All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Brace yourselves. According to the Guardian, Brown is about to sell himself as a Great Reformer: “Brown, the cabinet sources say, decided in the past few weeks to adopt a tougher pro-public sector reform stance, in order that his defence of the state in the face of recent attacks on big government by David Cameron
And so it gets even messier. Today’s Telegraph reports that HMRC are conducting formal investigations into the tax affairs of 27 MPs. You see, expenses claims are only supposed to be tax-free provided that they’re wholly necessary for Parliamentary work. And, as we all know by now, quite a few of our, ahem, honourable members
The once-daft (but now rather good) Labour List has a very interesting story about Harriet Harman. Apparently, she will tell Andrew Neil on this weekend’s BBC Straight Talk that she won’t stand for the leadership in any circumstances and has no leadership ambitions. This is very bad news for Gordon Brown. This may seem like a
Here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the past week. Fraser Nelson debates the politics of growth. James Forsyth believes that the broken society must be rebuilt from the bottom up, and sees Russia pocket Obama’s concession and move on. Peter Hoskin has a feeling of déjà vu, and wonders what the
One already hears grumblings from members of the Shadow Cabinet about how much power has been concentrated in Norman Shaw South, the suite of offices where Cameron and Osborne and their teams sit in Parliament. But judging by a report in The Times today the leadership is thinking about centralising power even more when in
In contrast to David Brooks’ optimism about Conservative economic policy, is Oliver Marc Harwich, former Chief Economist at Policy Exchange, who described George Osborne’s plans as “timid and unimaginative”. In a speech to the Centre for Independent studies, Dr Harwich remarked: “To be fair to the Tories, at their last party conference in Manchester George
David Brooks is the most influential American newspaper columnist and his column today is a paean of praise for George Osborne. He praises Osborne for offering not just pain but a “different economic vision — different from Labour and different from the Thatcherism that was designed to meet the problems of the 1980s.” He goes
The MPs who are most likely to defy Legg are those who are standing down. They have little to lose in saying that they won’t abide by the retrospectively imposed caps on various things. The question of whether they could be compelled to pay this money back looks like it could turn into a major
The High Court has ruled that a summary of US intelligence, relating to Binyam Mohamed’s allegations that he was tortured, will be made public. David Miliband expressed his “deep disappointment” at the ruling and issued the following statement: ‘The Government is deeply disappointed by the judgment handed down today by the High Court which concludes
The BBC reports that John Bercow will defend Sir Thomas Legg’s commission in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow. The Speaker makes two points. First, it is vital that the public are satisfied that MPs have “got the message” on expenses. And second he defended Sir Thomas’ retrospective charges on the grounds that there must
On matters of mechanics, I take my mechanic’s advice; there would be little point in paying him if I turned around and thought: ‘Who needs brake pads, what does he know’. The government labours under the misapprehension that it is omniscient: the final extension of ‘nanny knows best’. But 12 years of Labour government has
At a town hall meeting in New Orleans yesterday, ABC News reports that: President Obama, like any other President, has his fair share of critics. Even fourth-graders have noticed. Why do people hate you?”, a fourth-grade boy asked Obama at a town hall event in New Orleans today. “They’re supposed to love you. And God
Counter-insurgency warfare is meant to be different from traditional war-fighting in one particular way: it recognises the military’s limitations. It accepts that soldiers may be able to fight off insurgents, but only reconstruction in, and outreach to, local communities can stave off renewed conflict. In that way, counter-insurgency is based on getting civilians to play
The BBC reports that Nick Griffin is to put an amended constitution before his party that will abolish the ‘White only’ membership clause. This is the result of legal action brought by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, who proved that the clause was at odds with equality law. John Wadham, of the Equality and
Despite the circumstances of his election, Speaker Bercow is showing scant regard for the party who secured his election. First, he recommended that ministers who sat in the House of Lords, particularly the Lord Most High, should be cross-examined by MPs, and today he gave Battlin’ Bob a severe dressing down in the Commons. The
Actually, the General Staff’s manoeuvres on Fleet Street have, alas, been rather more successful than their efforts in Basra and Helmand province. I commend*, therefore, Paul Robinson’s article in this week’s edition of the magazine in which he argues that the Generals must take their share of responsibility for recent military failures. More provocatively still
Oh dear. Boris has just had to announce a bunch of inflation-busting fare increases for public transport in London. From January, the congestion charge will be up by 25 percent, Oyster card fares will have 20p added to them, 7-day bus passes will cost just under £3 more – and so on, and so on.
