Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
David Miliband was the guest of a press gallery lunch today and the Foreign Secretary had prepared the obligatory joke. Inspired by the decision of his French and German counterparts to record a duet, he would make a record with Lord Malloch-Brown. They agreed an Elton John track, he said. He suggested “sorry is the
Now that the European Court of Auditors has refused to sign off the EU’s accounts for the 13th year in a row citing “errors of legality and regularity”, I have a serious question to put to CoffeeHousers. Can anyone think of a more financially corrupt institution outside of Africa?
Cameron is on rather shaky ground claiming to abolish the council tax cap. His plan for a national annual tax rise, thus freeing councils to go over this limit in a referendum, has an obvious flaw. What council would get a “yes” vote to the referendum question do you want to pay more tax? So
Blessed are the cheese makers, I mean, changemakers. Good old Brown. As James says, it was a Blairite speech – so much so that he’s resurrected the star of Blair’s 2005 conference speech the “changemakers”. It is one of those strange Blairite neologisms and like Ben Brogan I have no idea what a “new network
I had always expected a major Brown backer to start selling shares in our PM. But I would never have guessed it would be Sir Ronald Cohen, who is supposed to be the PM’s chief fundraiser. But you’d hardly notice it: “Adviser to Brown praises Cameron” whispers the Guardian on page 10 (and longer interview
It took the Queen only eight minutes to read the speech Gordon Brown’s advisers had prepared for her and even she looked bored by the end of it. The Prime Minister may have waited ten years for this chance to set the parliamentary agenda, but one searches this Queen’s Speech in vain for any sense
Gordon Brown has come out of hiding to give Adam Boulton a quick interview, and his (belated) take on the Queen’s Speech. It’s all about setting out long term views, apparently, and “unlocking the potential” of young people (an admission that it remains locked for millions?) Ten years ago, he said, the question was ‘can
For all their woolly policies, the LibDem are dirty fighters, as anyone who has seen them campaign will attest. So it was only a matter of time before its leadership election turned vicious. Chris Huhne has dropped off press releases demanding that his rival Nick Clegg seeks corrections from newspapers who have suggested he’s in
I regularly enjoy Camilla Cavendish’s pieces, but to keep doing so I have to skip over anything she writes about the environment. It spoils it. How can a commentator who normally penetrates conventional wisdom be so taken in by it on this subject? Today, she’s wondering why people aren’t more worked up about climate change.
It was supposed to be the big day when Gordon Brown put the case for detaining terror suspects for up to 56 days and took on his backbenches. Instead he, um, bottled it. Jack Straw was sent out to open the debate on Home Affairs (called by the Tories) and Jacqui Smith closed it, talking
Walking into the press gallery, I saw something I haven’t seen for ages. Labour MPs animated, laughing, roaring, unfrozen. David Cameron was making the light-hearted speech which follows opening of parliament, and making everyone laugh. “We welcome the climate change bill, and when it comes around next year we will welcome it again”. Labour MPs
Poor Liz. After ten years of being used to regurgitating Blairite language in the Queen’s Speech, she now has the Brownite argot to contend with. “My government will meet the rising aspirations of the British people” she says, as if reading the subtitle of last month’s pre-Budget. All the old Brown favourites are there: all
The immigration statistics saga takes another turn today, as the News of the World produces figures showing that immigrants from the 25 EU countries account for just 32% of the total. Ergo, ministers have been able to control immigration all along – and its repeated suggestions to the contrary are untrue. It fingers Liam
There is something about impending doom which focuses the mind. That is why the Tory conference in Blackpool was perhaps the most effective brainstorming session in the party’s history — albeit inadvertently. David Cameron arrived facing an election. He left the northern seaside resort having scared Gordon Brown away from going to the polls —
The only flaw in Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World is the line “I see babies crying/I watch them grow/they’ll learn much more/than I’ll ever know.” Education, it turned out, did not progress like science, transport, medicine and pretty much everything else has since the song was written. And today we are told that literacy standards here
Cameron again handled the immigration issue well today, and is linking it to welfare reform. Why do we have so many vacancies in Britain, asked Humphrys? Because of the perverse incentives of our welfare state, he says. While this may perplex the pollys of this world, it will make sense to the majority. It’s what
Just in case anyone was wondering, the Tories would like to hint (ever so gently) that Cameron socked it to those hand amputators in his meeting with them today. Or, in diplomatic language of a spokesman, “Most of the 45 minute meeting was spent discussing co-operation between Britain and Saudi Arabia on counter-terrorism matters, including
Gordon Brown has today handed a huge advantage to the Conservatives. His speech on education shows he has no ideas for it. There will be a five year plan to eradicate failing schools (if only they’d thought of that in 1997, eh?) and our Dear Leader will ask all pupils to consider apprenticeships. Has Brown
Have we had the full story about foreign workers? Peter Hain has admitted the figure of those arriving here since 1997 is 1.1 million, not 800,000, and Caroline Flint said on the radio she would like to “acknowledge” that this makes up 8% of the workforce. As many newspapers observe today, this means of the
A very good speech on demography from Cameron, I thought. Perhaps, the clearest and widest-ranging one delivered by any frontbench politician so far. “Demographic change” is better than the I-word (as Jon Cruddas says). The “atomisation of society” is a major factor in housing pressure, and shows the relevance of his pro-family stance. It was
