All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
From Bret Stephens’ review of Edmund Morgan’s latest book: in Philadelphia in 1787, Mr. Morgan uncovers one more instance of witch hunting, this one barely remembered, concerning an old woman named Korbmacher who died soon after being brutalized by a mob. Not much else is known about the incident, but Mr. Morgan is struck that
Ok, so what to make of the latest Populus poll? Here are the headline figures: Conservatives — 39 percent (unchanged from a poll 10 days ago) Labour — 27 percent (up 1) Lib Dems — 17 percent (down 5) I imagine CCHQ will be slightly pleased and slightly concerned, but not by much either way.
There have been strong rumblings throughout the day, but now ConHome have confirmed it: Ann Widdecombe will run for the Speakership. The big problem, of course, is that she’s standing down as an MP at the next election – so she’d only be an interim Speaker – and I’m not sure either the public or
Among the plethora of things I hold against Lance Armstrong is the way that his story – no matter how inspiring and heroic and extraordinary it has been – has accentuated the English-language press’s belief that there’s only one bike race of any importance each year. Apparently it’s the Tour de France first, the rest
Oh dear. With each day that passes, it gets clearer that Brown’s June reshuffle may cause him more trouble than it’s worth. For instance, this passage from today’s Mail caught my eye: “A senior Labour figure said: ‘You can’t plan a reshuffle around those who have transgressed on their expenses because that would quickly involve
So Joanna Lumley continues to cast a spell over British politics, as Gurkha veterans finally – and deservedly – get the right to settle in the UK. Standing outside Number 10, she now has kinder things to say about Gordon Brown – calling him a “brave man who has made a brave decision”. But the
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, Dexter Filkins reports in the NYT that talks have been taking place between the Taliban, the Afghan government and warlords such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Sirajuddin Haqqani as to how some kind of “peace” agreement could be reached in Afghanistan. As Mr Filkins drily notes, most, in fact all, of the terms
The expenses scandal has already created three vacancies in extremely safe Tory seats, and the word is that there could a dozen or so more before this is all over. The temptation for the Tories will be to opt for the safety first approach and fill these seats with solid but unexceptional local candidates. But
Standard & Poor has just become the first credit rating agency to downgrade the UK from a “stable” assessment to “negative” – and given that the Tory borrowing proposals until 2014 are virtually identical to Labour’s, it is a warning that should chill Cameron. It’s feasible to fund your government with IOU notes now, with
Seems like the CoffeeHousers’ choice for the Speakership is thinking about taking on the job after all. Here’s the headline-grabbing snippet from Frank Field’s article in the Telegraph today: “The next Speaker will only be the most powerful in our history if he or she is elected on a programme that points to how we
The great thing about Washington is its variety. Sometimes it’s the Republicans who infuriate you and sometimes it’s the Democrats whose bone-headed nitwittery is singularly depressing. Today it’s Harry Reid’s turn to annoy: “QUESTION: If the United States — if the United States thinks that these people should be held, why shouldn’t they be held
Danny Finkelstein’s column in the Times today is very interesting if, perhaps, also a little too neat. On the other hand, I kinda hope he’s right. Large centralised political parties were created because of the existence of the mass media. To make any political impact, an idea or an individual had to find a spot
The Speaker presided over his own memorial service today. The PM led the tributes by reminding us that Michael Martin had spent thirty years living off the rest of us – sorry – contributing to public life. Cameron said thanks for the help he received as a parliamentary fresher in 2001. Even wobbly-jowled Tory shiresman
Apparently the Prime Minister believes that parliament “cannot operate like some gentleman’s club where the members make up the rules and operate them among themselves”. But if so then that’s only because there ain’t sufficient gentlemen (and ladies) at Westminster. Parliament should be capable of operating like any decent, self-respecting gentlemen’s club. That it isn’t
A week ago, I blogged about the possibility of running for Parliament as an anti-sleaze candidate and the response has been overwhelming — overwhelmingly negative, that is. “When Toby Young puts himself forward, you know the country is in desperate trouble,” wrote Martin Bright. I am probably not the man for the job, but the
Hats of to Paul Evans of the Local Democracy blog who has come up with a brilliant idea for renewing our political culture: Reselect Democracy. I am happy to endorse it along with Liberal Conspiracy. Here’s the Reselect Democracy pitch to the major political parties: Following recent revelations about the abuse of expenses by a
In the course of defending Dick Cheney’s assault on the Obama administration, Bill Kristol has this to say: But of course an intelligent and knowledgeable advocate–even if he’s personally not so popular–can do a lot to get an issue front and center. And the debate of that issue can do political damage to the existing
