Uk politics

Thursday

James Forsyth

Tory MPs launch NHS reform counter-offensive

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg’s speech on the NHS today has fanned the flames of the Tory backbench rebellion on the issue. Tory MPs’ tribal instincts have kicked in and even those who were worried about the Lansley plan are now swinging behind it. As Nick Watt revealed earlier today, there’s currently a letter from Nick de Bois urging Tory MPs to set out their red lines on health service reform. One thing that Tory MPs keep repeating to me is that they are not prepared to see the Lib Dems ‘take the NHS backwards’. This is their most fundamental red line and it translates to a determination not to have the level of competition and private sector involvement in the health service reduced.

James Forsyth

Lansley’s original reforms are off the table

From our UK edition

Nick Clegg’s speech on the NHS this morning was not as bad as many feared it would be. It recognised that there is a role for competition in the NHS, something that the Lib Dems were questioning last weekend, and that the NHS needs to be opened up to any qualified provider. But, on the other hand, the idea that any willing provider should be able to deliver NHS services — an idea which was in the manifesto of all three parties — will now only be introduced at a glacial pace. There’ll also be a two-tier NHS for the foreseeable future with some areas having GP-led commissioning, while NHS managers continue to do it in other parts of the country. And Monitor will not be able to enforce competition.

Peter Hoskin

More freedom for some schools means better schools all round

From our UK edition

Academies, as CoffeeHouser knows, are booming. There were around 200 of them when Michael Gove became Education Secretary last May. Now, just a year later, and steaming well ahead of expectations, there are over 600. This is, as Benedict Brogan suggests in his Telegraph column today, one of the great successes of the coalition era — albeit one that owes a debt to Andrew Adonis, Tony Blair and all the school reformers that came before them. And it is a triumph of quality, as well as of quantity. The simple, overwhelming truth is that academies are, on the whole, better than the schools they replace.

Peter Hoskin

Cable’s punditry could come unstuck

From our UK edition

"It's not imminent. But you can see this happening." So sayeth Vince Cable about the prospect of another global financial crisis, in interview with the New Statesman today. To be fair, you can see his point: there is a pervasive sense that the contradictions of the banking sector still haven't been fixed, and — as I have written recently — our economy, and economies worldwide, are still afflicted by debt of all varieties. But that's not going to calm those Tories who regard Cable as a combustive liability. In the weeks since the Lib Dems'  annihilation at the polls, the Business Secretary has increasingly reverted to his pre-coalition form: a professional commentator on the state of the economy.

Daniel Korski

Grading Obama’s visit

From our UK edition

It was a good state visit. Actually, it has been an excellent visit. Much better than George W Bush's and even Barack Obama's 2009 trip to London. The US president got his photo with Wills 'n' Kate. The Prime Minister got his presidential high-fives. There were some odd points. The personal chemistry between David Cameron and Barack Obama made the ping-pong match better than it would naturally have been. For, let's be honest, table tennis is not a natural US-UK sport. There were policy differences between the two leaders too, for example on Libya and deficit reduction. In the end, though, the way to judge visits is not to think about Evening Standard covers or how much of the Today programme was devoted to the US president, but to look at strategic issues.

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Obama re-affirms the special relationship

From our UK edition

The speech was not a classic but Barack Obama's address to both Houses of Parliament covered the bases today. He started with a winning line, remarking that the previous three speakers in Westminster Hall had been the Pope, the Queen and Nelson Mandela which is either "a very high bar or the beginning of a very funny joke."   As is traditional in these kinds of speeches, Obama paid tribute to the special relationship, lauding it as the embodiment of the values and beliefs of the English-speaking tradition. He went on to say that both the British and the Americans knew that the "longing for human dignity is universal." Indeed, at times Obama sounded remarkably like the last president as he proclaimed his own freedom agenda.

Daniel Korski

The Wei forward for the Big Society

From our UK edition

The Big Society was dealt another blow with the resignation of Lord Wei yesterday. Sceptics will see this as a vindication of the concept's problems. Most people, however, won't notice that he has gone. The debate about the Big Society has long since become an elite sport, a jousting match between a determined promoter — the Prime Minister — and equally determined detractors in the media. Most people don't care, and it won't help or hurt the Tories at the next election. That's a shame. For the Tories could use a positive post-Thatcher narrative about their administration. They may not need it if the country returns to economic growth. But they might. However, the Big Society never worked for a number of reasons.

