Coffee House The Spectator Blog
The latest twists in the fundraising scandal
Gordon Brown’s press conference was, unsurprisingly, dominated by the Labour fundraising scandal. Notably, Brown described Peter Watt’s resignation as a “necessary first step.” He also expressed his confidence in Harriet… Continue reading
14 CommentsWhat should be the first question of the Brown press conference
Daniel Finkelstein flags up the key questions that Labour must answer about this whole fundraising affair. Do read the whole thing.
2 CommentsQuiz night
The competitive spirit never ceases to amaze me and it was flamboyantly evident last night at a gathering in Hammersmith Town Hall to raise funds for RAPT, the Rehabilitation for… Continue reading
1 CommentMore bad headlines for Labour
The morning papers are dominated by the Labour fundraising scandal and the resignation of the Labour Secretary-General Peter Watt. The Daily Telegraph reports that, “David Abrahams, the millionaire property developer… Continue reading
1 CommentLabour fall through the 30 percent floor
A new ComRes poll has Labour at 27%, Conservative Home is reporting tonight. This is the lowest number Labour has recorded in this poll since April 2007 while the Conservative… Continue reading
2 CommentsFundraising scandal leads to key Labour figure’s resignation
Labour’s General Secretary Peter Watt has tonight resigned over the fundraising scandal that broke this weekend. Watt resigned because he knew that property developer David Abrahams was donating money to… Continue reading
7 CommentsGame on
In a TV interview tonight, Barack Obama takes one of his harshest shots yet at Hillary Clinton. "I think the fact of the matter is that Senator Clinton is claiming… Continue reading
3 CommentsWhy the Oxford Union has it wrong
The Oxford Union’s decision to invite David Irving and Nick Griffin to speak confuses the right to free speech with a duty to offer people a platform. Nick Griffin is,… Continue reading
30 CommentsThe tide continues to turn
Hot on the heels of Adam Boulton speculating about whether Gordon Brown is cut out for the job of being Prime Minister, we have Trevor Kavanagh predicting in his Sun column… Continue reading
1 CommentHow bad is it for Brown?
Jackie Ashley is one of the columnists who is normally most sympathetic to Gordon Brown. So her take on the issue of how much trouble the Prime Minister is in… Continue reading
3 CommentsWhat price red tape?
The Observer has a very readable piece on the opaque nature of the European Parliament this week. One fact in it is truly shocking, even to someone fairly sceptical about… Continue reading
0 CommentsLook who’s coming to dinner
Barack Obama got the question about who he would invite to his ideal dinner party from a newspaper in New Hampshire. The guest list of Jesus, Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln… Continue reading
12 CommentsEducating Gordon Brown
One of the least explored defects of this government is what Rabbi Lionel Blue calls “moral short-sightedness” – the ability to see problems on another continent, but not on one’s… Continue reading
12 CommentsKey Clinton adviser wants more US troops sent to the Balkans
Richard Holbrooke, America’s UN Ambassador under Bill Clinton who is expected to become Secretary of State if Hillary Clinton wins the White House, has an op-ed in the Washington Post… Continue reading
4 CommentsDes Browne’s Defence Spending Fiddle
The government’s response to the Thursday attack by the defence chiefs was to claim that Britain has the second-highest defence spending in the world. It was a new one to… Continue reading
7 CommentsNot good news, Darling
Tomorrow’s News of the World has a poll which gives the last rites to Brown’s reputation for economic competence. It is truly devastating on many levels. 1. Two months ago… Continue reading
28 CommentsCan Gordon recover?
With Labour down to 31% in the polls, talk has already started about whether the Brown premiership is salvageable or not. It is premature, if tempting, to declare that it… Continue reading
9 CommentsWeekend viewing
You can listen to this week’s Spectator / Intelligence Squared debate on whether Britain needs Trident via this link—speakers include Baroness Helena Kennedy and Sir Malcolm Rifkind. We also have… Continue reading
0 CommentsThe shape of the race
As America tucks into turkey sandwiches now seems as good a time as any to assess the state of the presidential race. The first contests are now only a little… Continue reading
1 CommentGrammar school numbers up by more than 20% under Labour
Labour talks about grammar schools as if they are something out of the dark ages. They’re also currently trying to make it easier for them to be abolished by ballot.… Continue reading
8 Comments