After yesterday’s siege in Lahore, there’s a revealing item in the Times of India today about how Pakistan’s neighbour is changing its attitude towards the local terror threat: “…this attack is forcing India to change the way it has viewed the terror threat. Until now, India has believed that terrorism against India could be stemmed
One for the surprising folder. Alistair Darling has today announced a measure for businesses which seems fairly useful. And he’s done so with little expectation and even less fanfare. So what is it? Well, the 5% increase in business rates, planned for this year, has been spread out over three years. So businesses will face a
So Gordon’s Summit will start with calls for two of his most prominent ministers to resign ringing in his ears. Of course, there’s the continuing brouhaha over Jacqui Smith and her expense claims. A revealing PoliticsHome poll, released this afternoon, finds that a majority of voters (56 percent) think she should step down as Home
The symbolism was blatant. Here was Gordon Brown in St Paul’s Cathedral, delivering a speech on the moral dimensions of the credit crunch. It’s stuffed with words like “faith” and “virtue”, making it all quite unnerving. Then again, I think the country needs effective politicians. Not a new god. You can see what Brown’s trying to do. Until
Sky are reporting that the investigation into MPs’ expenses by the Committee on Standards in Public Life is to be brought forward. It was originally going to publish its findings after the next election, but now they’ll come out before the end of the year. Of course, to some extent, any effort to deal with the situation should be welcomed.
In light of the speculation surrounding Jacqui Smith’s future, this passage from Steve Richards’ column today is worth pulling out: “I am told [Jacqui Smith] was not Brown’s first choice [for Home Secretary] and not even his second. Indeed, one government insider tells me three others were approached but had no desire to go near
Could Alistair Darling be replaced after all? I tend to think he won’t be. The way the downturn has played out seems to have strengthened his hand, and it won’t do much for the Government’s economic message to start swapping Chancellors at this stage in the game. But a snippet in Rachel Sylvester’s column this
Now, how’s this for timing? With the Jacqui Smith row rumbling on, Parliament has released expenses details for every MP from April 2007 to March 2008 – you can access them here and here. There are no receipts yet, so we can’t see the devils that surely reside in the detail. But, in the meantime, we know that Gordon
Is it just me, or is Gordon Brown’s take on the Jacqui Smith situation especially dispiriting? Speaking at a Downing Street presser, he said that it’s a “personal matter” that “must not detract from the great job Jacqui Smith is doing”. That’s it. Nothing more. Sure, that Smith’s husband chooses to watch porn films in
Uh-oh. Reading the FT’s Big Interview with Barack Obama (text here, audio here), it sounds as though the US president has given up on a meaningful “global grand bargain” being reached at the London Summit. Sure, he doesn’t quite say it in those words. In fact, he bandies about terms like “significant progress,” and calls
David Cameron’s speech to the Welsh Tory party conference serves up some more of those “uncomfortable truths” that George Osborne mentioned a few weeks ago. Rather than just referring to Labour’s debt crisis – although he did plenty of that – he talked about Britain’s overall “addiction to debt”, and suggested that the public need
Unbelievable. The news that Jacqui Smith’s husband used part of her already-dubious second homes allowance to pay for pornographic films is quite simply unbelievable. It would be amusing – in a Frankie Howerd, “Titter ye not” kind of way – were it not such a mockery of the taxpayer. It’s more Smith’s husband who’s at
Oh, how Brown will not like this. According to the Telegraph’s Toby Harnden, Barack Obama will take time to meet David Cameron when he comes over to London for the G20 summit next week. Although the pair have met before, that was before Obama became US President. And, surely, a meeting now will be taken
For months now, Angela Merkel has stood as one of the biggest impediments to Brown’s “global grand bargain”. Whilst our PM’s been talking up an international stimulus, she’s been lowering expectations ahead of the London Summit – prefering, instead, to talk about tax havens and regulatory change. Even though her rhetoric sounds a little
Eric Pickles’ appearance on Question Time last night (excruciating video here) should make the Tories sit up and take notice of the anti-politician mood that’s swirling around the country. When even one of their more popular figures (at least among the grassroots) can receive such a public lashing over his dubious housing arrangements, it’s a clear
As James said earlier, we can expect plenty of failures of expectations management between now and the next election, as the Government searches desperately for fightback opportunities. After the G20, the next event to hype up is the Budget, and there are already signs that the Government is setting itself up for a fall over
We’ve already mentioned how Mervyn King’s recent comments undermine Brown’s central “doing everything it takes” vs “do nothing” distinction. But a document that the Tories have just put out highlights how another of the PM’s central attacks is now in tatters. Its theme is how Brown has “taken” the Tories’ “advice”, now that he seems
With Brown’s G20 agenda looking less globe-shattering, and more shattered, by the minute, Andrew Grice – writing in the New Statesman – reveals that the PM now regards the Budget as a more likely stage for any “political fightback”: “Close allies insist that Brown will focus on the domestic agenda once the G20 show is over, and
Now, this is novel – a politician effectively admitting that they’d like to be party leader. It may be Ed Balls – interviewed in the latest New Statesman – so the news is hardly a surprise. But it still makes a change from the usual non-denials we hear from those with an eye on the
Apart from the sentiment expressed, perhaps the most damaging aspect of Mervyn King’s intervention on Tuesday was its timing. Brown’s round-the-world trip was meant to act as a rallying call – but now it’s more an exercise in firefighting, as he deals with tricky questions surrounding our capacity for a “fiscal stimulus”. Take his
