Week of May 27 – June 2 – US Daily Review

Read Time:6 Minute, 19 Second

Looking at the news and opinion out of London each day.

6-2-14

Boris Johnson: If we can’t do it on our own, then let’s lose weight together

Willpower or nannying is hopeless, but a dose of team spirit might shed Britain’s extra pounds

Childcare will be key battleground in as all three parties prepare to release their plans

A Bill to introduce “tax-free childcare” will be included in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday as the three main parties seek to make the issue a critical one at next year’s general election.

Party members’ response to last week’s elections is to oppose a UKIP pact more than ever before

The more many party members see of Nigel Farage’s party, the less they like it – let alone want a deal with it.

6-1-14

Peter Mandelson’s diary: The accomplishments of George Osborne – and Vladimir Putin

Plus: The rise of the Russian restaurant, Farage’s lessons for Labour, and my farming future

Stop foreign aid to these brutal bastards

Sudanese govt under fire for young mum’s death sentence

Voter apathy mustn’t allow weird Mr Miliband into No 10

Ed Miliband is a man who poses smiling next to a colleague wearing a t-shirt with Thatcher’s grave on it. He happily knifed his own brother in the back, splitting his entire family in two, and did not even bother to include his name on his own son’s birth certificate.

Vince Cable: from leader in waiting to loser

When Vince Cable delivered his killer line at that day’s Prime Minister’s Questions, MPs in the Commons erupted in laughter and the humiliation of Gordon Brown was complete. The recently installed prime minister had encouraged talk of an early election that would smash the Tories, only to withdraw farcically at the last moment because he feared defeat

5-31-14

Ukip aren’t going away – and David Cameron has no idea what to do

The Prime Minister’s sniffy attitude to some of his own natural supporters seems quite likely to cost him power

Political meltdown

I have consistently maintained that the Liberal Democrat party is an anachronism, a perversion and general waste of political space. So imagine my joy in recent weeks at discovering that the remaining members of the Liberal Democrat party are starting to agree with me.

How Modern Liberals Created Nigel Farage

I have just read a book so good I want to read it again. But I also want to read (or write) a more complete version of it that is less solicitous of its subject and more concerned with the failures of modern liberalism — as evidenced by the recent success of UKIP and other populists across Europe.

How thin will the Queen’s Speech be?

Can the Government maintain its mojo?

5-30-14

Only our PM can lead the fight for a new-look European Union

The Tory leader has a chance to channel voter anger into meaningful reform

Ed Miliband must be careful when he talks about suicide

Jim Waterson’s BuzzFeed interview with Ed Miliband is well worth a read. But the opening paragraph stands out in particular.

A day in Newark: the Tories are winning the ground war against Ukip

With one week to go till polling day, the Tories are throwing the kitchen sink at the Newark by-election. When Patrick Mercer resigned last month, it was assumed the Conservatives would easily hold the seat. But since then, Ukip gave a strong performance locally in the Euro elections, adding an unknown element — a higher turnout in Ukip’s favour? A rise in the anti-politics sentiment?

Labour shouldn’t stoop to Ukip’s level for the anti-immigrant vote

Ed Miliband must resist the temptation to take a right turn on immigration. He won’t win an election fighting on Tory ground
Abbott warns Miliband against edging towards Ukip

5-29-14

The Right loses as Ukip wins

In Brighton in 1996, an insurgent party held its first and as far as I can see only conference. Liberal journalists gazed on the gaudy spectacle with wonder and disdain. We could see that he Referendum Party was a sign of the coming age of the super-rich. It was created by Sir James Goldsmith, a corporate raider who inspired the English tycoon Sir Larry Wildman, in Wall Street, and, you may not be surprised to hear, was a vain and bombastic censor to boot. (He persecuted Private Eye in the courts for not treating him with the deference a mighty plutocrat deserved.)

Lib Dem chaos as Vince Cable denies anti-Clegg plot

Business secretary admits he knew of polls suggesting he should be leader, after close ally Lord Oakeshott resigned

Tax Freedom Day is a reminder of the choice in 2015: high tax Labour, low tax Conservatives

Tax Freedom Day, which falls today, is cause for celebration. It marks the point in the calendar when someone’s income stops paying for their tax bill and they start keeping the money they have earned. It is an annual reminder that people who work hard and play by the rules deserve to keep their hard won earnings. It is why cutting tax has always been a priority for Conservatives.

Newly elected Ukip councillor sacked for racism and homophobia

Dave Small of Redditch Borough Council expelled from party less than a week after local election victory

Vince Cable names Lord Oakeshott as source of polling – and slaps him down

Vince Cable has issued a statement on the leaked ICM polling.

5-28-14

Has Ed Miliband trapped himself on the wrong side of history?

If the Labour Party can offer no hope to its core vote, then the exodus to Ukip will surely multiply

‘I told Vince’: Has Lord Oakeshott dropped a bomb which could destroy the Liberal Democrats?

“Several weeks ago, I told Vince the results of those four polls too.” That one sentence transforms Matthew Oakeshott’s gloriously vitriolic resignation statement from simple self-indulgent flounce into deadly serious political arson attempt.