Politics

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

Monday

Peter Hoskin

Clegg keeps digging

As James Kirkup reports over at Three Line Whip, Nick Clegg’s still getting himself into a “pickle” over Europe.  Here are the three key points which came out of his media briefing earlier today: “Yes, [Clegg]’s put his MPs on a three line whip not to vote at all when the Commons decides on a Tory bid for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. But no, he won’t say if he’ll sack the (significant) number of front-benchers who may well defy him on that: ‘I’m allowed to decide at that time.’ And no, he (probably) won’t allow his side to back a clever two-question amendment being worked up by Ian

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Neck-and-neck

If betting matters as a political indicator, Boris is neck-and-neck with the self-destructing Ken. Here are the latest odds from Ladbrokes: Ken Livingstone —- 5/6 Boris Johnson —- 5/6 Brian Paddick —- 16/1 John Bird —- 100/1 Sian Berry —- 100/1

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 3 March 2008

Be sure to check out some of the posts made over the weekend: Peter Hoskin offers his cultural picks, and reflects on Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party Spring Conference. Fraser Nelson investigates whether David Cameron is the British Barack Obama. And over at Americano, James Forsyth reports from Texas on why Obama may have already won that state’s primary, and on how Team Clinton’s having a bit of fun. 

Peter Hoskin

We want a referendum

I Want a Referendum have released the results to the referenda they conducted in ten marginal constituencies. The numbers say it all. 150,000 people registered their votes. 88 percent of them want a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. And 89 percent don’t think the Treaty should be approved by Parliament. There can be no clearer message for the Government and the Lib Dems. They’ve both underestimated the strength of public feeling on this. And we can expect numerous MPs to beat a nervous retreat from their parties’ ludicrous positions, ahead of Wednesday’s vote on a Conservative amendment calling for a referendum. In the meantime, it’s all more grist for Cameron’s

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Blair more popular than Bush at Texas Rodeo

I spent this afternoon at the rodeo talking to voters about the race here in Texas. What was most striking, though, was how even those Bush voters from 2004 who are disappointed in their man still have huge affection and respect for Tony Blair; his popularity here really is something to behold. I’ve written up a fuller report on the whole thing on Americano.     

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Will the real Dave Cameron please stand up?

The British political and media classes are, naturally enough, obsessed with and fascinated by the American presidential election process. That leads to the temptation (always yielded to) of trying to find parallels betwene American politicians and their British counterparts (I also do this, obviously). Sometimes, however, this has comical consequences. Thus this morning, Benedict Brogan asks if David Cameron is a British Jimmy Carter even as Fraser Nelson wonders if he’s actually a British Barack Obama. Now, in fairness both Brogan and Nelson are latching on to Cameron’s efforts to “run against Westminster” and offer himself as an uncorrupted “agent of change”. I suppose if you think the Tory glass

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

Tired rhetoric

Gordon Brown’s speech to the Labour Party Spring Conference was hardly inspiring stuff.  In fact, Rosa Prince tells you all you need to know over at Three Line Whip: “Theme: Elitist Tories want cuts in public services and a referendum on the past (i.e. Europe) – Labour is delivering on opportunity for all.” Here – for intrepid readers – is Brown’s version of that:   “So let me explain why only the Labour Party has the seriousness of purpose, the hunger for change, the passion for spreading opportunity,  the mission of justice for all that can meet the rising ambitions of this new age. Why? Because the Conservative Party have already confessed 10 billion

Peter Hoskin

A mixed bag

Today’s YouGov / Telegraph poll places the Tories on 40 percent (down 1 on last month); Labour on 33 percent (unchanged); and the Lib Dems on 16 percent (unchanged). Like most other recent polls, it’s something of a mixed bag for the Tories.  As well as their healthy(ish) overall lead, they’re also ahead on the economy and on the question of which party leader would make the best Prime Minister.  But the worry for Team Cameron is that many of these leads are decreasing, whilst opinion of the Goverment is stabilising.  In the wake of Northern Wreck, more might have been expected. To their credit, the Tories seem to be acting.  In

The Spectator

Order, order

The Spectator on why the Speaker is further besmirching the reputation of Parliament  The Speakership of the House of Commons has been aptly described as ‘the linchpin of the whole chariot’. This is why the lamentable conduct of Michael Martin, who has occupied the Speaker’s Chair since 2000, is more than just another parliamentary ‘sleaze’ story. By his sheer stubbornness, Mr Martin is behaving with epic selfishness and is besmirching the already sullied institution whose probity he, more than anyone else, is expected to protect. The wheels of the chariot are at risk of spinning off. This week the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, ruled that there would not

Eric Ellis

Whatever happened to Sir Richard Evans?

I had read — admittedly in the Guardian — that one needed to count one’s fingers after shaking hands with Dick Evans. Anecdotes about the super-salesman who secured UK plc’s biggest and most controversial contract, the $80 billion Al-Yamamah arms deal with the Saudis that saved British Aerospace (now BAE Systems), suggested a crafty Lancastrian who has despots for breakfast, or at least to breakfast, while separating them from their defence budgets. In his 37 years at BAE and its state-owned predecessors, Sir Richard Evans — the knighthood came in John Major’s last year in office — built a prodigious contact book of warriors from Pretoria to Peoria, while staring

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Department of Counting

Mike Crowley tracks Hillary’s latest desperate cry for help: “Democrats, the majority of whom have favored Hillary in the primary contests held to date…” Mike wonders how she can claim this given that Obama has won more votes than Clinton so far: but of course caucus states don’t count. Besides “primary” of course, the key word here is “Democrats” because obviously independents voting in Democratic primaries don’t count either since, naturally, none of them are going to vote for Obama in November whereas they will all magically gravitate to the candidate they have already rejected. Especially since Hillary is* going to be up against a Republican whom independents famously dislike…

Peter Hoskin

A litmus test for Cameron’s leadership?

