James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
The Cherie Blair interview in The Guardian is well worth reading and I’m sure it will be all over the news that the Blairs have not been invited to Downing Street by the Browns. But to my mind the most interesting part was when Martin Kettle pressed Cherie on the legality of the Iraq war:
Matthew Parris, who has been consistently right about Gordon Brown, is on brilliant form in The Times this morning. Matthew points out how Brown seems quite incapable of admitting error. Considering that Brown created the 10p tax band, abolished it and then reinstated it he must have got something wrong at some point. Here Parris
Yesterday, we asked what the Conservatives would promise to do in their first term. Today, Michael Gove goes a long way to answering that question in a typically smart column in the Telegraph. Acknowledging that, realistically, governments have to choose an area to prioritise, Gove sets out what the Conservatives will seek to achieve: “the
Martin Bright and Jackie Ashley are two of the most astute and influential commentators on the left. So I was particularly struck by how bearish about Brown’s prospects they both are; it is a sign of the times that the fact that Ashley does not totally rule out the possibility that Brown might recover is
John McCain’s latest ad is a simple message to voters about what a McCain presidency would achieve in its first term. Here’s the script: The year, 2013. The Middle East stabilized. Nuclear terror threat reduced. Border security strengthened. Energy independence advanced. Wasteful spending reformed. Health care choice delivered. Economic confidence restored. The year, 2013. The
If you didn’t hear Gordon Brown’s Today Programme interview this morning, do go and listen to it. You can almost hear Brown’s frustration as he tries to—unsuccessfully—wrestle back control of the news agenda. At one point, Brown has to pause and take a breath before continuing as he is getting so riled by the questions.
The memoirs of Cherie Blair, Lord Levy and John Prescott have all made this week even more difficult for Gordon Brown than it otherwise would have been. But I suspect that none of these books will survive the test of time. Alistair Campbell’s diaries might once the full version comes out but I suspect that
The invaluable Ben Brogan has a great post up outlining how Team Brown plans to steady the ship. You realise quite how bad things have got, that the Brownites are now spinning that a narrow defeat in Crewe and Nantwich would be a result on which they could build.
Jonathan Freedland’s piece in The Guardian suggesting that it might be best for Labour to lose the next election is well worth reading. But this section particularly jumped out at me: One senior cabinet minister’s first reaction to the 24% share in the May 1 polls was to say, “It can get worse.” He conjures
David Cameron’s joke-filled appearance before the Commons press gallery is getting pretty good write ups. Boulton and Co highlights one joke that I rather imagine would go down as well with certain members of the Cabinet as it did with the hacks: “Ed Balls is the man with the most appropriate surname since Trevor Crapper
John Rentoul, who has always been sceptical of Brown’s chances and abilities, thinks that Frank Field’s attack on Brown might have been a tipping point: “But his personal unkindness may have broken some kind of barrier, and now all the scenarios for how Brown might go are being canvassed and seem plausible. What, now, if
Given the speed and nature of current events, there is a real danger that we in the press start to hyperventilate, declaring the Brown government doomed before breakfast every day. But the piece by Neal Lawson, the chair of Compass, in The Independent calling on Brown to return to the Treasury for the good of
Ken’s article in The Guardian last week, emphasising how Labour had done better in London than the rest of the country, strongly suggests that he is not done with public life yet. Earlier today, someone with an insight into his thinking suggested a route for Ken back into electoral politics. The theory goes that Lee
Today’s New York Times details just how much progress has been made in Basra since Iraqi government forces launched a push to restore order in the city. It is hard to over-state the importance of the apparent success of this southern surge. Basra has 40 percent of the country’s oil reserves and stability there is
Trevor Kavanagh’s column in The Sun today brilliantly details the way that £1.229 trillion has been added to the public’s tab over the last ten years—an astonishing £20,500 extra per person. 87 percent and 90 percent increases in health and education spending respectively have not resulted in the transformation of these services. Indeed, all it
Just after Christmas, Stephen Byers declared Tony Blair to be history and that Labour needed to unite behind Gordon Brown if it was to win the next election. Byers was asking that the policy ideas that he and fellow Blairites put forward be seen not as mere mischief-making but as genuine contributions to the debate.
The Portcullis column in The Sunday Telegraph has a quite astonishing tale of how the Department for International Development uses its money: “Diligent Tory researchers have established that the ministry spent £8,500 on a survey to find out what sort of gifts British couples buy each other on February 14.” When you think about the Department’s
On Saturday it was Cherie talking about what went on behind the scenes during the Blair / Brown era, today it is John Prescott. The result: more bad headlines for Brown. Interestingly, Prescott comes down heavily on Brown’s side–“I have no doubt that Tony was most to blame. He broke his agreement with Gordon, not
Reading through the Cherie interviews in the papers today I was struck by this part of her reply when she was asked if she took any pleasure in Brown’s difficulties: “I would be delighted to campaign for them.” One of the key strategic decisions that Brown will have to take about the general election campaign
Peter Hyman’s piece in The Times today is well worth reading if only for this anecdote about one of the Blair reshuffles. On another occasion an MP was sacked for doing nothing wrong. It was merely that when she was replaced in her current job, someone forgot to pencil her in for a new one.