Uk politics

Thursday

David Blackburn

The Third Man for the third way

Peter Mandelson’s Machiavellian streak runs deep. Like the wily Florentine, Mandelson wants to retire to the country to farm and be close to the earth; but first, there is the small matter of a book for political princes. In this morning’s Times, Mandelson has written an exhaustive plug for his forthcoming book, The Third Man: Life at the heart of New Labour.   In the course of writing his publisher’s press release, Mandelson makes two important points: one historical and one current.   He admits his greatest mistake was to broker Blair and Brown’s deal in 1994; the soap opera that followed, Mandelson argues, would never had occurred had they fought it

Wednesday

Henry Featherstone

Minimum unit pricing: NICE, but wrong

So, NICE, the body charged with ensuring cost-effectiveness in the NHS, says that alcohol minimum unit pricing is the most effective way to tackle excessive drinking and its impact on the NHS and society.  Interesting, and certainly a challenge to the new Health Secretary and his alcohol taxation review, but ultimately misguided.     Where NICE have got it right, is that there is a clear and consistent relationship between the price of alcohol and its level of consumption.  Indeed, the effects of price changes on alcohol consumption are more effective than other alcohol policy interventions, such as restricting the number of outlets, or bans on advertising or price promotion.  But

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron impresses on first outing

The shootings in Cumbria this morning meant that today’s PMQS was always going to be a subdued affair. David Cameron was impressive, though.  You wouldn’t have guessed it was his first time answering questions and he controlled the pace of the session expertly. There were fewer people on the front bench than last week meaning that Nick Clegg was more visible than he had been during the opening of the Queen’s Speech debate. Clegg sat to Cameron’s right while Hague was on his left. Harriet Harman asked some cleverly constructed questions, her ones protesting at plans for those accused of rape to be given anonymity are never going to be

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Commons’ bizarre new chemistry

It still looks like your TV set is on a horizontal flip when you see Cameron at the government dispatch box. Even more disorientating to see Chris Huhne on the front bench and Nick Clegg beside Cameron – making supportive facial gestures on areas he agrees with (pupil premium), and looking quizzical on areas on which he does not (marriage). Cameron’s performance shows that Britain has just had a tremendous upgrade in the eloquence of its Prime Minister: his performance was no better than as Leader of the Opposition, but still at a high standard. Without Brown’s henchmen leading Labour, their backbenchers were disorientated. But still rather numerous: Labour has

David Blackburn

Cameron must not radically change his style at PMQs

Watching David Cameron’s mannequin-like performance during the TV election debates, it became apparent just how good he is at the dispatch box. Quick witted, funny and incisive, Cameron invariably demolished Gordon Brown at PMQs. Daniel Finkelstein’s column is a must read today, bludgeoning the absurd guff about  the ‘new politics’. But Finkelstein argues: ‘David Cameron is very good at being combative in the chamber. He has won many battles. And it will seem unecessarily risky to change his style. But the prize is great. For he can be a national leader, not a party one. And he can make a reality out of the nonsense of the new politics.’ Answering

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What to look out for at PMQs

Today is the first PMQs of the new term. Given the Coalition, the whole thing will be a bit different from what we’re used to. The leader of the opposition will, as before, have six questions. But no other MP will have more than one question.   There’ll be a couple of little things I’ll be keeping a particularly close eye on. During the opening of the Queen Speech debate last week, the front bench was so crowded that Nick Clegg was not really visible on the TV. Instead, Cameron appeared to be flanked by two Tories. It’ll be interesting to see if this leads to a slightly different seating

David Blackburn

Hughes in the ascendant

The indications are that Simon Hughes will become Lib Dem deputy leader. Politics Home reports that Hughes is backed by 29 of the party’s 57 MPs, which make him the outright winner in the race with Tim Farron. Hughes also received the backing of 60 percent of party activists on the Lib Dem Voice website. The Tories will be both wary and pleased at this development. Hughes is left-wing, determinedly so, and among those who favoured a deal with Labour. Rumours abound that Cable’s resignation was contrived to promote Hughes, who is also said to be livid at being excluded from government – an Ashen-faced Hughes was spied shaking his

Daniel Korski

The Department for Fragile States?

