Politics

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

Saturday

Matthew Parris Matthew Parris

Another Voice | 21 June 2008

It’s all too easy to leave Top Secret papers lying around — I should know News last week that police are investigating a ‘serious’ security breach after a civil servant lost top-secret documents containing the latest intelligence on al-Qa’eda sent a shiver of alarmed reminiscence down my spine. The unnamed Cabinet Office employee apparently breached strict security rules when he left the papers, in an orange cardboard folder, on the seat of a train bound for Surrey. It just would be Surrey. Apparently the papers were classified Top Secret. Mine were more secret than that. Top Secret isn’t the top secret classification — or wasn’t in 1976. There were (to

Friday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Labour Party in “meltdown”

Danny Finklestein reports: Politely talking to one Labour member,  while in the presence of a member of the Shadow Cabinet, I asked him gently to what he thought we owed Labour’s decline in the polls. Instead of giving an involved explanation he replied: “Oh that’s easy to explain. Our Leader is utterly useless. If you asked him which of the two doors from this room he was going to exit from he would be incapable of choosing. And if someone else chose the door for him he wouldn’t be able to make his way there” Well, yes. Once a party starts to unravel, there ain’t anything anyone can do to

The Spectator

The week that was | 20 June 2008

Some highlights of the week on Spectator.co.uk:   Spectator Live is launched. Andrew Neil thinks that Britain has lost out from the Home Office’s decision not to let Martha Stewart into the country. Fraser Nelson outlines his take on the David Davis story, and pays tribute to Scottish alcohol adverts. James Forsyth suggests that the Labour attack machine has lost its teeth, and asks whether Daniel Finkelstein is fighting the last war. Peter Hoskin reports on Ed Ball’s latest attack on grammar schools, and marks the moment that the Lisbon Treaty passed through the House of Lords. Stephen Pollard writes on Gordon Brown’s “instinctive loathing of capitalism”. Melanie Phillips gives

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Countering the lies

My, British politics is becoming litigious. First Shami Chakrabarti threatens to sue over “smears” about her and David Davis, and now David Cameron is talking about suing the Liberal Democrats over the contents of their Henley literature. There is an instinct to say ‘grow up, it’s only politics’ but its about time the Tories started getting muscular about the lies told about them. Gordon Brown lied his way through the 2005 election campaign, saying the Tories would make £35bn of “cuts”  when they (alas) promised not just to outspend Labour but to raise the tax burden too. If Brown repeated these claims in a document regulated by the London Stock Exchange

Peter Hoskin

Brown delays ratification of the Lisbon Treaty

At the suggestion of Lord Justice Richards, Gordon Brown has confirmed he’ll delay ratification of the Lisbon Treaty until after the result of Stuart Wheeler’s court case against the Government.  We should hear the verdict next week and, according to Brown, that “fits in with [the Government’s] timetable.” However, Wheeler has since confirmed that he’ll most likely appeal should the High Court rule in the Government’s favour.  In theory, that should mean further delay for Brown & Co.  Watch this space. P.S. An explanation for those puzzled by all the “UK ratifies Lisbon Treaty” headlines now Brown’s said he’ll delay ratification.  The bill to implement the Lisbon Treaty has passed successfully through

Peter Hoskin

The disgruntled speak out

Over at Comment Central, Danny Finkelstein’s posted a couple of no-holds-barred quotations from Labour MPs: “Our Leader is utterly useless. If you asked him which of the two doors from this room he was going to exit from he would be incapable of choosing. And if someone else chose the door for him he wouldn’t be able to make his way there.” And, “The one good thing about global warming is that as the waters rise, Hazel Blears will drown first.” Of course, it’s no surprise that certain Labour MPs aren’t happy with the party leadership.  Nonetheless, it’s telling that they’re expressing this in quite such blunt terms.  As Finkelstein says, it has all the hallmarks of

Peter Hoskin

Things are hotting-up in Henley

After David Davis’ resignation, Henley was under threat of becoming the forgotten by-election.  But things are hotting up there today, with David Cameron threatening to sue the Lib Dems over some of their campaign methods. Cameron claims the Lib Dems have misrepresented the Tory candidate John Howell’s views on a local hospital.  And then there’s the Lib Dem magazine which has positioned a photo of Boris such that it looks like a picture byline, above an article endorsing the Lib Dem candidate (see this image at Conservative Home). Boris has already lodged a complaint.  And the Tories are demanding apologies and retractions from the Lib Dems.  If they don’t get them, then to the courts it will

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Davis shuffle

Last night on Question Time, David Davis said: “If I was given my job back, I think I’d take it – but I don’t think I’ll be offered it.” The general feeling in Tory circles is that David Cameron is not in any way obliged to reshuffle to bring Davis back in after he wins his by-election; a stint on the backbenches is the price that Davis pays for his stand. But things get interesting if Cameron is forced into a reshuffle. In these circumstances, the biggest question would be will Cameron bring Davis back? This is a fascinating sub-text to the whole Caroline Spelman business. If this row about

Thursday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Miliband won’t take no for an answer

