Politics

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

Wednesday

Matthew Dancona

Relax, comrades: David Miliband is Blairesque, rather than Blairite

One Cabinet minister described it to me with dark wit as the ‘Eden Project’: the idea being that, after a summer of reflection, Gordon Brown is gently or not-so-gently persuaded to retire, in the manner of Anthony Eden, on the grounds of ‘ill health’. To which the PM’s entirely predictable response is: have you seen how many press-ups I can do? The revelation that he has hired a personal trainer may have been clunky, but it was a clear signal that he is not going to oblige those who would like him to quit on medical grounds. I would call the first round of the great Miliband–Brown bout a dead

Caroline-Reid

The end of Euro Disney’s white-knuckle ride?

After years of financial struggle, say Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid, the Paris theme park has finally found a path to profit — just as the European economy hits a downturn Disney and happy endings go hand in hand. But after 16 years, shareholders in Disney’s theme park near Paris are still waiting for their frog to complete its transformation into Prince Charming. In November, Euro Disney is set to announce its first net profit for more than five years — a success achieved not by pixie dust but by hard, old-fashioned graft. Despite an economic slowdown in Europe, things have never looked better for Mickey Mouse’s maison secondaire. Attendance

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Cartooning the War

Via Andrew, a fascinating collection of cartoon maps from the First World War. This one, by the Dutch artist Louis Raemaekers, is, for obvious reasons, my favourite:

Peter Hoskin

Grayling responds

Here are Chris Grayling’s answers to the questions put forward by CoffeeHousers: Marcus Cotswell “What are your plans for reducing the incidence of means-testing in the benefit system, with particular reference to the impact on incentives to save?” None of us would have wanted to see means testing spread as far as it has throughout our benefits and tax credits system under Gordon Brown. However once a system is in place, it’s much more difficult to change things without creating losers amongst the most vulnerable in our society. So initially our focus will be on simplification. I am, for example, extremely concerned about the number of elderly pensioners who are

Peter Hoskin

Thoughts on the Ian Oakley case 

There’s little to say about the Ian Oakley case that Iain Dale didn’t write in his excellent post on the matter earlier.  In which case, I’ll echo Iain by saying that Oakley-style campaigns of intimidation have absolutely no place in politics; that the Tories should investigate why their former candidate for Watford could get away with it for so long; and that the other parties should not try and make political capital out of this. But I would add one other point.  Iain writes that he hopes Oakley “gets what is undoubtedly coming to him”.  Perhaps he’s right to think that.  But we shouldn’t forget that the case has been adjourned until 16 September, until Oakley’s received a psychiatric assessment.  People are saying he’s a

Peter Hoskin

Thanks, Gordon

“Don’t worry,”  the Government told us when Northern Rock was nationalised, “the £100 billion debt is secured against the bank’s assets.” And what assets might they be? As Guido points out in an excellent post this morning, there’s not a whole lot there. And what is there is rapidly being sold off to get government debt levels down.  Hardly the kind of security that taxpayers want. And the picture’s looking even worse now the bank’s announced it lost £500 million in the first half of this year. This is far from being a profitable company. And things can only get worse for them as the credit crunch bites even deeper. The likely result? The burden on the taxpayer

Peter Hoskin

Will Cameron and Osborne divorce over marriage?

I’d recommend you read Rachel Sylvester’s column in today’s Times. In it, she identifies a split between David Cameron and George Osborne on recognising marriage in the tax system. Cameron’s extremely keen on the idea, and wants to reintroduce the married couple’s allowance. Osborne, on the other hand, isn’t and doesn’t. Here’s the key passage: “Mr Osborne disagrees. For him, it is not the State’s job to tell people how to live their lives. He would prefer to use scarce Treasury resources to support parents, whatever family structure they are in, than to reward a childless millionaire hedge fund manager who happens to be married to a lady who likes to lunch. He is

Monday

Peter Hoskin

More Kremlinology

Those readers who are tiring of the constant stream of Labour leadership speculation would be best advised to look away now. For the rest of you, here’s a quote from Andy Burnham, the culture secretary, speaking on Sky News earlier: “I’m fully behind the Prime Minister. Actually, what I’m talking about today [investment in British sport] was Gordon Brown’s own decision in one of his last budgets as Chancellor. Gordon has a record of taking far-sighted and long term decisions that were good for this country.” Of course, this may be nothing more than yet another (meaningless?) message of support from yet another minister. But it might reveal something else as well. You

Peter Hoskin

Old habits die hard

We all know about Brown’s control-freakery when he was at the Treasury.  And that he maintains a tight grip on matters economic from No.10 is equally common knowledge.  But I still find stories like this one in today’s Standard grimly amusing.  This quote from a “Whitehall official” just about sums it up: “Is there an economic plan [coming from Gordon Brown]? We keep reading about it in the press but, if there is one, we have not been told about it or shown it. Frankly, nobody seems to be very sure what is going on. Presumably the Chancellor is involved but even that is not absolutely clear.”At the risk of

Peter Hoskin

The Sunday Essay: a reminder to send in your submissions

We’re introducing a new feature to Coffee House – the Sunday Essay.   Each Sunday, we’ll post an essay by one of our readers, on any political, cultural or sporting topic.  The first essay will appear on Sunday, 10 August. If you’d like your writing to be considered, just e-mail an article of between 500 and 1500 words to me at phoskin @ spectator.co.uk  – the Coffee House team will pick out the best submission each week, and post it on the website the following Sunday.  It doesn’t matter whether you’re an MP, a member of the policy wonk world, or have nothing to do with politics whatsoever – all submissions will be read and evaluated. So,

