Politics

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

Monday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

First they take Canberra, then they take…?

Melanie Philips, I’m afraid, continues to show signs of becoming Britain’s answer to David Horowitz. Her latest salvo culminates in this absurdity: Annapolis is America’s Munich — and Israel is the new Czechoslovakia. Previously Philips, unsurprisingly, lamented John Howard’s defeat in Australia. For myself, I rather think that 12 years in office is long enough and, absent an entirely hapless opposition, it’s important to turf incumbents out of office, regardless of which party they happen to be. (It is not a good sign for Gordon Brown that Labour will have been in power for 13 years when the next election is held). Still, none of that matters. Philips concedes that

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Labour fall through the 30 percent floor

A new ComRes poll has Labour at 27%, Conservative Home is reporting tonight. This is the lowest number Labour has recorded in this poll since April 2007 while the Conservative lead of 13 points is the largest one they have had with ComRes since it started regularly doing voting intention polls in October 2006.  The Tories, however, have not made progress in terms of their own vote and are actually down one point to 40. This is the one thing that will give the Brownites cheer on what is a pretty ghastly night for them.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Fundraising scandal leads to key Labour figure’s resignation

Labour’s General Secretary Peter Watt has tonight resigned over the fundraising scandal that broke this weekend. Watt resigned because he knew that property developer David Abrahams was donating money to the party via friends, an arrangement that legally should have been disclosed. It remains to be seen if this swift departure marks an end to the affair. It is certainly another bad news story that Gordon Brown could have done without on the day that he tried to regain some momentum. 

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The tide continues to turn

Hot on the heels of Adam Boulton speculating about whether Gordon Brown is cut out for the job of being Prime Minister, we have Trevor Kavanagh predicting in his Sun column that, “Gordon will never govern in his own right as an elected Prime Minister.” Kavanagh is no natural Brownite but he’s one of the most astute and influential political commentators in the land. For him to declare that Gordon will lose the next election will hardly improve the mood in the Brown camp and will likely drive them further into the bunker.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

How bad is it for Brown?

Jackie Ashley is one of the columnists who is normally most sympathetic to Gordon Brown. So her take on the issue of how much trouble the Prime Minister is in is essential reading. Here’s how she starts, “ After days of talking to a wide range of ministers, Labour backbenchers and veteran party figures, my first conclusion is that, yes, this is very bad indeed. It is not just a few rabidly anti-Gordon Brown columnists getting in a lather. It’s more than a passing, soon-to-be-forgotten lurch in the opinion polls. Though there has been no great national disaster of the Black Wednesday kind, the past fortnight has been a big

Sunday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Ron Pauls Libertarian Revolution

Isaac Chotiner links to Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch’s splendid piece on libertarianism and calls it pretty absurd: I have no idea what most citizens think about smoking bans and online gambling restrictions. But I do believe they are smart enough to know that these issues neither matter much, nor are worth voting on. Well, I don’t think Ron Paul is going to win the Republican party’s presidential nomination either. But I’m willing to bet that for every person who votes for Ron Paul – knowing full well that he’s not likely to win – there’s at least one other person who would vote – or seriously consider voting for

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

My friend James Forsyth picks up on another of my favoured non-trivial campaign trivia questions*: Barack Obama got the question about who he would invite to his ideal dinner party from a newspaper in New Hampshire. The guest list of Jesus, Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln was revealing about how he sees himself. First, it is noticeable that Obama doesn’t pick a Democrat. Second, no figure from the civil rights movement is included. Finally, the mention of Jesus is typical of Obama’s comfort with talking about faith. Well, with all due respect to James, maybe. But if any normal person gave this answer you would, quite rightly, laugh at them. Could

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Educating Gordon Brown

One of the least explored defects of this government is what Rabbi Lionel Blue calls “moral short-sightedness” – the ability to see problems on another continent, but not on one’s own doorstep. I was reminded of this when Brown announced £106 million of our money to open schools in Nigeria. It’s the latest example of what I’ve described as his neo-colonialism: his desire to rewire Africa along New Labour lines. Yet its not as if it’s “mission accomplished” with English education – some 40,000 kids leave primary school in Britain unable to read or write properly, setting them up for a lifetime of poverty.   Brown’s blind faith in state-monopoly

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Key Clinton adviser wants more US troops sent to the Balkans

Richard Holbrooke, America’s UN Ambassador under Bill Clinton who is expected to become Secretary of State if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, has an op-ed in the Washington Post today arguing for more US troops to be sent to the Balkans to deal with the fallout from a Kosovan declaration of independence which is expected before the end of the year. As Holbrooke notes, if Kosovo declares independence then the Serb portion of Bosnia will likely follow suit. On top of this, the Russians will try and link the issue to that of breakaway republics in the former Soviet Union. Holbrooke pins the blame for the current situation on

Saturday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Not good news, Darling

Tomorrow’s News of the World has a poll which gives the last rites to Brown’s reputation for economic competence. It is truly devastating on many levels. 1. Two months ago Labour had a 12 point lead over the Tories on managing the economy. At the last election it was 30%. Now it is zero: they are neck and neck. 2. And among the under-25 Labour are a staggering 16 points behind (31% vs 47%). 3. The Tories are winning (or, should I say, Brown is fast losing) the intellectual battle. When asked who has the best policies and ideas’, the Tory lead is 10%. Thus the effect of Black Tuesday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Can Gordon recover?

