All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
There are plenty of rumours swirling around the Wesminster washbowl, but two are worth pulling out in particular. The first comes courtesy of Danny Finkelstein (who is, incidentally, running a useful rolling post over at Comment Central on the latest leadership gossip): “Contrary to all previous reports, rumours are now circulating that Alistair Darling would
The question of whether Brown makes Balls Chancellor is still generally regarded as the key to what happens next. But it is worth pointing out that there is a huge danger to Brown in backing down now that he has gone so far: talking about Darling’s tenure at the Treasury in the past tense and
In public, the pause button has been pressed on the plot against Brown. The broadcasters cannot report because of election law and Labour MPs are keeping their counsel until the polls close. Of course, behind the scenes the plotting–from all I’m hearing–is continuing apace. There are rumours circling about which Minister, MP or party grandee will
Obama’s speech to the ‘Muslim world’ in Egypt was full of necessary fictions. But more substantively it set out what Obama sees as seven areas where progress must be made if tensions are to be eased: the fight against violent extremism, Israel / Palestine, Iran’s nuclear ambition, democracy, religious freedom, womens’ rights and economic development.
In his analysis of Blears’ resignation letter and Brown’s response, the Times’s Philip Collins picks up on one of the strangest minor details of the entire saga: neither letter, in 12 whole paragraphs, contains one full-stop. As Collins quips wonderfully: “No full stop appears in either letter. New Labour began with no verbs and it
And so we come to Election Day 2009. But the voting itself is being overshadowed by the melodrama on Downing Street; or at least being anticipated through the prism of What It All Means for Gordon. For any CoffeeHousers who have been out of the country for the past few days – and even those
More on the disappointing lack of emphasis Obama places on human rights and democratic reform. Mike Crowley reports from Cairo that Ayman Nour, the Egyptian dissident, has turned down an invitation to attend Obama’s speech tomorrow: The president’s reticence to push Mubarak about democracy, Nour says, has been “a huge disappointment, not only from Egypt’s
Melanie Phillips is, of course, correct to point out that Barack Obama’s statement that the US is one of the larger muslim countries in the world is an exaggeration – though also, I would say (though Melanie might not), an understandable one. However she then writes: Just what planet is this US President on? Or
In every crisis of leadership, there are a few protagonists who matter much more than most: self-evidently, the Prime Minister’s spouse and core advisers, but also the holders of the great offices of state. The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has already announced her departure, triggering today’s spectacularly ill-timed mayhem. As James pointed out earlier, Peter
Would you Adam and Eve it? The Prime Minister actually seemed to enjoy PMQs today. With the whole of Westminster abuzz with whispered plots and covert knife-sharpenings perhaps the Commons seemed a haven of openness and civility by contrast. Brown got off to a lousy start though. He stuttered and fumbled through the names of
An electric atmosphere in the Commons today. Labour MPs with faces like murder, Tony McNulty skulking in the back where the cameras won’t get him, and Sean Woodward to Brown’s left. To his right, Harman then Straw. A chastened Michael Martin started proceedings with a question from the SNP’s Mike Weir – isn’t the Cabinet
YouGov has just released a European Election voting intention poll and it has Labour in third behind UKIP. The poll has the Tories on 26, UKIP 18, Labour on 16, the Lib Dems 15, the Greens 10 and the BNP on 5. However, if those not certain to vote are included the numbers become the
Jack Straw has just been on Channel 4 News drawing contrasts between Jacqui Smith’s ‘dignified’ exit and Hazel Blears’. Straw made clear that he didn’t think Smith had leaked the news of her own departure, saying he had known about it for a month. Straw seemed happy to imply that he shared the rage that
And it is reporting that Blears might speak to the media tonight. Stay tuned.
No one does it better than The Prince. So I have written up Lord Mandelson’s comments on Simon Mayo’s R5 programme (which I mentioned earlier) as they set a template for all ministers who will try to get through the next five days. They represent a truly audacious attempt to make the following four points…
Nick Robinson has just reported emphatically that “friends” of Darling have made clear to him that it is Chancellor or nothing for him.
