Uk politics

We thought CoffeeHousers might appreciate an advanced viewing of James’ political column from tomorrow’s issue of The Spectator, so here it is: In the hours after the coalition was formed last May, a minister and a group of Tory MPs sat around a table in a parliamentary cafeteria discussing what it all meant. One new MP said to the minister that it was a pity that, in the course of the talks, the Tories had agreed to ‘park Europe for the next five years’. The minister, high on the Panglossian spirit of the early days of the coalition, reassured her that this was for the best. The party could devote

It isn’t over. That’s the abiding impression after reading Gus O’Donnell’s report into the Liam Fox farrago. I mean, the outgoing Cabinet Secretary basically admits as much in the opening paragraph of the document: “more allegations about Dr Fox’s conduct have arisen,” it observes, “many of which will be the responsibility of others to answer, including the Electoral Commission which regulates political parties and their funding.” It goes on to clarify that, “This report looks into allegations relating to potential breaches of the Ministerial Code”. In other words, this investigation was specific, not far-reaching — and it shows. So what does O’Donnell actually conclude? As expected, he does kick Fox

For all the attention that is being focused in Westminster on the publication of the Cabinet Secretary’s report into the links between Adam Werritty and Liam Fox tomorrow, the real story is the countdown to Cannes. It is now three weeks since George Osborne declared that the eurozone countries had three weeks to save the Euro. So far, they haven’t done anywhere near enough. There’s also little sign that this weekend’s summit will see them make much progress. The Germans are already busy playing down expectations. From a British perspective, the intriguing question is: what does the coalition do if the eurozone continues to show no sign of getting its

A few months ago I hosted a debate at my think tank with one of the key Tahrir Square leaders. After his talk about Egypt, he warned the audience: the protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak were not just an Egyptian or Middle Eastern phenomena; it could – and, he said, would – spread to the West. For the youth of today, he argued, feel disempowered, empoverished and betrayed. As protests spread from New York to London and other European capitals, it seems that Egyptian protester may have been right. Today’s efforts to occupy the London stock exchange failed but protesters remain on the grounds of St Paul’s Cathedral. Whatever happens

Parliamentary party management is, perhaps, the subtlest of the political arts. It is, obviously, particularly difficult in coalition. But the Cameroons are still scoring a ‘must do better’ grade on this work. The mini reshuffle was fairly neatly executed. But it has, almost inevitably, left behind some bruised feelings. Part of the problem is that the Whips’ office is, to borrow a phrase, neither Sandhurst nor a proper careers’ department. Ministers and MPs are all too often left to guess at why they have been passed over for promotion. There is also a tendency for people to be rapidly promoted and then fall out of favour almost as suddenly. Theresa