Uk politics

Thursday

Alex Massie

Alex Salmond is not a Nazi. He’s not even a Fascist.

From our UK edition

Every so often you come across an article so bizarre it forces you to re-examine long-held certainties on a subject about which you happen to be tolerably well-informed. This year that's Scotland and her independence referendum and this time the article in question is Simon Winder's epistle in the latest edition of Standpoint. Having duly re-examined everything I conclude that it is the maddest article I've read this year. So bonkers - really, not too strong a term - that you wonder what the magazine's editors were thinking when they agreed to publish it. They have every right to do so, of course, and publication does not equal endorsement. But still. No-one paused to say 'hang on, this is laughable'. I am getting ahead of myself.

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: Reforming Islam, Ed Miliband on the rocks and teaching French

From our UK edition

Can Islam ever be reformed and reclaimed from the fanatics? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, the Quilliam Foundation's founder Maajid Nawaz argues it most certainly can. Discussing this week’s cover feature with Freddy Gray, Maajid questions why the British media thinks there is only one strain of thought in Islam. How does seeking out a singular ‘Muslim opinion’ lead to a spiral towards regressive conservatism? How can the vocal reformers make a difference when they are frequently outnumbered? James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman also discuss whether Ed Miliband’s luck has run out. Labour’s lacklustre response to the budget appears to have put Miliband on the back foot, but will this harm his electoral chances in 2015?

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Nigel Farage wins LBC debate but will he regret ‘blood on their hands’ comment?

From our UK edition

Tonight's YouGov poll says that Nigel Farage won the debate with Nick Clegg by 57 per cent to 37 per cent. But, intriguingly, the plurality of those polled said that they'd vote to stay in the EU. For Farage, the hope has to be that this victory gives him back some of the momentum that he lost when Romanian and Bulgarian immigration failed to become the problem that he had predicted it would be. He'll also be happy with the fact that 70 per cent of Tory voters polled said that he'd won. The Liberal Democrats will not be surprised to lose tonight. For them, the bonus is that Clegg polled 37%--far better than the single digits in which the Lib Dems have been receiving in European Election polls.

Isabel Hardman

Small Labour rebellion as 22 MPs vote against welfare cap

From our UK edition

The Commons has just backed the government's welfare cap by 520 votes to 22 against. As that figure for the Noes will include SNP MPs, this means a very small rebellion on the Labour benches - around 13. Party sources were yesterday briefing they expected around two dozen of their backbenchers to vote against. Tory deputy chief whip Greg Hands has already taken the opportunity to tweet the names of those he saw going through the No lobbies in this vote.

Isabel Hardman

PMQs: who will take credit for SSE’s price freeze?

From our UK edition

Perhaps both David Cameron and Ed Miliband will try to take credit for SSE's announcement that it is freezing its prices until 2016 when they tussle at PMQs. Number 10 this morning said: 'Anything which helps consumers with their bills is to be welcomed, of course and one of the things that the company is explaining today is it is able to, a principle reason why it is able to make this decision is because of the rolling back of the green levies and green charges, which is a result of this government.' This is true, but it's not quite the full picture. The only reason the government decided to roll back the 'green crap' is that Labour spooked ministers with its energy prize freeze announcement. It was the political game-changer of the autumn.

Alex Massie

It is not surprising that the polls on Scottish independence are tightening…

From our UK edition

There are some pollsters who believe nothing has changed since 2011. All the storm and blast, bluff and bluster about Scottish independence has had no impact at all. The settled will of the Scottish people remains settles: more power for Edinburgh but no to independence. Oddly YouGov's Peter Kellner is one of these pollsters. Oddly because, as the chart above shows, his own polling organisation's reports show that the race is, as long expected, tightening. There is a small but definite drift to Yes. True, at its present rate it will not be enough to prevail come September. But it is quite possible that the drift towards a Yes vote will become stronger, not weaker, as the referendum day approaches. You would expect it to say so. The Yes campaign enjoys many advantages, after all.

Isabel Hardman

Nick v Nigel: what Cameron should worry about as he watches today’s fight

From our UK edition

Even though it's not unreasonable to predict that both Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage can emerge from tonight's LBC debate feeling they've won (they're preaching to quite different choirs), it's still worth remembering that the one who lands a killer blow or smart put down will get the best clip on the 10 o'clock news. David Cameron says he won't be watching the debate, implying he's not bothered by this sideshow. Few believe this. But as he does furtively follow the exchanges while pretending to watch one of his favourite box sets, the Prime Minister will see both Farage and Clegg rubbish his renegotiation strategy. The former thinks it is hopeless and that the UK should just leave the EU.

