James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
From our UK edition
At the weekend, it appeared that Chris Huhne had won his battle with Vince Cable and George Osborne over whether or not the government should sign up to the 4th carbon budget. This budget covers 2023 to 2027 and is all part of a plan to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050 compared
From our UK edition
The Chris Huhne story has moved along a fair bit today. It is now being openly reported that it was Huhne’s estranged wife Vicky Pryce who allegedly took the points, though Huhne repeated his denial of the whole story earlier today. The BBC is also saying. that Pryce was that evening at an LSE dinner.
From our UK edition
The Metropolitan Police has released a statement saying that they have received a bomb threat for central London today from dissident Irish Republicans. There’s no information on where in the capital or what time today the warning relates to. The threat, for which the spurious attempt at justification is presumably related to the Queen’s
From our UK edition
Looking at today’s papers, it is clear—as Pete says—that Chris Huhne’s political career is in real danger. The most striking thing about the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Times stories about the allegation that he asked someone to take driving penalty points for him is that the person who took the points appears to have
From our UK edition
Number 10 has now taken charge of coalition health policy to such an extent that the Department of Health press office was caught unawares by the news that the Prime Minister was to deliver a major speech on health next week. David Cameron is determined to present the coming substantial changes to the Lansley reform
From our UK edition
When politicians start complaining about the media, you know that they’re in trouble. When politicians start complaining about the media, you know that they’re in trouble. This weekend, a Liberal Democrat minister bounded up to me to complain about a double standard in the way that his party was reported. ‘Yes, we’ve lost councillors but
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France and Germany’s better than expected growth numbers are making news today. But the divergence within the Eurozone — Estonia grew at 2.1 percent in the first quarter, Portugal shrank by 0.7 per cent — highlights one of the single currency’s biggest problems: how can one interest rate fit all? Economists expect Germany, whose GDP
From our UK edition
David Laws has just apologised to the House of Commons in a short statement listened to in sombre silence. Laws stressed that he was glad that the commissioner and the committee had accepted that his motivation had been to protect his privacy not to enrich himself. Indeed, Laws pointed out — somewhat boldly — that
From our UK edition
In Number 10, they are already concerned that they are losing public support on crime and punishment. David Cameron is planning to give a speech on the subject that will, in the words of one senior coalition figure, ‘throw a lot of bones to his party’s right.’ But Cameron’s words will mean little if
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David Cameron was received in the usual desk-thumping way at the 1922 Committee. But what was striking about his appearance was his message that the NHS reform pause is his idea not Nick Clegg’s and that he won’t let the Lib Dems take credit for the coming changes. The robustness of this message took even
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So much for the de-Flashmaning project. At PMQs, a tetchy Cameron doled out his usual number of insults, comparing Ed Miliband to Eddie the Eagle Edwards. Frankly, I don’t think this really matters as long as Cameron appears to be in control of his temper, which isn’t always the case. But Ed Miliband definitely raised
From our UK edition
The papers report this morning that David Cameron has been urged by his aides to be more polite to his opponents at PMQs or risk playing into the Flashman stereotype of him as a cocky public school bully. Now, as with all advice about making PMQs a calmer affair (remember how Cameron pledged an end
From our UK edition
Hillary Clinton has given a fascinating interview to the Atlantic Monthly’s Jeffrey Goldberg. The main topic of it is the Arab spring but it is her comments about China that are making waves. When Goldberg comments that the Chinese have been scared by the sight of dictatorships toppling across the Middle East, Clinton replies:“They’re worried,
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One of the worries of Tory modernisers about the coalition back in May last year was that the Tories would end up being seen as being responsible for all the tough but necessary stuff, eg deficit reduction, while the Lib Dems would claim the cuddly stuff, for example the pupil premium — a policy that
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Norman Lamb’s comment on the Daily Politics about the Lib Dems having become a “human shield” for the government sums up the mood on the Liberal Democrat benches. Lamb went onto wonder whether this was inevitable: “Whether that’s inevitably the case for the junior partner I don’t know… But we are in this for the
From our UK edition
On Andrew Marr this morning, Nick Clegg made clear that changes to the NHS bill are his new priority. He said that there would be ‘substantial’ changes to it and declared that ‘no bill is better than a bad bill.’ I suspect that Clegg will get what he wants on the NHS bill. When I
From our UK edition
After every election, the political stock exchange goes into a frenzy trying to work out who is a buy and who is a sell. Thirty-six hours after the polls closed, it is a little clearer who the winners and losers of this election season have been. Here are our selections: Winners Alex Salmond, the biggest
From our UK edition
A little under a year ago, David Cameron held a party at Downing Street to thank all of those who had helped the Tory general election campaign. A little under a year ago, David Cameron held a party at Downing Street to thank all of those who had helped the Tory general election campaign. It
From our UK edition
After a year in government, most ministers look ten years older. Not Francis Maude. He bounds into the anteroom of his ministerial suite to greet me, wearing his customary open-necked shirt with a red check that matches the colour in his cheeks. In a confident voice, he says, ‘I just need to get some things
From our UK edition
Chris Huhne’s behaviour still has everyone at Westminster talking. Earlier in the week, senior Liberal Democrats were saying that once the voting had happened, Paddy Ashdown and the party president Tim Farron would communicate the party’s anger at the behaviour of the No campaign, while the party’s Cabinet ministers began to rebuild relations with their
