Politics

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

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Pfizer boss Ian Read introduces MPs to his ’empowerment coin’

Who gets the best deal from Pfizer’s proposed takeover of AstraZeneca? On the basis of today’s Business, Innovation and Skills select committee hearing with some of the key players, the answer is probably Conservative MP Brian Binley. He was very much enjoying his role in the hearing as he interrogated the boss of Pfizer, Ian Read, and his colleagues Frank D’Amelio and Jonathan Emms. Binley managed to get the best one-liners out of the session (he’s got form: this is the MP who has in the past few years managed to describe his Prime Minister as a ‘chambermaid’ and a ‘janitor’), telling the panel that they offered ‘a lot of

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Whitehall is falling in on Nick Clegg

The Cold War that everyone in Westminster thought would never kick off is well and truly under way. Time was when ministers and advisers imagined that the letters and internal briefing documents detailing the dirty laundry of this government would stay firmly locked in Whitehall desks. But in the past few weeks, the leaks have increased, and they seem to be spreading around the village. Nick Clegg was confronted with the latest on the World at One this afternoon: a document showing that the Cabinet Office has given the Deputy Prime Minister’s favourite free school meals policy a red rating, meaning it is at risk of failing. Clegg tried to

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Labour poll blow: party anger could focus on shadow cabinet

What will the Labour fallout, if any, from today’s polls, be? Generally when this sort of bad news befalls to the Conservative party, the gossip turns quickly to David Cameron’s standing as leader. But in the Labour case, it’s a bit more complicated. This is partly because the party tends to feel far more loyal to Miliband than Conservative MPs do. They feel as though he tends to invest in them personally – even those who didn’t support his leadership or are unhappy with his policies. And so they’re less likely to turn on him. The knives have already been out for Douglas Alexander for some time, with shadow cabinet

Monday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Knives still out in Coalition sentencing fight

What will become of the other big coalition row that’s burning away alongside free schools? David Cameron was asked today about the plans to introduce mandatory sentences for repeat knife offences, and made some very supportive noises again, which the Tories signed up to Nick de Bois’ amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill think is a sign that they’ve made the right decision. He suggested that Nick Clegg could change his mind about it – and some have taken this as a sign that there’s a compromise on the cards. The Conservatives tell me they are ‘looking carefully’ at de Bois’ amendments, but the Lib Dems say they

Sebastian Payne

Labour falling behind as Ukip leads latest Euro poll

Labour is failing to make up any ground on Ukip ahead of next week’s European elections. A new poll from Sky News and YouGov today says that Labour’s support has dropped to 25 per cent, while Ukip remain comfortably in first place with 31 per cent of the vote: [datawrapper chart=”http://static.spectator.co.uk/LbUDH/index.html”] Interestingly, Ukip has not pushed further ahead since the last YouGov poll I wrote up, but they are now clear of the margin of error — two/three per cent depending on the sample size. It appears that, combined with Ukip’s higher likeliness to vote, Labour is ever more certain to come second on 22 May. The Tories, who have

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Does Boris Johnson really want to see Tony Blair tried for war crimes?

What are we supposed to make of Boris Johnson? I mean, are we supposed to pay attention to what Boris actually says? Or is he permitted to play the game of politics by different rules? That is, the sort of stuff that applies to other politicians does not apply to Boris because the Mayor of London is a great entertainer and thus granted some kind of relief from the usual rules of responsibility. Just asking, you know. Consider his recent remarks about Tony Blair and the Iraq War. During an appearance on LBC last week, the Mayor appeared to endorse the fashionable daft idea that Mr Blair should be tried

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Gove uses urgent question on free schools to trumpet his achievements

Even though the row over free schools has nothing to do with the Labour party, it took a reasonable bet that it would benefit from joining the fray by asking an urgent question on the allegation that Michael Gove diverted £400 million from basic need funding to the free schools project. In the Commons this afternoon, Tristram Hunt accused the Education Secretary of lacking ‘self-control and focus’ and paying for ‘pet political projects in expensive, half-empty, underperforming free schools’. He demanded that Gove confirm that he did indeed re-allocate this funding, asked him to accept the National Audit Office figures showing free school places had been allocated outside of areas

