Politics

Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.

Wednesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Why are the Tory party in such a good mood?

Two things have been puzzling Tory high-ups in Birmingham this week: does Nigel Farage have another defector in his back pocket, and why is the Tory party in such a good mood? Many expected that a second MP defecting to Ukip would have plunged the party into the slough of despond. One influential Tory, though, has an explanation for what’s going on. ‘The mood here is so upbeat because people think we’ve got Labour beat.’ He is, however, quick to add, ‘It is Ukip that is the problem.’ This is the paradox of British politics at the moment: it is easier to explain why either main party shouldn’t win the

Steerpike Steerpike

Tory faithful send the PM a clear message on Gove

Many Tories had begun to wonder where Michael Gove had got to. The Chief Whip’s move from the Department for Education was heralded with a briefing that he would be doing far more broadcasting, representing the government front and centre on the airwaves. However, there was only silence. Though he has been dealing with defections and whipping up the air strike vote, the darling of Tory conferences past was mysteriously missing from the official platform schedule in Birmingham. Until this afternoon. Taking to the stage to introduce the Prime Minister, Gove received the warmest applause yet from the crowd. The left loathe Michael Gove, something that only bolsters his credentials

James Forsyth James Forsyth

David Cameron’s speech had classically Tory messages – but it shows he hasn’t given up on modernisation

[audioplayer src=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/spectator/TheViewFrom22_2_Oct_2014_v4.mp3″ title=”James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman review the conference season” startat=604] Listen [/audioplayer]The Tories leave Birmingham in far better heart than when they arrived. They feel that they have succeeded in setting the terms of debate this week. On tax and spending, their baseline is now what Labour will be judged against. listen to ‘Podcast special: David Cameron’s speech’ on audioBoom

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron’s speech show us why he is still the Tories’ greatest single asset

David Cameron has yet again delivered a belter of a party conference speech, peppered with announcements. His performance is a reminder of why, even now, he remains the Tory Party’s greatest single asset. His speech was a powerful invocation of the strengths of Conservatism, perhaps the clearest he has given from a conference stage. It was passionate, eloquent and, overall, the speech of a Prime Minister. What a contrast with the Ed Miliband’s attempt last week. There were promises galore. The advantage of holding a party conference before the Liberal Democrats is that you can scoop their policies – in his case, announcing another increase to the tax-free income tax threshold from £10,500 to £12,500. And

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: David Cameron’s bid for the moral high ground

When he saw colleagues in the tearoom on Friday as the Commons debated air strikes against Isis in Iraq, David Cameron told them that he’d actually been rather nervous about Ed Miliband’s Labour conference speech. The Labour leader has delivered two fantastic ones that set the agenda for the past two autumns, the Prime Minister acknowledged to the MPs he was talking to. But this year, he was pretty relieved as the speech Miliband ended up delivering was a mess. listen to ‘Podcast special: David Cameron’s speech’ on audioBoom

Alex Massie Alex Massie

David Cameron’s message to Britain: winter is here but spring is coming

Better than Miliband is as fine a demonstration of the soft bigotry of low expectations as you possibly hope to find. Nevertheless, David Cameron’s speech to the Tory conference today was better than Miliband’s chat in Manchester last week. Quite a lot better, in fact. It was almost, gosh, good. listen to ‘Podcast special: David Cameron’s speech’ on audioBoom True, it’s not altogether clear how the promised tax cuts – for ordinary and less ordinary hard workers alike – will actually be paid for and, in the context of speech that promised no unfunded tax cuts, this might ordinarily be seen as a small problem. Presumably they will be back-loaded

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Once upon a time David Cameron had a story to tell; he needs to remember it and tell it again

It is easy to inflate the importance of speeches made at party conferences. Particularly when those speeches are the last such set piece events before a general election. But they are still, in the end and at bottom, a distillation of what matters most to a leader. A guide to his priorities; a demonstration of his faith. Somewhere along the line David Cameron has lost that faith. He was elected leader of the Tory party in desperate times and became Prime Minister in dismal times. In both instances he triumphed, at least in part, because he persuaded his audience that though he might look like a traditional Tory he was

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Without Michael Gove the Tories have no moral mission on education

Why is Nicky Morgan the Education Secretary? She’s long been billed as a rising star in the government and has put in some very passionate and impressive performances on the conference fringe this year. But her speech to the Conservative conference hall this afternoon didn’t really answer that question. It was workmanlike, and its main mission seemed to be to tick boxes such as ‘must be nice to teachers’, rather than give us any sense of Morgan’s personal mission. Of course there was a difficult contrast between the minister apparently given the departmental responsibility because she’s not Michael Gove and Michael Gove himself, who appeared emotional as delegates applauded him

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Tory nerves over Osborne welfare gamble

Will George Osborne get away with his conference gamble that hits working families? The Chancellor’s speech would have received a far worse reception on the front pages of today’s newspapers had it not been for the announcement on GPs offering a seven-day service. But it remains a topic of debate in the party. Today at a lunchtime fringe, the Chancellor tried to defend his two-year freeze on working-age benefits by arguing that he had taken uncomfortable decisions for a Conservative, such as raising corporation tax. He also was careful not to appear to be gleeful about cutting welfare, an impression he has given in the past. Instead, he told the

Douglas Murray

Why is Theresa May pretending that Islam is a ‘religion of peace’?