The Department for International Development (DFID) should forsake peaceful but poor countries and instead turn into “a world leader in tackling the problems of fragile states.” That’s what a new Chatham House report by Alex Evans, who used to be an adviser to Hilary Benn, and his colleague, David Steven, argue: ‘If the UK wants to deepen its commitment to backing the challenges posed by fragile states, it needs to remodel DFID extensively, with the department concentrating on developing a coherent preventive agenda for fragile states. The Secretary of State for International Development should make it clear that where a poor country’s main need is financial, the UK will not

David Blackburn

The novelty factor

Nick Clegg was run-through when he and Jim Naughtie last crossed swords. A different outcome today – the deputy Prime Minister was composed, defending the coalition’s tight agreement. Naughtie was in ‘we’re lolling in a cafe on a dusty street, a donkey brays at the dying sun’ mode, and never pressed Clegg.   First, Clegg assured Naughtie that government continued without David Laws, and he echoed John Redwood’s and William Waldegrave’s point that Chief Secretary is a political job in which the author of the coalition agreement, Danny Alexander, has every chance of excelling. Naughtie didn’t mention Lib Dems’ hypocrisy on expenses, which might have shaken Clegg. CGT tapering came next. Clegg

Tuesday

David Blackburn

Labour’s gruelling task

There was a great sense of pathos after the election, when Jack Straw was the only Labour politician who could recall the shadow cabinet room’s location. It must have been surreal for those who knew only government. The loneliness of opposition would have struck at last week’s Queen’s Speech. The party must renew whilst avoiding the internecine struggle that condemned the Tories to 13 years in opposition. Fantasy politics won’t be sufficient. Introspection must yield a coherent and credible agenda, free from the undeliverable abstractions and the oscillation between arrogance and desperation that characterised the Brown government. The leadership campaign will define Labour in opposition; Hopi Sen offers the contenders

Max Chambers

Coming clean whilst going straight

Combating drug misuse in our prisons could be one of the best ways to cut reoffending. A prison sentence should, for a drug-addicted criminal with a  chaotic lifestyle, act as a form of respite – not just for the community, but also for the offender themselves. Yes – prison should be a place of punishment, but it should also be a chance to get clean.   An effective strategy to combat drug misuse in prisons means tackling drug smuggling and supply, while ensuring that the treatment regimes give prisoners the best possible chance of getting – and staying – clean.  The previous Government failed to do either. Our new report,

David Blackburn

Call the committee to order

It’s committee chairmanship season in Westminster, and there are two noteworthy battles. Michael Fallon and Andrew Tyrie are scrapping over the Treasury Select Committee. The FT summarises the pros and cons of both. Fallon, who served as John McFall’s deputy, remains the front-runner, but the cerebral Tyrie has an impeccable record as an economist, committee member and constituency MP – I grew up near Chichester and Tyrie deserves credit for tackling the city’s perennial flooding problems; and, for what it’s worth, he won the Spectator’s backbencher of the year award again last year. I understand that Tyrie has the requisite number of backers, as well as ties with Nigel Lawson,

David Blackburn

I’m alright Jack

Transparency is this government’s quintessence. It is a mantra to two gods. First, it is a constituent of the ‘new politics’ – that jewel over which the three partisan thieves squabble. Second, it enables the government to amputate gangrenous public sector pay.   The public sector is powerful. The previous government’s economic policy bred a bowler-hatted Leviathan. You can argue the toss whether civil servants are overpaid per se, or that their pension entitlements are grotesque in an era of budget restraint. But the government’s battle will be more brutal because the public sector is the final redoubt for the antediluvian fat-cat unionism of Simpson, Woodley and Crow, to name but

