Fraser Nelson is a Times columnist and a former editor of The Spectator.
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Samantha Cameron has risen even further in my estimation by declining to spend the week in Blackpool. She showed up on Sunday, to provide the main photo-shoot, then worked Monday and Tuesday in London arriving late last night and turning up at Les Hinton’s packed reception. Her husband, as far as I can work out,
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The Tories don’t like to be beside the seaside. Or, more specifically, I’m assured this is the last time they will choose a coastal resort for their conference; which means that–God willing–this will be the last time I see Blackpool. A colleague is already in bed with food poisoning. I have heard three separate stories
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Guido has been having fun at the conference here, and has caught wind of what’s in Cameron’s speech tomorrow. It squares with the gossip here.
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The mood at the conference has switched from despair to optimism. I traced it to Osborne’s speech but Emily Maitlis reckons it turned about midday. Anyway it was still buzzing at 2am this morning when yours truly retired. The upbeat mood is set to continue. If conference liked Hague socking it to Brown, then Fox
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Team Osborne (regular, if anonymous Coffee House visitors) call to take issue with my earlier blog. I am not right to say non doms will pay more than 50% tax rate, they say, because the £100k average annual earning figure does not include offshore earnings. They estimate the de facto tax rate will be much
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For a party facing certain defeat at the next election, these Tories are strikingly upbeat. Osborne’s speech has put lead in their pencil, they sense—to use a phrase—that the über modernisers have been slain and the focus now is about lower taxes, Conservative values and none of this “nasty party” stick they have taken from
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Steve Richards has just asked Osborne what he meant by “über modernisers” in his interview with me last week. Here’s his answer. “Some people who had urged modernisation on the party, not necessarily Conservatives, pick us up the moment we talk about law and order or other crucial issues…. We’re accused of lurching to the
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I’m sitting in a George Osborne fringe event, where he’s being given the Parky treatment by Steve Richards from the Indy. He’s discussing his new tax on the non domiciles: a £25,000 annual charge. Won’t this turn them away, asks Richards. No, Osborne replies, the average non dom earns £100,000 he says, so £25k ain’t
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Unlike the Labour conference, there is a bookshop here in Blackpool (what does that tell you?) and I have found a gem: The Little Book of Boris. It’s one of those compendiums Iain Dale edits, a collection of the man’s greatest aphorisms. Boris’s genius is splitting people’s sides, or making a devilishly complex point, in two sentences. No
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The ice-breaker at the bars in Bournemouth during the Labour conference was “when will the election be?” Here in Blackpool, the conversation starter is “is it over for Cameron?” But unlike previous Tory mutinies I’ve witnessed, it’s being asked from concern, not malice. No one wants him gone. There’s encouragement at the tougher line he’s
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Great to see Hezza back in the saddle, talking about the plight of British cities. But I’m not sure I agree with his analysis. The main problem, which he did not mention in his speech, is that in Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool and (yes) Blackpool, one in four is claiming out of work benefits. No wonder
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William Hague has been given the task of Brown baiting. His speech went quite well until this bit: “After ten years of failure and disappointment, he cannot be the change the country needs.” There’s something strange about hearing this Ghandi ‘be the change’ patter put into Hague’s mouth. As I suspect he knows, the public
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Given that David Cameron has given himself a tiny fund for tax cuts, I’m not at all convinced that cutting stamp duty should be his priority. Are first time buyers really going to think “I’ll vote Tory to save 1% off my home” when the flux of the housing market can take values up or
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Just six weeks ago, David Cameron was enthusing to friends about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speech to the Conservative party conference. The governor of California had been on the phone, saying how much he was looking forward to visiting Blackpool. It turned out that Schwarzenegger knew what he was in for, having toured England’s seaside towns during
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A new map hangs in George Osborne’s office, showing the latest parliamentary boundaries for the next general election. It could have been designed to soothe the nerves of a Conservative party election co-ordinator, for it is dominated by Tory blue. A few tricks have been used to achieve this optical illusion. There is no Scotland,
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I loved the Fink’s tracing of passages in Brown’s speech back to those of American politicians. But why stop at rhetoric? Brown’s policies are burgled from America too. He used to go to America for ideas in the way that Colleen McLaughlin goes there for clothes. Tax credits were a Clinton device. Sure Start nursery
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My interview with George Osborne in tomorrow’s Spectator has caused much interest, particularly his contrasting of himself with the “uber modernisers”. This phrase has travelled so fast that a Cabinet member I just met for coffee in Bournemouth had already heard it. “A split story right before conference,” he grinned. “Just what they need. Osborne
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Much discussion over what Ed Balls meant when he said that the “gamble” was to delay the election, not hold it now. What could he mean? The only interpretation being given is that he thinks his chances of winning will increase from the 11% lead of today. But I’d like to offer another one. Can
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When I zipped through security, I knew something was up. The conference here is almost dead. The normal buzz of a Tuesday has vanished, even if Brown’s up for a soft focus Q&A with Mariella Frostrup tomorrow few are hanging around to see it. Alan Johnson’s NHS speech was underwhelming. David Miliband’s speech was full
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Here’s a recap of the gossip around the bars last night.. 1. Early election: Perhaps Brown started this hare running to wrong-foot the Tories, then came to take it seriously himself. Now the hype is so big, that perhaps Brown can’t stop it and will look cowardly if he doesn’t go now. He’s leaning