James Forsyth is former political editor of The Spectator.
From our UK edition
Gordon Brown came out of that exchange better than I thought he would. He stayed calm and was actually doing very well until he tried blame the Tories, arguing that the Tory manifesto would have cut HMRC’s budget, and that gave David Cameron the opening the needed o deliver the scathing soundbite that will be replayed
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Gordon Brown must be sick to his stomach about going to have to face David Cameron at PMQs today. The Tory leader, who thrashes him every week, is bound to make the case that this government is just serially incompetent and a busted flush. So the question is: can Gordon say anything to counter this?
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Charlie Whelan takes to the Telegraph today to defend his old boss but only ends up emphasising how bad his current situation is. Whelan writes, “[Brown] also knows that there are two things that really matter. First, there is not one person in this country whose circumstances suffered in any way because there was no
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As Alistair Darling scurries off to the House to make a statement on the latest crisis to rock the Treasury, Martin Vander Weyer has some thoughts on the latest developments in the Northern Rock saga. As Martin argues, from a position where no was really blaming the government they have managed to land themselves right
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Rachel Sylvester’s column today details how Gordon Brown is both retreating from the public service reform agenda and further into the bunker. In lots of technical ways that don’t make headlines, Brown has diluted many of the key Blairite reforms neutering their effectivemess. There is now oceans of clear blue water between the Tory education
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The decision by Ofcom to clear Channel 4 completely over the programme Undercover Mosque is welcome news. To recap, the documentary featured various preachers spouting hateful rhetoric about women, gays and the West. Several viewers referred it to the police. West Midlands Police, however, chose not to investigate the preachers but the film itself. Turning
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When Gordon Brown was riding high in the polls, the Brownites were a ubiquitous present. Now, they have gone to ground. Last night’s, Blair documentary was a reminder of just how factional the Brownites are by nature and it seems those old instincts are coming out again. Ben Brogan reports on his indispensable blog that
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If I was a betting man, I’d fancy a sly tenner on Chris Huhne right now. Nick Clegg has failed to impress during the leadership contest and Huhne, who doesn’t worry about being boxed in if elected leader, has been pandering to the membership like nobody’s business. The heated exchanges between the two contenders yesterday
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Andrew Rawnsley has an important piece in the Observer this morning about how conflict could again break out in the Balkans. The issue this time is the final status of Kosovo. The Americans favour independence for Kosovo, the Russians oppose it and the EU is mostly for it but with conditions. As Rawnsley explains, “Time
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David Aaronovitch’s piece in The Times today based on his interviews with the former Prime Minister and his associates for his The Blair Years series on the BBC is fascinating. Once again Blair reiterates that he did Iraq because he believed that it was the right thing to do. His concluding remarks, though, are grim:
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John Pienaar’s BBC column has a great little anecdote in it this week about Alan West’s reaction to the way his comments on not being convinced of the case for 56 day detention were reported. According to one report, he heard the radio headlines immediately after his morning interview reporting his doubts about government policy.
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Clive points to a fascinating New Statesman story by David Matthews on whether the Tories can pick up significant black support at the next election—last time out they only got 2 percent of the black vote, compared to 80 percent for Labour. As the piece points out, the Tories now for the first time have
From our UK edition
The Independent have launched a string of new blogs which are well worth checking out. Open House, their comment blog, looks particularly promising—anything that offers us more of John Rentoul and Steve Richards can only be a good thing. Rentoul, who is one of the great authorities on Tony Blair, flags up a rather revealing
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Jack Straw has taken to the ceremonial trappings of his new role with a vengeance. The former firebrand NUS president never seems happier than when dressed in his finery. Now Kevin Maguire reveals that Straw has been in training for his new role, or at least the dressing-up part of it, for a lot longer
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Nick Clegg’s interview with the New Statesman is well worth reading for an insight into how he sees relations with the two main parties. Clegg describes himself as “an anti-Labour northern MP” and explains why he thinks that the Lib Dems’ room for growth comes from taking seats from Labour: “Something like 85 per cent
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Peter Riddell has a very wise column in The Times today. As he points out, what Admiral West said yesterday about 56 day detention was actually quite sensible even if it was a ‘gaffe.’ While the burden of proof should be high for extending the period of detention without charge, it would be glib to
From our UK edition
Gordon Brown has never looked comfortable at PMQs but after a poor first few performances he developed a clever strategy of announcing policy during it, for instance on super casinos. This guaranteed that the main news coming out of PMQs was not how well Brown did but the policy he had unveiled. As Mike Smithson
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I guess all the other problems facing the government must be solved as Gordon Brown is now to turn his attention to making sure that premiership teams select more British players. As The Guardian sports section puts it: ‘British players for British clubs.’ Brown is a genuine sports fan and there’s public concern over the
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Conservative Home have just conducted an interesting survey of the candidates in the seats that the Tories have a realistic chance of picking up next time round. 70 of the 192 responded and the results suggest a further shift of gravity in the parliamentary party. 94% think that too many powers have already been transferred
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The storm that has broken around Jacqui Smith about illegal immigrants working in Whitehall is particularly dangerous for the government as it combines concerns over the loss of control over the borders with fears about security and the government’s reputation for honesty. If they don’t even know the immigration status of the person guarding Gordon