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Andrew Grice: A cool Chancellor must consider putting up taxes

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

When Britain gave an honorary knighthood to Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, it recognised his "contribution to global economic stability". A beaming Gordon Brown told his economic guru: "You have been a great force for the advancement of the world economy and a great friend of the UK."

Andrew Grice: Whether it's a tax cut or a tax con, Brown has given Cameron a problem

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

Political cross-dressing is back in fashion. After years of raising spending and taxes, Labour suddenly poses as the party of tax cuts. So do the Liberal Democrats, although they were ahead of the economic curve – and Labour. The Conservatives feel dangerously outflanked on two fronts. They are the natural tax-cutters but have got themselves into a bizarre position where they can't say so. Sensing that the election of Barack Obama and the financial crisis may herald a new world order, they pose as the true progressives of British politics.

Andrew Grice: Brown can't rely on recession to win the election

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

"We don't need a strategy for winning the general election," one very senior Tory boasted only a matter of weeks ago. "Brown has already lost it for Labour. It's game, set and match."

Andrew Grice: Brown can't rely on recession to win the election

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

"We don't need a strategy for winning the general election," one very senior Tory boasted only a matter of weeks ago. "Brown has already lost it for Labour. It's game, set and match."

Andrew Grice: Brown cannot rely on the recession to win the election

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:00:01 GMT

"We don't need a strategy for winning the general election," one very senior Tory boasted only a matter of weeks ago. "Brown has already lost it for Labour. It's game, set and match."

Andrew Grice: The last thing the Tories want is to look like fat cats

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Politics gets more and more unpredictable. The state buys up banks. A dead prime minister issuddenly very much alive. I didn't expect to be writing about luxury yachts when the week began, yet I have probably written the word "yacht" more times in the past few days than ever before.

Andrew Grice:The last thing the Tories want is to look like fat cats

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Today in Politics: Yachting times

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:51:37 GMT

"You're only writing about this because it involves a yacht," the Tory aide told me as she gave me a ticking off over my story today over David Cameron's free flights and previously undisclosed meeting with Rupert Murdoch on a Greek island in August. Well, maybe. But, as we used to say in the playground, who started it? To which the answer is: George Osborne.

Andrew Grice: Back in the frontline – and revelling in it

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

When Peter Mandelson attended his first Cabinet meeting after his surprise recall, he left his Department for Business at 8.30am and did not return until 3.30pm. As his officials wondered what on earth he was doing at Downing Street, the word went round the Whitehall grapevine that he was "being Peter".

Andrew Grice: Tories haunted by Hague and Howard failure

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Rarely has the gulf between government and opposition been illustrated so dramatically. While Gordon Brown collects plaudits from around the world for saving the banking system, David Cameron has virtually disappeared off the planet.

Andrew Grice: Conservatives haunted by failure of Hague and Howard

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Andrew Grice: Conservatives still haunted by failure of Hague and Howard

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Andrew Grice: While Brown basks in plaudits, Sarkozy seethes

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Gordon Brown used to infuriate his European Union counterparts by turning up late for meetings, lecturing them on Britain's economic miracle, switching off his headphones when others spoke in foreign tongues and then leaving early.

Andrew Grice: Financial woes create election hope for Brown

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

"This is the economic equivalent of 9/11," one cabinet minister said yesterday as he summed up a momentous week. Other members talk of the Government being on a "war footing" as they gather in the Cabinet Office's Briefing Room A (Cobra) for meetings of the new National Economic Council or "war cabinet".

Andrew Grice: Fear, loathing and leaks at the top

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

When Alistair Darling opened a meeting with the bosses of eight British banks at 6pm on Monday, he said it was "irritating" that the option of the Government taking a stake in ailing banks had already become public knowledge. He urged the 16 people sitting around the table in his Treasury office to keep their talks private.

Andrew Grice: The day Brown nailed his colours to the Blairite mast

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

A much more dramatic cabinet reshuffle than expected gives Gordon Brown the final word of a fascinating party conference season. Already, David Cameron's impressive speech in Birmingham seems a long time ago.

Andrew Grice: Cameron shows he is learning the lessons of Kinnock's defeat

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The question in many voters' minds, planted cleverly by Gordon Brown last week, is: "Can we imagine a 'novice' like David Cameron handling a crisis like the one engulfing the markets or should we leave it to a grown-up such as, well, Mr Brown?"

Andrew Grice: The fight is not yet won – and Cameron knows it

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

When David Cameron addressed staff at Tory headquarters about his party's conference starting tomorrow, he said Labour was "absolutely right". About one thing, anyway: that he had "not yet sealed the deal" with the electorate. He added: "The real danger we have at the moment is in any way looking complacent."

Andrew Grice: Fight is not yet won – and he knows it

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Andrew Grice: Don't write off Nick Clegg just yet

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

As Nick Clegg prepared for the Liberal Democrat conference, which starts today, a document he had eagerly waited for plopped on to his House of Commons desk, telling him what the public thinks of him.

Andrew Grice: Don’t write off Nick Clegg just yet

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

Andrew Grice: The hurdles for Mr Brown get higher by the day

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:00:01 GMT

The last time I went to see Tony Blair in Downing Street, the first thing he said was: "They tell me you have gone over to Gordon." I was taken aback. Gone over? To dinner? To his office? No, of course, to Gordon's gang, a defector from Tony's tribe.

Andrew Grice: In substance as well as style, Brown can learn from Obama

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

"People here will vote for a strong commander-in-chief, not a diplomat," said the American hotel owner as he predicted the impact of Russia's aggression in Georgia on the US presidential election.

Andrew Grice: Labour MPs think Cameron can be beaten. That's why they are in revolt

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT

It was fitting that David Miliband uttered his coded criticism of Gordon Brown through the veil of an attack on the Conservative Party, a tacit admission that the man making the running in British politics is David Cameron.

Andrew Grice: Labour thinks Cameron could be beaten

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:00:01 GMT