Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
As if proof were needed that this government has lost its grip, the centrepiece of today’s Not The Queen’s Speech is a plan to lure thousands of low-paid workers into state-sponsored negative equity. The government expects the housing market to crash by up to 10%, as we know from Caroline Flint. Yet today, Brown sets
Can anyone take Labour out of this mess? I have previously dismissed the younger leaders on the grounds that they’d wait for Labour to lose, then try and get back. But with Brown’s ability to hit rock bottom and start drilling, they may be ushered forward anyway. There is never a right time, the best
Last week, I said that Cameron should embark on a “save the Brown” exercise and be dull in PMQs, so as to cast the Prime Minister a lifeline. Perhaps he agrees. He was quite flat today, and Brown quite defiant. As always, I measure them against their usual standards – but this was not the
If you missed Jon Snow monstering Alistair Darling, watch here—absolutely brilliant: and totemic. When even Mr Snow isn’t buying, then Darling has been truly rumbled. Darling’s answers were all nonsense, but here are the top Snow questions. 1) Just eight weeks since your last budget, what has changed in the economy to warrant this extraordinary
So, does this make Crewe the most expensive by-election in British history? It will cost £2.7 billion for Darling’s move to try win back votes lost from his 10p tax debacle – but the money isn’t there. So what does he do? Blithely slaps it on the national deficit. Now and again, Labour bangs on
In his highly entertaining press conference yesterday, Ed Balls referred to “low inflation.” Today’s inflation bombshell makes such a claim impossible. Against expectations of 2.6% CPI for April, the figure is 3% – the highest rise in six years. This is hugely political. The cost of living is top doorstep issue – so it’s important
Good old Ed Balls. He has just given a lobby briefing attacking Tory education plans – at least that was his plan. But he ended up speaking about everything under the sun – Cherie’s pregnancy, the wickedness of Frank Field, the hopelessness of Crewe, the errors of the 10p Budget, why Labour is “behind the
I was taken aback the other day to see a Christian Aid poster about poverty, rather than their usual agenda of climate change and anti-capitalism. Then it dawned on me: it’s Christian Aid week, where they put collection boxes in churches. But they could not resist a report today entitled “death and taxes” in which
From Prescott’s interview in Sunday Times news review, this description of his home jumps out. “Here is not a working-class hero… but an Englishman in his castle, complete with turrets, eight bedrooms, servants’ staircases and electric gates”. This recalls what Littlejohn said a while ago: “There have been times I’ve regretted ever inventing the nickname
There is a housing development in Brockley, south east London, with an extraordinary piece of graffiti. “Thanks to Gordon Brown, I will never buy a house,” it says, and in super-large lettering no less. It is not without economic rationale. Brown’s easy-money policy at the Treasury led the Bank of England to chase a dodgy
Turns out the mystery story is a Cherie Blair interview being run jointly by The Sun and The Times. The Sun promises to run the “bomshell” interview on its website at midnight. Andrew Pierce (an expert at nicking rivals’ scoops) has the lowdown in the Telegraph – Tony Blair censored his wife’s book, he says,
David Cameron talks to Fraser Nelson about his local election triumphs, admits that he is not going to ‘agree on everything’ with the new Mayor of London, and says Boris should join the queue to become PM after him The victorious David Cameron is being driven towards Buckingham Palace, the adrenaline of election success still
A good political story is about to break. Have no idea what, but Westminster’s nervous system is twitching. My only information is that it is “big, followable and with us by midnight”. Stay tuned. UPDATE: The story is “good, but not an earthquake” I am told. That’s good news for the Tories. They don’t want
Hugo Rifkind today picks up on a point in my Cameron interview where I describe how he has the ring tone from 24 on his phone. “‘It’s an in joke,’ Cameron says, impenetrably”. If this sounds baffling, it is my fault. First it’s not the theme tune but that very specific telephone ring on the
The Economist sells shares in Brown tomorrow – its front cover will ask ‘Is Gordon Doomed?’ and its lead article will pretty much say that he is. “Mr Brown can scarcely complain about disloyalty, for he helped to inculcate a taste for plots and mutinies during his long march to Downing Street,” it states. Unless Brown
The latest hire for Boris is Patience Wheatcroft, former Sunday Telegraph editor. She will lead a “forensic audit panel” into exactly what Mayor Ken got up to. The rest of the board are good people: Stephen Greenhalgh, leader of low-taxing Hammersmith Council, who will have a fair idea of where bodies are buried, and ditto
As mentioned the other day, I recently interviewed David Cameron for the lastest issue of the Spectator. We’ve just uploaded that article onto the website – you can read it here. But he also answered your questions, and at some length. I grouped together many which were on the same theme. To business:- So,
Brown’s PMQs performance, claiming Wendy Alexander in Scotland does not want an independence referendum, has baffled Scottish Labour. I call my old contacts and am told a shocking, but not surprising story. Wendy Alexander asked Brown a while ago to approve her plan to call for an early independence referendum. Like Madame Tussauds, she didn’t
Another good show from Cameron and dismal one from Brown. Perhaps I’m growing too sensitised to this, but his half-truths and (in this case) outright lies really jump out at me. Cameron seemed to mock him dismissively – perhaps worse than attacking him. Here are my highlights. Cameron started with “Bendy Wendy” and her well-documented
Tories should today hope that David Cameron gets panned in Prime Minister’s Questions. Hope that Brown scores a resounding success, and leaves with the applause of all Labour MPs ringing in his ears. The longer he clings to No10, the larger the next Tory majority will be. He is the single greatest weapon Cameron has.