2015 general election

Sunday

Fraser Nelson

Osborne and Miliband compete to see who has the worst housing policy

So who is talking more nonsense about the housing market: George Osborne or Ed Miliband? From today’s newspapers, it’s hard to tell. The problem: the era of low interest rates has fuelled an asset boom. Perhaps an asset bubble. Property prices are soaring to ridiculous levels, unaffordable for anyone without money in their family. This causes real despair for young people. So what to do? Ed Miliband’s solution: he’ll ‘harness’ (by which he means ‘divert’) money put into first-time buyer ISAs into housebuilding. This policy could only have been devised by a bunch of academics who don’t understand markets. The whole point of ISAs is that people can invest money wherever they like:

Sebastian Payne

The poll that could mean the end for Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage’s career is on the brink. Aside from his solid performance in the TV debate last week, the Ukip leader isn’t focusing on the party’s national standing. All that matters to Farage now is South Thanet and making sure he is elected as the constituency’s first Ukip MP. But the seat is not a sure win and fears have been spreading throughout the party about what would happen if he fails to be elected. These fears will only be exacerbated by today’s Mail on Sunday splash, which reports that a ‘Ukip-commissioned poll…shows that Farage has fallen behind his Tory opponent in the Kent seat he is contesting. And he is in

Saturday

Fraser Nelson

The hounding of the BBC’s James Cook exposes the uglier side of Scottish nationalism

BBC Scotland’s James Cook caught up with Nicola Sturgeon today and asked her about the Telegraph‘s leaked memo. But he also told her that the story chimes with what he has been told by senior SNP figures – that it suits their wider purpose to have a Tory Prime Minister because it rallies support for independence. His asking this question infuriated the CyberNats who rounded on him. Rarely for a BBC journalist, he commented on it: What an extraordinary level of vicious abuse I have received today for simply reporting the news. Is this the country we want folks? Is it? — James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) April 4, 2015 He raises a good point.

Damian Mcbride

Why the leaked Nicola Stugeon memo rings true 

After 15 hours of fascinating and – let’s face it – fairly exciting developments in l’affaire Sturgeon, here’s where I think we are, and I’ll try to stick as much as possible to incontrovertible facts, not political bluster: If this was all a grand misunderstanding, I think the various parties would have come together by now to explain what they think has happened, e.g. perhaps Nicola Sturgeon used the word ‘expect’, that got turned into ‘espoir’ back in the French embassy, and then relayed to the FCO as ‘hope’. That’s pretty plausible, but we’ve heard no such explanation yet. If it’s not a genuine misunderstanding, we’re left with the uncomfortable

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Radio 4’s woeful ‘fact-checking’ is simply anti-Ukip bias

I’ve been away, in the north, free from Wifi and mobile phone reception, mercifully. I watched Thursday’s debate in a noisy pub so heard none of it and was forced to rely on ITV’s subtitles. I was greatly attracted to the Ukip cause by Nigel Farage’s bold assertion that “Britain needs plain-speaking partridges.” Yes indeed. I think we are all sick of equivocating pheasants and less than candid quail. The deaf must be rolling around with laughter every day. I caught Radio 4 PM programme on the way home, on Friday. Its coverage of the debate consisted of taking three statements made during the debate and subjecting them to what they called

Friday

Fraser Nelson

Leaked memo shows Nicola Sturgeon admitting that the SNP prefers Cameron to Miliband

So who does Nicola Sturgeon really want as Prime Minister? Her official line is that she’d put in anyone but the wicked Tories – indeed, Alex Salmond told me last week that “the SNP approach to a Cameron minority government will be to bring it down”. But that’s not what Strugeon has been saying in private. The Daily Telegraph has just released a leaked diplomatic memo revealing that Ms Sturgeon has confessed to the French ambassador that she would prefer that David Cameron “remains”  Prime Minister – and that she thinks Ed Miliband is too incompetent. The leaked memo – a UK government memo – goes as follows:- “Just had a telephone conversation