Peter Hoskin

CoffeeHousers’ Wall, 4 August – 10 August 

Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall.  For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – provided your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no topic, so there’s no need to stay ‘on topic’ – which means you’ll be able to debate with each other more freely and extensively. There’s also no constraint on the length of what you write – so, in effect, you can become Coffee House bloggers. Anything’s fair game – from political stories in your local

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 4 August 2008

…here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk:     Daniel Korski says that Britain needs to support a European defence initiative.  Fraser Nelson points out that curbing drinking by taxing alcopops isn’t as straightforward as it looks, and suggests that Blair should have stopped Brown from getting to No10.  Peter Hoskin explores the ramifications of the leaked Blair memo, and wonders what the impact of Polly Toynbee’s praise for David Miliband will be.  And Clive Davis laments the quality of the British Summer.

Peter Hoskin

The Blairites rally to Miliband’s cause

One of the more startling aspects of the nascent Labour leadership struggle is just how quickly it’s dissolved into a Blairite-Brownite feud. Of course, it helps that David Milband – the key, would-be challenger – was one of Blair’s most trusted lieutenants. Then that Blair memo appeared, to stoke the flames of internecine struggle. And now the papers report that Blairites such as Charles Clarke and Stephen Byers are drafting a series of policy challenges and proposals – their aim being to keep up pressure on Brown, and boost David Miliband’s cause. The Blairites will be loving every minute of it. After Brown’s decade as Chancellor – during which he did everything he could to

Sunday

Daniel Korski

Helping Europeans on defence is good policy

European Union countries keep half a million more men and women under arms than the United States. But 70 percent of these troops cannot operate outside of their national borders and only 6,000 of them—0.3 percent of the total—are currently deployed on European Security and Defence Policy operations. The problem, as my colleague at the European Council on Foreign Relations Nick Whitney argues, is that European governments are squandering their already small defence budgets on outdated Cold War style-forces. Tony Blair hit upon European defence as an issue where the Labour government could lead, pursuing both prestige and power in the EU. He helped the EU ditch its fantasies about

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Taxing alcopops: the Australian experience 

Taxing alcopops is one of Tory ideas designed to stop youth drinking. “They’ve done this kind of thing in Germany and Australia and it has had dramatic effects,” George Osborne told Andrew Marr last March. Just how dramatic is now clear, with the evidence now in from Australia. Jacking up pre-mixed drink prices by 70% cut their consumption by 30%, but pushed bottled spirit sales up by 46% as kids mixed their own. And – surprise, surprise – the people pour far more generous measures than they were getting with the Bacardi Breezers. Result: a sharp 10% hike in the amount of alcohol consumed in Australia, the precise opposite of what was

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

How different things would be if Blair had sacked Brown

As the Blair memo shows us today, the grinning charlatan had the right idea. He stayed too long, and as a result his own popularity was destroyed. But he knew how to fight the Tories. If his “trust schools” idea had not been torn to shreds by Labour rebels (who were directed by Brown), Michael Gove would not have an education policy. If Blair had kept his nerve with welfare reform in 1998, then he would have used the boom years to do what Chris Grayling will do in office – and the Tories would not have a welfare policy. The Blairites knew (after 2001) that the country wants more power in

Peter Hoskin

Has Harman ruled herself out?

Harriet Harman has been one of those mooted to succeed Gordon Brown.  But here’s what she says in today’s News of the World (article not online, as far as I can tell): “When you face these kinds of global problems you need as prime minister someone who is respected … Gordon Brown is the right person for the job.” With a leadership struggle on the horizon, there’s a danger of reading too much into what the main players say.  And, as James suggested a few days ago, Harman could be holding back for strategic reasons.  But, still, this message of support sounds as unambiguous as they get.  Certainly more unambiguous than anything David

Peter Hoskin

Will the money men help Miliband’s cause?

The Miliband leadership bid is picking up steam.  According to today’s Sunday Telegraph, his team are already drafting the Foreign Secretary’s speech for the upcoming Labour conference – and it’s set to offer an “alternative vision of Labour’s future” to the one put forward by Brown.  All fascinating stuff.  But, in the same Sunday Telegraph article, it’s this passage that jumped out at me: “Allies of the Foreign Secretary signalled that wealthy private individuals who had stopped giving Labour money under Mr Brown were likely to be persuaded to reopen their cheque books if Mr Miliband became leader.” If this is true, the money men really could play a crucial role

Peter Hoskin

GB demolished by TB

Earlier this week, the expectation was the the Brownite attack dogs would set about demolishing David Miliband in today’s papers.  But – as I outlined here – they were soon brought to heel by Brown, on Stephen Carter’s advice.  So what’s in today’s paper’s instead?  Answer: a whole load of trouble for our Prime Minister. The worst for him is in the Mail on Sunday.  They’ve managed to get their hands on what is alleged to be a memo sent out by Tony Blair after last year’s Labour conference.  In it, he lauches a scathing assault on Brown and his premiership.  Our Dear Leader is accused of being a “lamentable” and “vacuous” prime minister, who’s “junked the [Blairite] policy agenda