James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
A quick check on the health of a party is whether there is more talent on the back benches than the front bench. Labour are close to that tipping point with Charles Clarke, Jon Cruddas, Alan Milburn, Stephen Byers, Denis MacShane, David Blunkett and Frank Field all out of the front line. Any of these
Columbia, South Carolina As the 2008 presidential primaries enter their decisive phase, we’ve launched a new blog to keep you up to date with all the latest developments. “Americano” will be giving you our take on what is going on from now until election day on November 4th. I’m out in South Carolina at the
David Cameron is understandably eager not to allow Gordon Brown to present the Tories as slash n’ burn merchants intent on starving schools and hospitals of funding. However, unfair it was the £35bn of Tory cuts jibe at the last election hit home—as the IFS points out, by Brown’s own logic he will have cut
The Federal Reserve cut rates by 0.75 points even before the markets opened in New York in what looks worryingly like a panic move. (At the very least, it will convince the markets that if they scream loudly enough, the Fed will always give them what they want.) Meanwhile, in Britain Harriet Harman has taken
If you had told most people in the Westminster Village a year ago that the economy would hit choppy waters, then most people would have thought that this would actually strengthen Gordon Brown’s electoral position. The logic behind this was that Labour’s advantage on the economic competence question was so deep set that the public would
Jacqui Smith’s comment about why she doesn’t walk around at night sums up what is wrong with the establishment attitude to crime. Here’s the exchange between the Home Secretary and Isabel Oakeshott: IO: Would you feel safe, walking round, say, Hackney, at midnight on your own? JS: Well, no, but I don’t think I’d ever
One would have thought that being Chairman of Northern Rock at the moment was an all consuming task. But Bryan Sanderson, the stricken bank’s chairman, has clearly had enough time to read the document formerly known as the EU Constitution in depth as he has come out and endorsed it in an open letter released
The details of the government’s latest scheme for Northern Rock shows just how long the taxpayer will be left supporting the stricken bank. The government will guarantee £25bn plus of bonds designed to cover both the loans given by the Bank of England and the bank’s need for cash to cover its operations with these
John McCain’s victory in the South Carolina primary makes him the Republican front-runner. It is an amazing turn-around for a man whose campaign was left for dead last summer but this new designation carries with it dangers for McCain. First, it puts a bulls-eye on his back. Rudy Giuliani, who must beat McCain in Florida,
Peter Hain has been cleared of breaching the Ministerial Code and many in Westminster think the furore over his failure to declare all the donations to his deputy leadership campaign will now die down. But Rosa Prince points out over at the Three Line Whip yesterday’s decision actually raises huge questions about Hain’s version of
News has emerged from the PM’s trip to China that Alistair Darling will make a Commons statement about Northern Rock on Monday. On Boulton and Co, Jonathan Levy reports that the word is that Goldman Sachs has advised the government to bundle up the money that is being using to support the stricken bank and
Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign has, to date, been a damp squid. Despite dangling his toe in the water in Iowa he still finished an embarrassing sixth behind the fringe candidate Ron Paul. In New Hampshire, Giuliani came in outside the medal positions despite having tried to move his numbers with a series of TV ads.
How disciplined Conservative MPs are in responding to two issues coming up in the next few weeks will tell us a lot about how determined they really are to return to government. First, there’s the question of Parliamentarians pay. With Gordon Brown taking a tough-line, the Tories are obliged to do the same or open
Camila Batmanghelidj of the estimable Kids Company writes in the Telegraph this morning about how we have got into a situation where children kick a man to death. Batmanghelidj’s argument that those who have grown up in a brutal environment are more likely to behave brutally makes perfect sense to me. As she puts it,
The news that Paddy Ashdown is going to be a reconstruction supremo in Afghanistan, coordinating the military and development work, seems to be announced every few weeks. But it has never been officially confirmed that he will go and do the job. Now, Michael White reports that there is a danger that the appointment might
The Lib Dems are deeply split on the question of whether there should be a referendum on the European Constitution, as they promised in their manifesto. As Fraser explains in this week’s magazine, Ming Campbelll came to a compromise with the pro-referendum forces in the party where the Lib Dems committed themselves to a referendum
Iain Martin’s column this morning on the political dangers to Gordon Brown of nationalising Northern Rock is essential reading. As Iain argues, the danger for Brown is that Northern Rock could destroy his reputation for economic competence and set in the public mind the idea that he—unlike that nice Mr. Blair—is too left wing for
Mitt Romney’s win in the Michigan Republican primary makes this Saturday’s Republican vote in South Carolina all the more important. If John McCain wins there, he should—barring disasters—end up as the Republican nominee. If he doesn’t, the race becomes wide open and Rudy Giuliani’s much criticised late state strategy could end up paying off. Politics
Sam Coates over at the Red Box has news that suggests Lord Digby Jones has been less than forthcoming about the business interests he retains.
Anyone wanting proof of the contempt in which Ken Livinsgtone holds the London taxpayer need only read this item on Guido’s blog. Not content with deluging Londonders with dubious, public information announcements that have an uncanny tendency to reflect well on the Mayor he is also posting his Londonder newsletter to the constituency offices of
