All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Some eyecatching numbers in today’s FT about how many free schools we can expect, and when. According to Department of Education officials, there will be about 12 of the new schools in 2011, another 50 in 2012, and around 100 in 2013. The paper dwells on how this falls short of the Tories’ pre-election rhetoric.
Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign is going the way of all flesh. According to Left Foot Forward’s model, Burnham is set to come fourth behind Ed Balls. A You Gov poll predicted a similarly poor showing for Burnham. I’m surprised by this. Burnham is presentable against a field of gawky rivals. Also, after a faltering start,
… here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. James Forsyth says that the Lib Dems are preparing for a stormy conference, and observes Nick Clegg’s alternative view on the alternative vote. David Blackburn notes that Nick Clegg is not in David Cameron’s league as a performer, and analyses Nick Clegg’s
A week ago, I wrote that Nick Clegg had an important couple of weeks ahead of him. Now, the next couple of months are looking even more significant for the Lib Dem leader. An article in today’s Independent captures the tone of what faces him: in the aftermath of the Charles Kennedy defection talk, Lib
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
The Sunday Times (£) has news that Nick Clegg will not front his party’s ‘Yes to AV’ campaign next May. This makes sense. The deluge of abuse he received in Bristol yesterday was another indication that many have fallen out love with Clegg. The Lib Dem leadership fear that if Clegg heads the campaign it
Ed Balls has produced a contract with the Labour party. Three things strike me about it. First, he emphasizes broader consultation and promises a greater role for activists and local representatives. These political impulses are championed by the coalition – an indication that Cameron and Clegg’s partnership is beginning to change Britain party political landscape.
Nick Clegg has been taking advantage of his week in charge to do a series of high profile events. But at nearly every one — his speech in London, his town-halls in Newcastle and Bristol — he has encountered Lib Dems wanting to express their anger about the coalition and its policies. As I say
Infamously, George Canning and Viscount Castlereagh fought a duel over a policy disagreement; Iain Duncan Smith and George Osborne will follow suit at this rate. I had thought they’d resolved their differences over the upfront costs of IDS’ welfare reform; but the Mail on Sunday reports otherwise, glorying in the glares, savage bon mots and
Nick Clegg faced a stormy Q&A session this afternoon and he isn’t in David Cameron’s league as a performer. He struggled through tough questions on VAT, DfID, a transaction tax, AV and the appointment of Philip Green. His answers were garbled, though he did stick to the government’s script. There was, however, one particularly damaging
Australia has spoken, but it will take some time to determine what they’ve said. ABC is reporting that Australia is headed for its first hung parliament since 1940. Exit polls suggested that Julia Gillard’s Labor party would win the most seats; but it now looks as if Tony Abbott’s Coalition has obtained 73 seats, one
Crack out the nibbles, David: looks like you’re going to win the Labour leadership. An extensive You Gov poll of Labour members and trade unionists puts David Miliband 8 points clear of his brother in the final run-off. This is the first statistical analysis that supports the general feeling in Westminster that Ed Miliband’s charge has
Nick Clegg’s fortnight in the sun continues with a big interview in today’s Telegraph. What struck me most were not his comments on a graduate tax (which David has blogged about) but those on AV. If the AV referendum is lost, then Clegg will have a very difficult time keeping his party united and in
Nick Clegg understands his party’s misgivings, and he has devoted an interview with the Telegraph to calming his troops with some of the old religion. He will continue to fight for an alternative nuclear deterrent to Trident and he hints that tuition fees will be abolished. He says of the proposed graduate tax or student
What to make of the Charlie Kennedy to defect to Labour rumour? Well, judging from the people I have spoken to this evening, the rumour seems premature. There’s no sense that a defection is imminent and a Lib Dem spokesman was emphatic in his denial of the story earlier. But it does seem that Kennedy
Fraser Nelson has a Coffee House exclusive on Gordon Brown’s public speaking career. James Forsyth reveals what Leon Brittan’s appointment tells use about the state of politics, and highlights Clegg’s dilemma. Peter Hoskin outlines this Parliament’s key dividing line, and previews an important fortnight for Nick Clegg. David Blackburn surveys the coalition’s first hundred days,
The quotes emerging, in advance, from Nick Clegg’s Westminster Hour interview are a mix of the unsurprising and the intriguing. To the first category belongs his claim that “parties in government tend to get a dip in their popularity” – I mean, he’s hardly going to say that the Lib Dems’ decline in the polls
