Heads of the civil service rarely give interviews – especially not to voice their opinions on live political issues – so you know Gus O’Donnell must be worried about the public finances when he brings up the prospect of cuts in conversation with the Times today. Here’s the key passage: “Asked whether he agreed with
Ok, Fraser – I’m not going to let this tax ‘n’ marriage debate rumble on interminably, but I do want the final word! First, I appreciate your response – it makes a very strong case, but one which fails to convince me. Why? Well, largely because I agreed with most of it already. As I
Stay tuned for live coverage of PMQs from 1200. 1202: And we’re off. John Maples asks Brown to clarify our objectives in Afghanistan. Brown says that “since 2001, our main objective has been to stop terrorism”. 1204: In response to a question from Anne Begg, Brown says he is “committed to increasing the diversity of
Ok, I must admit I’m quite wary of Tory plans to encourage marriage via a £20-a-week tax break for married couples. Not because I don’t think marriage is a positive social force. I do. And Iain Duncan Smith’s usually excellent Centre for Social Justice – who are pushing the tax break proposal, along with other,
It’s no secret around Westminster that civil servants are giving up on the Labour government and are wait-wait-waiting for the Tories to shuffle into power. But few articles have captured that process so well as Rachel Sylvester’s column in the Times today, which contains this striking passage about the suspended animation along Whitehall: “It is
A timely poll from PoliticsHome which finds that two-thirds of the public think defence should be protected from any spending cuts. Here’s their graphic with full results: The question, of course, is whether this kind of public pressure forces any of the main parties to actually shield defence from cuts. With the debt burden as
It’s worth following Andrew Sparrow’s typically excellent live blog of the Commons culture committee’s first public hearing into the recent NotW “phone-hacking” claims. So far, the biggest revelation has come courtesy of Nick Davies – the Guardian journalist behind the story last week – and it’s one which will please the Tories: “Davies says he
The Times’s story of how Bob Ainsworth came to be Defence Secretary is equal parts extraordinary and disheartening. Here are the key passages: “Mr Ainsworth’s predecessor, John Hutton, had indicated to Mr Brown in mid-May that he was thinking of leaving the Government. Mr Hutton, recently remarried, had a compelling family reason for wanting to
If you haven’t already, it’s well worth reading Robert Peston’s analysis of the first annual report from UKFI, the government’s banking wing. There are plenty of fascinating titbits in there, but this passage on how long it will take the government to sell its shares in Lloyds and RBS rather jumped out at me: “As
Andrew Mitchell is doing the media rounds to discuss the Tories’ new policy paper on international development, and he seemed to let slip with a major claim on defence spending to the BBC earlier. Here’s how the indispensable PoliticsHome reports it: “Mr Mitchell said that it was not a question of choosing between the budgets
Oh dear. I fear Harriet Harman may be going way beyond the edge of sanity in her quest for positive discrimination: “Harriet Harman is drawing up plans to stamp out discrimination against Scousers, Geordies and people from Yorkshire. Labour’s deputy leader wants to get more people from the regions on to the boards of major
Of course, one poll doesn’t make a watertight case, but the results of today’s ICM/Guardian poll on the Afghanistan conflict are still worth noting down. Perhaps counterintuitively, support for the war has actually risen since the last ICM poll on the issue in 2006. 47 percent of people now support the war (up 15 from
So, the News of the World claims that the Tories are planning to shelve some of their tax-cutting proposals – including the inheritance tax cut and tax breaks for married couples – to help combat the fiscal crisis. Guido suspects that the news came direct from the Blackberry of Andy Coulson, but the Tories have
Just when you thought Brown’s government couldn’t sink any lower, you go and read the Sunday Times’s lead story today and the comments it contains from “senior Labour figures”, including a minister. Here are the first few paragraphs: “Senior Labour figures accused the head of the army last night of playing politics as he said
Ok, let’s get the hard, grim facts out of the way first: Jacqui Smith was an ineffective Home Secretary whose expense claims were dubious, to say the least, and who rightly lost her job in government. But – having said that – it’s hard not to feel slightly sorry for her as she discusses the
You’ve got to hand it to Alistair Darling: he really does seem to be making the most of his post-reshuffle security. His interview with the Telegraph’s Ben Brogan today is a case in point. Once again, he goes against the Brown/Mandelson claim that there won’t be a spending review before the next election. But it’s
Kevin Maguire’s Commons Confidential column in the latest New Statesman contains this intriguing little snippet: “Home Secretary Alan Johnson was a picture of innocence during the plot to oust Brown and replace him with a former postie with the initials A J. Not so his entourage. It has come to the attention of No 10
Although Andrew Lansley’s “10 percent” gaffe may have worked out alright in the end, I can’t help but think he’s pushing his luck with his latest comments: Andrew Lansley has called on the Government to come clean about their spending plans after it was revealed that the NHS has been asked to plan for efficiency
After the news that there won’t be a new police investigation last night, the second thing the Tories feared most hasn’t happened either: neither the Guardian nor any other outlet has anything to further implicate Andy Coulson in the phone-hacking scandal this morning. Indeed, the Guardian’s main story concerns how a private investigator working for
Some useful insights from PR Week’s David Singleton, who reveals that Labour are planning a concerted effort to paint Andy Coulson as a “sleazeball” ahead of – and perhaps during – the next election campaign. Here’s a snippet: “One senior Labour source in regular contact with Gordon Brown’s inner circle told PRWeek: ‘Cameron wants to
