Political Advertising 7
Verily, Arkansas is a land visited by the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. At least it was according to this Goerge HW Bush ad from 1992:
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All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Wednesday
David Cameron: Cad/Bounder/Rapist?
Classy stuff from Harriet Harman, deputy leader of the Labour Party, today. On David Cameron: There is something not quite right about him. He’s the kind of man your mother used to warn you about. You know the kind of man I’m talking about. He’ll promise you the world. Promise to make all your dreams
Political Advertising 8
This Michael Dukakis ad from 1988 isn’t exactly subtle or elegant. But it has a certain resonance this week. Of course, that wasn’t enough for Dukakis…
Brown isn’t paid to lie to us
A new Brownie was born today at 7am. Gordon Brown came on to BBC Breakfast this morning to tell presenter Sian Williams about how, as a family man himself, he sympathises with Ruth Kelly wanting to devote more time to her children. He didn’t expect to be grilled on his untrue claim that he has
Is another Darling U-turn on the cards?
Today’s Standard reports that Alistair Darling is set to back down over his plans to increase vehicle excise duty. It’s hardly surprising. The proposal was always likely to prompt a backbench rebellion as well as public outcry – two things that the Brown Government can ill afford, particularly at the moment. I imagine that No.s 10 and 11
Ruth Kelly abandons ship
So Ruth Kelly’s last act as Transport Secretary was to deny Gordon Brown the privilege of sacking her. Word of the reshuffle leaked last night – Geoff Hoon out and to succeed Mandy as European Commissioner (not a straight switch, Mandy’s there till Jun09). Des Browne to stay in Defence but (finally) cede Scotland to Paul
Who will be the new Chief Whip?
If Geoff Hoon is to be moved in the coming reshuffle, which seems almost certain, who to make the new Chief Whip will be a telling and tricky decision for the PM. Many Brown loyalists are furious about Hoon’s light-touch approach to the rebels. His comments about the rebellion have been ambivalent—“I simply don’t think
Jon Cruddas’s conference diary: part 6
Well that it is for another year, on the train back to London. Brown is in a stronger position than when he started and the right of the party is split – i.e. a good conference. The moderate, pragmatic centre left around Compass are on the move. Today was ‘women’s day’. Didn’t start too well.
This is no time for a meeting
The Telegraph is reporting that Gordon Brown will not be seeing the US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, the main mover on the US bailout plan, on his trip to the States. This is despite Brown saying in his conference speech that “I and then Alistair will meet financial and government leaders in New York” to
There are some things only a woman can do
Harriet Harman in many ways had the easiest speech of the conference to deliver. All she had to do was throw red meat to the delegates – but she did so effectively. Certainly, the standing ovation that the two thirds full hall gave her was far more sustained and heart-felt than the one David Miliband
Jon Cruddas’s conference diary: part 5
Tuesday night/Wednesday morning GB’s speech nailed it. No game changer in terms of tax policy, though. The ‘Spectator/Compass middle class tax cut’ was not even announced. Very clever; we must be saving it for next week. The speech worked for GB—the conference response was significant; indeed profound. The space for the coup plotters has been
How Kelly is hurting Brown
Ruth Kelly’s resignation has guaranteed that Brown’s speech is going to be a one day story. Rumours are swirling about why she has gone and why the news leaked out now—the worst time for Brown. In her speech to conference just now, Kelly said what a privilege it had been to work with both Blair
Glenrothes by-election to be on the sixth of November
As expected, the by-election up in Fife is going to be on November 6th—two days after the US presidential election. If Labour lose, then those in the cabinet who know Brown’s limitations will face their moment of decision.
