David cameron

Thursday

James Forsyth

Cameron & co relieved by Merkel reaction to speech

Angela Merkel’s statement yesterday was a big fillip to David Cameron’s European strategy as it suggested renegotiation was possible. One senior government source called it ‘as good as we could have hoped for’. I understand that Merkel and her officials have indicated to the Cameron circle that they want Britain to stay in the EU and are prepared to consider Britain’s concerns. But Merkel does not wish to look like she is interfering in British domestic politics; she doesn’t want to appear to be endorsing the Cameron approach. Secondly, she does not yet know how much room for manoeuvre she has. If after this autumn’s federal election, she is Chancellor of

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

After party political porky pies, Number 10 admits debt is rising

Finally: Number 10 admits that far from ‘dealing with debt’, the government is seeing it rise. This morning the Prime Minister’s spokesman was grilled on the party political broadcast that horrified Fraser last night in which the Prime Minister said ‘we are making progress. We’re paying down Britain’s debts.’ Fraser has explained the reality – that Cameron is in fact increasing Britain’s debt by 60 per cent – in this post with two unnerving graphs, and the Prime Minister’s spokesman conceded that ‘the debt as a percentage of GDP has risen’. Asked whether the Prime Minister understood the difference between the debt and the deficit, he said: ‘Yes, he does.’

Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

Why I’m not keen on referenda

It did not, in the end, take very much to outfox Ed Miliband. You wonder what he had been expecting the Prime Minister to say about a referendum on withdrawing, or otherwise, from the EU. As it was, Ed floundered, and felt obliged to say that Labour would not be promising a referendum – that will lose him even more votes to UKIP. Later ex shadow cabinet and existing shadow cabinet members had to defend this position, which they did by stating that this was Labour’s intention ‘at the moment’. Great. There’s increasing evidence that UKIP is taking more and more votes from the Labour Party, whereas once they thrived

Sebastian Payne

The View from 22: Get out of jail free and Cameron’s EU speech

How broken is the British criminal justice system? In this week’s View from 22 podcast, Fraser Nelson and Rory Geoghegan, research fellow at Policy Exchange, explain the rehabilitation game and the cover up masterminded by our political class to hide the truth about how we dole out justice. Why is the government so keen on using electronic tagging? And does it work? Why are they deliberately fudging statistics to hide the real picture of reoffending? We also examine what an actual bobby on the beat thinks about the current policy of more cuts and more tagging? We’re also delighted to be joined by the New Statesman’s political editor Rafael Behr, who went head to head

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson

David Cameron tells porkies about Britain’s national debt

And then David Cameron has to go and spoil it all by telling porkies about what his government is doing to our national debt. The party election broadcast the Conservatives have just released is so astonishingly dishonest that it really would have disgraced Gordon Brown. In it, the Prime Minister tells an outright – how to put it? – untruth. He says:- “So though this government has had to make some difficult decisions, we are making progress. We’re paying down Britain’s debts.” listen to ‘David Cameron: “We’re paying down Britain’s debts” 23 Jan 13’ on Audioboo David Cameron’s policy is to increase Britain’s debt by 60 per cent, more than

The Spectator

David Cameron’s Europe speech: The Spectator’s verdict

Just for Coffee House readers, here is a sneak preview of the leading article from this week’s Spectator. Download our iPad and iPhone app to read the rest of the magazine first thing tomorrow.  It was almost worth the wait. The substance of David Cameron’s speech on Europe was disclosed in this magazine a fortnight ago, but his delivery was excellent. He offered a clear-headed and almost touchingly optimistic vision of the type of union that the British public would find acceptable: one based on free trade, not bureaucratic diktat. One where power can flow back to countries, not be leached from them. And one founded on genuine popular consent,

