Uk politics

Monday

Alex Massie

Flodden 500 Years On: The Flower of Scotland, Lying Cold in the Clay

As best I can tell it is not permissable to talk or write about the battle of Flodden without first asking why it is not talked about more frequently? But of course there are good reasons why this calamity (a matter of perspective, I grant you) as slipped from mind. In the first place, contemporary Scotland feels less need to remember disaster. Or even, cynics might suggest, history. Secondly, for the English it was just another occasion on which they hammered the Scots. And they did it with their reserves, so to speak, commanded by the Earl of Surrey while Henry VIII was away battling the French. Nevertheless, Flodden was a catastrophe for Scotland, the single greatest military defeat in the country's history.

Rod Liddle

Sarah Teather: Another MP driven out of the Commons’ boy’s club

The Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather has decided to stand down at the next election. I realise that this will not be a popular view on here, but I think that’s a great shame. She has been an unflinchingly principled, honest and always thoughtful MP; in essence it is the nature of the coalition which has convinced her that modern politics is a foul and dispiriting business. There’s a case to be made that she’s in the wrong party, mind, but that’s the only real criticism I could level at her. She’s been attacked for her decision in the Daily Mail by that screeching agglomeration of recycled opinions and epic self-regard, Janet Street Porter. She has, according to this harridan, ‘let the side down’, and should have been ‘tougher’.

Isabel Hardman

Osborne can be confident about the economy – but not HS2

George Osborne's speech on the economy today will show how much the Chancellor's stock has risen in the past year. It also shows that in spite of the embarrassing defeat on Syria two weeks ago, the Conservatives still feel they can be confident about their appeal to voters, because things are going well on the domestic front. If the growth forecasts were still terrible and key sectors such as manufacturing were still producing terrible figures, the Syria vote would have had far more dangerous consequences for the Tory leadership. But instead, they are able to bounce back from defeat with the statistics that make them look strong. As James pointed out in his Mail on Sunday column yesterday, this will be his most upbeat verdict yet on the economy.

Sunday

Isabel Hardman

Sarah Teather’s exit is just another growing pain for the Lib Dems

Sarah Teather's decision to stand down at the 2015 election won't surprise many people who know what a battle the Lib Dem MP would have had to hold onto her Brent Central seat. Her majority is only 1,345. But her public reason for standing down is interesting, too, even if some may suspect that the battle for Brent held more sway. Teather is an example of the Liberal Democrat party getting used to government, and, in the politest way possible, growing up.

James Forsyth

Miliband has to win the fight that he’s started

When Ed Miliband was booed at the TUC in 2011, there was quiet delight among many of his closest aides. They thought that this jeering would help put some distance between Miliband and the unions and show that he wasn’t their puppet despite the role they had played in his election. But this year, the booing that Miliband is expected to receive will matter far more. Miliband is now engaged in a defining struggle with the union machine over his party reforms. As I say in the Mail on Sunday today, if he doesn’t get them through, then he’ll be a busted flush as a leader. Unite being cleared by the Labour party of wrongdoing over the Falkirk selection shows just how much of a fight Ed Miliband has on his hand.

Saturday

James Forsyth

The coalition’s new case for HS2

The coalition government is preparing a new case for HS2. Concerned that public and political support for the project is slipping away, there’ll be a major effort to renew enthusiasm for it. In this new case, there’ll be far less emphasis on speed and far more emphasis on how HS2 is needed because the existing railway lines are full up. This marks a recognition inside government that the savings on the journey time to Birmingham, which are less than half an hour, are too small to act as a public justification for the project. Expect to see this new argument reflected in the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin’s speech on Wednesday. I suspect that HS2 will retain the support of all three front benches in this parliament.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

Labour clears Unite and Karie Murphy of wrongdoing in Falkirk row

After going all out over the Falkirk selection row, Labour rather quietly issued a statement this afternoon conceding that neither Unite's candidate Karie Murphy, nor constituency party chair Stephen Deans, nor the union itself were guilty of any wrongdoing. The party's statement said: 'The Labour Party began an internal process to examine the controversy surrounding the selection of a parliamentary candidate for Falkirk. At each step Labour’s general secretary and NEC have acted quickly to protect the interest of the party. 'Since Labour began its internal process key evidence has been withdrawn and further evidence provided by individuals concerned. Karie Murphy and Steve Deans, who were suspended, will now be reinstated as they have not been guilty of any wrongdoing.

Isabel Hardman

Barack Obama and public opinion on Syria

There are a number of obvious differences between last week's vote in Parliament and the forthcoming Congressional vote on Syria. But today when he gave his closing statement at the end of the G20 summit, Barack Obama highlighted another very interesting divergence in the way he is approaching the vote. Asked whether he understood the concerns of members of Congress who will have to vote against the will of their constituents, Obama replied: 'Now with respect to Congress and how they should respond to constituency concerns, I do consider part of my job to help make the case and to explain to the American people exactly why I think this is the right thing to do.

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron: We can’t let Russia dictate other countries’ foreign policy

As well as having another extended Hugh Grant moment about how great Britain is (excluding David Beckham's feet, but including One Direction), David Cameron got his chance to hit back at Russia's intransigence on Syria this afternoon as the G20 summit drew to a close. Nodding to the lengthy declaration issued by the leaders - which fails to mention Syria or Assad - the Prime Minister emphasised that 'this summit was never going to reach an agreement on what action is needed on Syria'. When Barack Obama spoke later, he said the discussions had reached unanimity that 'chemical weapons were used in Syria, there was a unanimous view that the norm against using chemical weapons has to be maintained', but that only the majority had agreed that Assad was responsible.

