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Ed Miliband’s speech to the Labour conference this afternoon was undoubtably his best speech yet and has revitalised the Labour cause.The Spectator team have gathered this evening in Manchester for a special podcast to discuss both Miliband’s speech and the Labour conference overall: The View from 22 – 2 October 2012. Length 13:24 Download audio
From our UK edition
As Ed Miliband prepares to present a carefully crafted image of ‘Ed the human’ to the Labour conference this afternoon, polling out today suggests the nation still does not see him as a future Prime Minister. In a ComRes poll for the Independent, just 22 per cent of voters said they agree that Ed Miliband
From our UK edition
‘Intellectual laziness’ — that’s how Chris Bryant described the left’s bashing of the Tories’ tough stance on immigration. The shadow immigration minister spoke this evening of his ambition to shape a new immigration policy for Labour in the role he personally requested from Ed Miliband: ‘By the next general election, I want to build a coalition
From our UK edition
Ed Balls channelled the bad cop with the trade unions this morning, warning conference that ‘there will be difficult decisions in the future from which we will not flinch.’ This afternoon, Chuka Umunna was sent out to play the alternative good cop. The shadow business secretary spoke at a Unite fringe event this lunchtime, repeating
From our UK edition
Rumours are swirling at this Labour conference that the party leadership is considering offering a referendum on Britain’s relationship with the European Union. If the party did do as Jon Cruddas hinted it should over the weekend in the Telegraph, we at least know how Douglas Alexander would campaign. The shadow foreign secretary told an
From our UK edition
Brighton was touched with a smidgen of stardust this evening as Steve Coogan surfaced with the Hacked Off pressure group. Having previously appeared as a public face for press reform, the comedian spoke to stress his role in the campaign is not a personal one, despite not being a ‘strong campaigning person’: ‘I’m just here to
From our UK edition
‘I can see there are several journalists here, so we might as well get Andrew Mitchell out of the way’. Channel 4’s Michael Crick decided to kick off his lunchtime fringe session with the big political row brewing far away from the Brighton Centre. Irene Curtis, president-elect of the Police Superintendents’ Association, began by venting
From our UK edition
Andrew Mitchell’s future as Chief Whip is not looking bright thanks to two stories in today’s papers. The first is from the Times, which reports (£) that Mitchell went for two expensive outings on the ‘long and hard day’ the incident occurred. At lunchtime, the Chief Whip visited the Cinnamon Club – a £50-a-head Indian restaurant
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Polls don’t and shouldn’t matter to Liberal Democrats, so says Paddy Ashdown. The ex-Lib Dem leader managed to whip activists into a yellow-tinged frenzy this afternoon at a packed out polling discussion. Ashdown refuted that his party has been smothered with an ‘atmosphere of political gloom’ and ordered the rank and file to ‘ignore these
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Danny Alexander had reason to be very chuffed this morning when his party gave its overwhelming support to a motion he tabled, praising George Osborne’s Plan A for the economy. The motion also welcomed the recent infrastructure announcements from the government, underlining that these investments were possible as a result of the government’s ‘hard-won fiscal
From our UK edition
Distinctive not destructive — that’s Tim Farron’s view on how the Liberal Democrats can redefine themselves within government. Speaking to the New Statesman after his muted conference speech today, the Lib Dem president blamed the media’s narrow perception of the coalition for a misunderstanding of their partnership with the Tories. Tantalisingly, he made reference to
From our UK edition
Though it was never going to make the earth move, Ed Davey’s speech to the Liberal Democrat conference highlighted the party’s push for differentiation on the green agenda. The Energy and Climate Change Secretary was clear that installing Owen Paterson, as the new Environment Secretary, would not stop the Lib Dems fighting for a green
From our UK edition
UKIP members are gathering for their annual conference in Birmingham today and frustratingly for the party, it remains a niche political event. Unlike the media explosion for the other three political gatherings, UKIP’s two day rally will have no wall-to-wall TV coverage and little in-depth analysis of the speeches. But since Nigel Farage gathered his
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Will Nick Clegg’s political career come to a crashing end in tandem with the end of the coalition? In this week’s magazine, James Forsyth examines how the Lib Dem leader has put the coalition cause ahead of both his party and own political career. On the latest View from 22 podcast, James examines the Lib Dem’s
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‘I don’t think we can have a referendum on independence unless we have a single question’. Michael Moore was unequivocal this afternoon: the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence will be a single-question vote, or it won’t happen at all. The Scottish Secretary made his determination quite clear when he appeared before the Scottish Affairs Select
From our UK edition
The merger of British BAE Systems with French giant EADS finds the government at a tricky crossroads for the future of the UK’s defence industry. Although merging with EADS threatens to rip the heart out of Britain’s largest defence firm, BAE has little choice. The firm has suffered from spending cuts on both sides of
From our UK edition
Is the government about to start digitally invading every single aspect of our lives? In this week’s cover feature, Nick Cohen questions exactly what and how the government is trying to achieve with the upcoming snooping bill. Discussing the matter future on our View from 22 podcast, director of the Big Brother Watch campaign group Nick
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If Boris Johnson was leader of the Conservative Party, would his presence reverse the party’s declining fortunes? This is the million dollar question on the mind of many Tories after the Mayor’s summer of success. YouGov have attempted to provide an answer by putting two scenarios to the public for the next general election —
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Last week’s reshuffle not only brought in some interesting new junior ministers, but also some fresh faces to the Conservative Whips’ Office. Rebellions on the backbenches have become a headache for David Cameron in the last few months, leading him to adopt two new strategies to try to bring his party back under control. The
From our UK edition
Has David Cameron’s reshuffle been a move to the right, a rearrangement of chairs on a sinking ship or will it make no difference at all? On this week’s View from 22 podcast, Fraser Nelson provides his take on what the reshuffle says about the future direction of Cameron’s premiership: ‘I think we’ve seen David Cameron
