All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
EU leaders have just left their negotiations over the EU budget for a two hour break and so far it’s looking very, very positive for the Prime Minister. Perhaps David Cameron should pick a bracing walk rather than a car into every summit from now on because in the early hours of this morning, EU
Should heads roll over the Mid Staffordshire Hospitals Trust scandal? I ask only because as I listened to Mark Carney giving evidence to the Treasury Select Committee for several hours this morning, I found myself browsing through a number of articles on this site and others about the Libor scandal. Back in those heady days
The political row over the changes to housing benefit, labelled the ‘bedroom tax’ by opponents, intensified this evening. In an open letter to the Labour leader (reproduced below), Iain Duncan Smith accuses Miliband of ‘a pathetic exercise in political point scoring and scare mongering’. In the feisty letter, Duncan Smith argues that the taxpayer is
David Cameron caused a stir today by walking, yes, walking, into the meeting of European leaders in Brussels to discussed the multiannual financial framework. Other leaders arrived in their cars. Perhaps he was trying to make a point about the EU’s excesses as he seeks a reduction in the spending plans currently on the table,
David Ward, Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, is unhappy that his recent comments about The Jews attracted such widespread criticism. You see: “There is a huge operation out there, a machine almost, which is designed to protect the state of Israel from criticism. And that comes into play very, very quickly and focuses intensely
I was delighted to be one of the judges (along with John Rentoul, Heather Brooke and Tony McNulty) who selected Nick Cohen’s You Can’t Read This Book as the polemic of the year at the Political Book Awards in London last night. It is a terrific read from a strong list. I hope that anyone
If Mark Carney had any reservations about his move to Threadneedle Street later this year, he might now add to his list regular sessions with the Treasury Select Committee. His three-and-a-half hour hearing included a quiz from Committee member David Ruffley on his ability to explain capital ratios and other terms, questions on how many
Working in the homelessness sector as I do, my first response to Mary Wakefield’s Spectator article on rough sleeping was inevitably defensive. How dare they? Don’t they know we house and help thousands of people in London each year? Can’t they understand how complex it is and that they way things are presented is not
Doom and gloom is all around. This is another winter, if not of discontent, then certainly of persistent grumbling. Optimism is as rare as a Scottish victory at Twickenham and, frankly, just as fanciful a thought. That, at any rate, is today’s conventional wisdom. Fleet Street looks to a Triple Dip recession and ponders what
Whisper it but the government have a fighting chance of reaching their immigration target. The main risk now is an inflow from Romania and Bulgaria when our labour market is fully opened to them next January. That is why the issue of child benefit is important; if we continue to pay it to children left
Coalition ministers and commentators like to study Michael Gove as an example of a successful reforming politician. The Education Secretary is most definitely man not mouse, taking on some of the most vehement vested interests in our public services, and even appearing to enjoy himself while he does it. But today’s change of tack on
And lo, the battle for British Gay Marriage was in fact a rout. True, half the parliamentary Conservative party voted against the measure. True too, this is now being considered further evidence that David Cameron’s leadership skills – or, rather, since they are not the same thing – his party management skills are less than
Steerpike is back in today’s edition of The Spectator. Here is a sneak preview: ‘Stanley Johnson, replete with energy and charming as ever, is touring the country looking for a safe Tory berth to ease himself into at the next election. No takers so far, I’m told, but the wily old bird has devised a
William Hague stayed remarkably jovial throughout his two-hour appearance before the Foreign Affairs Select Committee today, chuckling happily away even when he was asked to imagine what he’d do if the European Union had never existed. But the Foreign Secretary was considerably less revelatory than he was cheery, offering no new details at all on
I do like a Shard story. My recent revelations about the prevalence of hanky panky at the top of the tower graced every national paper. Now I hear that the tower has become a giant pawn in a bitter property battle. The word is that one of the many members of the Qatari royal family,
Joe Murphy has a rather amusing story in the Standard this afternoon about Tory malcontents’ latest manoeuvres against the Prime Minister. He reports several MPs saying Cameron will need to meet five key tests in order to secure his position as leader. How very democratic of them, measuring the Prime Minister’s performance against a set
It was cynical. It was shameless. It was low-down politics in every way. But Miliband’s stunt at PMQs very nearly worked. His theme was the reform of housing benefit that will affect those in homes with unoccupied bedrooms. Ed Miliband calls this ‘a bedroom tax’. He kicked off by asking David Cameron about the case
