Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
I just bumped into John Mason, the glorious victor of Glasgow East, nemesis of the once mighty Scottish Labour and trigger of Gordon Brown’s leadership woes. He hardly said a word, being shown around with the demeanor of an awe-struck schoolboy who’s escaped from the pages of the Beano. I have said before that he
David Miliband was always expected to lay out his creed somehow – the surprise is that he has done so now. Here’s my take. Straw’s move last week, with his “calm down, dear” routine, where he persuaded Labour that he was in charge, was intended to show it was him, not Miliband, that worried MPs
Is the next war more likely to be Pakistan than Iran? It looks more and more like that each day, especially as Barack Obama makes snarling at Pakistan the biggest plank of his foreign policy. Obama was at it again today saying that al-Qaeda and the Taliban “have got safe havens there (in the Pakistani
Bruce Anderson says if Brown went now he’d be a “strong candidate for the accolade of ‘worst Prime Minister since 1900’” and it’s got me thinking – why just a candidate? Who would compete with him for this title? My take is that in politics (as in life) you play the hand you’re dealt. The
I wonder what Gordon Brown thought of the Kennedyesque overtones which Obama wanted to put on his European visit. Kennedy is Brown’s hero, of course, and he nicks hugs amounts from his speeches. As Brown paraded Obama in No10’s back yard yesterday for the cameras, waving his arms to show he was imparting his wisdom
Here, as promised, is the Shadow Cabinet Rich List published in today’s News of the World – reproduced with kind permission. You can read my introduction to the list here. 1: Lord Strathclyde: £10m 2: Philip Hammond: £9m 3: George Osborne: £4.3m 4: Jeremy Hunt: £4.1m 5: David Cameron: £3.2m 6: Dominic Grieve: £3.1m 7: Francis
The Shadow Cabinet Rich List is published today by the News of the World (where yours truly is a columnist). It shows there are 19 millionaires around that table. Conservatives, of course, tend to come from a business background, whereas Labour come from public services. Wealth from previous jobs tends to be stored in the
Barack Obama should learn a little more history before his next visit – history about America, that is, not Britain. “Our founding institutions were profoundly shaped by the English tradition,” he said outside No10 today. Not quite. It was profoundly shaped by the Scottish Enlightenment (see here for more) – and one of the great
Oh, joy. It has all started. I’m in the BBC News studios, reviewing tomorrow’s papers – and there is plenty to savour. The Indy says Purnell has cut a deal with David Miliband not to stand. The FT has Jack Straw who is shocked – shocked – to find talk of mutiny. It emerges that “several Cabinet members and senior MPs
Dunfermline, Crewe, Glasgow East – the phenomenon of safe Labour seats being upended is one that deserves a little more attention. Let’s consider that incredible turnout in Glasgow East – 42% in a seat where 48% turned up for the general. For the first time in decades, a political party (the SNP) campaigned hard there.
Aside from schadenfreude, there is not much in the Glasgow East result to make David Cameron smile. It reminds us that what is happening nationally is a fury directed at Labour, not Obama style enthusiasm for the Tories. I had initially thought coming third was quite a result for Cameron but went to bed before
It’s official – the SNP has taken Glasgow East with a majority of 365 in what is, quite simply, a stunning victory. [And quite a result for Cameron, he’s pushed the Liberal Democrats into third place, getting real traction in a constituency where Tory vote is normally no higher than staff members and blood relatives]. This is
The SNP crowd is on the pitch – they think it’s all over. And the latest speculation I have picked up – amazingly – is a four-figure SNP majority. If the SNP do win, one thing should go on the record – John Mason, their candidate, was perhaps the worst of the main four candidates. He
Defeat is written all over Douglas Alexander’s face on the BBC News Channel, and SNP deputy leader Nicola “Gnasher” Sturgeon is trying very, very hard to contain her grin. Mentally, she’s punching the air. What jumps out at me is that Labour’s intends to blame defeat on the economy. But can someone explain to me
I have now spoken to three people in Glasgow with the same news: Labour has lost. It was 42% turnout, a monster turnout – given that 48% voted in the general election. It was the sort of turnout one normally associates with a constituency which fancies giving someone a kicking. Now I’m not calling this
You don’t mean a thing if your seat’s not a swing – that is the rule which governs Britain’s constituency voting system. Its worst aspect is the emergence of modern day rotten boroughs, where no mainstream party votes. The more I hear from Glasgow, the more likely it looks that the forgotten voters of Glasgow
Today’s march on poverty – with church leaders at the front; Gordon Brown giving the sermon – overlooks an important point. Thanks to global capitalism, we are living in a golden age of poverty reduction: never in human history has the West’s wealth been shared more quickly with the developing world, and to such incredible
Reading George Osborne’s responses to Coffee House has made clearer my own advice to him: save money by decelerating NHS and education budget increases. Max out with rhetoric about “we will outspend Labour” and say “every penny of Brown’s spending will be locked in” etc. It will all be true. But simply increase at very
This must be the opposite of “rapid reaction”. Some two weeks late, Labour is responding to David Cameron’s speech in Glasgow. It is Alan Johnson who is trying to divine some clear, red water: “Before we evoke the Victorian notion of the deserving and undeserving poor we should take a moment to consider how complex
Conventional wisdom is that Labour will win by a small majority tomorrow in Glasgow East. But isn’t a prediction of winning by a few hundred the equivalent of saying “too close to call”? A friend of mine, a former SNP by-election candidate, calls in with a few thoughts: 1. Word is that David Marshall had zero