All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
I commend Fraser’s most recent post on our part-time Chancellor of the Exchequer. But even my flabber was gasted (or my gast flabbered) by this paragraph: Being Chancellor in a recession is a very tough job. Osborne’s predecessors are amazed at the time he has to spend politicking across departments. I’m told that he is
The warning by Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, that the euro is ‘unsustainable unless further steps are undertaken’ is about as stark as they come. I’m informed that what Draghi is pushing for behind the scenes is for the ECB’s remit to be expanded to include Eurozone financial policy. This would
Here’s a first for Coffee House: a farewell by one of its contributors. And that contributor is me. It’s been four-and-a-half years since I first joined The Spectator to tend to this blog, but now I’m moving on. Or, rather, I’ll still be in the office until the end of next week — but I’ll
The slaughter of the innocents in Houla, Syria, has concentrated the West’s collective mind. The Times declares (£), not unreasonably, that there is a desire to stop what the UN, while making Robert Mugabe its tourism envoy, has tepidly described as ’18 months of violence’. The paper adds that ‘all options are on the table’.
Sean Worth was one of the buccaneers of the Downing Street policy unit. But as the civil service began to take a hold of it, Worth was sent over to the Department of Health to help Andrew Lansley see the NHS reforms through. It was also thought that Worth, an expert on social care, would
The economy’s not looking terribly good, is it? Manufacturing has sunk to a three year low, rather worse than anyone expected — and the Eurozone crisis is only partly to blame. I note that our manufacturing sector now constitutes just ten per cent of the economy. One reason for this is that it has been
The Spectator is delighted to introduce its revamped online presence. You’ll have noticed the revamped design. But let me explain some of the other changes. We’ve restructured the content to make it easier for readers to navigate the site. Magazine articles are now arranged in the same manner as their printed counterparts. The full magazine
Minutes after Jeremy Hunt finished giving evidence at Leveson, Number 10 stated that he would not be referred to the independent adviser on the ministerial code. Hunt would have settled for this result at the beginning of the day. But Labour is sure to point out that the reason Hunt was not referred to him
It’s tempting to see comedy in the government’s 30th U-Turn, but there’s a more serious side to this. It fits a pattern: act first, think later. The lack of special advisers in government is part of the problem. Even in the Labour days, I argued for more and better political appointees to help a reforming
There is now a general acceptance that the Tories’ 2015 election manifesto will contain a pledge, dare one say a cast-iron guarantee, that voters will be offered a referendum on Britain’s relationship with the EU. James first revealed this in his magazine column a few weeks ago. The aim is to see off the surge
Political stocks can go down as well as up. Shares in Alex Salmond are hardly slumping right now but they’re off their peak and flat-lining. The market is becalmed. Perhaps the launch of the independence referendum campaign will reinvigorate the First Minister but it also carries the risk – unavoidable for sure, but still a
While Jeremy Hunt was casting about, trying to save his political life at the Leveson Inquiry, the Treasury issued its latest u-turn: the expected volte face on charitable giving. Interestingly, the Sunday Times’ Isabel Oakeshott reveals that yesterday she arranged to meet 2 senior Treasury officials this morning, but the meeting was postponed earlier today,
Can’t republicans do better than this? If keeping quiet and cutting ribbons is all we can expect of our head of state then perhaps we can agree she’s done well — but surely we can expect more. As a national figurehead and leading public figure the queen has utterly failed to do anything of note
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is an energetic 86-year old. When we meet in Paris, for the first interview he’s given since the Socialists took power earlier this month, the former French president is fresh off the plane from a hunting trip in Namibia. Soon, he’ll hop on another flight bound for China, where he heads a
In Washington, as Andrew Sullivan reminds us, a gaffe is when a politician inadvertently blurts out what they actually believe. It is always occasion for equal measures of embarrassment and entertainment. So, no, Barack Obama’s reference to a “Polish death camp” was not a gaffe. Worse than that, it was a blunder. Not of malice
Robert Jay, the Leveson Inquiry QC, is taking a different approach with Jeremy Hunt than he has most other witnesses. He is subjecting the Culture Secretary to an old-fashioned court-room examination full of references to the precise timings of Hunt’s actions. Hunt’s main line so far is that he now understands the quasi-judicial process far
How has the Queen beaten the Olympics into second place for this country’s prime summer event? Robert Hardman answers this very question in our cover story this week, where he congratulates Her Majesty on overseeing celebrations that will really bring the nation together. In this week’s View from 22 podcast, our assistant editor Freddy Gray
