Conservative party

Tuesday

David Blackburn

IDS versus Osborne: there can only be one winner

The Quiet Man is an odd moniker for Iain Duncan Smith. There was nothing quiet about his opposition to the Maastricht Treaty and he turned up the volume when he told the Tories to ‘unite or die’. Matthew d’Ancona observes that IDS is a noisy maverick again. IDS has threatened to resign if his welfare reforms are obstructed. Principles are one thing and tactics another. As d’Ancona notes: ‘Such talk is fine if a minister means he will quit if he himself fails. But in IDS's case it has sounded more like a threat: if the leaders of the coalition do not give him what he wants, he will resign and bring the temple walls crashing down around him.

Monday

Peter Hoskin

An important couple of months for Nick Clegg

A week ago, I wrote that Nick Clegg had an important couple of weeks ahead of him. Now, the next couple of months are looking even more significant for the Lib Dem leader. An article in today's Independent captures the tone of what faces him: in the aftermath of the Charles Kennedy defection talk, Lib Dems have been shocked into demanding more from their leader. As the paper puts it, senior Lib Dems are calling for "more policy 'wins' ... to demonstrate to doubters in his party that he was delivering on Liberal Decocrat priorities."  Clegg probably hasn't faced such sustained internal pressure since he defeated Chris Huhne to the leadership in 2007. What strikes me, though, is how shortsighted much of that pressure is.

Friday

Peter Hoskin

Clegg binds himself closer to the coalition (for now)

The quotes emerging, in advance, from Nick Clegg's Westminster Hour interview are a mix of the unsurprising and the intriguing. To the first category belongs his claim that "parties in government tend to get a dip in their popularity" – I mean, he's hardly going to say that the Lib Dems' decline in the polls is a disaster, is he? But this, for instance, belongs firmly in the second category: "If we weren't in a coalition now I don't think people would take any notice of the Liberal Democrats ....  If we were in a coalition with Labour, arguably our identity crisis would be even worse." In other words, the Lib Dems are better off in coalition – and they could well be better off in coalition with the Tories.

James Forsyth

Brittan and the state of politics

The reaction to Leon Brittan’s appointment tells us three important things about the current political situation. First, the Tory backbenches are becoming increasingly grumpy at jobs going to people other than them. A large number of Tory MPs who had expected ministerial posts missed out because of coalition. Cameron’s failure to write to many of these people thanking them for their service in opposition has made some of them rather bitter. But this resentment has grown in recent weeks as jobs have gone to various other people. The former Tory MP Paul Goodman says what many of his former colleagues are thinking when he writes, ‘There are more than 300 Conservative MPs. Isn't one of them up to the job of being Trade Minister?

Thursday

James Forsyth

Did business interests

Today’s most intriguing political story is that David Rowland will not become Tory Treasurer after all. The press release from the Tories says that this is because of the ‘expansion of his global business interests.’  Others, though, are begging to differ. ConservativeHome’s piece on the matter is headlined ‘The Daily Mail sinks the Tory Treasurer’, the paper has run a succession of interesting pieces on various aspects of Mr Rowlan’s life.     For all we know, Mr Rowland’s expanding global business interests may well be why he is stepping down.

James Forsyth

Lord Ashcroft’s warnings about David Rowland

Here in Westminster, the David Rowland story is the talk of the hour. It seems that Lord Ashcroft and Michael Spencer had both warned Cameron that Rowland would come in for unfavourable coverage from the media if appointed and that they worried that other donors would not want to deal with him. I’m informed that they feared that his appointment could undo much of the work they had done to strengthen the party’s finances. The media’s attention tonight is turning to the question of why David Cameron ignored the warnings about the controversy that this appointment would cause. Some senior Tories are questioning his judgement over the matter pointing out that the stories that have appeared about Rowland were entirely predictable.