Monday

James Forsyth

The Labour leadership contest continues

With the Coalition facing its first major test, it is easy to forget that there is a Labour leadership contest going on. But there are two interventions in that race worth noting this Bank holiday weekend. First of all, Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rurtherford have anessay in the New Statesman  sketching out a ‘new covenant with the electorate.’ It would be based around the ideas of an ethical economy, reciprocity and liberty. The piece will make Cruddas’ many admirers in the Labour movement regret that he’s not running. What’ll be interesting to see is which of the declared candidates picks up his ideas and runs with them. The other is

David Blackburn

Hague pitches it right

It would be wrong to pass comment on the loss of life on the Gaza Flotilla; the facts are not established. Israel is right to investigate convoys that it feels might be supplying Hamas with arms. But, as ever in the Middle East conflict, it must be determined whether Israel’s use of force was proportionate. Not that the answer to that question ever deters Hamas from terror or Israel from retaliation. Peace does not lie in abstract nouns. However, international law will determine the facts of this incident, and perhaps bring clarity to the divisive Gaza border issue. William Hague’s statement is temperate, acknowledging both sides of the debate and

David Blackburn

Talking Balls | 31 May 2010

This brightened the day. Alastair Campbell, courtesy of his complete diaries, on Ed Balls: “Ed Balls spoke drivel, a never-ending collection of words that just ran into each other and became devoid of meaning.”

David Blackburn

Arise Lord Prescott

It’s John Prescott’s birthday – or Lord Prescott, as he will soon be. How odd of JP to don the ermine, given that he is on record saying that he hates titles, flunkery and ‘flooding’ the House of Lords with appointees – a practice in which he and Blair excelled as it happens.  He appeared on the Today programme this morning to defend his lordly person and was emphatically unintelligible. Listen to it; it’s a classic. You know Prescott’s the EU’s environment ‘rapporteur’? Terrifying.   John Humphrys objected to Prescott’s hypocrisy, but if Prescott doesn’t want to retire from public life then he must sit in the Lords. Which is an argument for

David Blackburn

Stop the press! Danny Alexander didn’t break the law

There’s something Galsworthian about Danny Alexander, the man of property. A downy press secretary for the Cairngorm National Park bought a south London hovel in 1999, re-designated it his second home in 2005 when he became an MP, and the Bright Young Thing then sold it in 2007 for £300,000. The dashing Cabinet Minister’s recent mortgage claims of £1,100 per month suggest an existence amid more salubrious environs – Volvos, delicatessens and Oxfam. Alexander didn’t cheat his way to Cheam, or wherever he lives. ‘There is no suggestion that Mr Alexander has broken any tax laws,’ opine the authors of this morning’s expenses expose. Alexander was liable for capital Gains Tax courtesy

Sunday

David Blackburn

The French ambassador has not contradicted Straw’s evidence to Chilcot

The drowsy Hay festival has been shaken by two bespectacled academics igniting a rather too intricate political bomb. Under the guise of a literary interview, Philippe Sands QC and the French ambassador to London, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, have connived to attack Jack Straw’s evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry.   Straw was adamant that President Chirac was ‘unambiguous, whatever the circumstances’ in his refusal to back a second UN resolution. The Guardian reports that Gourdault-Montagne told the Hay festival: ‘Chirac had made it clear that he meant France could not have supported a new UN resolution at that time since it would have triggered an invasion despite the lack of evidence that

Daniel Korski

Avoiding Groupthink

I hope CoffeeHouse readers will forgive the attention I am heaping on the Afghanistan War these days, but the campaign is moving into a decisive phase with a July donor’s conference in Kabul that Hillary Clinton is reportedly attending, a “peace jirga” scheduled to consider plans to negotiate with the Taliban and only a year to go before the first US combat troops begin heading home. No 10 is now letting it be known that the Prime Minister, his key Cabinet ministers, generals and aides will gather shortly to discuss the mission. A sort of condensed Obama review of the UK contribution. Besides the Afghan experts already in the Crown’s