Fraser Nelson

Fraser Nelson

Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.

Dave’s going down

By now, it will be clear even to David Cameron that he is on course to lose the next general election. The British electoral system always was rigged against the Conservatives, and his hopes for changing that were dashed by Nick Clegg before the summer holidays, when he scuppered Tory plans for boundary reform. All

Labour conference: the anger of voters

Every time I come to Manchester for a conference, the perimeter fence guarding the politicians seems to shrink, retreating further towards to the garrison complex. There is something allegorical about this: the debate inside the conference is narrowing, appealing to a bunch of political nerds talking about ‘pre-distribution’ or the ‘big society’. And outside there

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Another growth plan falters

It seems that yet another coalition growth scheme is falling flat on its face: this time, Sir Mervyn King’s ‘Funding for Lending’ brainwave. The theory was that the Bank of England would lend money at below-market rates to the financial institutions: sub-prime loans, in other words. Not without its risks: chiefly, what if the banks

Damian McBride: Brown, Balls and the African Coup

Damian McBride promised that he’d never write a memoir, which I imagine is a relief to Ed Balls who now pretends he had little to do with “Mr McBride”. But now and again, the artist formally known as McPoison uses his blog to reminisce. His posts usually full of honesty and insight and today’s post

The dangerous attraction of wealth taxes

I’ve written about the deceptive attraction of wealth tax in my Telegraph column today, and I wish I was wasting my time. Once, you could say it was an idea so flawed that it stood no chance of getting into government. In the coalition era, there is no such thing.  Tory ministers will wave through

The war over England’s schools

Good teachers should get pay rises, bad teachers should not. Can you think of a less controversial proposition? Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, has told today’s Times that “something is wrong” with the way pay rises are awarded to teachers on the basis of length of service. “In last year’s [Ofsted] report we said

The death of the party conference

The party conference season is now underway, with Lib Dems gathering in Brighton. It’s time to admit that our political parties are in a bad way, and this has nothing to do with voter apathy. Britain’s political culture is bursting with life, it’s the parties that are dying. This will be horribly apparent in the

Nick Clegg’s viral apology video

The free publicity which comes with party political broadcasts is more powerful than the broadcast itself: nowadays, our MPs hope their messages will go viral. Nick Clegg’s apology has: and how. The below video has his voice being digitally altered (like Cher’s in Believe) but the result is far catchier. It demands to be watched:

Mitt Romney attacks ‘victim’ Obama voters

A secret recording of Mitt Romney talking to donors has been released by Mother Jones, a left-wing American magazine, and even to his wellwishers (myself included) it sounds dreadful. He declares that 47 per cent of Americans are ‘dependent’ on government and regard themselves as ‘victims’. ‘There are 47 per cent of the people who will vote for the

Andrew Lansley: the Tories chose not to win

I’m at a YouGov conference in Cambridge where we’re just had a speech from Andrew Lansley, the new Leader of the House. He was speaking about the coalition, and gave a brief history of its inception. ‘None of us had, in truth, understood the nature of what a coalition government might be…I’m not even sure

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The Age of Ed Miliband

What more does Ed Miliband need to do to be taken seriously as the next Prime Minister of Britain? He has been ahead in the polls since the start of last year, and the bookies favourite for longer. A geek? Maybe, but one who has a personal approval rating higher than David Cameron. A leftie?

Ed Balls proposes coalition with Vince Cable

Ed Balls has today made his very own full, open and comprehensive offer to the Liberal Democrats – or, rather, to Vince Cable. The shadow chancellor said he could work very well with Vince (but, pointedly, not Nick Clegg). ‘I wish George Osborne would see Vince Cable as a man to do business with and

Justine Greening may be tighter on international aid

Sending an ex-accountant to run the International Development department was always a bit of a risk, given that its remit – to spend as much as it can – inverts most notions of cost control. Today, the Daily Mail quotes friends of Justine Greening saying that she’ll be taking a long, hard look at just

Barack Obama’s speech: same old, same old.

Given that Barack Obama is in a fair bit of trouble, you’d think he’d have given a better speech to last night’s Democratic National Convention. Instead, he just trotted out his greatest hits. “Forward, not back,” etc. Like Mitt Romney last week, he gave a workmanlike speech and like Romney was outshone by his wife.

Revealed: the richer sex

The cover story of the new Spectator is one of the most startling we have run for a while. Last year, Liza Mundy wrote a book called The Richer Sex showing how women would become the biggest earners in most American households within a generation. She has now studied the British data and found that

Vince Cable’s new Tory minders

I can’t imagine Vince Cable is looking forward to work tomorrow. His new ministerial team,  Michael Fallon and Matthew Hancock, are both Tory reformers who are committed to liberalising the economy and taking a torch to red tape. Precisely the type of activity that Cable usually loves to stand athwart, as he did the Beecroft

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Exclusive: the Tory women rising in the reshuffle.

I understand that Helen Grant and Anna Soubry will soon be made members of the government, as David Cameron tries to make up for sacking three of the five female Cabinet members. Liz Truss, head of the Free Enterprise Group of Tory MPs, is also tipped for promotion. Grant is a former lawyer, a convert to

Hydropower: the winner of the 2012 Matt Ridley award

The 2013 Matt Ridley Prize is now open. Click here for more details. When Matt Ridley offered £8,500 for the best prize essay for environmental heresy, we at The Spectator expected lots of entries. But what took us by surprise was the quality of the submissions. The winner is Pippa Cuckson, whose piece on hydropower