Uk politics

Friday

Peter Hoskin

Hancock strikes again<font size="1"><font face="Helvetica, Verdana, Arial"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"><br /> </span></font></font>

Yesterday, Matthew Hancock constructed what you might call the defensive part of the government’s argument on cuts: an explanation of how spending restraint can be good for the country. Today, he strides forward with the offensive component: an attack dossier that asks of the new Labour leader, “What would you cut, Mr Miliband?” By Hancock’s calculations, David Miliband needs to set out £55 billion of cuts to meet his deficit reduction plans. For Ed Miliband, that figure hits £67 billion. The attack is two-pronged. First, it pushes the idea – contra Ed Balls – that cuts are necessary. And, second, it puts the Labour leader immediately on the back foot.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Boris v Ken, round 2

What we have long expected has now been confirmed: Ken Livingstone will be Labour’s candidate against Boris in 2012. From the moment he lost, Livingstone has been working out how to beat Boris in 2012. He is consumed by a desire to be London’s mayor when the Olympics open in 2012. Boris won the mayoralty in almost the best conditions possible for a Conservative candidate — the Tories in opposition, an unpopular Labour government and an economy in mess. He’ll be running for re-election in almost the worst — a Conservative led government making deep spending cuts.   But if any Conservative can win in these circumstances, it is Boris.

Peter Hoskin

Ed Balls steps up his bid for the shadow chancellorship

With the result but a day away, there’s plenty of radio chatter about the Labour leadership election this morning. The Guardian reports that MiliD will work for MiliE if he loses. The FT observes Harriet Harman shifting towards the Eds’ position on the deficit, even if she is remaining neutral in the contest itself. A Populus poll for the Times (£) suggests that Gordon Brown is currently more popular among Labour supporters than either of the Milibands (which is deeply amusing). And Political Betting is calling it for Ed Miliband. But perhaps the most noteworthy contributions come courtesy of Ed Balls, compiled and skilfully analysed by Sunder Katwala over at

Thursday

Fraser Nelson

Another obstacle in the way of free schools

A few weeks ago, I wrote a cover story about how teachers’ unions are trying to strangle the Gove schools agenda at birth. But I fear it is facing an even greater, more immediate threat: basic bungling by government departments. The FT today says that the Department of Transport wants to make sure that local authorities keep the right to veto a new school. Armed with such a weapon, it is a sure way of crushing any competition. The DoT’s argument is staggeringly banal: that a new school may play havoc with the traffic. If you’re a local authority, wanting to use any means possible to stop a new school

David Blackburn

Mili-monomania

No doubt attempting to affect affability and languid charm, one of the Milibands has goaded his team into mastering a hybrid of semaphore and tic-tac to bring him early news of the leadership election result. It’s unclear which of the brothers has descended into total monomania, but it’s sobering to think he may have his finger on the button one day. The ballot closed yesterday, but idle speculation about the shadow cabinet has opened. The Miliband that loses is expected to be encouraged to run for shadow chancellor, though from what I hear Yvette Cooper or Ed Balls are the favourites for that prize. A deadwood edition of the Telegraph

David Blackburn

Too many policemen chasing paper-clips

Back in June, I asked how long the public would stomach David Cameron blaming Labour. Not long, was my answer – the government would have to form a narrative that suggested it was the ‘great reforming government’, not a symposium of partisan budget balancers. So far, it has failed to compel of cuts’ and public service reform’s necessity. Crime can now be added to the list. Theresa May has blamed Labour for HMIC’s findings into the police’s failure to arrest anti-social behaviour. ‘Labour achieved nothing,’ she said. Fair enough, but this was an opportunity to husband a narrative for public service reform. HMIC is in no doubt that the police

