James Forsyth

James Forsyth

James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.

Friday

James Forsyth

Time to start thinking about boycotting Beijing

It is hard to know quite what is going on in Tibet because of the obstructionism of the Chinese government. What is clear is that the people of Tibet—who have long been denied their right to self-determination by the Communist regime—are suffering and protestors are being killed.  Amidst all the excitement about China’s rapid economic growth, we all too often forget that it remains a brutal Communist dictatorship. It is time now to use the leverage that the Olympics gives the rest of the world over China and start talking about a boycott.  I would urge you to read both Rod Liddle’s column in this week’s magazine on the Tibet situation and the letter drafted by Vaclav Havel over at Comment is Free.

Thursday

James Forsyth

How McCain can help Cameron

It is a definite coup for David Cameron that John McCain saw him as well as Gordon Brown today. It was a significant statement that a President McCain expects to have to deal with both men when in office; he clearly expects Cameron to be PM before 2012. But McCain can help Cameron in policy terms too. Cameron has struggled to come up with an inspiring way to talk about his greenery, it can sound rather too doom and gloomy. McCain offers a solution to this problem. He talks inspiringly about how tackling climate change is going to create jobs not cost them, spur economic growth not constrict it and increase rather than harm America’s competitiveness. If Cameron did this, I suspect that he would find the right far more congenial to his greenery than it currently is.

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Cabinet’s green split

There’s a fun but revealing story in the FT today about a row within the Cabinet about what kind of cars they should all be driven round in. The split is between those who favour Ministers travelling in the eco-friendly Toyota Prius and those who think it is important that they use a car made in Britain. John Hutton, the business secretary, is in the British camp along with two of Gordon’s closest allies, Ed Balls and Jack Straw. While on the green side of the fence are Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, David Miliband and Hilary Benn—the past and present environment secretaries.  On the one hand, this can be seen as a simple turf war.

James Forsyth

Throwing the book at Gordon Brown

An intriguing item in the Ephraim Hardcastle diary in The Daily Mail this morning suggests that cash for honours will soon come back to haunt Gordon Brown: “LORD Levy's book about being Tony Blair's Middle East envoy-chief party fundraiser - and the 'cash for coronets' police inquiry in which he was twice cautioned and questioned - is about to see the light of day. What does it say about Blair? Forget Blair, say friends of Michael Levy. The former pop music promoter blames Gordon Brown for stirring up the honours row as part of a campaign to destabilise Blair and replace him as prime minister. Even though it was a complaint to police from a Scots Nat MP which started the investigation, Levy thinks Brown schemed and plotted behind the scenes to make matters worse.

Tuesday

James Forsyth

Obama’s speech on race

The controversy over the racially divisive sermons of Obama’s friend and pastor Jeremiah Wright was the biggest challenge that Obama has faced in the campaign so far as it threatened his whole political identity. His speech today on the issue was both impressive and significant. If he had flubbed it, it could have reinforced doubts about his candidacy. Instead, he is back on the front foot for the first time in a while.  More on the speech over at Americano.

James Forsyth

Beckham worth more than Bear Stearns

If you want to get a handle on just how cheaply Bear Stearns was sold, consider this,  David Beckham's contract with the LA Galaxy is worth more than what JP Morgan paid for ailing investment banker. JP Morgan has already realised one big advantage from its purchase: its moving into  the Madison Avenue HQ of Bear Stearns.

James Forsyth

A decisive moment for Obama

The controversy over Barack Obama’s pastor and his racially divisive views just keeps getting worse for the Obama campaign. Today, Obama will attempt to move past the story by giving a speech on race in America. The challenge for Obama is to explain why somehow who presents himself as a candidate who can help heal racial wounds became such firm friends with a man who seems to delight in exacerbating them. More on Americano.

Monday

James Forsyth

Tories up 13 in new ICM poll

The Guardian has just posted the headlines figures from its new poll which shows the Tories with a 42-29 lead over Labour. The poll also finds that David Cameron and George Osborne have an eight point lead on the question of who do you most trust with the economy.

James Forsyth

The threat of violence

Jonathan Powell’s new book and in particular his thoughts on talking to terrorists have been making waves in recent days. But the Guardian news story accompanying the paper’s serialisation of his book demonstrates the flaw in this thinking: "Powell said it was right to make concessions to Sinn Féin. 'We certainly believed there was every chance that the IRA might go back to violence, just as they had with the Canary Wharf bomb [in 1996].'" So, Powell is conceding that the government was always conscious that it was negotiating with a gun at its head. (This approach to negotiation is also fundamentally unfair to the peaceful parties that the government was dealing with).

Sunday

James Forsyth

More voters want Delia Smith as the next Chancellor than Ed Balls

Tucked away in today’s YouGov poll is a rather amusing question about who voters think would make the best Chancellor if Alistair Darling were to step down. Perhaps unsurprisingly considering the current anti-political mood, the politicians don’t do particularly well. Sir Alan Sugar tops the list at 21 percent, followed by Sir Philip Green at 11 percent with Gordon Brown coming in third. Rather embarrassingly for Ed Balls, who is said to covet the job, he comes in dead last behind both Jack Straw and Delia Smith. Although to be fair to Balls, he does beat Green and Smith among Labour voters.

