Uk politics

Thursday

Sebastian Payne

Podcast: Buying your way into the establishment and Osborne’s 2014 budget

From our UK edition

How easy is it to buy your way into the British establishment? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Harry Mount and journalist Ben Judah discuss whether Britain has become a bankrupt country. Why are so many Russians throwing hordes to cash to buy their way into new Britain? How are Prince Charles and Tony Blair involved? And is it a good thing that the establishment is regenerating itself? Fraser Nelson, James Forsyth and Isabel Hardman also analyse George Osborne’s fourth budget — what the announcements mean, the winners and losers, how the Chancellor has carefully targeted Ukip, the significant changes for pensioners and Ed Miliband’s meek response.

Isabel Hardman

George Osborne’s Budget elephant trap is still open and waiting for Labour

From our UK edition

Yesterday the Opposition didn't really do all that much opposing. Labour announced it was going to vote in favour of George Osborne's AME welfare cap, with Ed Balls arguing that Ed Miliband had set this out in a speech last year anyway. This cap was supposed to be an elephant trap for Labour, but Labour initially appeared to have tip-toed around the edge without falling in. But Osborne has set a secondary snare for the party: the 'bedroom tax'. The Conservatives are keen to point out that restoring the 'spare room subsidy' would lead to a £465 million welfare spending rise in 2015/16, and want Labour to answer how they could avoid breaching the welfare cap.

Isabel Hardman

Tories: There never was a bingo poster

From our UK edition

George Osborne got the front pages he wanted this morning. 'A budget for Sun readers' proclaims his target newspaper. But Labour, which doesn't have very much to say about the Budget, has been celebrating Grant Shapps' unfortunate infographic which he tweeted last night which takes a rather David Attenborough-style tone when describing what hardworking people like to do in their spare time. 'Cutting the bingo tax and beer duty to help hardworking people do more of the things they enjoy' the image says. Labour is delighted and many Tories are horrified. George Osborne has been pressed repeatedly about it on his post-Budget broadcast tour.

Matthew Parris

We have to tell the truth about Tony Benn now. Who will hear it later?

From our UK edition

I could start by remarking that we should not speak ill of the dead, quoting the pertinent Latin phrase: de mortuis nil nisi bonum (‘of the dead, only good’). But this would be to miss a key qualification because the whole quote (from Diogenes Laertius, circa ad 300) adds ‘dicendum est’: ‘is to be said’. And that puts a different complexion on things. Commentators have preferred to describe the advice as an established social convention rather than necessarily their own opinion. Indeed it is often used as a sly way of indicating (without stating) the speaker’s disapproval of the deceased. But if the phrase has been thrown once at my head by my newspaper readers this week, it has been thrown a score of times.

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Labour doesn’t want to talk about today’s budget

From our UK edition

Ed Balls has just delivered quite an odd post-Budget briefing. It was odd because he didn't really want to criticise anything. Of course, when the Chancellor has just unexpectedly announced major reforms to the pensions system, it would be foolish for an opposition to start criticising a reform that it probably doesn't quite understand. But the furthest the Shadow Chancellor would go was that it was 'underwhelming'.

James Forsyth

Budget 2014: Has Osborne come up with a silver bullet for dealing with Ukip?

From our UK edition

The Budget today contained a host of measures that'll benefit the silver savers; those in, or coming up to, retirement. From January next month, pensioners will be able to buy pension bonds that offer a 2.8 per cent interest rate for a one year bond and a 4 per cent annual rate for a three year bond. This is far better than the rate available on the high street and will cost the government £170 million in 2015-16. It should assuage the pain, and anger, that many pensioners have felt at the government's deliberate policy of keeping interest rates as low as possible. Considering that defections from the Tories to Ukip have been particularly high among the over 60s, one has to imagine that this will have an electoral impact.

Isabel Hardman

Budget 2014: The Tories gave Ed Miliband licence to become a class warrior

From our UK edition

No opposition leader looks forward to responding to the Budget. It's one of the harder gigs as you get little notice of the detailed measures that may cause real rows and are scribbling feverishly throughout the statement to try to make your pre-written speech sound relevant. But it is still an achievement that Ed Miliband in his own response managed to avoid talking about anything in the Budget other than the new design of the pound coins. He started by reminding the House of Commons of how much further the Chancellor needs to go before hardworking families up and down the country feel as cheerful as the Tories. He said: 'But he did not mention one central fact: The working people of Britain are worse off under the Tories. Living standards down: month after month, year after year.

