David cameron

Wednesday

Robin Harris

Cameron betrayed public trust – and sounded like Arthur Scargill – when he said ‘money is no object’

There are some things that as a politician you really mustn’t say – things that suggest your priorities are so wrong, and your understanding of public duty so defective, that you can never be entrusted with anything serious. When David Cameron announced yesterday that, in coping with floods, ‘money is no object’, he said one of those things. For any responsible politician, money – tax payers’ money – is always an ‘object’. As Mrs Thatcher endlessly reminded her colleagues, the government, itself, has no money, only the money it takes from the people. She was right. To declare that there is no limit to what the government is prepared to

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs: Miliband won’t put politics away over the floods

PMQs today started with a more genteel tone in deference to the floods. But Ed Miliband showed that he has no intention of putting politics away entirely, effectively needling David Cameron on cuts at the Environment Agency. Tellingly, at the end of their exchanges, Cameron rebuked Miliband for seeking ‘to divide the House’. When a Prime Minister uses that line, it is a sure bet that they haven’t had the best of the exchanges. listen to ‘PMQs: ‘The government needs to speak with one voice’ on floods – Ed Miliband’ on Audioboo

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron’s clear lines on flooding put essay crisis PM back on top

We certainly didn’t learn much new about David Cameron from his flooding press conference this afternoon. We already knew that his approach to crises is to let things get rather bad for a little while, and then, with his back against the wall, to perform well as a statesman taking control of a messy situation. He did that again today, with a clear line that ‘money is no object’ as a means of countering the Ukip line on diverting some of the aid budget to flood victims. Cameron set out specific examples of the extra spending on flood relief, a bigger role for the military – with 1,600 service men

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

David Cameron has set a precedent on smoking in cars with children

What next after Luciana Berger’s victory from the opposition benches on smoking in cars with children? Yesterday MPs were making all sorts of dire warnings in the House of Commons about what might happen next and supporters of the ban are dismissing them as trying to find a slippery slope when this is just a sensible public health issue. But a precedent has been set here of the Prime Minister initially saying he’s ‘nervous’ about what passing laws on what people do in a private space, then being forced to fold when legislation is thrust upon him by a member of the opposition. He made last night’s vote a free

Monday

Steerpike

PM courted by KP and Strauss

The love-in between Kevin Pietersen and David Cameron continues. As I reported last week, the PM waded into the row over the sacking of the England batsman, and now KP has changed his Twitter picture to this snap of the two of them in happier times. Mr S doesn’t want to stunt this blossoming love, but he hopes that Pietersen is aware that his old captain Andrew Strauss was spotted on Friday hobnobbing at the Olympic Park velodrome during Cameron’s speech about the future of the union. A new twist to their rivalry.

Sunday

Alexander Smith

David Cameron should take aim at the Turner Prize

David Cameron seems to be prepared to speak out on certain subjects that many other politicians avoid. This is very welcome. I think it’s about time he took a dig at the Turner Prize. I am unconvinced by the banal installations and grainy videos that consistently win that particular prize. The Prime Minister needs to take the lead and say that the emperor has no clothes. He has also failed to address the question of whether men should use facial moisturiser (many women think they should) — or should that be left to one of his colleagues? It would carry more weight if it came from the Prime Minister, but

Friday

Steerpike

Lyrical Dave – PM’s union speech packed with song lyrics

David Cameron’s speech on the union this morning prompted many questions. Why was he in London? Why were there so many empty seats in the Olympic velodrome? Etc, etc, etc. But Mr Steerpike wants to know why the speech was peppered with song lyrics. ‘We don’t walk on by,’ said Dave – unlike Dionne Warwick. The ‘North Sea’ is, apparently, ‘a light that never goes out’ – now we know what The Smiths were warbling about. Gordon Brown once professed his love for the Arctic Monkeys. It seems that his successor has got hold of the band’s fourth album, which contains the song ‘Brick by Brick’: ‘And we built it

