Boris Johnson tells George Osborne the top rate of tax "needs to be looked at"

By Matthew Barrett
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Is Boris the Kevin Pietersen of politics?

By Tim Montgomerie
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Picture from KP's Twitter account.

This from James Crabtree in the FT (£):

"At first glance the hefty, Eton-educated politician would seem to have little in common with the prickly South African-born England cricket star, currently midway through a tour of the subcontinent. Yet, look more closely, and the parallels are striking. Both have huge egos, a function of the undeniable skills each brings to his respective field. Neither are what you would describe as team players, while both also have a knack of irking their captains: Mr Johnson’s antics drive Mr Cameron to distraction, while Pietersen was recently suspended for disloyalty. The chastened cricketer is now being “reintegrated” into his team and scored a match-winning innings in the last Test match. But there the similarities must end – at least until Mr Johnson has a crack at the captaincy himself."

To be continued...

Boris points in all directions at once

By Tim Montgomerie
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Boris has been in India but he's also been displaying some topsy turvy positioning.

The last three days have not been Boris Johnson's finest. First came his flip flop on an In/Out referendum. Earlier this year - ahead of his re-election bid - he signed the People's Pledge and its call for a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. On Sunday he appeared to back-track. I've sought clarification from team Boris but received none.

On Monday he questioned Theresa May's immigration policies even though her clampdown on student numbers is essential to meeting the Tory manifesto commitment to bring net immigration to under 100,000. Few of the government's policies are more popular or more essential to ensure working class Britons are protected from low-skilled immigration. There is certainly a case for Britain's immigration procedures to be less bureaucratic but it is also a fact that last year's Home Office quota for higher skilled immigrants was not filled. Don't therefore believe stories about top firms being denied the talented people they need.

Yesterday Boris Johnson made his third wrong turn. For the last few days the arts establishment has been up in arms about government cuts. Rather than standing with the Government Boris has sided with the luvvies. In London's Evening Standard he warned about the danger off "choking off" creative and cultural London. "One of the key reasons that people come to London is for its arts and culture," he said, continuing: "Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg.”

Continue reading "Boris points in all directions at once" »

Boris attacks the Government's immigration policy (again)

By Matthew Barrett
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A strange combination of remarks by Boris Johnson recently. First he flip-flopped on an in/out European referendum, saying last night that he now supports a position far more like that of David Cameron.

Then today he half-toed the line on a UKIP pact. He said the public had had enough of pacts and coalitions. So in one sense he backs the CCHQ line, but also, by implication, criticised the current coalition.

The third remark came on Boris' trip to India promoting London as a global hub for business. He said:

"In interviews ahead of a speech to prospective students at Amity University, the equivalent of Oxford or Cambridge, Mr Johnson said he was worried the "mood music" from Whitehall was putting the very best off applying. ... "The policy on visas is, in my view, sending out the wrong signal. There are so many stipulations that we are starting to lose business to Australia, America and Canada." ... "It's a great idea to have a London that is open to that kind of business. I am saying to Government 'Don't do things that is going to cause unnecessary alarm and prejudice against the UK'.""

This isn't a new stance by Boris - indeed, the Mayor of London has had a liberal immigration policy for the duration of his mayoralty. However, his quick-fire combination of pro-Downing Street (or perhaps more directly, pro-business/the City), half-pro-Coalition and anti-Conservative-policy statements will raise eyebrows.

Boris Johnson WAS in favour of an In/Out referendum. No longer it seems...

By Tim Montgomerie
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ANDREW PARSONS

Earlier today, during his visit to India, Boris Johnson was mistaken for Boris Becker and also for the King of England. People at the Peoples' Pledge will also be wondering if Radio Five's Jon Pienaar has interviewed the correct Boris Johnson. In March of this year the Mayor of London signed the Pledge in support of a referendum on British membership of the European Union. Only last week he reaffirmed his belief that an In/Out referendum was a good idea. Talking to Mr Pienaar earlier today, however, he said this:

"I don't think it's as simple as yes, no, in out. Suppose Britain voted tomorrow to come out. What would actually happen? In real terms, what would happen is that the foreign office would immediately build a huge - well, the entire delegation would remain in Brussels. UKREP would remain there, we'd still have huge numbers of staff trying to monitor what was going on in the community, only we wouldn't be able to sit in the Council of Ministers. We wouldn't have any vote at all. Now I don't think that's actually a prospect that's likely to appeal. What you could do, is think of a new arrangement, new areas of the treaty that we didn't want to participate in any more. That is the where people are thinking now. So I don't think it is - I mean, with great respect to the sort of in-outers, I don't think it does boil down to such a simple question."

