Uk politics

Tuesday

Steerpike

Tory conference: for hardworking shoppers

Normally party conference exhibitions are made up of stalls from special interest groups on high-speed rail, trade unions, campaigns for responsible drinking or real ale, and some confusing stands advertising big companies with a large TV in the middle. But every year at the Conservative party conference, delegates enjoy a shopping spree, as well as being chased down by someone with a petition clipboard. There’s the Harvey Nichols stand: A nice rugged country Tory shirt stall: And a jumper stall: As well as evening wear, should you find yourself without something to wear at tonight’s receptions in the Midland Hotel: As for Tory attack dogs, well, they’ve got an entire

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron’s class war: only snobs dislike my Help to Buy

David Cameron has just been interviewed by Sarah Montague on Radio Four, who rather put him through his paces. She teased out an interesting position he is adopting to the growing concern about his Help to Buy mortgage subsidies. He defends himself by saying he will liberate those ‘trapped’ in rented accommodation and casts his critics as cold-hearted rich kids. listen to ‘Cameron: ‘Spending should bare the brunt of deficit reduction’’ on Audioboo

Monday

Sebastian Payne

William Hague’s plan to reunite the right

William Hague is the man with a plan to deal with Ukip at next year’s European elections. At a fringe event hosted by the Conservatives in the European Parliament group this evening, Hague urged the assembled MEPs to take a tough message to the country, making sure they know what the Tories have done to reform and enhance our relationship with the EU. As James Forsyth suggested in the Spectator last week, the message the Tories need to adopt is part carrot, part stick, to unite the right. The Foreign Secretary seems to have listened to his advice. On the the electoral carrot, Hague suggested a pact was needed with the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Boris Johnson, Tory counsellor-in-chief

Boris Johnson is difficult to pigeonhole, but at Tory conferences he seems to be taking the role of counsellor-in-chief, cheering up party activists with a slew of jokes and slights on other ambitious colleagues or indeed his party leader. As ever, there were two huge queues outside the auditorium this evening for his event on London, and some of the only truly sincere and excited-sounding applause when he (eventually) arrived. And there were jokes – ‘Ukip if you want to – David Cameron’s not for kipping. Not unless, obviously, he’s at his sister-in-law’s wedding’ and the definition of ‘Milipede’ being some sort of left wing insect – that left them

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How easy is Nigel Farage to squeeze?

Nigel Farage can’t come into the Conservative conference secure zone, but is hovering around the metal barriers at fringes and receptions. The Tories are trying to squeeze him out of the frame as they hold their annual jamboree, but they aren’t succeeding terribly well: today’s news is full of speculation about a Tory/Ukip pact, even though Farage has been talking about this for years (see James’s interview with him in the Speccie). But beyond this conference, all the parties are interested in – and worried about – how on earth they can squeeze Farage effectively when it really matters. The ‘squeeze message’ is one that parties deploy in the days

James Forsyth James Forsyth

George Osborne is back in the Tory leadership race

If the next Tory leadership election is a marathon, George Osborne fell down at mile six with that 2012 Budget. Most of those watching assumed that was the end of him. But Osborne got up, dusted himself down and started making his way back through the pack. Today’s speech showed that Osborne thinks he’s now back in that race. It was littered with the personal pronoun. It included a tribute to his parents who founded what Osborne called a small manufacturing company’ which the rest of us call Osborne and Little, the up-market wallpaper merchants beloved of the interior designing classes. It also showed off his acid sense of humour,

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

We’ll balance the books!! (By 2020) George Osborne speech analysis

You have to hand it to George Osborne: he’s great at turning massive setbacks to his advantage. He pledged to get rid of the deficit over one parliament, now he’s boldly saying he’ll do it over two. Be had said he’d sort out the economy over five years (after all, Britain won a world war in six) but now – in a well-delivered and well-received speech – he’s solemnly declaring that we’re ‘not nearly finished’ and he should be re-elected to finish the job. So to prove it, he had a new plan for 2018-20: a new deficit pledge. As ever with Osborne, it’s political.  He calculates that Ed Miliband plans

