Coffee House The Spectator Blog
Labour is after the Tories’ localism crown
Stephen Twigg is, as he probably expected, coming in for a bit of flak on his U-turn on free schools this morning. Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary has launched his own… Continue reading
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Someone has got to win the next election
It is easy to make a case for why all three main parties should do badly at the next election. After five years of austerity, who will vote for the… Continue reading
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Tories toast Labour abstention plan for EU bill
From being all over the shop in the past few months when it came to message discipline, the Tories have gone into overdrive in the last two days after the… Continue reading
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The Tory plan to beat Miliband
The Tories are chuffed with yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (the knockabout, that is, not the serious bit), and with Labour’s continuing struggle to make any impact in the polls. Earlier… Continue reading
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How should Labour deal with the teaching unions?
While dealing with the teaching unions is a simple stand-off for Michael Gove, spare a thought for poor old Stephen Twigg, Labour’s shadow education secretary, who has to work out… Continue reading
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Ed Balls: Labour will include pensions in its welfare cap
Ed Balls has just told Andrew Neil on the Sunday Politics that Labour will include pensions in their welfare cap. This opens up a major dividing line with the Tories… Continue reading
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Prism controversy will deepen coalition divisions over the snooper’s charter
GCHQ’s use of the US monitoring system Prism is threatening to turn into a major political row. Douglas Alexander is demanding that William Hague come to the House of Commons… Continue reading
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Labour’s localism epiphany
Just because Labour has been taking a big dose of reality this week doesn’t mean the party is now refusing to make the most of any botch job by the… Continue reading
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How Ed Miliband avoided open warfare on welfare
For months, right-wing politicians and commentators have been licking their lips waiting for the Labour party to face up to reality. We all assumed that the sort of speeches delivered… Continue reading
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This poster is why Number 10 is so confident Clegg will stay solid on union curbs
Given all the coalition tensions over Clegg supposedly reneging on his promise to back childcare reform, it is surprising how confident Number 10 is that he’ll stay the course on… Continue reading
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The political centre just moved, to the right
Today must count as one of the most encouraging days for the centre right in British politics in recent times. Labour’s apparent abandonment of universal child benefit is a massive… Continue reading
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How Labour’s change of heart on welfare will help the Tories
That Labour wouldn’t scrap the Coalition’s cuts to child benefit for higher earners isn’t a surprise. It is just one of the many admissions that the party will need to… Continue reading
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Michael Gove gets his way with GCSEs…in the end
You just can’t keep Michael Gove down. After beating a very public retreat by u-turning on plans to replace GCSEs earlier this year, he’s announced today the all-new I-level qualifications.… Continue reading
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The political battle over A&E will get nastier before the problem is solved
Today’s row about Accident and Emergency has little to do with the issue itself, and far more about one party trying to prove a point about the other. Those rows… Continue reading
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The significance of Ed Balls’s speech, and what it means for Ukip
Ed Balls’s speech today is significant for two reasons. First, it implied that a Labour government in 2015 would not spend more on current spending. But, rather, it would borrow… Continue reading
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Ed Balls steels himself for spending review battle
Ed Balls has had plenty of warning about how politically dangerous this month’s spending review will be for him. James reported in April that George Osborne planned to use the… Continue reading
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Michael Gove’s campaigning masterclass
In the past few weeks, the Tories have been so busy fighting each other that they appear to have forgotten about the Opposition party. But now, while things are quieter… Continue reading
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What Labour wishes the OECD said about Plan A – and what it actually said
Labour is apparently thrilled with the OECD’s assessment of the UK economy, released today. The think tank cut its growth forecasts from 0.9 per cent to 0.8 for 2013 and… Continue reading
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Ed Balls tries to shake off child in a sweetshop spending image
Anyone reading Sam Coates’ interview with Ed Balls in today’s Times might be forgiven for chucking their newspaper on the floor with a chuckle, muttering about the hypocrisy of a… Continue reading
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Gay marriage easily passes third reading vote in the Commons
After all the parliamentary back and forth yesterday, gay marriage passed third reading by the comfortable margin of 366 to 161. Tory sources are briefing that fewer of their MPs… Continue reading
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