Uk politics

Tuesday

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Michael Gove indulges in his favourite sport of trade union-bashing

From our UK edition

As I was running the daily leaflet gauntlet at the entrance to the Tory conference this morning, a man thrust a flyer for the Trade Union Reform Campaign in front of me, saying hopefully 'trade union bashing?'. He clearly hadn't got Robert Halfon's memo about not bashing the unions, and neither had Michael Gove when he addressed delegates a few minutes ago. He indulged in his favourite sport and took direct aim at the teaching unions, claiming that some union secretaries had told him not to praise high-performing schools as it risked making other schools feel uncomfortable: 'How can we succeed as a country when every time we find success and celebrate it there are those who say 'no, someone might feel uncomfortable'.

Fraser Nelson

The Spectator debate: George Osborne isn’t working: we need a Plan B

From our UK edition

Today’s downgrades from the IMF have overshadowed the Tory conference and pose an awkward question: if George Osborne’s policies were working, wouldn’t they be working by now? Is it time for a Plan B? It’s the biggest issue in British politics right now and we at The Spectator are bringing together two former Chancellors to discuss it with Andrew Neil chairing it. I thought that Coffee Housers might be interested in some details. Alistair Darling is becoming the most powerful critic of Osborne’s policies. Ed Balls’ attacks can be written off as his usual snarling but Darling is more considered and his arguments carry more weight as a result.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Boris Johnson’s speech won’t leave Cameron in a cold sweat

From our UK edition

Tory party members were queuing for half an hour to get into the Mayor of London's box office speech this morning. Even Ken Clarke struggled to get a seat in the nosebleed section of the Symphony Hall. It was the perfect hype for Boris' campaign to become the anointed next leader of the Conservative party. But as Boris burrowed his way through his speech, joking and punning, sending the floor into paroxysms of laughter in one very cleverly-written passage about the filmmaking industry in Soho, it became obvious that this wasn't a performance that is going to leave David Cameron in a cold sweat as he prepares his own speech tonight. Boris' speech was actually rather tame. Yes, he's brilliant at jokes. He sent grumpy hacks into fits of laughter.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: David Cameron moves Tories to the common, not the centre, ground

From our UK edition

It's David Cameron's birthday today, but when James Naughtie suggested on the Today programme that Boris Johnson be sent to a remote country as ambassador, the Prime Minister sounded as though Christmas had come early, too. You could almost hear Cameron's mind whirring as he considered which country might deserve the Mayor of London. As well as answering questions on the man who last night continued his pitch to become the next Tory leader, Cameron was asked where he was taking his party currently.

Monday

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Home Affairs Committee member expresses concerns about police commissioners

From our UK edition

I had the pleasure of chairing a fringe event hosted by the Howard League for Penal Reform today on young people and the criminal justice system. The focus for the event was how police and crime commissioners can change the way young offenders are treated. Home Office minister James Brokenshire was very keen to assert that PCCs should be 'ambitious' in their plans for dealing with young people. But Home Affairs Select Committee member James Clappison was a little less optimistic, particularly about whether the government is actually pushing hard enough for these commissioners to be a momentous change to policing.

Fraser Nelson

Conservative Conference: Boris delight

From our UK edition

You could tell this was the Boris Johnson show because people were smiling when they queued, smiling as they listened and smiling as they left. The mood in the conference hall had been completely transformed: it was as if this were comedy night, and we were waiting for the Prince of Political Standup. He was introduced via a Bond-style video, and made an extraordinary entrance which I tried to record on my iPhone. The quality is not Emmy-winning, but it may give some sense of the mood:- Boris thanked everyone for the Olympics, hailed London as the world’s greatest city and then walked his very fine line of support for Cameron. He did not say that Cameron is brilliant, as we all know by now that he doesn’t think that.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Robert Halfon admits: ‘I envy socialists’

From our UK edition

The Conservative leadership is just starting to tap in to the idea that the next election will be about the 'strivers', but Robert Halfon and Priti Patel know all too well from their Essex constituencies that what Halfon calls 'white van conservatism' is a key battleground. At last night's Institute of Economic Affairs, the two MPs explained how the Conservatives needed to talk about the cost of living for the ordinary family in order to win in 2015. Halfon outlined how difficult that project was, saying: 'I wish I was a socialist and the reason for that is if you are a socialist, you have a simple message.' He said that even though Conservatives were interested in the same matters as the socialists in terms of tackling inequality, their message was not as easy to explain.