As James observed yesterday evening, the Westminster media has its eyes on one story today: Jeremy Hunt’s career-defining appearance at the Leveson inquiry. A deafening cacophony has broken out from a host of tweeters, talking heads and irate scribblers. It will be a diverting piece of political theatre at the very least. There is drama
No public sector strike is easy to sell to the public. I recently did a stint of jury service and witnessed the chaos caused by court staff, members of the PCS union, striking over pensions. It’s one thing working around the inconvenience of jury service, but it’s quite another being kept on the premises when
It has become the conventional wisdom in Westminster that Jeremy Hunt’s career will turn on his appearance before the Leveson Inquiry tomorrow. Friends of Hunt have today been arguing that the Inquiry’s focus should be on how he carried out the quasi-judicial role. They are saying that once appointed to it, Hunt behaved — unlike
The Government takes a lot of stick for blaming the weather when there are queues at airports or lacklustre growth figures. Now the European Union is blaming a ‘colder winter’, as well as ‘economic recovery in many countries’, for emissions in 2010 being 111 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent higher – about 2.4 per cent –than
I see that, following Andy Coulson’s detention as part of a police investigation into perjury at the Tommy Sheridan, er, perjury trial, Tom Watson MP is up to his old tricks. To wit: After the detention of Coulson, Tom Watson MP reiterated his claim that Sheridan’s perjury conviction was “unsound”. He said: “Tommy Sheridan was
Today’s award for hyperbole goes to Ken Clarke. He has just told the Leveson inquiry that, ‘The power of the press is far greater than the power of parliament.’ Given that parliament can still make the law of the land, this is a rather absurd statement. (Though, I do regret that parliament has given away
When Obama brilliantly skewered Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last year, you might’ve thought the billionaire would slink off the political field. But, to the great glee of Team Obama, ‘The Donald’ is still keen to keep playing. Ever since Trump’s endorsement of Mitt Romney back in February, the Democrats have been
May God protect me from my friends. That, I suggest, should be George Osborne’s reaction to Ben Brogan’s Telegraph column this morning. As best I can tell, it’s supposed to be a supportive piece, reflecting on the Chancellor’s efforts to rediscover his mojo in the aftermath of his justifiably poorly-received budget. If so, then, with
There was a telling moment in Michael Gove’s testimony to Leveson yesterday, when he applauded Rupert Murdoch for The Sun’s campaign against the Euro: ‘Gove: Other politicians recognised that the campaign which the Sun and others ran to keep us out of the single currency was right, and I think if we’re reflecting on other
Further to Pete’s blog on the new rules about pasties and VAT, the below graphic from today’s City AM sums it up perfectly. It does, of course, make the case for tax simplification — which is what George Osborne was trying to do in the first place. Hat-tip: Juliet Samuel
Nick Clegg wants to make social mobility his big theme in office. This is an ambitious target and one unlikely to be motivated by electoral consideration given that visible progress on this front is unlike to be achieved by 2015. The publication of the former Labour minister Alan Milburn’s report, commissioned by the coalition, into
Michael Gove’s appearance at the Leveson Inquiry has set the heather alight in Tory and journalistic circles. There is, among those who fret about the dangers to free speech created by the current mood, relief that someone has set out the case for liberty so clearly and without apology. While among Tories there is a
Garlands from all quarters for Michael Gove’s performance at the Leveson Inquiry this afternoon (well, not quite all quarters) — but the most significant thing that the Education Secretary said wasn’t actually related to the media, but to his ministerial brief. When asked about the prospect of profit-making free schools, he replied that they ‘could’
So Nick Clegg wants to present himself as anti-Establishment, does he? That’s hardly surprising. After all, the Deputy Prime Minister has ploughed this furrow before now, attacking the ‘vested interests’ that are the banks and the political class. And it’s generally a large part of the Lib Dems’ ‘differentiation strategy’ to come across as insurgents
After today’s VAT changes: a) If you walked into a pasty shop and bought a pasty that has been kept hot in a cabinet (or in foil, or on a hot plate, or whatever), then you WOULD pay VAT. b) If instead that pasty had come straight out of the oven, then you WOULD NOT
Two U-turns in 12 hours — even for this government that’s some going. Following George Osborne’s watering down of his VAT changes, Ken Clarke has rowed back some of his ‘secret justice’ proposals. Specifically, the Justice and Security Bill — published today — does not extend closed hearings to inquests, as previously planned. It will
So the government is appeasing pie-eaters today. And caravan owners. In one sense this is unsurprising since increasing taxes on items perceived to be enjoyed chiefly by the working-class is rarely a popular move and, in terms of presentation, especially awkward for a government most of whose ministers are from wealthy backgrounds. Nevertheless, this u-turn