Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.
Be sure to check out Rani Singh’s Coffee House coverage of the forthcoming Pakistani elections. Rani’s first post is an unmissable primer in the issues, parties and individuals that will dominate the contest. She will continue to provide insight and commentary until election day, on February 18th. And for views on the US Presidential race, head over to the Spectator’s latest blog – Americano.
What started off as a joke is growing more serious by the hour. Bets are being laid on the next EU president and the favourite is one Anthony Charles Lynton Blair. Ladbrokes has cut him from 3/1 to 2/1, perhaps after the Guardian piece this morning. Put aside the (rich) comic value of all this, the appointment has its logic. If you want the EU to pack a diplomatic punch (I don’t) then this depends to a huge degree on getting heavy-hitter who knows how to work the circuit. Who better than the globe-trotting Blair? Next, it will help keep Britain onside. The Tories would find it that bit harder
If the Democrats vote with their heads on Super Tuesday — 5 February— Barack Obama will survive the Clinton assault and go on to become the party candidate in November. He already appeals strongly to Independents and Republicans. In Iowa, Obama won 44 per cent of the Republicans who shifted registration to take part in the Democratic caucus, and he won 41 per cent of Independents. Even though he lost in New Hampshire, he beat Clinton there among Independents by ten points. In South Carolina, Independent support is what drove up Obama’s numbers among whites. Furthermore, he does better in polls against every possible Republican opponent than Clinton does. This
Here are some brute facts: the Conservative party still has fewer seats than Michael Foot won in the 1983 general election. To win an overall majority in the House of Commons, David Cameron requires a national swing of 7.1 per cent (compared to the 5.3 per cent achieved by Margaret Thatcher in 1979). For all Gordon Brown’s travails, the most recent opinion polls suggest that the Tory lead is soft: a ComRes survey in Tuesday’s Independent put the Conservative party on 38 points, eight points ahead of Labour, but well short of the 45 point threshold at which an opposition can start to feel quietly confident. It is in this
The strangest moment of the elongated théâtre de mort of the billionaire Indonesian dictator Suharto came islands apart on the day after the old crook died. In Central Java, the remains of the despot the United Nations last year declared to be the 20th century’s biggest thief were interred in his family’s crypt in a funeral that blended Javanese mysticism with the pomp of state. Indonesia’s elite attended in mourning dress, uniform or ceremonial sarong. Foreign ambassadors and head of state bowed in reverence, following the hypocritical lead set by Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew: the Asian statesman acclaimed for his aversion to corruption had earlier rushed to honour his dying
Neil Collins meets Nigel Annett, who runs Welsh Water — a unique utility company which operates without shareholders and distributes profits back to its customers It does sometimes stop raining in Wales. When the sun comes out, it’s pretty stunning, thanks to the green all that rain produces, but much of the time the residents must wonder why they pay so much to get what the Lord deposits on their heads so liberally. But then, following the pain of the water bill, comes a £20 bonus — call it a dividend, rebate or discount, it’s real money. Every water company charges the maximum the regulations allow, but only Glas Cymru
ConservativeHome are reporting on a previously unseen Ipsos-Mori poll which gives Labour a 1 per cent lead. The full figures are: Labour on 38 percent (up 6 percent from the previous poll); the Conservatives on 37 percent (down 5 percent); and the Lib Dems on 16 per cent (up 1 per cent). It should be stressed that the poll was conducted before Peter Hain’s resignation – but the start of the donations scandal; the run on Northern Rock; and the general-election-that-wasn’t should all have been fresh in respondents’ minds. I wrote earlier that Gordon Brown “clearly sports a superior brand of Teflon suit” – after these results, his tailor certainly deserves a pay-rise.
