Politics

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

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

A new inflationary peak

So the latest ONS data puts May’s inflation at 3.3 percent – the highest figure since the current measure was introduced in 1997, and higher even than the 3.2 percent that many pessimistic analysts were predicting. Obviously, it’s bad news for consumers – if the official inflation figure is this high, you can be sure that the “real” inflation of day-to-day life is cripplingly bad.  But worse is set to come.  As we reported on Trading Floor, the CBI are predicting that inflation will remain above 3 percent for the rest of the year, and may even hit 3.8 percent.  Politically, one thing to look out for is how this affects relations between the Bank and the Treasury.  As Fraser wrote last

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Tell Brown to abandon ratification

Neil O’Brien and Richard North have submitted a petition to the Downing Street website stating that: We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Respect the result of the Irish referendum and abandon the attempt to ratify the Lisbon Treaty You can sign it here. If hundreds of thousands of people put their names to it, then it will refocus media attention on the story.

Peter Hoskin

Richards outlines the Westminster argument

Even if you don’t agree with his conclusions, Steve Richards is always worth reading. His article in today’s Independent is a case in point. It largely lambasts the actions of David Davis, but – in doing so – it provides by far the best account of what Richards calls “the unfashionable ‘Westminster Village’ wing of the argument”. It’s an account that Team Davis can’t afford to ignore, as it identifies most of the questions that they’ll have to answer in the run up to this by-election. The most interesting of these – as I see it – is contained in these two paragraphs: “Similarly, single-issue by-elections are a distortion, the

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

And the winner is… | 16 June 2008

We got lots of good responses to our request for ideas as to how David Davis can keep his cause in the news. The champagne goes to a Coffee Houser called James for his suggestion of an Inconvenient Truth-style documentary; it has already caught the eye of one Tory staffer. But I’d also like to give a honourable mentions to Drew for his suggestion of a Haltemprice Freedom March echoing the Jarrow Crusade. James and Drew, if you post your addresses in the comments—we won’t publish them—we’ll pop your prizes in the post. Many thanks to everyone who took part, the suggestions by James and Drew are reprinted in full

Peter Hoskin

Davis to keep shtum during PMQs

Three Line Whip are reporting that we won’t hear a rousing speech or probing question from David Davis during Wednesday’s PMQs.  It looks like that champagne will be staying firmly in the the Coffee House cellar, then… 

The Skimmer

Murdoch steps down from the fight

In the end Rupert Murdoch decided he didn’t want a fight with the Tories after all, so he pulled the plug on Kelvin MacKenzie’s bid to give David Davis a run for his money in the upcoming by-election. The whole plan had been conceived as a terrific wheeze at the 40th birthday party of Sun editor Rebekah Wade. Murdoch was in cavalier form and said to MacKenzie, his favourite former Sun editor, that he would bankroll a MacKenzie bid to ensure that Davis was given a real fight. MacKenzie was much taken with the idea and beetled round to BBC1’s This Week, where he told Andrew Neil the news on

Peter Hoskin

Anti-waste campaigner to stand against Davis

The Guardian’s reporting that Kelvin MacKenzie probably won’t run in the Haltemprice & Howden by-election after all.  Perhaps a sign that Murdoch and Co. don’t want to pick a fight with the Tories?  But Leo McKinstry has just contacted Coffee House to confirm that another candidate will be standing against Davis – one David Craig, the author of a book about Government waste.  Accordingly, Craig will be running on an anti-waste platform.  Here’s his message for voters: 1. The 42 days issue is not important to most ordinary people as we are unlikely to be affected by it 2. What is important to normal taxpayers is that we are governed by a bunch of wasteful and greedy

Peter Hoskin

David Davis states his case

Over at Conservative Home, David Davis sets out his reasons for resigning as an MP.  He also provides details of the website he’s launching tomorrow, and of how people can help out with his campaign.  Well worth a read.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What should David Davis ask Brown?

Ben Brogan reports that David Davis has put off resigning as an MP. The word in Westminster is that he is waiting until Wednesday as he intends to go out with a question to Gordon Brown at PMQs. (Considering that the Speaker refused to let Davis announce that he was standing down as an MP in the chamber, he really should—in the interests of fair play—call on Davis on Wednesday.) This is probably Davis’s last moment when he will be in full command of the news agenda and a killer question would keep the issue in the headlines for the next few days. Leave your suggested questions in the comments,

Peter Hoskin

Reducing the cost of living should be the Tories’ priority

Hm. I’m not sure about Cameron’s ‘green’ speech today. Not because I have anything hugely against the green agenda per se. But I am concerned about how the current Government’s environmental taxes have trickled downwards and hit the public hard in the pocket. Of course, Cameron says that he is too. Although this passage, in particular, could create the opposite impression: “I understand that right now the cost of living is the number one concern for Britain’s families. And I understand, with that backdrop, why people might think fighting climate change seems a costly diversion. But those who say we’ve got to choose either the environment or the economy, who say, ‘look, we can’t tackle

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

A time for choosing

The Irish “no” vote just gets better and better. The Plan B, as Wolfgang Müünchau says in today’s Financial Times, probably is to carry on without Ireland and create what many countries have wanted for some time: a two tier Europe. So the obvious question is: how do we sign up? Suddenly, Brown’s decision to ratify the Lisbon Treaty becomes more than just a futile act of arrogance. It would wrongly place Britain amongst the enthusiasts, whereas the British public’s position is identical to Ireland’s: yes to EU, no to Lisbon. If this is an option, it is one that British government is honour bound to seize as this is,

