James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
The facts of life are Conservative, as the old phrase has it. The events of the past few days have shown the urgent need for Tory social policies. The case for reforms to the police, welfare and education has been amply demonstrated. Some in the government appear to get this. But there is also an
I understand that the government’s view is that social housing tenants whose children live with them and are convicted of looting should be evicted from their homes. The law already allows for this, although only if the criminal act occurred within the borough in which the family lives, and the Department for Communities and Local
David Cameron’s statement to the House of Commons was clear about the circumstances that led to these riots. ‘This is not about poverty, it’s about culture. A culture that glorifies violence, shows disrespect to authority, and says everything about rights but nothing about responsibilities.’ Later in the session, he said ‘you don’t hit moral failure
The recall of parliament today offers David Cameron the chance to take command of the current situation. The police might have horribly mishandled the situation on the first few nights of the riots and Cameron’s government might have been caught flat-footed by them. But he now has the opportunity to build on the successful policing
David Cameron has just passed through his first full-blown crisis as Prime Minister. He may have been a bit-part player in this Murdoch drama, but he has remarked to those in No. 10 that the past few weeks have been the most gruelling of his premiership so far. He has seen the arrest of a
There’s a feeling in Conservative circles that they have finally turned the corner on phone hacking today after David Cameron’s marathon performance at the despatch box today. At the 1922 Committee this evening, Cameron entered and exited to the banging of desks. But, tellingly, there were no questions on phone hacking and Andy Coulson. Instead,
The questions following David Cameron’s statement to the House of Commons have just finished. As Cameron answered 136 questions, it became increasingly clear that the immediate moment of political danger appears to have passed for the Prime Minister. By the end of the session, Cameron was even joking about inviting Mrs Bone to Chequers for
The news that Neil Wallis was informally advising Andy Coulson without the knowledge of any of the other senior figures in the Tory party is a reminder of just how dysfunctional the Tory party machine was pre-election. It is also an indication of the license that Coulson was afforded. The Tories cannot say if anyone
Much rides on the appearance of the Murdochs today. Word is that James Murdoch’s role as chairman of BSkyB depends on his performance today reassuring the non-News Corp shareholders in the company. Bloomberg News, hardly a sensationalist outfit, is even reporting that —remarkably— Rupert Murdoch could be replaced as CEO of News Corp after today.
The untimely death of Sean Hoare is dominating tomorrow’s front pages. But on The Guardian front page there’s also a report on another development in this scandal: Detectives are examining a computer, paperwork and a phone found in a bin near the riverside London home of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International.
One of the striking things about the wall to wall hackgate coverage on the 24 hours news channels is the absence of Tory voices defending the Prime Minister. It is coming to something when the leader of another political party, Nick Clegg, is doing more to defend the PM than most of the Tory members
Yates of the Yard has gone as the phone hacking scandal claims yet another scalp. Yates walked after being told he would be suspended. Yates’ departure was necessary given the appalling mistake of hiring Neil Wallis, a former editor at the News of the World, while the Met was investigating — or supposed to be
The phone hacking scandal has now been leading the news for a fortnight straight. When a story has been on the front pages for this long, it develops its own momentum. If we were on day two of the story, I very much doubt that Sir Paul Stephenson would have resigned as quickly as he
Sir Paul Stephenson’s resignation statement contains three paragraphs that hand plenty of political ammunition to Labour: “Now let me turn to the reported displeasure of the prime minister and the home secretary of the relationship with Mr Wallis. ” The reasons for not having told them are two fold. Firstly, I repeat my earlier comments
This story just keeps speeding up. Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Met, has now resigned because of his links to Neil Wallis. Wallis is the former News of the World journalist arrested recently as part of the investigation into phone-hacking; he was hired by the Met to offer media advice from autumn 2009 to
There is a growing controversy about the timing of the arrest of Rebekah Brooks. Having now been arrested, Brooks may well not appear before the select committee on Tuesday. This will enrage parliamentarians who feel that parliament has been misled several times during this scandal and want answers. (The Murdochs, though, are still scheduled to
Tomorrow’s New York Times contains more revelations on the overly cosy nature of the relationship between the police and News International. The paper alleges that Neil Wallis, who was acting as a media consultant for Scotland Yard from autumn 2009 to 2010 and was arrested this week in relation to the phone hacking case, was
Rupert Murdoch’s hold on British politics has finally been broken. The politicians who competed to court him are now scrapping to see who can distance themselves fastest. As the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, says when we meet in his Commons office on Tuesday afternoon, ‘The spell has been broken this week and clearly it will
There’s another resignation from the Murdoch empire tonight. Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton has left the building. But Hinton’s departure is related to his time in Britain as executive chairman of News International. Hinton was one of those at the company to testify to select committees that phone hacking was not widespread at the News
Later on today, Downing Street will reveal all of David Cameron’s meetings with newspaper / media proprietors and editors since the election. This is a welcome move, transparency is the best disinfectant and by getting the information out there it will end speculation about precisely how close he was to various people in News International.