Cameron statement
Cameron statement
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All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Wednesday
Gearing up for another European drama
Away from the amateur dramatics in parliament this afternoon, the government is fighting yet another battle with the European Commission over banking reform. European leaders will vote later today on proposals to introduce the rubric of Basel III across European financial institutions. Led by EU Finance Commissioner Michel Barnier and ECB Vice-President Jean-Claude Trichet, these proposals
“Why I hit Murdoch”
The Guardian’s Comment is Free has given a platform to the self-styled comedian Jonnie Marbles, who attacked Rupert Murdoch with a plateful of shaving foam. He says he did it ‘for the people who couldn’t’, which is ironic given that he couldn’t either after, owing to Wendi Deng’s bejewelled fist. This has sparked a debate about whether it is
Westminster’s Festina Affair
Cycling fans will recall the Festina Affair that crippled the 1998 version of the Tour de France. The discovery that the peloton could be considered a travelling pharmacy did not surprise veteran cycling aficionados, even if the extent and sophistication of the doping was enough to shock some. Entire teams withdrew from a race that,
A real crisis?
David Cameron is under pressure now that the phone hacking scandal has slithered its way closer to his door. The news that Neil Wallis informally advised Andy Coulson in the run up to last year’s election will spark questions about Cameron’s judgement and the competence of his leadership, as will the revelations about his chief
Tuesday
Crouching Tiger, Slapping Wendi
All hail, Wendi Deng. It took her a split second to attack the guy hurling a pie at Rupert Murdoch, slapping so hard that the sound was picked up by the cameras. According to the BBC’s Nick Robinson she then started shouting “I got him, I got him.” First tiger mums, now tiger wives. “Mr
Euro crisis enters a new phase
It was a problem that would be fixed with a snap of the Commissioners’ manicured fingers, but now fresh euro-storms are louring in the near distance. As predicted over the weekend, the markets reacted to the European Banking Authority’s deeply flawed stress tests with fevered concern and a clear note of contempt. The FTSE shed
Brooks comes to Cameron’s aid, perhaps unintentionally
Rebekah Brooks’s appearance before the Culture Media and Sport Committee was largely uneventful. Most of the questions addressed her editorship of the News of the World, a period about which she cannot openly speak at present because of the criminal proceedings brought against her. However, Brooks was very keen to distance herself from David Cameron. Towards the
The crisis gets closer to the Tories
The news that Neil Wallis was informally advising Andy Coulson without the knowledge of any of the other senior figures in the Tory party is a reminder of just how dysfunctional the Tory party machine was pre-election. It is also an indication of the license that Coulson was afforded. The Tories cannot say if anyone
Brooks before the CMS Committee
Rebekah Brooks at CMS Committee
Kinnock’s Return!
Given how roughly he was treated by the press it’s not a surprise that Neil Kinnock still thirsts for revenge against tormentors. On the other hand, his appearance on the Today programme this morning when he called for the free press to be suppressed or otherwise outlawed demonstrated that, actually, the press was right to
The Murdochs in parliament
The Murdochs in parliament
Only police reform can keep politics out of policing
We expect and openly tolerate close, even cosy, relations between politicians and the media – each relies on the other for survival in a society that is less deferential and where politicians find it difficult to be heard, let alone trusted. The police need to tell their side of the story. But the police are
Murdoch attacked
The Murdochs before parliament
The major story of this session was the claim, made by Rupert Murdoch, that Colin Myler, former editor of the News of the World, appointed James Chapman to investigate phone hacking and the two were in possession of an explosive document on the subject for years, which has since come to light. It was these
Met officers at the Home Affairs Select Committee
Home Affairs Select Committee
Waiting for the Murdochs
Much rides on the appearance of the Murdochs today. Word is that James Murdoch’s role as chairman of BSkyB depends on his performance today reassuring the non-News Corp shareholders in the company. Bloomberg News, hardly a sensationalist outfit, is even reporting that —remarkably— Rupert Murdoch could be replaced as CEO of News Corp after today.
Gotcha! | 19 July 2011
John McTernan has some good advice for MPs questioning the Murdochs and La Brooks this afternoon. The main thing is basically this: see those famous Congressional hearings in the United States? Yeah, don’t behave as Senators and Members of the House of Representatives are prone to do. It’s not about you, it’s about the answers.
