The fightback begins here. To that end, Ed Miliband is being offered plenty of advice by the swords around his throne. The Mirror trails his speech, pleased that it will be honest about Labour’s failings and inaugurate Labour’s ‘golden generation’. Tom Harris hopes that Miliband will remember that New Labour was successful because it was
Time is against Ed Miliband: there is a void where there should be a new shadow chancellor. The party leadership cannot refine its arguments ahead of next month’s spending review, upon which the immediate success of Miliband’s regime depends. A further problem is that all of Labour’s arguments are made in the past tense. The
All eyes have turned to the future Labour front bench, particularly the identity of George Osborne’s shadow. Ed Balls has made his most obvious pitch yet. In a piece for the Guardian, bluntly titled ‘Now let’s offer a real choice – and nail the Tory lie on cuts’, he writes: ‘Being a united party is
Spectacle counts in the emerging East. China confirmed its coming dominance with the spectacular Beijing Olympics. On the evidence of the Commonwealth Games village, India has the squalid air of an impoverished country ineptly governed. William Dalrymple, author on all things Indian, wrote a measured commentary for the Times (£) yesterday: “The Commonwealth Games was
There are rumours swirling around Westminster, supposedly issuing from the elder Miliband’s camp, that David Miliband already knows he’s lost. As we know, he has said he will serve loyally under Ed Miliband. But there has been enough reported bad blood between the brothers to suggest that defeat would leave him inconsolable.
Politics Home has published an important poll, showing the staggering level of support for Vince Cable’s conference speech. The government will be pleased that its political attack on the financial services industry’s continued excess at time of austerity is cutting through; on the other hand, this could be seen as support for Cable’s emotive rhetoric.
No doubt attempting to affect affability and languid charm, one of the Milibands has goaded his team into mastering a hybrid of semaphore and tic-tac to bring him early news of the leadership election result. It’s unclear which of the brothers has descended into total monomania, but it’s sobering to think he may have his
Back in June, I asked how long the public would stomach David Cameron blaming Labour. Not long, was my answer – the government would have to form a narrative that suggested it was the ‘great reforming government’, not a symposium of partisan budget balancers. So far, it has failed to compel of cuts’ and public
Tom Elliott won’t match Arthur Wellesley’s eminence, but the new leader of the Ulster Unionists joins Ulster’s long tradition of soldier politicians. Elliott thumped rival Basil McCrea by 68 percent to 32 percent of the vote. He has a mandate to weld a party that has grown dissolute through faction. It’s a tall order: the
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has published a crushing verdict on the police’s handling of anti-social behaviour. It finds that the police simply aren’t sufficiently visible on the street, which concurs with the conclusion of an earlier report into value for money policing. There’s an old copper’s joke about holidays. ‘I’m going where there’s not
Is Trident’s renewal (either a like-for-like replacement or an alternative) within the scope of the Strategic Defence Review or not? The Lib Dem conference voted to include an alternative in the SDR. But, apparently, the cash-strapped coalition seeks to defer any decision (which will take renewal out of the review entirely). Earlier today, Lib Dem
‘[Capitalism] takes no prisoners and it kills competition where it can’. ‘Markets are often irrational or rigged.’ A snob would describe those as the ravings of a chippy provincial university lecturer. In fact, they are the considered thoughts of Vince Cable, the business secretary, the very man tasked with selling Britain to international markets. Cable will address
Perhaps Donald Rumsfeld was right: the Coalition should not have gone for the ‘hard slog’ in Afghanistan (or Iraq). Hindsight suggests that Rumsfeld had foresight in his desire that a shock and awe campaign be followed by a light presence and eventual withdrawal – the blood baths that have ensued from intense deployment might have
The only readable part of Tony Blair’s Lawrentian romp of a memoir, is the epilogue. He explains why the state must be trimmed in the future and how globalisation is affecting global polities, and all expressed with languid charm and an air of self-deprecation which he has acquired on the road to riches. No wonder
Last year, Nick Clegg told the party faithful that Britain was about to embark on a ‘Liberal Moment’. He gave them some of that good old religion – civil liberties, the abolition of tuition fees, arresting tax evasion. A year on and it’s a case of plus ca change. The Lib Dem conference hums to
Nick Clegg opened last year’s Lib Dem conference with the promise of ‘savage cuts’. The party shuddered at the idea and they’re unnerved by the reality. Those savage cuts lour over what should have been a glorious conference for Clegg. Vince Cable stalks with insidious intent these days, so Clegg has called on Danny Alexander,
I’ve obtained this list of Baroness Ashton’s proposed recommendations for the next wave of EU diplomatic appointments. CoffeeHousers’ will notice there are no Brits on it. DELEGATION Nomination proposed Nationality CHINE, Pekin Markus EDERER DEU JAPON, Tokyo Hans Dietmar SCHWEISGUT AUT AFRIQUE DU SUD, Pretoria Roeland VAN DE GEER NLD BRESIL, Brasilia Readvertised ETAS-UNIS (Deputy)
Nick Clegg has opened the political season with a very singular statement: ‘There is no future for us as left-wing rivals to Labour. Clegg urges his internal critics to be patient: the future could be yellow if the coalition is maintained. It’s a gamble. Immediately, Clegg has alienated those who abandoned Labour for the Lib
Al Shabaab and al Qeada are brothers in arms – Somalia is a hothouse for terror. Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5, has openly expressed his view that it is ‘just a matter of time’ until Somalia and the Yemen export terrorism to Britain’s streets. That striking statement contains one oversight: they do already. Umar
Leaderless Labour is neck and neck with the Tories for the first time in more than two years, according to the Reuters/IPSOS Mori monthly poll. This follows the trend that Pete observed a couple of days ago, and surely Anthony Wells’ prediction will come to pass: Labour will overtake the Tories. However, these grim figures
