James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
It is an odd summer in Westminster. The political big beasts have stayed around because of the Olympics. Government ministers have international schmoozing to do; and in any case, like their senior shadows, they would not want to risk being seen scrambling back from abroad in the event of a national emergency. They are not,
In recent weeks, Downing Street has been repeatedly told by Tory MPs that if proposals for an elected element in the House of Lords were brought back to the Commons, the next rebellion would be even bigger than the 91 who voted against second reading. Downing Street, as the Telegraph reported this morning, has now
Today’s YouGov poll is the latest Boris talking point. For what it is worth, it shows that the idea of Boris as leader reduces the Labour lead from six points to one. It is the first polling evidence we’ve seen that suggests the Tories would do better nationally under Boris. The Boris speculation has now
After Boris’s re-election as London mayor, his departing aide Guto Harri complained that the dry but effective campaign had rather taken the ‘bubbles out of the champagne’. Well, the Olympics is certainly putting them back in. Boris keeps taking opportunities that no other politician would dare to—the zip wire ride today being the latest, and
One can see why the idea of Iain Duncan Smith as Justice Secretary appeals to some in Tory high command, as the Daily Mail reveals this morning. The former leader is one of the few people who could square the party to a policy that treated rehabilitation as the main aim of the penal system.
Today brought yet more reminders of why the eurozone can’t carry on like this much longer. Youth unemployment in Spain and Greece is above 50 per cent – a generation being crucified on a cross of euros – 163 billion euros left Spain in the first five months of the year, and the Greek deputy
‘Desperate Treasury to water down planning laws,’ blasts the Telegraph today, making it quite clear that it’ll oppose any effort by the government to return to planning reform. Those Tories who were uncomfortable with the original proposals are also making clear that they haven’t changed their position. The new national planning policy framework was announced
Today’s papers are stuffed full of Olympic reportage rather than analysis of the GDP figures. But down in the bowels of Whitehall, a list of policy options to try and boost economic growth are being drawn up. Decisions on what to do will be taken after the Olympics but I understand that further planning reform
I suspect there’s a certain relief in Downing Street today. First, the opening ceremony passed off pretty well; no one is talking about G4S this morning. Second, Standard and Poor’s has reiterated Britain’s AAA credit rating despite the negative GDP figures this week. The government is hoping that the Olympics will help it turn the
The next few weeks should be a good time to be Prime Minister. Unusually for this decade, anti-politics will not be the mood of the moment. Instead, the nation will indulge in an Olympic holiday from austerity. Every time the Prime Minister congratulates a British medal winner, his words will be eagerly reported. He will
The pace of reform in education has been stepped up again today. The model funding agreement for all new academies has now been changed by the Department for Education to remove the requirement for all teachers to have Qualified Teacher Status. Any existing academy will also be able to change its funding agreement to include
There’s been a lot of attention over the past few days as to whether George Osborne is too political. But what should really worry Tories is not how political George Osborne is, but how unpolitical Number 10 is. There are far too many Tories who think that politics is something you do in opposition not
The PCS decision to call off the strike scheduled for tomorrow lessens the chances of a logistical nightmare of a start to the Olympics. It also means that the government’s challenge to the strike won’t be heard in court. Both sides are claiming victory in the dispute. Government sources are claiming that the union has
Today’s GDP figures are far worse than expected. They mean that the economy has now shrunk for three consecutive quarters. The figures have destroyed the optimism created by the fact that employment and tax revenues are rising. Politically, these figures are undoubtedly a blow to the coalition. Labour is out trying to pin the blame
The coalition is most fragile when both party leaders feel that they have a point to prove to their own side. We are, post the Lords reform rebellion, in one of those moments. Nick Clegg has to show the Liberal Democrats that he’s no push-over, that he’ll exact something from the Tories for the death
MPs have been amusing themselves with a rather grim game in which they guess what event will lead to Parliament being recalled in August. Over the last few days, the Euro crisis has become the definite favourite. The yield on Spanish bonds is now over 7.55 per cent – a rate that is unaffordable in
David Cameron’s decision to convene an inner Cabinet of seven Tories to advise him is a sensible move. As I say in the Mail on Sunday, calling this group together shows that Cameron knows he needs help handling his party. I understand that it meets regularly with a particular emphasis on the Conservative party side
Vince Cable’s decision to speculate publicly about a post Nick Clegg leadership race is a significant moment. To be sure, saying ‘I wouldn’t exclude it’ about running for the job is a long way from launching an actual challenge. But it is not the answer that a politician gives if they want to stop all
Sir Terry Leahy might be the UK’s most successful businessman. He turned Tesco, love it or loathe it, from a second-tier supermarket worth £7 billion into the £37 billion behemoth of the sector. As an interviewee, however, he is not a natural performer. There is no Bransonian bonhomie about him. He is dressed in a
Oliver Letwin’s decision to launch a consultation on reducing the amount of time that government has to spend on consultations has sparked controversy in Whitehall. Sticklers for procedure are complaining, in a way that only Sir Humphrey himself could do justice to, that other ministers hadn’t been consulted about the decision to launch a consultation on shortening
