James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
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Peter Hyman’s piece in The Times today is well worth reading if only for this anecdote about one of the Blair reshuffles. On another occasion an MP was sacked for doing nothing wrong. It was merely that when she was replaced in her current job, someone forgot to pencil her in for a new one.
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James Forsyth says that Hillary’s disappointment in Tuesday’s primaries is matched by the decline in Obama’s image, as the sheen of the wunderkind fades and doubts multiply Barack Obama entered the arena on Tuesday night to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Rising’. But a more appropriate song would have been ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’
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The news that food aid to Burma has had to be suspended because the military junta that rules the country has seized it for its own purposes is as depressing as it is predictable. Considering that one and a half million survivors of the cyclone are in dire need of assistance, the consequences of this
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David Ignatius has a great column in The Washington Post this morning looking at the international events that could shake up the presidential race. One of the things that he considers is the US bombing the facilities that the Iranians are using to train fighters before sending them into Iraq; there’s a significant chance that
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Labour appears split over whether or not it wants a referendum on Scottish independence, Wendy Alexander is in favour but Gordon appears to be against. But I actually think Gordon should want such a referendum as it provides him with an opportunity, albeit a risky one, to get back on track. Here’s my thinking: 1).
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Raleigh, North Carolina This morning, Barack Obama is closer than ever to being the Democratic nominee. He scored an impressive 14 point victory in North Carolina and ran Hillary Clinton extremely close in Indiana. The size of his victory in North Carolina almost guarantees that he will be ahead in the popular vote as well
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I’m at Obama’s election night event here in Raleigh. It’s been held in the basketball arena at North Carolina State which gives the press section with its rows of wooden desks and folding chairs the feel of a school exam hall. The early exits are a mixed bunch but suggest that Hillary will both fail to
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The new Populus poll for The Times is going to stoke the mood of panic inside the Labour party. It finds that 55 percent of Labour voters want Brown to go and gives the Toryies the largest lead they have had, 11 points, in the history of the poll. To add to Labour’s woes, only
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If Stephen Carter and his team are searching for inspiration for how to get Gordon Brown back in the game, they should look to Hillary Clinton. Since the beginning of March, she has shown that even politicians who are not naturals and have been in public life for decades can learn new tricks, and that
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A late breaking poll has Hillary up by seven against Obama nationally among Democrats, this follows an earlier poll which also had Hillary up nationally. At this point, national poll numbers mean little—the majority of states have already voted—but they are signifiers of momentum. So, if Hillary were to beat expectations in Indiana and North
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Over on Americano, I’ve just posted on Bill Clinton’s shot at redemption, the campaigns differing attitudes to the press and what they say and why North Carolina is so important to Obama. Check ‘em out.
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Raleigh, North Carolina For a long time, many observers have had tomorrow marked down as the day that the Democratic primary would end. It was thought, and rightly, that Clinton couldn’t survive a double-loss. But the conventional wisdom is now that Hillary will win Indiana and that she’s closing strongly on Obama in North Carolina.
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Reading Fraser’s posts about the odds on who will succeed Gordon Brown as Labour leader and whether he will be challenged this side of a general election, it struck me that we need to look for Labour’s Chris Huhne or John Redwood: someone who doesn’t have much chance of putting themselves into contention unless they
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina Being away from the States, I had not realised just how much Obama is now on the back foot. While Clinton and her surrogates seem, to borrow a phrase, fired up and ready to go in their TV appearances, Obama and his team appear weary and as if they wish this
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I’m out in North Carolina for the next few days for the latest instalment in the Hillary and Obama show. North Carolina is the biggest state still to vote and of Obama can wrap up a big victory here he would make it pretty much impossible for Hillary to get ahead of him in any
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I’ve just got round to watching Gordon Brown’s interview with Adam Boulton and it makes his performance on Marr look good. He looked tired and sounded grumpy throughout. Perhaps the oddest thing was how Brown didn’t seem in command of the policy detail. When Bolton asked about helping the poor by just raising the personal
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There’s lots of advice for Gordon Brown in today’s papers. Perhaps, the most interesting comes from Matthew Taylor, a key adviser under Blair. “After waiting a few days to avoid the impression of panic Gordon Brown should do a major interview. In this interview he should announce that he will dedicate his efforts to delivering
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Charles Moore’s column in the Telegraph today rightly praises the Tories for their impressive election performance. But he also raises some issues which the party are going to have to think about. 1. How can a party that has “gone green” adjust to the fact that voters, increasingly short of money, hate green taxes –
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The calls for Labour to get rid of Gordon Brown come from both the left (Martin Kettle) and the right (Matthew Parris) in this morning’s newspapers. It still seems almost impossible that this will happen but Brown will have a hideous next few days, coming under attack from both sides of the party. What will
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When Gordon Brown was enjoying his honeymoon nine short months ago, you would have got long odds on the Tories winning London and being twenty points ahead of Labour in the national vote share at the local elections. But a combination of Brown’s missteps—most notably his trip to Iraq during the Tory conference, the election