Further to Pete’s post, David Miliband’s comments on Channel 4 tonight are a classic example of Euro double-speak: “We are ready to respond to the vote that took place in Ireland in a way that is respectful, that is calm, and above all listens to the Irish people and the Irish government.” The respectful way to respond to the Irish vote and the one that listens to the Irish people is to accept that no means no. The idea that you just keep holding votes until you get the right result makes a mockery of the democratic process. PS If you haven’t already, do read Dan Hannan in the magazine

Peter Hoskin

Just say ‘No’

The news coming out of the EU summit in Brussels is less than encouraging. Apparently, the various representatives are preparing themselves for months and months of negotiation over the Lisbon Treaty. And that includes the Irish. Their Prime Minister, Brian Cowen, had this to say: “It is necessary for Ireland to have time now to analyze last week’s vote and explore options … It is far too early yet for anyone to put forward proposals.” True, there are few absolutes in politics. But the Irish ‘No’ result should be one of them. It could take the Irish Government all of a second to repeat this declaration to the other EU leaders. That they are willing to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Labour attack machine has lost its teeth

If you want to know how much Labour’s political skills have atrophied just consider how it has failed to land a hit on the Tories—and David Davis in particular—over their stance on civil liberties. Take the Tory position on removing the DNA of all those who have been charged but not convicted of a crime from the national database. On Tuesday, Gordon Brown claimed in his speech that if DNA had not been retained from these people, “8,000 suspects who have been matched with crime scenes since 2001 would in all probability have got away, their DNA having been deleted from the database. This includes 114 murders, 55 attempted murders,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Burnham gets more than he bargained for

Andy Burnham’s comments about David Davis and Shami Chakrabarti were a cheap shot and unworthy of this office. They also typified the cack-handed way in which Labour has responded to the Tories on civil liberties—more on that later. Davis hit back hard in the papers this morning and Chakrabarti has escalated the issue with a threat of legal action: “I look forward to your written apology as I’m sure does Mrs Davis. If on the other hand you choose to continue down the path of innuendo and attempted character assassination, you will find that the privileged legal protection of the parliament chamber does not extend to slurs made in the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

The Tories should take the poor out of tax

The Telegraph’s excellent Tories in Power series continues today with a splendid piece by Tim Montgomerie. Tim argues that: “The Tories’ next moral target should be the taxation of low-income workers. Income tax is taken from many poor families, churned through an expensive bureaucracy and then returned in benefits. It would cost £44 billion to take approximately 14,000,000 people out of the tax system altogether. The Conservative government doesn’t have to set a timetable, but it would be the greatest of missions; as radical and just as Margaret Thatcher’s sale of council homes. It would sow panic in Labour’s heartlands. The difference between freezing public spending and growing public spending

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Davis story

A few months ago, I was told that David Davis had confessed at a dinner party that he didn’t believe the next Cameron government would be very Tory, and didn’t see the point in staying. I put this to both Mr Davis and a few of his friends. All laughed it off. Mr Davis said he was perhaps a little bored waiting for the 42 days vote, but not unhappy. (This, by the way, is typical of the way he’s played down any split with Cameron at every opportunity in private as well as public). One of his friends told me that it wasn’t so. “I’m not just saying this,

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Does Brown need some holiday reading?

Alistair Horne has a delightful piece in today’s Independent reflecting on the dinner he went to with George W. Bush and what politicians learn from history. I was particularly struck by this anecdote: But probably the best read of any, not only in history, was Harold Macmillan. To fight the “Black Dog” of depression, he would regularly lock himself away for hours at a time to read. He claimed to have re-read the whole of George Eliot during the Suez Crisis of 1956. One wonders if what the Prime Minister needs to do right now is to kick his shoes off and read some fiction. As Iain Martin has long

Peter Hoskin

Hard Times

In the wake of Alistair Darling and Mervyn King’s speeches at Mansion House last night, most of the papers are majoring on the sorry state of our economy. Both Darling and King indicated that this is the worst shape it’s been in for around 15 years, and warned that there’s worse to come. For the gloom-inclined, we’ve pulled out some of their main points over on Trading Floor. And whilst we’re on the subject of the economy, Anatole Kaletsky’s article on inflation in this morning’s Times is essential reading. In it, he expresses doubts over Gordon Brown’s ability to handle inflationary pressures in the right way: “The second genuine reason

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Parliament ratifies the Lisbon Treaty

So that’s it then.  The Lisbon Treaty has passed sucessfully through Parliament, despite an 11th-hour Tory effort to delay proceedings.  The UK now joins a merry band of 19 EU countries which have all ratified the document. It’s a gross betrayal of the ‘No’ vote in the Irish referendum.  The noise coming out of Downing Street is that it doesn’t want a two-tier Europe, and it will attempt to terminate the Treaty should Ireland – or any of the other 27 countries – drop out of proceedings.  That’s better than the “forget the Irish” standpoint that some countries have.  But it’s still less than noble.  After all, as more and more countries ratify the Treaty, the

Peter Hoskin

A referendum, of sorts

Guido helpfully points out that there’s now a counter-petition to the anti-ratification one set up by Richard North and Neil O’Brien on the Downing Street website.  This new petition states: “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Ignore the result of the Irish referendum and ratify the Lisbon Treaty.” So – in a roundabout way – the Downing Street website’s now offering a vote on whether the Lisbon Treaty should be ratified.  As it is, the ‘No’s currently lead by 18,590 to 8…