All the latest analysis of the day's news and stories
Like any sensible person, I shall be supporting Barcelona this evening, even if that does also require one to endorse the insufferable Thierry Henry. Nonetheless, give me wee Lionel Messi over Christiano Ronaldo any and every day. Alas, I fear the worst and suspect that Manchester United will prevail and that they may do so
The pressure sure is mounting for Julie Kirkbride, the wife of the disgraced – and discarded – Tory MP Andrew MacKay. A ConservativeHome poll this morning showed that 81 percent of the grassroots think she should step down as an MP. While Guido’s also on the case, asking: where’s Julie? David Cameron was quizzed about
Today is one of those days that remind you that the international situation is as serious as the economic one and the crisis facing our democracy. No one quite knows what North Korea means by its nuclear tests and declarations that the 1953 armistice is no longer operative. Indeed, no one even really knows who
Is Brown trying to save the world again? It’s hard not to get that impression from reading his dreary article in the FT today. Headlined “What Europe must do to build a recovery,” it adopts the same lecturing tone, and the same misleading claims about the UK position, that Brown patented last autumn and carried
An intriguing set-up in today’s Indpendent, as all three of the main party leaders write articles on the need for political reform. The result, though, is a little underwhelming. Despite some differences in tone and emphasis – Brown bangs on about Bills and committees; Cameron talks about strengthening Parliament; and Clegg dwells on party funding
Nadine Dorries is at the end of her tether: Does the DT [Daily Telegraph] have an agenda other than the desire to perform a public service? Why would they expose this fiasco at the start of an election campaign if the priority was not to destabilise the main political parties and to drive votes towards
Here are some of the posts made over the bank holiday weekend on Spectator.co.uk: Fraser Nelson picks up on some damaging revelations for the Government, and reveals that Andrew MacKay is to step down. James Forsyth says that David Cameron has diagnosed the problem, and wonders whether Gordon Brown will bring David Blunkett back. Peter
There is something depressingly predictable about the news that extremist groups are filling the void left by the Pakistani government in terms of accommodating the refugees from the Swat valley. Save the Children estimates that only 20 percent of the roughly 2 million refugees are in government run camps. The Washington Post reports that: ‘Outside
Look, I know that the expenses mess needs sorting swiftly and decisively – I’ve been saying as much for the past few weeks. But there’s still a sense that things are now moving a little too quickly. Under the correct interpretation that “this is about more than expenses,” polticians have rushed from discussing second home
As sun breaks through last night’s cloud and the beautiful Wye valley is once again bathed in dazzling sunshine, Tuesday morning seems a good moment to take stock of what was a triumphant, record-breaking bank holiday at the Hay Festival. As ever, the opening-weekend programme contained a plethora of luminaries from the worlds of books,
I have no idea whether Sonia Sotomayor is qualified to sit on the United States Supreme Court. But, unlike Harriet Miers, she’s not obviously unqualified. Having been appointed to the bench by George HW Bush is no bad thing; having been recommended by Daniel Patrick Moynihan a considerable advantage. Presuming that no scandalous relevation from
The central deceit behind Budget 2009 – Alistair Darling’s trampoline recovery theory – is steadily crumbling. CoffeeHousers will remember the scam. He pretends that Britain will, from April 2011, enjoy three years of turbo-charged growth averaging 3.5 per cent a year, hence justifying his pre-election splurge. It was, in my view, an extraordinary moment –
It has been a few days now since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for Theresa May. We’ve since picked out the best, which have now been put to the shadow work and pensions secretary. She’ll get back to us in the next few days. Anyway, here are the questions: John Moss “Is
The Sun has been shining on David Cameron recently. The paper’s call for an early election has helped Cameron out considerably and it has generally given him a pretty positive write-up these past few weeks. But today’s editorial on the European elections pointedly does not endorse the Tories: “Labour has surrendered all credibility by betraying
There’s something perturbing about this story on party funding in the Times: “Hundreds of donations to political parties are to be kept secret under plans being slipped through the House of Lords. Labour and the Conservatives have been accused of collusion over plans to raise the threshold above which parties must report donations from £5,000
The headline coming out of David Cameron’s speech tomorrow, which The Guardian publishes as an essay tomorrow, will be his rejection of PR. But I’m more interested by how Cameron is again hitting the right notes about broader political reform. Take these two passages: “I believe the central objective of the new politics we need
One of the major forces driving the public’s reaction to the expenses scandal has been the feeling that we, the voters, simply don’t know what our elected representatives are up to. But this goes well beyond claims for moats, bathplugs and so on. We the electorate actually know very little about what our MPs do.
