Peter Hoskin

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Obama! Obama! Obama!

From our UK edition

Make no mistake: Obama has landed.  The US President's arrival at Stansted yesterday makes almost all of the frontpages and is leading most news coverage.  One of the many questions on the lips of Labour-minded people I speak to is whether all this is helping or harming Gordon Brown.  With much of the other G20 coverage focusing on either splits between the countries or compromises that are having to be made, there is - rightly or wrongly - a sense that Obama is here to hold things together.  Indeed, the "after the break" preview for the News at 10 last night started with something like, "Obama arrives: but can he rescue the G20 summit?".  And that's a message which cuts right through Brown's world-saving pomp of the last few months.

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

A new attitude towards Pakistan

From our UK edition

After yesterday's siege in Lahore, there's a revealing item in the Times of India today about how Pakistan's neighbour is changing its attitude towards the local terror threat: "...this attack is forcing India to change the way it has viewed the terror threat. Until now, India has believed that terrorism against India could be stemmed if only the Pakistan state willed to do so. This premise looks facile now... ...India has to quickly redraw its approach to Pakistan. At the highest levels of the government, the new mantra for Pakistan is "containment" or "quarantine" of the terror cancer until it's weeded out. That, of course, will be very, very difficult. And that's why there is deep concern here.

Peter Hoskin

Darling’s surprise for businesses

From our UK edition

One for the surprising folder.  Alistair Darling has today announced a measure for businesses which seems fairly useful.  And he's done so with little expectation and even less fanfare.  So what is it?  Well, the 5% increase in business rates, planned for this year, has been spread out over three years.  So businesses will face a 2 percent rise this year, with the remaining 3 percent coming over the following two years.  The numbers suggest that over 1.5 millions buildings will be affected, with businesses "saving" £600 million this year. Of course, it shouldn't be forgotten that business rates are still going to rise, and there'll be other catches as well (e.g. I expect this will be paid for by yet more borrowing).

Peter Hoskin

An air of resignation descends on Westminster

From our UK edition

So Gordon's Summit will start with calls for two of his most prominent ministers to resign ringing in his ears.  Of course, there's the continuing brouhaha over Jacqui Smith and her expense claims.  A revealing PoliticsHome poll, released this afternoon, finds that a majority of voters (56 percent) think she should step down as Home Secretary - with only 36 percent thinking she should remain in the post.  Despite his support for Smith, the PM will find it difficult to ignore that level of public disapproval. And then there's Sir Tom McKillop's letter to the Treasury Select Committee, claiming that Lord Myners, the City Minister, knew more than he admitted about Fred Goodwin's pension package.

Peter Hoskin

Brown delivers his G20 sermon

From our UK edition

The symbolism was blatant.  Here was Gordon Brown in St Paul's Cathedral, delivering a speech on the moral dimensions of the credit crunch.  It's stuffed with words like "faith" and "virtue", making it all quite unnerving.  Then again, I think the country needs effective politicians.  Not a new god. You can see what Brown's trying to do.  Until now, his pronouncements ahead of the G20 summit have been more or less bogged down in technical lingo about regulation and tax havens.  This was an attempt to do something different; to put a fresh, more human, spin on the rhetoric of the Crunch.  On that front, I'm not quite sure it worked.

Peter Hoskin

Expenses investigation to be brought forward

From our UK edition

Sky are reporting that the investigation into MPs' expenses by the Committee on Standards in Public Life is to be brought forward.  It was originally going to publish its findings after the next election, but now they'll come out before the end of the year. Of course, to some extent, any effort to deal with the situation should be welcomed.  But, just as with Gordon Brown's suggestions yesterday, there's still plenty of room for doubt and cynicism.  Will the committee's findings change all that much?  Will polticians cooperate with it?  Should things be happening quicker?

Peter Hoskin

Fourth choice Smith

From our UK edition

In light of the speculation surrounding Jacqui Smith's future, this passage from Steve Richards' column today is worth pulling out: "I am told [Jacqui Smith] was not Brown's first choice [for Home Secretary] and not even his second. Indeed, one government insider tells me three others were approached but had no desire to go near the unpredictable nightmare of the Home Office. Smith's narrative also highlights the fickle nature of politics. Within a year she could have lost her cabinet job and her seat." It does suggest that Brown would have few qualms about replacing Smith; especially given her recent troubles.  But it also makes you wonder whether anyone will really want to take on the job.