Tuesday

Jonathan Aitken

Take it from an ex-con — the outrage over prison books is misplaced

From our UK edition

When I was doing my time in HMP Standford Hill, a strange pair of heavily perfumed Korans and Bibles were delivered to one inmate, ostensibly to help him with his 'studies in comparative religion'. As intended, the perfume threw the sniffer dogs off the scent. But a suspicious prison officer found a significant quantity of heroin stuck between the pages of these holy books. This was an example of 'parcelling it,' con-speak for getting drugs into jails. So Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary, has a point now that he is trying to restrict the supply of books into prisons. But not much of a point: such examples are real but rare.

Isabel Hardman

Despite low-key launch, Tory ‘managed migration’ campaign should worry No. 10

From our UK edition

Mark Field's new Conservatives for Managed Migration group hasn't attracted overwhelming public support from MPs. When it launched this morning, it only had two Tory MPs openly signed up, with Field telling BBC News that 'I think we have got quite a few supporters' but refusing to give an exact number. This might be causing No. 10 some satisfaction, although Downing Street sources are insisting that they are 'relaxed' about the group. It does, after all, argue that there is a 'fundamental problem' with the Conservatives' net migration target. And there is considerable irritation among the Prime Minister's advisers that MPs feel the need to set up new groups whenever they want to discuss a policy as these groups are inevitably read as a sign of a new Tory split on an issue.

Sebastian Payne

Can the government avoid another rail fiasco before 2015?

From our UK edition

There’s some exciting train news today, and no, it’s not related to HS2. The Transport Secretary has announced that the franchise for the East Coast Mainline has gone out to tender. Britain’s second busiest railway marked a low point for rail privatisation, when National Express bombed out of the franchise and Labour nationalised the line. Since then it has been under government control and the coalition has delayed throwing it back into the private sector several times. How have each of the operators fared on the line? Since British Rail was privatised in the early 1990s, the ECML has been run by Great North Eastern Railways (1996 to 2007), National Express East Coast (2007 to 2009) and the government-owned East Coast (2009 to present).

Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: Lib Dems go cold on candidate after ‘Jesus and Mo’ row

From our UK edition

The Lib Dems are considering scaling back their fight for Maajid Nawaz to win the Hampstead and Kilburn seat after the row about his 'Jesus and Mo' tweet, I have been told. This very marginal seat, which Labour's Glenda Jackson holds with a majority of just 42, had been one of the Lib Dems' key target seats. But a very well-placed senior source tells me that after the 'Jesus and Mo' row (which Nawaz had an extremely bad-tempered debate about with Mehdi Hasan and Mo Ansar on yesterday's Newsnight), those involved in the party's campaigns have privately concluded that the candidate has seriously damaged his chances of winning the seat and that 'chucking the kitchen sink at it might not be worth the effort'. The Lib Dems defended Nawaz when a petition calling for his deselection was set up.

Isabel Hardman

Will welfare cap vote be Miliband’s biggest rebellion?

From our UK edition

So Rachel Reeves confirmed in the Commons today that Labour will back the welfare cap when it comes to a vote. Tory MPs cheered her as she announced this. There is a rebellion brewing on the Labour benches on this, which party sources are saying they remain 'vigilant' about. Some claim that this will be the biggest revolt of Miliband's leadership. If it is, then it will have to surpass the 40 Labour MPs (39 and one teller) who rebelled against their party's official position on welfare sanctions just over a year ago. The then Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne instructed Labour MPs to abstain on a bill which enabled the DWP to avoid repaying benefits to people sanctioned for refusing to take part in the government's work experience programme.

Isabel Hardman

Nick Clegg’s new running sore

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg spent the first 20 minutes of Deputy Prime Minister's Questions looking a little miserable. A wan smile did flicker across his lips at about 18 minutes in, but it didn't spread to his eyes or stay very long at all. In fact, he appeared to be doing his best to fit the best ever P.G. Wodehouse description of a man looking like 'a cat which has just been struck by a half-brick and is expecting another shortly'. Fortunately for Clegg, the other half of the brick didn't turn up. In fact, when the time came for Harriet Harman to savage the DPM, he appeared quite happy that she'd chosen tuition fees as her weapon. She asked about the new figures showing that the government's trebling of tuition fees will end up costing the taxpayer more than the current system.

