Peter Hoskin

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

Where it all went wrong for Brown – your verdict

As of midnight, the voting on where it all went wrong for Brown stood as follows: The election that wasn’t  —  24.4% His addiction to Brownies  —  17.1% The 10p tax debacle  —  16.5% His uncontested rise to power  —  16.5% His inability to say sorry  —  13.4% Other  —  12.2% Many thanks to all

Friday

Peter Hoskin

McDonnell: Brown’s leading Labour to extinction

The Labour MP John McDonnell has written a piece for Comment is Free.  I’d recommend you read it – it’s one of the most significant displays of Brown-bashing so far. Like Matt, McDonnell argues that Brown’s uncontested ascension to the party leadership has harmed both his premiership and the Labour party as a whole.  But twelve

Peter Hoskin

Blair at 33/1 to be next Labour leader

After Labour’s disastrous showing in Henley, William Hill have re-calibrated their odds for when Brown will leave office and for who will succeed him. Miliband’s favourite to be the next party leader (at 3/1), but Tony Blair’s odds have suddenly been cut from 100/1 to 33/1, after a flurry of punter interest.  Maybe it’s just

Peter Hoskin

Vote now: where did it all go wrong for Brown?

Over the past week, we’ve been running a series of articles analysing where it all went wrong for Gordon Brown over the past year.  Here are the relevant links: Peter Hoskin on the 10p tax debacle; James Forsyth on Brown’s inability to say sorry; Fraser Nelson on Brown’s addiction to Brownies; And Matthew d’Ancona on Brown’s

Peter Hoskin

Ashdown on Brown’s chances

Lord Ashdown is interviewed by Andrew Neil on BBC News’ Straight Talk this weekend.  And Coffee House has been forwarded a few advance quotes.  I think this, from Ashdown, is minor classic: “I have made some mistakes in my life but viewed out from a year ago, it does not seem to me that my decision to decline

Peter Hoskin

Henley result adds to Brown’s woes

After the drama of Crewe & Nantwich, yesterday’s by-election in Henley looked as though it would be a forgettable affair. After all, Boris’s old constituency is as safe a Tory seat as they come. It was absolutely no surprise when the Tory candidate, John Howell, this morning sailed home to a 10,116 majority over the

Thursday

Peter Hoskin

Davis responds – Part II

Here are David Davis’s to the last six questions put forward by CoffeeHousers.  For Part I click here. 6) Harry: “How do you square your party’s opposition to 42 days detention, and their support for the EU arrest warrant? Are the two not contradictory? Would a Conservative Government repeal/opt-out of the EU arrest warrant?” In

Peter Hoskin

Miliband presents his manifesto

So Brown’s decided not to mark his first anniversary as Prime Minister. But David Miliband is doing. He’s interviewed by Steve Richards in today’s Independent, under the headline ‘Miliband’s manifesto’. Cue much cursing and spluttering in No.10. To be fair, Miliband refuses to be drawn on questions of party leadership, as in this passage: “I

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Mugabe stripped of his knighthood

At last decency has prevailed, and the Queen has stripped Robert Mugabe of his honorary knighthood.  What’s more, Andy Burnham has blocked the Zimbabwe cricket team’s tour of England next year. As far as the plight of the Zimbabwean people is concerned, these are only the tiniest of gestures.  But sometimes small gestures can signal an immense tidal shift

Peter Hoskin

Davis responds – Part I

Here are David Davis’ answers to the first 5 questions put forward by CoffeeHousers: 1) Simon Chapman: “The Conservative Party had won the argument and the moral victory. There are still battles to be fought in Parliament. As Shadow Home Secretary, in the current polls, you had the opportunity in two years time to reverse

Peter Hoskin

Wendy Alexander found guilty of breaking donation rules

Holyrood’s standards committee has found Wendy Alexander guilty of breaking Scottish Parliamentary rules on donations.  We’ll find out what sanctions are to be imposed against her on Thursday. P.S. And Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper are under investigation over their expenses.  Guido will make for great reading today.

Peter Hoskin

Apologies

We’ve been having a few technical problems with the website.  Everything’s been fixed now, so normal service can resume…  P.S. There’s a backlog of comments churning through the system, so they may take a while to appear on the site.  Again, apologies.   P.P.S.  If you think any of your comments haven’t got through, you can

Peter Hoskin

One year on, Brown’s got the opinion poll blues

James may have linked to it earlier, but this ICM poll in today’s Guardian deserves its own post. It puts the Tories on 45 points (up 4 from last month); Labour on 25 points (down 2); and the Lib Dems on 20 points (down 2). That’s another record lead for the Tories. Another record low for

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

Where it all went wrong for Brown: the 10p tax debacle

Here’s the first in our series of posts looking back over the mistakes made by Brown in his first year as Prime Minister.  Later in the week, you’ll be able to vote on which mistake you think is the worst. 21 March, 2007. With the words “A Budget for Britain’s families, for fairness and the future,” Brown had just finished his