All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
If only PMQs were more like select committee sessions. Sure, the latter aren’t completely free from tribalism, even if it takes a subtler hue – but they are still considerably more insightful than Wednesday’s pantomime in the chamber. Frequently, they play like a demonstration of how democracy can, and should, work. Such was the case
All of a sudden, the coalition partners can’t get enough of their backbenchers. Last night, it was David Cameron meeting the 1922 Committee to reassure them about their mutual relationship. And, today, Nick Clegg is going on an “away day” with that half of his party which isn’t in government, all to explain his close
Today marks the 31st anniversary of President Jimmy Carter’s famous ‘malaise’ speech. On July 15, 1979, Carter, then running for re-election against Ronald Reagan, ignored the advice of his campaign team and gave Americans a grave warning. The nation, he said, was facing a fundamental “crisis of confidence”. (He didn’t actually use the word malaise.)
Vince Cable faced next to no questioning on his hugely controversial plans for a graduate tax on Today this morning. Instead he was allowed to make an annoucement, was thanked as “Doctor Cable” by a reverential Jim Naughtie, and left to trundle back up Mount Sinai where the BBC seems to think he lives. There
Never mind the Revolution and all that, celebrate Bastille Day and raise a glass to our French friends and relatives in the company of Serge Gainsbourg. Here’s the second-greatest Frenchman of the twentieth century with Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais…
Pat McFadden, the sullen-looking Shadow Business Secretary, has given an important speech to the Fabian Society. He said: ‘Fight the cuts is a tempting slogan in opposition, and there are indeed some that must be fought. But if that is all we are saying the conclusion will be drawn that we are wishing the problem
Well, sort of. Today’s offerings in the Times are as disappointing as yesterday’s. Mandelson adds to the croaking New Labour chorus that there was no deal at Granita. Blair and Brown, barely on speaking on terms in the run up to the 2005 election, cut a deal in 2004 to ease the succession. Later, Brown
Stay tuned for live coverage from 12:00 12:00: Cameron pays tribute to the 7 soldiers killed in Afghanistan during the last week and promises an inquiry into yesterday’s tragedy and assures the house that British efforts will not falter. 12:02: Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop criticises the rise in VAT saying it will affect small businesses.
As Pete asked at the weekend, will Labour ever start love-bombing the Lib Dems? Ed Miliband has mumbled that he wouldn’t oppose a possible Lib-Lab coalition, but that’s about it. According to the irreproachable Lord Mandelson, David Miliband and Ed Balls were opposed to a coalition and presumably remain so. Labour has greeted the government’s
Just a quick one: who do you think is the more truly fucking stupid, the legions of thick Geordies who have signed the Facebook campaign claiming that Raoul Moat was a “legend”, or the outgoing chair of Ofsted Zenna Atkins, who said that it was good for schools to have incompetent or useless teachers because
This is amazing. People could scarcely believe it. No less an organism than the Big Society was spotted briefly at PMQs today. Angie Bray, Tory member for South Acton, asked David Cameron to praise a voluntary programme which enables her constituents to share skills and expertise with their neighbours. ‘This is what the Big Society
So much of the welfare debate is lost in jargon and the numbingly large and depressing numbers. John Bird, founder of The Big Issue, has just been on The Daily Politics and he condensed the specious waffle into plain but evocative sound bites. ‘You don’t have a broken society without a broken system. The usual
Ken Clarke has laid another argument against prison. There is no link, he alleges, between falling crime rates and spiralling prisoner numbers. Well, perhaps not, but it’s quite a coincidence. Clarke has been tasked with the impossible: assuring an easily frightened public that releasing prisoners will not lead to more muggings, robberies and intimidation. There
Much ado about the Office for Budget Responsibility’s growth predictions in the Treasury Select Committee earlier, especially as an OBR official admitted that the cuts and tax hikes in the Budget could conceivably tip us into a double-dip recession. So are the OBR’s official forecasts too optimistic, as some are now claiming? Only time will
A tough morning for the government at the hands of Tyrie, Fallon and rest of the Treasury Select Committee. Sir Alan Budd apologised for his naivety, Robert Chote described the Budget as ‘regressive’ in the main and the banking levy has been criticised on the grounds that is de-stabilising banks’ capital bases, which will affect
Asks Iain Martin, and I suspect he’s back in Rentoul territory. It is, nonetheless, a question that merits more than a cursory no in reply. For all his egregiousness, you know where Balls stands: in the crude but distinctive colours of the old left. He is convinced that any approach to spending cuts other than
Tim Montgomerie has some recommendations for how David Cameron can bolster relations with the Tory right. He should be more polite and conciliatory, throw the right the occasional bone or opportunity to head a policy review, offer a way back for some of those, such as David Davis, who are no longer part of the