Isabel Hardman

Harriet Harman: Labour is making steady progress

From our UK edition

'I don't think things are going wrong,' Harriet Harman insisted on the Today programme. 'I think we're making steady progress. And if you look at when people actually vote, for example in council elections, then actually around the country we've got nearly 2,000 more councillors since Ed Miliband became leader.' listen to ‘Harman: ‘I don't think things are going wrong’ with Labour’ on Audioboo Miliband last night admitted on ITV's The Agenda that 2015 will 'be a close election'.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Cameron continues silver offensive

From our UK edition

David Cameron is doing his best to do what the Tories haven't always been that impressive at: capitalising on the clever political bits in this year's Budget. He was at a PM direct event in Peacehaven today, driving home the importance of the government's reforms to pensions to his target voters. But he also had the opportunity to woo them with other policy treats, such as what the Tories might promise on inheritance tax in their next manifesto. 'Would I like to go further in future?' he said. 'Yes, I would. I believe in people being able to pass money down through the generations and pass things on to their children.' He added that 'it's something we'll have to address in our manifesto'.

Isabel Hardman

Michael Gove attacks Tristram Hunt for not knowing difference between education and health

From our UK edition

Education questions is always interesting in the sense that the main players are quite energetic and keen for debate and there is a genuine divide now between the two main parties (and indeed within the Coalition). But today's session was interesting in the sense that a grandmother describes a Christmas present they don't quite understand as 'interesting' because Tristram Hunt used his slot to grill the Education Secretary about a health issue. 'More and more research shows the importance of early years development in a child's education. The Labour party Sure Start programme was focused on supporting those vital infant years, a policy of prevention rather than cure.

Isabel Hardman

Labour’s localist lurch

From our UK edition

One of the other things worth noting from this morning's letter from the 'members of the progressive community' who are anxious that Labour isn't attempting to make a big offer in 2015 is that the alliance of groups and figures from the left and right of the party back decentralisation. The letter calls for: 'Devolution of state institutions, by giving away power and resources to our nations, regions, cities, localities and, where possible, directly to the people.' As I explained in my Telegraph column last week, a battle in the shadow cabinet has resulted in a surprise victory for Hilary Benn and Jon Cruddas, who had been pushing for a Labourish sort of localism. We saw some of the outworkings of that in Ed Miliband's Hugo Young lecture.

Isabel Hardman

Labour thinkers see danger in playing safe

From our UK edition

David Cameron's attack on Labour for "flailing and dithering" over whether to support the government's pension reforms would seem unfair had the party not struggled to present a clear message over the weekend. It would be unfair to expect a snap judgement on the changes from a responsible opposition party, but the weekend press and the papers this morning suggest that Labour doesn't even have a neat holding line as it works out how far to extend its support. But what should worry Ed Miliband far more than the attack from Cameron is the increasing anxiety from his own side about Labour's message. The Guardian's letter from 19 leading Labour groups and thinkers including the Fabians, Progress and Compass, is far more concerning.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

What today’s polls mean for the Tories and Labour

From our UK edition

The Labour party's reaction to today's opinion polls will tell us a great deal about how well Ed Miliband has really invested in his party. If the backbenchers feel they have a stake in the Labour leader, and as though he is worth fighting for - which Conservative MPs have often not felt about Cameron, leading to them airing their dirty laundry in public - then the panic in the party won't break out beyond John Mann's intervention today. The backbencher told Pienaar's Politics that 'of course it's a warning shot and it would be naive to think otherwise. I think the message is that we need to be much clearer and I think simpler in putting across what our alternative is and what we stand for.' Mann said this wasn't just a Miliband problem but also the Shadow Cabinet and the whole party.

Sebastian Payne

Pension reforms are vital to encourage saving. But what about everyone else?

From our UK edition

‘This reform is about treating people as adults’ — according to the Pensions Minister Steve Webb. The announcement of a pensions revolution in this week’s budget took everyone by surprise, leading to the question of whether there has been enough consultation on the changes. Webb said on the Sunday Politics today that evidence elsewhere shows the coalition is doing the right thing: ‘We know from around the world - places like America and Australia - where people already have this kind of freedoms. So we already have some things to judge by. We're going to spend the next year talking to people working it through, including a three-month consultation. There is a lot of detail to be worked out.