Politics

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

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

Congratulations to Samantha and David Cameron

Coffee House congratulations to Samantha and David Cameron on the birth of their baby daughter. Here’s the Downing Street statement: “The Prime Minister and Mrs Cameron are delighted to announce the birth of their fourth child, a baby girl. Both the baby – who was born weighing 6lbs 1oz – and Mrs Cameron are doing very well. The PM and Mrs Cameron would like to thank the doctors and nurses at the hospital for their help and kindness.” No name, as yet – any guesses?

Alex Massie Alex Massie

What Does Ed Miliband Know of Liberalism?

As if to prove the point of this post, Ed Miliband pops up in the Guardian to treat Liberal Democrat voters as though they’re lost sheep who should return to the Labour fold. Apparently the Lib Dem leadership has led the party into government and abandoned its members who should, natch, return home to Labour. Why you would want to swap power for opposition remains mysterious but there you have it. One thing Miliband does make clear, mind you, is that he has no understanding of what the term “liberal” means. )Or, to be fair, perhaps just a different understanding from me.) In Miliband’s World markets are a betrayal of

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Hating on Clegg? Why?

The left can’t forgive him and the right still can’t quite take him seriously but it seems to me that Nick Clegg is playing his hand with some gumption. Plenty of pundits and political enthusiasts – on all sides – still can’t quite take the Liberal Democrats seriously but the days when the party was happy with the comforts of opposition have passed. Clegg, like it or not (and some Lib Dems, being children, don’t) has made his choice and made his party make choices of real consequence for the first time in at least thirty years. That is, and regardless of whether you agree with his choices, no small

Monday

David Blackburn

David Miliband and the graduate tax

As James Kirkup notes, it looks as if David Miliband supports a graduate tax – only ‘looks’ mind, we can’t be sure. The university funding debate is now captive to ill-defined terms – is what is being proposed a tax, a fee or a contribution? David Miliband is hard enough to comprehend as it is, but is he talking about a graduate contribution or a graduate tax? How would either be assessed? Also, does David Willetts make any more sense?

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A very British diarist

The extracts from Chris Mullin’s diaries that ran in the Mail on Sunday this weekend suggest that the second volume will be as good as the first. It contains things that you just couldn’t make up. Tom Watson, for example, told Mullin that he was pushed into rebellion by the knowledge that Cherie Blair had had the Prime Minster’s section of the nuclear bunker redecorated.   But, perhaps, the most telling  story is what happened when Gordon Brown went to the Chinese embassy to sign the book of condolence for victims of the earthquake there: “While Gordon and his party were inside, word reached them that David Cameron was waiting

Peter Hoskin

How the coalition can develop its case for fairness

The coverage in today’s FT is a reminder that one question will pursue the coalition more doggedly than any other: are the cuts fair and “progressive”? This isn’t an issue that Osborne & Co should duck, and not just because they’ve set it as a measure of their own success. There is, to my mind, a moral and economic necessity for measures that benefit the least well-off – and, what’s more, this is terrain which the coalition should feel quite comfortable traversing. Benefit reform, schools reform, lifting low-income earners out of tax: these policies provide a solid foundation for an argument about fairness. If the coalition wants to develop that

Peter Hoskin

Will there be money for free schools?

Some eyecatching numbers in today’s FT about how many free schools we can expect, and when. According to Department of Education officials, there will be about 12 of the new schools in 2011, another 50 in 2012, and around 100 in 2013. The paper dwells on how this falls short of the Tories’ pre-election rhetoric. And it’s true: the original idea was for around 3,000 new schools across nine years. So, 162 schools across three years hardly looks like fluid progress towards that goal. This needn’t be a bad thing, of course. As so often, quality not quantity will determine the lasting success of this reform. But it’s still striking

David Blackburn

Andy Burnham’s faltering campaign

Andy Burnham’s leadership campaign is going the way of all flesh. According to Left Foot Forward’s model, Burnham is set to come fourth behind Ed Balls. A You Gov poll predicted a similarly poor showing for Burnham. I’m surprised by this. Burnham is presentable against a field of gawky rivals. Also, after a faltering start, he has tuned a clear anti-establishment message, crafted to politicise the north south divide and New Labour’s soulless metropolitanism. He reiterates it for today’s Independent, arguing that the party has been run for too long in ‘an elitist, London-centric and controlling way’ and that New Labour was ‘born of a distrust of its members.’ He

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 23 August 2010

… here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. James Forsyth says that the Lib Dems are preparing for a stormy conference, and observes Nick Clegg’s alternative view on the alternative vote. David Blackburn notes that Nick Clegg is not in David Cameron’s league as a performer, and analyses Nick Clegg’s desperate interview with the Telegraph. And Alex Massie introduces some more weekend country.

Peter Hoskin

An important couple of months for Nick Clegg

A week ago, I wrote that Nick Clegg had an important couple of weeks ahead of him. Now, the next couple of months are looking even more significant for the Lib Dem leader. An article in today’s Independent captures the tone of what faces him: in the aftermath of the Charles Kennedy defection talk, Lib Dems have been shocked into demanding more from their leader. As the paper puts it, senior Lib Dems are calling for “more policy ‘wins’ … to demonstrate to doubters in his party that he was delivering on Liberal Decocrat priorities.”  Clegg probably hasn’t faced such sustained internal pressure since he defeated Chris Huhne to the

Sunday

David Blackburn

Clegg to be sidelined from AV campaign

The Sunday Times (£) has news that Nick Clegg will not front his party’s ‘Yes to AV’ campaign next May. This makes sense. The deluge of abuse he received in Bristol yesterday was another indication that many have fallen out love with Clegg. The Lib Dem leadership fear that if Clegg heads the campaign it will descend into a referendum on Clegg and his decision to form a coalition with the Tories. That will probably transpire in any event, especially if Labour opposes the introduction of AV, which it looks set to do. It makes sense to protect the embattled Lib Dem leader from as much collateral damage as possible.

