By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter The media is intent on a "Tory splits" narrative. Given the obsessive focus on any hint of disagreement on the blue side of the House, it is surprising that there has been so little reporting of Labour's splits. They do have them – three in the last four days, in fact. Here […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Thanks to the assiduity of Martha Kearney, Ed Miliband and his deficit enlargement plan are in the news. Would he borrow more to fund his proposed VAT cut? Um, ah, well, he wouldn’t admit it on Radio 4’s The World at One yesterday. But he did on ITV’s Daybreak this […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Unsurprisingly, Labour aren’t letting the absence of a triple-dip hold them back. They’ve released an online poster highlighting the sad truth that this is the slowest economic recovery in 100 years. But CCHQ aren’t holding back either. They’ve done their own insta-version of the Labour poster, using that ol’ favourite […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter The hull of HMS Ed Balls has taken a real pounding in recent months – the Guardian published an editorial calling for him to be replaced; prominent lefties have written letters to the same effect; and David Miliband has been touted as a likely substitute. And yet, this week, Mr […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Labour is today proposing a motion in favour of a mansions tax. It reads as follows: "That this House believes that a mansion tax on properties worth over £2m, to fund a tax cut for millions of people on middle and low incomes, should be part of a fair […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Ed Balls says today that directors shouldn't receive 30 per cent of their salary for five years – and he has cover. The review of how to tackle the "short-term, fast buck" culture has been carried out by…Sir George Cox, the former director general of the Institute of Directors. […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter The biographer, headmaster and all-round political player Anthony Seldon has written a letter to savour for tomorrow's edition of the New Statesman, in which he calls on Ed Balls to stand down as shadow chancellor. Here are some excerpts: “After 20 unbroken years at the heart of politic… quitting in […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter If you believe that David Cameron’s likeliest route back to No.10 in 2015 is another coalition with the Lib Dems, then then the past fortnight may have been rather perturbing. Reason being, there are increasing signs of unity between Labour and the Lib Dems. Of course, the two parties appear […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. If Ed Miliband commits to David Cameron's In-Out referendum, he could lose it if he becomes Prime Minister – and might well then have to quit. (A Prime Minister Miliband recommending a Yes vote, with an Out-leaning Conservative Party urging No, is a very different animal from a Prime […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter It’s only 239-words long, but this Guardian editorial packs quite a wallop — particularly if your name is Edward Michael Balls and you’re the shadow chancellor. Indeed, it contains an implicit attack on Mr Balls in its very headline, which pitches the idea of Paul Krugman, American commentator and Nobel […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Standing in for the recovering Andrew Marr, James Landale managed to extract several noteworthy lines from Ed Miliband on the Marr Show earlier. Among them was the Labour leader’s claim that, despite recent speculation to the contrary, Ed Balls would “absolutely” remain in his job until 2015 — but more […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Tension between the Labour leader and the man he’s put in charge of his party’s economic policy? Who’s ever heard of such a thing?! But, despite there being absolutely no precedent for it whatsoever, it appears that such tension may exist — at least judging by Kevin Maguire’s article for […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Ed Balls’s article for PoliticsHome is a grand piece of political positioning. Labour have already gone down the road of attacking the Coalition for excessive benefit cuts, but they also don’t want to appear too lenient on welfare themselves; and so the shadow chancellor offers a policy that caters to […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. The lower growth is, the lower tax revenues will be. The lower tax revenues are, the less money there is for public services. And the less money there is for public services, the more pressure the Shadow Chancellor will come under, as the next election approaches, to promise to […]
Is George Osborne’s ‘Plan A’ working? Well, it might if the recent upturn in growth is sustained, if inflation stays (more or less) under control and if the final reckoning for the Eurozone is put off a while longer. That’s a lot of ifs. But it’s clearly what the Conservative leadership is betting on. Unable, […]