Uk politics

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Ed Miliband brings his personal story to the fore

Ed Miliband wants voters to see a little bit more of the man he is this conference, and his speech today is expected to be very personal, giving even more vivid glimpses into the Labour leader’s life. He will draw on his own upbringing in the speech, pointing to his parents’ experience as Jewish refugees and the education he received at a London comprehensive. Although this is being billed as the most personal speech Miliband will give, it’s not as though he hasn’t delivered speeches before about his identity. In his first speech as Labour leader in 2010, for instance, he told the hall that he wanted ‘to tell you

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Ed Miliband to announce big educational reforms (but won’t mention GCSEs)

Each day of the Labour conference covers a different aspect of Britain that Ed Miliband wants to rebuild, and tomorrow’s theme as the Labour leader gives his speech will be rebuilding the education system. Miliband will announce plans for a new Technical Baccalaureate which starts at 14 and runs until 18. The idea is to target those children who will not be going to university, but who, according to Miliband, do not currently have the same road map for their future as those going down an academic route. Describing these students as the ‘forgotten 50 per cent’, he will say: ‘In the 21st century everyone should be doing some form

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference: Chris Bryant admits Labour’s immigration policy was flawed

‘Intellectual laziness’ — that’s how Chris Bryant described the left’s bashing of the Tories’ tough stance on immigration. The shadow immigration minister spoke this evening of his ambition to shape a new immigration policy for Labour in the role he personally requested from Ed Miliband: ‘By the next general election, I want to build a coalition of the rational on immigration. Last time, immigration hurt our vote…we failed to explain our policy. It’s not racist to say that talking about immigration is the most important political matter we face’ In his quest for a new rational policy, Bryant presented two key messages for Labour activists to take to the doorstep in

Jon Stone

The policy basis for Labour and Lib Dems happily sharing a bed

Beyond whispering about a possible Lib-Lab pact, what actual policy evidence is there for the two parties looking to work together? Quite a lot, it turns out. The basis of a joint programme appears to be forming, with the parties already converging on a surprising number of policies. Here are some of the areas where Lib Dems and Labour would be quite comfortable with one another: Splitting up retail and investment banking Ed Miliband announced yesterday that he’d break up banks’ retail and investment operations. This policy is more associated with Vince Cable than any other politician, and the Business Secretary was a strong proponent of the plan when he

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference: Chuka Umunna plays good cop with trade unions

Ed Balls channelled the bad cop with the trade unions this morning, warning conference that ‘there will be difficult decisions in the future from which we will not flinch.’ This afternoon, Chuka Umunna was sent out to play the alternative good cop. The shadow business secretary spoke at a Unite fringe event this lunchtime, repeating his well-mocked line that the unions are ‘wealth-creators’: ‘I am totally unapologetic to say that trade unions like this one are wealth creators. We need to celebrate unions like Unite.’ In return for this new-found good will, the Unite leader Len McCluskey praised Umunna’s speech as ‘first class’, stating he had ‘never heard a front

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Jon Cruddas to create Labour’s own Big Society project

Jon Cruddas is frightened. Not of what he describes as the ‘bloody big’ task of leading his party’s policy review, but of the future direction of the Conservative party. Throughout his lunchtime interview with James Purnell at the Labour party conference, Cruddas brought up Britannia Unchained, the latest book from a group of Conservative MPs about how Britain can become a world leader, and about what is currently holding the country back. The party’s policy review chief said the vision presented by those MPs was ‘quite frightening’ because of its stance that the ‘state is totally malign’, and its support for what he described as a world where ‘if you

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Labour conference: The Ed Balls two-step

Ed Balls’ speech was a wide-ranging affair. It started with a tribute to the Olympics and Tessa Jowell’s role in securing them, a make-nice gesture given how badly those two have got on over the years. It ended with a paean of praise to the Labour spirit of 1945. In between, it included attacks on the Liberal Democrats as the ‘same old Tories’ — Balls’ response to Sunday newspaper reports that they won’t work with him. On the economy, the Ed Balls two-step was much in evidence. He promised to spend money now, saying he’d put the as yet unknown proceeds from sale of the 4G spectrum into house-building. But