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Low taxes work

I ration my writing about Sweden. As CoffeeHousers know, I can extol its virtues with room-emptying conviction. But it’s now a few days since its election, and as far as I can tell no English publication has told the extraordinary story of its conservative victory – and the economic turnaround driven by the largest tax cuts in Swedish history. It is now the fastest-growing economy in the West. I tell the story in the political column of this week’s magazine (subscribers, click here), but I will summarise it for CoffeeHousers here. Normally, conservatives are elected in Sweden as a kind of light relief, to punctuate decades of leftist rule. They’re

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The coalition is out of touch on crime

The coalition talks a lot about reducing the number of short criminal sentences. But this talk ignores just how liberal the sentencing regime already is. Just take this case reported on page 31 of the Evening Standard yesterday, a placement which suggests that it is far from unusual. ‘At Finsbury Park station Ali, who had drunk a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey in Trafalgar Square with Jamil that night, aimed a punch at Mr Sanson over his girlfriend’s shoulder. Miss Le Doussal turned around to ask what was going on, only for Ali to punch her in the face, leaving her with a black eye. Fellow passenger Daniel Hurley stepped

David Blackburn

The police retreat from the streets

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has published a crushing verdict on the police’s handling of anti-social behaviour. It finds that the police simply aren’t sufficiently visible on the street, which concurs with the conclusion of an earlier report into value for money policing. There’s an old copper’s joke about holidays. ‘I’m going where there’s not a copper in sight.’ ‘Moss Side?’ comes the reply. HMIC’s central finding is that deprived areas are utterly benighted by constant antisocial behaviour, and the police have steadily withdrawn from these ghettos, thinking that tackling antisocial behaviour is ‘not proper police work’. Fear of reprisal discourages public neighbourhood schemes. 71 percent of respondents to a

Peter Hoskin

A salesman for the cuts

One of the biggest problems facing the coaltion has been presentational: how to sell the cuts? In the absence of a coherent, vigourous message, the Balls school of economic thought has been allowed to grease onto the scene – to the extent that some polls have three-quarters of respondents rejecting the government’s deficit reduction plan. But now, at last, signs that the coalition is getting into gear. It’s a process which began last week, when Matthew Hancock – a new Tory MP and former adviser to George Osborne – highlighted falling interest rates in Parliament (column 606, here); a point he has been pushing around Westminster ever since. And today

Wednesday

David Blackburn

Politicking with the defence of the realm: advantage Labour

Is Trident’s renewal (either a like-for-like replacement or an alternative) within the scope of the Strategic Defence Review or not? The Lib Dem conference voted to include an alternative in the SDR. But, apparently, the cash-strapped coalition seeks to defer any decision (which will take renewal out of the review entirely). Earlier today, Lib Dem defence minister Nick Harvey intimated that he preferred deferral. As the video below suggests, Harvey’s objective is overwhelmingly political and couched in the language of opposition, not government: I don’t see this as a ‘hot potato’ for Labour. Cast in opportunism’s obvious garb, the Liberal Democrats are playing politics with national security and the Conservatives

Peter Hoskin

The ballot closes

“Quietly confident.” That’s how Diane Abbott felt as the Labour leadership ballot entered its final hours today. I can only assume that she meant “…of victory,” but the bookies, and all sensible observers, are telling a different story. With the polls now closed, Ladbrokes has David Miliband as the 4/7 favourite, Ed Miliband is on 5/4, Ed Balls and Andy Burnham are both 100/1 shots – and Abbott? Well, Abbott is wheezing along at 150/1. Whoever wins, one thing is for certain: we are about to enter a new cycle in British politics, and one which should clear up a few itchingly persistent questions. How will the coalition fare against

Peter Hoskin

Michael Fallon to replace Lord Ashcroft as Tory deputy chairman

So says Benedict Brogan, who rightly describes this as a “smart appointment”: “Mr Fallon is being brought in to CCHQ to help Lady Warsi, who has not so far succeeded in establishing herself as a media voice for the Coalition. Mr Fallon is an adept media performer (and a regular and fluent commentator in the Telegraph – would more politicians could write like him). My sense is that this is much more about creating an unofficial minister for the Today programme, available at all times to go into the studios and defend the Government or duff up the Opposition, or both. Those who wondered as we approached Tory conference what

