Politics

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

Saturday

Kevin Myers

Going south

The moral nadir of any state must surely have come when Mr Gerry Adams MP announces that he is its white knight. Yes, this IRA butcher and architect of countless bombings and killings is abandoning Northern Ireland politics, and even his empty seat in Westminster, to stand in Ireland’s general election next year. He actually thinks that he is entitled to berate the politicians of the Irish Republic for their conduct. And by God, he could well have a point. Just look at the latest nugget to emerge from the parliamentary sewer that is Leinster House — the equivalent of the Palace of Westminster. James McDaid, a retiring politician on

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Politics: Miliband’s Labour is in danger of becoming invisible

It is hard not to feel sorry for the ex-Cabinet ministers who have stayed on the Labour front bench. It is hard not to feel sorry for the ex-Cabinet ministers who have stayed on the Labour front bench. A year ago newspapers hung on their every word. Now they are lucky to find themselves quoted in the penultimate paragraph of a news story. They are ranked somewhere behind Simon Hughes and right-wing Tory backbenchers on journalists’ call lists. Why have they fallen so far? The simple answer is ‘the coalition’. Whenever the government issues a statement, the press’s first port of call is the other side of the coalition. In

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

The future of defence procurement: a Spectator conference

War, debt and recession. Last month’s Strategic Defence and Security Review had to confront a unique combination of difficulties. Secretary of State Liam Fox, opening the Spectator conference on the future of defence procurement, explained the review’s aims. Proudly identifying himself as ‘a hawk on defence and on deficit reduction’ he re-stated his commitment to our front-line capability in Afghanistan. But, until 2015, the ministry will ‘rebalance our strategic direction’ (spend less money). After 2015 it ‘will be about re-growing capability’ (spending more). The MoD aims to order fewer equipment types and all new kit must be affordable, adaptable, inter-operable and exportable. Dr Fox wants to expand the defence industry’s

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

America’s satnav monopoly must be broken – even if it takes the EU to do it

Debates between columnists can be tiresome, but Douglas Murray writes so well that when he is wrong he is dangerous. I think he may be wrong about the European Union’s ‘Galileo’ project (‘Costs in space’, 13 November), and though bereft of his certainties, I should not let the other side to this argument go by default. Galileo is the EU’s answer to the Americans’ Global Positioning System (GPS). It aims to do the same thing: to enable any receiver to pinpoint its position in the world very precisely. It is fair to say (as Mr Murray does) that Galileo is behind schedule and over budget. It’s also fair to say

Friday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The kiss of death | 19 November 2010

Oh dear. On Wednesday night, we at The Spectator saw David Cameron handing Lord Young his Spectator/Threadneedle Parliamentarian of the Year in the category of Peer of the Year. “Over the decades,” said yours truly, “Prime Ministers have come to value his advice. As Thatcher put it: ‘other people bring me problems, David brings me solutions.’” Not any more – David has brought him a problem, followed by a resignation. Less than 48 hours after picking-up our award, his political career appears to be at an end.   It is true that there are some people who have had a “good recession”. That is: faced no danger of losing their

Daniel Korski

Neo-isolationism is NATO’s greatest enemy

As NATO leaders gather for a key summit in Lisbon, expect the newspapers to be full of the usual “why bother” commentary. NATO, they will argue, was founded for a different age and is not relevant for dealing with today’s threats – from cyber-attacks to nuclear non-proliferation. It is even struggling to deal with older threats, such as the Taliban insurgency. Most Europeans do not seem to mind. They feel safer than at any time before and worry predominantly about post-material threats, not conventional attack, as a think tank report showed recently. As a result, Europeans are set to spend less on defence. Germany expert Hans Kundnani has an excellent

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What the new peerages tell us about the party leaders