John Baron

Tory MP: The public will struggle to believe Cameron’s EU pledge

Six months ago, the word ‘referendum’ had not even passed David Cameron’s lips. The issue was not on the table. I would, therefore, like to thank the 100 Conservative Parliamentary colleagues who co-signed my letter in June, urging the Prime Minister to commit to a referendum. In a small way, I like to think our efforts helped to change his mind. We can now have a vigorous debate. However, whilst not doubting the Prime Minister’s sincerity, I am concerned his pledge will not be believed by the public. Far too many promises have been broken in the past, such as Blair’s promise on the EU Constitution and the Liberal Democrats’

The Spectator

The Spectator: One step ahead of David Cameron’s EU manoeuvres

While David Cameron’s EU speech today made all the front pages, it is far from fresh news. Two weeks ago, James Forsyth revealed to Spectator readers what the Prime Minister would say in his speech. But as far back as last May, we revealed that a referendum on EU membership was almost certain: A referendum on Europe is the obvious answer. It is one the leadership seems set to embrace. The popularity of Cameron’s EU veto made his circle realise how much of a political asset Euroscepticism could be, if used in the right way. There is also concern in No. 10 that if the Tories don’t offer the public a

Melissa Kite

Why fall for Cameron’s cast-iron EU pledges?

Tory MPs have fallen for David Cameron’s cast-iron pledges to hold a referendum before. So are they right in buying into his latest promise? Labour is trying to expose cracks in the pledge to re-negotiate our relationship with the EU, then hold a plebiscite mid-way through the next Parliament, if the Tories win the election. But Ed Miliband rather misses the point when he asks Mr Cameron at PMQs whether he might later change his pledge to campaign for a ‘yes’ vote. Surely, the problem is not that Cameron could change his mind and campaign for a ‘no’ vote. The problem is that Cameron could try to re-negotiate with the

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs: It’s Cameron’s turn to have some fun

Last week at PMQs, Ed Miliband had great fun, mocking the wait for David Cameron’s Europe speech. He lampooned the Prime Minister as the weak leader of a divided party. It was a performance that disturbed even some normally calm Number 10 aides. But this week, it was Cameron who was relishing PMQs. By the end of the session, he was even telling Dennis Skinner — who normally brings out the Prime Minister’s irritable side — that he might agree with the speech Cameron is  giving in Davos tomorrow. Now that Cameron has set out his position, Miliband is under pressure to follow suit. Miliband appeared to rule out a

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Cameron’s EU referendum pledge makes winning the Battle for Britain more difficult

At the risk of seeming parochial, I’d suggest that David Cameron’s long-awaited Europe speech and his endorsement of an In or Out referendum has implications and consequences for another referendum campaign closer to home. I suspect he has bought himself some time on the Europe question but this comes at a price. He has made winning the Battle for Britain – to be decided in 2014 – more difficult. The SNP should be very pleased today. Cameron has demolished a couple of core Unionist arguments. He can no longer credibly point to the unknown uncertainties of Scottish independence. Not when he has embraced, even made a point of celebrating, uncertainty

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron doesn’t want Britain to stay in the EU come what may

One of the more intriguing lines in David Cameron’s speech this morning was his declaration that ‘when the referendum comes let me say now that if we can negotiate such an arrangement, I will campaign for it with all my heart and soul.’ This begs the question of what Cameron will do if we can’t negotiate such an arrangement. Now, Cameron made clear earlier in the speech that his strong preference and inclination is for Britain to stay in the EU. This seems to apply even if he can’t get everything he asks for in the renegotiation. As he put it: ‘You will not always get what you want. But

Lloyd Evans Lloyd Evans

Sketch: Cameron’s EU climax

This was no tantric anti-climax. This was a seismic moment in British politics. David Cameron breezed into a London press conference this morning and proceeded to reshape Europe. The wooden lectern he stood at was pale and municipal. He wore a dark suit and a nice purple tie, and his affable pink chops glowed with moderation and good sense. He looked like a council negotiator arriving to settle a hedge dispute between warring neighbours. The Euro-crisis will lead to the restructuring of Europe, he said. He called for a new design that would incorporate more openness, flexibility and competitiveness. And the single market, not the single currency, should lie at

