Cameron in Washington: Catchphrase alert

July 20, 2010 3:53 pm by Financial Times

By George Parker, political editor

David Cameron likes things to be strong. And he likes things to be stable. How do we know this? Well the prime minister has shown a fondness for using the two adjectives in tandem, not least ahead of his visit to Washington.

Cameron’s catchphrase on this trip is that BP must be “strong and stable” to allow it to keep supporting jobs and pension funds on both sides of the Atlantic.

His officials say that both he and President Obama agree that Britain’s austerity budget is a prerequisite of securing “strong and stable growth”, even if other countries with smaller deficits (like the US) are tightening their budgets less speedily.

Just flipping back through the cuttings I noticed that Cameron’s attachment to this phrase goes back at least to the creation of the coalition, when he promised to deliver “strong and stable government”.

Very Conservative, but starting to wear a bit thin. It almost has one hankering for a bit of weakness and instability.

Tags: BP
Posted in Conservatives, David Cameron, Foreign policy | Permalink

Emergency Budget 2010: As it happened

June 22, 2010 12:28 pm by Financial Times

George Osborne sits down at 13.28 – that’s it, the Budget has been delivered. Now Harriet Harman will respond, but thank you for comments and for joining us.

Jim Pickard, political correspondent: Osborne’s promise to return to “financial prudence”… Could this be a dig at Gordon Brown by any chance? This was in happier days his favourite expression.

Jamie Chisholm, FT Global Markets Commentator: Gilts back to where we started, down 8 basis points at 3.45 per cent. Sterling little changed.

Child element of tax credit to be increased

Matthew Vincent: The chances of exchanging contracts on your second home by 5.30pm today look a bit remote. Best phone your solicitors and give them the hurry up…

Robert Shrimsley, editor of FT.com: Is it my imagination or is George Osbrone saying “coalition government” much more now that he’s got to the nastiest parts.

Continue reading: “Emergency Budget 2010: As it happened”

Tags: Budget, Debt, George Osborne, Treasury
Posted in Treasury, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

Emergency Budget 2010: Line-by-line summary

June 22, 2010 10:01 am by Financial Times

Update: follow our live coverage of the Budget here.

The Westminster blog will host a line-by-line summary of George Osborne’s Budget statement, featuring commentary from FT writers, from 12.30pm (or just before the Chancellor stands up). Jim and Alex will then return to the blog.

Visit our special page for all the FT’s news and analysis on the emergency Budget and read this post by Chris Giles, the FT’s economics editor, on his predicitions for the Budget.

Tags: Budget
Posted in Treasury, UK economy, UK politics | Permalink

From Gideon Rachman's Blog May 12, 2010

Memories of Britain’s new chancellor

From Gideon Rachman’s blog

In theory, I should know Britain’s new chancellor of the exchequer, really quite well. George Osborne grew up in the same street as me in London. We went to the same school. He used to be called Gideon, before changing his name to George. I once interviewed him for a job. But the odd thing is, I hardly know the guy.

The reason for this is rather humiliating. The chancellor, as I will have to learn to call him, is much younger than me. Eight years younger, to be precise; he has only just turned 39. So the first time I really met George Osborne was when I interviewed him for a job at The Economist in 1997.

Continue reading: “Memories of Britain’s new chancellor”

Posted in UK politics | Permalink

FT interactive graphic: Who’s who in the coalition cabinet

May 12, 2010 12:53 pm by Financial Times

The graphic shows the new ministers’ backgrounds and their likely priorities in office. It will be updated throughout the day as more cabinet positions are made public. View it in full at www.ft.com/cabinet

Posted in Coalition | Permalink

From FT Alphaville May 12, 2010

ConDem-ing the UK banks

From FT Alphaville:

Here’s something of a surprise:

A fairly muted reaction (at pixel time anyway) from the UK banking sector to the new ConDem coalition.

Surprising because the Conservatives look likely adopt the aggressive anti-bank policies of the Liberal Democrats manifesto (although everything is subject to negotiation in this new collaborative age).

Continue reading: “ConDem-ing the UK banks”

Tags: Banks
Posted in Uncategorized | Permalink

Video: FT expert election panel

May 7, 2010 11:37 pm by Financial Times

Our expert election panel of Miranda Green, Charles Lewington and Matthew Taylor convened for the last time on Friday afternoon to unpack the campaign and provide insight into the hung parliament. Special commendation to Miranda Green, whose election prediction throughout the course of the campaign have been closest to the result.

To catch up with the entire series of podcasts, click here.