Number 10 were rejoicing at Boris' intervention - pointing journalists to his remarks. They clearly see it as significant. In my column for tomorrow's Times (not yet online) I argue that an In/Out referendum is still vital. It's the best way of putting a lid on the UKIP vote and also, as Michael Gove has argued, it's the best way of delivering serious renegotiation. Unless EU leaders think we might leave the Union they're less likely to give us the scale of repatriation that most Britons want.

Labour 9% ahead of the Conservatives. Cameron 8% ahead of Miliband. Lord Ashcroft's new mega poll of 8,000 voters.

By Tim Montgomerie
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Labour has a 41% to 32% overall lead in Lord Ashcroft's latest mega opinion poll of more than 8,000 voters but Cameron has a 48% to 40% lead over Ed Miliband when the respondents were asked who would make the best PM.

Those are the headline findings of a poll rich in detail. Entitled 'Project Red Alert' Lord Ashcroft writes about the strategic dilemma facing Ed Miliband on this morning's Comment pages:

"He can either make clear to his supporters that there will be no return to the days of lavish spending, or he can fight an election knowing that most voters do not believe Labour have learned their lessons, and that many of his potential voters fear Labour would once again borrow and spend more than the country can afford."

But there is also plenty for the Tories to benefit from in this huge survey. Over on LeftWatch I've listed five big weak points in Labour's electoral position.

Here are ten other key findings from the report:

(1) Voters prefer idea of Red-led government to Blue-led government... 56% would like to see Labour in power in some form and only 44% would like to see the Conservatives in office (on their own or in coalition with the Lib Dems).

(2) ...despite the fact that more than half of voters say Labour can't be trusted with power again! More than half of voters 52% surveyed by Lord Ashcroft say "Labour have not yet learned the right lessons from what went wrong during their time in government, and cannot yet be trusted to run the country again". 48% think Labour have learnt the right lessons from their defeat (35%) or didn't have any lessons to learn (13%).

(3) Cameron still ahead on prime ministerial qualities... On six measures of prime ministerial qualities (representing Britain in international negotiations, making unpopular but necessary decisions, clarity of agenda, ability to lead a team and overall skills) David Cameron beats Ed Miliband. The Labour leader has a 63% to 37% advantage in the one area of understanding ordinary people.

(4) Overall, Ed Miliband remains a substantial drag on his party's fortunes: 40% feel more favourable to Labour than to Ed Miliband and just 9% feel more favourable to Ed Miliband than to Labour.

(5) ...But Labour brand stronger than Tory brand: 49% think Labour is the party that most wants to help ordinary people get on in life compared to just 24% thinking the same of the Conservatives (or the Liberal Democrats). 39% think the Labour Party is "on the side of ordinary people" compared to 27% who think that of the Conservative Party. On only one quality are the Conservatives ahead - "willing to take tough decisions for the long term" - by 48% to 28%.

(6) Tories still more trusted on the economy but only narrowly: By 53% to 47% Cameron and Osborne are preferred over Miliband and Balls "to manage the economy in the best interests of Britain".

(7) The two parties appear to be level-pegging when it comes to competence... 30% of voters see Labour as "competent and capable" - exactly the same as for the Conservatives.

(8) ...But voters thing nearly everything would have been worse if Labour had been in power. Asked if they thought key areas of national performance would have been better or worse if Labour had been in power over recent years, rather than the Coalition, voters think things would have been worse in most key areas of public policy:

• Britain's overall level of debt: -32% (49% of voters think the debt level would have been worse and only 17% think it would have been better if Labour had been in charge)
• The problem of some people living on benefits when they are able to work: -30% (47% over 17%)
• Managing immigration into Britain: -25% (43% over 18%)
• Overall state of economy: -19% (45% over 26%)
• Britain's overall reputation in the world: -17% (37% over 20%)
• The crime rate: -11% (29% over 18%)
• Unemployment rate: -4% (35% over 31%)
• Public services like the NHS: +12% (26% over 38%)
• Impact of public spending cuts: +14% (28% over 42%).

