Politics

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

Friday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

A couple of clarifications

Hugo Rifkind today picks up on a point in my Cameron interview where I describe how he has the ring tone from 24 on his phone. “‘It’s an in joke,’ Cameron says, impenetrably”. If this sounds baffling, it is my fault. First it’s not the theme tune but that very specific telephone ring on the CTU, with which aficionados will be familiar. Also, it’s not just Cameron but a few of his staff who have the ringtone. Anyone who has seen 24 where Jack Bauer is seconds away from death or the world collapsing and finds a fresh disaster following every triumph, will understand why Cameron sympathises with the character.

Peter Hoskin

America looks to Cameron

You know an Opposition leader’s doing well when he makes waves across the pond. And – if an important article in today’s New York Times is anything to go by – Cameron’s succeeding on exactly that front. It’s titled ‘The Conservative Revival’, and outlines what the GOP can learn from Project Cameron. Here’s a hefty assortment of the key points, but I’d suggest you read the whole thing: “Today, British conservatives are on the way up, while American conservatives are on the way down…   …The flow of ideas has changed direction. It used to be that American conservatives shaped British political thinking. Now the influence is going the other way.   The British conservative

Peter Hoskin

Will Ken work with Boris?

Ken discusses the lessons of May 1 in an article for the Guardian today. There’s not much there, beyond talk about how he performed better than Labour did nationally, and about how he had the best policies for London. In which case, the real point of interest may be at the end of the article. Will Ken be working with Boris, as some have predicted? Don’t count on it: “Amid the worst electoral defeat for 40 years, even Labour’s best electoral performance in the country could not stop London entering into a period of Tory decline. But as that decline proceeds, a new progressive alliance will be forged, which will

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Referenda Agenda

Steve Richards in the Independent today: I wonder still if the referendum will ever be held in Scotland. Precedent suggests something or other will get in the way. What a titanic moment it was in British politics when in 1991 John Major persuaded his Chancellor, Ken Clarke, to support a referendum on the Euro. Mr Clarke has regretted conceding the ground ever since, one of those moments when the Euro-sceptics proclaimed a significant victory. Of course the referendum was never held, neither by the Conservatives, nor by Labour who also offered one. As Richards says, this was a significant victory for the euro-sceptic cause. It didn’t just commit the Tories

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Westminster Moves in for the Kill

At the weekend a friend observed that Gordon Brown isn’t the man my pal had thought he was. In unison two other friends chirped up: “but he’s exactly the man I thought he was”. Poor Broon, he’s taking a terrible beating these days. Here’s Simon Hoggart in the Guardian today: It was awful, and it’s getting worse. When I was at secondary school we had a temporary teacher for a term. He was hopeless. There is no group more cruel than young teenage boys, except young teenage girls, and we treated him unmercifully. At the end of term a friend and I saw him cycling down our street, and, separated

Peter Hoskin

A 26 point lead for the Tories

The Sun have just released the results of a YouGov poll, and it gives the Tories an astonishing 26 point lead over Labour.  The numbers in full: Tories, 49 percent; Labour, 23 percent; Lib Dems, 17 percent.  That’s Labour’s worst poll showing since records began in the 1930s. There’s not really much to add – the numbers speak for themselves. Suffice to say that this will pile even more pressure on our beleaguered Prime Minister.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What will Gordon do if the US strikes Iran’s insurgent training camps?

David Ignatius has a great column in The Washington Post this morning looking at the international events that could shake up the presidential race. One of the things that he considers is the US bombing the facilities that the Iranians are using to train fighters before sending them into Iraq; there’s a significant chance that this will happen this summer. If President Bush were to order this it would be immensely controversial. His critics would accuse him of risking all out war with Iran and Obama would almost certainly condemn it. But it would also have huge ramifications for British politics: what would Gordon Brown say?  Brown would be walking

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Economist: Is Gordon Brown doomed?

The Economist sells shares in Brown tomorrow – its front cover will ask ‘Is Gordon Doomed?’ and its lead article will pretty much say that he is. “Mr Brown can scarcely complain about disloyalty, for he helped to inculcate a taste for plots and mutinies during his long march to Downing Street,” it states. Unless Brown gets a grip, “he will go down in history as the worst sort of political failure: the sort who schemes to get a job and then has no idea what to do with it.” Read the Economist leader here (pdf)

Peter Hoskin

The charm offensive continues

Oh dear. Another unnerving TV-appearance from Gordon Brown today – this time on ‘This Morning’ with Fern Britton (you can watch it here). As Britton says, it’s “an opportunity for [Brown] to be a human being”…   The ITV morning chat-show may not be known for rigorous political interviewing, but Britton is surprisingly tenacious. When Brown’s talking about “political instability in the Middle East” being behind rising fuel prices, she interjects: “Yes, but how much tax do you put on the fuel?” Brown’s taken aback, and mumbles, “if you take the £1.10 [a litre cost of petrol], then [fuel duty’s] a high part of it.”  Doesn’t he know the actual figure? As Fraser notes here,

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Boris’ new recruits

The latest hire for Boris is Patience Wheatcroft, former Sunday Telegraph editor. She will lead a “forensic audit panel” into exactly what Mayor Ken got up to. The rest of the board are good people: Stephen Greenhalgh, leader of low-taxing Hammersmith Council, who will have a fair idea of where bodies are buried, and ditto Edward Lister, Leader of Wandsworth Council. It may sound daft having a journalist lead this, but Wheatcroft’s appointment makes more sense than first meets the eye. I used to work for her when she was Business Editor at The Times and she specialised in taking company accounts to pieces. She had a rare gift for

