Politics

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

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

The Brown ultimatum

Yet more talk of Brown’s potential demise.  This time in today’s Standard – a story (not online) about how backbenchers are giving the Prime Minster until May 2009 to “improve or stand down” (quite how they’d force this through is another question…).  Here’s what a “former minister” had to tell the paper: “I do not believe Gordon would want to lead the party to a severe defeat if it could be avoided by the positive momentum that a change of leader could provide ….  If the party’s position has not improved by May next year; it will probably mean it is irreparable without a fresh face in charge.”  It’s difficult to

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

The Tories should reward the strivers

Tory splits are rare nowadays, which is why it’s good to see Lord Forsyth talking sense about tax in the Telegraph today. It is “mad” for the Tories to propose to bring back the 10p starting rate of tax (which – in his seminal tax report (pdf) – he proposed to abolish long before Brown did it in his ‘tax con’ budget). Instead, Forsyth said, the Tories should lift the low-paid out of tax altogether.  Ensnaring millions of minimum wage workers in the income tax system is one of the more morally deplorable acts of the Brown Treasury – as if he has any right to what little is earned

Peter Hoskin

A reshuffle for the better?

Can things get any worse for Gordon Brown? With the news this morning that a minister is threatening to quit, our Dear Leader needs something to change. And quick. On that front, he seems to be pinning his hopes on a cabinet reshuffle this summer. According to the Telegraph, those due a promotion include Jim Murphy, Liam Byrne and – surprise, surprise – Ed Miliband. Whilst Hilary Benn, Des Browne and Hazel Blears can expect to be flung from the battlements. This isn’t so much a reshuffle, then, as a dilution. Whilst Murphy et al. may be capable in their own right, their youthful presence will hardly reassure voters in

Monday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

One of Gordon’s goats is abandoning him

Tomorrow’s Times splashes on the news that Digby Jones will resign before the next election as he is not prepared to say that he supports Gordon Brown during an election campaign. The Times reports that the former CBI head made the remark at a private event at the end of January. Brown must wish that the news had leaked out earlier as coming now it fits all too well into the current narrative that this is a government in disarray and on the way out. Expect plenty of Labour backbenchers to say I told you he was a rat, many had always questioned the wisdom of making someone a minister

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Channel 4 fact check

George Osborne had a bit of a rough ride on Channel Four news at 7pm and the Labour Party has gleefully sent around a transcript. Jon Snow put to him that “the IMF says that our growth is going to be 1.6%, not only this year but next year as well, and that outstrips any other country in the whole of Europe and the United States.” Utter nonsense, of course, but Osborne did not correct him when asked to name a country that would do better. Again Snow said to Osborne that “on the IMF figures, Britain comes out on top” and later “you reject the absolutely key finding which

Peter Hoskin

Who should you vote for?

Still undecided on who you’d have as London mayor?  If so, this nifty “Who should I vote for?” quiz that Sky have put together should help you decide.  It asks questions on a policy-by-policy basis, and then picks your man for you.  Simplicity itself.   Any surprising results for CoffeeHousers?  Do tell…

Peter Hoskin

A change of address

So – in an effort to save taxpayers’ money – David Miliband is to permanently vacate his lavish official residence.  Over at Three Line Whip, Con Coughlin is disappointed by the move, thinking it will undermine the stature of the Foreign Secretary – “Foreign visitors expect to be received in some style when they come to London”. David Hughes counters by pointing-out that “there’s hardly a dearth of venues for official receptions and dinners”.   I’m with Hughes. Foreign visitors may have their expectations, but British taxpayers expect something too – namely, that their cash isn’t used to fund the gravy-train. And – whilst there’s a slight whiff of opportunism about Miliband’s decision – it’s still good to

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Britain is “bust” says Osborne

A first for British politics – standing room only in a speech about economics. George Osborne was at Policy Exchange laying out his “alternative view” and, as he went, ticking many of the boxes I had for him. The first half of his speech was a punchy critique of Gordon Brown, pointing out times where he and David Cameron had mentioned the debt problem. He “imported deflation from Asia,” he said. – and two years ago the Tories had warned about “an economy built on debt is an economy living on borrowed time.” That phrase is very true now. Labour has repeated the mistakes of its past. Anyway, you can

Peter Hoskin

A cut lead for Boris

As Centre Right reveal, today’s Evening Standard records a cut poll lead for Boris. Their latest YouGov poll has Our Man on 45 percent (down 4 on the last poll); Livingstone on 39 percent (up 3); and Paddick on 12 percent (up 2). Things look rosier when second preferences are allocated – Boris lands 54 percent of the vote, compared to Livingstone’s 46 percent.   The slimmer advantage is testament not only to Livingstone’s resilience, but also to a week in which Boris has seemed oddly deflated. His performance in last week’s Newsnight debate was less-than-stellar, and A.A. Gill’s article in the Sunday Times described the Tory candidate as unusually “glum and uninspiring”. The

Matthew Dancona

Brown shouldn’t fear the stalking horses

It is a modern ritual that when a party political leader’s fortunes plummet – and Gordon Brown’s certainly fit that category – there is talk of a leadership contest and, specifically, of a “stalking horse” candidate. Here’s an entertaining look in Slate at the origins of the phrase. But, for most of us, the words trigger memories of Sir Anthony Meyer’s challenge to Margaret Thatcher for the Tory leadership in 1989 – doomed in itself, but the key that turned the lock to her downfall a year later. The Conservative leadership rules in those days were sufficiently flexible to make such a challlenge meaningful, and enabled contenders to step into the

The Spectator

Just in case you missed them… | 14 April 2008

Here are some posts made over the weekend: Matthew d’Ancona thinks Gordon Brown is his own worst enemy. Fraser Nelson charts Brown’s reign of error. Peter Hoskin tracks the growing sentiment that our Prime Minister won’t make it to the next election. And James Forsyth stresses the importance of May 1 to the Government, and reports on the effort to curb Iranian influence in Iraq.