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Vince’s land tax land grab

There was one notable bit of kite flying in Vince Cable’s speech earlier, an indication that he wants the next Liberal Democrat manifesto to contain a commitment to a land tax. This would give the party a distinctive policy going into the next election. With the proceeds of a land tax, they could abolish stamp duty and still have a lot of fiscal wriggle room allowing it to propose increasing the income tax threshold or spending more on certain public services. There’s already work going on in Lib Dem circles on how to model a land tax and to find how much revenue it would raise.  Here’s the key section

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Bonuses: a question of political economy

There is a reason why the coalition has used the Lib Dem conference to step up its rhetoric about the bankers and their bonuses. The coalition believes, rightly, that balancing the budget is a matter of political economy. It is acutely aware, and has been for some time, that the sight of banks paying out huge bonuses later this year just as the public sector begins to lay people off and cut services would be disastrous. This view is shared by everyone in the coalition from Cable to Osborne. Bumper bonuses would increase calls for new punitive measures against the banks and produce precisely the kind of political atmosphere that

Natalie Evans

Building more for less

There’s no way round this: housing in this country is in a pretty awful state. Waiting lists for the shrinking number of “affordable” or social homes are rising, while fewer people can afford to buy their own home. That would be the case even if the banks were able to lend – which they can’t because of the credit crunch.   Fewer than 100,000 new homes are currently being built per year, when 200,000 – 300,000 are needed.  The number of new mortgages being arranged is at its lowest level since 1975, while housing waiting lists have risen from 1 million in 2000 to 1.75 million today. The number of

David Blackburn

Cable shows his true colours

‘[Capitalism] takes no prisoners and it kills competition where it can’. ‘Markets are often irrational or rigged.’ A snob would describe those as the ravings of a chippy provincial university lecturer. In fact, they are the considered thoughts of Vince Cable, the business secretary, the very man tasked with selling Britain to international markets. Cable will address the Lib Dem conference later today, vowing to shine the ‘harsh light into the murky world corporate behaviour’. Limiting short-term speculation when linked to high pay is government policy, but Cable will go further than a spot of banker bashing. Much further. He will say: ‘Why should good companies be destroyed by short-term investors looking

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Whither the Lib Dems?

A striking aspect of the Liberal Democrat conference is how discussion of cooperation with Labour takes place in public while talk of any future work with their current coalition partner happens in private. Tonight, Paddy Ashdown told an Observer fringe meeting that the Liberal Democrats’ long-term goal should still be to become the dominant party of the centre-left in Britain. I must admit that I struggle to see how this is possible. The steps that the coalition needs to take to deal with what Nick Clegg calls the ‘invisible crisis’ of the deficit will alienate the party from the centre left. But then again, as one liberal Liberal Democrat said

David Blackburn

‘It’s a bit of a riddle’

Perhaps Donald Rumsfeld was right: the Coalition should not have gone for the ‘hard slog’ in Afghanistan (or Iraq). Hindsight suggests that Rumsfeld had foresight in his desire that a shock and awe campaign be followed by a light presence and eventual withdrawal – the blood baths that have ensued from intense deployment might have been avoided.  I hope the two times Secretary for Defence Secrte addresses those issues in his memoir, Known and Unknown, due to be published in January three months after Bush’s. Another thing I wouldn’t mind clearing up, is what the hell he meant by this:

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Keeping the flame alive | 21 September 2010

In the early hours of this morning, Lib Dem conference looked like any other party conference. A throng of people—mostly men in suits—standing around outside the conference hotel having come from the various media parties. Indeed, it is surprisingly hard to tell the difference between Lib Dem conference and the others now. There are a large number of lobbyists here and a whole host of corporate types.   But there are some activists trying to keep the flame of the traditional Lib Dem conference alive. Julian Glover has a lovely story over at Comment is Free about what happened after Nick Clegg’s speech yesterday: “In the hall yesterday evening, where