Read about the latest UK political news, views and analysis.
Nick Clegg answers CoffeeHousers’ questions. James Forsyth points out how bad things are looking for Gordon Brown. Peter Hoskin questions the Government’s eco-town policy. Fraser Nelson says we should dispense with the bureaucrats. And Matthew d’Ancona suggests that Hillary Clinton should cool it with the Rocky comparisons.
The expenses claims of nineteen MPs – including Blair, Brown and Cameron – have been released today. Nothing in breach of the rules, but still some cause for eyebrow-raising. For instance, John Prescott claimed £4,000 in 2003/04 for groceries (would it be cruel to say it showed?) And Blair had his TV license-fee paid for. Despite the lack of Derek Conway-style revelations, the release is welcome – if only because it’s one in the eye for Michael Martin. But – for good or ill – things still aren’t as transparent as they could be. Martin continues to fight against the release of “receipt-by-receipt” breakdowns; a battle that will be adjudicated in the
As it’s Friday, here’s some entertainment – the interview Gordon Brown gave to Radio One’s Newsbeat last year (newly added to YouTube). The interviewer, Rajini Vaidyanathan, specialises in leftfield questions and often gets hilarious results. After asking if he was a “grumpy, dour backstabber” (he was prepared for that one) she asked the then Chancellor where he would take her on a date. What film would they watch? United 93, he said. Not very romantic, she replied. He tried again: Hotel Rwanda. And his music? He likes “mod..moder…moder…modern groups” Here is a wee transcript (forward to 1’40): Rajini Vaidyanathan: Let’s pretend I’m on a political dinner date with you. Would
Michael Heath’s illustration for our Brownies posts (so far we’ve covered Inflation and The Lisbon Treaty) deserves to be showcased. So here’s Brown the magician, in all his glory:
Most of the press attention on Tony Blair’s speech last night has concentrated on what he said about faith, and understandably so. But to my mind, the most interesting section was when Blair talked about what he sees as the new dividing line in politics today: “The world is interdependent today, economically, politically, even to a degree ideologically. The divide, then, is between those who see this as positive – the opening up offering opportunity; and those who see it as threatening and wish to close it back down. As you can see from the Presidential race in the U.S., there are new questions that cross traditional Party lines: free
Here are Nick Clegg’s answers to the last five questions put forward by CoffeeHousers. For his first five responses click here. Q: MPs were already a devalued currency with the public following years of labour spin, expense fraud etc. Would you agree that their stock has diminished even further following the refusal of the government, helped by your party’s abstention, to give a referendum on the Lisbon constitution? Can you understand why people are put off politicians by this cynical game of MPs putting party before country? – Pete A: People are fed up with politicians – but for a lot of reasons, not just one. That’s why I’ve said
Is it a bigger scandal that six state schools are asking parents for voluntary contributions or that 100,000 children do not get into their first choice school? Ed Balls clearly thinks it is the former as he has gone into full Laura Spence-outrage mode over it, naming and shaming the schools involved. One can’t help but wonder what Balls is up to in trying to turn this into a big story. As Conor Ryan, who used to advise Blair and Blunkett on education, writes, “The problem with turning the issue into a cause celebre is that it alienates many of the good school leaders that this government needs if it
As James said earlier, things aren’t looking great for Gordon. And now – as Ben Brogan points out – our Prime Minister’s got a revolt on his hands. What makes this one particularly damaging is that it’s over matters economic. Says Brogan: “Bad news for Gordon. At last count 26 of his MPs have signed an EDM calling on Alistair Darling to review the scrapping of the 10p rate of tax … When Mr Brown was Chancellor the idea of a revolt by Labour MPs on tax was nigh unthinkable. Times have changed.”
The appalling story of how the Tory Party fixes its MEP candidates is told on ConservativeHome. This won’t be picked up on Fleet Street, as MEPs are such a boring business. But it raises serious questions about the Conservatives’ commitment to localism in running the country, if this is how they treat their own party members.