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

In a seven-way debate, the truth-evaders can wriggle free

They won’t do that again. Seven leaders lined up like skittles all nervously fingering their plastic lecterns. In charge was Julie Etchingham who’d spent many hours in wardrobe creating a fetishistic look. Severe blonde hair. A spotless high-necked tunic as white as sharks fangs. Heavy black-rimmed specs. She looked like the gorgeous physics genius who works for James Bond’s arch-enemy. During the debate she lacked authority. When candidates shouted at each other she joined in and tried to harry them or close them down. More coolness needed. And she was glued to a lectern like the speakers. Roaming among them with a single portable microphone, she might have umpired more

Thursday

Fraser Nelson

Ed Miliband could have won the election last night. Now, it’s Cameron’s to lose.

The Sun’s front page today has a picture of Ed Miliband saying: “Oops, I just lost my election”. That’s an exaggeration: I’d say the election is still 50/50, pretty much where it was last week. And realistically, that’s the best David Cameron could have hoped for. Miliband emerged best from the Paxman interviews, and had he triumphed last night he would have gathered momentum that could well have carried him over the line on 7 May. It was easier for Miliband to ‘win – all he had to do to exceed expectations was turn up without the help of a life support machine. Last time, there was a sizeable gap between the caricature of Ed

Sebastian Payne

Listen: The Spectator’s verdict on the TV leaders’ debate

The snap polls suggest there was no immediate winner of the televised leaders’ debate on ITV — so what happened? In this View from 22 podcast special, James Forsyth, Isabel Hardman and I discuss the first (and last) debate  of the general election campaign with all the party leaders. While the consensus is that Nicola Sturgeon met the high expectations, did the other insurgent leader Nigel Farage fall short? Was David Cameron able to appear Prime Ministerial or did Ed Miliband successfully challenge him? And will the programme make any difference to the election campaign and result? You can subscribe to the View from 22 through iTunes and have it delivered to your computer or

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The TV leaders’ debate was a well-mannered affair and no one messed up

That was a surprisingly well-mannered debate, tightly moderated, with the main chaos coming from the member of the audience who decided to start heckling (and then stopped, followed by an ominous thud). There wasn’t a big upset at any point, and even the big moments weren’t really big stories. Those big moments were Nick Clegg going straight for David Cameron at the start, Nigel Farage’s rather scary rant, Leanne Wood telling Farage he should be ashamed of himself, Miliband on zero hours contracts, and Clegg turning on Miliband at the end. But no-one messed up. David Cameron came across as being really rather uninspiring, but I suspect that this was the

Robert Smith

Cameron needs to be the reasonable statesman on tonight’s debate

Which David Cameron will take the stage for tonight’s seven-way showdown? Will it be the competent, likeable and reasonable statesman who has steered the economy onto safer ground? Or the tetchy one who calls Ed Miliband a ‘waste of space’ at Prime Minister’s Questions? On Monday, speaking at a lectern outside the door of Number 10, the Prime Minister decided to launch a personal attack on his opposite number rather than make a statesman-like pitch to the electorate. To have mentioned Ed Miliband by name once would have been historic – doing so three times smacked of desperation. listen to ‘David Cameron speech outside Number 10 as Parliament is dissolved’

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

The media and political elite need to stop treating the electorate like dogs

There are many grating phrases in modern British politics. ‘Best practice.’ ‘Fit for purpose.’ ‘Let me explain’ (just bloody well explain!). And that tendency of Labour politicians to preface pretty much everything they say with a schoolmarmish ‘Look’, as in ‘Look here’. As in: ‘You donuts know nothing, so I am going to put you straight.’ But even more grating than those, sat at the top of the pile of temperature-raising sayings, is ‘dog-whistle’. Everyone’s talking about ‘dog-whistle politics’. It has become the media and chattering classes’ favourite putdown of politicians they don’t like: to accuse them of indulging in dog-whistle antics, of making an ugly shrill noise — that

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Five things to watch for during tonight’s debate

