Heath’s take on Cameron’s vanity photographer…
From the latest issue of the Spectator:
Politics
Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.
Thursday
Johnson’s deceptions and out-of-date figures
Oh, how Labour enjoy misleading the public about their record on the public finances. Ed Miliband did it a couple of weeks ago, with some very loose rhetoric about how the previous government had “paid down the debt”. And now Alan Johnson’s at it, with a fiery speech at the RSA which reheated many of the themes in his recent New Statesman article. The passage that struck me was this: “In 2007/08 as the crisis hit, we have the second lowest debt level in the G7 reduced by 14 percent in the 10 years we’d been in office… …The year before the crisis hit we were borrowing 2.4 percent of
Poppy season
Keen-eyed spectators might have noticed Danny Alexander and Michael Gove wearing a slightly different type of poppy over the last few days: the Scottish Poppy. At the beginning of the poppy-wearing season they are for sale at the Scottish Office in Whitehall and are worn by certain Scots down here – any money that Andrew Marr will be wearing one on Sunday, for example. What’s the difference? Scots poppies have four petals, and no green leaf. The English version costs a little more to produce, and – one might argue – looks more sophisticated. But the Scots version can claim to be anatomically correct, because poppies don’t have green
Wednesday
The Lib Dems are spared by idiotic students
The violence at today’s student protest is, politically, a boon to the coalition. The story now is not the Lib Dems breaking their word but the storming of Millbank. The violence will also have cost the no-fees cause much public sympathy, we don’t like attempts at aggressive direct action in this country. There are questions that need to be answered after today, why were the cops so unprepared for the protest turning violent? I crossed through the protest at lunchtime and then it was quite clear that there was potential for trouble. I’m also bemused as to why it is taking so long to put a stop to the violence
G-20 in Seoul: Beyond “Camerkelism”
David Cameron is now in Seoul for the first G-20 summit hosted by a non–G-7 member state. It will be the Prime Minister’s second G-20. But things have changed dramatically since he came to power and had to jet to Toronto for his multilateral baptism. Then the Prime Minister’s arguments for austerity measures were theoretical – and a minority position. Now, they are real and have become the majority view. “Camerkelism”, the idea that short-term fiscal consolidation will induce sufficient private-sector activity to more than fully offset the fiscal drag seems to be in the ascendant. Yet the forced smiles at the traditional G-20 class photo will belie a number
Do Newspapers Influence Elections?
Alex Barker notes that despite the Guardian’s endorsement of the Liberal Democrats this year (still richly amusing!), the Lib Dems actually won a smaller share of the Guardian-reader vote in 2010 than they had in 2005: Chart from Kavanagh & Crowley’s The British General Election of 2010. Some other things to note: Daily Mirror readers were much more motivated to vote than Sun readers. The SNP can have won the support of just 15% of Daily Record readers. Nothing happened between 2005 and 2010 to make Independent readers change their minds about anything. Times readers, by contrast, are the well-read swing-vote. Meanwhile, the Tory share of the Daily Mail vote
Cheating on the students
Writhe, squirm, cringe and cower. The Commons wanted to inflict ritual punishments on Nick Clegg today for his broken pledges on student fees. The plan nearly succeeded. With Cameron in China, (finding out what happened to our manufacturing base), Clegg took his place at the dispatch box opposite Harriet Harman. Long practice has given Harman some skill, and even self-possession, at the dispatch box. She had an exceptionally easy target today. As she stood up to give Slick Nick a roasting, the streets around parliament were swelling with angry university-goers waving photos of Clegg signing his fateful election pledge on fees. The LibDem manifesto was being burned in public.
The politics of the student protests
The student protests really are throwing up some extraordinary images. Who’d have thought that they’d end up smashing their way in to the lobby of Tory HQ, setting fire to placards, hurling bricks and other objects – and all as news helicopters buzz insistently overhead? It’s not Paris ’68, but it’s certainly not traditional British reserve either. I’d be tempted to say that this is the fury of a generation which, as I’ve written before, has generally been excluded from the political conversation – if, like Iain Dale, I didn’t suspect that this demonstration had been overtaken by a bunch of dubious fringe groups. So, instead, I’ll refer CoffeeHousers to
Social Conservatives vs Fiscal Conservatives, Part CXIV
When Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana, proposed a GOP “truce” on social issues it was clear that a) he was interested in running for the party’s presidential nomination and b) that his moderate views on said social issues would most probably be a significant handicap. Lo and behold, South Carolina’s Jim DeMint – sometimes seen as the senior Tea Party figure in the Senate and a potential 2012 candidate himself – pipes up to claim you “can’t be a fiscal conservative and not be a social conservative.” This would be news to Milton Friedman, among others. (Though you can argue the extent to which Friedman, like Hayek, was
Labour’s Woolas trouble
This Phil Woolas business is fast becoming a rather large problem for Ed Miliband. Those Labour MPs who are organising a fighting fund for Woolas are effectively defying the party leadership. Remarkably, he is on course to raise £50,000 by Friday. There is a whole slew of explanations for why Labour MPs are, to borrow a phrase, standing by Phil. First of all, the idea of judges overturning election results isn’t popular. Second, he’s a well-liked and sociable colleague, and no one who has fought a Lib Dem has much sympathy with their complaints about dirty tactics. But after these explanations, we move into more murky territory. There is still
Tuesday
Stop dreaming of Leo McGarry
