All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Well, the news that Sir Menzies Campbell is lobbying to be made Speaker – as revealed by Iain Dale last night – certainly adds a dash of spice to proceedings. But I’d still expect John Bercow to comfortably survive any re-election vote today. On paper, all the arithmetic works in his favour. And there’s a
Labour’s decision to opt for a long leadership contest means that the new leader of the opposition will not be in place when George Osborne presents his emergency Budget on the 22nd of June. This presents the coalition with a significant political opportunity. Harriet Harman is a consistently underrated Commons performer, she came off far
Only a week into his new job, and George Osborne has already had to exchange letters with Mervyn King about inflation. And here’s why: the CPI index hit 3.7 percent in April, up from 3.4 percent in March. Which is worrying enough when looked at in isolation – but when put alongside headline rates from
Beautiful muslim women. Verily. According to the increasingly-ridiculous Daniel Pipes, Rima Fakih’s triumph in this year’s Miss USA beauty pageant is yet another dismal example of affirmative action. This is what that “affirmative action” looks like: Terrible, you’ll agree. Not that Pipes is alone in complaining about this. Someone called Debbie Schlussel says “Hizbollah is
Election post-mortems are always interesting and often fun. Take the speech Ed Miliband made to launch his campaign for the Labour leadership. While paying due attention* to Labour’s achievements in government, it still reads as an indictment of the party’s record in office. Consider these snippets: We must start by understanding the country we seek
I’ve been assuming that Ridley Scott’s interpretation of the Robin Hood saga must be terrible. After all, it’s nearly a decade since Black Hawk Down, Scott’s last properly good movie. But now AO Scott pops up in the New York Times to suggest, though he may not mean to, that the movie has something going
There is a massive difference between rebellious talk and actual rebellion. But some of the language surrounding the 55 percent rule has been striking. When I told one senior MP that David Cameron had said on Sunday that he would whip this vote, the MP shot back defiantly, ‘you whip if you want to.’ David
While we’re on the subject of the Labour leadership, it’s worth reading James Purnell’s article in the Times today. I know, I know – he’s left Parliament now. But Purnell is close to Team Miliband (the Elder), so I imagine some of his thinking might show up in the campaign. In which case… One thing
George Osborne and David Laws’ press conference this morning gave some hints about the chances of the coalition making it. The Treasury is where, I suspect, this coalition will succeed or fail. If the two parties can keep it together on how to reduce the deficit and how fast to do it, then I expect
David Miliband is one of those politicians who speeches improve when you read them on paper, his delivery still distracts more than it adds. If the Labour party is going to pick the Miliband who is the more natural platform speaker then David hasn’t got much of a chance. But if they want the Miliband
So now the coalition stretches as far as Labour, with the news that Frank Field is being lined up as an anti-poverty advisor for the government. In itself, this is an encouraging development: Field is one of decent men of Westminster – committed, informed and passionate. But when you look at it beside the Tories’
Here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson highlights an important lesson for all new MPs, and outlines why Labour are still within striking distance of government. James Forsyth reviews David Cameron’s first TV interview as Prime Minister, and observes the Labour candidates moving towards the Cruddas position on
Just in case you didn’t see the front cover of the Guardian, let me tell you: it’s a big day for George Osborne. This, after all, is the day when he finally launches the Office for Budget Responsibility’s audit of the public finances – zero hour for the age of austerity. Accordingly, then, Osborne has
The Guardian has just broken the news that Jon Cruddas won’t run for Labour leader. This is a pity. Cruddas is one of the most honest and engaging politicians you could ever hope to find. He was prepared to speak up about immigration and its effects on the working class when most Labour politicians just
Is Frank Field back? The Labour MP has spent much of his life talking about the poor. Judging by reports today, he might be offered a job chairing a commission on child poverty. This is good news but, as Mr Field has already said, there is not much point in him debating the finer points
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 cover of today’s Sunday Times spells out what we all suspected anyway: that the Labour government left behind acre upon acre of scorched earth for the Tories to contend with. There’s the £13 billion contract for tanker aircraft, the £1.2 billion “e-borders” IT project, a £420 million spend on schools, and so on –
David Cameron’s first broadcast interview from Downing Street contained two significant pieces of news. First, George Osborne will commission an independent audit of the public finances and state spending on Monday. I suspect that this audit will reveal that things are even worse than the official figures suggest. The political purpose of this audit will