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Another day, same bad story for Brown

Every day now brings another set of bad headlines for Gordon Brown. Today, there’s that dire poll in the FT–which Pete mentioned, the news that a cabinet minster told Nick Robinson that “the danger we face is that we are just too damaged to recover”, and a whole slew of columns laying into the Prime Minister. There is, as Jackie Ashley argues, an element of piling on in this coverage. But there’s definitely a feeling in Westminster that there’s blood in the water. Brown desperately needs to change the story but he’s lost control of the news agenda. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, May 1st is

Peter Hoskin

No confidence

George Osborne couldn’t have hoped for a better background to his speech at Policy Exchange today than this FT poll. It finds that some 68 percent of UK voters don’t have any confidence in the Government’s ability to deal with recent economic difficulties. The FT also polled voters from other leading economies – such as France, Germany and the US – but the UK topped the pessimism chart. Those chickens that are coming home to roost – they’re flocks of untold size. Brown’s got to be worried.

Sunday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Labour would be doing better with Blair in charge

If Tony Blair were still Prime Minister Labour would be five—not sixteen—points behind the Conservatives, according to the latest YouGov poll. With Blair back at the helm, the Conservative vote falls to below 40 percent, while the Labour vote rises by six points. More voters think that it is unlikely than likely that Brown will be Labour leader after the next election. There is, though, no clear successor; that modern-day Vicar of Bray, Jack Straw is the only Labour politician to break into double-figures when voters are asked who they would like it to be. The finding that should really worry Brown, though, is that 61 percent  of voters blame

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Brown’s reign of error

Gordon Brown doesn’t boast anymore about his friendship with Alan Greenspan – and little wonder. The former Fed Chairman’s name is fast becoming mud in America, as they turn on the man they lionised for more than a decade. America is about nine months ahead of the UK in the credit crunch, and what fascinates me is not just their take on the current situation but how they are revising their view of the last decade. What Greenspan called “prosperity” they now see as a debt binge and he is being blamed for fuelling the housing bubble now bursting with such calamitous consequences. This should terrify Brown because the same

James Forsyth James Forsyth

No day of rest for Brown in trouble stories

The Sunday papers pick up where the Saturday ones left off. The Independent on Sunday reports that Charles Clarke is preparing a stalking horse challenger  if Labour does badly on May 1st. The Mail on Sunday revives the story that Brown has promised to only fight one general election. A poll for The Sunday Times finds that “Brown’s personal rating has plunged further and faster than any other British leader since political polling began in the 1930s”. While the paper says that he is facing a cabinet revolt over 42 days. The Observer notes speculation that Brown will opt for a snap cabinet reshuffle after May 1st. Only a stronger than expected

Saturday

James Forsyth James Forsyth

May Day for the Prime Minister

May 1st is becoming ever more important for Gordon Brown. Holding London and exceeding expectations in the rest of the country is the only thing that can put a stop to the increasingly frequent stories about how his government is doomed and he is the problem, see the Martin Kettle and Matthew Parris articles that Pete flagged up earlier today.  If Labour were to lose London and suffer heavy loses elsewhere, then the steady flow of stories about how the Brown government is in terminal decline will become a torrent. It is increasingly hard to see how Brown could turn things around in these circumstances. The other problem for Brown

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Curbing Iranian influence in Iraq

One of the most important things to have emerged from recent events in Basra and the testimony of General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker is that Iran has stepped up its efforts to destabilise Iraq. The crucial question is whether the Maliki government is now more prepared to confront this Iranian influence.  The signs are promising. First, Mailiki was prepared to order his forces into Basra in an effort to curb the power of the militias and the Iranian trained special groups. Second, it seems that Iran’s role in the fighting in Basra has been, as Defense Secretary Gates put it, “a real eye-opener” for  Malik. Third, the Americans—as The Washington

Peter Hoskin

Yesterday’s man?

The succession talk is chasing Gordon Brown into the weekend. Here’s Martin Kettle in today’s Guardian: “A spectre is haunting the Labour party – the spectre of Gordon Brown’s failure. Questions about Brown abound in Labour ranks. The concern is not, as far as I can tell from many conversations this week, primarily about Brown’s policies or about the changes at No 10. The question is mainly about him. Right now, the problem is Brown himself… …A lot is written about the growing fatalism in Labour ranks. It exists, but don’t exaggerate it. There is also still a hunger for re-election, especially among younger MPs. That enduring hunger is, in

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

We urgently need education reform, just ask the Coils if you doubt me

At 11am today, Radio Four looks at the Tory school reform plan – inspired, apparently, by our recent cover story on Cameron’s schools revolution. I’m on the panel of Talking Politics, Dennis Sewell is hosting and my fellow panellists are Michael White from the Guardian and Anne McElvoy from the Evening Standard. We pre-recorded on Thursday, and I found myself in the unusually position of being a cheerleader for a Tory proposal. Michael said my youthful idealism set alarm bells off with him. CoffeeHousers have made a similar point – I’m becoming “ever more messianic” said TGF UKIP. So why am I so het up?   Education stirs passions in