Politics

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

Saturday

Matthew Dancona

Punctuating politics

The always-incisive Martin Kettle has a fascinating piece in today’s Guardian, in which he assesses Peter Hain’s exit not as a “sleaze” story or a test of Gordon’s moral fibre, but as a generational punctuation mark. Hain, Martin writes, is the last of the Sixties era  politicians in the Cabinet – apart from the rather more pragmatic Jack Straw – and his departure will change the complexion of this Government irrevocably.  I wrote last October about Labour’s “spoilt generation” of young “Fauntleroys”, the youthful cohort of apparatchiks which has gained an even stronger grip upon the Government as a result of last week’s reshuffle. Able they may be, but they

Ian Mulheirn

Budget 2008: A mortgage market for lemons?

In his seminal 1970 paper, Nobel laureate George Akerlof identified a whole class of economic problems as being driven by asymmetric information between two parties involved in an exchange. Applied to the market for second-hand cars, Akerlof noted that while quality varies, only the seller knows a car’s true quality. Confronted with superficially similar cars, the buyer has no way of knowing whether she’s getting a defective used car – a ‘lemon’ – or a good one for her money. Consequently she can expect only to get a car of average quality, and is therefore unwilling to pay more than an average price. But this willingness only to pay an

Ian Mulheirn

Budget 2008: Green gimmicks?

Reports abound that a central plank of Alistair Darling’s first Budget will involve increasing Vehicle Excise Duty on the most polluting cars by around £1,000. Squarely aimed at reducing unnecessary vehicle emissions, the gas-guzzler grab forms the latest part of a patchwork of green taxes designed to help the Government make progress on its target to reduce CO2 emissions by 20% on the 1990 level by 2010. Simultaneously we can expect the Chancellor to make an announcement on fuel duty. The 2p increase pencilled in for this year looks set to be postponed in the face of strong opposition from hauliers and motorists already labouring under record oil prices. But

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Web Extra: The Tories should fear the dynamic new team of professionals that Brown is assembling

It is a story that could have been scripted to boost morale in Conservative headquarters. At five o’clock one morning, security guards at 10 Downing Street were called in to intercept an intruder only to find the Prime Minister trying to enter his own office. Apart from the delicious image this conjures of Gordon Brown in his pyjamas, cursing as he bashes in the security code, it caricatures him as the ideal political opponent. An inept, flailing control freak, whose own shortcomings will lose Labour the next election. Alas for the Tories, this story is several months out of date. It took place in the earliest days of the Brown

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Intelligence Squared debate report – “Britain should have a referendum on the EU Treaty”

Motion: Britain should have a referendum on the EU treaty. Chair: Andrew Neil   For the motion: Neil O’Brien Andrew Roberts Rt Hon Lord Lamont of Lerwick   Against the motion :  Sir Stephen Wall Vernon Bogdanor CBE David Aaronovitch.  It was like an eclipse. Wednesday’s debate on the EU referendum exactly coincided with a parliamentary vote on the same issue. ‘Over at the Palace of Varieties,’ prophesied Andrew Neil, in the chair, ‘the debate will be dull, predictable and whipped. But here at Intelligence Squared it’ll be lively, wild, and with no foregone conclusion.’ So it proved. This was the rowdiest debate of the season. At one point punches

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

WEB EXCLUSIVE: There’s trouble brewing

Oh Boy. If you thought the Société Générale saga was beyond belief – today we learn that Eurex, the derivatives exchange, had been trying to warn the French bank for two months about Jerome Kerviel’s extraordinarily large trading volumes – then I invite you to contemplate the £274 million loss clocked up on hedging transactions by Mitchell & Butlers. Oh Boy. If you thought the Société Générale saga was beyond belief – today we learn that Eurex, the derivatives exchange, had been trying to warn the French bank for two months about Jerome Kerviel’s extraordinarily large trading volumes – then I invite you to contemplate the £274 million loss clocked up on

