So, the High Court has turned down the Police Federation’s effort to get a 2.5 percent pay deal. A good result for the Government, surely? Well, yes. But there’s a caveat. I suspect it may make the police so much more determined to get the right to strike. If so, Jacqui Smith’s problems have only just begun. Watch this space.
Conservative Home have an exclusive sneak peek of a Daily Politics / ComRes poll on the Lisbon Treaty. Here are some of the numbers, which – to my mind – serve to further highlight how the Government has betrayed the British public on this: The ComRes survey of 1,010 UK voters finds that 64% of
In an interview with the Guardian this morning, Ed Balls pledges to crack down on failing schools: “We don’t want to see excuses about poor performance, what we want to see is clear plans to raise standards in every school with a clear expectation that if by 2011 there are still schools stuck below 30%
What do CoffeeHousers – and particularly those based in Manchester – make of Ruth Kelly’s plans to impose congestion charges in cities other than London? You see, there are two factors making me reluctant to comment myself: 1) I don’t own a car, and 2) I don’t live in Manchester. As far as the London
There’s an interesting debate fizzing between Iain Dale’s Diary and Three Line Whip at the moment. It’s all about the West Lothian question or, rather, Ken Clarke’s proposed solution to it. As the Telegraph reported this morning, Clarke’s plying this notion, which Cameron’s alleged to have signed up to: “…allowing all MPs to vote on English legislation
Nadine Dorries’ latest blog post is a classic piece of telling-it-like-it-is. Here’s how she kicks off: “The frenzied attack against Conservative MPs and MEPs, orchestrated by and emanating from the left wing BBC and press has equalled that of an animal in its death throes. The more terminal the position looks for Labour, the more
One of the Government’s loudest defences for 42-day detention is that it will help the intelligence services and the police catch more terrorists. Problem is, the professionals aren’t exactly backing this claim up. CoffeeHousers who caught Jacqui Smith being interviewed yesterday will have heard her admit that MI5 haven’t asked for an extension from 28
Ok, so Jack Straw may not quite have used the word “ditherer”, but here’s what he has to say about the PM in a Channel 4 documentary, aired tomorrow: “[Brown is] someone who is cautious in his decision-making.” Apparently, that’s in stark contrast to Blair, who was “a much more instinctive decision-maker”. Jacqui Smith and the Labour
Looking back over the past week’s news cycle, I reckon it’s the first one for some time that Labour have come out on top over the Conservatives. That’s partly down to Jacqui Smith’s rallying cry to the 42-day detention rebels, which – as the papers have it – could well have averted a disaster for
We’ve just uploaded the content from the latest issue of the magazine. And I’d strongly recommend you read Matt’s interview with Jacqui Smith, on the hot topic of 42-day detention. Says Smith: “I don’t think the government could fall over this …. I think if it was turned into a vote of confidence there would
Thanks to the great Politics Home, here’s footage of the Cameron and Brown exchanges in PMQs:
So, Boris has formally announced he’s standing down as MP for Henley. No surprise. But it’s a welcome announcement nonetheless. As Stephen’s already said, Boris should avoid cultivating the “part-time major notion”. And this should go some way to dispelling worries on that front. It also means that the Tories can get into by-election mode
British cinema is renowned largely for its spirit of documentary realism. Think Ken Loach, think Mike Leigh, or – more recently – think Shane Meadows. The four-disc, forty-film box set ‘Land of Promise: The British Documentary Film Movement, 1930-1950’ (recently released by the British Film Institute, and available here) represents the primordial soup from which
We’ve just uploaded the content from the latest magazine on to the website, and I’d suggest you read Fraser’s politics column ahead of the results from Crewe and Nantwich tonight. In it, Fraser writes of how the Tories are unofficially shifting to a “landslide strategy”. They now regard a whole host of marginal seats as “in
You can add another entry to the list of those who don’t like Gordon Brown: the unions. Over the past few days we’ve been tracking growning union disgruntlement -and the possibility of a Summer of Strikes – over on Trading Floor. And now that mood’s been encapsulated in a speech delivered by Brendan Barber, the
Manchester United defeat Chelsea in the Champions League final, Moscow.
Daniel Finkelstein highlights this fascinating graph over at Comment Central. The red line represents Labour’s opinion poll ratings since 2005; the blue line those of John Major’s government between 1992 and 1997. With the exception of a Labour spike during the “Brown bounce”, the correlation sure is striking:
An all-English final it may be, but – as an avid Man Utd supporter – I can’t help being partisan about this. So, good luck you reds. Bringing the European Cup back to Old Trafford will be the perfect way to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Munich air disaster, fifty years ago. And it
The quick, capsule review of today’s PMQs: Brown was embarrassing. Cameron tore him apart. Now for a bit more detail. Cameron led on the humanitarian situation in Burma – the stories coming from that stricken country are getting worse by the day, and the Prime Minister gave his assurances that he’s working to increase the
Courtesy of Politics Home, here’s the main exchange between Cameron and Brown in PMQs. Expect the Coffee House take on things shortly.