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Tories ahead in national poll for first time since 2012

The Tories are ahead in a national opinion poll for the first time since 2012. The first Lord Ashcroft/Conservative Home poll has the Tories ahead by two points, on 34 to Labour’s 32. The Lib Dems are on 9 and Ukip 15. One swallow doesn’t a summer make. But this poll will have a psychological impact at Westminster. It will make it that much easier for the Tory leadership to persuade its MPs to stay calm in the face of a bad European Election result and will add to worries on the Labour side that the party is in trouble. Worryingly for Labour, Miliband’s rating among swing voters is particularly low.

David Jones

Want to know what the UK will look like under Miliband? Look at Wales

Today, Labour in Wales celebrate 15 years in power. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, party members will congratulate themselves on what a fantastic job they’re doing. First Minister Carwyn Jones claims his administration represents a ‘living, breathing example of what the party can achieve in power’. Labour leader Ed Miliband agrees. He says ‘we have a great deal to learn from the things that Carwyn and his government are doing’. On housing, on health, on education, on people’s spending power – Labour certainly talks the talk. But in Wales, where they have had ample time to prove themselves, are they living up to Labour’s big promises? Let us consider

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The Lib Dems no longer support school choice

Throughout this latest, blazing Coalition row over Michael Gove – which is spreading like fire over dry heath and has now ignited the normally harmonious Treasury – the Liberal Democrats have insisted that they support free schools. They argue that it is simply Gove’s ‘zealotry’ in transferring £400 million from the basic need allocation to the free schools project, not the principle of free schools. They are indeed mostly needled by years of working with a man who they find difficult to work with, and whose enthusiasm for certain aspects of education, whether it be free schools or the history curriculum, irritates them. They were also needled by the way

Sunday

Sebastian Payne

Nigel Farage ties himself in knots over Ukip manifesto — again

Ukip may be sailing towards first place in the European elections, but Nigel Farage unwittingly revealed today how the party is still a long way from becoming a mature political movement. During his interview on the Sunday Politics, Farage didn’t seem to know what was in Ukip’s local election manifesto — in particular whether the party was promising to make any spending cuts. This is a transcript of what he said: Andrew Neil: You have promised these tax cuts, how much will they cost? Nigel Farage: No idea. I’m not here to talk about, I’ve read the local election manifesto and it doesn’t make those promises. AN: It does NF: We do

Steerpike Steerpike

Sorry, Britain didn’t vote for the Austrian ‘Bearded Lady’

There has been plenty of progressive backslapping this morning because Britain was one of the many countries to award the full 12 points to the bearded Austrian drag act Conchita Wurst in Saturday night’s Eurovision Song Contest. We showed those bigots over in Eastern Europe and Russia a thing or two, the chatterati say. Mr S hates to be a party-pooper, but he has news for you. The British public actually voted for some Polish girls in milkmaid outfits, seductively churning butter and cleaning clothes. The Polish ladies were very self-confident, if a little old fashioned: ‘We’re Slavic girls We know how to use our charming beauty Now, shake what

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Will voters feel Cameron’s confidence about European reform?

Why is David Cameron so confident that he’ll get what he wants from his renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Europe? Today on the Andrew Marr Show he managed to advocate Britain voting ‘yes’ in the 2017 referendum before he’s even started changing the terms of the membership voters would be backing. His reasoning for this was firstly that ‘I’m someone who has a very positive, optimistic plan for this country’ (a convenient contrast with Ukip), and secondly because he has a good track record of getting what he wants in Europe. listen to ‘David Cameron on the Andrew Marr Show’ on Audioboo

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Axe man cometh

David Axelrod jets into London this week for the first time since signing up to help Labour in 2015. Axelrod, who friends admit is no expert on UK politics, will have two days to try and get his head round the shape of the next election campaign. This trip will mark the first time that Axelrod and Miliband have met face to face. Up to now, they have only spoken on the telephone. Axelrod will also address a specially convened meeting of the shadow Cabinet. There’s no doubt that having the man who helped Obama get to the White House in town will be a boost to Labour morale. But