Fraser Nelson

Conservative conference: Tories find themselves on a different wavelength to voters

From our UK edition

BBC Radio Five is broadcast on 909 kHz, but whatever wavelength the Conservative Party is using was not being received by the 200 average voters assembled by Victoria Derbyshire’s meet-the-public programme now held in every party conference. It’s normally the closest that ordinary voters get to the party conferences, inviting frontbenchers to take questions from locals. The results are quite often explosive. Grant Shapps, the new Tory chairman, was the first guest and was inevitably asked about why he ran his business operating under a made-up name. He gave various explanations but the man in the audience wasn’t buying it. 'My name’s Barry Tomes. That’s my real name, by the way,' he started, to much laughter.

James Forsyth

Conservative conference: George Osborne tells Tories he is not for turning

From our UK edition

listen to ‘George Osborne conference speech, 8 Oct 12’ on Audioboo   George Osborne began his conference speech by pointing out that two years into government, Ted Heath had flinched on the economy and lost while Margaret Thatcher had kept on and won. Osborne’s message was, I’m determined to be Thatcher not Heath. The Chancellor’s allies clearly knew this was an important speech for him. Several times, Michael Gove — probably, Osborne’s closest friend in Cabinet — started to clap before the applause line had finished been delivered. One strategic objective of the speech was to try and win back the ‘one nation’ mantra that ‘we’re all in this together’ for the Tories.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Patrick McLoughlin wrestles the One Nation mantle from Miliband

From our UK edition

Patrick McLoughlin was the obvious choice to confront Ed Miliband as the Labour leader tries to steal the 'One Nation' mantle from the Conservative party. The former miner opened his speech by remarking that the last time he had addressed conference was 28 years ago. He then invited delegates to watch a video of this speech, delivered when the Transport Secretary was a young man, telling Margaret Thatcher that he was proud to be a 'Tory scab' who crossed picket lines. He then underlined that in the class war that Miliband tried to ignite last week, McLoughlin was the winner: 'I am the son of a miner. I am the grandson of a miner. I was born in Staffordshire and I went to work in the Staffordshire coalfield just up the road from here. And before I go on, I want to make one point clear.

James Forsyth

George Osborne: ‘New taxes on rich people’ to accompany welfare cuts

From our UK edition

Ahead of his conference speech this morning, George Osborne was on the Today Programme. Much of the interview revolved around whether or not the Chancellor would have to abandon his aim of having the national debt falling as a percentage of GDOP by 2015/16. Osborne batted away these questions, stressing that he was waiting for the numbers from the Office of Budget Responsibility. Osborne also said that there would be ‘new taxes on rich people’ to accompany the £10 billion of welfare cuts that he wants to see. Osborne stressed that efforts to make the rich pay more were not simply to ‘appease Liberal Democrats’. One of the dilemmas for the Tories is how much to talk up the economy at this conference.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: George Osborne to pursue £10 billion welfare cuts

From our UK edition

George Osborne is due to speak to the Conservative party conference just before lunch today. What he tells the Symphony Hall at the International Convention Centre may well put his Liberal Democrat coalition partners off their food, as his speech will make clear the Chancellor's determination to cut a further £10 billion from the welfare budget. The Lib Dems appear to have adapted their position somewhat over the summer. In July, I reported senior sources saying that the £10 billion cut was 'just not going to happen'. A little later, the party started making the connection between this new package of cuts and the wealth tax which Nick Clegg flew as a kite, arguing that the books must be balanced on the backs of the richest in society.

Sunday

Fraser Nelson

Conservative conference: Boris refuses to say if Cameron’s doing a better job than he would

From our UK edition

Speaking to John Pieenar on  Five Live, Boris Johnson said he wished to deal with the leadership speculation, shoot it down with “six inch guns”. He did so by repeatedly refusing to say that David Cameron is doing a better job than he would have done. He was behind Cameron “from the very beginning,” he said – perhaps so, but not the question he was asked. And the fun began:- listen to ‘Boris on leadership on Five Live, 7 Oct 12’ on Audioboo In fact, he said, there is an upside that everyone was talking about his destabilising David Cameron. It is “entirely natural” that “there should be a narrative” because it kept the focus on the Tories and off Ed Miliband.