David Cameron does big solemn occasions well. He’s skilled at taking a statement above the usual tit-for-tat partisan exchanges in the Commons. Everyone knows that, as does the Prime Minister, which is why he made the statement on the Francis Report rather than the Health Secretary. The Tories know that turning the response to this
Borgen – the title refers to the Danish equivalent of Holyrood or Westminster – has been terrifically popular amongst those people interested in sub-titled political dramas from Denmark. I fancy that viewers in England have simply enjoyed the programme for what it is: a well-made but impossibly smug piece of “progressive” political propaganda. In Scotland,
At a particularly unedifying PMQs today, one Labour MP even suggested that ministers need cognitive behavioural therapy. The cause of all this rancour: the so-called ‘bedroom tax’. Now, the ‘bedroom tax’ is not actually a tax. Rather, it is a reduction in the amount of housing benefit paid to those who — according to the
In shaping education policy I have been influenced by many people… But two particular individuals have influenced me more than any others. The Italian Marxist thinker – and father of Euro-Communism – Antonio Gramsci. And the reality television star Jade Goody. Let me explain my admiration for Jade first. When she first appeared on our
Important work from Latanya Sweeney of Harvard University into the inherent racism of internet search engines. She carried out a study which demonstrated a clear difference between the sort of ads that appear on the page if you’re searching for either a “black” name or a “white” name. She used a bunch of names which
What is the point of a Conservative party that does not see practical value, perhaps wisdom, in traditional institutions such as marriage? There are some less worthy reasons for preserving prevailing structures, such as sheer self-interest, but the overwhelming reason for valuing established institutions is intellectual modesty. We should be aware of our own intellectual
The Francis Report into Mid Staffordshire hospital trust will be published at 11.30am today. David Cameron will make a Commons statement this afternoon on the matter. Yesterday I explained why Cameron should be bold today and go beyond the usual ‘lessons must be learned, procedures should be tightened’ platitudes. One of the greatest risks is
That’s that then. Marriage will change, one way or another. Progress has won. Cue lots of right-on politicians talking about how proud they are to have ushered in such a historic reform. But what about the losing side? What should those Christians who believe that marriage must by definition be a union of man and
The Press Association’s analysis of tonight’s vote on the second reading of the same-sex marriage bill found 139 Conservative MPs voted against, along with two tellers. This was a free vote. I’ve highlighted some names of particular interest in bold: Nigel Adams (Selby & Ainsty), Adam Afriyie (Windsor), Peter Aldous (Waveney), David Amess (Southend West),
More Tory MPs have voted against gay marriage than have voted for it, with initial estimates from the vote (which was won 400 votes to 175) suggest 139 Tories voted against the legislation and 132 voted in favour. This was not the result that David Cameron was hoping for when his government introduced gay marriage
It has just been announced that my friend Lars Hedegaard, a Danish journalist and frequent critic of Islamic fundamentalism, has narrowly survived an assassination attempt at his home in Denmark. The BBC is reporting: ‘Police said a gunman in his 20s rang the doorbell at Mr Hedegaard’s Copenhagen home pretending to deliver a package and
Today MPs are debating a matter of conscience, invoking their personal religious beliefs as they examine the same sex marriage bill. The debate has largely remained remarkably respectful thus far. But tomorrow the Prime Minister will give a statement on another matter that stirs similar religious fervour: the NHS. It will be David Cameron who
The report of the Bulgarian authorities into the bus-bombing which killed a local bus driver and five Israeli tourists in Burgas last summer has confirmed what so many of us suspected: it was Hezbollah. Commenting on the release of the report, and the identity of the bombers, Interior Minister Tscetan Tsvetanov has said: ‘We have
The Hurlingham Club hosted the Tories’ annual fundraising Black and White Ball last night. Behind closed doors, the Prime Minister gave a speech to Tories with deep-pockets. There was none of the usual soft commentary the public get thanks to the joys of coalition; Dave was in partisan mode. It will be the end of the
Would the European Court of Human Rights force churches to conduct same-sex marriages against their will? That’s the professed fear of some opponents of the Same Sex Marriage Bill being debated in the Commons today. The Church of England sent MPs a briefing paper saying ‘We doubt the ability of the Government to make the
Argentina’s foreign minister, Hector Timerman, is in town. He spoke to all the All Party Parliamentary Group on Argentina earlier this afternoon. There are close economic and social links between Britain and Argentina, extending far back into the nineteenth century; but the meeting was dominated by what was euphemistically termed ‘the islands’. Timerman began diplomatically. ‘You can speak
The committee of MPs considering the Justice and Security Bill was sitting today, but outside the group of loyal MPs scrutinising the Bill line by line, moves are still afoot from those who oppose part II, which enables secret court hearings. I understand that there is now a group of Conservative MPs keen to support