Peter Hoskin

Friday

Peter Hoskin

Beyond Gaddafi, America turns its attention to Pakistan

It's hard to recall a more grisly complement of newspaper covers than those this morning. Only the FT refrains from showing either Gaddafi's stumbling last moments or his corpse, whereas the Sun runs with the headline, big and plain: "That's for Lockerbie". The insides of the papers are more uncertain. There are doubts about the details, such as what has happened to Gaddafi's infamous son Saif. And there are doubts about the general tide of events too. Several commentators, including Peter Oborne, make the point that the passing of Gaddafi is only the first phase in Libya's struggle towards democracy — and it is a struggle that might easily be forced off course by various factions, splinter groups and madmen.

Thursday

Peter Hoskin

Gaddafi dead?

Let's keep the question mark in the headline for now, but it does sound as though Colonel Gaddafi's elusion from his opponents may have come to an end. Representatives of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) are claiming that the deposed dictator was captured in Sirte this morning, and is possibly now dead. There has been no independent verification thus far, but the city is said to be echoing to the sound of celebratory gunfire. UPDATE: Still no confirmation from anyone beyond the NTC, although Al Jazeera is showing gruesome video footage of what's claimed to be Gaddafi's corpse being rolled around a street in Sirte. And there's this photo too.

Peter Hoskin

Cable can’t make any promises

Did you realise that today is the first anniversary of the government's Spending Review? Neither did I until the politicians started making a fuss about it, starting with Vince Cable on the TV last night. We'll post video footage of the Business Secretary's performance when we can, but this write-up here just about covers it. He made a few earcatching remarks — among them that "we didn't know that there would be a major crisis in our export markets and that energy prices would shoot up" — but one has captured the headlines more than any other. Asked whether he could promise that we wouldn't experience a double-dip recession, Cable replied: "I can't do that. We know conditions are very difficult but the government is doing the best it can to protect people.

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Cameron starts playing catch-up over the EU referendum vote

Adjust your calendars, CoffeeHousers. The parliamentary vote on an EU referendum is no longer set for next Thursday. As the Mail's James Chapman revealed this evening, Downing Street has moved it forward to Monday so that David Cameron and William Hague can both attend. They would have been away on government business otherwise. What to make of this hasty measure? I suppose it could feasibly be seen as a scare tactic on the part of No.10: strengthening the current three line whip by making it very clear that Dave Is Watching You. But it's far more likely that Cameron is appearing in order to set out the sorts of concessions that James mentioned earlier. There are, after all, almost 50 Tory backbenchers signed up to the original motion — 50 potential rebels.

Peter Hoskin

Will IDS’s reforms get stuck in Whitehall’s digital mire?

"7m caught in tax blunder," trumpets the cover of this morning's Daily Mail. "After a series of errors, six million will get an average £400 rebate, while a million face demand to pay £600." It's a good story — but it's also sadly, wearily familiar. Rewind the tape to last November, and the Telegraph was running with the headline, "New HMRC tax blunder means thousands face demands to repay". Last September, the Guardian had an article about the 10 million people who might be owed rebates. Last August … oh, you get the point. Nary a month has passed without some tale of how HMRC has screwed up once again.

Tuesday

Peter Hoskin

O’Donnell kicks Fox, but not too hard

It isn't over. That's the abiding impression after reading Gus O'Donnell's report into the Liam Fox farrago. I mean, the outgoing Cabinet Secretary basically admits as much in the opening paragraph of the document: "more allegations about Dr Fox's conduct have arisen," it observes, "many of which will be the responsibility of others to answer, including the Electoral Commission which regulates political parties and their funding." It goes on to clarify that, "This report looks into allegations relating to potential breaches of the Ministerial Code". In other words, this investigation was specific, not far-reaching — and it shows. So what does O'Donnell actually conclude? As expected, he does kick Fox in his post-ministerial shins for breaching the Ministerial Code.

Peter Hoskin

Gus O’Donnell reports — and Liam Fox responds

Gus O'Donnell's report into Liam Fox, Adam Werritty and all that has finally been released. You can read all ten pages of it here. We shall have more on it shortly, but, for the time being, here's Liam Fox's statement in response: “I am pleased that the report makes clear that the two most serious allegations, namely of any financial gain sought, expected or received by myself and any breach of national security, have no basis. As I said in the House of Commons last week, I accept that it was a mistake to allow the distinctions between government and private roles to become blurred, and I must take my share of the responsibility for this.

Peter Hoskin

King’s “temporary” inflation persists

Woah. We're used to Mervyn King's monthly letter to explain the latest inflationary overshoot by now — but this, this is still quite something. CPI inflation rose to 5.2 per cent in September, a 0.7 percentage point increase on the month before and equal to the previous record level set in September 2008. RPI inflation, meanwhile, stood at 5.6 per cent, its highest since June 1991. And so the cost of living is shooting up, while growth and wages stall. It's a particularly poisonous brew. Yet here's the thing: King and George Osborne are warning that deflation is still the problem. Their position is that once temporary factors — such as oil prices and inflationary taxes — are removed from the equation, then prices will come rattling down.

Peter Hoskin

Inflation soars

CPI inflation at 5.2 per cent in September, a three-year high. RPI inflation 5.6 per cent, the highest for twenty years. UPDATE: More from me here.

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

What will Osborne’s offer to the IMF amount to?

George Osborne's allies may be filtering across government, but what of the man himself? He was at a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Paris yesterday, and trying to maintain a difficult balance over the imploding eurozone. In part, our Chancellor was firm about Europe's troubles — the area, he said, "remains the epicentre of the world's current economic problems," and he urged its leaders to come up with something "quite impressive" at next weekend's European Council meeting. But he also tried to sound understanding — the UK, he suggested, would consider shuffling more cash into the IMF's bailout account. The offer of more funding for the IMF was arresting — but it's uncertain what it will come to, or whether it will come to anything at all.