The Spectator

David Cameron’s speech on Scottish independence – full text and audio

At the Lee Valley Velopark today, David Cameron gave a speech where he called on people across the UK to speak out for the UK and against Scottish independence. Here’s what he said:- listen to ‘David Cameron’s speech on the importance of Scotland to the UK’ on Audioboo I want to thank Glasgow Caledonian for co-hosting this event. This is a fantastic, forward-looking university – and we are very grateful for your support today as we are to the Lee Valley VeloPark, for hosting us in this magnificent space. Less than 2 years ago, this Velodrome was a cauldron of excitement. Chris Hoy was ripping around at 40 miles per

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

David Cameron’s tricky role in the fight against Scottish independence

David Cameron will tell Scots this morning that the UK wants Scotland to stay a part of the Union. That he’s giving this speech at all is being read in some quarters as a sign that he’s at least underwhelmed by the show put on so far by Better Together leader Alistair Darling. The PM’s intervention certainly marks a change of tone from the most recent speeches, particularly Mark Carney’s, which George Osborne praised as a very good ‘technical’ speech. Thus far the ‘no’ campaign has relied more on the technical argument which Alex Salmond has brushed away as minor objections to the great principle of independence. So Cameron is

Thursday

Alexander Smith

Alexander McCall Smith’s diary: Meeting Babar’s creator

As any author will tell you, literary festivals differ widely. If you are invited to Willy Dalrymple’s Jaipur Festival, with its renowned final party, you say yes within minutes of receiving the invitation. Other invitations you might take a little longer to accept. The Key West Literary Seminar, which took place a couple of weeks ago, is one of the glamorous ones. I was ready for Florida, as Scotland had been visited by gale after gale and accompanying driving rain. As luck would have it, we arrived in Key West at exactly the same time as the polar vortex that had frozen the entire United States, including a normally balmy Florida.

Christopher Booker

How the first world war inspired the EU

Among the millions of words which will be expended over the next four years on the first world war, very few will be devoted to explaining one of its greatest legacies of all, the effects of which continue to dominate our politics to this day. One of the best-kept secrets of the European Union is that the core idea which gave rise to it owed its genesis not to the second world war, as is generally supposed, but to the Great War a quarter of a century earlier. It was around that time that the man who can be described as ‘the Father of Europe’ was first inspired to the

Steerpike Steerpike

Dave gives up on sticky wicket

The prime minister was waxing lyrical about ousted England slogger Kevin Pietersen when speaking to BBC Lancashire earlier today. The PM confessed that he is ‘an enormous fan of KP.’ And added: ‘Some of my most enjoyable times have been watching him tonking the ball all over the park.’ Some members of the media pack have been giving the PM flak for this intervention; but Mr S is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Cameron has been mocked for his dubious love of Aston Villa in the past, but he clearly knew what he was talking about this time: ‘A really great moment for me was –

Nigel Lawson

Nigel Lawson: David Cameron’s aid policy is doing more harm than good

Earlier this week, George Osborne named Lord Lawson as one of the economic thinkers who had influenced him. But the Chancellor’s mentor isn’t quite so impressed with some of his policies. Here’s his letter from this week’s Spectator on the ‘anomalous aid policy’ that the government is pursuing: Sir: I was glad to see the excellent Acemoglu and Robinson article (‘Why aid fails’, 25 January) and your endnote recording that David Cameron has just declared their book, Why Nations Fail, to be one of his favourites. It is indeed an important book, which is why I quoted from it extensively in a House of Lords debate on overseas development aid in

Wednesday

Lloyd Evans

PMQs sketch: Miliband nutmegs Cameron, while the Speaker seemed preoccupied

That should have been a tap-in. London is currently crippled by a Tube strike thanks to the noted beach enthusiast, Bob Crow, and his high-earning chums at the RMT. So David Cameron had a superb chance to tip a bucket of manure over Ed Miliband’s head. The political connections are self-evident. Red Ed, union militancy, London throttled, all Labour’s fault. But Cameron was nutmegged by Miliband’s tactics. Ignoring the strike, the Labour leader asked about the newly formed inland sea which used to be known as the West Country. He accused the government of a slow, tight-fisted and shambolic response. Cameron assumed the facial expression of pumped-up severity that he

