James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
James Forsyth on the latest Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate There was a particular buzz of anticipation before the latest Spectator / Intelligence2 debate – perhaps because the motion would materially affect the audience. Judging by appearances, I’d wager that almost all of them paid the top rate of tax and that north of 90
David Davis has blogged today in defence of his position on 28 days, his critics are asking why he voted for that if detention without charge is so wrong. Here’s his explanation: For me, we should only be keeping someone in jail without telling them what they are charged with for as shorter period as
I know this might not come naturally to Coffeee Housers but we all really should rally to Peter Mandelson’s defence. Nicolas Sazkozy is attacking Mandelson because he is a free trader, or at least more of one than the French president. Sarko also worries that Mandelson might be about to put the skids under Europe’s
Last night on Question Time, David Davis said: “If I was given my job back, I think I’d take it – but I don’t think I’ll be offered it.” The general feeling in Tory circles is that David Cameron is not in any way obliged to reshuffle to bring Davis back in after he wins
Further to Pete’s post, David Miliband’s comments on Channel 4 tonight are a classic example of Euro double-speak: “We are ready to respond to the vote that took place in Ireland in a way that is respectful, that is calm, and above all listens to the Irish people and the Irish government.” The respectful way
If you want to know how much Labour’s political skills have atrophied just consider how it has failed to land a hit on the Tories—and David Davis in particular—over their stance on civil liberties. Take the Tory position on removing the DNA of all those who have been charged but not convicted of a crime
Andy Burnham’s comments about David Davis and Shami Chakrabarti were a cheap shot and unworthy of this office. They also typified the cack-handed way in which Labour has responded to the Tories on civil liberties—more on that later. Davis hit back hard in the papers this morning and Chakrabarti has escalated the issue with a
The Telegraph’s excellent Tories in Power series continues today with a splendid piece by Tim Montgomerie. Tim argues that: “The Tories’ next moral target should be the taxation of low-income workers. Income tax is taken from many poor families, churned through an expensive bureaucracy and then returned in benefits. It would cost £44 billion to
Alistair Horne has a delightful piece in today’s Independent reflecting on the dinner he went to with George W. Bush and what politicians learn from history. I was particularly struck by this anecdote: But probably the best read of any, not only in history, was Harold Macmillan. To fight the “Black Dog” of depression, he
The absurd accusation that Barack Obama is some kind of Muslim Manchurian candidate has caused his campaign some political discomfort. But it is still disappointing in the extreme to read in The Politico that two women wearing headscarves were moved from behind the podium at an Obama rally in Detroit so that they would be
Nick Clegg should be on his way to Haltemprice & Howden right now with the aim of canvassing for David Davis on the first day of his campaign. Clegg’s aim should be to cause as much mischief as possible by fanning the flames of any Tory splits story. If Clegg appeared with Davis before Cameron
Few columnists in Britain provoke as often or as brilliantly as Daniel Finkelstein does. But I think Danny reveals himself to be fighting the last war in his piece today. He argues that the Tories should not differentiate themselves too much from Brown as that would be an electoral risk. He writes that: “The only
Neil O’Brien and Richard North’s Downing Street petition, demanding that Brown abandon ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, is now the third most popular live petition on the Downing Street site. There are currently 15,507 signatures on it which is pretty remarkable considering that it has only been up for just over 24 hours. I think
Perhaps the most under reported story of recent years is the turn around in Iraq. In this country, there is no constituency for charting the progress there—both main political parties and most of the media just wish Iraq would go away. But the news from there is too important to ignore. I’d urge everyone to
Dominic Grieve, the new shadow home secretary, tells James Forsyth that he won’t ‘resort to soundbites’. But is this a sensible approach for a modern-day politician? Dominic Grieve’s office answerphone is struggling to keep up with events – the caller has reached ‘the office of the shadow attorney general and the Conservative spokesman on community cohesion,’
The news that Hazel Blears has had a computer with sensitive material on it stolen from her constituency office is acutely embarrassing for the government, coming as it does on the same day as Gordon Brown’s big speech on security and liberty. It is also further grist to David Davis’s mill. Blears has done sterling
The Telegraph is running an excellent series on what the Tories would do in power. Yesterday, Jill Kirby wrote about the Tories and family policy, and this morning Anthony Browne turns the spotlight on the Tory approach to the NHS. Health policy under Cameron has been, to put it mildly, uninspiring. The Tories’ main aim seems to
Neil O’Brien and Richard North have submitted a petition to the Downing Street website stating that: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Respect the result of the Irish referendum and abandon the attempt to ratify the Lisbon Treaty You can sign it here. If hundreds of thousands of people put their names to it, then it
We got lots of good responses to our request for ideas as to how David Davis can keep his cause in the news. The champagne goes to a Coffee Houser called James for his suggestion of an Inconvenient Truth-style documentary; it has already caught the eye of one Tory staffer. But I’d also like to
The New York Times has a fun round-up of commencement addresses, speeches by the great and the good to the graduating classes of US universities. Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, used a line from Churchill in his which I hadn’t heard before and is well worth committing to memory: What is the secret of all