Yesterday, I suspected that Alistair Darling’s obfuscating language meant that HMT didn’t really have a clue about how to deal with the market turmoil. But the hope was that, behind the confused – and confusing – rhetoric, there lay substantive action. It would seem not, if the reports of the Chancellor’s meeting with bank officials
As Mike Smithson points out over at the indispensable Political Betting, it’s a year to the day since Gordon Brown called off an Autumn general election in an interview with Andrew Marr. Watch the footage below to see the moment CoffeeHousers voted as that “where it all went wrong” for our Dear Leader:
So there we have it – at close, the FTSE share index had dropped by 7.85 percent, its largest one-day fall since 1987. The banks were, predictably, the big losers. HBOS plummeted by 20 percent; the Royal Bank of Scotland by 20 percent; and Barclays by 15 percent. Meanwhile, Alistair Darling gave a statement in Parliament (watch it here) which
The Tory reshuffle has taken place, and it’s a small, but welcome, one. Greg Clark is made the shadow Energy secretary – the equivalent of the role Ed Miliband was given in Brown’s Cabinet reshuffle last week – while Nick Hurd replaces him as shadow Charity Minister. Clark is one of the brightest rising-stars of the 2005 intake, and
Nick Robinson writes that 42-day detention is “politically dead”, and it’s hard to disagree. The measure faces the Lords this week and is expected to be voted down by a massive majority, whilst Gordon Brown has allegedly been warned against forcing it through via the Parliament Act. Any other week, this would be the political
Welcome to the latest CoffeeHousers’ Wall. For those who haven’t come across the Wall before, it’s a post we put up each Monday, on which – provided your writing isn’t libellous, crammed with swearing, or offensive to common decency – you’ll be able to say whatever you like in the comments section. There is no
Brace yourselves for another day of financial turmoil. At time of writing, the FTSE 100 share index has fallen by just under 6 percent; as has Germany’s DAX index. And all this despite the German finance ministry’s €50 billion rescue package for one of the country’s biggest banks, and Angela Merkel’s announcement that the government
1615, Peter Hoskin: Welcome to the Coffee House team’s live blog of Brown’s press conference. You can watch proceedings by clicking here. Expect much ado about Mandy… 1622, PH: Fascinating footage, so far, of two unattended lecturns. Word is we can expect Brown and Darling to appear in around 10 minutes. 1624, PH: Scratch that –
Who would have thought it? The expected “minor reshuffle” developed into the one of the most headline-grabbing reshuffles that you’re ever likely to see, and all thanks to Peter Mandelson’s astonishing return to Cabinet. I’m sure that would have been towards the forefront of Brown’s mind – to wrest the news agenda back from Cameron,
The latest Guardian / ICM poll records the slightest of post-conference poll boosts for the Tories. They’re on 42 percent (up 1 on a poll conducted last week); Labour are on 30 percent (down 2); and the Lib Dems are on 17 percent (down 1). Given that the financial turmoil threatened to make the Birmingham gathering a non-event, I imagine Team Cameron
Has Gordon Brown got bold all of a sudden, or is he just desperate? Quite aside from all the reshuffle drama, the Daily Record are reporting that the PM is going to campaign in Glenrothes for the forthcoming by-election. It sure is a risky move. Not only does it go against all his previous “PMs
1405, Peter Hoskin: Welcome to the Coffee House team’s live blog of David Cameron’s conference speech. Just keep refreshing to get the latest. The Tory leader’s not expected on stage until around 1430, but preview snippets of his speech suggest that the headline message will be: “Britain needs change, not experience”. In the meantime, here’s one for you
In a classic piece of conference choreography, the Georgian Prime Minister – Lado Gurgenidze – has just made a surprise appearance in Birmingham. Sure, he may have met with Gordon Brown a couple of weeks ago, but it’s still quite a coup for the Cameroons. Not only is it a effective reminder that there are
One question that’s been hovering above George Osborne’s council tax pledge is whether his expectation that “100 percent” of councils will sign up to it is overly optimistic. If a survey of London council leaders in today’s Standard is anything to go by, it may well be. That survey finds that 16 of London’s 32 boroughs – every
Currently, the markets seem to be holding up as well as could be expected. At the time of writing: — FTSE is at +0.44 percent — Dow Jones has opened around 2 percent up. — Nasdaq is at +2.48 — Dax is at -1.17 Perhaps the most significant financial indicator of the day is that
Thanks to the indispensable Politics Home, we now have footage of Cameron’s statement on the economy earlier. You can watch it (in 2 parts) below. For Matt’s response to it click here, and for mine click here.
We’ll be providing market updates here on Coffee House and Trading Floor today, as the financial turmoil continues. So, just to recap: — The Dow Jones index closed at -6.98 percent yesterday evening. — Nasdaq closed at -9.14. — The Nikkei index closed this moring at -4.12 — Hang Seng closed at +0.76 And so far today: —
Cameron’s statement on the economy to the Tory party conference was as good as it could be. It won’t win the Conservatives votes, but that’s not the name of the game today. The overriding drive is to look – and be – capable and cooperative. The general message that “The financial system needs protecting; the
Questions abound after the financial panic yesterday, which saw the Dow Jones index experience its biggest-ever one-day fall and which has triggered similar drops in markets across the world. Will a(nother) bailout package be agreed upon in the US? How long might that take? Will more banks collapse? Have we seen worst of it? Only
Perhaps the most signficant aspect of Osborne’s council tax proposal is the method in which it will be funded – not by increasing tax elsewhere, but by makings savings both at a local level and on the current Government’s spending on consultants and advertising. It’s the boldest attack the Cameroons have yet made on government