(9) The Liberal Democrats' numbers are dreadful throughout the poll. Lord Ashcroft is one of the people least willing to write off Clegg's party. Only yesterday, in his much-reported memo to Lynton Crosby, "people in Lib Dem-held constituencies are much more likely to say they will stay with the party". Nonetheless the poll pours cold water on any idea that the Lib Dems have won serious economic credibility from joining the Coalition government. One question, in particular, stands out. 46% say the Tories have the best overall approach to dealing with the economy. The Labour number is 42%. The Lib Dems are way down on just 12%.

(10) Boris Johnson is the politician that voters feel most positively towards. On a scale of zero to ten (where zero equals most negative and ten is most positive) David Cameron scored 4.69 compared to 4.55 for the Labour leader. Boris at 5.99 was the only politician named who got more than halfway up the scale with more voters feeling, on the whole, positively towards him than felt negatively. William Hague came second with a 4.94 average ranking.

The poll was conducted nearly one month ago - between 17th and 28th October but its headline finding of a 9% lead matches today's daily YouGov tracker poll.

Go to Lord Ashcroft polls for more detail.

Cameron plays the “national leadership” card against Boris

By Peter Hoskin
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Boris having a dig, even just a friendly dig, at the Tory leadership? We’ve seen that a thousand times. But the Tory leadership having a dig at Boris? That’s a rarer species altogether, so it’s worth pasting into our collective scrapbook. Here, as recorded in today’s Times (£), is what David Cameron had to say yesterday about the Mayor of London’s opposition to a third runway at Heathrow:

“The Prime Minister said that the Mayor of London was wrong to rule out a third runway at Heathrow on the morning that the panel charged with studying the aviation needs of the capital was announced.

He also made clear that Mr Johnson would not have a veto over a once-in-a-generation decision that was critical for the country as a whole. ‘In the end the decision is a national decision that the Government has to lead,’ Mr Cameron told The Times. ‘What is not right is to say, I only want my options considered and not anyone else’s.’”

Continue reading "Cameron plays the “national leadership” card against Boris" »

After the truce in Birmingham, Boris starts fighting again over London

By Peter Hoskin
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“I’m going to continue to lobby for a long-overdue solution to our aviation problem,” said Boris at ConHome’s rally in his honour last week, “but no one as a result of that has any cause to doubt my admiration for David Cameron.”

Jogging through this morning’s newspapers, I wonder whether David Cameron himself has “cause to doubt” that sentiment — because the way Boris is lobbying for “a long-overdue solution to our aviation problem” threatens to create all sorts of problems for the Prime Minister. According to a report in the Telegraph, the Mayor of London has made it known that he’s considering taking the government to court over the current impasse. Here’s a passage from that report:

Continue reading "After the truce in Birmingham, Boris starts fighting again over London" »

Vote for the Conservative Clean Up Team!

By Tim Montgomerie
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One of the themes of Conservative Conference has Boris Johnson being 'on message' - pouring praise on David Cameron's head and the wider government. He was loyal at ConHome's Monday night rally and in yesterday's main stage speech. Again and again he turned his fire on Labour and the party activists loved him all the more for doing so. It will be a huge advantage for the party if this biggest of Tory beasts lines up alongside Team Cameron at the next election and helps take the fight to Labour.

Here's a little poster to mark his speech to Conference yesterday; he was responding to the PM's likening of him to a blond mop...

"If I am a mop, David, you are a broom - a broom that is cleaning up the mess left by the Labour government. I congratulate you and your colleagues George Osborne the dustpan, Michael Gove the J-cloth, William Hague the sponge. It is the historic function of Conservative governments over the last 100 years to be the household implements on the floor of the house, so effective at clearing up after the Labour binge has got out of control."I congratulate you and your colleagues George Osborne the dustpan, Michael Gove the J-cloth, William Hague the sponge. It is the historic function of Conservative governments over the last 100 years to be the household implements on the floor of the house, so effective at clearing up after the Labour binge has got out of control."

William Shakespeare reports Boris's speech to yesterday's ConHome rally

By Paul Goodman
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"Casca; tell us what hath chanced to-day."  (Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2)

"The Mayor of London blew into its conference in Birmingham, a hurricane of blond hair, media attention and other people’s speculation about his prospects of one day taking David Cameron’s job." (James Kirkup, Daily Telegraph)

 "Why, there was a crown offered him: and being offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a-shouting...he put it by once: but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it."

 "His reception – in a city not noted for its Tory support – was more suited to a rock star than a politician, with crowds of passengers chanting his name at New Street station."

Continue reading "William Shakespeare reports Boris's speech to yesterday's ConHome rally" »