Tags: Election, Expert panel
Posted in Uncategorized | Permalink

Election night live blog: polls close, counting begins

May 6, 2010 9:54 pm by Financial Times

With Jim and Alex on frontline duties, Kiran Stacey, a fellow political hack, and Helen Warrell, who has helped co-ordinate the FT’s online and multimedia election coverage, will man this live blog. Jim, Alex and others will contribute. Follow the news, drama and tension of election night here.

The page should update automatically every few minutes, although it may take longer for those reading on a mobile.

1.58 KS: We’re about to shut this particular post down and open a new one, so sorry to make you navigate away. But stay with us and follow the story in the next post: The view from 2am.

1.57 KS: More bad news for the Lib Dems. They lost ground in Newbury, which the Tories took from them in 2005. Perhaps the message of “Vote Clegg, get Brown” was successful.

1.52 KS: 57 seats done, with an average swing of 3.3% from Labour to the Tories. But this number is warped by much figures from Scotland and Northern Ireland, says the BBC.

1.51 KS: Ed Miliband equivocal to say the least about Gordon Brown’s position. When asked by Paxman “It’s Brown or bust is it?” he replies, “I wouldn’t quite put it that way.”

Continue reading: “Election night live blog: polls close, counting begins”

Tags: Election, Gordon Brown
Posted in David Cameron, Nick Clegg | Permalink

FT election panel podcast

April 30, 2010 12:32 pm by Financial Times

The podcasts will be recorded twice a week for the duration of the campaign – see the full list in the UK election podcast archive.

Tags: Election, Expert panel
Posted in UK politics | Permalink

Election morning briefing

April 30, 2010 9:15 am by Financial Times

Gordon Brown appears with Peter Mandelson and Harriet Harman about Labour’s final week message
David Cameron visits the West Midlands, the East Midlands and Yorkshire
Nick Clegg campaigns in Derby North, Leicester South and Sheffield
Jeremy Paxman interviews Gordon Brown on BBC

Britain’s historic general election – Martin Wolf for the FT
Cameron’s plans risk a postcode lottery – Vernon Bogdanor for the FT
UK hung up about hung parliament - The FT
Beleagured Labour unleashes Blair - The Guardian
Cameron is concealing his inner Bush - Johann Hari for the Independent

The debate:
An international view: In final British debate, economy is the focus – The New York Times
No surprises, lots of disappointment - The FT’s Chris Giles for Money Supply
The last debate – have Labour imploded? - Gideon Rachman’s blog for the FT
Barring an earthquake, David Cameron is on his way to No 10 - Jonathan Freedland for the Guardian
We came, we saw, but what did we learn? - David Aaronovitch for the Times
Pundit reaction – Politics Home

Tags: Election
Posted in Further reading | Permalink

Morning election briefing

April 29, 2010 9:59 am by Financial Times

Gordon Brown campaigns in Wolverhampton
Nick Clegg holds a Q&A in Birmingham
David Cameron visits a hospital in Birmingham

Gordon Brown interview: Waiting for substance to tell – The FT
Labour’s new welfare rights cost £8bn a year - The FT
Nick the negotiator says deal or no deal – Robert Shrimsley in The FT
Roy Greenslade on how the media dealt with Gordon’s gaffe – The Guardian
Brown was not acting out of character, says Andrew Rawnsley – The Guardian
Gillian Duffy turns down big cash offers from the newspapers. Could the gaffe cost 2m Labour votes? – Daily Mirror
Gaffe goes global – Coverage from the New York Times
Will the leaders answer the big economic questions tonight? Robert Chote in The Times

Jim and Alex will be doing another live blog tonight for the final televised leaders’ debate, which will focus on the economy. This time the event starts at 8:30pm on the BBC. Our rolling commentary will probably start earlier, from around 7pm.

We will have three special guest appearances:

Chris Giles, economics editor for the FT (and former economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies)

Tim Harford, FT economics leader writer and author of bestseller “The Undercover Economist”.

Alan Schroeder, an authority on American presidential debates, who joined us for the first event a fortnight ago.

See you this evening.

Tags: Election
Posted in Further reading, UK politics | Permalink

Election morning briefing

April 28, 2010 10:06 am by Financial Times

David Cameron campaigns in Yorkshire
Nick Clegg campaigns in Oxford
Gordon Brown campaigns in Oldham
Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg address a black voter rally in London

Tories eye pact with smaller parties – The FT
Interactive graphic: Electoral reform explained - The FT
Analysis: Shrunken ambitions – Philip Stephens for the FT
Osborne fails to win over City bankers – The FT
Clegg needs a showstopper from Brown – The Times
Nick Clegg: I want to be prime minister – The Times
Left leaning voters’ paradox – The Guardian
The worst thing that can happen is a second general election – The Telegraph
Like it or not, an age of austerity beckons – The Independent