Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
After pumping the phones, I am now clear(er) on the great Davis mystery. To get to the bottom of what many in Westminster regard as an act of borderline lunacy, you consider a few things. 1) Weirdly, Davis means it. He’s not opposing 42 days for tactical advantage: he despises the measure in every way.
Every lunch in Westminster has just been rudely interrupted. Rumours are already whirling – did Davis storm out of a meeting with Cameron, angered that a Tory government would not repeal 42 days? Have the Lib Dems agreed not to stand a candidate against him? Michael Martin refused to let Davis resign in the chamber,
Short of having Nick Leeson pledge to sort out banking regulation, it’s hard to think of a less congruous sight than Gordon Brown pledging to sort the financial mess he’s got us all in to. Yet this was the pitch of his press conference today. Standing against a podium saying “fuel, food and finance” he
Never let it be said that The Spectator makes no space for dissenting views. Ed Balls makes the case for his school policy today – worth reading. It is a powerful tour of the arguments and half-truths which compose Labour’s education policy. To Fisk this would end up in an article four times the length of
Depending on who you listen to, the government is currently between 4 and 18 votes down on 42 days, excluding the DUP’s eight votes. But it’s difficult to divine the truth when there is so much expectations management in play. The DUP could of course take the government’s £200 million and still vote with the Tories.
It was a 42 days special, with Brown referring five times to the advice of the “security services.” On Monday a CoffeeHouser named “Smiley”, claiming to be from MI5, said the Service has never offered any advice in public or private, and added that the phrase “security services” was devised by Blair to obscure this point. A
David Cameron really must do something about the quality of the Conservatives’ leaked documents. Once they offered delicious details of the infighting and reprisals which occupied the party for more than a decade. Yet the leaked memo which emerged last Friday simply warned that the party cannot ‘sit back and let Gordon Brown self-destruct’ and
Should Britain join the Euro after all? Patrick Hennessy, political editor of the Sunday Telegraph, bravely asks the question over at Three Line Whip, arguing that one can no longer claim the British economy is doing better than the Eurozone’s. A provocative point, certainly, and one we’re likely to hear much more often as the
Slip some truth serum into Lord Adonis and, yes, I suspect he will admit the flaw in proposing new combined primary and secondary schools. Not that they won’t work, but because the idea that the politicians know how best to educate children has been tested to destruction. The Tory proposal would let new schools set
Channel Four says it feels “dutybound” to examine on what ground Gordon Brown says of the 100 servicemen who died in Afghanistan that “they have paid the ultimate price but they have achieved something of lasting value.” On its always welcome Snowmail email, Ch4 lists its own yardsticks to decide if things of lasting value
If you ever wondered what a Taliban suicide bomber looks like, examine the boy on the left. Aged 14, Rafiqullah was caught with a suicide vest but pardoned by President Karzai. However, this did not dent the suicide bombing campaign which yesterday claimed the lives of another three British servicemen. The suicide bombers intercepted are invariably Pakistanti –
Should the Prime Minister (and, increasingly, each party leader) name and honour the recent fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan at PMQs? I had thought this quite respectful, but when I was in Afghanistan I was surprised to find a number of soldiers opposed to it. Their problem is that it reads to the nation a
Strikingly good BBC Question Time last night, the highlight of which was David Miliband being asked if he could save the Labour Party. He avoided that question, but his answers to the others seemed to suggest he is ruling himself out of the job because he made so many mistakes. First, he admitted he became
The intriguing power struggle between Gordon Brown and Mervyn King has just heated up a few notches. Since (finally) securing his second term as Bank of England governor, King has been emboldened and is saying – in code – ‘no more of your funny games, Brown’. I blogged earlier about his assessment of Treasury spin.
What’s the cause of knife crime? The government has today focused on tightening laws etc. But if Charles Murray were here today, he’d see this as a classic underclass problem. He has three tests for an underclass: births outside marriage, jobless young men and violent crime. In 1997, 37% of children were born outside marriage
Gordon Brown frequently asserts Britain has record employment or that Labour has “the best employment record in history” (Hansard, 16 Jan 08). In fact this honour goes to Nigel Lawson whose achievements Brown has never been able to come close to. Brown has specialised in finding alternatives to work – welfare, studenthood, etc. But here
Many years ago, Roger Bootle wrote a book called ‘The Death of Inflation’ which was a brilliant guide to understanding the economics which were to dominate all major countries in the Brown years. We need a book called ‘The Rebirth of Inflation’ to explain the years ahead. Your savings strategy, property strategy and shopping trends
Many CoffeeHousers have asked why Cameron doesn’t lampoon Brown for using his trademark dodgy figures as per our Brownie series. Well today he did – not on economics but on vehicle excise duty. Brown said 24 of the 30 most popular car models won’t be affected. Then Cameron pounced. “once again, dodgy statistics from the PM”
I know one shouldn’t take Liberal Democrat policy seriously, but I went along to their first lobby briefing today just to see. Anyone who believes Gordon Brown is detached from reality should have taken a seat as Nick Clegg and Norman Baker faced lobby journalists. It was on their transport policy, to reverse Beeching cuts
Ed Balls worries quite a lot about the shortcomings of British parents. Today, he says the state should give clearer instructions on drinking – because he has detected confused British parents crying out for instructions from our political class. “Guide us, O leaders,” they say. Here are Balls’s exact words, to Sky News this morning.
