MIKE THATCHER | If the morale of public sector workers slips any lower, it will be Prime Minister Gordon Brown who requires the flak jacket rather than Harriet Harman.
MELISSA BENN | The past week has been dominated by the C-words: Carla, of course — all demure, gazelle-eyed feminine silence. The credit crunch, and associated financial insecurity, continues....
MIKE THATCHER | Gordon Brown is a Scot who is proud to be British. He believes in British workers for British jobs and is scathing of those who threaten the Union.
PHILIP JOHNSTONE | Whisper it if you dare, but just over a month from now Boris Johnson could be mayor of London with the biggest personal mandate of any western European politician other than the...
MIKE THATCHER | Gordon Brown had plenty of time to prepare for being prime minister, but it would be hard to tell given the dearth of new ideas that has characterised his time in Number 10.
TONY TRAVERS | Many pints of ink have been used in explaining how last autumn’s Comprehensive Spending Review would reduce the growth in public expenditure.
MIKES THATCHER | They may appear to be dour Scots, but both Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown share a rosy, if not rose-tinted, view of the economic prospects facing the country.
ROBERT SHRIMSLEY | At some point most afternoons I find myself flicking through galleries of photos for possible inclusion in the next day’s newspaper.
MIKE THATCHER | Gordon Brown’s cherished sustainable investment rule is clinging to life, Rasputin-style, despite repeated attempts to kill it off.
The rule, requiring that public sector net debt...
PETER RIDDELL | The most tempting submission that Alistair Darling has received ahead of the March 12 Budget has come from Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI.
VICTORIA MACDONALD | On a very busy news day last week an important story was buried. Not deliberately, of course. Although this was no Jo Moore moment, it was nevertheless convenient.
JUDY HIRST | It’s that time of year again, when finance managers – faced with embarrassing underspends – suddenly discover an urgent need for new laptops, ergonomic chairs and away days. March is a...
MIKES THATCHER | Gordon Brown had a welcome fifty-seventh birthday present this week, when the government published better-than-expected public finance figures for January.
DAVID LIPSEY | Whoever wins the Democratic nomination in the US, the opinion polls will be the losers. Primary after primary, poll-based newspaper headlines have announced that Barack Obama is in...
MIKES THATCHER | Overflowing rubbish bins, picket lines, sackings and strikes. Things are suddenly cutting up rough on the public sector pay front, and you don’t have to look far to see why.
PETER WILBY | I was in Washington in 1981 a few days before Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as president. The sense of a new era being born was palpable.
MIKE THATCHER | For Liverpool City Council, it was ‘grossly unfair’. But for the majority of unitary and county councils, this week’s Comprehensive Performance Assessments were something to...
MELISSA BENN | So the party that has objected to the nanny state for so long is now proposing it in quite literal form — Cameron and Co announced last week that they want to provide a maternity...
MIKE THATCHER | Tory MP Derek Conway isn’t the only public figure facing scrutiny over the management of their finances. Finance directors will have been waiting nervously this week to hear the...
PHILIP JOHNSTONE | Parties in opposition are often encouraged to develop lots of policies. ‘What are you going to do about it?’ is the most common question thrown at a Conservative spokesman who...
MIKE THATCHER | These are, to state the obvious, uncertain times. Everyone, from Mervyn King and Alistair Darling to ordinary mortals fearing for their jobs, homes and pensions, has good reason to...
ANN ROSSITER | This Thursday, MPs voted on the issue of their own pay. Like most other political observers, I believe this was an inappropriate thing for them to do.
MIKE THATCHER | Decisiveness is not the watchword of Gordon Brown’s government. Whether it’s election announcements, treaty signings or the options for Northern Rock, the prime minister has shown a...
JACKIE ASHLEY | The teenager is an odd creature. It keeps strange hours (it’s nocturnal really), does everything very loudly, from listening to music to speaking on a mobile phone, and has a...
MIKE THATCHER | The prime minister’s New Year message is traditionally an upbeat, forward-looking affair. 2008 was no exception. In urgent need of a comeback-kid vision, Gordon Brown focused on...