Peter Hoskin

Cameron and Obama’s mutual appreciation has its limits

From our UK edition

And the Word of the Day is "we". Both David Cameron and Barack Obama deployed it liberally in their joint press conference just now, as they ran through all the mutual pleasantries and backslapping that attends these events. "We have discussed the two things we care about the most," flushed Cameron, "getting our people jobs, and keeping our people safe." From there on in it was first name terms — "thank you, David" — and claims about the strength of our two countries' special, essential, unique relationship, etc. With the sun blazing down on the garden of Lancaster House, I'm sure the photos will turn out nice. Cameron appeared to be the more eager of the two men, however.

James Forsyth

A good day for Cameron

From our UK edition

Today is one of those days when David Cameron gets full political benefit from being Prime Minister. He is basking in the president of the United States’ reflected glory. The papers this morning are full of him playing table tennis with Barack Obama and tonight’s news bulletins will lead on their joint press conference at lunchtime. As Cameron stands next to Obama, he’ll look both a statesman and a centrist. It’ll be hard for Labour to attack Cameron as an extremist on deficit reduction when he keeps stressing how he and Obama agree on a sensible level and pace to get their budgets heading back into balance. There are, obviously, substantive foreign policy issues for the two men to discuss. Both Libya and Afghanistan are in need of urgent attention.

Peter Hoskin

The state of the NHS

From our UK edition

I know most CoffeeHousers aren't particularly enamoured of paywalls, but the Times has given you a persuasive reason (£) to dive behind theirs today. (Or least to borrow a copy of the paper.) It's the first of three reports by Camilla Cavendish on the NHS, this one concentrating on the Way Things Are Now. It is both a disheartening read and a powerful reminder of how taxpayers' cash is being funnelled into a system that is dysfunctional in the extreme. Here is one snippet for your displeasure: "Care in Britain ranges from world-class to shocking. Between 1998 and 2006, 1.6 per cent of bowel cancer sufferers died within a month at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, compared with 15.6 per cent at Queen’s Hospital, Burton upon Trent.

Peter Hoskin

The Tory divide over European bail-outs

From our UK edition

As Obama and Cameron played table tennis yesterday, a considerably more furious game was being waged between the government and Tory backbenchers. It related to a Parliamentary motion tabled by Mark Reckless – and described here – that sought to stem UK involvement in any future bailouts for eurozone countries. All well and good, you'd think, until a rival amendment percolated down from on high to dilute Reckless's proposals. This new amendment would only go so far as to "urge the Government to raise the issue of the [bailout mechanism] at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers of the European Council". The green benches were set for a violent back-and-forth 'tween one side and the other. The outcome of all this was revealed yesterday evening.

Tuesday

James Forsyth

A good time to go

From our UK edition

Today is, as the saying has it, a good day to bury bad news. With President Obama on the ground and an ash cloud in the air, not much else is going to get a look in on the news’ bulletins. But it is worth noting that Nat Wei, the government’s big society advisor, has quit his role today having scaled back his involvement in February. Wei has been pretty detached from Downing Street for the last few months, his role rather usurped by Cameron’s big society ambassadors, Shaun Bailey and Charlotte Leslie. So his departure won’t make much difference to the government. But it is still rather embarrassing as it gives the press another chance to dredge up all the political problems with the whole Big Society agenda.

David Blackburn

Choppers add to the Libyan fog of war

From our UK edition

There was much ado about choppers in Westminster earlier today. Yesterday, French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet told reporters that Britain and France were to deploy attack helicopters to Libya; and that the British had instigated this move. The fog of war then descended. Labour’s defence spokesman Jim Murphy called on the British government to explain why the conflict is escalating. Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey contradicted Longuet's account; and a source at the Ministry of Defence told me that this was the first he’d heard of helicopters being deployed to Libya in that role. The implication was that the French were trying to force the issue. Then again, a separate MoD source has told the Guardian that the “chances are it is going to happen”.

