Live from Tony Abbott’s private suite: his election victory, as it happened.
Latest from Coffee House
All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Saturday
Syria, schools, David Frost and Universal Credit – this week in audio
It’s been a varied week on Coffee House, with domestic matters rearing their head once again while Syria continues to dominate the news agenda. Isabel, James and Douglas sat down on Monday for a View from 22 podcast special on the US situation in Syria: listen to ‘View from 22 Syria special – with Douglas
Spectator literary competition No. 2816: Let’s twist
This week we are in Roald Dahl territory. You are invited to submit a short story of up to 150 words with an ingenious twist at the end. Please email entries, marked Competition 2816, to lucy@spectator.co.uk by midday on 18 September. Here are the results of the latest competition, in which competitors were invited to
Friday
Barack Obama and public opinion on Syria
There are a number of obvious differences between last week’s vote in Parliament and the forthcoming Congressional vote on Syria. But today when he gave his closing statement at the end of the G20 summit, Barack Obama highlighted another very interesting divergence in the way he is approaching the vote. Asked whether he understood the
Does Syria mark the end of American world dominance?
Will historians see the Syrian war as ‘the start of the historic American retreat’? Syrian media seems to think so, and they’re not the only ones; there’s a big market in ‘America is doomed’ literature, although the fact that lots of people are out there buying books suggests it maybe isn’t yet. I’m sure that,
Builders promise HS2 ‘on time and on budget’ – if backbenchers don’t kill it first
Another day, another promise that a government project will be in time and on budget. Yesterday it was universal credit, today it’s High Speed Rail, with a letter from the construction companies behind the project in the Telegraph. The letter, signed by chief executives and chairmen of Arup Group, Atkins UK, Balfour Beatty, Kier Group,
Labour clears Unite and Karie Murphy of wrongdoing in Falkirk row
After going all out over the Falkirk selection row, Labour rather quietly issued a statement this afternoon conceding that neither Unite’s candidate Karie Murphy, nor constituency party chair Stephen Deans, nor the union itself were guilty of any wrongdoing. The party’s statement said: ‘The Labour Party began an internal process to examine the controversy surrounding
David Cameron: We can’t let Russia dictate other countries’ foreign policy
As well as having another extended Hugh Grant moment about how great Britain is (excluding David Beckham’s feet, but including One Direction), David Cameron got his chance to hit back at Russia’s intransigence on Syria this afternoon as the G20 summit drew to a close. Nodding to the lengthy declaration issued by the leaders –
David Cameron’s Small Island songs
In response to some snarky comments from Russia about Britain, the Prime Minister has just released this bizarre statement on his Google+ page about how he feels about our country: ‘Britain may be a small island, but I would challenge anyone to find a country with a prouder history, a bigger heart or greater resilience.
Don’t blame the banks for not lending enough to small businesses
It is now a truism in Westminster to argue that banks are failing UK businesses, especially smaller ones, by reining in lending, thus thwarting growth. The problem with this truism is that it isn’t, er, true. And it also distracts attention from the real funding problems that businesses struggle with, which means government policy consistently
Fixing the civil service
Universal credit is having a bumpy ride: but whose fault is it? Yesterday’s Commons urgent question on the National Audit Office report turned into a bit of a blame game, with Iain Duncan Smith saying rather bitterly that he had expected his department to meet the challenge of delivering this big reform. His response to
Small island will need to talk big on Syrian aid
Even though Vladimir Putin slotted Syria into the G20 agenda last night, no-one seriously thought that this meant the world leaders would come to a proper agreement on what to do about the conflict. In the last few minutes, David Cameron has told journalists covering the summit that ‘divisions are too great’ for a deal,
Proud to have been nominated as one of the Independent’s top 10 wine clubs!
The Independent selected their top 10 best wine clubs and this is what they had to say about The Spectator: ‘This has terrific monthly offers, each of which is dedicated to one of seven impressive wine partners ranging from Tanner Wines to Yapp Brothers. In addition, there are ad hoc choices from its renowned wine
Thursday
G20 summit gets small-minded with ‘small island’ gibe
What a nice host Vladimir Putin is. Shortly after world leaders gathered in his country for the G20 summit in St Petersburg, a briefing from the President’s official spokesman that Britain is ‘just a small island no-one pays any attention to’ made its way into the media. Nothing like rubbing the nose of one of your
Liam Byrne’s vulture strategy
David Aaronovitch’s furious Times column this morning described Ed Miliband as a vulture, swooping down on problems caused by this government rather than leading. If he wanted another example of how this leadership style has affected the rest of the Labour party, he could have done worse than to attend the Commons urgent question on
Michael Gove: I deplore the teaching unions, but not striking teachers
With the upcoming teaching unions’ strikes, is Michael Gove battling the teachers? Just days after the new school term has begun, the unions have announced the dates of the strikes — including one in the middle of the Tory conference — while blaming the Education Secretary for not listening to the concerns of their members. As Christine Blower, general secretary
Nick Boles meets his doppelganger
The world of social media often goes through the looking glass, but today has been particularly bizarre. Housing minister Nick Boles has decided to join the fun and games on Twitter, announcing his arrival this afternoon. The problem is the popular parody account, General Boles. The General’s satirical pictures (such as the one above) and
Iain Duncan Smith turns up the jargon on universal credit
Iain Duncan Smith was in an aggressive mood when he appeared before MPs this morning to explain the latest awkward report on universal credit to the Commons. He combined his anger with a plethora of jargon. This made for an interesting debate, as it’s very difficult to sound punchy and angry while talking about ‘agile
Toby Young: Should I be an MP?