Peter Hoskin

Ed Miliband’s backhanded offer to the Lib Dems

As Channel 4 reminds us, there have been two major trends in recent opinion polls. First, the precipitous decline in the Lib Dem vote share. And, second, a solidification of the Labour position, such that some polls even have them as the biggest party in a hung parliament. Predictably, this has stirred the omnipresent Simon Hughes, and some other folk around Westminster, into talking about a LibLab coalition. Which is why Ed Miliband's comments in the New Statesman today are so eyecatching. He tells Jason Cowley and Mehdi Hasan that he couldn't go into the coalition with the Lib Dems if they were led by Nick Clegg. He's got problems with "what [Clegg] is supporting," you understand. This is a new approach from one of the Labour leadership candidates.

Peter Hoskin

The Tories tone down their rhetoric on A-levels

The latest A-level results have been released and – surprise, surprise – success rates have risen. The proportion of papers marked at grade E or above increased to 97.6 percent from 97.5 percent last year. And 27 percent achieved an A or the new A* grade, with 8 percent at A* overall. So, naturally, and rightly, the usual arguments about "dumbing down" are out in force. The Tories used to love getting stuck into this debate, accusing the New Labour government of eroding exam standards. But it's noteworthy that, now they're in power, their rhetoric on the matter has become considerably less provocative.

Peter Hoskin

This Parliament’s key dividing line?

They may have faded from the front pages, but middle class benefits are still one of the most important stories in town. What we are witnessing here could be the birth of this Parliament's defining dividing line – a cuts vs investment for the new decade. In truth, the birthing process began before the election, with this Ed Miliband interview in the Guardian. In it, he made a distinction between a "residual welfare state that is just for the poor, which is the Tory position," and a "more inclusive welfare state" that encompasses the middle classes. His point was that the former goes against "all the evidence of maintaining public support [for the welfare state]" and, ergo, the Tories have got this wrong.

Wednesday

Mark Littlewood

A solid enough start

The Liberal-Conservative administration deserves to pass its 100 day probation. It hasn’t done much yet, but it has said some of the right things and sounds like it might even get round to doing a few of these things at some point in the not-too-distant future. I’d pretty much accept that from a new staff member, so I guess I should be half-pleased that I seem to be getting this level of performance from my government. The coalition partners were right to shelve their timid pre-election rhetoric about the size of the hole in the public finances. The Liberal Democrats’ implausible insistence that cuts shouldn’t start until next year was ditched as soon as they had “looked at the figures”.

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

The coalition’s choice over Winter Fuel Allowance

The Winter Fuel Allowance has tapdanced back onto the political landscape today, and it's all thanks to some insightful work by the FT's Alex Barker. He had an article in this morning's pink 'un which suggested that IDS is lobbying to have it, and and some other "middle-class benefits", trimmed to help pay for his benefit reforms. And he's followed that up with a blog-post explaining how even an apparent "cut" in the allowance may not result in savings for the Treasury or the DWP. Strange but true, as they say. This could be a delicate situation for the coalition. In the background to it all is David Cameron's pre-election pledge that the Tories wouldn't cut Winter Fuel Allowance.

Peter Hoskin

Is Cameron slowly winning the argument on public service reform?

Guido has already highlighted one of the most important graphs from this Ipsos MORI treasure trove, showing that the public have overwhelmingly accepted the need for spending cuts. But this other graph forms a striking companion piece: Sure, the public may be split on whether the coalition will be good for public services. But the main thing to note is that overall optimism is at its highest level since 2001 – and rising. Maybe, contra Brown and Balls, people are realising that you can get more for less.

David Blackburn

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff

Few writers can make a silly season story read like official history, so it's worth drifting behind the Times’ paywall to read Rachel Sylvester on Boris and Dave's mutual emnity. It is no secret that BoJo and DC are united in rivalry, but Sylvester adds a second dimension with insider quotations - a mix of arch witticisms and savage partisanship. Here are several of many from today’s column: ‘Most people at Westminster assume that Boris — compared by one of his editors to Marilyn Monroe, “another egomaniacal blonde” — still harbours ambitions to lead his party.

