James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
From our UK edition
The new Guardian ICM poll has the Tory lead down to seven points and the party on 37 percent. Now, it should be stressed that the majority of this fieldwork was carried out before the Rawnsley revelations became public and so ithis poll does not factor in the public’s reaction to that. But this poll
From our UK edition
Cameron just got the question on Brown and bullying. His reply was well pitched, right tone of voice and all that. But it contained the suggestion that Sir Phillip Mawer, who polices the ministerial code, should be asked to investigate. This is the last thing No 10 wants, it just wants this to go away.
From our UK edition
The National Bullying Helpline has just put rocket boosters under the allegations about Gordon Brown’s behaviour with a statement saying that Downing Street staffers have contacted it with complaints about the Prime Minister’s behaviour. Here’s the most significant passage from it: “Over recent months we have had several inquiries from staff within Gordon Brown’s office.
From our UK edition
There can’t be a journalist in Westminster who hasn’t heard tales of Gordon Brown’s temper, his foul-mouthed outbursts and the disgraceful way he lashes out at his staff. I suspect that this means we are underestimating how the voting public will view the revelations in Andrew Rawnsley’s new book. The journalistic consensus last night was
From our UK edition
About six months ago I was at an away day discussing the prospects for the first year of a Tory government. Most people present were on the right but a senior figure from Blair’s Downing Street was also there to provide a Labour perspective on things. At one point in proceedings we were discussing who
From our UK edition
While we all wait for the revelations from Andrew Rawnsley’s book, which is being serialised in The Observer, there are a few things worth noting from Douglas Alexander’s interview with The Guardian today. First of all, Labour thinks that the Tory strength in the marginals means that the Tories only need to be six points
From our UK edition
James Forsyth reviews the week in politics Having to work on a Sunday is a chore — doubly so when that Sunday is Valentine’s Day. But there were plenty of worker bees at Labour headquarters on Victoria Street last Sunday, devoting themselves to the passion of their life: hounding Conservatives. They came to rebut a
From our UK edition
There’s an interview with Gordon Brown today in the Mirror about his relationship with his mother. As you might expect given the subject, it is hardly an interrogation. Indeed, it manages to make Piers Morgan’s questions to him resemble the final part of the Frost Nixon interview. But what caught my eye was this note
From our UK edition
When a denial elicits this headline: “No 10 denies naked Gordon Brown called aide C-word” What is in and not in Andrew Ranwsley’s new book, which The Observer starts serialising this Sunday, is the talk of Westminster. There’s much speculation about whether the stories that were in the Mail on Sunday a few weeks back—including
From our UK edition
I must be one of the very few people who would genuinely like to see David Cameron give another speech on chocolate oranges. There was much mockery of it but it contained a very important point: there are some things that a business can do that have negative externalities to which the appropriate response is
From our UK edition
Hamish McRae’s column today contains news of a warning that I had not seen reported elsewhere: ‘The capital markets division of Royal Bank of Canada yesterday put out a ranking of sovereign risk – the risk that a country cannot repay its debts. Ireland and Greece came at the top, as you might expect, followed
From our UK edition
There is only one way the Tories can lose the election and that is if it becomes a referendum on them rather than a choice between them and the government. We are in such an anti-politics moment that the electorate is unlikely to give a positive endorsement to any politician or political party. This—not the
From our UK edition
The transparency agenda is one of the most exciting things about the Cameron project but it is an idea that is hard to explain. But David Cameron’s speech to TED last week—video above, is the best expression of it that we have had yet. When you think about the changes Cameron is proposing—publishing government spending
From our UK edition
There is real jumpiness in Tory circles at the moment about the prospects of more candidate disasters. So eyebrows were sent upwards when David Cameron failed to name check Adeela Shafi in a section of his speech this morning which mentioned many of the Muslim candidates standing for the party. The omission seemed surprising as
From our UK edition
The three voters who have agreed to be featured in the Tories’ new ads are brave folk. I would wager a considerable amount that right now there are a whole slew of people digging into their pasts hoping to find some piece of evidence to discredit them. It might not be appealing but it is
From our UK edition
The Tories are facing embarrassment tonight after a document they released claim that 54 percent of young women under 18 in poor areas get pregnant when the actual number is 5.4 percent. It is easy to see how a mistake like this is made but it is still damaging and made more so by the
From our UK edition
Those who follow politics closely will watch Gordon Brown’s interview tonight with Piers Morgan knowing that Alastair Campbell prepped him for it, that Piers Morgan is a long time friend of Brown and that Brown finally agreed to be interviewed by Morgan as part of “the run-up to the election”, and that Brown once criticised
From our UK edition
If there was a story in the Sunday papers of a split between David Cameron and the two most senior figures in the shadow Cabinet over economic strategy it would be the talk of the town. But because it is about Brown and Balls versus Darling and Mandelson it is on the inside pages; it
From our UK edition
The word on the street tonight is that the Sunday papers will report that Labour is considering a 10 percent ‘death tax’ to pay for long term care for the elderly. It will be interesting to see if Labour is prepared to rule out this option or if they will refuse to do so as
From our UK edition
James Forsyth reviews the week in politics If a committee of David Cameron’s advisers were to design what they regarded as the perfect Tory candidate, the result would look something like Joanne Cash. She is intelligent, successful, a talented lawyer, educated at a state school and with staunch, considered conservative principles. She was duly earmarked