I have to say that I found this year’s Conservative Party conference a little lacklustre. I realise this was sort of the whole point — the “no triumphalism” ordinance and the champagne ban were part of a conscious effort to keep the conference low key, But I do wonder whether the Tory high command overdid
I just don’t understand David Cameron’s stubbornness over his alliance with his new friends in fringe European parties. Why make a stand for these people? William Hague’s insistence of an apology from David Miliband following his comments at Labour Party conference is plain daft. Miliband may have gone over the top in what he said about
Considering the dire situation in which Gordon Brown finds himself, yesterday’s speech was really rather good. It gives the party faithful something to cling on to as they begin the grim task of campaigning for a Labour victory in 2010. The obvious question for me after hearing it, though, was “why now?” How can the
The only conversation I have had so far at Labour Party conference is about why everyone realises that Gordon Brown would do his comrades a great service by standing down but no one can find a way of getting him to do the right thing. The general feeling is that the Labour Party has the
Apparently the Labour Party is selling tickets to sit behind Gordon Brown during his leader’s speech for a bargain £130 a pop. At the same time they are struggling to fill the seats for their gala fundraising dinner in Brighton. Things are getting desperate. Already, last year in Manchester, the exhibitors’ hall was dominated by
No one in the Labour party now believes the next election is winnable. Last year, there were a few who believed in an outside chance of victory. There are still some who hope that some unexpected catastrophe might yet befall David Cameron. There will be a collective brave face put on by delegates who gather
It is with great sadness that I have tonight resigned as a member of the PoliticsHome panel. I was a founder associate editor of the site and I think Freddie Sayers and his team should be proud of everything they have achieved. It has become the first port of call for anyone with an interest
Earlier this month I was asked to address an audience about what future there might be for the “decent left”. For those unfamiliar for the term this is the tendency on the left generally associated with backing the Iraq War (though some of the key advocates of this approach did not), opposition to alliances with
With the Baroness Scotland housekeeper mini-scandal still in the air, I hear a delicious rumour. I’m told that in a surreal extension of Labour big tent policy, Gordon Brown approached Shami Chakrabarti about the job of Attorney-General. The hammer of the government’s civil liberties turned down the offer. But the latest events provide the perfect
A very nice piece from Ian Burrell in today’s Independent about my new appointment at the Jewish Chronicle. Regular readers here will perhaps be surprised that I am worried about being seen as making the journey from left to right. Here are the key bits: Martin Bright starts work today as the first non-Jewish political editor in
It’s the perennial problem: platform or no platform, anti-Nazi campaign versus no oxygen of publicity. You’d have thought we’d have sorted this one out by now. I agree with David Blackburn that John Denham’s comments comparing the English Defence League to Mosley’s Black Shirts risk overstating the significance of this “organisation”. It is always tempting
I had the pleasure of chairing the Editorial Intelligence/Policy Exchange/Policy Review/Cass Busines School (Phewee!) debate on the future of the quangocracy last night. I was expecting little common ground between Douglas Carswell, the Tory hammer of the quangos and an audience I thought would be packed with his ideological enemies. But it wasn’t like that at
Rachel Sylvester’s column today provides more than the usual share of insight and high-level gossip — what more do you want from a political columnist? The following paragraph is devastating about the Prime Minister’s handling of the Megrahi affair: “Even members of the Cabinet who remain publicly loyal are privately scathing about Mr Brown’s performance
There was a fascinating piece from Martin Kettle in the Guardian today. The headline was slightly laboured but encapsulated the argument well: “An October revolt is plotted. Brown’s head is not safe yet”. Kettle wears his Blairite loyalties on his sleeve, so it’s pretty easy to see where he is getting his ministerial briefings from.
It’s not often that you take a holiday to return to the same story running nearly two weeks later. Just before I went away, I updated my Facebook page to say that I thought the release of Megrahi would rebound on the UK government, but I had no idea it would develop into a full-blown
The Guardian has arranged a group of “leading thinkers” to give their views on the release of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi from prison on compassionate grounds. There is a quite a split in the liberal establishment over this issue. I find myself completely in agreement with Geoffrey Roberston QC. Unfortunately this doesn’t appear to be online, which is a real
There was some interesting discussion on the subject of interns after my post last night about the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury’s attitude to the use of free labour in parliament. Young people are now effectively paying employers to get on the first rung of their careers. I have no doubt that some people
A fascinating post on the Interns Anonymous website. This brilliant organisation is devoted to exposing the pernicious growth in the use of free labour. It shares many of the aims of my new outfit, New Deal of the Mind. Philip Hammond, the well-respected shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury has been tipped to leapfrog George
I was delighted, not to say honoured, when Stephen Pollard approached me to become the political editor of The Jewish Chronicle. It is a great publication with a long tradition of campaigning for the Jewish community in this country. But above all it is good old-fashioned newspaper with all that this entails, including, of course, having an eye to the future. I
Jim Fitzpatrick, the Labour MP for Poplar and Canning Town has probably just lost his seat to George Galloway who plans to challenge him at the next election. But Fitzpatrick was right not to attend a segregated Muslim wedding if he didn’t want to. He wanted to sit with his wife, Shelia. I don’t blame him for