Uk politics

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Forget the nasty party: this is the Angry Party

From our UK edition

Even those who like to specialise in the inner workings of the mind of a Tory backbencher are rather baffled by the twists and turns of the party this week. But amid all the turmoil, there has been one very important change. Backbenchers are no longer just angry with the leadership. They're also angry with each other. The Conservative party can, at the best of times, resemble a bunch of ferrets fighting in a sack, but until this week the ferrets have all been scratching and biting one victim. Now they're scrapping with one another. As James reported last night, the eight key Eurosceptic factions of the party met yesterday morning to discuss their tactics and ended up splitting five to three over whether to continue to push David Cameron.

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Will the draft EU referendum bill calm Tory tensions?

From our UK edition

The last few days have seen the Tory party losing its collective head. Number 10 hopes that the publication of a draft referendum bill will begin to restore order. If this bill had been published by the leadership a week ago, it would have looked like a bold move. Today, it appeared panicky. But it is now out there, and any Tory backbencher who comes high up in the private members bill ballot on Thursday has a chance of guiding it through. I suspect if a vote could be won on second reading, the parliamentary dynamics of this debate would change yet again. What’ll be intriguing is to see how much the Tories campaign on this. David Cameron has already sent out an email to party supporters.

Isabel Hardman

Diane Abbott to turn Labour’s attention to a ‘crisis of masculinity’

From our UK edition

Diane Abbott has been thinking long and hard of late about how Labour responds to the family. She offers the next instalment of her ideas in a speech to think tank Demos on Thursday, and will argue that rapid social and economic change has caused a 'crisis of masculinity' in Britain which manifests itself. Coffee House has been offered a preview of that speech, which marks a significant shift in the way Labour talks about the family. Abbott believes the Conservatives have occupied this debate for too long, and wants her party to make families and fathers a priority. As a single mother and a left-wing feminist, her intervention is an attempt to reclaim this territory.

Isabel Hardman

DCMS permanent secretary Jonathan Stephens to leave post

From our UK edition

Jonathan Stephens, permanent secretary at the Culture, Media and Sport department, has today announced he is moving on, after a cross-Whitehall effort to shift him, I have learned. Stephens, who James reported at the weekend was looking ripe for a move, announced his departure in an internal email to staff this afternoon. I understand he is moving to a behind-the-scenes role in another part of Whitehall. He was one of the last hangers-on from the Blair government, along with Sir Nicholas Macpherson at the Treasury, having worked at DCMS since 2006. His departure means DCMS can appoint a permanent secretary who those involved in Whitehall reform hope will help shoulder the department's heavy burden more effectively.

Isabel Hardman

Not all eurosceptics are asking for more from the leadership

From our UK edition

The Tory MPs who are unhappy with Number 10's offer of a draft EU referendum bill have been making the most noise this morning, but there have been some interesting shifts in position from some hardline eurosceptics in the past few hours. Douglas Carswell, who is about as independently-minded as you can get, has come out all guns blazing in favour of the Prime Minister's plan. He writes on his blog: 'For several years, I have been agitating for the Prime Minister to offer an In / Out referendum. He's now offering one. Cameron deserves much more credit for being the first Prime Minister in a generation to offer us the chance to vote to quit the EU. Not even Mrs Thatcher came anywhere close! 'So, I can tick that off my list.

Melanie McDonagh

Let’s hope Vicky Pryce’s book does teach us about prison

From our UK edition

The departure of Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce from prison yesterday has its lessons for us all, on how to make the most of adverse circumstances. Certainly that’s the happiest view of the news that Vicky Pryce is to publish a book about her experiences, called Prisonomics… yep, usefully echoing the title of her previous book, Greekonomics. That one had the merit that Ms Pryce knew quite a bit about the subject, as a Greek and an economist; but her two months at the soft end of the penal system in East Sutton Park prison in Kent may not give her much of an insight into the condition of women in, say, Holloway, where she spent remarkably little time before being moved.

