Miliband was promoting England’s bid to win the World

Rod Liddle

World Cup diary: Was the ref playing for Brazil?

Suspicions that FIFA is an organisation given, occasionally, to a bit of corruption will not have been allayed by the first match of the 2014 World Cup. Brazil won with two goals from a player who should have been sent off, including a penalty which clearly wasn’t a penalty, while Croatia had a perfectly good

Isabel Hardman

Cameron: I speak for disillusioned European voters

David Cameron is today pleading with European leaders to drop their support for Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission. In an article published in a series of newspapers across Europe, the Prime Minister argues that the EU needs ‘bold leadership – people ready to heed voters’ concerns and to confront the challenges Europe

Steerpike

Coffee Shot: Ed Miliband on the risk of Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband’s change of mind over The Sun took Mr Steerpike by surprise, brandishing the newspaper that so many of his colleagues have spent today condemning. This has, of course, inspired various spoofs on Twitter. But Mr S can assure readers that the image below is 120 per cent genuine – and bears a message

Labour MPs disagree with Ed Miliband over The Sun

Ed Miliband appears to have had a sudden change of heart about The Sun. After calling for Rupert Murdoch’s empire to be dismantled, the Labour leader has endorsed The Sun’s World Cup special today. Not all of his colleagues feel the same way — many of them have been tweeting critical remarks about the paper. Here’s

Isabel Hardman

Labour #won’tletbritaindecide: but are they bothered?

Westminster has felt pretty dull recently, what with very little legislation and that. But now that, thanks to the bravery of Tory MP Bob Neill, could change. #LetBritainDecide fever could be back after Neill was the top Tory (not the top MP) in the Private Member’s Bill ballot. And funnily enough, Neill chose to take

Podcast: the betrayal of British Muslims and the new Iraq war

Do we need to take more action to tackle the Islamist threat in British schools? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, The Spectator’s Douglas Murray and Matthew Parris debate this week’s cover feature on whether the Birmingham ‘Trojan Horse plot’ is the results of years of weak policy and inaction. Should we wait until

Video: London cabbies, Über alles

What’s upsetting London cabbies? Is it really that Transport for London aren’t fairly implementing the special privileges awarded to Hackney Carriages, or are they simply against a bit of healthy competition? According to some, it’s all Goldman Sachs’ fault, but can the iconic London taxi stem the tide of technological change forever? We sent The

James Forsyth

David Cameron acknowledges that some Tory MPs want to leave the EU

David Cameron addressed the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers earlier this evening. The meeting was upbeat because of the introduction of the winner of Newark by-election Robert Jenrick and brief because Cameron had to go off and see the Queen. Cameron only took a handful of questions but all touched on Europe. Cameron defended opting

A brave man in Iraq needs your help

Canon Andrew White is one of the bravest men you could ever meet. He is the Anglican vicar of St George’s Church in Baghdad and has continued his service in that country throughout its recent horrors. He has lost hundreds of members of his congregation but he has remained an extraordinary, humbling and hope-giving presence