Peter Hoskin

The task facing UKIP’s next leader

That didn't take long, did it? After only a year in charge of UKIP, Lord Pearson has quit the role even more abruptly than he took it. In his resignation statement, he confesses that he is "not much good" at party politics – and it is hard to disagree. A memorable low was his interview on the Campaign Show in which he was only dimly acquainted with his party's own policy. But more damaging, to my mind, was the general erosion of UKIP's identity: Pearson's policy of campaigning for Eurosceptic candidates from other parties may have been magananimous, but it also made you wonder whether UKIP are more a party or a pressure group. This morning, Nigel Farage hinted that he might put his name forward for the leadership.

Monday

David Blackburn

The university funding debate continued

University funding is beginning to dominate op-ed pages. Yesterday, Matthew d’Ancona put the case for a graduate tax from the conservative perspective; and to which Douglas Carswell has responded. Today, Professor Alison Wolf, a specialist in Public Sector Management at KCL, makes the point that any debate about higher education funding is prejudiced because Britain’s politicians and policy makers are predominantly Oxbridge educated, and the structure of Oxbridge undergraduate degrees is radically different from anywhere else. Writing in the Times (£), she asserts: ‘I’ve sat in many meetings, in Whitehall and Westminster, where people have talked up credit systems (a modular system of assessment) without the faintest idea that we have one.

Peter Hoskin

An important fortnight for Nick Clegg

Another reason to be glad of the Brown government's downfall is that there seems to be less silliness about the summer holidays. Today, Nick Clegg returns to London to steer government in David Cameron's absence – but there's no fanfare, nor energetic pretence that the Lib Dem leader is actually "running the country". Unlike those times when Harriet used to have a go at it, followed by Peter, followed by Alistair, followed by Jack, the overriding impression is just business as usual. But that doesn't mean that the next two weeks are insignificant for Clegg. Rather, he can make sweeping advances on a number of fronts. The most important, and least public, will be how he handles the ongoing spending review.

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

Simon Hughes and the deputy leader’s pulpit

My, what a busy character Simon Hughes is at the moment. Seems like hardly a day goes by without some fresh observations from the Lib Dem deputy leader – and he doesn't even rest on a Sunday. Today, there are two Hughesbites worth noting down, both from an interview with Sky. The first: "We should have no preference at the next election between the Tories and Labour and other parties. We are going to stand on our own." And the second: "Our party is committed constitutionally to standing in every seat. We will be standing in every seat at the next election. There will be no deals, there will be no pacts…" So, no ruling out a LibLab coalition and no electoral pacts.

James Forsyth

Readying the bombardment

Westminster might be in holiday mode, but behind the scenes the coalition is preparing to take on the new Labour leader. As I say in the Mail on Sunday, the coalition is determined to hit whichever Miliband wins early and hard. The Cameroons believe that Tony Blair’s decision not to attack Cameron straight away in 2005 was crucial in allowing him to present himself to the public on his own terms. By contrast, both Hague and Duncan Smith were made to look like losers by the Labour attack machine within months of becoming leader of the opposition. The result of the Labour leadership election will be announced on the 25th of September.

Peter Hoskin

The return of Alan Milburn

Frank Field, John Hutton and now Alan Milburn – the red tinges to the coalition mix are like a Who's Who of reforming Labour politicians. Milburn, we learn today, is to return to government as an adviser to David Cameron on social mobility. It's a role he should be accumstomed to, as he was tasked with writing a report on the issue under Brown. That time, his suggestions were buried by a government which didn't want to face up to the sorry facts. This time, you hope they meet with a more constructive response. But why wasn't a Conservative (or conservative) appointed? That's the question which Iain Dale asks over at his blog – and you can see his point. There are plenty of people on the right who could have stepped into the role, not least someone like Jill Kirby.

Saturday

James Forsyth

The coalition’s university challenge

The contours of an agreement on how to pay for university education are clearer today after Rachel Sylvester’s interview with David Willetts. Up-front fees look to be on the way out.  Willetts tells Sylvester, ‘It’s very important that it’s signaled very clearly that the money that is paid back comes out of your earnings once you have graduated and are in work.’ It also seems that different courses at different institutions will have different prices. Willetts proclaims that he wants something that ‘links you to your university and the course you did at that university.’   So far, this looks like simply collecting variable fees through the tax system.