David cameron

Since Theresa May succeeded David Cameron as Prime Minister, she has wasted no time in putting distance between herself and many of Cameron’s flagship policies. As well as putting the brakes on Hinkley Point, May has hinted that she will take a fresh approach to the Northern Powerhouse and grammar schools. Now Mr S understands that another aspect of the Cameron and Osborne premiership is facing the axe. During Cameron’s time in government, both he and Osborne became known for their penchant for hard-hats and high-vis jackets. In fact, Osborne wore the items for so many industrial visits that he even became known as the ‘hard-hat chancellor’. However, while the duo no doubt thought that the kit gave

It is beginning to look like a bit of a trend this year: the Conservatives get themselves into a tight spot, only for Labour to trump them quickly. Just as the Tories seemed to be descending into a bitter leadership crisis on the weekend after the referendum, half the shadow cabinet resigned. Now, just as David Cameron was being mauled from all quarters over the cronies in his resignation honours list (including from the presumably not soon-to-be Lord Hilton), Jeremy Corbyn has directed attention to himself by ennobling Shami Chakrabarti, formerly of human rights group Liberty. The appointment is embarrassing three times over. Firstly, because he said last year: ‘Labour

Whilst Labour tangle themselves up in civil war, the Prime Minister is making a move for the party’s economic territory. On her first day in Downing Street, Theresa May said her Government would stick up for everyone, not only the ‘privileged few’. Today, she’ll start work making good on that promise when she chairs the first meeting of her Cabinet committee on the economy and industrial strategy. So what does that all mean? It’s obvious the sentiment suggests an attempt to beat Labour at its own game. From the politician who coined the description of the Tories as the ‘nasty party’, May is doing her best to show the Conservatives

Downing Street has made clear today that Theresa May will not move to prune down or veto David Cameron’s resignation honours list. This is the right decision. Whatever you think of the list, it wouldn’t be right for a new Prime Minister to seek to amend the resignation honours list of their predecessor. If this started to happen, it would make politics even more bitter and factional than it is today. Imagine if this Downing Street transition was not from one Tory to another but a Labour PM being replaced by a Tory who immediately vetoed all the honours proposed by the outgoing Labour Prime Minister. Now, this doesn’t mean

For the past few weeks there have been reports circulating that David Cameron’s resignation honours list has been held up over ‘ethical concerns’ regarding his nominees. Today the Sunday Times offer a glimpse as to why this may be by publishing the ‘leaked list‘ on its front page. It does not make for an inspiring read. Although David Cameron was criticised for awarding Sir Lynton Crosby a knighthood for ‘services to politics’ in the new year honours, at least Crosby actually won an election. The same cannot be said for the majority of the Remain campaigners, donors and aides who allegedly make up the bulk of the roll call. Among the Remain foot soldiers who

During Steve Hilton’s time in 10 Downing Street, David Cameron’s former director of strategy’s reputation for ‘modernising’ the Conservative party inspired the creation of PR guru Stewart Pearson in The Thick of It. However, while Brits may now be used to Hilton’s penchant for casual-wear and ‘blue sky thinking’, across the pond it’s a different story. Word reaches Steerpike that Americans at last week’s Republican Convention were left puzzled over a bedraggled attendee who strolled the vicinity shoeless. Republicans at the Cleveland meet were overheard asking: ‘who is that dude?’. Happily Mr S’s Brit-in-the-know was on hand to assist. On turning round to see what all the fuss was about, they saw Cameron’s old pal walking

For all Gordon Brown’s economic mistakes, he at least tried to build confidence in the British economy. In the build-up to the European Union referendum, David Cameron and George Osborne did the opposite. Osborne, as Chancellor, ignored the good news, accentuated the bad and tried to portray Britain as an economic weakling propped up by EU membership. He was joined by a great many investment banks who produced analyses saying that Britain’s life outside the EU would be catastrophic. Since the referendum, these anticipations of doom have continued. It is rather strange to watch. Encouraging economic news — the increase in high-street spending, the buoyant demand for jobs through recruitment

Although Theresa May has repeatedly assured us that ‘Brexit means Brexit’, we’re still no closer to finding out what that actually means. The Prime Minister has done her best to play hardball in talks with other European leaders, having told Angela Merkel that control over free movement was an issue she would deliver on. But the fighting talk doesn’t actually mean much in practice. At least not yet anyway. And like it or not, one man who will play a key role in Brexit negotiations, Jean-Claude Juncker, is making it clear he’s not going to lie down and accept compromise on free movement. Here’s what he had to say: ‘There will

When David Cameron hummed a bizarre tune last week as he walked through the door of No.10, there was much mystery about what the tune meant. Thankfully, his former communications director later cleared things up — revealing Cameron hummed because he was worried no one would open the door. Whilst everyone laughed at Dave at the time, it seems that he was actually onto something. Today John Kerry emerged from the famous black door this morning to give everyone a big wave. Alas the US Secretary of State hit a snag on his return. After the door failed to open on Kerry’s return, he hit his head on the closed door… and they say

A few weeks ago, I wrote a Spectator cover story about David Cameron’s purge of the posh. My peg was a new wheeze from the Cameroons whereby prospective employees should be asked not just where they went to university, but about their childhood and parents’ assets etc. The idea was to make sure that too many posh people didn’t make it to the top. Sinister, I argued, and not meritocratic. Judging people on their merits means not marking them down for being poor or posh. Inverted snobbery is still bigotry, and ought to be deplored as such. And yet the government was proposing rolling it out, first with the civil service and then…. …the government hopes other

Theresa May has demonstrated this week that she isn’t interested in being continuity Cameron. Her reshuffle was, as I say in The Sun, a brutal change up from the previous Cabinet and she has shown that she is determined to take on the party of the rich tag in a way that David Cameron never could. In this reshuffle, May hasn’t bothered to disguise who her friends are and, just as importantly, who are her enemies. She was ‘wintery but courteous’ when she sacked people. Any Prime Minister who sacks more ministers than the size of her majority is taking a risk. Some of those who she sacked are already

On Tuesday night in London, I spoke to Women2Win, a Conservative organisation dedicated to recruiting more women candidates. My title, suggested long ago, was ‘The Woman Who Won’. It referred to Margaret Thatcher. The day before my speech was delivered, another woman (and former chairman of Women2Win) won, so now there are two. Everyone seized the moment to compare and contrast them. There is a clear difference between Theresa May’s situation today and Mrs Thatcher’s in 1975. Mrs May, like Ted Heath in 1975, represents the side that just lost, Mrs Thatcher the side with a new idea about how to win. Mrs May is the establishment candidate: Mrs Thatcher