In this week’s Spectator, columnist Toby Young toys with the idea of standing as a Conservative candidate in in Hammersmith. He examines the factors stacked against any chance of success, and the reasons he has for standing: Suppose I won. Then what? I’d be faced with the pride-swallowing siege that is the life of a
David Aaronovitch: Syria vote shows Ed Miliband is a ‘vulture’ not a ‘leader’
David Aaronovitch’s column in The Times today (here) is fairly devastating for Ed Miliband. He’s angry about the Syria vote, but this has crystalised his misgivings about the character of the man who would be Prime Minister. Miliband could have accepted Cameron’s motion and taken credit for getting proper process established, he said. But instead
The lobbying bill’s sloppy wording risks silencing charities and community groups
The government’s lobbying bill is intended to promote transparency and enhance the UK’s political integrity. It is meant to bring an end to underhand tactics by clearly setting out what organisations can and cannot do to support political parties, including how much they can spend. These are laudable aims which we understand and support. But the government
The View from 22: Obama’s zigzagging path to war and Cameron’s tiff with his MPs
What is behind Barack Obama’s wobbly approach to Syria? In the latest View from 22 podcast, former US State department official Colleen Graffy and the Spectator’s Douglas Murray discuss Obama’s latest manoeuvres in Washington and whether the American people still have an appetite for going to war with Syria. What will happen when the issue hits Congress
Wednesday
Coffee Shots: George Osborne discovers Wikipedia
On this balmy summer’s evening, George Osborne has popped over to east London to get down with some of the tech kids at the Campus Party in The O2. Judging from the above picture, the chancellor is quite impressed at what Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, had to show him: Just don’t expect tax rates
William Hague tells the 1922 that ‘lessons will be learned’ from Syria vote
William Hague’s appearance at the 1922 Committee has underlined the fact that the Tory party is now split on foreign policy. I’m told that the questions that the Foreign Secretary received were pretty much evenly split between the passionate supporters of intervention in Syria and its passionate opponents. Those present calculate that the room was
PMQs: Playing politics with dead children was avoided. Instead, Prince George got the attention
It never happened. That’s what happened at PMQs today. Westminster fans tuned in expecting to see the ugly moment when MPs would start accusing each other of playing politics with dead babies. Instead it was a live baby – Prince George – who got all the attention. David Cameron wished ‘a happy and healthy life’
PMQs: does David Cameron have any idea of MPs’ real concerns with the Lobbying Bill?
There’s nothing wrong with the Prime Minister turning up to PMQs with a snappy line that he wants those watching to remember. But sometimes as the exchanges wear on, the risk grows that the clever line isn’t going to get a showing because the questions haven’t been quite right. And so the line gets shoehorned
PMQs: David Cameron’s hatred towards Ed Miliband is palpable
MPs piled into the Chamber expecting a blood and thunder affair. But instead it was rather subdued. Ed Miliband chose to ask six questions about the Syrian situation concentrating on the humanitarian and diplomatic situation and Cameron had to respond in measured tones. Though, one could sense that Cameron would have loved to have gone
‘To sack Jesse Norman over a moral issue like whether to support war is outrageous’
Jesse Norman’s departure from the policy board hasn’t come as a huge surprise to many Tory MPs: I was with one after the vote who was subjecting his twitter feed to a lengthy examination to work out whether Norman was stranded overseas. The only evidence available was that Norman went to a beer festival on
Exclusive: Jesse Norman to leave No.10 policy board after Syria vote
Jesse Norman is to leave the Number 10 policy board after abstaining in last week’s vote on Syria, I have learned. It was made clear to the Tory MP, who is known to have disagreed with the government’s position on Syria, that this was an inevitable consequence of avoiding a three-line whip vote. But I
Tom Watson: the Labour man with a plan
Ed Miliband needs to reassure his backbenchers that he does indeed have a good plan after the GMB union announced it was cutting its affiliation funds to the party by 90 per cent. But someone else already has a plan: and it looks strangely like one that will cause the Labour leader a bit of
GMB funding blow for Labour shows need for a clear plan from Miliband
Has Labour got a plan? If it does, the GMB doesn’t like it, announcing this morning that it will cut its affiliation funds from £1.2 million to £150,000, effective from january 2014. The cut is to reflect the number of the union’s members who it estimates would choose to affiliate to the Labour party under
Boris Johnson and the ‘Aztec death ray’
As Mr Steerpike reported late last night, the gloves were off between Russell Brand and Charles Moore at the GQ Man of the Year awards. But that was not the only fight to split the audience. After American comedian Seth MacFarlane’s disastrous turn at this year’s Oscars, you would have thought that award ceremony hosts
What use is a GDP recovery if living standards are stagnant?
Labour had better get used to headlines of economic upgrades. There’s about two dozen major forecasters out there, and each will take a turn to say that Britain’s doing better than they’d thought. To have such good news repeated will be a headache for Labour, as Iain Martin blogs today. But Labour are right to
Tuesday
Vinnie Jones does not do irony
Thuggish footballer turned terrible actor Vinnie Jones has gone all man-down-the-pub over the state of the nation. Speaking from his LA home to the Radio Times, the US immigrant said: ‘There’s nothing to come back to here. To me, England is past its sell-by date. It’s not the country I grew up in. It’s a
