The Spectator.co.uk Martin Bright Blog

The Filth and the Fury

Martin Bright — 2010-03-07T12:25:20+00:00

On the back of Andrew Rawnsley's revelations, I decided to write about Gordon Brown's "bad citizens" for the politics column of the Spectator. Under the magazine's new online rules, this is only available a week after publication. But now you can read the filth and the fury in all its sordid glory.
I have since been approached by one of the players named in the piece to say that I had misinterpreted his concern for my welfare as threatening behaviour.
This, I would suggest, is the whole problem.

Cameron Must Show a Ruthless Streak

Martin Bright — 2010-03-07T08:53:10+00:00

There is an excellent piece on the Ashcroft affair from Martin Ivens in the Sunday Times today. He quotes a member of Team Cameron: "Why didn't David just take Ashcroft out and shoot him? His work is done. What's the point of him hanging about?" Well said.
No one has quite got to the bottom of why the Tory lead has shrunk. But one reason might be the sense that David Cameron is not quite as decisive as he ideally should be.
He lost his nerve over George Osborne when he became an embarrassment in Corfu and he seems to have lost it again over Ashcroft.
Cameron has modelled his rise on Tony Blair but has never shown Blair's brutal approach to his own party. This is why the base of the party remains unreformed. His A-list had to be seriously watered down after he found local parties unreceptive to black, Asian and woman candidates. Baroness Warsi was eloquent on this subject before she was found a place in the House of Lords and hence the Tory front bench.
It will be interesting to see whether David Cameron's first act of serious ruthlessness will coincide

The Row Over Brown's Temper Just Got Weirder

Martin Bright — 2010-02-23T10:15:41+00:00

The sight of two unelected members of the legislature and John Prescott lecturing Andrew Rawnsley about political propriety on Newsnight last night was one of the more surreal moments of the past week.
Lord Steel in particular has very little right to the moral high ground as a longstanding member of the board of General Mediterranean Holidings, the company owned by Nadhmi Auchi a British-based Iraqi billionaire convicted of fraud in the French Elf-Aquitaine scandal in 2003.
This business of bullying in Downing Street just gets weirder all the time. Whoever allowed the combined might of Downing Street' spin vultures to swoop down and peck at the bones of the tiny Anti-Bullying Helpline was not doing the Prime Minister any favours.
Christine Pratt's behaviour has been far from perfect, but everybody knows that bullies specialise in identifying their victim's weak point and gnawing away until the tears flow.
The targeting of Pratt has been demeaning for Number 10. Officials should have issued a simple statement to the effect that no concerns about bullying had been brought to the attention of Downing Street, but that any such claims would be taken extremely seriously.

Why is Charlie Whelan allowed into Portcullis House unaccompanied?

Martin Bright — 2010-02-17T08:54:34+00:00

The parliamentary pass system is supposed to be strictly adhered to in order to stop lobbyists and interest groups getting undue access to politicians (indeed I recently received a slap on the wrist for not updating the journalists' register of interests immediately after I left the New Statesman. And quite right too).
Guests of passholders are supposed to be accompanied at all times. So I was surprised to see drunken thug Charlie Whelan, the Prime Minister's mockney fixer, wandering around Portcullis House unaccompanied yesterday. Perhaps he had simply slipped his minder. But I would be interested to know how he qualifies for a pass as a trade union official.
One Labour MP simply tweeted "public schoolboy" after I mentioned this on Twitter yesterday. I guess that must explain it.

Is Jenny Tonge really sorry?

2010-02-15T13:01:26+00:00

So Nick Clegg has acted against Jihad Jenny Tonge following her statement to the Jewish Chronicle that there should be an inquiry into stories that the Israeli army was harvesting organs in Haiti.
But by removing her as health spokesperson in the Lords without removing the Lib Dem whip, he may just be prolonging the agony.
If he had hoped to draw a line under the affair, it seems that Baroness Tonge has other ideas. She has already given an interview to the Iranian state TV channel Press TV, which appears to back the idea that she was pushed out by the "Zionist lobby". [N.B. The Baroness's interview with Lauren Booth looks like it was recorded in early February, but the remarks were picked up by Press TV and reported after she was sacked as a post hoc justification for her actions. MB 17/02/10].
This morning the channel's website has gone a step further in an editorial by Kian Mokhtari backing Tonge and repeating the ridiculous claim that "overwhelming evidence on organ theft by mafia style gangs within the Israeli army had surfaced earlier".
Mokhtari is not the clearest of writers but I think we understand what

Could Iceland really become an "Information Haven"?