Iain Dale flags up a letter in today’s Telegraph written by 27 of the 2005 intake of Tory MPs.  They’re asking for the sanctions that MPs face to be tightened, and even suggest the introduction of US-style recall mechanisms: “…we do think that consideration should be given to creating a recall mechanism, similar to that used in some US states, to enable constituents to vote on whether they remove their MP during the course of a Parliament. For example, in California in 2003, a petition was organised calling for the recall of the governor, Gray Davis. Once it was established that a sufficient number of electors had signed the petition,

Peter Hoskin

Going further on welfare reform

James Purnell yesterday confirmed that David Freud-style welfare reform will be implemented by the Government. And now Frank Field writes a comment piece for the Telegraph, warning his Labour compatriots not to get complacent on the issue. As usual, he’s well-worth listening to: “It is not the first time that Labour has trumpeted its credentials and objectives on welfare reform. The electorate won’t be so easily beguiled this time. With an election unlikely to take place until the very end of the parliament, voters will want to see results rather than listen to brave rhetoric… …But to match fine rhetoric the government will have to be far more radical than

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Department of Political Slogans and Charlatanry

If you need a quick explanation for why Hillary Clinton is about to lose to Barack Obama, consider that her chief strategist is Mark Penn and that he boasts of this: I have won about 70 major elections around the world, including many presidents, and I devised the simple message for Tony Blair in his last successful campaign: ‘Forward, Not Back.’ That’s why Mr Penn is paid the big bucks! (More than $4m from the Hillary campaign alone, IIRC). “Good Stuff, Not Bad Stuff!” But if he thinks this is why ACL Blair won the last election then he’s even more deluded than the average bloated political consultant. Also: American

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Parliament of Fools

Further to this and this, I see, thanks to Mr Worstall, that no fewer than 72 Members of Parliament have put their name to this Early Day Motion: EDM 982 FIDEL CASTRO 20.02.2008 Burgon, Colin That this House commends the achievements of Fidel Castro in securing first-class free healthcare and education provision for the people of Cuba despite the 44 year illegal US embargo of the Cuban economy; notes the great strides Cuba has taken during this period in many fields such as biotechnology and sport in both of which Cuba is a world leader; acknowledges the esteem in which Castro is held by the people and leaders of Africa,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

What Cameron should learn from Blair’s experience

When historians look back at the Blair era, one of the things that will puzzle them is the fact that Tony Blair never attempted anything truly radical when his popularity was at its height. For instance, I’m sure if he’d called a referendum on the euro—which he wanted to join—early on in his tenure, he would have won. One of the reasons Blair was so cautious was his belief that the Tories were not dead but only sleeping. Steve Richards has a great example of how concerned the Blairites were of a Tory revival in his column today: “I remember having a cup of tea with Blair during the first term, when

Peter Hoskin

Who is Gordon Brown?

Our Prime Minister’s been compared to quite a few (real and fictional) characters of late.  Lord Turnbull got the ball rolling with his “Stalin” jibe; Vince Cable observed Brown’s transformation into Mr Bean; and the Spectator’s own Fraser Nelson saw similarities with Del Boy.  And now David Hughes spots the parallels with Inspector Clouseau. So, CoffeeHousers, who does Brown remind you of?  And why?  For me, his tendency to pick people up by the lapels recalls a certain James Bond bad-guy:

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Blowing the Tory budget

Eight years ago, Tony Blair sat on Sir David Frost’s sofa and pledged that Labour would spend 8% of GDP on health. Brown called up afterwards in a fury, saying “you’ve spent my f**king budget”. One wonders what David Cameron said to Andrew Lansley after his Times interview where he says 11% of GDP should be spent on health. A number of responses spring to mind:- 1) Please explain to me why you considered it helpful to come up with this 11% figure. Please. I’m interested. 2) Did anyone authorise this 11% figure? Or was it in the faxed instructions the BMA send you each morning in large type?” 3)

Matthew Dancona

The Norman conquest

Lord Tebbit’s response to Michael Gove’s Spectator article last week is a remarkable spectacle: an argument between a past colossus of Tory Government and a future one. To the irritation of some of my fellow modernisers, I have a deep respect for Norman and thought it was especially crazy of that faction to try and expel him from the party in 2002. He is not, as some mods claim, the Scargill of the Right: this is a man who took on the unions and won, drove through many of the key Thatcherite reforms and was responsible for some of the party’s most remarkable electoral achievements. He is also a hero

Peter Hoskin

Lansley splashes the cash

Andrew Lansley lobs a firecracker into the tortoise-hare debate this morning; announcing that the Tories would increase health spending by an extra £28 billion a year. The pledge actually goes beyond any made by the Government, and will see health expenditure rise by 2 percent of GDP. It sends a strong message out to the voting public. Something like: “We care about the NHS because we’re pumping more money into the NHS”. Sadly, though, it’s the wrong message. If ten years of Blair and Brown have taught us anything, it’s that increased inputs don’t necessarily equate to improved outputs. Today’s National Audit Office report only serves to underline this. If