With Labour down to 31% in the polls, talk has already started about whether the Brown premiership is salvageable or not. It is premature, if tempting, to declare that it is game over for Brown. This morning’s poll shows the Tories have yet to take advantage of the government’s plight and Labour are still a fairly united party unlike the post Black Wednesday Tories. As Martin Kettle writes, “Labour is united, albeit united at the moment in its misery. There is no equivalent of the self-destructive mood of the past.” There is, though, a feeling that Brown isn’t quite good enough. Maybe, we have all been spoiled by Tony Blair—who

The Spectator

He’s incompetent. So sack him

It must come as something of a relief to Peter Mandelson that when Labour sources now refer to ‘the Peter Problem’ they mean Peter Hain, the beleaguered Work and Pensions Secretary. Mr Mandelson’s conduct came to be seen by many as an emblem of all that was wrong with the Blair era. The Hain saga, in contrast, symbolises what is wrong with the Brown era (assuming it lasts long enough to be called an ‘era’). Mr Hain’s failure to register £103,000 of donations to his disastrous deputy leadership campaign last year chimes with the impression of shambolic mismanagement that now clings to this government, from its handling of the Northern

Charles Moore Charles Moore

The spectator’s notes

Gordon Brown sat next to poor, trembling Alistair Darling on the government front bench on Tuesday for the Chancellor’s statement on the loss of 25 million people’s personal details. He had failed to do the same the day before, when Mr Darling made a statement about Northern Rock. The contrast between his absence one day and his presence the next emphasised the scale of the disaster on Tuesday. Despite his protestations when he came into office, Mr Brown has little respect for the Commons, or for Cabinet government. He is very keen on power, but not very good at leadership. In our system, the Prime Minister shouldn’t aspire to run

Irwin Stelzer

Brown has outsourced British foreign policy

Now we know. Until now, we Americans have been wondering whether we were witnessing from the new boy on the foreign policy stage a cock-up or a considered change in Britain’s policy towards the United States. When Gordon Brown exclaimed that he would never have appointed the man who wears his hatred of the American president and the neoconservatives as ‘a badge of honour’ had he known how offensive Malloch Brown would be to George Bush and the Americans, there was an inclination to believe him, even though it taxed credulity to think the Prime Minister had been so badly briefed. When the Prime Minister ‘went out of his way

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

‘The largest thorn in the side of Gordon Brown’

Alex Salmond is excitedly brandishing his new House of Commons security pass. ‘Look at the expiry date,’ he says. ‘May 2010. That’s the latest date for a general election.’ By then, on his calculations, Scotland will be seven years away from independence. Each MP has to choose a four-digit security code for the card, and I ask if he chose 2017, his new deadline to end the Union. ‘Could be,’ he smiles, as if to hint that his real timetable is even shorter. The First Minister of Scotland is sitting in his old Westminster office, looking very happy to be back. He admits he prefers the Commons feel to the

Hywel Williams

Beowulf: a digital hero from England’s lost culture

‘Beowulf! How’s your father?’ shouts Anthony Hopkins as Ray Winstone steps out of the boat which has brought the Geats’ tribal leader from Sweden to Denmark. As a way of grabbing attention it probably works better than ‘Hwaet!’ — the narrator’s initial injunction to sit up and listen in the original text. This may be English literature’s first epic, but even its admirers concede that the multiple plots recounted in 3,182 lines can confuse. These are shaggy dog stories of a somewhat bloody kind rather than Virgil or Homer, and in the absence of a unifying artistic vision we need to be kept engaged. Digitally enhanced live action brings a

Chris Patten

Westminster politics has nothing on Oxford’s battles

In the last month, another respected international survey placed Oxford and Cambridge joint second to Harvard in the league table of world-class universities. This confirms what others have suggested in recent years. Moreover, other British universities — most notably London’s Imperial College and University College — came out high on the list. There are, alas, too few areas of our national life — the armed forces, the City of London, our diplomatic service — where we do as well in global comparisons. And it matters. There is quite a lot of clichéd nonsense talked about the knowledge economy. But there’s some truth in it as well. There really is a

Friday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Grammar school numbers up by more than 20% under Labour

Labour talks about grammar schools as if they are something out of the dark ages. They’re also currently trying to make it easier for them to be abolished by ballot. Yet, all this disguises the fact that the number of grammars schools pupils in England has been rising steadily under Labour. In 1997 there were 127,780 children enrolled in grammar schools, by 2007 that number had risen to 156,800 (see Table 16). Now, with this government we can’t know if this is another failure of an intended policy or proof that Labour just cynically bash grammars for partisan advantage. One other thing worth noting, the next time Balls starts talking about

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The nightmare scenario for the Lib Dems

There is an increasing sense here in Westminster that the Lib Dem leadership race will be a far closer run thing than anyone was expecting. Indeed,judging by this poll, albeit an unscientific one, at a hustings in Cambridge, Chris Huhne might even pull off a shock victory. But he would be a leader imposed on the parliamentary party against its will, 39 of 63 Lib Dem MPs are backing Clegg. In these circumstances, it wouldn’t take long for murmurings against the leader to begin if the polls didn’t show an instant and sustained uptick. The Lib Dems might even manage to depose three leaders in a parliament, which would surely be

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Retired top brass speak out against Brown and part-time Browne

The attack on Gordon Brown’s attitude to the armed forces launched last night in the House of Lords by five former chiefs of the defence staff was absolutely devastating. Lord Guthrie called him “the most unsympathetic Chancellor of the Exchequer, as far as defence was concerned,” Lord Boyce cut through the spin to point out that “the core defence programme has had no effective budget rise at all” and Lord Craig asked the key question:  “Is it not immoral to commit forces that are under-prepared and ill-equipped for their task?” There was also understandable outrage about the fact that the Secretary of State for Defence is also the Secretary of