If it remains a mystery that, 12 years after describing the House of Lords as an “affront to democracy”, Labour have not attempted wholesale reform, then look no further than the fact that Labour is the largest party in the upper chamber. As Ben Brogan notes, this causes Cameron a problem: ‘For the first time,
The other day Pete mentioned David Cameron’s desire to bring in outsiders to staff his government ministries, making it a Tory version of Gordon’s so-called Government Of All the Talents. One can see why this must be an appealling notion. You might share it if you were charged with assembling a government from the parliamentary
We are into least-worst options territory in Afghanistan as the New York Times Magazine’s brilliant profile of General McChrystal, the US and Nato Commander there, makes clear. As McChrystal says, “if we fail here, Pakistan will not be able to solve their problems — it would be like burning leaves on a windy day next
Argentina’s coach Diego Maradona celebrates his team’s goal against Uruguay during their World Cup qualifier in Montevideo. Argentina won 1-0 and qualified in fourth position for the World Cup. Photo: Daniel Garcia/AFP/Getty Images. Well, they did it. In the end Argentina didn’t need to win in Montevideo yesterday since Chile’s victory against Ecuador ensured that,
One of the main questions arising out of the Legg controversy is whether MPs should put up or shut up. Like John Hutton, I tend to think that they should just pay what’s asked of them, hope that restores some public faith in the political class, and get on with reforming the expenses system for
People are getting themselves worked up into a terrible lather over the BNP’s appearance on BBC Question Time next week. Even in this neck of the woods, Melanie Phillips has criticized the Conservative Party for having selected Baroness Warsi to sit alongside fat Nick on the panel. Her argument, briefly put, is that it would
The latest issue of the Spectator is released today. If you are a subscriber you can view it here. If you have not subscribed, but would like to view this week’s content, you can subscribe online now. Four articles from the latest issue are available for free online to all website users: The political left
The strategic logic behind President Obama’s decision to alter US plans for a missile defence shield based in Eastern Europe was that this would persuade the Russians, who didn’t like the shield, to agree to the US’s push for tougher sanctions on Iran. But it appears that Moscow isn’t going to play ball. The
Gordon Brown’s Afghanistan and Pakistan statement was virtually identical to the joint statement he gave with Battlin’ Bob in August. Once again, the government are pinning their hopes on a tactic called “Afghanisation” – by which they mean conducting operations alongside Afghan forces and police, and the steady extension of Kabul’s authority into the localities.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images Until he gives a Shermanesque denial – and perhaps even that won’t be enough to silence the speculation – you can bet that there’ll be people writing about General David Petraeus’s political potential. Can’t be avoided. Too much time before the next election; too much space to fill. The most recent
Sky’s Jon Craig has the scoop that a rump of Blairite MPs and former ministers have formed a group called Labour Future. Headed by Charles Clarke and featuring Malcolm Wicks, Nick Raynsford, Denis Macshane, Parmjit Dhanda, Hugh Bayley, Meg Munn and crony-in-chief Charlie Falconer, this club’s terms of membership are intense anti-Brown sentiment, and I
Sit Philip Hammond in front of our very own Fraser Nelson, and you know that one topic’s bound to come up: the Tories’ commitment to the 50p tax rate. And so it was at this morning’s DLA Piper and Spectator Business Breakfast Debate at the Merchant Taylors¹ Hall in Threadneedle Street. Fraser chided the shadow
Sea the Stars winning the Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp. Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images. So long, then, Sea the Stars. A shame you won’t run as a four year old or in the Breeders’ Cup but hardly a surprise that you’re heading straight for the stud farm. The BBC News last night suggested you were
Poppy day came early to Westminster today. Brown began proceedings by reciting the names of the 37 men killed in Afghanistan over the summer. This took two minutes. The house was silent, funereal, almost awe-struck with the solemnity of the occasion. Brown looked like a man deeply moved by personal grief as he worked his
So Parliament is back, and so, too, is PMQs. Stay tuned for live coverage from 1200. 12:02: And we’re off. Brown pays his respects to those who have lost their lives in Afghanistan and lists their names. Very sombre and he has pitched it right. There are a lot of names; it takes five minutes
I’ve just had a novel and very disturbing experience: I agreed with Harriet Harman. This was no Pauline conversion, but the Leader of the House’s suggestion that it is the Commons, not party leaders, that must rescue parliament’s reputation and restore public trust is self-evident: only parliament can renew itself. Of course party leaders have an input and direct the
Courtesy of the Australian AP: PM eats biscuit, Twitters about it Good to know that Kevin Rudd enjoyed his visit to a bakery in South Australia. [Hat-tip: Toby Harnden, via Twitter. Obviously. My Twitter feed is here.]