Martin Bright — 2010-02-15T09:45:09+00:00

The most exciting news of recent weeks (slightly underplayed by the Guardian which had the scoop) is the news that a group of freedom of information campaigners are planning to turn Iceland into a haven for free speech.
This is potentially an extraordinary idea. Iceland would attract media organisations and start-ups by protecting them from censorship and aggressive libel laws such as those we have in Britain. There is a great piece by Wikileaks editor Julian Assange on the Organgrinder blog in The Guardian.
The nub of the proposition is this:
"In my role as Wilkileaks editor, I've been involved in fighting off more than 100 legal attacks over the past three years. To do that, and keep our sources safe, we have had to spread assets, encrypt everything, and move telecommunications and people around the world to activate protective laws in different national jurisdictions. We've become good at it, and never lost a case, or a source, but we can't expect everyone to make such extraordinary efforts. Large newspapers, including the Guardian, are forced to remove or water down investigative stories rather than risk legal costs. Even internet-only publishers writing about corruption find themselves disconnected

Does George Osborne finally have a big idea?

2010-02-15T09:07:01+00:00

Listening to George Osborne on Today (and stripping away the visceral prejudice I always feel at his sneering patrician tone) I have to recognise that he was saying something very interesting.
The idea of throwing open the public sector to worker-control is very, very intriguing. Co-operatives are the future of Britain: this is not something I ever thought I would hear from the mouth of a Conservative politician. I don't know if George Osborne has any experience of living or working in a co-op (it strikes me he is not the type). They can be a mixed bag, but the principle is great one.
I have long thought Gordon Brown should have adopted the co-operative principle as the defining philosophy of his administration (Ed Balls is a Co-Operative Party MP and the party's General Secretary Michael Stephenson is also close to the PM). In 2007 I wrongly predicted it would be Brown's big idea.
It would be astonishing if the Labour Party, with its historic links to the co-operative movement, allowed the Tories to steal this from under his nose.
What the shadow chancellor was saying this morning could have profound implications for the

Now Gordon Brown has to live with himself

Martin Bright — 2010-02-15T08:49:06+00:00

It's not hard to see why the Prime Minister opted for a soft interview with Piers Morgan as his latest attempt to relaunch himself with the British public. Forget that he said he wasn't the kind of politician who used his family as political props (always a daft thing for someone in public life to say). The Life Stories show is perfect format for the purposes of the celebrity-politician, designed to reveal only that which the guest carefully intends to share with the public. It is anti-journalism. All the pre-briefing and carefully-managed reaction was designed to leave all control in the hands of the invitee. This is particularly true of the moment of supposed loss of control - "the weep". The whole package is demeaning to everyone concerned.
The question during the faux-expectation in the run-up to the broadcast was "will it work?" - i.e will the performance turn the polls around or persuade people on the doorstep that Gordon is not a cream-faced loon. Considering the fact that Piers Morgan counts himself as a personal friend of the Browns and ITV did everything in its power to make the PM look his best, it would be staggering if

Think Tank Clash: The Future of Political Debate

Martin Bright — 2010-02-13T15:28:13+00:00

I am pleased to report that the New Deal of the Mind Think Tank Clash at the Soutbank Centre on Tuesday went down a storm. The event sold out the Purcell Room, which suggests that there is an audience for ideas out there.
We wanted to have a series of quickfire debates (two minutes per speaker) on the pressing issues of the between the directors of Britain's think tanks. Each think tank was then asked to produce a star witness to bank up its argument. So the bouts were as follows: Progress v ResPublica on Red Toryism; Fabians v Reform on Equality; Demos v RSA on Character and IPPR v Policy Exchange on The Role of the State.
Rory Bremner was the perfect master of ceremonies, shifting seamlessly from impressions, to serious political interrogation without pausing for breath.
I was worried that we would be accused of dumbing down, but if anything the two minutes added a rigour that helped refine the arguments.
Sunder Katwala has a good account of the event on his Next Left blog and Reform's Dale Bassett covered it for Conservative Home. Jonathan Rowson, who spoke for the

The Real New Statesman

Martin Bright — 2010-02-12T23:35:59+00:00

I am the last person to speak ill of the New Statesman. But even during those golden years when I worked at the magazine, I have to admit we struggled with a tendency towards earnestness. During the Kampfner era, the senior editorial team tried time and again to introduce a little levity among the wonkiness and hand-wringing. I am now prepared to admit we didn't often pull it off.
But our successors have finally pulled it off -- by creating a spoof online business section.
At first sight it looks like a crude aggregator of corporate press releases. But look a little closer and I defy you to find anything funnier on the web today. It is quite brilliant.
Unfortunately, the NS has seen fit to pull down the piece "Cold Stone Creamery unveils chocolate-dipped strawberry ice-cream". Perhaps they were worried that too many people would die laughing.
But luckily we get still get the previous installment in the magazine's coverage of the ice-cream wars with this deathless prose:
"MaggieMoo’s Ice Cream has expanded its line of ice cream products to include a new Pink Champagne sorbet and Dream Cakes for Two. The Dream