Brown’s speech – the aftermath
Here in Manchester, Team Brown are making little attempt to pretend that the ‘no time for a novice’ line wasn’t aimed at David Miliband as much—if not more—than David Cameron. Indeed, after the whole ‘six out of ten’ ‘Heseltine’ debacle and the photos of Miliband looking slightly ridiculous most people here are shorting Miliband. If
Tuesday
Dick Cheney’s Mission to Destroy Europe
I don’t nornally write about Euroloonies, partly because I have trouble taking the European Parliament any more seriously than I do the Liberal Democrats. That is to say, it – and they – cross my mind no more than twice a year. But this, via the indomitable Trixy, is sufficiently priceless as to merit attention:
Brown’s Salvage Operation
So, Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour party conferene wasn’t terrible. By which I mean that it clearly pleased his audience. And his “This is no time for a novice” line was an entertaining slap aimed at both David Cameron and David Miliband. But that carries danger too: Brown is trying to make the case
Quote, misquote
Bless. Dennis MacShane says Brown could not possibly be have used a false quote in his leadership speech. In his write-up of Brown’s speech for Comment Is Free, the ex-Europe minister has this to say: Brown sought to take the battle to the Conservatives. Did George Osborne really say that in the midst of a
Brown’s success
Brown’s hour-long speech may have been saved by his six-second “no time for a novice” line. He managed to smile as he said it, with a glint of menace that the cameras picked up quite well. And as for the rest of the speech – I’ve spoken to a few Labour delegates and have to
Brown’s speech: live blog
1400: Welcome to our live blog of Gordon Brown’s conference speech. No sign of the man yet – he’s expected to take to the stage in around ten minutes time. Early word is that his speech is going to be of the “personal vision” rather than the “specific policy annoucement” variety. We can, though, expect
The numbers are stacked against Brown
With none of the Cabinet yet stepping out of the shadows and confirming their opposition to Brown, this tidbit from Paul Waugh is worth noting: “…the Cabinet is roughly split three ways. One camp is the die-in-the-ditchers, another the wait-and-seers, another the get-him-nowers. That means that GB has at most a third of the Cabinet
Gordon 2.0 comes round to the wonders of the Web
Gordon Brown’s promise to fit broadband in every child’s home is eerily familiar of Tony Blair’s promise many years ago, when still leader of the Opposition, to link up every school in the land with a fibreoptic cable, courtesy of BT. Whatever happened to that cable, I wonder. At the time, The Spectator majestically described
Miliband’s Heseltine moment: a climb-down
Having slept on it, I feel I might have got a little carried away last night over David Miliband’s alleged “Heseltine moment” comment. It may have indicated that he’s thinking of doing a Heseltine, but it was also ambiguous enough as to be inconclusive. As Iain Dale so rightly points out, “It really would have been a big story if he
The Blairs are fair game on the Labour website
Sure, Labour Central – the revamped Labour website’s news aggregator – is “neither responsible for, nor necessarily endorses the content of the Website to which you will go after clicking” their news links. But they still pick the links nonetheless – which generally means that all the stories are completely neutral/positive towards Labour. Odd, then,
Caption Contest! | 23 September 2008
I remain perplexed. People are still talking about David Milliband as Gordon Brown’s successor. I just don’t see it. Miliband’s the sort of kid who was always picked last in a game of playground football. Even if he’s better than some of the other kids, you still wouldn’t want him on your side. He’s that
The Kenyan Connection
I guess this isn’t too much of a surprise. But here’s Rush Limbaugh talking about Barack Obama’s ancestors, yesterday: LIMBAUGH: These polls on how one-third of blue-collar white Democrats won’t vote for Obama because he’s black, and — but he’s not black. Do you know he has not one shred of African-American blood? He doesn’t
Hamlet: the Facebook Folio
Courtesy of Sarah Schmelling at McSweeney’s: Horatio thinks he saw a ghost. Hamlet thinks it’s annoying when your uncle marries your mother right after your dad dies. The king thinks Hamlet’s annoying. Laertes thinks Ophelia can do better. Hamlet’s father is now a zombie. – – – – The king poked the queen. The queen
Singapore Years
From the Telegraph’s obituary of John Burrows, an intelligence officer who spent part of the war working at Bletchley Park: In August 1939 he married Enid Carter, an employee of the British Sugar Corporation, and a few weeks later, on the outbreak of war, he volunteered for the Intelligence Corps. “When I joined the Army,
Cometh the hour, cometh the Harman?
Gordon Brown’s speech hasn’t changed the fact that Labour still have to fight the Glenthroes by-election at some point. If Labour lose that—as all the people I’ve spoken to who know Scottish politics thinks they will—then Labour will face its moment of decision: will it go down to a massive defeat under Brown’s leadership or
Brown’s speech was no game-changer
I’m in a minority in thinking that Brown’s speech didn’t do what it had to do. I agree that the ‘no time for a novice’ line was an effective swipe at David Miliband and the Tory top team of Cameron and Osborne. But – and this is why I believe the speech will be seen
Jon Cruddas’s conference diary: part 4
Monday Night. The guy did very well. David Miliband rose to the task at hand both in terms of the content but also the performance – as well as demonstration of unity with the PM! His was the most difficult speech of the week and the general consensus is he did very well. It also
Have we heard it all before?
We haven’t seen the details yet of Brown’s internet announcement but the Tories are already pointing out how it is not new. Indeed, it should already have happened by now, given what Labour promised back in 2004. “Our country and its people prospering in the knowledge economy. Increasing by £1 billion the investment in science,
Monday
Cats lie down with dogs…
And other oddities. for perhaps the first time ever, I find myself agreeing, in broad terms, with John Prescott. How did this happen and how, for the love of god, did Prezza end up besting my old pal Fraser Nelson? Ah, yes, immigration… As Fraser put it himself: I’ve just done a BBC1 Politics Show
Politics Explained
Nurse Bloomberg reveals all: “Nobody knows exactly what they should do, but anything is better than nothing,” New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Bloomberg assuredly knows much more about high finance than I do. Nonetheless, one should treat ideas and policies that have bipartisan backing with an extra level
Miliband’s Heseltine moment
Has Miliband just let the leadership cat out of the bag? The BBC are reporting an overheard conversation between him and his aides, in which he admitted toning down his speech today for fear of having “a Heseltine moment” – a reference to Michael Heseltine’s efforts to topple Margaret Thatcher. Short of Miliband resigning and