By Paul Goodman George Osborne will be held accountable for the economic analysis that he produces and for any forecasts which he makes. The independent Office of Budget Responsibility will be treated in the same way. So should Ed Balls. Why, since Balls isn't Labour's Shadow Chancellor? (Unready Eddie, fearful of the Balls/Cooper double act, […]
By Paul Goodman The IPPR seems to have waited until Theresa May's immigration announcement was out of the way before launching a series of essays by senior Labour figures on the last government's record on the matter. The Guardian published a story yesterday evening based on the essays, and the key quotes are an indictment […]
Tim Montgomerie Ed Miliband returns to work today after his paternity break. His party is level-pegging in the polls but he hasn't enjoyed any honeymoon since becoming leader. If anything his party is doing slightly worse than before he became leader… despite George Osborne's announcement of spending cuts… despite an average disapproval rating for the […]
By Jonathan Isaby Great timing for this year's Labour North West Regional Conference, which is taking place this weekend in Southport – to coincide with the election of one of the region's Labour MPs being declared void. After some hours' prevarication, Phil Woolas was suspended from the Labour Party yesterday afternoon in disgrace and Harriet […]
By Paul Goodman A leader's first requirement is authority. He or she must be able to lead and, almost as importantly, be seen to do so – to project confidence and command. I thought that Ed Miliband's first Shadow Cabinet was a fair play of a hand of cards that he hadn't chosen. But as […]
By Paul Goodman Seven quick points on the Shadow Cabinet reshuffle – David Cameron's first Shadow Cabinet appointments showed confidence. Ed Miliband's show fear. Cameron had won two-thirds of the vote in his election as Conservative leader. Miliband won barely 50 per cent – and, as CCHQ has been reminding anyone who'll listen, failed to […]
By Paul Goodman It should go roughly like this – "Conference, my election as this Party's leader was the greatest moment of my political life. But we have to face the facts – namely, that two out of three parts of our electoral college voted for someone else. And not just any old two parts. […]
by Paul Goodman If there was a better result for CCHQ in its dreams, I don't know what it could have been. This is a woeful result for Labour, for two – no, let's say twin – reasons. First, because Cain's slain Abel by the narrowest of margins. Second, because the trade unions backed the […]
By Paul Goodman When I heard Tony Blair make the following remark in his Marr interview, I felt as though a glass of cold water had been thrown over my face – "It is wholly unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons. I think we've got to be prepared to confront them … if necessarily, […]
By Paul Goodman There've been very many Labour leadership debates over this long summer. Few have followed them in detail. This evening's one, hosted by Channel 4, may have been different: after all, Labour members' ballot papers are currently arriving in the post. I watched it with three questions in mind. What was each candidate […]
By Jonathan Isaby Ed Balls – whose odds of becoming Labour leader are now 50-1 according to Ladbrokes – this morning gave what many (such as Peter Hoskin) are concluding was a pitch for the shadow chancellorship under whichever Miliband wins the day (Paul Goodman has already advised them against this course of action here). […]
By Tim Montgomerie There are certain ministers who don't need any excuse to bash Labour; Eric Pickles has repeatedly uncovered stories damaging to his profligate predecessors (eg here and here and here); Chris Grayling wins the front page of today's Express and this in The Times (£) for his press release noting that MORE THAN […]
By Paul Goodman Alistair Darling gave George Osborne an end-of-term present on Marr earlier this morning. He said that he wished that he'd won Cabinet battles over whether Labour should have committed to raise VAT at the general election. "Yeah, obviously," he said when asked whether he'd like to have won the dispute over the […]
By Paul Goodman Lots of speculation this evening that Ed Balls may be about to pull out of Labour's leadership contest. Patrick Hennessy of the Sunday Telegraph has some of the details. Unite went for Ed Miliband today – making a hat-trick for him of the big unions: Unison and the GMB are already on […]
By Paul Goodman As you may know, I wrote an open letter to you last month. It assumed that you'll win Labour's leadership contest. I may be wrong about the outcome, but have seen nothing since then to make that outcome less likely. In my note, I offered you some advice and, as I reminded […]