1) Can Natalie Bennett do enough to spark another Green surge? After Natalie Bennett’s infamous ‘brain fade’ the Green surge faded away. The media stopped giving the Greens the attention they had been and without the oxygen of publicity, support for the party fell away; this morning’s YouGov poll has the Greens on 4%, their lowest score since October. But tonight offers Bennett a chance to get her party back into the election frame. If she can deliver a few good answers and the odd zinger, that would be enough to get the media—and, then, the voters—to take a second look at her and the Greens. 2) Will Leanne Wood attack

Sebastian Payne

Podcast special: the seven-way TV leaders debate

Tonight’s televised debate between seven of the party leaders promises to be one of the most interesting events of the campaign. In this View from 22 podcast special, Fraser Nelson, Isabel Hardman, James Forsyth and I discuss who is expected to do well, the issues that will be raised, which leaders will gang up on David Cameron and whether Ed Miliband can meet the high expectations, As with the Q&A programme last week, we’ll be running a live blog on Coffee House from 7:45pm this evening, so you can follow our instant reaction to the debate. You can subscribe to the View from 22 through iTunes and have it delivered to your computer or iPhone

Steerpike Steerpike

Revealed: The reason behind Alex Salmond’s pink champagne order

After Alex Salmond was outed as ordering pink champagne in not one but two interviews last week, naysayers were quick to ridicule the former Scottish First Minister for his lavish choice of tipple. However, Mr S has it on the highest authority that Salmond was guzzling in the name of the people. The rosé tipple, Mr S is told, is not Salmond’s regular order. Instead, he was simply raising a toast to his football team Heart of Midlothian. So cheered by Heart’s championship success in Scotland – after Rangers’ 2-0 win against Hibs meant that Hearts were safely at the top of the championship table with seven games still to play –  he thought it was only fair

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

The challenge for insurgents and ex-insurgents in tonight’s TV debate

The party leaders have been reflecting on the challenges facing them ahead of tonight’s TV debates. Nigel Farage said this morning that he wished there weren’t so many of them taking part, something the audience may also feel by the end of tonight’s two-hour extravaganza. But the Ukip leader is probably peeved by the sheer number of party leaders because it makes it more difficult for him to appear to be the only exciting force disrupting British politics. His advantage is that he’s the only one on the Right. John Cleese or not, Nick Clegg does have one of the biggest challenges of any of the leaders participating. He needs

Julia Hartley-Brewer

Zero-hours contracts have nothing to do with flexibility and everything to do with dodging tax

Could you live on a zero-hours contract? David Cameron was forced to admit, during his grilling by Jeremy Paxman, that he couldn’t. But 1.4 million Britons do. Some out of choice, some through necessity. But the latest attempts by the main parties to tackle the injustices of zero-hours contracts fail to get to the heart of the problem – which has nothing to do with a need for ‘flexibility’ and everything to do with dodging tax. Many of us might be horrified at the thought of not knowing when our next pay cheque will be coming and how much it will be, but large numbers of people on zero-hours contracts are

Wednesday

Sebastian Payne

Why doesn’t Osborne admit the link between the jobs miracle and slowing down deficit reduction?

Will George Osborne come ever clean about his successes? I caught up with the Chancellor in Leeds today and asked him about the Treasury’s role in the jobs miracle. I put it to him: isn’t it the case that he has decided to go slower on deficit reduction to support the jobs boom? The figures show that this is exactly what’s happened: the Treasury isn’t getting as much tax in because so much of the increase in employment is in low-paid jobs. [datawrapper chart=”http://static.spectator.co.uk/N7pwS/index.html”] Osborne has decided to cut these workers’ taxes, and even support their income through tax credits. You’d think a compassionate conservative would make a virtue of this and say

Mark Gettleson

A Cabinet of losers?

Here’s an interesting factoid. We have gone the longest time since any serving Cabinet Minister has lost their seat… ever. Seven were booted out in 1997, most famously Defence Secretary Michael Portillo in Enfield Southgate – an experience shared by just 32 people since 1900. To some extent, MPs from marginals may be less likely to reach the Cabinet: they are by definition more likely to be newly elected and are forced to spend vast amounts of time and energy campaigning in their constituency, from which a Cabinet role can serve as a distraction. 2015 seems likely to end this streak, with five names around the current Cabinet table looking