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

In one sentence, Jacqui Smith became the Gerald Ratner of the Home Office

There is a term for what Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, did at the weekend. She announced that she would not feel safe walking the streets of London alone after dark. This, I believe, is called ‘doing a Ratner’. If you remember, Gerald Ratner was the boss of the eponymous down-market jewellery company which dissolved into nothing in 1991 when he cheerfully pronounced that his products were ‘crap’. Matt Barrett, the chief executive of Barclays, did a Ratner too, when he told a bunch of MPs that he would not let his daughters anywhere near a Barclaycard and did not use one himself because they were too expensive. Perhaps those

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Blair and Brown Part II: This time It’s Continental

Great stuff from William Hague in the Commons as he imagines the terror of Tony Blair, President of Europe. American Anglophiles will also like it, since Hague’s ability at the Dispatch Box trumps anything the United States Congress can offer. [Thanks to the ever-redoubtable Mr Eugenides. As th eGreek says, David Miliband’s genuine and unforced laughter is worth half a raised eye-brow too.]

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The lies we tell ourselves

This is a depressing paragraph: William Wallace was a failure who only won one key battle; Robert the Bruce was a usurper struggling to retain power; Scotland was a willing entrant into the Act of Union. Such claims will infuriate nationalists and unionists alike when the BBC seeks to explode myths in Scottish history in a landmark series. It is, of course, depressing that such judgments might be considered “controversial”. Why they should infuriate anyone remains a mystery given that they are, well, true. I don’t think I need re-iterate my objections to the Braveheart fetish. Suffice it to say that it is all too typical that we should concentrate

Peter Hoskin

A roman holiday for Prodi

If you think that Gordon Brown’s having a tough time of things at the moment, then spare a thought for Romano Prodi.  For – following defeat in a vote of no confidence – Mr Prodi yesterday resigned as Prime Minister of Italy. Opposition senators even uncorked bottles of champagne to celebrate his departure – in the main debating chamber, no less. All of which heralds the likely return of Silvio Berlusconi to the prime ministerial role.  Berlusconi has clawed his way back to a position of enormous popularity with Italian voters, and his advisors expect him to be back in power “within months”. Yes, those “strangely charming” gaffes are set to tread the world stage once again.   Crucially

Peter Hoskin

Where now for Gordon Brown?

I wrote yesterday that Gordon Brown’s New Year relaunch is in tatters.  Now he’s in the uneviable position of having to relaunch the relaunch.  How should he go about it? We’ve already witnessed Brown’s new approach to personnel – that is, to draft youthful faces into the cabinet.  Now his comment piece in today’s FT indicates one of the central planks of his policy agenda – the reform of financial systems: “Most political and business leaders gathered at the World Economic Forum this week agree on one thing: the global economy is facing its biggest test in more than a decade ….  But we should also agree that turbulent conditions, throughout history, have been an opportunity for

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Drafting in the youngsters

Andy Burnham was named “minister to watch” at the Spectator/Threadneedle parliamentarian of the years awards 2006. He has not disappointed us, replacing Purnell as Commissar of Culture. He reacted as if he’d won the pools. His beloved Liverpool being European City of Culture in 2008, and all that (quite right too, splendid city). But I suspect his joy comes from moving out of the Treasury when he was struggling to explain his way out of Northern Rock and the credit crunch. Just as ageing pop stars surround themselves with models in pop videos to look younger, so Brown brings the young bucks centre stage. If only he’d done this sooner,

Thursday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

The Brideshead Fantasy: Union Division

It mystifies me why so many Americans – even those blessedly untouched by any tedious Yankee Brideshead fetish – still seem to view the Oxford Union as a barometer of all that is sweet and holy upon this sceptered isle. I would suggest that, with all due respect to those friends of mine who have been Presidents or office-bearers in that splendid society, this is the most desperate tommyrot. If the Oxford Union were ever a meter by which one could measure the thinking of the great and the good (sic) then those days died in August 1914. Nevertheless, National Review’s Mona Charen complains: A few weeks ago I was

