James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
Jon Cruddas, tribune of the left and foe of the BNP, tells James Forsyth his support for the PM is not unconditional, and praises James Purnell for being ‘true to himself’ Jon Cruddas, the Labour MP for Dagenham, isn’t your typical 21st-century politician. He’s relaxed, unconcerned about his appearance: the amount of spare cloth in
General Petraeus’s comments yesterday, reported by the Washington Post, that violence in Afghanistan is now at its highest level since the toppling of the Taliban shows how bad the situation has got there. But interestingly: “Two-thirds of all the attacks in Afghanistan are concentrated in about 10 percent of the country’s districts” If the coming
There’s a fascinating story in the New York Times today about how some al Qaeda terrorists are moving from the tribal areas of Pakistan to Somalia and Yemen. The key question is why are they doing this, is it because Pakistan has become a less hospitable place for them both because of US drone strikes
Charles Clarke’s interview with Andrew Neil for Straight Talk is going to make news. In it, Clarke makes clear that the moves to oust Brown are suspended not ended. As he tells Andrew: “It will depend how events go but more importantly than any other single thing it will depend how the people of the country
In this week’s Economist, Bagehot has an interesting thought about the dynamics of the Mandelson Brown relationship: “The official line is that [Peter Mandelson] and Mr Brown have buried the hatchets they once deployed against each other, and revived the understanding they shared before their falling out. Perhaps; but perhaps his succour itself contains a
Alan Johnson to the New Statesman: “When Gordon steps down after ten years of successful leadership I’ll be too old anyway.”
In a sign of the times, Andrew Lansley’s gaffe—which sent Tory high command into a rage—seems to be hurting Labour most. Andy Burnham, the new Health Secretary, has just told the NHS Confederation “I can’t write the spending review – it would be ridiculous.” But last night on Channel 4 News, Burnham seemed to be
PR Week, which has delivered an impressive string of scoops during the Brown era, has an interesting little anecdote about Caroline Flint’s resignation: “Westminster sources said Flint toned down her resignation letter on the advice of friends. One insider even claimed it originally contained words such as ‘devious’ and phrases such as ‘sexist pig’.” If
Martin Bright makes a very good point on his blog about why the press will dismiss the protestations of loyalty and unity coming from the Cabinet: “Too many conversations have been had by too many ministers with too many journalists about the inadequacies of the Prime Minister to believe the words of solidarity.” In the
The Sun’s leader column today is an indication of just how much the terms of the spending debate have changed: “And, frankly, where is the disgrace in making cuts? Who really believes some services WON’T need cutting to pay back the monstrous debts we are running up to beat recession? More unedifying was Gordon Brown’s
The evidence of Ed Butler, who commanded 16 Air Assault Brigade in Helmand in 2006, to the Defence Select Committee yesterday was devastating. As The Times reports: “Brigadier Butler told the committee that in 2006 the Treasury had “capped” resources available for the operation, limiting funding to £1.3 billion for a “three-year campaign”. The Government
Perhaps the most comic aspect of the past few days is how the Cabinet and then the PLP have been persuaded to give Gordon Brown a stay of execution by promises that Brown would be more collegial and call off his bully boys. (I’ve lost count of the number of times Gordon Brown is said
That the civil case against the Omagh bombers has succeeded is wonderful news, a triumph for justice against terror. Ruth Dudley-Edwards, who is writing what will be a superb book on the trial, has a moving piece in the Mail today about what the families went through and what the verdict meant to them. All
One detail from the Indy’s poll about how Labour leaders other than Brown would do particularly amused me: Ed Balls would do a better job than Gordon Brown at holding down Cameron’s majority. Now, in a way this illustrates the problem with this kind of poll: the one percent uptick in Labour support is due
The Guardian reports that the new schools minister Vernon Coaker is a member of the Socialist Educational Association. The SEA campaigns, among other things, for ‘the Government to end the setting up of academies’. So, we have a schools minister who is opposed to the biggest educational innovation Labour has made in its 12 years in
The front page of tomorrow’s Indy splashes on a poll that shows Johnson would do substantially better than Brown. It has come a bit late, but it does give the rebels some evidence that dumping Brown really would be worth the pain and dislocation it would cause inside the party.
As Fraser said earlier, the rebellion has not been defeated: Brown has not had some moment that restores his authority. Instead, he has made the same pledges that he has made before—to set out his vision, to be more inclusive and to call off his bully boys—and they look like they will be enough to
Alistair Darling has kept silent since the government reshuffle. He knows that any interviewer worth his salt would press him on whether he discussed any alternative jobs with the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister’s staff. But Darling will have to break his silence tomorrow at Treasury questions. Darling finds himself in a nigh-on-impossible position.
Alex Barker at the FT’s Westminster blog rattles off a series of facts to show just how bad things are for Labour, where Brown has led them to. This trio are particularly devastating: “Labour is now the third party of local government in England, with fewer councillors than the Liberal Democrats for the first time
John Rentoul in The Independent on Sunday argues that Brown won’t be forced out this time but will be in the autumn. Here’s the crux of his argument: “When he faces his next convulsion, probably in the autumn, the timetable will look very different. Alan Johnson will be able to come in and promise an