Peter Hoskin

Desperate times call for desperate measures?

From our UK edition

Could Alistair Darling be replaced after all?  I tend to think he won't be.  The way the downturn has played out seems to have strengthened his hand, and it won't do much for the Government's economic message to start swapping Chancellors at this stage in the game.  But a snippet in Rachel Sylvester's column this morning reveals that the "Balls for Chancellor" talk is reappearing nonetheless:   "Downing Street insiders have again started to speculate that Mr Darling might be replaced by Ed Balls in a reshuffle this year. 'Gordon wants someone in there who thinks the way he does,' one Brown aide told me. How can the Prime Minister hope to get the Chileans and the Czechs to agree if he has differences with his own Chancellor?

Monday

Peter Hoskin

Pay day for MPs

From our UK edition

Now, how's this for timing?  With the Jacqui Smith row rumbling on, Parliament has released expenses details for every MP from April 2007 to March 2008 - you can access them here and here.  There are no receipts yet, so we can't see the devils that surely reside in the detail.  But, in the meantime, we know that Gordon Brown claimed £124,454 in total, while David Cameron claimed £148,829.  ConservativeHome have pulled out some more figures here. In other pay-related news, it's been announced that MPs will receive a 2.33 percent pay rise as of April, with Sky revealing that Brown is "ordering" his ministers to take a pay freeze.

Peter Hoskin

Brown washes his hands of the Jacqui Smith situation

From our UK edition

Is it just me, or is Gordon Brown's take on the Jacqui Smith situation especially dispiriting?  Speaking at a Downing Street presser, he said that it's a "personal matter" that "must not detract from the great job Jacqui Smith is doing".  That's it.  Nothing more. Sure, that Smith's husband chooses to watch porn films in the privacy of his own home is a personal matter.  But the moment when the taxpayer is expected to pick up the tab is the moment it becomes a public matter.  It remains a public matter even after Smith has apologised and paid the money back, as taxpayers need to know that this kind of thing won't be allowed to happen again.

Peter Hoskin

Obama’s call for unity is a concession to the G20 refuseniks

From our UK edition

Uh-oh.  Reading the FT's Big Interview with Barack Obama (text here, audio here), it sounds as though the US president has given up on a meaningful "global grand bargain" being reached at the London Summit.  Sure, he doesn't quite say it in those words.  In fact, he bandies about terms like "significant progress," and calls for a "strong message of unity," as politicians are wont to do.  But the signs are still there, particularly when he talks about a "fiscal stimulus": "What I have consistently argued is that what is needed is a 'both and approach'. We need stimulus and we need regulation. We need to deal with the problems right in front of us and we also need to make sure we’re taking steps to prevent these types of breakdowns from happening again.

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

Cameron sets out his tough love agenda

From our UK edition

David Cameron's speech to the Welsh Tory party conference serves up some more of those "uncomfortable truths" that George Osborne mentioned a few weeks ago.  Rather than just referring to Labour's debt crisis - although he did plenty of that - he talked about Britain's overall "addiction to debt", and suggested that the public need to change their ways for the country's sake: "We’ve seen too many of the ugly things that happen when people duck responsibility. The father who leaves a mother and child to fend for themselves. The banker who clamours for his bonus when he’s bust the bank. The healthy welfare claimant who thinks it’s OK to live off benefits paid by others. Or the businessman who puts profits before the planet. All this irresponsibility must end.

Peter Hoskin

Pornographic expenses

From our UK edition

Unbelievable.  The news that Jacqui Smith's husband used part of her already-dubious second homes allowance to pay for pornographic films is quite simply unbelievable.  It would be amusing - in a Frankie Howerd, "Titter ye not" kind of way - were it not such a mockery of the taxpayer.  It's more Smith's husband who's at fault here, and - let's be clear - the Home Secretary has said that the expenses claim was made "mistakenly" and is going to pay back the money.  But this story still encapsulates much that's wrong with the political class.