Isabel Hardman

Tory EU turmoil allows Labour and Lib Dems to develop strong message discipline

From our UK edition

The dizzy behaviour of the Tory party on Europe is allowing its opponents to develop an incredibly strong message discipline. This is ironic because the Labour party has its own European fault lines running through it, its own backbenchers calling for a referendum, and even some calling for a referendum bill before Cameron gets in. But the Conservative to-ing and fro-ing on the subject enable both parties to say that instead of arguing about Europe in the House of Commons, they plan to 'focus on jobs and growth'. Norman Lamb made this point on the Today programme, saying: 'The Lib Dems' focus is on jobs and growth.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Tory leadership publishes draft EU referendum bill in a panic, and fails to convince backbenchers

From our UK edition

David Cameron was trying to work out how on earth to deal with the latest Europe row in his party. He heard them demanding legislation in this parliament for a referendum in the next, and this evening, after nearly a year of letter-writing and speeches, he announced that the Tory party will publish a draft bill doing just that. They still can't get it through Parliament through the government channels, so they'll be putting it up for any willing backbencher (of which there are many) to adopt in the Private Member's Bill ballot. Figures close to the Prime Minister were hinting to Tory MPs this evening there would be a move for legislation, but they were taken by surprise when, just a few hours later, the announcement was made that the draft bill will be published tomorrow. So is this it?

James Forsyth

Barack Obama appears happy to help a leader in a spot of bother

From our UK edition

Barack Obama just threw a protective arm around David Cameron at their joint press conference, stressing that ‘you have to see if you can fix what's broken in an important relationship before you break it off '. The instant retweeting of this line by the Tory leadership’s communications channels  shows just how grateful they are for Obama’s verbal support for Cameron’s EU strategy. It is also worth noting, as they have gleefully tweeted, that Obama’s words also appear to be an endorsement of renegotiation as an approach. But does this actually matter? I suspect not. On this issue, Tory MPs are more worried about what their associations are saying and the concerns of their former voters than those of the President of the United States.

Isabel Hardman

Obama warns Britain that leaving the EU would be an isolationist step

From our UK edition

President Obama took care this afternoon when asked about an EU referendum to give as nuanced an answer as possible. He emphasised repeatedly that this was a matter for the British people. He also affirmed Cameron's 'basic point that you probably want to see if you can fix what's broken in a very important relationship'. Tory eurosceptics might be a little less impressed by this endorsement of Cameron's strategy, but what they will be really unhappy with is the impression Obama gave that he believes an exit from Europe would be a sign that Britain is becoming more isolationist.

Isabel Hardman

How will the Tory leadership deal with MPs wanting a UKIP pact?

From our UK edition

Nigel Farage says his party is in talks with a number of Conservative associations about a joint endorsement with UKIP. He told the Daily Politics today that 'there is no doubt that there are Tory associations, and one Labour that I know of, who are saying "look, the law was changed two years ago, there is a provision now, that one candidate can have the endorsement of two political parties, i.e. two logos on the ballot paper"'. Farage added that 'there are associations out there that I believe want this'. Freshly returned to the Tory benches, Nadine Dorries made the case for this in yesterday's Sun on Sunday.

Isabel Hardman

Childish childcare bickering continues

From our UK edition

Last winter, the surest way to get a Lib Dem to ring you back was to mention the words 'boundary changes'. Better still to write a piece criticising the party's decision to scupper the reforms as a revenge for the collapse of Lords reform, and no matter whether it was late at night or early on a Saturday morning when all normal people are still hiding under their duvets or sitting self-consciously in independent coffee shops, the Lib Dems would ring very quickly indeed. The same thing is happening now over the plan to relax childcare ratios. This morning I wrote as a throwaway comment that the party was blocking a reform that it had initially given the nod to. Oh no, came the very swift Lib Dem response.

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron needs to become a man with a plan

From our UK edition

'I'm a man with a plan,' David Cameron told the Conservative party conference in 2008. Now the Prime Minister is struggling to give the impression he does have a plan for dealing with the Europe problem in his party: and he needs one, because things are going to get a lot stickier. The furore around tomorrow's Queen's Speech amendment is in many ways rather amusing because however backbenchers, PPSs and ministers vote, it doesn't change a thing outside the Commons chamber. It simply says the Tory party wishes there had been an EU referendum bill in the Queen's Speech. For all the criticisms that he's running behind his party on this, it is fair to say that the Prime Minister has learned from his mistakes in past Europe votes.

