One of the more startling aspects of the nascent Labour leadership struggle is just how quickly it’s dissolved into a Blairite-Brownite feud. Of course, it helps that David Milband – the key, would-be challenger – was one of Blair’s most trusted lieutenants. Then that Blair memo appeared, to stoke the flames of internecine struggle. And now the papers report
Harriet Harman has been one of those mooted to succeed Gordon Brown. But here’s what she says in today’s News of the World (article not online, as far as I can tell): “When you face these kinds of global problems you need as prime minister someone who is respected … Gordon Brown is the right person for
If you haven’t already, do check out Matthew Parris’ article from the latest issue of the magazine, on whether doubt is a necessary component of faith.
The Miliband leadership bid is picking up steam. According to today’s Sunday Telegraph, his team are already drafting the Foreign Secretary’s speech for the upcoming Labour conference – and it’s set to offer an “alternative vision of Labour’s future” to the one put forward by Brown. All fascinating stuff. But, in the same Sunday Telegraph article,
Earlier this week, the expectation was the the Brownite attack dogs would set about demolishing David Miliband in today’s papers. But – as I outlined here – they were soon brought to heel by Brown, on Stephen Carter’s advice. So what’s in today’s paper’s instead? Answer: a whole load of trouble for our Prime Minister.
We’re introducing a new feature to Coffee House – the Sunday Essay. Each Sunday, we’ll post an essay by one of our readers, on any political, cultural or sporting topic. The first essay will appear on Sunday, 10 August. If you’d like your writing to be considered, just e-mail an article of between 500 and 1500 words to me at
Hearty congratulations to Mark Ramprakash for becoming only the 25th player to score 100 first class centuries. It’s quite a feat, and underlines his status as one of the modern game’s finest batsmen. I’m sure many CoffeeHousers will – like me – be looking forward to century number 101.
Polly Toynbee’s article in today’s Guardian is really quite remarkable. She’s certainly cooled towards Brown and his government over recent months. But now the split is complete and unequivocal. Here’s what she has to say about the Prime Minister’s reshuffle plans: “It’s all too late. No one listens to a leader once 85% of people decide
Brace yourselves – the reshuffle forecasts have shifted from ‘likely’ to ‘imminent’. According to this morning’s paper’s, one could come as early as September 1st, as Brown tries to reestablish his government after the summer recess. So, who’ll go where? Well, there’s talk of promotions to the Cabinet for Liam Bryne and Jim Murphy (the former was awarded The Spectator/Threadneedle’s ‘Minister to Watch’
It’s been a week since we asked CoffeeHousers to put forward their questions for Chris Grayling. We’ve since picked out the best five, which have now been put to the shadow work and pensions secretary. He’ll get back to us at the start of next week. The CoffeeHousers whose questions were chosen can e-mail me
Much has been made about the tensions between the Brownite old guard and the Stephen Carter-led new guard at No.10. Those same tensions are now threatening to play havoc with Brown’s response to the speculation surrounding his position. The initial response of “Brown’s allies” to Miliband’s infamous op-ed was all-out war. They briefed newspapers that the
Ok, so that isn’t a new quote from David Miliband – it’s the headline to an article he penned for The Spectator back in October 2006. After the events of the past week, it’s well worth another read. UPDATE: At the suggestion of CoffeeHouser Terry (see comments below), here’s Oliver Letwin’s reponse to Miliband – ‘It is
Boris has endorsed Barack Obama’s bid for the US Presidency, claiming that a victory for the Illinois senator would “do fantastic things for the confidence and feelings of black people around the world”. It means the London Mayor has broken political convention on getting involved in foreign elections. And I imagine he’s ruffled a few Tory
Since June, Jack Straw’s been trying to push through reforms which would limit the Tories’ ability to pour £millions into key marginal seats between elections – the ‘Ashcroft Effect’ as it’s sometimes called. Well, it’s not looking too promising for Straw’s plans. The Guardian have got their hands on a document in which the Electoral Commission’s chief executive, Peter Wardle, expresses “serious
The Telegraph have just posted the results of their latest YouGov poll. It has the Tories a hefty 22 points ahead of Labour. And Brown’s personal ratings are disastrous. Only 15 percent of voters think he’s up the job; 65 percent believe he’s an electoral liability; and 45 percent say that Labour’s chances would improve were Brown replaced. The list goes
David Miliband has “suddenly” cancelled a trip to India, which was originally scheduled for September. The Times has the full story here.
You can read – and comment on – his article here.
I wrote earlier that Brown is being urged to sack David Miliband. But the Mirror’s Bob Roberts puts forward a different scenario – that Brown annoints Miliband as his heir apparent, thereby avoiding a leadership challenge now. According to Roberts, our Prime Minister’s “ready” to do this, too – he may even seal the deal by making
As Fraser writes in his cover piece today, Miliband doesn’t want to bloody his hands during any leadership struggle. Sure, the Foreign Secretary’s plotting with the best of them. But as for being the one to stick the knife between Brown’s shoulder-blades – that can be left for Jack Straw or any of that batch
If so, you may want to print out the speech that Matthew Parris wrote for you in The Spectator recently.