The headline-grabber from William Hague’s interview with the Times seems to be his admission that “it is likely that [the Tories] are going to be able to win the next election”. But this section rather caught my eye: “And for the first time he hinted that a referendum could still be promised in the Tory
This story, via Sky, is too bizarre not to mention: “A Serbian union official has chopped off his finger and eaten it in a protest over wages to show how desperate he and other workers are. ‘We, the workers have nothing to eat, we had to seek some sort of alternative food and I gave
You’ve got to hand it to Cameron, he gave a smooth response to a question about Boris becoming PM on BBC Radio London earlier: “Why shouldn’t he be ambitious? I think it’s great and it does not worry me at all. I’m a Conservative, I think competition in all things is good including for
The Tories have just launched the first in their new series of “War room Briefings”; videos which go behind-the-scenes of their campaign operation. It’s not earth-shattering stuff – but a nice use of the internet nonetheless, and good viewing for us political anoraks: P.S. While we’re talking online videos, the Economist’s Bagehot blog has a
There’s much ado about ID cards ’round Westminster today. Reports in this morning’s papers suggest that the Government is thinking about scrapping the £5 billion project, to help combat the debt crisis. The Independent even has a “senior Cabinet minister” telling them that, “My sense is that ID cards will not go ahead. We have
The more that emerges about Brown’s YouTube calamity on expenses, the more stupid it seems. The immediate theory was that Brown released it to wrongfoot David Cameron and Nick Clegg. I’d go along with that. But it turns out that his own party didn’t know anything about it either. This in today’s Guardian. Downing Street’s
If you’re wading through all the swine flu coverage this morning, I’d recommend you take time to read the article by Dr John Crippen – the pseudonymous author of NHS Blog Doctor – in the Guardian. It hints at a disorganised response to the illness in the UK: “Today is one of those days when
I know, I know – there are only so many Labour reshuffle rumours a readership can take. But I’m still quite surprised that this report in the Mirror hasn’t received a greater pick-up across the blogosphere today. It claims that Gordon Brown’s preparing to replace Harriet Harman as Labour Party chairman with none other than
Let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first. To my eyes, the poster accompanying the Tories’ new EU Referendum campaign isn’t especially powerful. It lacks the directness and iconic simplicity of that great “Gordon Brown’s debt” poster, and I doubt it will, by itself, capture the imagination of people who aren’t keyed into
Plenty to ponder in the latest YouGov poll for the Evening Standard. Its headline finding puts the Tories 12 points ahead in London; with Cameron & Co. on 45 percent, Labour on 33 percent and the Lib Dems on 16 percent. Sure, that’s less of an advantage than the Tories enjoy nationally, but it would
I wrote yesterday that things may be about to get much worse for Brown on the publication of MPs’ expense receipts. To be fair, signs are that Parliament as a whole will take a kicking; although – by virtue of them having more MPs, and as they form the incumbent government – you still sense
I wouldn’t care to be a laser printer in No.10 this morning. The papers are absolutely crammed with stories that are embarrassing, or just downright damaging, for Gordon Brown. The Mail on Sunday claims that relations between Brown and Alistair Darling are at an “all time low”, and reveals that the PM went into a
So what does Gordon Brown’s debt crisis actually look like? Cast your eyes to the right-hand side of the Coffee House homepage and you’ll be able to find out. We’ve added a new “debt counter” to the site, which reveals the UK’s spiralling national debt and the burden it places on each family. It started
Iain Martin’s Telegraph column contains a noteworthy insight about the whos and whats of Tory economic policy: “David Cameron’s colleagues report that this year the Tory leader has effectively taken over the party’s economic policy. The penny does appear to be dropping, gradually, that if the country is going to pay off any of the
Here are Eric Pickles’ answers to the questions posed by CoffeeHousers: Hugh How would a Conservative government reform the expenses system? The whole system of expenses is poisoning the trust in politics. I used to think that transparency and auditing was the key, I have now changed my mind. The whole issue needs to be
Gary Duncan makes a couple of important points about borrowing in today’s Times: “If, as seems all too likely, Mr Darling’s gamble on growth fails to pay off, then the eventual peak in the Government’s borrowing could leap above £200 billion. Some authoritative forecasters believe it could soar to £230 billion, or a stunning 16
Debt, debt, debt. That’s the real story of today’s Budget, as Brown has created an even worse mess than expected. Sure, £606 billion of borrowing over the next 4 years isn’t all that surprising, but Darling’s optimistic growth forecasts are. They mean that the Treasury is probably overestimating tax receipts for the next few years,
Lightning does strike twice. Following the dodgy forecasts in last year’s PBR, Alistair Darling has repeated the trick – giving growth predictions in the Budget that are optimistic to the point of madness. Ok, you can quibble over whether the economy will start growing by the “end of this year”, but 1.25 percent growth in
1232, PH: Darling’s started. Stripey tie and gloomy face… 1233, JGF: Darling looks nervous and uncomfortable. His tone is sombre. 1235, PH: Darling expects the economy to start growing “by the end of this year”. 1236, PH: Darling’s giving the global spiel, letting us know how much exports have fallen in Germany and Japan… 1237,