James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
One of the overlooked elements of the PBR was the Chancellor’s assertion that Britain would be out of recession by the third quarter of 2009. This offered a metric against which the PBR and the other measures Labour have taken can be judged; if the country is still in recession then it will be reasonable
Sam Coates makes a telling point over at his blog: “The Crown Prosecution Service, who decided it could not bring charges, has torn up electoral law in the process. They have decided Peter Hain was not legally responsible for over £100,000 of late donations because he wasn’t the signatory on the campaign accounts. This has
There is a fascinating little dance going on between Peter Hain and Brown Central. As soon as the CPS decided they weren’t going to charge him, Hain was telling Sky News that “I only left government to clear this up, and would like to return, but that is a matter for the Prime Minister.” Brown
At the moment, David Davis would probably rather be arrested than return to the shadow cabinet. But the prospect of Davis being asked to come back to the top table looks more likely now than at any point since his spectacular resignation in June. Davis could well be back in his old job after a
It is hard to disagree with Martin Kettle’s assertion that Peter Mandelson is the “most interesting” figure in British politics right now. Since his return from Brussels, Mandelson has had a key role to play in every major political story and has revelled in the quite extraordinary amount of coverage he has received. As Kettle—who
Holding up the front pages on Newsnight last night, Jeremy Paxman observed that Brown couldn’t have got better coverage for his mortgage package if he’d paid for it. But as always with one of Gordon’s initiatives, a look at the small print reveals it to be not quite such a good deal after all. Both
As Matt reflected just after Obama’s election win, both David Cameron and Gordon Brown desperately want to be and be seen to be Barack Obama’s best friend. There’s a bit of a blow to the Cameron campaign today with a New Statesman story about how Obama branded Cameron a ‘lightweight’. But a close read of
It is hard to see how anyone can have confidence in the Serjeant at Arms. It is incredible that having been warned that an MP might be arrested and that the police might search a Commons office, she did not think to check what the rules and precedents surrounding this were. This is nothing less
Michael Martin came close to apologising to the House when he said that he “regrets” that police entered Parliament and searched Damian Green’s office without a warrant. Tory grandees including Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith pressed the Prime Minister on whether he too regretted that all this had happened without a warrant. Brown was
Over at Three Line Whip, Jame Kirkup muses whether Peter Mandelson has taken a vow never to give a dull interview. Certainly, from a hack’s point of view, Mandelson makes for great copy. But it is Mandelson who is getting the most out of this relationship at the moment. I suspect that Mandelson realised he
For any CoffeeHouser trying to understand the relationship between Lashkar-e-Taiba—the group that are believed to have been responsible for the Mumbia atrocities—and the Pakistani government, I’d thoroughly recommend Steve Coll’s post over at The New Yorker. This section seems to sum it up: “On the one hand, the group’s bank accounts remain unmolested by the
In the weeks since the Labour conference in Manchester, it has been clear that James Purnell has overtaken David Miliband as the leading contender among the Primrose Hill Set. Even though he is considerably more Blairite than Miliband, Purnell is attracting a wider range of support across the party because of his ability to put
The Pakistan problem is one of the thorniest in international politics. It is almost impossible to see how you deal with a nuclear armed failing state whose government claims, with some justification, that it can’t control its military, intelligence service and all of its territory. But as Bob Kagan writes in the Washington Post today:
Camila Batmanghelidjh’s op-ed in The Times today contains a truly shocking fact: The truth, based on research by Kids Company and London University, is that one in five children in deprived inner cities is surviving neglect and abuse.
The consensus in Westminster is that the Tories are back on the front foot following the PBR and the Damian Green arrest, but a ComRes poll in the Independent (reported on by Political Betting) has Labour closing the gap to one point. This is drastically at odds with the other polls that have come out
Ken Livingstone tonight made two quite remarkable statements tonight at the latest Soundings / Comment is Free debate on ‘Who owns the Progressive future?’ The first was boneheaded, the second demonstrated a quite remarkable disdain for democracy and human freedom. John Harris, who was chairing the event, pressed Livingstone on whether he welcomed the introduction of
Elections have consequences as John McCain likes to say. So it would be unrealistic of us hawks to expect the president-elect to appoint the kind of national security team that John McCain would have. But from a hawkish perspective, the team unveiled in Chicago this morning is about as good as it gets. Hillary Clinton
The Guardian is reporting that the civil servant involved in the Damian Green leak furore will hold a press conference at 4.30. We’ll obviously have more coverage here on Coffee House once he’s spoken.
There are few finer columnists than Martin Bright and his volley at the Progress conference on Labour ministers’ reaction to the arrest of Damian Green hit upon an important point: “It is important to debate the end of ideology. But what about the end of principle? I was told I had five minutes for introductory