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

Obama to meet Cameron next week<br />

From our UK edition

Oh, how Brown will not like this.  According to the Telegraph's Toby Harnden, Barack Obama will take time to meet David Cameron when he comes over to London for the G20 summit next week.  Although the pair have met before, that was before Obama became US President.  And, surely, a meeting now will be taken as a sign that the US administration thinks Brown is on his way out.  Some summit this is turning out to be for Gordon...

Peter Hoskin

Merkel talks prudence

From our UK edition

For months now, Angela Merkel has stood as one of the biggest impediments to Brown's "global grand bargain".  Whilst our PM's been talking up an international stimulus, she's been lowering expectations ahead of the London Summit - prefering, instead, to talk about tax havens and regulatory change.   Even though her rhetoric sounds a little softer than usual, there's still nothing in Merkel's interview with the FT today to suggest that she's changed tack.  Here, for instance, is her take on bigger public deficits: "Markets, she added, 'expect to see a return to sustainable fiscal policies after the crisis'.

Friday

Peter Hoskin

The Tories need to wake up to the anti-politician atmosphere

From our UK edition

Eric Pickles' appearance on Question Time last night (excruciating video here) should make the Tories sit up and take notice of the anti-politician mood that's swirling around the country.  When even one of their more popular figures (at least among the grassroots) can receive such a public lashing over his dubious housing arrangements, it's a clear sign that action needs to be taken - and pretty damn quick.  So far, the Lib Dems have led on the issue of second homes, calling for the second home allowance to be abolished for London MPs.  But much, much more needs to be done to restore people's faith in the political class.  On that front, Tim Montgomerie's right that David Cameron should start pushing for cuts in MPs' and ministers' pay.

Peter Hoskin

Anticipating a “Budget for jobs”

From our UK edition

As James said earlier, we can expect plenty of failures of expectations management between now and the next election, as the Government searches desperately for fightback opportunities.  After the G20, the next event to hype up is the Budget, and there are already signs that the Government is setting itself up for a fall over that.  Take this revelation in today's FT: "Mr Darling’s aides are privately calling the April 22 statement a 'Budget for jobs', although the limited funds at the chancellor’s disposal may make little impact on the rising tide of unemployment.

Thursday

Peter Hoskin

Another of Brown’s attacks undermined?

From our UK edition

We've already mentioned how Mervyn King's recent comments undermine Brown's central "doing everything it takes" vs "do nothing" distinction.  But a document that the Tories have just put out highlights how another of the PM's central attacks is now in tatters.  Its theme is how Brown has "taken" the Tories' "advice", now that he seems to have backed down on another fiscal stimulus.  This line cuts right through the "no time for a novice" jibe, and subverts the teacher and pupil relationship that Brown has tried to cultivate in PMQs recently (cf, from a couple of weeks ago, his "Unprecedented means without precedent; global means across the world..." monologue).  Brown's strategies, big and small, really do seem to have been shot to pieces this week.

Peter Hoskin

Brown shouldn’t stake his chips on a Budget fightback

From our UK edition

With Brown's G20 agenda looking less globe-shattering, and more shattered, by the minute, Andrew Grice - writing in the New Statesman - reveals that the PM now regards the Budget as a more likely stage for any "political fightback":   "Close allies insist that Brown will focus on the domestic agenda once the G20 show is over, and that he knows the Budget on 22 April will be much more important to his chances of staging another political fightback. 'He has not staked all his chips on a one-day summit,' one said. 'He will move on quickly. He has still got a lot of chips left.'" Still got a lot of chips left, has he?

Peter Hoskin

Balls sets out his ambitions

From our UK edition

Now, this is novel - a politician effectively admitting that they'd like to be party leader.  It may be Ed Balls - interviewed in the latest New Statesman - so the news is hardly a surprise.  But it still makes a change from the usual non-denials we hear from those with an eye on the leadership.  Here's how he puts it: "I’m not going to say that I don’t want to be leader of the Labour Party, that would be a silly thing to say. But if I ended my political career not being [leader], would that be a failure? Absolutely not. And will I always back the leader of the Labour Party? One hundred per cent." And, just for good measure, he rounds off the interview with this: "Would I like to be chancellor at some point in the future? Of course I would.