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Brown misses an opportuntiy

A quick check on the health of a party is whether there is more talent on the back benches than the front bench. Labour are close to that tipping point with Charles Clarke, Jon Cruddas, Alan Milburn, Stephen Byers, Denis MacShane, David Blunkett and Frank Field all out of the front line. Any of these would have added heft to the cabinet and all are more impressive figures than Caroline Flint and Yvette Cooper. If Brown had appointed Milburn to the Department of Work and Pensions he would have shown that he has moved on from the Blairite Brownite fights of the past and would have put someone in place

Peter Hoskin

The strange conversion (and eventual downfall) of a cabinet minister

Call it incompetence, if you like – it may turn out to be criminality – but Peter Hain’s clearly underperformed as a Cabinet minister.  After his resignation today, blogs, newspapers and politicians are quite rightly sticking their collective boots in.  Just to strike a different tone, I thought I’d give Hain a bit of credit where it’s due – if only for a mid-office conversion on the topic of welfare reform. By now, the facts are well-stated: Wisconsin-inspired welfare reform– which places extra stress on claimants finding work and uses private companies to help them do so – gets more people off benefits and lowers the burden on the taxpayer. 

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

James Purnell is the new Work and Pensions Secretary

For the three hours after Hain resigned, several names flew – none James Purnell. But thinking about it, his appointment makes sense. Aged 37 he will add zest to Brown’s team, and he knows the DWP (he was pensions minister until Brown took over). He gave his first-ever interview to me in June (read it here) and I quizzed him about welfare. He’d stonewall, saying his brief was pensions. He’ll be getting his head around it rather quickly now. A clever appointment, made far sooner than I expected.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Who will step into the breach at the DWP?

The last thing Gordon Brown can afford is to dither over the reshuffle. I hear he will, indeed, name a new Work and Pensions Secretary today – so the story by the evening news is one of him taking the initiative. The DWP moves at a glacial speed, but welfare reform will be a major electoral issue. If I were Brown, I’d look beyond the inner circle (ie, Ed Miliband and wee Dougie) and promote a sure hand like John Denham. Blair never got reshuffles  right. Let’s see if Brown does better.

Peter Hoskin

Peter Hain resigns

Peter Hain has resigned as the donations made to his deputy leader campaign have been referred to the police.   There’s no doubting that this will be extremely damaging for the Government.  Whether or not Hain eventually clears his name, the public perception will surely be that corruption is endemic throughout the Labour Party – especially given that his was not the only name linked with malpractice.  How many other names will be tainted by this affair, even if only in the public eye? However, the nature of Hain’s departure is potentially even more harmful than any spreading rot.  The Spectator argued weeks ago that Hain should be sacked.  Sacked, that is: shown the door rather being allowed to find it himself.  Hain’s resignation will

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Boos, wine and tax cuts at the Channel 4 political awards

I was at the Channel Four political awards last night, where the strangest thing happened. Their main award – (most inspiring political figure of the last decade) – was given to the Countryside Alliance, introduced by Jeremy Irons. As he spoke, boos came from the crowd. At first, I thought it was a joke. Then when the award was accepted (by Ann Mallalieu, president of the Alliance) the booing grew louder and cries of “get off” could be heard as she delivered her acceptance speech. In front of an invited Channel Four audience. Incredible. One of the books up for an award was Peter Oborne’s one on the rise of the

Peter Hoskin

Ken’s personal fiefdom

If you missed the Today programme’s interview with Ken Livingstone, make sure you tune in when it’s available on Listen Again – some quite startling revelations were made. When asked whether he headed a “personal fiefdom”, Livingstone seemingly assented and went on to say that (and – for now – I’m quoting as closely as typing-whilst-listening will permit): “That’s exactly what Tony Blair set out to do ….  I was originally opposed to it at first”.  Since taking up the role, however, his views have changed.  Now – as he expressed in the interview – he believes the Mayoral set-up has distinct advantages over those operating through “networks” of Sir