David cameron

Thursday

The Spectator

Continental drift | 2 June 2016

It is a long time since the term ‘sick man of Europe’ could be applied to Britain. France is now a worthier candidate for the accolade — it -increasingly resembles a tribute act to 1970s Britain. A package of modest labour-market reforms presented by a socialist president has provoked national strikes on the railways and Air France. This week, the streets of Paris resembled one big Grunwick or Saltley Gate — the trials of strength between employer and union in which so many of Britain’s most bolshy trade unionists cut their teeth. This week is not a one-off: in recent years France has had a strike rate more than twice

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron keeps calm under immigration fire in first EU referendum show

In a feisty interview with Faisal Islam, David Cameron defended his pledge to cut immigration to the tens of thousands but wouldn’t put a date on when he would achieve it. Cameron argued that when the Eurozone economy recovered, he might be able to meet it. Now, this isn’t realistic. The problems with the Eurozone economy are structural and it is impossible to see how net migration could be reduced to the tens of thousands inside the EU; not that getting it down to the tens of thousands outside the EU would be easy—or even desirable. After the interview, came a series of questions from the audience. Cameron kept his

Camilla Swift Camilla Swift

No, we don’t need to be in the EU to tackle environmental issues

David Cameron has been banging the anti-Brexit drum again, this time making the environmental case for staying in Europe. He has joined forces with the RSPB and the World Wildlife Fund, who have both stated that they would urge voters to stay in the EU, arguing that being in the Union has had a positive impact on the British environment; safeguarding rivers and woodlands, and forcing us to clean up our beaches. Today the Prime Minister visited Rainham Marshes, an RSPB nature reserve in Essex, and in a video from his visit he argues that since environmental issues cross national boundaries, we should work together – by staying in the EU –

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

Angela Merkel wades into the Brexit debate. But what made her decide to speak out?

Angela Merkel has waded into the Brexit debate. Her stance won’t surprise anyone – she hopes that Britain stays put. But what’s interesting about her intervention is that it comes after it seemed she was reluctant to speak out, for fear of helping the leave cause. The Sunday Times reported earlier this month that Downing Street believed such an expression of her views on Brexit would be counterproductive. Admittedly, when she made her comments today, she clarified that they were her personal view. They also appeared to be, to say it mildly, lukewarm. Here’s what she said: ‘Obviously, it is up to the citizens of the UK themselves how they

Richard Galustian

The West has totally misjudged the situation in Libya

Libya’s former Prime Minister Dr. Mahmoud Jibril has become the first senior leader of its Arab Spring revolution to call time on the country’s new western-backed government, saying ‘the chances of success are very slim’. This apparent failure hasn’t been caused by a lack of support, which has poured in from London and Washington in a bid to get the Government of National Accord (GNA) to stand up and walk on its own two feet. It was also hoped that by doing this, a fix could be found for the twin problems of Islamic State and mass migration. But Dr Jibril, who helped steer the country through its brutal uprising

Fraser Nelson Fraser Nelson

Purge of the posh

Any parents considering Dollar Academy are invited to take their car along its long driveway and park outside what looks like a palace. When I first did so with my parents, I told them that it all looked ridiculously posh. My mum flew into a rage. ‘Posh’ was a word of bigotry, she said, and one I’d best not use if I was going to survive a day in boarding school. My dad left school aged 15 and eventually joined the RAF, which was kindly paying for me to board while he was posted to Cyprus. He’d have loved such an opportunity, and wanted me to see it for what

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Why the opinion polls still matter

This EU referendum is a particularly difficult contest to poll and after the general election we all should be wary of treating them as gospel. But there’s no getting away from the fact that the mood in Westminster—and on the two campaigns—is heavily influenced by the polls. The recent good numbers for Leave have put a string in its step. They have also ensured that Vote Leave’s focus on immigration in the last few days isn’t seen as the last roll of the dice but as an attempt to focus on one of its strongest areas. Interestingly, influential figures on the Remain side privately accept that the referendum appears to