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

Liam Fox, the morning after

It is as you'd think: a sea of news coverage and commentary about Liam Fox's departure. Some of its currents are merciless, such as the Mirror's front cover. Some are more circumspect, such as an excellent pair of articles by The Spectator's own Matthew Parris (£) and Charles Moore. But, on the whole, there is a strange absence of finality about this story. A Defence Secretary has resigned – and rightly so, I think – but we still cannot be completely sure why. Maybe it is just the "appearance of impropreity," as Philip Stephens puts it, that killed this Fox. Or maybe there is something more poisonous waiting to emerge in the next few days. The dots are still being connected, the knots of Adam Werritty's business dealings still being untangled.

Thursday

Peter Hoskin

Happy Birthday, Mrs T

It is, you may have heard, Margaret Thatcher's 86th Birthday today. By way of a congratulatory toast to the Iron Lady, here's a thought-filled article that T.E. Utley wrote about her politics, for The Spectator, some 25 years ago: Don't call it Thatcherism, T.E. Utley, The Spectator, 19 August 1986 There is no such thing as Thatcherism. The illusion that there is is in part a deliberate creation of Mrs Thatcher's enemies. They have proceeded on the age-old maxim that there is nothing (certainly not private scandal) more likely to injure the reputation of a British politician than the suggest that he has an inflexible devotion to principle. This maxim is only partly true, but is an unshakeably established belief, a fact which helps to make it truer than it otherwise would be.

Peter Hoskin

Miliband and Balls, in tandem

So, CoffeeHousers, are Eds Balls and Miliband a gruesome twosome or the most sparkling partnership since Torvill and Dean? I ask only because they're really pushing the double-act shtick today. There's their first-ever joint interview in the Evening Standard, for instance, in which they reminisce about the Shadow Chancellor's 30th Birthday party, among other things. And then there was their joint appearance to officially launch Labour's 'plan for growth' campaign this afternoon. They were talking policy, but there was also a strong emphasis on their personal relationship: eye contact, anecdotes, that sort of thing. Blair and Brown we are not, they seemed to be saying. As for the policy, if you heard Ed Balls' speech to the Labour party conference, then you've heard it before.

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Iran crosses a line

A flurry of news yesterday evening, among it Slovakia's rejection of the euro bailout and even more ado about our Defence Secretary. But nothing nearly as striking as the alleged Iranian plot to murder the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Drugs, money, geopolitics, potential mass slaughter — this is a web of the most tangled and terrifying kind. And, according to US officials, it all leads back to Tehran. Assuming that that's the case, there can few more alarming reminders of the threat posed by Iran. Here is a regime that is bent on terror and destabilisation — and bent, also, on acquiring a nuclear weapon. Little wonder why politicians from Tony Blair to, yes, Liam Fox are waving red flags about the situation. But what will it all come to?

Sunday

Peter Hoskin

Fox on a knife edge

Another deluge of awkward news stories for Liam Fox this morning, with almost every paper providing new details for our consideration. The Observer has video footage and emails which suggest that Adam Werritty was indeed a close participant in the Defence Secretary's meetings with foreign dignitaries and businessmen. The Sunday Telegraph quotes Fox as saying that "I have absolutely no fear of complete transparency in these matters," but adds a warning from Whitehall sources that he "could be gone within days". And, perhaps most concerning of all, a senior MoD type tells the Independent on Sunday that "[Werritty] appears to have been involved in arms contracts all over the place". The story is now taking on a dangerous, two-tone complexion for Fox.

Saturday

Peter Hoskin

Fox hunt

This is one Fox who doesn't have the benefit of a hole to bolt into. He is on open ground, and exposed even more this morning by fresh revelations surrounding his relationship with Andrew Werritty. A business card and a self-aggradising title, that certainly smelt of impropriety. But now we're talking about sensitive business meetings arranged by Werritty, and attended by both him and Fox. It's a whole different level of concern. And it leaves Fox in a most difficult position. The FT has the full story, but basically Werritty arranged for Fox to meet a group of businessmen in Dubai looking to transfer "communications technology" to the Libyan rebels. One of the suits present at the meeting tells the paper that, "His business card looks very official.

Friday

Peter Hoskin

How bad is it, Mervyn?

Remember when Alistair Darling said that we faced the worst financial crisis for sixty years? Now Mervyn King has trumped that piece of doom-mongery by telling Channel 4 last night that "This is undoubtedly the biggest financial crisis the world economy has ever faced" (see video above, three minutes in). The Governor of the Bank of England saying that this is the worst crisis ever? On the day that he rushed another £75 billion into the economy? As mood music goes, it is a particularly dreadful symphony.       It is also the sort of situation that Ed Balls will relish, especially with the Pre-Budget Report approaching. And it is true: George Osborne is in a tight spot, both politically and economically.

Wednesday

Peter Hoskin

Cameron’s leadership pitch

Leadership, leadership, leadership. You couldn't miss it. Leadership wasn't just the clearest theme of David Cameron's speech to the Tory conference just now, but also one of its most common words. By my count, it popped up around 30 times. "I'm proud to lead this party," he said in the very first paragraph. "It is leadership we need," he continued. The aim, I'm sure, was to paint an even stronger contrast between David Cameron the Prime Minister and Ed Miliband the Sub-Prime Ministerial. But Cameron wasn't just talking about his own leadership. As he put it himself, "success will come: with the right ideas, the right approach, the right leadership. Leadership from government: to set out the direction we must take, and the choices we must make.