The IMF has published its verdict on Britain – who it may very well be bailing out in the next couple of years – and a suspiciously warm phrase is up there, and being singled out by government spin doctors: “The UK government response to the global financial crisis has been “bold and wide-ranging,” adding
So the votes are in, and Frank Field is the CoffeeHousers’ choice to be the next Speaker of the House of Commons. He secured 36.5 percent of the vote in our poll – well ahead of Sir George Young, who finished in second with 13.7 percent. The worry is that David Cameron will have inadvertantly
You might think this impossible, but there is more chaos from the Michael Martin’s office. They said yesterday that he was resigning as an MP as well as a Speaker – ergo by-election in the summer. I spoke to the SNP and to ministers about it: everyone was geared up. But now it transpires that
Theresa May – the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, and MP for Maidenhead – has kindly agreed to another Q&A session with Coffee House. Just post your questions for her in the comments section below. And on Sunday we’ll pick out the best five or so and put them to her. She’ll get back to
There is still something magnificent about a Times editorial. Few other forms of British journalism carry with them the same weight, the same gravity, as a leader from the Thunderer. So, I wonder if Vince Cable hesitated this morning as he read today’s calling for him to be the next Speaker. Cable is not a
Many, myself included, thought that Gordon Brown might use Michael Martin as a sacrificial lamb; a means of suggesting that the Government is doing “everything it can” on the expenses scandal, as well as to deflect attention away from their own misdemeanours. But signs are he’s playing a more devious game than that. Here’s the
So Brown kicked off by praising the Speaker for “unfailing personal kindness to all members of all parties of this house.” And with a straight face too! This kindness was the problem, the way Michael Martin ushered everyone to the Fees Office to claim their Generation Game conveyor belt-style goodies. And then it got worse.
Stay tuned for live coverage of PMQs from 1200 onwards. A perfect opportunity for a round of Brown bingo, methinks. 1201: And we’re off. He kicks off by paying tribute to the Speaker, praising his 30 years of “public service”, and saying that Michael Martin has shown “unfailing kindness” to MPs on “both sides of the House”. Hm.
This is brilliant. Yesterday, I wrote that someone should put together a “bingo card” of Brown’s stock phrases (updated in the wake of the expenses scandal) – and, this morning, CoffeeHouser Craig Harris emailed me to say he’d done just that. You can download his version by clicking here . Now our Dear Leader’s public
Sue Cameron’s notebook in the FT is a treasure trove of mini-scoops; few journalists are anywhere near as well connected in Whitehall—as opposed to Westminster—as she is. Today’s is no exception. Cameron reports that ‘Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, has let it be known he wants to jump ship to the Foreign Office’. Moving Mandelson
Aside from all the talk about the Speaker in this morning’s papers, it’s worth reading Alistair Darling’s interview with with the Times. What do we learn? Nothing much – but the adamant defence he puts up for his Budget growth forecasts is quite striking in itself: “I am not going to change my forecasts,” he
John Huntsman’s decision to accept Obama’s invitation to serve as the US Ambassador to Beijing is, as James suggested, interesting given the recent rise in Huntsman stock. The advantages for Obama are several: firstly, and most obviously (if also most grubbily) he removes a potential 2012 opponent from the fray. Secondly, picking someone like Huntsman
Watching Newsnight tonight it felt like a dam had broken. Three MPs from the main parties having an open discussion about the future of politics post-Speaker Martin, Jeremy Paxman relaxed and cracking jokes about the growing groundswell of support for Chris Mullin to become speaker: it was all rather extraordinary. The three MPs, Chris Mullin,
Of all the fatuous “debates” in Washington few can be as absurd or wearisome as the mantra, repeated by politicians of all parties, that it is time for the United States to wean itself off foreign oil and declare “energy independence”. Writing about the discovery of oil in Ghana, Foreign Policy’s Elizabeth Dickinson makes some
A reader asks, not without reason, what I think of the Scottish Tories attempts at a makeover since their wipeout in 1997 and whether, given that I’m generally, broadly speaking, in favour of the reformers when it comes to Project Cameron or Project GOP, I’m also happy with the Scottish Tories softer than softly-softly approach
From the Intelligence and Security Committee’s review of the Intelligence on the London Terrorist Attacks of 7 July 2005: This photograph was taken from CCTV footage from a surveillance operation of an “outward bound” expedition in January 2001 attended by 40 individuals. The police and MI5 showed pictures of the attendees to their sources and
For any number of obvious reasons Burma doesn’t receive as much attention as Cuba. One of those reasons, mind you, is that there aren’t too many simpletons forever making excuses for the Burmese junta. Nor, mind you, is there a Cuban counterpart to Aung San Suu Kyi whose struggle for democratic reform in Burma is