LATEST POSTS David Cameron and his wife Samantha after his keynote speech (Photo: PA) Big business interests and lobbyists are again turning the Tories into an elitist organisation It was not quite the most boring Conservative conference in the party’s history, as one columnist stated, but several key points have nevertheless emerged loud and clear from this week’s event in Manchester. The most instructive concerns George Osborne. Until now, there has been a widespread assumption that the Chancellor will, in due course, succeed David Cameron as party leader, just as Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair. But there was no grandeur, no oomph, no personal vision and no serious economic analysis in Osborne’s speech on Monday. It sent the audience to sleep, and I would guess it bored the Chancellor, too. This was not the speech of a future prime minister. Second, there has been… Read More Clement Attlee, Margaret Thatcher - Ed Miliband? The economic crisis requires new thinking, and Labour’s leader has come up with a plan The history of Britain since the Second World War can be divided into two long phases, each lasting several decades. The first of these can be dated from the famous election triumph of Clem Attlee’s Labour Party in 1945. Though Attlee’s government was relatively short-lived, its achievements were stupendous: the foundation of the welfare state, the creation of the National Health Service, the nationalisation of the “commanding heights” of the economy, and the imposition of Keynesian demand management at the Treasury. This proved an enduring settlement. Even though his election defeat in 1951 opened the way to a longish period of Conservative rule, neither Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony… Read More
Conservative Party Conference: There's no room for the ordinary party member in politics today
Labour Party Conference: like it or not, Ed Miliband has redefined the future of politics
Sunday, 9 October 2011
OCTOBER 6TH, 2011 20:04
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