Politics

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

Monday

Peter Hoskin

Guess who’s back | 26 July 2010

Oh look, Gordon Brown has continured his return to public life with a sizeable interview in today’s Independent.  It’s a generous portrait which seems designed to dispel any rumours about the former Prime Minister’s wellbeing. Apparently, he “looks healthy and fit … seems quite cheerful.” And we’re treated to descriptions of his face, “like a map of a man’s soul.” For those who can read any further, there are accounts of his constituency work and his aspirations to “do more on international development”. The world shudders. Despite his claims to the contrary, there are ominous signs that Brown is keen to impact upon our national politics. His clearest boast in

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 26 July 2010

…here are some of the posts made at Spectator.co.uk over the weekend. James Forsyth reports on how the coalition plans to insulate its vulnerable Lib Dem component, and presents two Conservative approaches to electoral reform. David Blackburn thinks that Nick Clegg was wrong to defend his personal comments on the illegality of the Iraq war, notes that it’s the end of the line for Balls, and believes Alistair Darling’s withdrawal from frontline politics is a blow for Labour. And Rod Liddle considers stereotyping. 

Sunday

David Blackburn

Desperate Balls comes out fighting

Springtime for Ed Miliband, curtains for Balls. Or at least it should be, following the news that Unite will back Miliband for the leadership. It is rumoured that Balls will pull out of the race and support David Miliband in an attempt to secure the shadow chancellor’s post. But only Brown does seemingly blind defiance better than Balls. This morning, Balls has assaulted the airwaves with the full complement of Brownite clichés: ‘I fight on; I fight to win. I’m in it to win it. I am the best person to fight this coalition.’ You get the impression that he means it, and he’ll fight on in hope rather than

David Blackburn

Alistair Darling – a loss to the Labour party

Alistair Darling was one of the ministers to emerge from the Brown years with his reputation enhanced. His honesty about the state of the economy, beginning with that extraordinarily stark interview about the coming collapse, contrasted with what is politely described as Brown’s eternal optimism. Darling also deserves commendation for fighting Brown and Balls’ shameless politicking, and for winning. However, Darling lost the battle over raising VAT hike. Darling told Andrew Marr this morning: ‘There’s a choice really, you can put up VAT or you can put up an income-related tax which is what the National Insurance is… “The advantage of VAT is it brings in a lot of money.

Saturday

David Blackburn

Clegg denies it was a mistake to assert the illegality of the Iraq War at PMQs

Nick Clegg has made this statement on Channel Four News: ‘I have always been open that my personal opinion that the legal base is not justified for our going into war. That wasn’t the view of the previous government, this government as a whole, the new coalition government, doesn’t take a view on the legality of it. But I don’t think it is right for me to enter government and somehow completely airbrush out well-known personal views that I have held and expressed for a very long time. ‘I am the deputy prime minister, I am also a human being who feels with great conviction about things. I don’t think

David Blackburn

Unite back Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband has secured a clean sweep of the major unions. That poses Miliband a problem in the future – centrist opponents can characterise him as ‘the union candidate’ with all its negative connotations. In the meantime, Miliband’s chances of becoming the next Labour leader have been greatly enhanced.   Ed Balls, however, is effectively finished. Balls will recognise this, and will be considering his next move. Now his ambition is to be shadow chancellor, and, as Paul Waugh argued yesterday, David Miliband is the candidate most likely to offer him that, or so the theory goes.  It is, if you’ll excuse the expression, all eyes on Balls.    

James Forsyth James Forsyth

AV, what is a Conservative to do?

Matthew Parris and Charles Moore are the two of the most eloquent exponents of conservatism. But they represent different strands of conservative thought as their views on AV demonstrate. Matthew argues in his column in The Times today that the Conservative party should let AV pass if that is what it takes to keep the Lib Dems happy. He thinks that the Lib Dems are not only needed to make the Coalition work but that their presence is, in itself, a good thing. As he writes, ‘Lib Dems bring to government a distinct and healthy slant on politics. There is a reactionary component in the Tory make-up; I often share

David Blackburn

The Brokeback coalition

It’s the silly season. The Newspapers have been trawling for anti-coalition quotes from MPs, their wives and their dogs. They’ve found two. Tim Farron, the defeated candidate for the Lib Dem deputy leadership, said yesterday that David Cameron had a ’toxic brand’ and it wasn’t his job to cleanse it. Well, the latter is certainly true, and Lib Dem benches are concerned by plummeting polls and intense flak from Labour. David Cameron will make a very public effort to grant the Lib Dems concessions on civil liberties and fairness in the tax system, a pre-emptive tonic ahead of cuts.    There is disquiet on Tory backbenches – there always is.

The Spectator

EU power grab

No Prime Minister wants to do battle with the European Union, which is why it has accrued so much power in such a short space of time. When preparing for government, David Cameron was warned by the Civil Service that if he wanted to wrestle powers back from Brussels — as he has promised to do in party conference speeches — then it would absorb at least a year of his time in Downing Street. Since then, his approach has been to spend as little time as he can on the subject, hoping it will not appear on his political radar. While he may well have no interest in Brussels,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

This could be a great reforming government. But only if it learns from Blair’s failure

James Forsyth reviews the week in politics You wouldn’t know it from listening to the Prime Minister, but the coalition is on course to be a great reforming administration. In its first 11 weeks, it has announced plans to reform all four major public services. At the same time, its first Budget mandated the largest public spending cuts since the creation of the modern welfare state: a shrinking which goes beyond anything Margaret Thatcher ever attempted. But to achieve its reforming ambitions, the coalition must work out how to steer past the reefs on which past reformers have been wrecked. Tony Blair was so passionate about reform that speeches on

Friday

David Blackburn

A zeal for reform is what Labour is missing

Chris Patten appears on the last ever edition of Straight Talk with Andrew Neil in the early hours of Saturday. The coalition is Patten’s type of politics: socially liberal and economically neoliberal. He describes the government’s frenzy of legislation as ‘breathless’, but accepts that is understandable as it attempts to introduce a zealous reform agenda at the start of its term. Patten observes the coalition recognising that the fiscal overspend invites radical public service reform; indeed, requires it. He said:   ‘What I think is admirable is that some ministers – Kenneth Clarke for example, Vince Cable for example – have made it plain that they don’t just see public

David Blackburn

Balls to back David?