Isabel Hardman

Budget 2014: Will Cameron’s disciples spread the message?

From our UK edition

Lynton Crosby addressed the Conservative parliamentary party last night about the party's messaging for the European elections. Amusingly, I hear he told those gathered to watch one of his powerpoint presentations that while Jesus only had 12 disciples, David Cameron has 305 to spread his message. Perhaps the next Downing Street wooing event will see the Prime Minister handing out loaves and fishes to his backbenchers. After a rather off-message week, the Conservatives need their MPs to get into line and start talking about that long-term economic plan today as George Osborne unveils his Budget. One of the key words to look out for is 'resilience', which the Chancellor has already dropped into his tweets about the exciting new pound coin.

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Number 10 plays down Warsi Eton Mess stunt

From our UK edition

Downing Street is trying to play down Sayeeda Warsi's  Eton Mess stunt on The Agenda last night. Asked what his response to her decision to hold up a front page saying 'Number 10 takes Eton Mess off the menu', the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'Look, I think that was in the light-hearted section of the programme. I'm not sure whether he actually caught the programme, as it happens.' He then added that the Prime Minister had 'spoken about the importance' of greater social mobility, and that the Chancellor had made similar comments to that effect yesterday. Both Warsi and Michael Gove were at Cabinet today, but the spokesman said there was no discussion either of the Etonian Problem, or of the need for ministers to stay on message.

Sebastian Payne

How much do voters care about Old Etonians and the political class?

From our UK edition

Are voters really concerned about how many Old Etonians David Cameron surrounds himself with? Judging by the cutting remarks from Michael Gove and Sayeeda Warsi it matters a lot, but opinion polling tells a slightly different, more troubling tale about how people feel about the ‘political class’. On the Eton question, YouGov recently carried out a poll asking which characteristics they found most unsuitable for a ‘leading politician’.

Isabel Hardman

Tory leadership rivals may be jumping too early

From our UK edition

The Coalition is trying to make today about childcare after announcing plenty of housing initiatives over the weekend. Announcing different policies in a drip-drip in the run-up to the Budget means they get their own limelight - and that's fine if you've got enough left in the larder once the statement itself arrives. George Osborne has learned from the 2012 Budget the art of spinning things out while leaving enough to hand out on the day - particularly giveaways that Sun readers like. But today is also about the frankly weird shenanigans at the top of the Conservative party which continued this morning with Boris Johnson's father pressing his case for the party rules to be changed so that the Mayor could be party leader.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Exclusive: PM vents fury at Gove for interview on Etonians

From our UK edition

Unsurprisingly, Michael Gove's FT interview in which he attacked the 'preposterous' number of Old Etonians around David Cameron - widely interpreted as a sally on behalf of George Osborne - has gone down like a lead balloon with the Prime Minister. I understand that Cameron had a stern word with the Education Secretary over the weekend, with one source telling me that 'he was torn a new one and given a right royal bollocking'. Cameron has made it very clear to Gove that his words were 'bang out of order' and that his aim is to focus on the Cabinet job in hand, not go on freelance missions. Meanwhile, those supporting Boris's leadership ambitions are deeply amused by the amount of energy being expended by the Osborne camp on furthering his prospects on the Tory backbenches.

Isabel Hardman

How tax transparency can help the Tories

From our UK edition

George Osborne is as adept as any gamekeeper at setting little traps in every Budget and Autumn Statement for Labour to fall down. He hinted at a few in his Marr interview yesterday and they were largely the sort we've come to expect from the Chancellor on welfare and deficit reduction, but there's also speculation that he could set another trap on tax. Ben Gummer's 10-minute rule bill calling for National Insurance to be renamed the 'Earnings Tax' received a disproportionate amount of attention for what is normally simply a parliamentary device by which a backbencher can garner a little bit of attention for their hobby horse. But the reason it received so much attention was that it was made quite clear that this proposal had sympathy at the highest levels of government.