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Len McCluskey perks up delegates

Labour delegates were clearly out late last night, as it took them quite a while to get going this morning. It was only when Unite general secretary Len McCluskey took to the stage in the conference hall that there was a resounding round of applause for the first time in several hours. He even garnered cheers from delegates, and a small standing ovation when he sat down from one block of seats in the hall. The reason? McCluskey was continuing his hunt for cuckoos in the Labour nest, urging Ed Miliband to abandon the policies of his New Labour predecessors. The biggest cheer from the floor came when he said

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Blank sheets of paper are all the rage on EU policy

It’s no secret that the Conservative party is in a bit of a pickle about Europe at the moment, and Douglas Alexander quite wisely chose to exploit the ravine that is ever growing between eurosceptic backbenchers and the Prime Minister in his speech this morning. But where does Labour stand? Well, that’s still not entirely clear. This is what the shadow foreign secretary said about the Tories and Europe this morning: ‘Just two years into Government and that’s David Cameron in a nutshell: out of touch at home; out of his depth abroad. But what’s the Conservatives’ strategy for the EU? Nothing, it’s a blank page. What’s the Conservatives’ strategy

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Ivan Lewis fakes a battle with the Tories over aid

Ivan Lewis used his speaking slot this morning to launch a series of attacks on the attitude of many Conservatives towards international development spending. ‘Conference,’ he said. ‘It turns my stomach when I hear multi-millionaire Lord Ashcroft demanding that support for the world’s poorest should be slashed. The nasty party is back. It’s the same old Tories.’ These are the sorts of attacks that you can imagine Labour delegates going wild for. But it was difficult to really trust that Lewis actually believed what he was saying to the hall. His speech was muted, workmanlike, and the applause dutiful. He did accept that ‘we won’t be able to reverse the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: anti-promise Ed Balls ‘can make no commitment’ on cuts or tax

Last week’s Lib Dem conference dealt with a promise Nick Clegg wished he had never made. This week’s Labour conference is in part about promises Ed Miliband and Ed Balls won’t make at all, or at least not for a few years. The Shadow Chancellor was cagey when he appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning, saying ‘I can make no commitment now to reverse any of those cuts or the tax rises, because we don’t know what the economy’s going to be like in two months’ time let alone in two years’ time when the election comes’. Having kicked up a real song and dance about the government’s decision to

Sebastian Payne

Labour conference: Douglas Alexander describes ‘total unanimity’ for continued EU membership

Rumours are swirling at this Labour conference that the party leadership is considering offering a referendum on Britain’s relationship with the European Union. If the party did do as Jon Cruddas hinted it should over the weekend in the Telegraph, we at least know how Douglas Alexander would campaign. The shadow foreign secretary told an Open Europe fringe last night that staying in would be in Britain’s interest: ‘We are struggling to sense any growth as it is, and shrinking our market from 500 million to 60 million would not to help. We should be working in the nation’s interest to return to growth.’ Alexander also made clear his regret

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Blairite cuckoos hit back at ‘dodo’ union bosses

The Blairite cuckoos so despised by the trade union bosses started singing this evening. After learning that Unite general secretary Len McCluskey wants to ‘kick the New Labour cuckoos out of our nest’, MPs at the Progress rally in Manchester went on the defensive. As the rally was in the Comedy Store, it was only appropriate that someone turn the infighting between the different wings of the party into a joke. Caroline Flint quipped: ‘Apparently I’m a cuckoo, so I’m going to start by talking about the dodos tonight.’ She paused, and then added: ‘The Liberal Democrats – who did you think I was talking about?’ Ben Bradshaw also received

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour conference: Iain McNicol sells Labour as so much more than a political party