Paul Waugh sees it as his duty to pass on little drops of intrigue, and this one’s a dollop. If, as is expected, Unite back Ed Miliband tomorrow, the clapped-out Balls juggernaught will finally croak: there is no chance of him winning without Unite’s backing. There is a widespread rumour that Balls will pull out and back David Miliband. Waugh explains why: ‘The scenario painted to me is this: by dropping out and backing David M, his chances of becoming Shadow Chancellor are greatly enhanced. (The assumption here is that Ed Mili can’t offer him Shadow Chancellor because the top of the ticket would just look too unbalanced…that’s an assumption

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Bluntly speaking

Crispin Blunt has been unceremoniously slapped down by No 10 for saying that the ban on parties in prisons will be lifted. The Coalition is following a liberal line on criminal justice but it has no desire to pick a fight on the question of whether prisoners should be allowed to party in jail. A look at The Sun and The Mail this morning show why Downing Street dumped on Blunt so fast. The Mail followed up yesterday’s critical coverage of the Coalition with a devastating front-page assault on Blunt and his arguments. The Sun, which has been extremely supportive of the Coalition, also went for Blunt. Its leader denounced

David Blackburn

If the Tories go on like this Labour will become the party of law and order

Before such fripperies were banned, al-Qaeda terrorists were given lessons in stand-up comedy while in high-security prisons. I’d have thought that the exploding underpants fraternity had natural advantages in comedy, but never mind. What I want to know is who gave the lessons? It’d be ironic if it was a voluntary group. The Mail has worked itself into a panicked fury about that the ban on prison parties would be revoked. To be fair to the Mail, Crispin Blunt, the Prisons Minister claimed as much in speech last night, and he vowed to abolish Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection – orders that incarcerate the sort of charmers who butcher you

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Will GDP rise be Osborne’s get out clause?

Alistair Darling has been on Sky News doing a lap of honour for today’s GDP growth figures. “Vindicates everything we did,” he said – his narrative being that the extra debt did indeed boost the economy and produced 1.1 percent growth in this quarter. This chimes with what I wrote in the Daily Telegraph a few weeks ago: that the economy is better, not worse, than the Tories thought. Even if, or should I say when, the ONS say the figure was wrong and needs to be revised downwards it will still mean tax revenue churning in at a far faster rate than thought. This will give Osborne a get-out

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

In this week’s Spectator | 23 July 2010

The new edition of The Spectator is out, and I thought CoffeeHousers may appreciate a rundown of what’s in it. 1) Cameron, the accidental radical. James Forsyth’s political column is, as always, choc full of original insights and insider info. James explains how this coalition is far more reforming than anything Tony Blair led – yet the weird thing is that, whereas Blair would talk with evangelical zeal, Cameron says almost nothing. At times, it’s almost like he has no idea about how radical his government has become. James reveals how Clegg has become an ally for IDS on welfare reform. James also mentions that the reformers in all three

Thursday

David Blackburn

The coalition prepares for trouble

Labour’s relentless pursuit of the cancelled Sheffield Forgemasters’ loan is finally paying dividends. The government maintain that the loan was cancelled because the directors did not want to reduce their shareholding. It has emerged that, possibly, the directors did in fact offer to reduce their equity – a point that Jack Straw attempted to make at yesterday’s dire PMQs. Today brought more intrigue. A major Tory donor advised the government to cancel the loan, on the grounds that it was not necessary and possibly illegal on EU regulations. Pat McFadden, the sepulchral Shadow Business Secretary, has demanded answers from Vince Cable, trying to break the coalition’s united front at its

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Brotherly love | 22 July 2010

Ed Miliband will give his second preference vote in the Labour leadership contender to his brother, he tells the New Statesman’s Jason Cowley.   The Ed Miliband interview is part of a really rich set of profiles of the Labour leadership candidates. Diane Abbott inadvertently reveals that it is David Miliband who is taking the duties of a future Labour leader most seriously with her complaint that he is the leadership candidate who insisted on a meeting to find out what the duties of the victorious candidate would be at conference.    Both Eds offer quite left-wing prospectuses. Ed Balls argues that Labour didn’t lose because it lost touch with

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Salmond’s Letter to America

Here’s the text of the letter Alex Salmond has sent to Senator John Kerry, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. There’s nothing new here but it does state, clearly, the essential facts of the matter. Megrahi’s cancer is, again, to be regretted not least because it put an end to his appeal against his conviction and, thus, ended the prospects for a fresh review of what was, even if you think him guilty, a thoroughly unsatisfactory process. Dear Senator Kerry, I am writing to you about the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s recent interest in the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed AI-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

David Selbourne

Too late to save Britain – it’s time to emigrate

David Selbourne is a political philosopher and theorist. This article appeared in the magazine last week; it is an edited version of his speech for a Spectator debate on the motion, ‘Too late to save Britain. It’s time to leave.’‘ Part of me feels that those who have helped to bring the country down — venal politicians, false educators, degraders of the media, thieving privatisers of the public domain — need to be fought to a standstill, here on this battlefield, by those with the energy, strength and clarity of mind to do so. For no one wants to believe that the country of his birth, language, upbringing and way