Sebastian Payne

David Cameron’s Small Island songs

In response to some snarky comments from Russia about Britain, the Prime Minister has just released this bizarre statement on his Google+ page about how he feels about our country: 'Britain may be a small island, but I would challenge anyone to find a country with a prouder history, a bigger heart or greater resilience. 'Britain is an island that has helped to clear the European continent of fascism - and was resolute in doing that throughout World War Two. 'Britain is an island that helped to abolish slavery, that has invented most of the things worth inventing, including every sport currently played around the world, that still today is responsible for art, literature and music that delights the entire world.

Isabel Hardman

Builders promise HS2 ‘on time and on budget’ – if backbenchers don’t kill it first

Another day, another promise that a government project will be in time and on budget. Yesterday it was universal credit, today it's High Speed Rail, with a letter from the construction companies behind the project in the Telegraph. The letter, signed by chief executives and chairmen of Arup Group, Atkins UK, Balfour Beatty, Kier Group, Laing O'Rourke, Moot MacDonald Group and Skanska UK, dismisses 'artificially inflated figures' on the project's cost. It says: 'We gladly accept the challenge of completing Phase One of HS2 on schedule - and for less than the Government's target of £17.16 billion. 'We applaud the Government's support for investment in infrastructure and in particular HS2, which addresses a looming capacity crunch on rail and road networks.

Andrew Freeman

Don’t blame the banks for not lending enough to small businesses

It is now a truism in Westminster to argue that banks are failing UK businesses, especially smaller ones, by reining in lending, thus thwarting growth. The problem with this truism is that it isn't, er, true. And it also distracts attention from the real funding problems that businesses struggle with, which means government policy consistently misses the point. This myth about banks refusing to lend is based partly on anecdote and partly on the sharp decline in the stock of lending to small and medium-sized enterprises since the credit crisis.

Isabel Hardman

Fixing the civil service

Universal credit is having a bumpy ride: but whose fault is it? Yesterday's Commons urgent question on the National Audit Office report turned into a bit of a blame game, with Iain Duncan Smith saying rather bitterly that he had expected his department to meet the challenge of delivering this big reform. His response to Bernard Jenkin on the importance of a good civil service was one of the most telling of the whole session: Bernard Jenkin: Is my right hon. Friend aware that the Public Administration Committee will produce an important report tomorrow about civil service reform?

Isabel Hardman

Small island will need to talk big on Syrian aid

Even though Vladimir Putin slotted Syria into the G20 agenda last night, no-one seriously thought that this meant the world leaders would come to a proper agreement on what to do about the conflict. In the last few minutes, David Cameron has told journalists covering the summit that 'divisions are too great' for a deal, and that Russia wants further evidence that the Assad regime was behind the terrible attack in August. George Osborne was on the Today programme earlier discussing the summit. He said: 'We've set out what we think is the right response, obviously President Obama has set out what he wants to do and there is a disagreement around the table, I don't think there's any secret about that.

Thursday

Dot Wordsworth

Dot Wordsworth: We’ve been self-whipping since 1672

Isabel Hardman of this parish explained after last week’s government defeat that a deluded theory among the party leadership had held that Tory backbenchers were now self-whipping. When she aired this opinion on Radio 4, Michael White of the Guardian did a Frankie Howerd-style, ‘Ooh, Missus!’ routine. Surprisingly, self-whipping is no neologism. The satirical Nonconformist clergyman Robert Wild, in a poem on Charles II’s declaration of indulgence in 1672, refers to the ‘self-whippings, of the Popish Priests’. He meant the use of the discipline for ascetic motives. This was equally frowned upon by the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier.

Isabel Hardman

Liam Byrne’s vulture strategy

David Aaronovitch's furious Times column this morning described Ed Miliband as a vulture, swooping down on problems caused by this government rather than leading. If he wanted another example of how this leadership style has affected the rest of the Labour party, he could have done worse than to attend the Commons urgent question on universal credit this morning. There, Liam Byrne attacked Iain Duncan Smith's handling of the project, saying: 'What I want to say to the Secretary of State, however, is this: he has let this House form a picture of universal credit, which the nation's auditor's say is wrong. The most charitable explanation is that he has lost control of the programme and lost control of the department. He must now correct the record.

Isabel Hardman

Iain Duncan Smith turns up the jargon on universal credit

Iain Duncan Smith was in an aggressive mood when he appeared before MPs this morning to explain the latest awkward report on universal credit to the Commons. He combined his anger with a plethora of jargon. This made for an interesting debate, as it's very difficult to sound punchy and angry while talking about 'agile processes', 'roll-outs' and 'pathfinders' (although mercifully he didn't use 'pathfinder as a verb', as he and other colleagues have in the past). listen to ‘Iain Duncan Smith defends his welfare reforms in the Commons.

The Spectator

Toby Young: Should I be an MP?

In this week's Spectator, columnist Toby Young toys with the idea of standing as a Conservative candidate in in Hammersmith. He examines the factors stacked against any chance of success, and the reasons he has for standing: Suppose I won. Then what? I’d be faced with the pride-swallowing siege that is the life of a newly elected MP. Forget about affairs of state. The only decision I’d have to make would be who to suck up to more, George Osborne or John Bercow? Neither prospect fills me with joy. Being a backbench MP is drudge work for the most part and I’d have to take a salary cut to do it. Once upon a time, MPs could expect a little respect for devoting themselves to public service, but not any more.