Honey, they shrunk the candidate. It has been a sadness to watch John McCain, a towering figure in US politics, diminished by the campaign trail and by the errors he has made along the way. The nominee who stands before America today is a very different creature to the prospective candidate I interviewed for The
Sometimes Oxford, that much-maligned national institution, so often associated only with Brideshead and the Bullingdon, really gets it right. When I was a young Fellow at All Souls, there was one other member of college – not Isaiah Berlin – who liked the Happy Mondays and New Order, and his name was Marcus du Sautoy.
Splendidly Confucian intervention by Lord Tebbit in the Osborne saga. “He who lies down with dogs shall catch fleas” should earn an instant place in the handbook of political wisdom – although it helps to deliver it in Norman’s quiet, deadly tones of mordant sorrow. You can rely on the Chingford polecat to come up
When David Cameron became leader in December 2005, Labour strategists hoped desperately that class would become an issue once more in British politics. Their hopes were dashed, however, by the public’s apparent decision to buy Dave’s mantra: “It’s not where you come from, it’s where you are going.” The playing of the “toff” card in
Not great for John McCain to refer to Barack Obama in the second presidential debate as “that one”. And – call me flippant – but I couldn’t help thinking of Andy in Little Britain. The trouble for the Republican candidate is precisely that the American public, like the wheelchair-bound Matt Lucas character, do indeed seem
The declaration by George Howarth, the Labour MP for Knowsley North and Sefton East, that “hostilities are over” may not resonate outside the Westminster village but it is highly significant for Gordon Brown’s chances of survival. A Privy Councillor, former junior minister, and select committee stalwart, Howarth is precisely the sort of middle-ranking parliamentarian, little
Peter Mandelson has confirmed on Sky News my disclosure in today’s Sunday Telegraph that he consulted Tony Blair before accepting Gordon Brown’s offer of a Cabinet post and that Blair told his old friend that the decision was a “no brainer.” It is, of course, revealing that, in spite of his claim in today’s Observer
If the reports about Justin Forsyth are true, this is a smart move. Forsyth, a man with a background in international development, is one of the cleverest people in Number Ten and also one of the most courteous. I travelled with him on the Brown trip to Camp David and the UN last year as
Peter Mandelson’s return to Government is arguably the most astonishing single event of the New Labour era. His 14 year feud with Gordon Brown has led both men to say the most vituperative things about each other in private: their once strong friendship seemed completely beyond repair and the virulence of their hatred for one
‘No new dawns, no immediate transformations. I’m a man with a plan, not a miracle cure’: in that line lay the key message at the heart of this astute speech, by a man who now deserves to be seen as the Prime Minister in waiting. Elected as the ‘sunshine’ leader in 2005, David Cameron said
Amid all the justified clamour about the global financial crisis, let us not forget that (for instance) children will still have to be educated. So do read Michael Gove’s fine speech on his plans for a Swedish-style schools revolution, expanding on the themes he discussed in Fraser’s interview last week. As one Cameroon put it
Cameron’s astute and measured speech has sealed one deal: it has awoken the Conservative Party to the fact that they really will, in all likelihood, and barring an unforeseen catastrophe (plenty of them about these days), be forming the next Government. And this is actually rather daunting. After their 20th Century addiction to power, the
‘It’s like the battle of Waterloo,’ one leading Cameroon said to me at the Spectator’s party last night. He meant that nobody knew what the morning would bring, and that once the battle had been joined – in this case a global financial battle between impersonal forces of unimaginable scale – nothing would be the
The deepest cruelty of politics is its simplicity: pose with a banana and you are bang in trouble. The obverse truth is that a straightforward and positive image can work wonders: David Cameron’s tree- and huskie-hugging photo-ops in the initial months of his leadership were widely mocked, but they worked wonders in cementing the notion
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s article in the new issue of the Spectator – featured on this morning’s Today programme – is already making waves. Dr Williams has form as a controversialist, of course: his remarks about sharia law caused a storm earlier this year, though he insisted that his argument had been distorted and misunderstood. This time
Cheesy, vacuous – and occasionally brilliant, this was indeed the speech of Gordon Brown’s life. I agree with Fraser and James that this was the product of desperation, its tactics a measure of how bad things have got and how far the PM is willing to go to cling to power. From the appearance of
Gordon Brown’s promise to fit broadband in every child’s home is eerily familiar of Tony Blair’s promise many years ago, when still leader of the Opposition, to link up every school in the land with a fibreoptic cable, courtesy of BT. Whatever happened to that cable, I wonder. At the time, The Spectator majestically described
My favourite moment of the Labour conference so far: Ed Miliband accusing Jeremy Paxman of asking a ‘Paxmanesque’ question. You can see why party insiders say that Ed is the cleverer Miliband.
Gordon Brown’s claim on Andrew Marr’s show yesterday to be a “pretty ordinary guy” has occasioned much mirth, not least because of its echo – subconscious or otherwise – of Tony Blair’s famous remark in the midst of the Ecclestone Affair 11 years ago that he was a “pretty straight sort of guy.” As one
At a Google conference in Rhodes, Matthew d’Ancona finds himself part of a bid to break the world record for Zorba dancing — and to relive one of the greatest scenes in cinema ‘Teach me to dance. Will you?’ Few scenes in cinema have the emotional poignancy and magic of the last moments of Zorba