James Forsyth

Tories spring into a 16 point lead 

Two new polls this morning offer real encouragement to the Tories. YouGov for the Sunday Times has them 16 points ahead of Labour at 43 percent, if replicated in a general election these figures would give them a three figure majority. ICM for the News of the World has the party on 40 percent, nine ahead of Labour. The details of the YouGov poll provide further cheer for the Tories. 59 percent think Brown is doing badly as Prime Minister, while 51 percent say Cameron is doing well as opposition leader. The Tories have a 12 point lead on who the electorate trust to raise their standard of living which will become increasingly important as the voters begin to feel the economic pinch. However, the internal Tory debate over tax will be fuelled by two of the poll’s findings.

Saturday

James Forsyth

The bard of Whitehall

Some cabinet ministers are not fully reconciled to the Brown era if a few lines of verse supposedly written by a cabinet minister that have been doing the rounds in recent days are anything to go by. “At Downing Street upon the stair,   I met a man who wasn’t Blair,  He wasn’t Blair again today,  Oh how I wish he’d go away.

Friday

James Forsyth

Do the reverse Salisbury

Last week, The Spectator called on the House of Lords to apply the Salisbury convention in reverse to the Lisbon treaty and use its power to force the government to honour its manifesto pledge to hold a referendum on the treaty formerly know as the Constitution. This morning, Lord Strathcylde, the Tory leader in the Lords, endorsed the idea on the Today programme. The arithmetic in the Lords is tricky but it would make an important statement if the Lords was to at least make the government sweat a little on this issue. As our editorial argued, Labour has been fundamentally disingenuous about the reason why it supported a referendum in the first place and it is imperative that its mendacity receives maximum exposure.

Thursday

James Forsyth

How much should a politician’s faith be scrutinised?

Today both George W. Bush and Barack Obama find their faith under scrutiny. A new book questions Bush’s conversion narrative and suggests that Bush is highly aware of the political benefits of his faith. While Obama is under fire for some extreme statements from his preacher.  I must admit that reading an extract from the book and watching the video segments on Obama’s pastor, I felt rather queasy. It seems rather under-hand to attack a man for his religious beliefs. I know that people argue that both Obama and Bush have exploited their faith for votes but it still strikes me as an out of bounds attack. The coverage of both men’s faith also has a rather unpleasant whiff about it.

James Forsyth

A majority of Americans now think the US will succeed in Iraq

New polling data reveals that 53 percent of Americans now believe that the United States will ultimately achieve its aims in Iraq compared to 39 percent who think it will fail. As The Politico points out, this is the highest level of support for the war since the summer of 2006. This shift in opinion combined with Admiral Fallon’s departure makes it far more likely that the United States will not quit Iraq prematurely. Certainly, we can expect only limited troop draw downs before January 2009. This should mean that even if Clinton or Obama wins the presidency and decides to instantly bring home a brigade or two there should still be sufficient US troops there to ensure that all the gains of the surge are not squandered.

James Forsyth

How the tax system discourages work

One of the great scandals of this government is how many obstacles there are to people moving up the economic ladder. The Red Book (page 62) reveals that more than 1.8 million people are caught in a 60 percent marginal tax rate—as they earn more they lose access to tax credits and welfare benefits and also have to pay tax on the additional income that they are earning—which is an increase of more than a million since Labour came to power. This hardly encourages people to work their way up.   Much of the blame for this falls on Gordon Brown’s absurdly complicated tax credits system. Word is that Stephen Byers plans to raise this in the Budget debate this afternoon.

Wednesday

James Forsyth

Coffee House’s Budget Coverage

Here is a selection of our Budget coverage, do check back tomorrow for more analysis and if you want to read our thoughts as they unfolded through the day just keep scrolling.    Matthew Elliott and Corin Taylor explain why the Budget will just make things worse  Matthew d’Ancona reveals the private Tory response to the Budget Fraser Nelson calculates the true extent of the national debt Andrew Neil eviscerates those binge borrowers, Brown and Darling  Peter Hoskin points out how squeezed the middle classes already are And Fraser Nelson explains how Darling’s tax changes have made a half of cider more expensive than a line of cocaine.

James Forsyth

Another Balls up

You would have thought that by now the Labour front bench would have learned not to heckle David Cameron as one of Cameron’s strengths at the Despatch Box is his ability to put down a heckler. At his first Prime Minister’s Question Time some shouting from Hilary Armstrong, the then Labour chief whip, gave Cameron the chance to establish his authority and today Ed Balls’ interjections gave him the chance to score some points and rev up his troops. John Rentoul has a scathing post about Balls’ behaviour up at Open House claiming that Cameron was “saved” by Balls’ heckling. Personally, I think that’s a little harsh on the Tory leader but today was yet another reminder that Balls is not yet ready for prime time let alone Downing Street.

James Forsyth

Labour on the back foot

Today’s Budget made clear that we are in for a protracted period of political trench warfare. Darling’s speech was cautious in the extreme while the Tory response was hardly bold. However, the Tories have to be cheered by the contrast with last year’s Budget when Brown felt confident enough to try and kill off the Tories with his pretend tax cut and Cameron’s aim was simply survival. Now, it is Labour that is desperate just to get through the day.