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 16 June 2008

…here are some of the posts made over the weekend on Spectator.co.uk Coffee House is looking for interns. James Forsyth sets a Coffee House challenge, and says the Tories should accuse Brown of perpetrating a fraud against the public. Fraser Nelson discovers whether David Davis’ actions are unprecedented. Peter Hoskin wonders whether Brown realises that the Lisbon Treaty is dead. Henrietta Bredin congratulates Mark Elder on his knighthood. Stephen Pollard takes on Oliver Kamm over the Lisbon Treaty. Melanie Phillips thinks the response to David Davis’ resignation is an example of “the replacement of reason by emotion”. Clive Davis bids farewell to the TV critics. And Americano reports on the

Peter Hoskin

Will the Government help David Davis?

On Saturday, James asked CoffeeHousers to suggest how David Davis can keep his campaign in the news. He’s doing alright so far – most of the major Monday columnists have penned Davis-themed articles this morning. But I have a sneaking suspicion that it will be Government blunders which ultimately keep the former shadow home secretary in the headlines. Take today’s papers, for instance. What news on the Home Secretary? Well, she’s been summoned before the Commons Home Affairs Committee to explain not one – but two – embarrassing document-loss scandals that have come to light during the past week. These appearances – and any similar blunders in future – can

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

Has Brown realised that the Lisbon Treaty is dead?

So far, the Government have acted as pig-headed as we expected them to over the Irish referendum result. Rather than seeing it as a sign that the public may have very real concerns about the Lisbon Treaty, Brown and Co. have merely used the opportunity to get even cosier with their EU counterparts. However, there are signs this morning that the Government may be wavering in some way. The Sunday Times reports: “No.10 admits EU treaty is finished”. And, on Marr this morning, David Miliband said: “There can be no question of bulldozing, bamboozling or ignoring the Irish vote … But the rules are clear, if all 27 states do

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Another set of big poll leads for the Tories

Two new polls this morning show the Tories with massive leads over Labour.  The Independent reports that the Tories were ahead 48-26 in the fieldwork for their poll which was carried out before Davis resignation but that dropped back to 41-26 after the shock announcement. However, as Anthony Wells notes the sample sizes involved are so small it is hard to draw any firm conclusions from this over whether Davis’ actions have hurt the party or not. The YouGov poll for The Sunday Times which has the Tories on 47, Labour on 25 and the Liberal Democrats on 18 shows that Brown has no chance of recovery unless the economic

James Forsyth James Forsyth

If there is no Labour candidate, can Labour MPs campaign for Davis?

Bob Marshall-Andrews, the maverick Labour MP, has offered to campaign for David Davis, The Observer reports. Marshall-Andrews has encouraged other Labour MPs to join him and it is not hard to imagine a few of the other 42 day rebels doing so. This raises an interesting question, if there is no Labour candidate is it a breach of party rules to campaign for the candidate of another party? There is still no official word on whether or not Labour will field a candidate. Reportedly, Gordon Brown thinks that Labour should leave Davis to twist in the wind and decry the whole exercise as an expensive stunt while Geoff Hoon, the

Saturday

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The Spectator’s Notes | 14 June 2008

It would be a lie to say that I feel sorry for the Tory MEPs who have been attacked for paying their staff allowances to companies of which they or members of their family are members, but they are not the most at fault. Giles Chichester, for example, and Den Dover, did at least follow the instruction which came from David Cameron after the Derek Conway affair: they disclosed. The information being used against them is information they have published. More interesting are those who are refusing to disclose. Roughly, the way the European Parliament’s system for staff allowances works is that an MEP can have the full amount (£15,000

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The View from Beyond Westminster Bridge

Since I wrote this, I’m hardly likely to disagree with the thrust of Matthew Parris’s column in The Times today, am I? I distrust clichés such as “Westminster village”, but there are occasions when they fit. Within the space of an afternoon a relatively small number of people – MPs, broadcasters, journalists, party hacks – gathered within a relatively confined space and, communicating mostly with each other, worked each other up into a clear, sharp and settled judgment on the question of the hour. By now it was almost unanimous. The judgment was conveyed electronically to the offices of the national press, bouncing back at Westminster in the form of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tories should accuse Brown of perpetrating a fraud against the public  

The Irish no vote provides the Tories with a golden opportunity to make Gordon Brown’s trustworthiness the defining political issue of the summer. Brown stood in 2005 on a manifesto that promised a vote on the European Constitution he then reneged on that promise; the Lisbon Treaty is nowhere near different enough from the constitution to justify going back on that manifesto commitment. When Brown did this he was popular enough to ride out the ensuing storm. Now, the situation is very different. David Cameron’s statement on Friday night was strong, accusing the government of the “height of arrogance” for pushing on with ratification. But on Wednesday when the House of

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A Coffee House challenge

The split between the Westminster Village and the public at large over whether David Davis’s resignation was a moment of madness or an act of profound principle is rapidly becoming the story. Matthew Parris turns his attention to it with his typical eloquence in his column in The Times today. Most people in Westminster think that Davis has made a huge mistake because they can not see how he keeps 42 days and his fight against it in the news 10, let alone 100, days from now. Indeed, his resignation has already been eclipsed as a story by the Irish no vote. I suspect that the fuel strike will push