David Blackburn

A coup for the Tories?

From our UK edition

The Tories are cock-a-hoop about the defection of UKIP MEP David Campbell Bannerman – positively crowing, in fact. “There’s nothing more satisfying,” said one CCHQer, “than UKIP suffering.” Activists and MPs alike reckon that the Conservatives could have won a majority last May if it weren’t for UKIP in the south-west. Vengeance is sweet, but is it of lasting importance? Campbell Bannerman has used a blog post to justify his action: David Cameron is an inspiring leader and an avowed eurosceptic. Perhaps it will become a salve for the right, increasingly seen as Cameron’s blind spot. Equally, the answers Campbell Bannerman gave to Total Politics’ Amber Elliott could be used in the tussle for wavering eurosceptics.

David Blackburn

Clegg: No MP is above the law

From our UK edition

The sun shone on the deputy prime minister at DPMQs earlier today. Nick Clegg usually wears a grimace at the despatch box; but he was assured this morning, successfully defending a Labour onslaught on the NHS reforms. There were even flashes of, well, Flashman. He replied to a question from Chris Bryant by quipping, “Every time the Honourable member asks a question, I wonder why anyone bugged his phone.” Clegg also rebuked John Hemming for breaking the Giggs super-injunction yesterday; a popular move among those MPs who think Hemming degraded parliamentary privilege. Clegg said: “I don’t think anyone should be above the rule of law. And if we don’t like the law in this place then we should act as legislators to change the law, not flout it.

David Blackburn

An especially businesslike relationship

From our UK edition

The ash cloud nearly claimed its first victim last night: Barack Obama had to leave Ireland early in order to fly to Britain. The Palace’s insistence on protocol has been upset and the President's entourage has been advised not to risk the tap water; other than that, all is well. However, the visit has set sceptical tongues wagging. Some diplomats wonder why the President is here. Afghanistan, the Middle East, joint national security and the world economy are on the agenda, but there is no unifying theme to discussions. Some ideologues fear that the eternal bond between Britain and America is relaxing into a union of convenience.

Fraser Nelson

The austerity hasn’t started yet

From our UK edition

Another month, and another all-time record for state spending in Britain. The government splurged £1.8 billion a day in April — of which £332 million a day was borrowed. Up goes the national debt. All of which leaves us with the question: where is this austerity that George Osborne keeps talking about? He's been in No.11 a year now, and each month state spending has been — on average — 4.9 per cent higher than the same month under Gordon Brown. He seems to be taking the St Augustine approach to fiscal conservatism: Lord, give me spending restraint. But not yet. The below graph shows state spending, per month. The amount in red is how much the government had to bum from the City: This does not look so much different to Labour's plans.

James Forsyth

Gove strikes to ease the removal of bad teachers

From our UK edition

The quality of teaching in schools is one of the main determinants of how well a child does. But, shockingly, in almost half the local authorities in England a teacher hasn’t been sacked for being incompetent in the last five years. Retaining sub-standard teachers has harmed the life chances of goodness knows how many children. So the news that Michael Gove is now consulting on rules that will make it far easier to fire bad teachers is welcome. The Gove proposals give heads much more control and enable them to get rid of a poor teacher in a term; at the moment it takes at least a year and is a bureaucratic minefield which is why so many schools shy away from taking action against those who aren’t up to the job.

Daniel Korski

Stop Gordon Brown

From our UK edition

Gordon Brown's friends have launched a shameless effort to compel the government into nominating him for the IMF post. The government would be mad if they did. Mad. This is not about petty score-settling, as yesterday's Evening Standard would have it. This is about qualifications to lead, and the former Prime Minister, despite his intellect, does not have those skills. He led the country to ruin and remains in denial about it: he saved the world, don't cha know. The UK should be smarter about using talent from across the House, but there are limits. And it is a bit rich for the ex-PM's friends to argue that David Cameron should back him. This is the man who gave lukewarm support to Paddy Ashdown's candidacy to run the UN in Kabul back in 2008.

Monday