The three main parties are tripping over each other in the race for transparency over MPs’ expenses. As Fraser reported earlier, David Cameron lead the way by confirming that he’ll tell his MPs to formally declare whether they employ any relatives. Labour and the Lib Dems have subsequently moved to identical positions. Cameron’s actions – and the catch-up politics of the other two parties – will have won him some political capital. But maybe it’s wrong to talk about “winning” in this case, when the reputation of the whole House has been so thoroughly tarnished. The always-perceptive Frank Field yesterday equated the Conway case with “embezzlement”, and told the House that: “It is difficult to think how much lower our collective reputation might sink among voters generally.” And so –
Francis Urquhart will be spinning in his fictional grave. Once Tory whips were the MI5 of the Commons. They put a bit of stick about, knew every skeleton in every closet – and provided the best early-warning to the leadership. So Cameron should have been warned about the full horrors of the Conway crisis months ago – now he’s fire fighting. And today he’s taken a gamble – he’s saved the Sunday papers time and announced 70 of his MPs employ family members. He wants to take the initiative cleaning this mess up – and portray his party as the broom, not the dust. But he won’t know what lurks
Last night, David Cameron presented Margaret Thatcher with a lifetime achievement award, and he follows it up with an article on the Iron Lady in today’s Telegraph. The article begins boldly: “Those who say that the modern Conservative Party is breaking with the legacy of Margaret Thatcher are wrong.” And mixes praise for Thatcher with swipes at Brown: “She tackled inflation through getting control of the money supply, an enormously difficult task which not only makes Gordon Brown’s sole monetary decision – to hand over control over interest rates to the Bank of England – look puny in comparison; it made it possible in the first place… …Margaret Thatcher is
In a speech today, Liam Fox spelt-out what the Lisbon Treaty means for defence alliances. As he sees it, the treaty would cause greater integration of European security forces, to the detriment of NATO: “The Lisbon Treaty should be viewed as a warning to the British public and Atlanticists across Europe. On a recent trip to Washington I couldn’t help but notice some of the isolationist rhetoric coming from that side of the Atlantic. Closer to home we are dealing with forces in Government that are pushing for closer European integration. Both American isolationism and European integration threaten to tear the tried-and-tested NATO alliance apart. Consequently, the defence innovations included
With Fraser heralding the BoJo revolution, here’s the footage of Boris attacking Brown for “inadvertently” misleading the House (you’ll have to sit through an advert first):
There’s an old joke that the word “lies” is banned in the House of Commons because it would be used so often that you’d get no business done. The actual reason is that MPs (hilariously) judge themselves above telling untruths. Yet we do hear rather shameless porkies at PMQs. And Tiberius makes a point: why don’t Team Cameron object more about Brown misleading the House like Boris Johnson did today? One of Brown’s main tactics is using misinformation, repeated with such force that no one objects to it (such as “Tory cuts” in the last election where the Tories, alas, would have raised spending and the tax burden with it).
As Andrew stressed earlier, the European response to the credit crunch has been anaemic (How anaemic? Check out the footage below of Gordon Brown and his EU compatriots agreeing the “way forward for [the] global economy”). By contrast, the Americans have been the very model of proactivity – introducing sharp interest cuts and proposing massive tax relief programmes. What’s holding the British Government back? I suspect it’s a combination of economic and political motivations. Economically, there’s the argument that America’s experiencing things worse, so Britain doesn’t need to act quite as decisively. If Brown believes this, then he’s going against the wisdom of commentators such as Anatole Kaletsky, who recently wrote that: “At the beginning of this year I wrote that if the
The best part of PMQs came just after it ended, in the form of an irate Boris Johnson. “I am sure the Prime Minister inadvertently misled the House when he said I want to cut spending on the Metropolitan Police”…. Brown was walking out the door, to Tory roars. “I’m the only one who has to stay and listen to it” says Michael Martin. Boris had just done what the other Tories should do all the time: refuse to put up with falsehoods said by the Prime Minister. There were plenty. Brown said the Tories opposed increases in education spending. Untrue. He told MPs recently that inflation is down from
David Cameron’s interviewed in today’s Sun, and he outlines new Tory plans to increase the stop-and-search capabilities of policemen: “We are never going to deal with [violent crime] unless we free the police to do far more stopping and far more searching. I am quite clear the current rules have to go. In the British police service there were problems with racism, there were problems with attitude. That needed to change. I think it has now been changed. That change is a good thing. But it’s now time to recognise that it is now possible for the police to carry out more stop and searches without being accused of racism.
So farewell, then, Derek Conway. You will not be missed. But his departure is no thanks to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Tory MP Roger Gale was put in to bat for Conway yesterday morning and Caroline Quinn (or was it Sarah Montague — it’s quite hard to tell the difference) was such a soft touch that listeners could be forgiven for thinking that Conway had some right on his side. Gale, a thoroughly unpleasant and bitter man, steam-rolled over her and Quinn/Montague was too poorly briefed to deal with him. It needed somebody equally unpleasant and solipsistic to deal with Gale — where was John Humphries when he was
Consider the response of America and Europe to the current financial turmoil. In Washington, the US Federal Reserve slashes interest rates by 75 basis points and the Bush administration proposes a $150bn stimulus package of tax cuts, which will probably win bipartisan support in Congress. Back on this side of the Atlantic, Gordon Brown summons the leaders of France, Germany and Italy (plus the boss of the European Commission) to a meeting in 10 Downing Street. After an afternoon of deliberations, the British Prime Minister emerges to mouth all his usual cliches about stability, transparency and co-operation. Not a single measure that will make a blind bit of difference
Ordinaily Derek Conway wouldn’t interest this blog. But the Tory MP, who has had the party whip withdrawn after defrauding the taxpayer by paying his sons to “work” as his parliamentary researchers has performed a great service nonetheless. Though, Mr Conway was reprimanded by the Standards Committee after “no record” was found of Freddie Conway doing any work for him as a researcher. The student was paid more than £40,000 for his three-year employment period. we should be exceedingly grateful to Mr Conway for his contribution to the Lexicon of Political Euphemism. According to the MP, using his parliamentary allowance as a family allowance to pay for his child’s boozing
National Review has some early exit poll numbers from tonight’s potentially decisive Republican contest and they show just how close the race is. McCain apparently has 34.3 percent of the vote to Mitt Romney’s 32.6. Our new US politics blog, Americano, will have full coverage as the night unfolds.