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

‘Mrs Bone was singing in the shower’: PM’s EU speech delights Tory MPs

David Cameron should savour today as the moment he finally satisfied Mrs Bone. I’ve been calling round Tory MPs, and Peter Bone, often a thorn in the flesh of the Prime Minister with his probing questions that his wife wants clearing up, is happy with the speech. He says: ‘I could hear Mrs Bone singing in the shower room and it included the words “for he’s a jolly good fellow”.’ Bone explains why his household is filled with such joy this morning: ‘I am in a very good mood. A year ago, if I had said to you the Prime Minister is going to renegotiate the terms of the EU

James Forsyth James Forsyth

David Cameron puts Nick Clegg on the spot

Downing Street always hoped that once David Cameron had given his Europe speech, the pressure would shift on to the other party leaders. They believed that once Cameron had committed himself to a referendum, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg would be required to say whether or not they’ll match this pledge. But Cameron has put particular pressure on the Deputy Prime Minister by making clear that renegotiation and a referendum will happen if he is Prime Minister after the next election. In other words, this is not up for debate in any 2015 coalition negotiation. Every interviewer can now ask Nick Clegg if he and the Liberal Democrats could be

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Cameron’s red meat EU speech: five key points

Cameron has finished delivering his ‘red meat’ speech on the European Union and answering questions from journalists. You can read the full text here, but here are five key points to take away: 1. The Prime Minister is a pro-European sceptical about the current EU settlement It actually took Cameron a long time to reach his vision of a new Europe because he was so busy praising its history. We had a whistle-stop tour through the EU’s creation, dotted with praise for its peacekeeping mission first. He was clearly keen to emphasis his pro-European credentials as much as he was to criticise, saying: ‘I am not a British isolationist’ and

The Spectator

David Cameron’s EU speech: full text

This morning I want to talk about the future of Europe. But first, let us remember the past. Seventy years ago, Europe was being torn apart by its second catastrophic conflict in a generation. A war which saw the streets of European cities strewn with rubble. The skies of London lit by flames night after night. And millions dead across the world in the battle for peace and liberty. As we remember their sacrifice, so we should also remember how the shift in Europe from war to sustained peace came about. It did not happen like a change in the weather. It happened because of determined work over generations. A

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron’s EU speech: the Coffee House guide

Downing Street has tonight released the following extracts from David Cameron’s speech on the European Union, which he will deliver tomorrow at 8am. Here’s your guide to what we know so far: 1. An unwilling EU could sleepwalk Britain out of the union ‘I speak as British Prime Minister with a positive vision for the future of the European Union. A future in which Britain wants, and should want, to play a committed and active part. ‘If we don’t address these challenges, the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit. ‘I do not want that to happen. I want the European Union

Martin Bright

There is nothing new about Islamism in Africa

The Algerian hostage crisis is over and the Prime Minister has warned that the focus of the al-Qaeda’s franchise has shifted westwards. In his statement on the situation, he was channelling Tony Blair, which at least makes a change from channelling the Foreign Office. But the initial reaction from Downing Street was deeply unimpressive. The BBC’s Nick Robinson quoted a nameless, sneering voice, apparently exasperated at the Algerian response to the crisis. It would be interesting to know whether this patronising individual had ever spent any time working outside SW1 or had any idea that the Algerian people have lived on the frontline of the struggle with violent Islamists for

Alex Massie Alex Massie

Talk of a leadership challenge to David Cameron is reckless self-indulgence – Spectator Blogs

For reasons I do not wholly understand, Labour partisans appear reasonably pleased with Ed Miliband. Liberal Democrats may not be especially gruntled with Nicholas Clegg but they do appear to appreciate that there’s little point in changing leader now. Which brings us to the Conservative party. And there we discover madness aplenty. Again. For it seems as though more than 50 Tory MPs are sufficiently dissatisfied with David Cameron’s leadership that they think a change of leader something worth considering before the next election. This, for all the reasons Robert Colvile suggests and many more he doesn’t, would be folly. Madness. Lunacy. Proof that the party is unfit for office.