In advance of the Home Secretary’s speech today the Conservative party issued an advance briefing of its ‘new strategy for tackling extremism’. It was gratifying to see that a huge chunk of it credited a piece of mine from four and a half years ago. It is always gratifying when the political consensus catches up with you. So in my self-anointed role of prophet, let me highlight something which, four and a half years from now I will expect another Home Secretary to say. Because although there were many things to admire in Theresa May’s speech there was also one horrible, glaring and nearly unforgivable error. That is that the Home

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Leaked lines to take for Tory MPs show party nerves about Ukip

Tory conference has been much more upbeat than last week’s gloomy offer from Labour. But just in case the party had turned up in a bad mood after the defection of Mark Reckless, MPs were given a series of lines to take which involved them telling any broadcaster unfortunate to ask that the gathering in Birmingham was demonstrating ‘energy’ and ‘positivity’. Those lines to take, leaked to Coffee House, show the party preparing for a week of awkward questions about Ukip taking their voters and overshadowing their conference. One of the questions is ‘have Mark Reckless and Ukip overshadowed your conference?’ The answer is: ‘I disagree. The country – and the

Steerpike Steerpike

TM4PM: It’s on

Most Secretaries of State tend to lay low the night before their big conference speech, redrafting and practising. Not so Theresa May. The glammed-up Home Secretary was working the party scene hard last night, flanked by a bolstered entourage. After losing her Special Adviser Fiona Cunningham in blue on blue briefing row, May has brought in former Mail journalist Liz Sanderson to handle her media. If it looks like a leadership campaign… May’s speech this morning was steely. She talked about freedom and a free society. With her smart new haircut, it was not long before obvious comparisons were being made to a the last strong woman to dominate the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Theresa May was a tough act for Boris Johnson to follow

Boris Johnson and Theresa May both fancy a pop at the Tory leadership and both gave speeches today that showed they were keen. That much is so well-known that it is a little tiring to analyse either speech simply in those terms (though it’s worth noting that Boris supporters have been very keen indeed to tell us that this was a ‘grown-up, loyal speech that shows he has a track record of delivery. Boris has a vision that is optimistic’). Both did a good job of rallying the troops in the conference hall, although in quiet different ways. May was sober but passionate about the threat posed to Britain by

The Spectator

Theresa May’s speech on terrorism and extremism – full text and audio

Our values will prevail in the fight against terrorism and extremism Thank you, Alexander, for that thoughtful and inspiring speech. listen to ‘Theresa May’s speech on terrorism and extremism’ on audioBoom It’s difficult for most of us here in this hall to really appreciate the effects of stop and search. You see, most of us are white. Most of us are of a certain age. Well, we’re certainly not teenagers anymore. But imagine walking home, or driving to work one day, and being stopped by the police. Imagine, having done nothing wrong, you are patted down, you have your pockets turned inside out, and your possessions examined. Imagine you ask

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Is London’s Richard Barnes the final Ukip defector?

The gossip here in Birmingham is that there is a third defector from the Tories to Ukip, that David Cameron knows his name and isn’t too bothered. But if that person is Richard Barnes, a former deputy Mayor of London who has announced his defection today, you can see why the PM is quite chillaxed about it. He’s someone with no national profile who was expelled from the Party earlier for this year for standing as an Independent against the Conservative Party’s approved candidate. He is also defecting in part of the country where Ukip support is at its lowest. Barnes has recited the now-familiar list of reasons for defecting to the Evening Standard. The former London Assembly member

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Chris Kelly distressed by Ukip rumours and has denied them to closest family

Like all MPs suspected as potential Ukip defectors, Chris Kelly is being hounded by colleagues, whips and journalists all desperate to find out what he’s up to. He and his family are distressed by the pressure that the MP is under and suspect that Ukip are putting his name about to create a smoke screen around the next defector. Kelly has told his long-term girlfriend that he is not defecting. His girlfriend’s mother is Nadine Dorries, who says Kelly is so loyal to the government that she’s quite ‘disappointed’ he doesn’t take more principled stands against it. But she is confident he will not defect. Neither, in case you’re wondering,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Loyal Boris rallies the troops

Boris Johnson was on loyal form tonight at the Conservative Home rally. He told the audience that the Tory advantage on leadership and the economy would see voters coming over to the party ‘in droves’. He even predicted a 1983 style win for the Tories—which considering that the Tory majority then was 144 seemed more than a little bit over optimistic. The Mayor of London was so in sync with the leadership’s strategy that he even moved straight from Europe to English votes for English laws, the issue that Cameron and co believe can stop the bleeding to Ukip. There were, though, perhaps a few markers laid down for the

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Turncoats, ‘dickheads’ – what the Tories think of Ukip

The Tories are bracing themselves for another defection to Ukip which may or may not come today or in the next few days. MPs and whips have been chasing after Adam Holloway and Chris Kelly as the figures who seem the most at risk, and have been extracting the sort of point blank denials that Mark Reckless claims to have never been asked for. Daniel Hannan has been denying again that he is leaving his party, while another rumour is doing the rounds that the next defection could be from a London Conservative working with Boris, rather than the Commons or the European Parliament. MPs are angry and determined to

The Spectator

Podcast: George Osborne’s conference speech

Isabel Hardman and James Forsyth were both at George Osborne’s speech this afternoon. Here’s a special podcast, with analysis of the speech and a look at what else we might expect from this year’s conference: listen to ‘Podcast special: George Osborne’s speech’ on audioBoom