The reaction to Leon Brittan’s appointment tells us three important things about the current political situation. First, the Tory backbenches are becoming increasingly grumpy at jobs going to people other than them. A large number of Tory MPs who had expected ministerial posts missed out because of coalition. Cameron’s failure to write to many of
Today is the 70th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s ‘Few’ speech. Here’s how the Spectator reviewed it at the time: Mr Churchill looks ahead, The Spectator, 23 August 1940 Mr Churchill surpassed even his own masterpieces of lucid and spirited exposition in his speech on Tuesday, in which he surveyed the first year of the war
One of the few things that could briefly enliven the Labour leadership contest is if Ed Balls stood down and gave his backing to another candidate. True, it didn’t happen when it probably should have – that is, when all the big unions gave their backing to Ed Miliband. But as the summer advances without
Two spitfires have just flown over our offices at The Spectator, to commemorate the Battle of Britain. The aircraft are deservedly iconic, but it’s a bit of shame that over the years they’ve eclipsed the de Havilland Mosquito in the public memory. They were developed too late for the Battle itself, but were incredible aircraft
Via Chris Bodenner. Plenty of folk seem surprised by the fact that, apparently or at least according to one poll, 18% of Americans think Barack Obama is a muslim. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!). Since at least 10% of the population can be relied upon to believe any old nonsense I’m not sure
Today’s most intriguing political story is that David Rowland will not become Tory Treasurer after all. The press release from the Tories says that this is because of the ‘expansion of his global business interests.’ Others, though, are begging to differ. ConservativeHome’s piece on the matter is headlined ‘The Daily Mail sinks the Tory Treasurer’,
Jeffrey Goldberg reports on a speech Faisal Abdul Rauf gave at a memorial service for Daniel Pearl. It’s worth reading. Secondly, here’s the Imam giving a TED talk last year on the religious backdrop of compassion. Not really my kind of thing but perhaps it is yours. I must say that he doesn’t come across
I’m a neo-conservative, a hawk in the war against Islamist extremism, which is why I’m so worried by the opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. A new poll shows that 61 percent of Americans oppose its construction and Howard Dean, the tribune of the Democratic wing of the Democratic party, and
Here in Westminster, the David Rowland story is the talk of the hour. It seems that Lord Ashcroft and Michael Spencer had both warned Cameron that Rowland would come in for unfavourable coverage from the media if appointed and that they worried that other donors would not want to deal with him. I’m informed that
Utterly incredible. Over at ConHome, Alex Deane has highlighted something that is just utterly incredible – Team David Miliband’s guide to hosting a “house meeting” in his honour. You really have to read the 6-page pdf to take in the full, fastidious horror of it all. But this tip for, erm, “building accountability” into the
As Channel 4 reminds us, there have been two major trends in recent opinion polls. First, the precipitous decline in the Lib Dem vote share. And, second, a solidification of the Labour position, such that some polls even have them as the biggest party in a hung parliament. Predictably, this has stirred the omnipresent Simon
The latest A-level results have been released and – surprise, surprise – success rates have risen. The proportion of papers marked at grade E or above increased to 97.6 percent from 97.5 percent last year. And 27 percent achieved an A or the new A* grade, with 8 percent at A* overall. So, naturally, and
They may have faded from the front pages, but middle class benefits are still one of the most important stories in town. What we are witnessing here could be the birth of this Parliament’s defining dividing line – a cuts vs investment for the new decade. In truth, the birthing process began before the election,
Tomorrow marks the beginning of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Twelve teams will be competing for the title of World Champion right in our own back yard, at Twickenham Stoop. That’s right: Britain, hosting a World Cup. So why haven’t we heard more about it in the press? It seems to me to be
Today’s A-level results once again see the pass rate continuing to rise, in this instance for the 28th year in a row, with 97.6% of entries gaining an E or above, up from 97.5% in 2009. While not wishing to detract from the efforts of students and teachers, unfortunately such a rise has become all
Back when the Iraq war was new and innocent and still pretty popular I recall a Scotsman headline announcing that, with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards entering the city, there was now the sound of Bagpipes in Basra. There was something thrilling, something tribal too, about this. Regardless of the arguments about the war, the
Despite what some readers and commenters seem to think, I don’t believe that all opponents of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” (which, as one wag put it, is neither at Ground Zero nor any more a mosque than a Vegas casino is a cathedral because it contains a wedding chapel) are bigots or that all