Brendan O’Neill Brendan O’Neill

Every pro-EU argument boils down to not being able to trust the ‘plebs’

We all know that the Remain camp has peddled the politics of fear. But what is the object of their fear? What’s the thing that makes them so scared, so convinced that a litany of social and political horrors will befall Blighty if we pull out of Brussels? It’s you, and me; all ordinary people. It’s the public. It’s our unpredictable passions. When the pro-EU lobby frets about a post-EU Britain having Boris as a PM, becoming a right-wing cesspool, getting rid of workers’ rights, becoming less eco-friendly, and / or becoming vulnerable to neo-fascistic forces, what they’re saying is: ‘You can’t trust the public. You can’t leave politics to

Alexandra Jones

The Government must do more to ensure the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ becomes a lasting legacy

The recent Queen’s speech, along with the growing divisions in the Conservative Party over the EU referendum, have focused attention on how this Government will be remembered after David Cameron steps down in 2019. Many mentioned prison reform, improving university standards and tackling extremism, as signs of the Prime Minister’s determination to establish his legacy as a social reformer, guided by the compassionate conservatism which characterised his earliest pronouncements as Tory leader. Less remarked upon, however, was the renewed commitment in the speech to building the Northern Powerhouse, and empowering cities in the North to fulfil their economic potential – another key way in which the Government hopes to leave

Monday

Andrew Green

Post-Brexit Britain could cut net migration by 100,000 a year. Here’s how

The absence of an outline of a post-exit immigration regime is a serious gap in the Referendum debate. That need not be so. There is a fairly clear way ahead: to minimise disruption, while achieving control of numbers. The key element that needs to be controlled is migration for work (which accounts for the bulk of net EU migration). This could be sharply reduced if EU immigrants were subject to the same requirement for work permits as now currently apply to non-EU workers: the aim would be to reduce the overall scale of immigration without losing the economic benefit of highly skilled immigration. By doing this, net migration – 330,000

Steerpike Steerpike

Angela Merkel and David Cameron fail to work out who’s in the driving seat

At times in David Cameron’s EU renegotiations, it’s seemed as though the Prime Minister struggled to be in the driver’s seat. Now evidence has come to light that confirms Cameron’s power struggle with one of Europe’s main leaders. Speaking at the Hay Festival, Neil MacGregor — the former director of the British Museum — let slip the difficulties he encountered when Angela Merkel and Cameron arranged a visit to see an exhibition he on German history from the past 600 years. Of all the objects in the exhibition, MacGregor thought the VW Beetle would make a great prop for a photo opp for the two leaders. Alas, it wasn’t to

Sunday

Steerpike

Mervyn King hits out at ‘wildly exaggerated claims’ in referendum ‘debate’ – ‘the government has to take some responsibility’

Although Mark Carney has warned that a Brexit is the ‘biggest domestic risk to financial stability’, his predecessor Mervyn King takes a somewhat different approach when it comes to the impending EU referendum. The former Bank of England governor used an appearance today at the Hay Festival to hit out at the ‘wildly exagerated claims’ made in the run-up to the vote. ‘I wondered who would be the first to lower the tone,’ King joshed when asked whether he thought Britain should stay or go. While he declined to give his voting preference — on the grounds that it could make life difficult for Carney — King did let his disappointment

Saturday

James Forsyth

How Vote Leave plan to persuade the electorate that there are real risks to staying in the EU

The IN campaign’s plan for victory in this EU referendum is relatively simple.  ‘Do you want the status quo or the riskt alternative?’, is how one Cameron ally sums it up. To date, Remain—aided by the various government dossiers—have been pretty effective at pushing this message. That is why they are ahead in the polls. So, Vote Leave know that they need to push the risks of staying in, up the agenda. I write in The Sun this morning that their message in the coming weeks will be that ‘wages will be lower and taxes will be higher if stay in the EU’. Their argument will be that the continuing

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The Spectator podcast: Brexit, and the return of political lying | 28 May 2016

