Politics

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

Thursday

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… 

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Clegg should go to David Davis’s constituency immediately

Nick Clegg should be on his way to Haltemprice & Howden right now with the aim of canvassing for David Davis on the first day of his campaign. Clegg’s aim should be to cause as much mischief as possible by fanning the flames of any Tory splits story. If Clegg appeared with Davis before Cameron then the press pack would start sniffing around this story.

Peter Hoskin

Labour confirm they won’t stand in Haltemprice & Howden

Labour have confirmed that they won’t put forward a candidate for the Haltemprice & Howden by-election.  For Team Davis, this will surely ingrain those worries that I mentioned earlier.  But, depsite that, Davis had already set up the perfect response to the news.  Talking to the BBC earlier, he said: “Gordon Brown … is my real opponent”.  Now he just needs to get this message out as much as possible – particularly before getting embroiled in debate with the irregular collection of candidates who are standing.

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Brown pummelled in PMQs

With four more troops dead in Afghanistan, the campaign in Helmand led PMQs. Gordon Brown wished to pay tribute, and I’m afraid it did not go well. “The freedoms that we have in Britain are in no small part due to the fact that we have taken on the Taleban in Afghanistan and refused them to allow to break the democracy of Afghanistan,” he said. Garbled nonsense: I agree that the cause in Afghanistan is noble but in what way are British freedoms “due” to the Afghan campaign? I’m not even sure what Brown was trying to say. Paying tribute to the military does not come naturally to him, as

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Is Finkelstein fighting the last war?

Few columnists in Britain provoke as often or as brilliantly as Daniel Finkelstein does. But I think Danny reveals himself to be fighting the last war in his piece today. He argues that the Tories should not differentiate themselves too much from Brown as that would be an electoral risk. He writes that: “The only way of satisfying the demand that [Cameron] stands for something would be to leave the centre ground. He is better off leaving that demand unsatisfied.” This suggests that Danny does not believe that there is an electorally popular, reform Conservatism that can be sold to the public. To my mind, this is both defeatist and

James Forsyth James Forsyth

A show of strength

Neil O’Brien and Richard North’s Downing Street petition, demanding that Brown abandon ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, is now the third most popular live petition on the Downing Street site. There are currently 15,507 signatures on it which is pretty remarkable considering that it has only been up for just over 24 hours. I think the record for one of these petitions is the 1.7 million plus who signed the road pricing petition. If this one got anywhere near that it would show Brown the strength of feeling on this issue.

Peter Hoskin

Freedland gives Brown a kicking

Brown’s been Prime Minister for a year next week, so you can expect the papers to be stuffed with articles on his premiership so far. Coffee House will be making its own contribution, but it’s Jonathan Freedland who gets the ball rolling in this morning’s Guardian. And he does so with some venom. The headline tells you all you need to know – “A year in, it’s clear: we got Brown wrong. He is simply not up to the job”. But here are some selected quotes anyway: “At its most basic, [Brown] seems to lack the skills of a man who would lead a 21st-century nation. “He came in like an

Peter Hoskin

Davis’ big day

So, today’s the day that David Davis will formally step down as an MP, to begin his campaign against stolen liberties. On balance, I think he and his team will be happy with how it’s gone so far. Almost a week after his initial announcement, the Davis gambit is still featuring heavily in the newspapers. And it’s certainly struck a chord with the public (see this poll that the Independent released yesterday). But I’m sure a few things will still be worrying Team Davis; foremost among which will probably be the relative lack of heavyweight candidates for him to run against. As Fraser wrote last week, the last thing Davis wants

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Poor, brave David Davis has become the Eddie the Eagle of Westminster

At a dinner party in central London a few months ago, David Davis made an extraordinary confession. He had become disenchanted with David Cameron, he said, and was considering quitting politics. ‘I believe in certain things,’ he said, ‘and I do not believe the next Conservative government will implement them.’ He wondered if he should try to earn a little money in the outside world. He did not come across as bitter or regicidal, I am told, just disillusioned — and planning a graceful exit. Or, as it turned out, a rather spectacular one. It is now more than a week since Mr Davis resigned to campaign on the issue

Tuesday

Alex Massie Alex Massie

McCain lobbies for place in Brown cabinet…

Meanwhile, in America habeas corpus is also in the news, prompting an excellent column from George Will today: McCain, co-author of the McCain-Feingold law that abridges the right of free political speech, has referred disparagingly to, as he puts it, “quote ‘First Amendment rights.’ ” Now he dismissively speaks of “so-called, quote ‘habeas corpus suits.’ ” He who wants to reassure constitutionalist conservatives that he understands the importance of limited government should be reminded why the habeas right has long been known as “the great writ of liberty.” True that.

The Spectator

Spectator Q&As

Over on Trading Floor, we’re running a Q&A with the economic forecaster Graham Turner.  Graham has recently written a book on the credit crunch, so please do put your questions to him on that topic or on other matters economic.  He’ll be responding on 23rd June. And don’t forget the Coffee House Q&A with David Davis.  Head here to register your questions – there are Coffee House t-shirts up for grabs…

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Blears blunders?

The news that Hazel Blears has had a computer with sensitive material on it stolen from her constituency office is acutely embarrassing for the government, coming as it does on the same day as Gordon Brown’s big speech on security and liberty. It is also further grist to David Davis’s mill. Blears has done sterling work at the DCLG. But if the information on the computer was improperly stored, then her position is going to be rather precarious.

Peter Hoskin

Has Brown done the right thing over pay?

George Osborne’s referred to it as a “gesture” – which is almost certainly true.  But at least the announcement that ministers will give up their pay rise this year is the right kind of gesture.  As Brown said earlier, “MPs should set the example at a time of public sector pay restraint.”  Now all he’s got to do is convince the rest of the House of this before the 3rd July vote on salaries. But, obviously, there’s a toxic background to all of this.  After all the disgraceful expense scandals of recent months, will the public really believe that ministers aren’t riding on the gravy train?

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The truth behind the high cost of living

If looked as if Alistair Darling were stuck on a groove on his Sky News interview. Michael Howard was famously asked the same question 13 times – Darling seemed to give the same answer as many times. I suspect his message was programmed by No10 because it has Brown’s fingerprints all over it. Here’s that message – repeated ad nauseum. “People are feeling the pressures, but it is driven by the fact that food world prices are up by 40% and oil has doubled in the last year. That’s feeding through. The key is we take action to reduce these oil prices and get lower prices at the pump, lower prices at

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Are the Tories in good health?

The Telegraph is running an excellent series on what the Tories would do in power. Yesterday, Jill Kirby wrote about the Tories and family policy, and this morning Anthony Browne turns the spotlight on the Tory approach to the NHS. Health policy under Cameron has been, to put it mildly, uninspiring. The Tories’ main aim seems to have been to neutralise it as a political issue and keep the BMA on side. The result is a policy that reeks of producer capture. One of Browne’s main points is that the Tories must not succumb to the short-term political temptation of opposing the closure of every hospital or local doctor’s surgery. As Browne