James Forsyth

Conservative conference: Iain Duncan Smith admits ‘We will have to take more money out of welfare’

From our UK edition

The Tory party loves its former leaders and the queue for Conservative Home’s fringe event with Iain Duncan Smith went round the block. IDS began by explaining why he had chosen to stay in the Welfare job rather than move to Justice in the reshuffle. Though he stressed that there had been no Prime Ministerial demand that he did move but merely what he described as, a ‘genuinely good discussion’ about it. IDS, who is known not to be a big fan of giving free TV licenses and the like to wealthy pensioners, said that any changes to pensioner benefits were ‘off the table’ because of David Cameron’s election pledge. He admitted that this meant that the ‘burden is greater on working age recipients.

Sebastian Payne

Conservative conference: fighting and winning on the marginal front in 2015

From our UK edition

Conservatives need to become more effective at winning marginal seats if they have any hope of gaining a majority at the next general election. But what exactly does the party need to do if they wish to improve on their 2010 performance? This was the question posed at a ConservativeHome fringe event this evening, where several MPs who took marginals in 2010 spoke of their experiences and recommendations for 2015. The successful marginal MPs — Jesse Norman, Nicola Blackwood, Robert Halfon, Richard Harrington and Martin Vickers — have written a pamphlet Lessons from the Marginals that will be published online shortly.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Nick Boles says Labour’s immigration policy contributed to housing failure

From our UK edition

Nick Boles started his first fringe as a minister this evening by saying that after years of trying to make controversial points at party conference events, he wasn't going to say anything interesting. The new planning minister's attempt at being boring wasn't thoroughly successful: Boles' version of being dull and unreportable is still more fascinating than some politicians will ever manage. He opened his speech to the IPPR event by praising the good intentions of the Labour government in building more homes. But there was one fatal flaw in that plan, he said: 'The last government had many good intentions in this area. They made life a lot more difficult for themselves in combining their desire to build more housing with their desire to completely open borders and open immigration.

Matthew Sinclair

Why George Osborne had to kill the mansion tax

From our UK edition

This morning the Mail on Sunday reported that George Osborne has promised there will be no mansion tax, no wealth tax and the council tax freeze will be extended. Homeowners are safe for now, but why has Osborne made that call? It might be something to do with a past Conservative Party Conference back in 2007 when the party was in a similarly dire situation. The then Shadow Chancellor pledged to cut inheritance tax by increasing the threshold, put Gordon Brown off calling an early election and ended the honeymoon it is now hard to believe he ever enjoyed. Britain already has the highest property taxes of any developed economy and council tax is desperately unpopular. You could argue that a new, more progressive, property tax would win people over.

James Forsyth

Conservative conference: the Tory attack on Labour

From our UK edition

If the next election is simply a referendum on the government’s performance, I doubt that the Tories will win. But if it is a choice about which party you want to govern Britain, then they are in with a chance. So, today we’ve seen a determined attempt to draw contrasts with Labour. Notice how quick David Cameron was to turn to the question of what Labour would do on Marr. The most detailed attempted takedown, though, came in William Hague’s speech. He ran through his holy trinity of coalition reforms—economic, education and welfare.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: William Hague doesn’t want a minimalist Europe

From our UK edition

When it came to the passage in his speech on Europe, William Hague was clearly building up to a crescendo. He thundered out the lines 'which will require the fresh consent of the British people', and then paused for what he expected to be a rapturous round of applause from a Tory audience thrilled to have received more red meat on Europe. The applause certainly came, but it wasn't exactly full of enthusiasm; more a perfunctory round of clapping. The first thing holding back the cheers was that everyone in the hall had already heard this line. The promise had been that there would be more details at autumn conference about how the Conservative leadership wants to shape Britain's relationship with Europe. Instead delegates heard a line that the Prime Minister used as far back as July.

Isabel Hardman

Conservative conference: Shapps pushes ‘shy’ Tories to shout out about their achievements

From our UK edition

Grant Shapps used his speech this afternoon to the Conservative party conference to encourage Tories to not be shy. It's not a charge you could level at the Conservative party co-chair himself, especially after he devoted the first section of his speech to talking about himself and his own election battles. He also revealed to the conference 'exactly' what David Cameron had told him on reshuffle day: 'The day of the reshuffle I went to see the Prime Minister in Downing Street, and today I can reveal precisely what he said. "Grant, you've got one task as chairman, get out there and kick-start our campaign, rally the troops, take the fight to Labour and help us win in 2015.