David cameron

There is a terrific piece in today's Telegraph by Charles Moore which I very much recommend. It is titled 'Woolwich outrage: we are too weak to face up to the extremism in our midst'. In the piece Moore rightly criticises our societal inability to deal with Islamism. In particular he criticises the switch of attention which took place immediately after the murder of Drummer Rigby thanks to bogus claims of an 'anti-Muslim backlash'. Moore also addresses the follow-up fib that a threat equal to the jihadis - or even the primary threat to our society - comes from the English Defence League. Incidentally, I saw that, whilst over for the G8 meeting, last night David Cameron had a joint press conference with the first minister and deputy first minister of Northern Ireland.

David Cameron was pressed on Barack Obama's decision to give assistance to the Syrian rebels when he spoke to journalists in the Downing Street garden this afternoon. He gave a long answer, the transcript of which you can read at the bottom of this post, along with the audio. But here are the key points on the Prime Minister's current thinking on Syria. 1. He agrees with the American stance. He told the press conference: 'I think it is right that the Americans have said what they have said and I wanted to back that up with the information and the involvement that we've had in that assessment.' That included Britain seeing 'credible evidence of multiple attacks using chemical weapons in Syria'. But this is as much about America moving towards Britain's position on Syria.

There was plenty for David Cameron to sing about at today's PMQs when it came to the ONS' latest labour market figures, and sing he did. He said: 'First, it is worth announcing to the House what today's unemployment figures show. They show that employment - the number of people in work in this country - is going up, that unemployment is going down, and that - I know the Labour party does not want to hear good news, but I think it is important that we hear it. The claimant count - the number of people claiming unemployment benefit - has fallen for the seventh month in a row. It is interesting that over the past year, while we have lost 100,000 jobs in the public sector, we have gained five times that amount in private sector employment.

Plots, summary executions, sex scandals, leaks and treachery. No, not the last few weeks for the Prime Minister, but rather your average episode of HBO’s hit show Game of Thrones. When asked at a charity reception that clashed with the series finale last night, whether he kept a close eye on it all, young Dave said ‘No, but I understand it's getting brutal.’ Game of Thrones, that is, not the mood on the Tory backbenches. ‘Fair enough really, it's a lot to commit to every week’ my source replied. Perhaps if Dave could give up on his addiction to iPhone games and dark Danish TV boxsets, he might pick up a thing or two about stamping out rebellions and holding unholy alliances together.

GCHQ’s use of the US monitoring system Prism is threatening to turn into a major political row. Douglas Alexander is demanding that William Hague come to the House of Commons to explain what GCHQ was doing and what the legal basis for it was. But this controversy is going to have an effect on coalition relations too. It is going to intensify Liberal Democrat opposition to the measures included in the Communications Data Bill. This comes at a time when David Cameron has decided, as he made clear in the Commons on Monday, that the measures in it are needed. In the United States, the Obama administration is pushing back against criticism of the programme.

For the first time, David Cameron is trailing behind his party, according to the latest polling from Lord Ashcroft. Labour has long struggled with this problem, but as the charts below show, voters now also feel more favourable towards the Conservatives than they do to Cameron himself: The PM's allies within the party have long argued he is their greatest electoral asset, and this would make any attempt at removing him a folly. Now this is no longer the case, the dissenters have a whole new round of ammunition to fire at the leadership. Cameron need not utterly despair — he’s still the preferred option to Miliband as Prime Minister at 57 per cent. Just 30 per cent would to see prefer Miliband living at No.10.

Thwack! That was the sound of Ed Miliband being knocked for six at PMQs. He didn’t stand a chance. Even before he could get to his feet, David Cameron had put a question to him. Against the rules. But so what? Cameron wanted to know if the Labour leader would withdraw his constant attacks on Tory plans to remove child benefit from high earners? Miliband stood up midst a barrage of Tory jeers, (and a few supplementary squawks from LibDems too). The humiliation of Labour’s U-turn showed on his face. He looked like an elevator-boy with his conk caught in the closing doors. The chamber was in full cry and the decibel levels were rising. And he still hadn’t spoken a word!