To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. Are David Cameron and George Osborne using the same techniques of deceit deployed by New Labour in the run-up to the Iraq war? In his cover piece this week, Peter Oborne argues that’s just what is happening. He says that in their EU campaign, the Chancellor and Prime Minister have put dirty tricks back at the heart of government. But Matthew Parris in his column says that in politics there’s no point complaining about being lied to. That’s the cry of the bad

Friday

Tom Goodenough

Purdah could give the Brexit campaign the boost it so badly needs

If you’ve become fed-up with half-baked Treasury statistics, the start of the purdah period is welcome news. The ban on Government and Civil Service resources being used to put forward the case for ‘remain’, means there will be no more of those. But with ‘remain’ having pushed ahead in the polls over the last few weeks, will this now help level the playing field? Based on how the Government has tried to press home the advantage of using its huge resources right up until the last moment, it seems that there are certainly jitters about that happening. Its rather cheeky report put out yesterday evening which suggested that Brexit would

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 26 May 2016

Home The government published a Treasury analysis warning that an exit from the EU would plunge Britain into a year-long recession and could cost 820,000 jobs. David Cameron, the Prime Minister, speaking with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, at B&Q’s head office in Hampshire, said that leaving ‘would be like surviving a fall then running straight back to the cliff edge. It is the self-destruct option.’ Downing Street said that leaving the EU would make an average holiday for four people to the EU £230 more expensive. Gillian Duffy of Rochdale, the nemesis of Gordon Brown, the former Labour leader, spoke in favour of the Leave campaign. Ed

Steerpike Steerpike

Trump vs Hillary? It’s a really tough choice, says Steve Hilton

With Steve Hilton in town to promote his book More Human, David Cameron’s former director of strategy is proving to be a thorn in the Prime Minister’s side. As well as coming out for Brexit, Hilton has claimed that Cameron is really a Brexiteer in denial. Now he has moved on to the topic of Donald Trump. While Cameron has described Trump as ‘divisive, stupid and wrong’, Hilton has praised him during a Mumsnet Q&A. When asked who he supports in the US election, Hilton said he would find it difficult to pick between Trump and Hillary Clinton: ‘Now we are left Trump vs Hillary, it’s a really tough choice. I think that

James Forsyth James Forsyth

Cameron’s biggest challenge will come after the EU referendum

The one thing that can be said with certainty about what will happen at Westminster post-referendum is that David Cameron will find governing even harder than he does now. His majority is already the thinnest of blue lines and opposition from Tory backbenchers has already forced the government to u-turn on a host of policies. This problem will get even worse after the referendum. There are bound to be some irreconcilable Tory MPs who will take every attempt they can to thwart Cameron and Osborne’s legislative agenda. The result: ‘a zombie parliament‘, in the words of one member of the payroll vote, with hardly any bills being passed. Cameron will,

Tom Goodenough Tom Goodenough

The Spectator podcast: Brexit, and the return of political lying

To subscribe to The Spectator’s weekly podcast, for free, visit the iTunes store or click here for our RSS feed. Alternatively, you can follow us on SoundCloud. Are David Cameron and George Osborne using the same techniques of deceit deployed by New Labour in the run-up to the Iraq war? In his cover piece this week, Peter Oborne argues that’s just what is happening. He says that in their EU campaign, the Chancellor and Prime Minister have put dirty tricks back at the heart of government. But Matthew Parris in his column says that in politics there’s no point complaining about being lied to. That’s the cry of the bad

Peter Oborne

Brexit, and the return of political lying

Sir John Chilcot’s report into the Iraq invasion, due to be published on 6 July, is expected to highlight the novel structure of government created by New Labour following its landslide victory of 1997. As Tony Blair started to make the case for war, he began to distort the shape and nature of British government in several ways — the most notable being the deliberate debasement of the traditional idea of a neutral, disinterested civil service. Under Blair, civil servants were told to concern themselves less with the substance than the presentation of policy. They were informed that their loyalty lay more with the government of the day, less with the