Sebastian Payne

View from 22 podcast special: the return of George Osborne

Fraser Nelson thinks it was the ‘language of someone happy with the economy’. James Forsyth saw it as renewed hope for leading the Conservative party. On this special View from 22 podcast, we analyse George Osborne’s speech to Tory conference this morning; whether the economic measures mentioned were sensible and what it says about the Chancellor himself. You can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes and have it delivered to your computer every week, or you can use the embedded player below: listen to ‘Spectator Podcast: @frasernelson and @jamesforsyth discuss Osborne’s speech’ on Audioboo

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Breaking: George Osborne wants to freeze fuel duty for the rest of this Parliament

George Osborne is currently giving his speech to the Tory conference, which is being well received – particularly impressive in this flat hall. He focused initially on the argument that fixing the economy is the way to solve the cost of living crisis. But his MPs will also be heartened that he didn’t stop there. The Chancellor has just told the conference hall that, provided the savings can be found, he wants to freeze fuel duty for the rest of this parliament. This announcement came at the end of a passage on the sort of people the Conservatives want to stand beside: the factory and warehouse workers that the Chancellor

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The north-south rebrand won’t stop HS2 becoming the new symbol of Tory disunity

There was no chance the Conservatives could come to Manchester, with a row over the future of high-speed rail raging, and not make a big thing of the proposed new railway line. But as I explained in my Telegraph column last week, the party knew that a little crafty rebranding wouldn’t go amiss, and so when Patrick McLoughlin spoke to conference this morning, he placed as much emphasis on the uniting power of the new ‘north-south’ line as he did on the economic or capacity-based arguments that the government have focused on so far. He said: ‘So here in Manchester I am proud to support HS2 – the new north-south

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

George Osborne focuses on big picture and trust to undermine Labour

How can the Conservatives deal with Labour’s attack on the cost of living? As I explained last week, the party believes that the best way to address the opposition’s focus on living standards is to talk about the bigger picture rather than the ‘footling little things’. Senior Tories I’ve spoken to in the past week are very confident indeed that because they enjoy the trust of voters on the economy, while voters still blame Labour for the mess, they don’t need to worry about the strategy that Ed Miliband has adopted. One senior figure remarked to me this weekend that ‘Labour has mis-fired: when we’ve got such a poll lead

Sebastian Payne

Conservative conference: Monday fringe guide

Every morning throughout party conference season, we’ll be providing our pick of the fringe events on Coffee House. It’s the second day of the Conservative conference today in Manchester and the fringe is in full swing. As Grant Shapps noted when he kicked things off yesterday, the Tories’ is the largest party conference in the UK, and you could easily tell that from the fringe listings. So, for a round-up of the events you can’t miss look no further than Coffee House’s guide to the crème de la crème of the conference fringe below: Title Key speaker(s) Time Location Business is good for Britain: How can we encourage private investment and

Sunday

Sebastian Payne

Free Enterprise Group MPs say no to Help to Buy

Will any Tories except Cameron and Osborne applaud the Help to Buy mortgage scheme? At an IEA fringe event this evening, discussing lessons to be learnt from the recession, all the members present of the Free Enterprise Group of Tory MPs all conveyed their concern at the plans the Prime Minister has accelerated this weekend. Former banker Andrea Leadsom said she was ‘exceedingly concerned’ and suggested the property cap should be lowered from £650,000 to £350,000. Chris Skidmore agreed the cap is too large while Kwasi Kwarteng (leader of the group) said he was ‘uneasy about governments propping up credit markets in such a direct way’. The Free Enterprise Group

Sebastian Payne

A warm welcome to Manchester from the TUC

As it boomed, whistled and shouted its way past Manchester Central this afternoon, the TUC’s Save Our NHS march seemed reasonable enough. If they want to disagree with the Conservatives on key policy issues, then so be it, that’s government for you. But when I decided to watch and photograph what I thought was a peaceful protest, I found that some of the comrades joining in weren’t so keen. A middle-aged man clutching a Socialist Worker grabbed me, demanding to know ‘who are you taking photos for?’. I told him I was taking them for me, and tried to walk away. But then two of his companions joined us. The gang