Dominic Grieve is a bigger scandal than Andy Coulson
The public may not be much interested in the Murdoch Affair but the importance of an issue is not measured by the level of public interest in it. If it were and if the news channels only covered the things the public loves we’d be treated to exhaustive coverage of kittens in trees, car chases
Monday
Shaking our faith in money
Addictive though the hacking inquiry is, the average Brit is probably more worried about the slow decimation of his spending power at a time when salaries are flat. Against this backdrop, the price of gold today has broken $1,600 an ounce. With inflation and the Fed’s printing presses whirring, faith in paper money is taking
Some good news for Cameron?
In the midst of the fall-out from the phone hacking scandal comes some positive news for David Cameron: it appears that the Libyan rebels have won control of Brega, as most pro-Gaddafi troops retreated westward leaving around 150-200 loyalist fighters pinned down inside the town. If true, this is an important step towards the end of
Blue Labour’s Blood-Red Rivers
Guido – or Harry Cole, actually – asks Where’s the Outrage? about Maurice Glasman’s declaration that all immigration to these fair islands should cease forthwith. Ed Miliband’s advisor or intellectual guru or whatever he’s termed these days believes immigration makes Britain little more than “an outpost of the UN” and we should cease being so
Tonight’s developments
The untimely death of Sean Hoare is dominating tomorrow’s front pages. But on The Guardian front page there’s also a report on another development in this scandal: Detectives are examining a computer, paperwork and a phone found in a bin near the riverside London home of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International.
Cameron’s Problem is Propriety Not Illegality
Tim Montgomerie suggests that we all at least try and keep the News of the World scandal in some degree of perspective. This is a worthy thought but not one that’s likely to fly very far given the febrile mood at Westminster. Moreover, Tim’s reasons for calling for calm are not, perhaps, quite as persuasive
From the archives – Yates had previous
As Theresa May put it in an impressive statement to the House earlier, “These allegations are not, unfortunately, the only recent example of alleged corruption and nepotism in the police.” She then vowed to open an inquiry into these matters, which will stand in addition to the two already announced by the government. The panel
Phone hacking tempest forces Cameron to shorten trip again
David Cameron’s long-planned trip to Africa has been foreshortened again. He will now return on Tuesday evening, as opposed to Wednesday morning. This, we are led to believe, is so that he can finalise the terms and membership of the Leveson inquiry ahead of Wednesday’s emergency parliamentary session. The scramble for Africa has become the scramble from Africa.
Where are Cameron’s praetorians?
One of the striking things about the wall to wall hackgate coverage on the 24 hours news channels is the absence of Tory voices defending the Prime Minister. It is coming to something when the leader of another political party, Nick Clegg, is doing more to defend the PM than most of the Tory members
Yates goes as Boris stands by
Yates of the Yard has gone as the phone hacking scandal claims yet another scalp. Yates walked after being told he would be suspended. Yates’ departure was necessary given the appalling mistake of hiring Neil Wallis, a former editor at the News of the World, while the Met was investigating — or supposed to be
Yates quits
John Yates has offered his resignation, which appears to have been accepted. There are reports that he will make a full statement later this afternoon. More to follow as we get it.
Cameron joins the scramble for Africa
As James has said, David Cameron is in South Africa for the start of a two day trip to Africa to promote free trade and foster trade links. He projects his vision in an article for South African Business Day: ‘In the past, there were marches in the west to drop the debt. There were
Tory Defence Meltdown
How many Tory MPs came into parliament – even this parliament – thinking they’d be asked to support a Tory-led plan to cut the army by 20%? How many Tory voters think this is where the public spending axe should fall? Precious few, I reckon. And yet, remarkably, this is what Liam Fox is planning.
How Cameron can regain some initiative
The phone hacking scandal has now been leading the news for a fortnight straight. When a story has been on the front pages for this long, it develops its own momentum. If we were on day two of the story, I very much doubt that Sir Paul Stephenson would have resigned as quickly as he
Just in case you missed them… | 18 July 2011
…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. James Forsyth says that the phone hacking spotlight is turning onto the police, reacts to Sir Paul Stephenson’s resignation, and notes how much ammunition Stephenson has given Labour. David Blackburn watches European financial institutions attack the EU’s latest answer to the Eurozone crisis,
Quizzical eyes turn on Yates
The phone hacking saga is now moving at such pace it threatens to engulf the political establishment (whether it is a sufficiently serious story to do so is another matter). After Sir Paul Stephenson’s theatrical resignation, timed to upset newspaper deadlines and plotted to embarrass the Prime Minister, attention has now turned to John Yates.