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Cameron answers your questions

As mentioned the other day, I recently interviewed David Cameron for the lastest issue of the Spectator.  We’ve just uploaded that article onto the website – you can read it here.  But he also answered your questions, and at some length.  I grouped together many which were on the same theme. To business:-   So, why Follow Gordon Brown’s spending plans?   * Last Thursday showed that the country doesn’t believe Brown. Why does he together with George Osborne still believe that Brown’s spending plans are sustainable ? (Gavin, 10.22am) * Now the Tories have proved they are a credible opposition and the public is listening to what you say

Peter Hoskin

Referendum-gate: the fallout

So, Wendy Alexander’s standing firm in the face of calls for her to quit. Not good, says Alan Cochrane in today’s Telegraph. His article is among the angriest you’ll read all year – a perfect kickstart to the day. Here are some highlights: “Wendy Alexander has landed Labour and Gordon Brown into one of the biggest political messes this observer has ever witnessed in 30 years of political reporting. And over a subject that should be at the very top – indeed is, at least as far as the Prime Minister is concerned – of the party’s list of priorities: the maintenance of the United Kingdom. But this lady has

Wednesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Wendy’s Referendum Problem

A reader has chided me for failing to publish more political comment lately. But what more – despite the acres of newsprint devoted to the matter – has there been to say about the Obama-Clinton match-up that was not said six weeks ago? Precious little. She still can’t win; her continuing campaign makes Obama’s job in November more difficult. Meanwhile, in Scotland Wendy Alexander, the pocket-sized Scottish Labour leader, announces that she’s fed-up with Alex Salmond winning all the headlines month after month and, consequently, says she’s quite happy to have a referendum on independence after all. This, despite constant assertions that it was the last thing the country wanted

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Taxing Questions

From the Adam Smith Institute: Once again, Ireland seems to be the destination of choice for companies driven out of the UK by high taxes. Last week, reports Dominic White, WPP, Glaxo, International Power and AstraZeneca all hinted that they could follow Shire and United Business Media’s plans to switch domicile to Ireland. As the ASI point out, Ireland offers a corporation tax rate of 12.5%, compared to the UK’s 30%. Attractive indeed. But what of Scotland you ask? Well, the SNP is a hybrid party as any analysis of its taxation policy reveals: Alex Salmond looks longingly to Ireland and dreams of a low tax Scotland that will be

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Gordon’s Folly Compounds Wendy’s

Silly me for daring to presume anything competent could emerge from Downing Street these days. And, yes, it was reckless to suppose that the Prime Minister might acknowledge that the question of Labour support for a referendum should be decided by the Labour leadership in Scotland. That, of course, would be the sensible thing. But here’s how the BBC Brian Taylor describes the days developments: So where’s your referendum now? At Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown offered an entirely different interpretation of the scenario offered by Wendy Alexander. According to Mr Brown, Ms Alexander had not demanded an immediate referendum on Scottish independence. “That”, he opined in response to David

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Who Governs Scotland?

Not to harp on about this too much, but this item from Benedict Brogan’s (excellent) blog deserves a response: About 10 years ago a friend and I were discussing Scotland with Tony Blair. We asked him who was the leader of the Scottish Labour party. He looked puzzled and said “Donald Dewar?” Alastair Campbell, who was there, shot back “No, you are”. My friend reminded me of the exchange earlier today as we tried to make sense of the row over the Wendyendum. Ms Alexander leads the Labour group in the Scottish parliament, but Gordon Brown is the leader of the Labour party, and that includes Scotland. And constitutional affairs

Peter Hoskin

Is Cameron starting to tackle Brownies? 

When Fraser asked for CoffeeHousers’ questions for Cameron yesterday, a number of you asked: “Why do you let Gordon Brown get away with his Brownies?”  (For the uninitiated, Brownies are the little lies that our Prime Minister tells on a regular basis).  We’ll be putting up the Tory leader’s full responses tomorrow, but – on the Brownies front – the gist of his answer was: “Fair point.  I’ll try and put this right.” So it’s noteworthy that Cameron may, today, have started to do just that.  As Sky are reporting, he’s sent a letter to Gordon Brown asking him to explain his barefaced denial of Wendy Alexander’s call for a referendum on Scottish independence.  Here are snippets of

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The word from Scotland

Brown’s PMQs performance, claiming Wendy Alexander in Scotland does not want an independence referendum, has baffled Scottish Labour. I call my old contacts and am told a shocking, but not surprising story.  Wendy Alexander asked Brown a while ago to approve her plan to call for an early independence referendum. Like Madame Tussauds, she didn’t get a reply. He dithered and he delayed. She figured McBroon didn’t care any more (sob!) and went ahead regardless. Just like that Miliband speech a while ago, Brown only wakes up to its significance when he reads it in the papers. Then tries to stuff the genie back in the bottle today, claiming she didn’t

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Brown should embrace the fight over the Union

Labour appears split over whether or not it wants a referendum on Scottish independence, Wendy Alexander is in favour but Gordon appears to be against. But I actually think Gordon should want such a referendum as it provides him with an opportunity, albeit a risky one, to get back on track. Here’s my thinking: 1). The pro-Union forces would win: The latest poll shows that only one in four voters support independence and being associated with a winning side would be good for Brown right now. 2). It would allow Brown to show his passion: A large part of Brown’s problem at the moment is that he appears to stand