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Philip Hammond: Britain can do better than a blank sheet of paper or the Lib Dems

listen to ‘Hammond: ‘A Conservative government will never send our forces in to battle without the right kit’’ on Audioboo Philip Hammond’s speech to the Conservative conference was accompanied by the set of circumstances that most ministers have bad dreams about after eating too much cheese. First he was interrupted by two men in military clothing, shouting about defence cuts and fusiliers. ‘I’ll come and talk to you later, let me finish my speech,’ the Defence Secretary said, hopefully. The man didn’t stop, and was escorted from the floor, followed by a cloud of journalists scribbling away and enthusiastic photographers. Then the giant screens behind Hammond that were beaming two

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Grant Shapps: Britain can do better than a Labour government

Manchester Central is a beautiful, cavernous conference venue. But it also seems to be acting as a bit of an atmosphere sink today. When Grant Shapps bounded onto the conference stage after the party’s tribute to Baroness Thatcher, he might have expected that his speech, which was full of the sort of fare that Tory grassroots love – attacks on Labour and the trade unions and a reminder that Abu Qatada no longer haunts these shores – would have gone down to uproarious applause. But though delegates clearly liked his speech, they never really warmed up. If this continues through the week, it won’t help diminish the impression that political

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

How strong can the Tory tax attack be?

One of the key dividing lines in 2015 will be over what sort of action each of the parties proposes to take over filling the financial black hole. The choice is between tax rises and spending cuts, and the Tories were first out of the blocks to make clear that they want to focus on spending cuts, specifically shaving more money from the welfare bill, as part of their election offer. James first revealed this in his Mail on Sunday column in June, and then George Osborne ruled out tax rises at a press gallery lunch the following month. At the time, he said: ‘I think this can be delivered

Sebastian Payne

Conservative conference: Sunday fringe guide

Every morning throughout party conference season, we’ll be providing our pick of the fringe events on Coffee House. The Tories’ annual bash kicks off today in Manchester with plenty of cabinet ministers and interesting figures popping up, mostly later in the day. Here’s our selection of the must-attend fringes: Title Key speaker(s) Time Location How To Win The Next Election Owen Paterson, Andrew Mitchell, Tim Montgomerie 14:00 Midland Hotel, Alexandra A Boot Camp: Designing a truly digital government Francis Maude 17:00 Rylands Room, Novotel Centre The Big Transport Interview Patrick McLoughlin, Stephen Hammond 17:00 Manchester Central, Central 4 The Implications Of Independence For The Energy Sector Michael Fallon, Lord Strathclyde 17:30 Midland Hotel, Stanley Suite

Saturday

James Forsyth

We haven’t heard the last of the mansion tax

In Manchester this week, there’ll be much talk from the Tories about how they are gunning for a majority. But in private, many senior Tories will admit that being the largest party in another hung parliament is a more realistic aim. As Matthew d’Ancona reveals in the Telegraph this morning, there has been talk—albeit brief– between the principals about a second coalition. Matt also reminds us how, if it had not been for Cameron’s intervention, a mansion tax would have been imposed by the coalition. I suspect that if there is to be another coalition, the Liberal Democrats would insist on some kind of mansion tax. It has come for

Friday

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron unveils £1,000 marriage tax allowance

That the Conservatives were going to announce a marriage tax allowance at their party conference had to be one of the worst kept secrets in Westminster since the date of the last general election. So they’ve managed to go one better than the £750 allowance proposed by their 2010 manifesto with David Cameron announcing in the Daily Mail tomorrow that people will be able to transfer £1,000 of their personal tax allowance to their spouse or civil partner. Cameron has written in the Mail about his personal belief in marriage, adding: ‘When I ran for the leadership of my party back in 2005, I said that I wanted to do