Nick Robinson has just reported on the BBC that Brown and Reid met last night. Robinson says that he heard that Brown offered Reid the job of Home Secretary but a Brown aide denies that and says they just talked about Celtic football club. I’m sure Brown—fighting for his political life—has nothing better to do
I was sitting next to Lord Mandelson in Simon Mayo’s R5 studio and witnessed a class act. Poor Hazel, he said, she had all that blowback from her dodgy home flipping expenses “found all the world on her doorstep” and was being pursued by the media. Poor love. She wanted to have done with it.
Peter Mandelson, who is spinning at full speed today, has just given an interview to Jon Sopel in which he has said that he spoke to Blears this morning and that she just found the pressure placed on her because of her expenses too much. Mandelson is playing a dangerous game. Blears doesn’t want to
Word from chipmunk central is that she’s heading for Salford and won’t say more today. To do so, pre-election, may be seen by Labour as treason. But after polling closes, I suspect, it’s open season.
Peter Mandelson has just been on TV stressing what pressure Smith and Blears have been under because of the expenses story and trying to spin that as the sole reason they have resigned. He was then asked about Darling and his response was that Darling was another person who had found himself in the eye
Allegra Stratton and David Hencke have the scoop over at The Guardian: A group of rebel MPs have begun soliciting signatures for a round robin letter calling for Gordon Brown to step down, which they plan to hand to the prime minister after the results of the local and European elections have come in on
Today’s PMQs comes at an awful time for Gordon Brown. But weirdly if he can make it through this half-hour without being bloodied further, he might buy himself some time. But if Cameron pummels him, he might be weakened even further. It’ll be one of those occasions when one watches the faces of the Labour
Hazel Blears capacity for detonation is not yet exhausted. Shot one was “YouTube if you want to”, shot two – some argue – was her leaking of Jacqui Smith’s resignation plan. Shot three her resignation right before PMQs, which one senior government source has described to me as a “rank betrayal” coming ahead of the
The word in Westminster is that Blears made up her mind to resign when Number 10 started trying to blame her for the leaking of Jacqui Smith’s resignation. It can’t be stressed enough that Blears has chosen to go at the worst moment for Brown. She has resigned hours before PMQs giving Cameron time to
The chaos continues: on the eve of the European and local elections and in time for PMQs, Hazel Blears has resigned.
“It’s like the Masque of the Red Death” Stephen Pound said on Newsnight recently. “The band’s playing, the wine’s being served but half the dancers are dead and are just going through the motions.” And indeed, just yesterday, five more Labour MPs fell. According to the polls, about half of them will lose their seat
I rather suspect that Gordon Brown’s fate will be sealed by whether or not he can pull off a successful reshuffle. If he can bind the Cabinet to him, he is probably safe until at least Labour conference. Over the weekend, the assumption was that Brown would reshuffle on Friday. The idea was to move
Commenting on this post in which I suggested that the BNP’s electoral tactics are not dissimilar to those employed by Sinn Fein in the Republic of Ireland, NDM asked that I clarify what I meant when I wrote: “Research shows just 20 per cent of working-class Brits believe that being white is an ‘important factor’
How committed is Obama to human rights? Not very, it seems. Perhaps his speech in Cairo on Thursday will change one’s view of this, but the new President must be judged by actions, not merely words and noble intentions. As my friend Mike Crowley points out: But when it comes to Egypt, he has already
Marty Peretz makes a sensible point: A story by Parisa Hafezi at Reuters knocks the wind out of the expectation that, if Dr. A’jad loses his re-election campaign, Iran’s nuclear policy will be changed. These matters rest in the head and hands of the Ayatollah Al Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, successor to the revolutionary founder
There are a number of peculiar aspects of the political moment through which we are living: the fact that the Prime Minister has no mandate from the country or his own party, the collapse of the economy, the meltdown at Westminster. But never before have we had a political moment where junior ministers will be
Now that the Tories have reopened their candidate selection process, there are going to be plenty of candidates wondering how best to take advantage of their opponents’ extravagant expense claims. The intricacies of capital gains tax and “flipping” second homes are all very entertaining, but liable to become bogged down in legalese. Not so, by
The Christmas issue of the Spectator is in the shops now, but if you don’t yet have a copy, here are the contents in full: Features In defence of Blairism – Tony Blair Michael Gove interviews the Archbishop of Canterbury James Forsyth and Fraser Nelson interview David Cameron Mark Clarke, Bercow, Sewel: 2016 was a vintage year for