Uk politics

Sunday

Fraser Nelson

George Osborne’s Budget magic trick

From our UK edition

Spare a thought for George Osborne and Danny Alexander. They had their own budgetary magic show planned for Wednesday, and were yet again planning to be the Paul Daniels and Debbie McGhee of British politics. Now, it looks like they’re going to be competing with exploding Libyan MiGs for the national attention. This Budget was, as James says in his cover story this week, the government’s great hope for getting itself back on track. Grabbing the newspaper headlines, resetting the narrative etc. Now, the budget will be overshadowed by war. These Tomahawks don’t come cheap and Osborne has pitifully few cards to play.

Saturday

Andrew Haldenby

The government has been the author of its troubles

From our UK edition

In his Spectator column this week, James Forsyth painted a picture of a government taken by surprise by enemies who have, in effect, ambushed them - the civil service, the civil service's lawyers and the European Union in particular. Clearly the government is frustrated by the “forces of conservatism” and the “enemies of enterprise”, but the difficult truth is that a lot the government's problems are of its own making, and in its own hands to put right. When it comes to the civil service, the government hasn't simply inherited an uncooperative Whitehall. It has strengthened its position, as a conscious policy decision. Francis Maude said it in terms at one of Reform’s post-election conferences.

Friday

Fraser Nelson

The threat to a British liberty

From our UK edition

It’s a funny old world. I have now been contacted by two journalists informing me that Bedfordshire Police are investigating The Spectator. Why? Because of the Melanie Philips blog where she referred to the “moral depravity” of “the Arabs” who killed the Fogel family in Israel. CoffeeHousers can judge for themselves if they agree or disagree with her language and views – but should this be illegal?  The Guardian has written this story up, claiming The Spectator is being investigated by the Press Complaints Commission. This is untrue. The PCC tell me that a complaint has been lodged, but that’s as far as it has gone. They investigate only if they believe there is a serious prospect that their code has been breached, and it hasn't.

David Blackburn

Does Sarko deserve more credit than Cameron?

From our UK edition

Just as the British press is venerating David Cameron in the aftermath of last night’s UN resolution, so too the French press is praising President Sarkozy. In fact, the whole administration is basking in his reflected glory. Le Figaro describes Sarkozy’s and Prime Minister François Fillon’s roles in obtaining the UN Resolution and preparing the French military for action; the Defence minister also receives a hearty appraisal. Even the Presidency’s determined adversaries have expressed more than grudging respect. The left-wing newspaper Libération applauds Foreign Minister (and grand old man of Gaullism) Alain Juppé’s success in bringing the fractious United Nations to resolution.

Tom Clougherty

The NHS needs reform, but are Lansley’s the way to do it?

From our UK edition

I am in two minds about Andrew Lansley’s proposed reforms of the National Health Service, the cornerstone of which is the transfer of commissioning responsibility from Primary Care Trusts to GP-consortia. On the one hand, the NHS desperately needs radical reform. On the other hand, I’m not sure these are the right reforms, and I’m not sure they are sufficiently radical to deliver a real difference to patients. Let’s start with why the NHS needs reform. Firstly, it is eye-wateringly expensive at 8.1 percent of 2010 GDP, or £120bn a year. Costs have skyrocketed since 1999, doubling in real terms in the 10 years to 2009. Over that same period, productivity fell. We are spending more and more, and getting less for our money.

Fraser Nelson

Clegg’s coup

From our UK edition

Libya is not the only scene of conflict today. Nick Clegg has just won a powerful victory over the Conservatives, appointing a Bill of Rights commission which is certain to leave the ECHR intact. When you see the names Philippe Sands, Helena Kennedy and Lord Lester on the list — even alongside Tories — you know that this review is over before it has begun. Clegg is a firm believer in Europe, and has played his hand very well — outmanoeuvering the Conservatives who thought that a British Bill of Rights should supplant edicts from Strasbourg. Upshot: there may still be a Bill of Rights, containing various declarations inserted by the Tories on the panel. But what the BoR says will matter not one jot.