Today’s peerage list contains more interesting names than usual. Jullian Fellowes — Downton Abbey, Gosford Park, Snobs — is the one who will get the most attention. It is a sign of how confident David Cameron is feeling that he has risked the reopening of the whole class question. But perhaps, the most intriguing Tory appointment is Patience Wheatcroft. One imagines that she wouldn’t have taken the role unless it was a way to allow her to serve on the political front line. Howard Flight’s appointment to the Lords rights a wrong: his sacking as a candidate before the 2005 election was as unfair as it was hasty. A few

David Blackburn

Full list of peerages

Number 10 has published the full list of new peerages. There are 27 new Conservative peers, including Sir Patrick Cormack, Richard Spring, Julian Fellowes, Howard Flight, Michael Grade and Patience Wheatcroft. The Lib Dems and the Labour party have acquired15 and 10 respectively. General Dannatt is also to be ennobled, but will sit on the crossbenches, confirming his break-up from the Tory machine. Expect his strident voice to be a constant feature of the debate growing from the troubled strategic defence review.

David Blackburn

The transparency revolution gets under way

The press has gone to town on the government’s spending spree; more than £80bn of central government expenditure, itemised in this imposing document published today by Francis Maude. The government will squirm at some findings, notably on redacted defence procurement contracts, Libyan oil agreements and the 194,000 payments made to individuals and private companies (Capita has been paid £3.3bn for outsourcing government work, and De Beers, the diamond cutters, received nearly £1,200 from the Business Department). Already the blame game has begun, with Labour and the coalition sparring from a distance. But, for the most part, ministers will be gleeful: the Civil Service and public sector have been forced to expose their

Thursday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Ed Miliband needs to make some noise

Today’s press will not have made happy reading for Ed Miliband and his supporters. Alan Johnson’s comments to The Times about the need to change the way Labour elects its leader has revived the debate about the legitimacy of Ed Miliband’s victory. Meanwhile in the New Statesman there’s a piece setting out the internal tensions within the party. Intriguingly, Lisa Tremble, who was David Miliband’s press chief during his leadership campaign, has put what could be considered a rather provocative quote on the record. She tells the magazine, ‘David’s rediscovered his excitement in politics…He’s looking forward to the new challenges. He’s not going anywhere.’ As I say in the new

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron on The Spectator

In my last post I did Cameron a disservice by suggesting he had to research his remarks about The Spectator. Like many well-read people, with an interest in life in the round, he’s been a reader for years – Steve Hilton buys him a copy for his birthday, I’m told – and we backed him not just when he first entered the leadership contest (the only publication so to do) but with a now-famous article by Bruce Anderson hailing him as the next messiah as early as 2003. Anyway, for the record, this is what Cameron had to say about The Spectator: “In all seriousness, The Spectator is one of

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Dave v Boris wars: a prequel?

David Cameron was on sparkling form last night, at our Parliamentarian of the Year awards. He joked about his photographer – saying he didn’t arrive for dinner because he saw fish was on the menu and didn’t want to pay for his own snapper. His remarks about the magazine were thoughtful, and well-researched. But what did he mean by the below? It certainly had the guests talking afterwards: some regarded it as the verbal equivalent of a horse’s head thrown into the bed of the Mayor of London. Me: I offer no opinion. But this is what he had to say: “I think the great thing about the Spectator is

David Blackburn

Dave on the defensive

There is no sign of the heir to Blair at the Commons Liaison Committee this afternoon; in fact, David Cameron has been possessed by the ghost of Gordon. So far the Prime Minister’s answers have been cumbersome and statistic-heavy; and his delivery has had the dexterity of a three-legged elephant. He will have expected cannons to the left of him, but to the right as well? If he imagined that Tory backbenchers would coo appreciatively he will have been sadly disabused. Andrew Tyrie, James Arbuthnot and Bernard Jenkin have eviscerated him over the conduct of the strategic defence review. They deplored the culture of leaks and counter-briefing and probed Cameron