Isabel Hardman

Ken Clarke: We don’t need treaty change to reform Europe, and my eurosceptic colleagues are eccentric

From our UK edition

Tory europhiles don't often come out in the daylight: they normally give the impression they're frightened that their associations will get grumpy, or that their fellow MPs will try to shout them down. But today the pro-EU group European Mainstream launched their new pamphlet, In Our Interest: Britain with Europe, which takes a stance that is quite unusual in the Conservative party: it agrees with the Prime Minister's Europe strategy. The 62 MPs on the group - who include Ken Clarke, Damian Green, Richard Benyon and Caroline Spelman - didn't seem at all shifty or nervous when they gathered in Westminster Hall this afternoon to launch the pamphlet and make a positive case for Britain in Europe.

Alex Massie

Ruth Davidson gives the Scottish Tories grounds for hope. At last.

From our UK edition

Because I spent the weekend moving house and being depressed by events in Cardiff I did not attend the Scottish Conservative's spring conference in Edinburgh. A dereliction of journalistic duty, perhaps, but also, well, life takes over sometimes. In truth, I didn't worry about missing the conference. Attending these things can be dangerous. Like journalism, politics attracts a grim number of copper-bottomed, ocean-going shits but also, like journalism again, a greater number of decent, public-spirited, optimistic folk than you might imagine. Most politicians, most of the time, are in the game for most of the right reasons. Speaking to these people has its uses but, also, its dangers. Before you know it you end up liking them.

Sebastian Payne

Five things you need to know about David Higgins’s HS2 report

From our UK edition

HS2 needs to happen, and faster. That’s the conclusion of David Higgins’s report on High Speed 2 out today. As well as backing up the government’s key arguments for the project on capacity grounds — not speed, which he says is a ‘by-product’ — the chairman of HS2 Ltd has made some recommendations for improving the project. Here are the key things you need to know about the Higgins report: 1. Extension to Crewe should happen in Phase One Higgins suggests that the first phase of HS2 should include another 43 miles of track from Birmingham to Crewe. This would be brought forward from Phase Two and built by 2027, providing better connections to Stoke, Shrewsbury and Chester among others.

Alex Massie

Yes, of course the BBC is biased against you

From our UK edition

And it doesn't matter who you are. Conservative, Labour, Liberal, Nationalist, Green or UKIP it's all the same. The BBC is hopelessly prejudiced against you. As it should be. Why only this morning we see Owen Jones complaining that, contrary to what the Daily Mail would have you believe, the BBC is instinctively biased against the left and Lesley Riddoch suggesting  the corporation is reflexively biased against the very idea, let alone the prospect, of Scottish independence. Well, up to a point. But asking whether the BBC is inclined to the left or right is the wrong question. It is a kind of category error. Adding up the number of (presumed) right-of-centre - or Unionist - journalists or presenters on the BBC and supposing this "proves" anything is a fool's mistake.

Isabel Hardman

HS2: No blank cheque or empty threats?

From our UK edition

Sir David Higgins wants the northern end of HS2 built quicker, as a means of selling the benefits of the 'north-south' line to those who remain sceptical about the new line. You can read his full report on High Speed 2 here, but it's worth considering the position of one of the biggest groups of sceptics too. Labour has repeatedly said that there is no blank cheque for HS2, and Ed Balls frequently deploys the line as a way of showing that he really is very fiscally responsible these days. Balls said yesterday on Marr that Labour would support the high speed rail bill at second reading but that if the costs rose above £50 billion, then he would have to think again.

Sunday

James Forsyth

George Osborne readies his tax dividing line

From our UK edition

George Osborne was on Andrew Marr this morning announcing support for a new garden city at Ebbsfleet in Kent and the extension of Help to Buy on new build homes until 2020. The Tories hope that these policies will show both that they are planning for the long term and that they are supporting aspiration. But what struck me as most significant was Osborne’s response when told by Marr that he was sounding more like a Liberal Democrat than a Conservative. He instantly replied, ‘Conservatives believe in lower taxes, Liberal Democrats want to put taxes up.’ We already know that Osborne believes that the rest of the deficit can be cleared without any more tax increases and this reply suggests that the Tories will run in 2015 as the only party that won’t put up taxes.