Sunday

Sophie Moullin

US universities beat the best of British: on teaching and social mobility

From our UK edition

The combined endowments of the three top US universities alone is more than Britain's entire defence budget. Luckily the risk of American invasion is still one of graduate students seeking a cheaper option, with old-world charm and brand name. But the days of Oxbridge and the Russell Group holding ranks with the 'new money' Ivy League are numbered. Not just because more money funds more, and better, research. But because US universities also use that money to do a better job finding, investing in and nurturing potential – potential often still excluded in the UK. They show that excellence need not mean elitism, and that’s a lesson the British academe needs to learn if it is to continue to compete globally.

Isabel Hardman

Philip Hammond becomes 2nd Cabinet minister to say he would vote to leave EU today

From our UK edition

If the Tory leadership had hoped that a few weeks of reconciliation between David Cameron and his backbenchers would lead to a new, serene phase in party management, they couldn't be more wrong. Things seem to be getting worse on Europe: today two Cabinet ministers have felt emboldened by the Queen's Speech vote this week to say that on the current terms of Britain's membership of the EU, they would leave. James covered Michael Gove's comments this morning, and this evening Defence Secretary Philip Hammond joined in, telling John Pienaar that Britain needed a better settlement in order to stay in the EU.

James Forsyth

Gove: I’d vote to leave the EU if referendum held today

From our UK edition

In a firecracker of an interview on the Andrew Marr Show, Michael Gove confirmed that if an EU referendum was held today he would vote out. But he followed this by saying to James Landale that he backed the Prime Minister’s plans to renegotiate and hoped that a satisfactory form of membership could be agreed. Significantly, Gove indicated that David Cameron would set out the Conservative ‘negotiating platform’ before the next election. This has been a key demand of Euro-sceptic Conservatives but one that Cameron has resisted. He is reluctant to provide anything akin to a renegotiation scorecard. Gove’s intervention changes the terms of debate.

Saturday

Isabel Hardman

Michael Gove’s love of a good scrap sometimes leads him up blind alleys

From our UK edition

Michael Gove is right about almost everything, but like most know-it-alls, he has a habit of putting people's backs up when telling them he's right. That's the theme of a piece I've written for the Telegraph today about the Education Secretary's desire to meddle not just with what goes on in the classroom but also in what children get up to when they're at home. You can read his full speech on this which is, as always, very interesting and lively, at the bottom of this post. The opening section, in which he asked parents whether they'd rather see their children reading Twilight or Middlemarch, playing Angry Birds, or coding when they're at home, displays his know-it-all tendency. But the problem with a know-it-all is that at the bottom of all the bluster, they're generally right.

Friday

Sebastian Payne

If Eric Pickles is cutting the town hall rich list, here are the Tories to talk to

From our UK edition

Eric Pickles is a driven man on a mission to slash spending and waste in local government. As the latest round of budget cuts just enacted highlights, Pickles has managed to keep the local government spending bill under control, but how successful has he been in curbing the often-controversial top executive pay in the public sector? In their detailed annual Town Hall Rich List, the Taxpayers’ Alliance reports that despite finding the first drop in the number of town hall staff earning more than £100,000 since 2007, 2,525 staffers are still earning more than £100,000 a year. 103 councils managed to hire more staff in this pay bracket last year and Birmingham City Council even doubled their quota.

Isabel Hardman

Please, stop trying to solve the Women’s Vote problem by banging on about childcare

From our UK edition

Flicking through my diary this morning, I came across something I'd scrawled as 'All the Tory ladies' without further explanation. It turned out to be one of those drinks events for people in Parliament who happen to be women, presumably where we all stand around and talk about how great/terrible it is to be a woman, depending on the sort of day we've had. I was reminded of this again by James Kirkup's excellent blog examining the great power of Mumsnet over the British political establishment.

Jonathan Jones

Is nice but dim such a bad thing for Labour?

From our UK edition

Labour's lead in the polls has been pretty steady at around 10 points for a little over a year now. So why does today's Guardian carry an article with the headline 'Outright election victory in 2015 looks a distant prospect, pollster tells Labour'? It's based on two YouGov polls — commissioned by Progress and actually conducted two months ago, but released today. The first asked voters to put each of the parties into one of four categories: 'nice and smart', 'nice but dim', 'mean but smart' and 'mean and dim'. Labour seems to come out best, in that it has the highest proportion choosing 'nice and smart' and the lowest choosing 'mean and dim'. But only 24 per cent say the party is 'smart', compared to 33 per cent for the Tories.