Daniel Korski

Learning from recent history

From our UK edition

With a UN resolution now passed, Prime Minister David Cameron has displayed diplomatic skills his critics believed he did not possess. As NATO is planning to enforce an expansive no-fly zone over Libya, it is worth pausing for a moment to consider such a mission's aims and to learn the lessons from recent wars. The strategic aim of the mission cannot only be to protect Libyan civilians. Framed in this way, the international community will face the same problems it did Bosnia: for instance, the Srebrenica massacre happened while a no-fly zone was already in place. A no-fly zone will not force Colonel Ghadaffi from power.

David Blackburn

The world according to Alistair Darling

From our UK edition

There was a time when  "http://blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/2010/04/30/alistair-darling-labours-caretaker-leader-in-waiting/">commentators on the right thought that Alistair Darling may become Labour leader, such was the respect he commanded. Alone among Brown’s Cabinet, Darling rose above the ideological opportunism and infighting to emerge with his reputation enhanced. Darling is ready to tell of his part in New Labour’s downfall. This morning’s Independent "http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/alistair-darling-we-were-two-hours-from-the-cashpoints-running-dry-2245350.html">previews the book by interviewing the former chancellor.

Thursday

Peter Hoskin

The UN decides to take “all necessary measures” against Gaddafi

From our UK edition

"There will be no mercy. Our troops will be coming to Benghazi tonight." Perhaps it was the murderous threat contained within Gaddafi's latest radio message that shocked the United Nations into action today — because shocked into action they have been. After sweating and toiling over the precise formulation of a resolution on Libya, the UN Security Council finally reached the voting stage this evening. And it has now voted 10-0 in favour of member states taking "all necessary measures … to protect civilian and populated areas, including Benghazi, while excluding an occupation force." Brazil, India, China, Russia and — staggeringly — Germany all abstained. What this means, in practice, is a no-fly zone — and more.

James Forsyth

The government’s escalating fight with the civil service

From our UK edition

Talk to a Cabinet minister these days and you’ll nearly always get a string of complaints about the civil service. Cabinet ministers have come to see them as obstructionist, problem finders. David Cameron went public with these feelings in his spring forum speech when he announced that there were ‘enemies of enterprise’ within the government machine. This prompted a rebuke from Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary. Traditionally, criticising civil servants is regarded as out of order because they can’t answer back. But the truth is, as former Blair speechwriter Phil Collins points out in the Times today, that civil servants now have power without accountability.

David Blackburn

Cuts are inspiring innovation

From our UK edition

The Big Society’s health is recovering. Despite the fevered clamour about library closures, some councils and communities are being positive about re-organising their services. After wide consultation with schools and local people, Wandsworth council has saved the York Gardens library in Battersea. Volunteers have agreed to form a ‘staffing mutual’ to run the library, this move is being supported by the £10m fund that the DCLG has allocated to cover the start up costs for nascent staff mutuals. In addition to that, two local schools have hired spare rooms on the premises to use as additional classrooms and both intend to maintain the library’s internet facilities with full public access. The private sector is playing its part too.

Peter Hoskin

Another Budget snippet

From our UK edition

Benedict Brogan's latest post is built around an observation from Jo Johnson on the 50p rate, yet it is Brogan's own observation that gets a place in our Budget scrapbook: "Some people I have spoken to think George Osborne might be sufficiently worried about the growing exodus of entrepreneurs to put down a marker on 50p in the Budget next week." Whether this "marker" transpires — and what it might look like, if it does — is something we shall have to wait for. In the meantime, it's worth noting that Labour have already set a marker on 50p: that it will have to remain for the duration of this parliament, at least. There is a clear opportunity for Osborne to define himself, and the coalition, against that.

Peter Hoskin

Actually, there’s some solace for Miliband in today’s poll

From our UK edition

Much excitement, today, about the fact that Ed Miliband is just as unpopular as Nick Clegg. A pre-Budget package by Ispos-MORI contains the finding that both party leaders are actively disliked by 51 per cent of the public. It's a striking result, particularly after the tuition fee furore — yet, sadly, it isn't new. It actually comes from the political monitor that Ipsos MORI released in January. They didn't ask the question for their March political monitor. So far as the Clegg-Miliband divide goes, the latest Ipsos MORI figures actually have this to offer us: net satisfaction with Miliband's performance as party leader is at -5 per cent, whereas it's at -22 per cent for Nick Clegg. So, not great for either leader, but considerably better for MiliE.

David Blackburn

Time to bury the hatchet?