If M had Miss Moneypenny, General Mike Hayden had Cindy. Both were attractive and of a certain age and both were excellent guardians of the gate. While Miss Moneypenny never caused M any trouble at all,Cindy is turning out to be a focus of a major row between Hayden, the head of the CIA and
Until I read Andrew Sparrow’s story in The Guardian today, I’d missed this quote from David Cameron on Andrew Marr: “You know they’ve given power to the judges, on the one hand, and Europe on the other and the whole thing, frankly, is not in my control. That’s what people, I think, are angry about.
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 – provided 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
We’re taking your questions for Theresa May until around 1900 this evening, at which point we’ll select the best five or so and put them to the shadow work and pensions secretary. To submit a question, please click here.
As Pete says, it is hard to see Alan Johnson’s article in The Times today as anything other than another flash of leadership leg from him. The tectonic plates do seem to be shifting on the Labour side. There appears to have been a hardening of attitudes, a recognition that their only chance of avoiding
Wow. The Bracknell Forest Standard has released footage (see below) from Andrew MacKay’s meeting with his constituents last week. If you remember, the MP didn’t allow TV cameras into the hall, and subsequently claimed that most of those present were on his side. This footage gives the lie to that, as it shows them subjecting
So has Alan Johnson taken a first step towards the Labour leadership? He’s written a comment piece on electoral reform for today’s Times – and the paper reports it on their frontpage with the headline “Johnson seizes intiative over Labour leadership.” It’s hard to disagree. While Johnson makes sure to mention Gordon Brown is his
The Telegraph tonight makes two substantial revelations. The first is that nine Cabinet members – including Alistair Darling – have charged the taxpayer for accountants to do their personal tax returns. And while the figure – £11,000 – is bad enough it’s the principle that’s damaging. This government has had millions of British taxpayers submerged
So how scared should Gordon Brown be of Caroline Flint? In my News of the World column, I warn against underestimating the wrath of Labour women. They suspect that Brown, in his anger, is now beating up on the female members of the Cabinet and are making a pre-emptive strike. Remember last summer’s rebellion: it was
There is a real danger that Iran acquires a nuclear capability before the US-led coalition works out what it is prepared to do to stop it. As David Ignatius writes in the Washington Post today, there isn’t any attractive solution to this problem: “The quiet, deniable covert activities undertaken so far haven’t stopped the Iranian
Patrick Hennessy has an authoritative piece in the Sunday Telegraph about the signs that Gordon Brown is set to recall David Blunkett to the Cabinet. Hennessy reports that Blunkett dined at Chequers with Brown on an evening when Wilf Stevenson, one of Brown’s closest friends and his adviser on ‘engaging with local communities’, was also
The Independent on Sunday reports that Tony Blair has been into Downing Street to advise Gordon Brown. One can only imagine what Blair makes of the mess that the man who spent so long before plotting to take his job is now making of it. But judging by what John Burton, Blair’s constituency agent, writes
The vast majority of Tory MPs do not want John Bercow to be Speaker; I’ve only spoken to one who favours his candidacy. The Tories complain that Labour’s support for Bercow is a plot to appear bi-partisan while actually being crudely political. Today’s Mail on Sunday editorial is a punchy expression of this viewpoint: “It
An intriguing little story in the FT about the worsening relations between Gordon Brown and Mervyn King. Apparently, our Dear Leader doesn’t like the downbeat rhetoric that the Governor of the Bank of England is deploying: “There is growing irritation in Downing Street and the Treasury towards Mr King. The prime minister and Alistair Darling,
Only this morning, Andrew MacKay said that he would stand for election again – but after a conversation with David Cameron he has now decided to stand down at the next election. The open meeting he held had several calls for him to go, and there was talk of a petition. The grassroots momentum was
As the whole expenses scandal rumbles on, the economic crisis has been knocked off the front pages. But it hasn’t gone away. Today there’s an interesting article in the Washington Post saying that while the worst is over in America, the recession in Europe will be longer and deeper. (The numbers the Post mentions about
From Sir Peter Viggers’s statement on his failed attempt to put a floating duck island on expenses: “it was never liked by the ducks and is now in storage.” Hat tip: Conservative Home