The West Wing has an amazing hold over Fleet Street. The TV series has not only taught a generation of British reporters about US politics but even influenced the way that they see the workings of Westminster. Every time centre-right writers think David Cameron is seen as having made a mistake – mistreated his back-benchers, hired a personal photographer or made a foreign policy gaffe – they trot out the same refrain: No 10 needs a powerful Leo McGarry-type chief of staff who can bring the various parts of the operation together from Steve Hilton’s work to Andy Coulson’ operation. An enforcer, a puller-togetherer. I have three arguments against a
Time for Sir Humphrey to retire
The British government is 99.9999999 percent staffed by apolitical Civil Servants with the statistically irrelevant remainder being political appointees. The Sir Humphreys, rather than being pushed around, are very much in charge. Too much in charge. Ministers get only two Special Advisers – or SpAds – each who are placed away from the Minister’s office and in the beginning of the Government’s term often had to fight to even join meetings with their bosses. Some are knowledgeable experts other researchers with little experience beyond a few years in an MPs office. In what looks like a partisan broadcast from Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell, Rachel Sylvester in The Times (£) says
Gordon Brown speaks out about not speaking out
Courtesy of Andrew Sparrow’s ever-superb live blog of the political day, from Brown’s appearance before the Commons development committee: “Let’s not get into this in any detail because it’s a diversion from what we’re doing, and I think it’s unfortunate that this is the sort of question that is the first question to this committee from a member. Let’s put it this way, most former prime ministers have rarely spoken in the house at all. I have decided obviously to concentrate on my constituency work and on some of the work that I’ve been doing internationally. But, at the same time, I have taken a very big interest in some
Monday
Delay in Oldham is good news for the coalition
The longer we go before a date is set for the Oldham East and Saddleworth general election rerun, the better it is for the coalition. This delay allows the Tories to give the Lib Dems a head start; Nick Clegg’s party can pour resources into the seat while the Tories do very little until a date is set. There will be a Tory candidate in this election, but I doubt that a Tory victory would be a cause for celebration at CCHQ or in Number 10. The Tory leadership knows that a bad result for the Lib Dems would make their coalition partners jumpy and make it harder for the
The vanity appointments
If this is what bespoke PR produces, save your money. The Standard alleges that Number 10 has hired 26 ‘civil servants’. These latter-day Sir Humphreys include: a photographer, a stylist, a PR consultant to run the PM’s personal website, a diary keeper for Sam Cam and another addition to the Behavioural Insight Team at the Cabinet Office. Now, I like a bit of behavioural insight as much as the next man. But most, if not all, of these recruits have worked together in CCHQ for years: how much more insight can they glean in their new surroundings? Open up the field, many say, which poses another problem because it may
Ireland’s Last Growth Industry: Pitchforks and Torches
Morgan Kelly’s piece in today’s Irish Times is a brutal and alarming analysis of Ireland’s next nightmare: a mass “strategic default” on mortgages. This could, he suggests, change the politics of the state forever: My stating the simple fact that the Government has driven Ireland over the brink of insolvency should not be taken as a tacit endorsement of the Opposition. The stark lesson of the last 30 years is that, while Fianna Fáil’s record of economic management has been decidedly mixed, that of the various Fine Gael coalitions has been uniformly dismal. As ordinary people start to realise that this thing is not only happening, it is happening to
Gove the bully?
There has been a telling development in the resistance against ‘free schools’ this morning. The Evening Standard reports that Brian Lloyd, the headmaster of a school in Bromley, claims he is being ‘bullied’ by Michael Gove into adopting academy status. In a matter of weeks then, Gove has morphed from ‘miserable pipsqueak’ into Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club – an odd transformation even in caricature. But depicting Gove’s schools revolution as the agent of draconian central government is a cunning ploy by local education establishments. However, test Lloyd’s case and the real picture emerges. Hundreds of parents have contacted the Harris Federation, an academy provider, to terminate Lloyd’s
Just in case you missed them… | 8 November 2010
…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. Fraser Nelson says that diversity is the name of the ‘free schools’ game, and wonders if David Cameron is simply too nice. James Forsyth analyses the Archbishop’s intervention, and urges that British values be taught at school. David Blackburn notes that the welfare battle is remarkably consensual, and says that Douglas Alexander is hiding from some inconvenient truths. And Alex Massie condemns the sympathies of some Celtic fans.
Reconnecting with a left hook
At last the Labour Party is reconnecting with its core working class vote, and this time in an engagingly direct manner. Paul Farrelly, the MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme punched a newspaper seller in the sports and social club of the House of Commons, leaving him with blood pouring down his face. They also grappled on the floor. It is not recorded, but I hope Harriet Harman or Tessa Jowell were also standing by screaming: “Leave ‘im Paul, jus’ leave ‘im – he ain’t bleedin’ worf it.” The victim, Bjorn Hurrell, has said that he will press charges. Over the weekend Mr Farrelly was telling anyone who would listen that he had
Congratulations to Ed Miliband and Justine Thornton
Congratulations to the Labour leader and his partner on the birth of their second son. Miliband will now take two weeks of paternity leave, during which time Harriet Harman will step into his brogues, etc. Here’s the official statement: “Ed and Justine are overjoyed at the birth of their second child and can’t wait to introduce the new arrival to his big brother, Daniel. Both are keen to pass on their thanks to the NHS staff at the hospital.”