It’s a simple fact of politics that many measures which would save money in the medium-to-long term incur costs in the short term. Normally, this point is brought up in relation to public service reform – e.g. Gove’s Swedish Schools agenda. But today’s FT highlights a similar effect in relation to public sector redundancies. The
An eagle-eyed spot by Hopi Sen, who has posted on Barry Sheerman’s comments in the Huddersfield Examiner today. If you remember, Sheerman was mooted as a key component in an anti-Brown plot, whereby he’d stand as chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party on a Get Gordon Out platform. Votes for Sheerman, it was thought, would
So what to make of Gordon Brown’s plan to sell off an expected £16bn-worth of assets? Like Charlie Elphicke over at CentreRight, I have my qualms. As he puts it, Brown has form when it comes to selling national assets at rock-bottom prices. And, in the immediate aftermath of the credit crunch and a recession,
Sky report that the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee have judged that Jacqui Smith was “clearly” wrong to claim that her sister’s home was her main residence. Smith has been ordered to apologise to the Commons, which she’s expected to do later today. No further action will be taken. Throw in the news about Damian
It’s worth highlighting Alan Johnson’s comments on Marr this morning: “Mr Johnson said there was ‘no possibility whatsoever’ of Gordon Brown standing down as Labour leader due to problems with his eyesight. ‘He’ll fight the election,’ the Home Secretary said. ‘He is fit and well and able and determined’.” You imagine this message of support
So expenses are back – and in a fairly big way. Not that they ever really went away, of course. But you’d be forgiven for thinking that the parties had pretty much forgotten about them during conference season, so little was said about the issue. But today it’s back on the front pages and, you
In its preview of Cameron’s speech, the Sun highlights the Tory leader saying that “…in a Conservative Britain, if you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off.” The implicit reference, here, is to Labour’s combined tax and benefit system, which frequently acts to disincentivise extra work. All too
Remember David Cameron’s General Well-being agenda? You may not. It was pretty nebulous stuff, which he deployed during the decontamination overdrive early in his leadership. We haven’t heard much about it since – probably as Cameron & Co. realised it could fuel the worst Notting Hill caricatures of them, at a time when the economy
Judging by the Independent’s preview, as well as the quotes that ConHome have managed to get their hands on, Cameron is going to do Hope ‘n’ Change in his speech today. Yes, he talks about a “steep climb ahead,” but he adds that “the view from the summit will be worth it.” This sounds like
Theresa May is chairing a discussion with a set of Conservative PPCs on ‘job clubs’, as part of this afternoon’s focus on welfare reform. She kicks off asking one of the Tory PPCs on the panel, Maggie Throup, to talk about job clubs in her area: “So, Maggie, tell us about…”. Problem is, May addresses
Well, the Tories will be pleased. According to Channel 4’s Gary Gibbon, they’ve made a tidy £1.5 million profit from their party conference. When you consider how much must have been spent in Manchester – it’s a very slick operation with banners, screens and corporate hospitalities everywhere – this news is yet another sign (were
Sifting through this morning’s papers, you’d say that it’s mission accomplished for George Osborne’s speech yesterday. The realigned Sun demonstrates how much it has got behind the Tories, by giving the Shadow Chancellor an absolutely glowing report (“the Shadow Chancellor came of age”). He also receives good-to-medium notices in the Times, the FT and the
When Fraser interviewed David Cameron last week, the Tory leader suggested that the 50p tax rate would be easy to drop, if necessary. If it doesn’t raise any money, then – voilà! – it’s gone. In fact, here are the Tory leader’s words: “If you’re right that it raises no revenue, even in the short
They stopped letting people into the conference hall for George Osborne’s speech long before the Shadow Chancellor took to the platform – it was packed, not even standing room. There was certainly an anticipatory buzz among Tory supporters, particularly after some of the policy announcements trailed in the papers this morning. One delegate assured me
So what do the Tories make of Alistair Darling’s limelight-grabbing decision to freeze public sector pay? The ones I’ve spoken to seem perfectly relaxed with it. A little bit annoyed perhaps: wouldn’t you be, if your opponents appeared to cynically delay an announcement that they could have made during their own party conference last week?
Of all the countless leaflets, pamphlets and circulars being handed out in Manchester, one of the most interesting is a glossy collection of essays entitled Cameron’s Britain. It has been put together by the folk at Portland PR – who recently hosted that “war game” which James reported back on – and has entries on
Struggles with the conference internet connection prevented me from posting on it at the time, but it’s still worth flagging up Andrew Lansley’s big speech on the NHS today. Why so? Well, because it exemplifies how the Tory message on health undermines their general rhetoric on public spending. At the heart of the speech was
I’m on my way to the home city of the best football club in the world (and one of the worst) shortly. In the meantime, it’s worth flagging up this morning’s reports on Tory welfare policy, which we’ll be hearing more about later today. Basically, the Tories are going to re-emphasise that they’d put incapacity
Iain Martin writes a typically insightful post on Labour’s conference capitulation. His central point is that Brown & Co. are following a misguided “no compromise” strategy: “These difficulties with the media are part of a wider problem with the so-called ‘fight-back’ strategy being used by Gordon Brown. It is based on an analysis which is
So we’ve heard before that Brown is “obsessed” with Winston Churchill and, in his mind, wants to avoid the wartime leader’s fate as a Prime Minister who guided Britian through a crisis only to be answered with a thumping in the polls. In which case, it’s rather odd that Brown should write this in the