From our UK edition

Who says irony is dead? The Four Barrow Hunt and the Countryside Alliance are holding a fundraising auction in April. The lots are largely predictable: a subscription to the Telegraph, a French holiday home and a cured fox pelt. More surprising is the signed copy of Tony Blair’s A Journey, with its comparatively brief account of the 700 hours of parliamentary time he devoted to banning fox hunting. What, you may ask, would the good folk of the Four Barrow want with that memoir? Time to bury the hatchet? Perhaps. But, equally, Blackadder’s assessment of the magazine ‘King and Country’ is recalled: 'Ah, yes, without question my favourite magazine; soft, strong and thoroughly absorbent.

Peter Hoskin

Osborne’s grand merger?

From our UK edition

George Osborne's Budget — his plan to deliver us from “rescue to recovery," apparently — is less than a week away, and the wildfire of speculation is taking hold. Perhaps the most intriguing titbit in today's papers is one that also appeared in the Express last Saturday: that Osborne is considering merging income tax and national insurance. This is a measure that the Office for Tax Simplification recommended in a report last week, suggesting that it would ease the administrative burden on small businesses. Yet that simply echoes a viewpoint that stretches back decades.

Wednesday

Fraser Nelson

The grade inflation scam

From our UK edition

Today’s OECD Economic Survey of the UK (download the complete pdf here ) contains some devastating passages about our education system. As it's 148 pages in size, we thought CoffeeHousers might appreciate some highlights. Here's your starter for ten: “Despite sharply rising school spending per pupil during the last ten years, improvements in schooling outcomes have been limited in the United Kingdom.” This is rather a staggering indictment of Tony Blair's "education, education, education" policy. But what about the ever improving exam results that we hear about each summer?

Peter Hoskin

Not great, not a disaster

From our UK edition

Last November, the OECD forecast — as it does — that the UK economy would grow by 1.7 per cent in 2011. Today, it has downgraded that figure to 1.5 per cent. I wonder, does this matter? Sure, it's not an encouraging sign. And Ed Balls will be slathering at the thought of the OBR doing likewise next week. He has barely been able to contain his excitement already. Yet it's worth pointing out two things. First, that the OECD is just one forecaster among many. The Treasury monitors no less than 39 independent organisations, and collects their forecasts on a monthly basis. Here's what the picture looks like today: Which is to say, the average growth forecast for this year is unchanged at 1.8 per cent. For next year, it is 2.1 per cent.

Lloyd Evans

An alternative PMQs

From our UK edition

With Libya in metaphorical meltdown and with Japan close to the real thing, it was remarkable how little foreign affairs impinged on PMQs today. Ed Miliband led on the NHS and facetiously asked if Cameron planned any amendments to his health bill following the LibDem spring conference. Cameron replied by accusing Labour of wasting £250m on phantom operations. Would he apologise for this scandalous blunder? Miliband, unsurprisingly, declined even to acknowledge the invitation. The session developed on these familiar, solipsistic lines. Keen to harry the PM on bureaucracy Miliband stumbled on a Cameron quote decrying ‘pointless topdown re-organisations’ of the NHS. He pulled it up by the roots, shook off the mud and flourished it in Cameron’s face.

James Forsyth

Rattled Cameron battles through PMQs

From our UK edition

A testy PMQs today with Miliband trying to pin Cameron down on the specific question of whether the NHS is now subject to EU competition law, and Cameron responding by dubbing Miliband ‘son of roadblock'. The exchange revealed that although Cameron is not a details man, something that will cause him problems in time, he still has enough presence in the chamber to withstand tricky moments. But I suspect that Labour will be happy if Miliband’s parting shot of ‘you can’t trust the Tories on the NHS’ makes it into the news bulletins this evening.

Peter Hoskin

PMQs live blog | 16 March 2011

From our UK edition

VERDICT: A more evenly-matched PMQs that we have been used to, with both leaders parrying and thrusting to some effect. Miliband's chosen topic — the NHS — was a surprise, particularly given today's unemployment figures and the persistent flurry of bad news from abroad. Yet it did open up a clear divide between him and Cameron. On one side, the Labour leader claiming that the the coalition is taking undue risks with a beloved health system. On the other, the PM painting Miliband as Brown Mark II, a roadblock to reform and change. Neither side really won, or lost, the argument today, but you can expect them to return to it in future.