According to the Spectator’s literary editor, Peter Mandelson wrote the most boring book review ever published by the Spectator. I imagine he did. You don’t read the Mandelson memoir; you wade through it in leaking gum boots. The lack of illumination is nothing compared to the faceless prose. Mandelson cannot evoke the personality of Alan
To be honest, these Mandelson memoirs are already losing their lustre. I was planning to do a summary of this morning’s revelations, as yesterday – but swiftly lost the will. It’s not that this first draft of New Labour’s history is unappreciated, of course. But so much of it is just plain unsurprising: ministers thought
Quite why people are surprised that Andrew Lansley has stuck to his plans to introduce GP Commissioning is a mystery. I’m struggling to recall one of his speeches or policy documents in recent years where it wasn’t mentioned. Anyway, let’s be clear, widespread control of commissioning budgets by GPs was where the NHS was headed
Lance Armstrong, shattered, is surrounded by the press after hauling himself to the finish line at Morzine on Sunday. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images When a great champion cracks in the mountains it’s like the moment when a once-mighty battleship is superceded by a new competitor and rendered hideously obsolete. All sports have their moments like
The biggest reform to the NHS since its inception since 1948. A move away from bureaucracy towards a proper internal market. GPs commissioning. A revolution, taking on the vested interests. Yes, there was so much to savour in the NHS Plan of 2000 – enough, Alan Milburn would later joke, that he kept re-announcing its
Like Time’s Jay Newton-Small, I’ve never quite understood why so many Washington pundits have assumed Sarah Palin has no interest in running for President. Sure, she’s not been playing the game according to the Beltway Playbook but that’s exactly the point. As Jay reminds us, Mrs Palin has previous on this: In many ways, Palin’s
I was largely behind Charles Moore’s rebellion against the BBC license fee. Partly for aesthetic reasons – I don’t like Jonathan Ross, and the truth is I wouldn’t like him much better if he were paid only £6 per year, rather than £6m. Partly too for a reason of which I expect Charles himself would
As I wrote earlier, a large proportion of Andrew Lansley’s white paper had to be devoted to accountability. Much of it is, but little is explained. Patients are central. The creation of GP consortia is for their benefit and they will hold the consortia to account by excercising choice (4:21). Choice is the tyrannical panacea
This afternoon’s education question felt like a pressure valve being released. For a week now, the story has been all about the heat building-up under Michael Gove. But, today, the Education Secretary looked far more comfortable, and managed to swing the blowtorch back in Ed Balls’ direction. The message that the coalition had been struggling
Meanwhile, in other Labour news, Ed Balls has just jumped into the deep end without any armbands. Speaking to the BBC this lunchtime, everyone’s favourite Labour leadership candidate said that he didn’t – and doesn’t – approve of Labour’s plan to cut the deficit in half “through spending cuts.” As if to underline the point,
As Peter Mandelson has us knee-deep in Kremlinology already, it’s worth pointing out this insight from Mary Ann Sieghart in the Independent: ‘It was quite clear in 2008 and 2009 that Brown was going to lead Labour to defeat, whereas a messy leadership contest was by no means certain …. Mandelson by then knew that
…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson praises Cameron’s refreshing honesty on schools. Peter Hoskin wonders if Labour will ever love-bomb the Lib Dems, and watches Miliband and Mandelson declare war on Brown. David Blackburn notes that David Miliband’s attack on Brown confirms his own weakness, and says
So now we know what happened during those uncertain days following the election in May – or at least we know Peter Mandelson’s side of it. The Times begins its serialisation of the Dark Lord’s book today with a front-page photo of Nick Clegg and the legend, “Clegg the Executioner”. And, inside, Mandelson explains how
In theory, curbing bureaucracy in the NHS should have you reaching for the Champagne. But giving GPs control of £80bn is an enormous risk. GPs know their patients’ needs, so Andrew Lansley’s thinking is that empowering GPs will improve patient care, and therefore patient outcomes. Many GPs will be chomping at the bit to get
Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – providing your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no
This hand-wringing, bed-wetting piece of Pootery is probably the funniest thing the Observer has printed in years. Written by a “senior civil servant” one could be forgiven for thinking that the End Times are upon us. In reality, of course, the government has decided to spend just £700bn or so in the final year of
Let’s dwell on the Labour leadership contest a second longer, to point its participants in the direction of John Rentoul’s column today. Its central point – that Labour should “leave a door ajar” for Nick Clegg – should be self-evident to a party which has been forced out of power by a coalition. But, in