Saturday

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Ukip and the vicious politics of Eurovision

The Eurovision song contest has just started – seven million of us will tune in, at least 30 million Eurovision-related drinks will be consumed and the voting will be deliciously political as always.  (Poland has entered again, perhaps just for the joy of being able to vote on Russia). But there’s plenty domestic politics too. Ukip’s Nigel Farage claims that Britain is doomed tonight because of discrimination against us. He obviously doesn’t follow the contest very closely – if he did, he’s struggle to name a single entry submitted by the BBC in the last few years that deserved to qualify for the final, far less win it. Nowhere in recent

Martin Vander Weyer Martin Vander Weyer

Ed’s one-way ticket

Miliband has also been busy ‘looking at options’ for renationalising Britain’s railways at the end of current franchise contracts. This is yet another of what I have called Labour’s ‘targeted tweets’ designed to please trade unions and pick off loose voters — in this case disgruntled south–eastern commuters. What it’s not is a credible, costed policy. Even Ed Balls is said to be distancing himself from such a retrograde idea, while Martin Griffiths, chief executive of the Stagecoach transport group, rightly called it ‘a one-way ticket to higher taxes’ and others in the industry point out that there could be no quicker way to kill existing plans for investment in

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Miliband, Cameron and the importance of intellectual self-confidence

Is intellectual self-confidence a good thing? Ed Miliband was teased in parliament by David Cameron for claiming to possess it, and teased again by Lord Finkelstein in his notebook for The Times. ‘I know he thinks he is extremely clever,’ Cameron sneered at PMQs. Lord Finkelstein refers to a book that claims that intellectual self-confidence is a curse because it leads to wrong decisions.  I disagree. We argue in the leader of this week’s Spectator that Miliband is very confident about bad ideas, and Cameron lacks confidence in good ones. More’s the pity. Cameron was being unfair: intellectual self-confidence does not mean thinking you’re ‘extremely clever’. It’s about believing you

Camilla Swift Camilla Swift

If you’re after equality, don’t show women’s football. Show Badminton.

Over the next two days, one of the most important events in the British sporting calendar takes place. No, not the final day of the Premier League season. Badminton Horse Trials, obviously. This is one of only two annual horse trials in the UK (and six in the world) at which eventers compete at the top level. Oh, and one of the favourites to win is British. So of course the BBC is broadcasting it on one of their main channels, right? Wrong. During the London Olympics, equestrianism was one of the most popular sports on the BBC red button channel, with the freestyle musical dressage (aka horse dancing) in

Friday

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Where is Labour’s intellectual self-confidence?

What a funny, contradictory week it has been for Labour’s campaign machine. First Ed Miliband told the Evening Standard that he had greater intellectual self-confidence than the Prime Minister – and won praise in the Spectator’s leading article for being someone who does indeed have the courage of their political convictions these days. Then he seemed so confident of his policies that he chose to needle David Cameron with one of them at Prime Minister’s Questions. But then he seemed to have a crisis of confidence and decided to produce a party-political broadcast that, er, didn’t mention anything Labour is up to at all. When I blogged about this latest

John O'Neill

Labour’s VAT attack misses the mark – you don’t pay it on food

Labour has a long, hard slog to win arrest the public’s loss of faith in its economic competence. The party’s latest advert hasn’t helped. It shows David Cameron and Nick Clegg as two peas-in-a-pod whose VAT hike has put £450 on your shopping bill. There’s one big problem with the advert: it makes its claim in front of a whole bunch of foods on which you don’t pay VAT at 20 per cent. You pay it at zero per cent. Even on the chocolate-chip biscuits. There are some 24 products in the picture and 18 of them are exempt: Fresh fruit and vegetables (peas, sweetcorn, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, red onions, beans, red cabbage, carrots, grapes,