Mats Persson

Britain may not be able to avoid bailing out the Irish

This morning, it sounds as though Ireland has finally buckled to demands that they accept a bailout from the EU. Their central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, has said that he expects a “very substantal loan” from Europe – although the details, and debtees, are yet to be clarified. In the UK, of course, backbench MPs and others have been quick to condemn any move which would force British taxpayers to cough up cash under the EU’s various bail-out arrangements. Only problem is: the UK may not have a choice. The part of the eurozone bail-out package which Britain could be underwriting to the tune of £6-7 billion – the so-called

Peter Hoskin

Labour’s ice cream moment

This from Matthew Taylor – the former No.10 head of policy, speaking to the Times for their series (£) on the fall of New Labour – deserves a post of its own: “For me, New Labour died when Tony bought Gordon an ice cream in 2005. I remember sitting in Downing St two days after the election win and chucking into the bin the proposal to break up the Treasury.” 

Peter Hoskin

Ed Miliband has a choice to make about the unions

On the surface, there are one or two baubles to delight a Labour supporter: their party leader has just had a second son, of course; they are pushing ahead of the Tories in a number of polls; and the coalition will surely come under sustained and heavy attack as the cuts make themselves felt. But strip back the gloss veneer, and Labour has some agonising problems to worry about. Chief among those problems – as I’ve written before – is their uncertain message on the economy, stretching into an uncertain policy prospectus overall. Just what do Labour stand for? Then there’s the simmering resentments between teams Ed and David, with

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Parliamentarian of the Year award recipients 2010

The Spectator held its annual Parliamentarian of the Year Awards ceremony this evening. Here, for CoffeeHousers to deliberate over, is the full list of winners: Newcomer of the year: Caroline Lucas Inquisitor of the year: Tom Watson Peer of the year: Lord Young of Graffham Speech of the year: David Cameron (for his “big comprehensive offer to the Lib Dems” and the apology for Bloody Sunday) Double act of the year: George Osborne and Danny Alexander Campaigner of the year: Ed Miliband Survivor of the year: Gisela Stuart Backbencher of the year: Graham Brady Statesman of the era: Margaret Thatcher Parliamentarian of the year: Ed Balls Politician of the year:

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The First 2012 Debate

Will be held next spring at the Reagan Library. So soon! What joy! Andrew Sullivan notices that Hugh Hewitt thinks it’s terrible that the questions will be asked by “mainstream journalists”. Hewitt wants “different kinds of journalist” to set the agenda. By different he means the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity Mark Levin and Michael Medved. Andrew complains, hyperbolically to be sure, that this is “like Stalin being grilled by the Politburo”. But actually, I would be interested in watching a Presidential debate moderated by the likes of Limbaugh and Levin and co. Lord knows, there will be plenty of opportunities for Wolf Blitzer and Brian Williams and the

Ed Howker

Phil Woolas, four investigations and a funeral wreath

It may take another week to discover if Phil Woolas has the right to challenge the election court ruling that destroyed his career. To the delight of his cadre of supporters in the House, judges have said there are “difficult questions to resolve” – not about the evidence of Woolas’ campaign making “false statements”, but about the specific application of the Representation of the People Act (RPA). Before the last die is cast, here are two quick contextual points. First, it is not just Harriet Harman who is keen to shut down this episode – many folks on all sides of the House of Commons would like to pretend skulduggery

Matthew Sinclair

The British taxpayer should not be bailing out Ireland

Everyone is talking about the royal wedding today.  It will be a great occasion but the public finances are tight and people are already asking about the cost.  There is a bigger issue for British taxpayers, though.  Our politicians have arranged for them to get hitched to the bride from hell: the ongoing fiscal disaster in the eurozone.   Under current plans it is reported that we could be liable for up to £7 billion in any Irish bailout.  At the TaxPayers’ Alliance, we have just this morning started a petition against British taxpayers’ money being put at risk for a euro-bailout of Ireland; you can sign it here.