Is Alistair Darling in for a mauling at the TUC conference later today? The official line from the brothers is that he’ll get a “frosty but polite” reception. But given that the Chancellor is most likely going to turn down calls for public sector pay rises, it’s anyone’s guess as to how long the politeness
You could say that pragmatism won out at today’s Global Vision / Daily Telegraph conference on the future relationship between Britain and Europe. On the one hand, you had the pro-Europe voice of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing arguing that Britain should more or less be able to pick ‘n’ mix what parts of the EU agenda
Here are the last few lines of the interview with Harriet Harman in today’s Times: “Is it not time for another woman British leader? Does she want the job if Gordon Brown is ousted? Ms Harman looked flustered and consults her briefing paper. ‘I cannot remember the answer to that.'” Ok, so it’s a probably
The story’s familiar by now. A poll comes out; it puts the Tories 20-ish points ahead of Labour; and it contains a whole load of below-the-headline findings which are personally damaging for Gordon Brown. Today’s Independent/ComRes poll certainly follows that pattern. It has the Tories on 44 percent, Labour on 25 percent and the Lib
A couple of days ago, I wrote that – given the massive costs attached to the 2012 Games – taxpayers will want to see that the Government’s promise to deliver a lasting “Olympics legacy” isn’t an empty one. Well, if a survey on the matter by Opinion Research is anything to go by, then there’s not
The Evening Standard’s Paul Waugh explains why it might be, over at his blog.
Just to say that the comments facility is now working again. I’ve been assured that any comments made overnight (when it wasn’t working) should still appear – although they may trickle through slowly throughout the day. If you think a comment you made may not have got through, feel free to e-mail me on phoskin
Could the news that the Government won’t give cash handouts to those struggling with rising energy bills be another nail in the coffin of Brown’s premiership? The spin he’s putting on it is that there were never plans to offer “short term gimmicks and giveaways”. But the widespread assumption is that the opposite is true,
Amid all the Labour backbiting and leadership speculation, there remain some – almost comically enthusiastic – voices of support for Gordon Brown. Here’s Tony Lloyd, chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, speaking to the BBC earlier: “The truth is most Labour MPs, the overwhelming majority, want Gordon Brown to be the one who delivers the
Just to point out Iain Dale’s post suggesting that Brown will be holding a snap reshuffle on Monday. The feeling around Westminster is increasingly that one’s coming sooner rather than later. But aside from whether and when it might be, the other major question is what’s going to happen with Alistair Darling and David Miliband. The speculation that they’d
Here are Dominic Grieve’s answers to the questions put forward by Coffeehousers: Alex R “Do you understand that your views on the ECHR are in contradiction to those of the huge majority of conservative supporters and potential conservative supporters. Do you understand why many people believe this should disqualify you from ever being Home Secretary
Charles Clarke certainly didn’t say all he wanted to in his New Statesman article yesterday. He’s just filled in some of the gaps, and spelt things out more clearly, with a punchy interview on the Today programme. Sure, we know he’s not keen on Brown, but the severity of what he said was surprising nonetheless.
As Nick Robinson suggests, this New Statesman article by Charles Clarke will throw the cat among the Labour pigeons. There are two particularly incendiary quotes in it, both expressing the same sentiment: “…Labour’s current course will lead to utter destruction at the next general election.” And “There is, however, a deep and widely shared concern
One of the major factors behind London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympic Games was the promise to create a lasting “Olympics legacy” – to rejuvenate some of the poorer areas of London; to get more people participating in sport; to create a set of sporting facilities which will promise future success for British athletes,
The media response to Brown’s recovery package for the housing market feels like some kind of milestone. It’s negative pretty much across the board (as this useful summary by Jenny Percival points out) – picking up on all of the package’s inconsistencies: how it won’t have much of an effect; how it will place undue pressure on the public finances;
The respected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has forecast that the UK economy will shrink by 0.3 percent in the third quarter of this year, and by 0.4 percent in the fourth. In other words, they’re predicting a recession for this year. Ok, so it’s hardly surprising news. After all, the latest figures from the Office
So Brown has introduced a stamp duty holiday as part of his rescue package for home owners and buyers. From tomorrow until 3 September 2009, properties costing less than £175,000 will be exempt from the levy. Oddly – even though plans for a stamp duty holiday emerged a few weeks ago – it’s still a
As usual, Rachel Sylvester’s column in the Times is essential reading. Today, she writes – contrary to Ben Brogan – that relations between Brown and Darling are poor. But goes on to suggest that Darling will hang on to his job in a “limited reshuffle” later this week. Here’s the key passage: “A limited
As James wrote yesterday, Stephen Carter’s alleged slide down the pecking order at No.10 suggests that his softly-softly approach to tackling Davids Miliband and Cameron has been thrown out the window. The assumption now is that the Brownite attack dogs will be let off the leash, and we’ll start seeing some bare-knuckle politics from Team
Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – provided your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no