James Forsyth James Forsyth

PMQs sees Miliband press Cameron on his party’s ‘problem with women’

Today was not a good PMQs for David Cameron. Ed Miliband went on the issue of whether the Tory party has a ‘problem with women’ and was handed a huge helping hand by the fact that the front bench was all male. It made Miliband’s point for him. It was also sloppy planning by the Tories given that Harriet Harman had used this line of attack on Michael Gove on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday. listen to ‘PMQs: Cameron ‘failing women across his party and across the country’’ on Audioboo But this doesn’t explain why Cameron was quite so off in response. He did mention that the Tories had

Steerpike Steerpike

Spectator sport for Tory rebels

The leading article in last week’s Spectator, which urged Tory rebels to stop rebelling for the sake of it, has upset many gentlemen of the shires/backwoodsmen. The right-wing rump believes that their crusades against the liberal menace and the EU are far more important than Cameron’s party management or coalition realpolitik. So imagine their indignation when copies of the article were sent to them anonymously via the internal parliamentary mail system. One recalcitrant MP – Andrew Percy – suspects that this might be a new tactic of the whips – keen to instil some order in the ranks. If so, Mr S recommends that the whips buy each MP a

Friday

James Forsyth

Cameron needs to ensure Eurosceptic ire is directed at Labour, the Lib Dems and the Lords – not at him

The EU referendum bill has just been knocked on the head in the House of Lords. The peers, led by Labour and Liberal Democrat Lords, have denied the bill the time it needs to get through. So the appointed house has defied the elected house and denied the public a say on a matter of fundamental constitutional importance. This poses a problem for David Cameron. The bill was meant to be one of the ways that the Tories would try and halt Ukip’s advance ahead of the European Elections. The last thing Cameron wants is the Tory party getting in a bate about Europe and complaining that this should have

Steerpike Steerpike

French baiting from the PM?

The French media might prostrate themselves before their own leaders; but they are a little more adventurous with ours. Le Figaro reports that the original plan for today’s Anglo-French Summit at RAF Brize Norton, followed by a pub lunch, was to have been a far grander affair. Hollande was to be invited to Cameron’s constituency and then on to nearby Blenheim Palace. But French officials reportedly pointed out that the Duke of Marlborough’s home was so named in honour of his ancestor’s crushing defeat of the Franco-Bavarian army at Blenheim in 1704. The French suffered 30,000 casualties and the battle was a turning point in the War of the Spanish

Isabel Hardman Isabel Hardman

Why a summit in the pub with Hollande is the last thing Cameron needs today

After the week he’s had in the Commons, no-one would blame David Cameron for heading for the pub today. Unfortunately, he’s got François Hollande in tow as he pitches up at a pub in his constituency, and the pair are supposed to be discussing European reform over the pork scratchings. This isn’t great timing, frankly. The rebellious mood of the Tory party is in part down to a desire from backbenchers for more details of Cameron’s European renegotiation plan – and signs that he’s going to get what he wants too. A summit with another norther European country might yield more positive noises on this, as Cameron does have allies

Thursday

James Forsyth

David Cameron and the Tory payroll vote to abstain on the Raab amendment

As we revealed on Twitter earlier, David Cameron and the Tory payroll vote will abstain on Dominic Raab’s amendment. Downing Street’s logic is that they are sympathetic to the amendment’s aims but believe it to be non-compliant, eg not compatible with the law, and so are barred from voting for it by the ministerial code. But the Liberal Democrats will vote against the amendment, which is another sign of how the two coalition parties are now merely cohabiting . Inside Downing Street, they hope that this position will prevent a split in the Tory ranks and I suspect that this will help the whips persuade a few more MPs not