Iain McNicol’s speech to his party’s conference this afternoon picked up on one of Ed Miliband’s big themes from this morning’s Marr interview: the idea that Labour is an anti-politics political party. The party’s general secretary praised the work of Labour members on various social campaigns, and then added: ‘Politics is fractured and needs mending. Earlier we stood in silence to remember those of our friends who have passed away this year including the fantastic Philip Gould. I remember him once saying politics was like a vital football match being played out between the reds and the blues. But as the players fight for every ball, strain for every goal,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Labour conference: Harman rows back from her Spectator interview

On BBC1 Sunday Politics just now, Harriet Harman rowed back from what she told me for this week’s magazine: that Labour would not match Tory spending plans at the next election. The change in position is significant as it shows how Labour—and Ed Balls, in particular—want to keep this option open ahead of 2015. In 1997, Gordon Brown’s commitment to keep to Tory spending plans for two years largely succeeded in reassuring people that Labour could be trusted with the economy. Balls, who was one of the architects of this policy, is said to be interested in doing the same in 2015. The thinking is that it would take the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband: ‘I’m my own person and I’m going to do it my own way’

Ed Miliband’s main aim for this year’s Labour conference is to show people what makes him ‘tick’, bringing across his personality to voters. He was rather wooden when he appeared on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, and made it clear that this getting-to-know-you conference won’t be about a personality change, but emphasising his own true character traits. He was keen to suggest that he possesses nerves of steel in standing up to the trade unions, who the Sunday Times reports are trying to flush out remaining bastions of support for Tony Blair within Labour. He said: ‘You can’t say at one and the same time that Len McCluskey is

Saturday

Isabel Hardman

Ed Miliband hints at realism on NHS reforms

There’s a great temptation for an opposition leader to give answers praising motherhood and apple pie when taking part in a Q&A with members of the public. Especially when that session marks the start of your party’s conference season and your party has set out very few formal policies so far. But Ed Miliband today, as well as announcing crowd pleasers on energy and pensions, caused a bit of a stir by accepting that a Labour government would not ‘spend another’ £3 billion dismantling the frameworks created by the Government’s Health and Social Care Act. He said: ‘There’s no more important institution that expresses, I think, the real soul of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The next election campaign starts here

This conference season marks the half way point to the next election and we can see the political battle lines becoming clearer. The Tories, as their new poster campaign shows, intends to hammer Labour as the party that has learnt nothing from its mistakes. The argument of the coalition parties, which Nick Clegg previewed in Brighton, will be that the world has changed but Labour is stuck in the pre-crash era with its borrow and spend economics. Ed Miliband for his part wants to run as the man who is ‘on your side’. Today’s policy announcement taking aim at pension charges and the energy companies are designed to resonate with

Friday

James Forsyth

Michael Gove accepts his private emails can be searched

Michael Gove is withdrawing his appeal against the Information Commissioner’s ruling that his private emails were searchable under the Freedom of Information Act, I understand. The Education Secretary has decided to do this because the Cabinet Office has concluded that anything that constitutes ‘information’ falls within the scope of the act which removes Gove’s ground for appeal. In other words, if two ministers, or a minister and a special adviser, email or text each other from their personal accounts or phones and that conversation involves any discussion of government business—however, fleeting or peripheral—then those texts are FOI able. I’m informed that new Cabinet Office guidance to this effect will be

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Ed Balls puts off public spending decisions until after the 2015 election

The announcement by Ed Balls today that Labour would conduct a zero-based spending review is a cute piece of political positioning by the shadow Chancellor. It allows him to sound tough—we’ll look at every piece of public spending and see if it delivers value for money, and is an olive branch to those Blairites who still moan about how the Brown Treasury blocked this idea when Labour were in power. But the weakness with it is that it puts off these decisions until after the next election. Based on conversations with various Tories this morning, they are confident that this will make it easier for them to portray Labour as