David Blackburn

Ed Balls’ contract with the Labour Party

Ed Balls has produced a contract with the Labour party. Three things strike me about it. First, he emphasizes broader consultation and promises a greater role for activists and local representatives. These political impulses are championed by the coalition – an indication that Cameron and Clegg’s partnership is beginning to change Britain party political landscape. Second, Balls is a proud friend of the trade unions and wants to restore the link between Labour and the unions, perhaps to redress Labour’s chronic financial position. Third, like Ed Miliband, he has adopted Harriet Harman’s goal of having women as 50 percent of the shadow cabinet. Here are his pledges:    ‘These are my pledges to every

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Preparing the ground for conference

Nick Clegg has been taking advantage of his week in charge to do a series of high profile events. But at nearly every one — his speech in London, his town-halls in Newcastle and Bristol — he has encountered Lib Dems wanting to express their anger about the coalition and its policies. As I say in the Mail on Sunday, the worry for the Lib Dem leadership has to be that this is a preview of what they could face at conference. This danger has been compounded by the fact that Clegg will leave it early to attend the UN summit in New York, Cameron will be staying at home

Saturday

The Spectator

Independent thinker

It was refreshing of Lord Pearson to admit, as he resigned as leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party on Tuesday, that he is ‘not much good at party politics’. If only other party heads were so candid. Most politicians are too scared of making a gaffe to say anything so interesting. They would rather prevaricate than commit the political sin of looking bad on television. Not so Lord Pearson, who, in the run-up to the general election earlier this year, admitted to the BBC that he had not read all of Ukip’s manifesto. Lord Pearson’s unusually frank style means that he has been dismissed in the media as an

David Blackburn

Clegg’s no Dave

Nick Clegg faced a stormy Q&A session this afternoon and he isn’t in David Cameron’s league as a performer. He struggled through tough questions on VAT, DfID, a transaction tax, AV and the appointment of Philip Green. His answers were garbled, though he did stick to the government’s script. There was, however, one particularly damaging exchange. Clegg was heckled by a man who thought the coalition ‘lacked a mandate for its rather brutal social policies’, and added that Clegg should get out of the coalition before it was ‘too late.’ Clegg’s response was limply pugilistic. ‘You’ve obviously got an axe to grind.” He went onto say “it’s not in my

David Blackburn

Too close to call Down Under

Australia has spoken, but it will take some time to determine what they’ve said. ABC is reporting that Australia is headed for its first hung parliament since 1940. Exit polls suggested that Julia Gillard’s Labor party would win the most seats; but it now looks as if Tony Abbott’s Coalition has obtained 73 seats, one more than Labor; there are also 4 independents and 1 Green MP to throw into the mix. Conservative Home is following the election in detail. Weak and indecisive government may follow, but the Coalition has the political momentum. 6 months ago Kevin Rudd was, in racing parlance, a dead-cert for re-election. Mounting enmity and severe

David Blackburn

David Miliband looks odds-on

Crack out the nibbles, David: looks like you’re going to win the Labour leadership. An extensive You Gov poll of Labour members and trade unionists puts David Miliband 8 points clear of his brother in the final run-off. This is the first statistical analysis that supports the general feeling in Westminster that Ed Miliband’s charge has calmed. Courtesy of John Rentoul, the results are diluted in this table. UPDATE: Mike Smithson points out that the fieldwork for this poll was carried out between 27-29 July. So I stand corrected: Ed Miliband’s charge has been on the wane for a month.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Clegg’s alternative view on the alternative vote

Nick Clegg’s fortnight in the sun continues with a big interview in today’s Telegraph. What struck me most were not his comments on a graduate tax (which David has blogged about) but those on AV. If the AV referendum is lost, then Clegg will have a very difficult time keeping his party united and in the coalition. But if Clegg makes clear how much AV means to his party, then the chances of it being defeated increases as Labour voters and those dissatisfied with the coalition see it as a chance to bring it down. (Remember we can expect most Tory voters to back first past the post, making the

David Blackburn

Clegg and the dissenters

Nick Clegg understands his party’s misgivings, and he has devoted an interview with the Telegraph to calming his troops with some of the old religion. He will continue to fight for an alternative nuclear deterrent to Trident and he hints that tuition fees will be abolished. He says of the proposed graduate tax or student contribution: “It’s one we think is acceptable. The perception of [tuition fees] is that it imposes a wall of debt as you walk through the entry gates of university. This has a chilling effect on applications. It sends a signal which seems to be discouraging.” Clegg’s comments contradict David Willetts, the universities minister, who has

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The new Labour leader will have to decide whether taunting the Lib Dems is worth it

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics In the last parliament, it was Tory MPs who were the odd ones out at Westminster. While they socialised among themselves, Labour and Liberal Democrat members could regularly be seen in each other’s company. As the prospect of a hung parliament loomed, this fraternising stepped up. By contrast, the few Liberal Democrats who had Tory friends tended to cut off contact as the campaign progressed. One Lib Dem spokesman took his Tory opposite number out to dinner a few days before it began and told him regretfully that he couldn’t see him anymore and that he’d no longer be able to admit how