A Norwegian MP once told me that every time he thought life on the opposition benches was terrible he would think about life on the government backbenches – and realise how much he enjoyed his job. Life as a government-supporting backbench MP is difficult; if you are not willing to cap your ambition, you have
Things are looking good for Cameron – his coalition has 60 percent approval rating, he has managed to persuade the Lib Dems to support what always was a liberal Tory agenda. There is plenty for Conservatives to celebrate, especially on welfare reform and education. But, still, things could be a lot worse for the Labour
I’m due to fly to Italy with British Airways tomorrow morning for a wedding later in the week. The flight is in some doubt because of that bloody ash cloud from Iceland. So I did as BA want its customers to do and checked the “volcanic ash update” at BA.com. This told me that the
Norm does a good job pointing out the sillyness of this silly Johann Hari column in which Hari complains that the Liberal Democrats have betrayed themselves, their voters and the country by agreeing to advance Liberal Democrat goals from government. How shocking! Nevertheless, Hari complains that “the British people have not got what they voted
Ed Miliband has given a surprisingly good speech this morning: free from all the junk language that his older brother has a weakness for. But he raises an interesting question: Why did Gisela Stuart win in Birmingham Edgbaston? Why did Karen Buck win Westminster North? Why did Andy Slaughter win in Hammersmith? Might it have
Spare a thought for poor Theresa May. Judging by the reaction so far, she now faces the unenviable task of shouldering almost everyone’s preconceptions about Tory women in government – with Caroline Spelman, Baroness Warsi and the lower-profile Cheryl Gillan for back-up. She will no doubt continue to disappoint feminists and irritate reactionaries, and she
A week in, and I am loving the Conservative-led government. The new line-up of Secretaries of State is very impressive and, though a few solid Tory politicians missed out on Cabinet posts, the inclusion of the Liberal Democrat bench has swelled the government’s talent quota. David Cameron has infused No 10 with energy and purpose.
So fraternal rivalry it is, then, as Ed Miliband prepares to announce his leadership bid at a Fabian Society conference today. And, reading his interview with the Guardian, it’s clear that Ed Balls is soon going to follow suit. Two Eds, two leadership bids, and much shared rhetoric about “listening” to voters. But the similarities
Cadel Evans wins Stage 7 of the 2010 Giro d’Italia in Montalcino. Photo: Luk Beines/AFP/Getty Images. What with being deprived of, for various reasons*, Contador, Menchov, Valverde, Pellizotti, di Luca, the Schleck brothers, Armstrong and Cancellara you could have been forgiven for thinking that this year’s Giro d’Italia might be a disappointment. Not a bit
One striking feature of the Labour leadership contest so far is how a new more honest line on immigration is emerging. At the Fabian Society conference this morning, Ed Miliband declared that ‘immigration is a class issue’. Pointing out that, “If you want to employ a builder it’s good to have people you can take
Ed Miliband was on impressive form at the Fabian Society conference this morning. Early on, he defused the tension over the fact that he was running against his brother with a well-delivered joke about how, given her politics, he his mother would be voting for Jon Cruddas. Throughout he showed a real lightness of touch
Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson offers reasons to hope amid the misplaced optimism, and comments that Brown saved the worst till last. James Forsyth reveals who missed out on Cabinet, and watches the coalition pass the easy bit with flying colours. Peter Hoskin argues that
Plenty of eyes on the Tory grandees at the moment. I mean, the right of the party isn’t exactly delighted with the LibCon coalition – so the search is on for figureheads to lead the resistance. Which is why Andrew Neil’s interview with Douglas Hurd on Staight Talk this weekend is worth paying attention to.
As Guido and Jim Pickard have pointed out, Liam Byrne’s article in the Guardian today reads like the launch of a leadership bid. But if it is, then it’s not a well-judged one. Amid some sensible points about Labour’s demise, there’s too much “if we’d have done what I said” bravado which, I imagine, won’t
One of the most interesting questions is whether the Tories and the Lib Dems will be able to move from the talking points to the action points. Besides Ken Clarke, Francis Maude and William Hague none of the ministers have any previous government experience. They know government from the outside, from the sidelines, from parliamentary
With the Sun reporting that Ed Miliband is going to stand for the Labour leadership, it’s probably a good time to dig out Anne McElvoy’s profile of the Miliband brothers for the Sunday Times last month. To my mind, its opening neatly encapsulates the choice between the wonkish one and the slighty-less-wonkish one that Labour