Peter Riddell is not a man prone to hyperbole so when he writes that “The malaise is real and it is widespread. The Brown Government is in deep trouble” we should sit up and take notice. As Peter notes, much of the problem stems from the teething troubles surrounding the arrival of new people at Number Ten who have not meshed with the old team. One of the oddest things about Stephen Carter’s new hires is why they keep talking to PR Week, hardly a subtle venue for strategic leaking. Philip Webster reports one Minister irritably asking, “What is going on here? Do people think they can go running to
Here are Nick Clegg’s answers to the first 5 questions put forward by CoffeeHousers: Q: If the Lib Dems hold the balance of power in 2010, which Cabinet portfolios are you after, and who would fill them? – Peter A: That’s just not something I think about. The Liberal Democrats are an independent party, focused on providing a programme for government across the portfolio areas. Speculating about coalitions is not a game that I am interested in playing. Q: You have made rather anti-government spending noises recently. Is there a figure for spending as a %age of GDP which you would regard as roughly about right –
Another poll lead for Boris this morning, but it’s significantly shorter than those 10 and 12 point advantages he’s enjoyed recently. This Guardian / ICM poll – which they’re hawking as “the only one to be carried out by a national newspaper using established techniques” – has Boris as the first choice of 42 percent of voters, compared to 41 percent for Ken. When second preferences are allocated, Boris’s lead increases slightly – 51 percent to 49 percent. He’s winning the battle for the hearts (and votes) of Paddickites. Whilst any lead for the Spectator’s man is encouraging, this latest shows there’s still a lot of work to be done
We knew everything we needed to know about Bertie Ahern from the moment his mentor Charlie Haughey declared that of all the young thrusters in Fianna Fail, Ahern was “the most skillful, the most devious, the most cunning of them all”. It’s tempting to conclude that this endorsement provided sufficient grounds for barring Ahern from public office. Then again, the Irish electorate seems to prefer its leaders crooked. There’s a fine old story – only possibly apocryphal – in which a little old lady tells a journalist that no, she wouldn’t dream of voting for Garret Fitzgerald: how can you trust a man who lives in the same small house
Here’s footage of the back-and-forth between Harman and Hague in PMQs earlier:
Of all the scary economic forecasts we’ve heard recently, perhaps the most chilling is the idea that we’re nine months behind America on the credit crunch. What would it mean for us? And what political effect might it have? In tomorrow’s magazine, George Bridges, former campaigns director for Cameron, does for us what politicians do for themselves at election time. He has asked Experian, the credit rating agency, to trawl its vast database and list sub-prime penetration by constituency. Of the 200 worst affected seats, all but 14 are held by Labour. It is, as George puts it, “a punch in the financial solar plexus for those Brown has purported
The Politics Home Index, a poll of 100 political insiders which has just launched, is going to provide a fascinating insight into what the Westminster Village is thinking. Earlier this week, the panel were surveyed on what they expected the result of the next election to be—the results, provided exclusively to Coffee House, make for encouraging reading for the Tories. 34 percent predict a Conservative majority while 32% expect the Conservatives to be the largest party in a hung parliament. By contrast, only 13 percent say the Labour party will have a majority and 22 percent think Labour will be the largest party but fall short of an overall majority.
Bertie Ahern is to step down from his twin role as Irish taoiseach and leader of the Fianna Fáil party on May 6th. He’s departing under something of a cloud – his personal finances are being sifted through by a corruption tribunal, although he denies any wrongdoing. History, though, will most likely remember him for his role in the Irish peace process. I’d recommend Three Line Whip’s excellent coverage.
A bit of a damp squib, really. Harman held her own against those PMQs titans that are Hague and Cable. And all my anticipatory drooling was for nought. Hague opened by congratulating Harman on being the first female Labour MP to lead the House at PMQs. An invite for Harman’s only cringeworthy moment, as she inquired why Theresa May wasn’t opposing her. She suddenly came over all Oprah-esque – handing out “sisterly advice” and asking whether Tory women are to be “seen but not heard”. The patented Hague Joke soon followed, and it was a good one. If Harman dons the appropriate attire for all occasions – a stab-vest when touring
Ok, so Political Betting covered this yesterday – among others – but the words “Magpie Mayor” emblazoned across the front of last night’s Evening Standard reminded me to give it a Coffee House mention. Basically – as this Standard article details – Ken Livingstone is planning to steal Boris’s policy ideas, including that of the “Payback London” scheme. Worse still, Ken unabashedly admits to this. Here’s what he had to say in a debate the other night: “I’m stealing your policies. What sort of idiot, when they hear a good idea, wouldn’t take it on board?” Does Ken really think this will ingratiate him with Londoners?
Simon Heffer serves up a bracing cup of invective in the Telegraph this morning. His message is that we shouldn’t be too quick to label the Government “incompetent”, as doing so suggests they’ve reached this point by accident rather than by design: “The element of deliberation and deliberateness in what Labour has done makes an accusation of incompetence, or carelessness, seem wide of the mark. Things were meant to be this way. Labour has pursued policies, be they social or economic, for ideological reasons: and when they fail, as so many have, it has not been because of slipshod administration. It is because that was how things were always going to