James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
After being pummelled at PMQs today, the last thing Gordon Brown wants is an escalation of the row over the so-called EU Reform Treaty, what used to be called the constitution, and Labour’s broken promise to hold a referendum on it. But that’s what he is going to get. During an appearance in front of
This speech by Dan Bartlett, who was formerly a key Bush adviser, is well worth watching. Most of it is devoted to ranking the Republican contenders to succeed his old boss–of which more in a second, but before that he talks about Vladimir Putin for a few minutes. Although the tone is light-hearted as he
Columns by two of Britain’s most astute political commentators will not improve Gordon Brown’s mood this morning. In The Guardian, Jonathan Freedland bemoans how Brown doesn’t get the vision thing. He starts by saying, “For those who held high hopes for the premiership of Gordon Brown, who endured the long wait through the Blair years nurturing
From today’s Guardian: London Olympic organisers have been forced to abandon their original plans for the canoe slalom venue after the original site in Spitalbrook, Hertfordshire was found to be severely contaminated.
The fall out from the election debacle continues this morning. The ‘young Turks’ surrounding Gordon Brown—principally, Douglas Alexander, Ed Balls and ED Miliband—are receiving much of the blame. One junior minister tells Rachel Sylvester, “I’m in despair about the cack-handedness of these arrogant little sods…These people don’t understand politics, they speak at think-tank seminars, not
At his monthly press conference, Gordon Brown is keeping up the pretence that the polls had nothing to do with his decision not to call an election. But this is completely absurd as virtually every newspaper was told that Brown was going to study the polling data and then make up his mind.
In the FT this morning, Philip Stephens neatly sums up how Gordon Brown got into this current mess. There is more to this episode than a miscalculation of the public mood. The story so far of Mr Brown’s premiership has been one of the noise before defeat; of tactics without strategy. It seems an odd
Perhaps, the best guide to the mood in Brown world this morning comes in Jackie Ashley’s column in The Guardian. Ashley admits that Brown has had a terrible week and that his TV performance was less than convincing. Yet, she writes that Brown is unlikely to take his frustrations out on those who so stoked
The details of the YouGov / Sunday Times poll show just how dangerous a November election would have been for Labour. The Tories are ahead 41 to 38, but amongst those certain to vote their lead rises to 45-36: very close to the ten point advantage they need for a working majority. The Tories also
Gordon Brown’s performance on Sunday AM this morning did little to repair the damage that has been done to his reputation. Brown kept stressing that he had a “duty to consider” an early election but never explained why it took him so long to rule it out. He talked endlessly about how he wanted to
David Cameron takes a decidedly more aggressive tone in a piece he has written for tomorrow’s Sunday Times than he did on TV earlier. He writes, “what will now be remembered is farcical weeks of secret briefings, hurried policy announcements and, most shamefully of all, the exploitation of the British troops in Iraq for party
The News of the World front page tomorrow blasts, “Poll kills election.” The details of the poll, which the News of the World kindly advanced to us, are grim for Labour and explain why Gordon Brown felt he couldn’t take the risk of going early. 77% think the government has done a bad job on
It just keeps getting better and better for the Conservatives and worse and worse for Gordon Brown. A new YouGov poll shows that the Tories are now 3 points ahead of Labour—a remarkable turnaround from last Saturday’s YouGov poll which had them 11 points behind. The only potential dampener on Tory spirits tonight is the
A relaxed, confident looking David Cameron has just been on the BBC hitting all the right notes about Gordon Brown’s climb-down over the election date. For Brown, the next few weeks will be excruciating. He is being denounced as weak by all and sundry while his reputation for straight-talking is in tatters. Never again will his
As Gordon Brown prepares for tomorrow’s crunch meeting on whether or not to call an election the case against going early is getting stronger. A poll for the Daily Politics found that 57% of voters think Brown would be putting Labour’s interests ahead of those of the country if he went now; suggesting that Labour
Gordon’s decision just got trickier. The latest figures from The Guardian / ICM poll show that 48% of voters want a November poll compared to 43% who don’t. However, 58% of Labour supporters don’t want Gordon to go early. Tory backers are 17% more certain to vote than their Labour counterparts the poll reveals and
Rarely has that old cliché seemed so true. On Saturday, Anthony King wrote that “Mr Cameron looks increasingly like a rich man’s Iain Duncan Smith” and with the Tories behind by double digits in the polls he had the number to back up his point. Tory modernisers were fretting about how an increased Labour majority
This morning the chances of an early election have receded considerably but it is not over yet. Gordon Brown receives internal polling today and tomorrow and if these numbers look good he might still go for it. Indeed, if one was a Labour Pangloss one might even say that there is a benefit in the
This morning’s polls will be causing consternation in Downing Street. ICM in The Guardian finds the two parties level on 38 points and Populus for The Times has Labour ahead 39 to 36. If Labour went for an election now it is far from certain that Gordon Brown would increase his majority. To go to
Martin Bright sheds light on what Brown’s inner circle are thinking about an early election in this week’s New Statesman. What stands out, though, is how thin-skinned they are. Danny Finkelstein’s story about the influence of Bob Shrum on his conference speech has clearly got under their skin. One aide tells Bright that, “The behaviour
