Newsroom Blog

There's just a chance you may be getting tired of it by now - and we still have Saturday's papers to go - but Barack Obama's speech is hard to avoid. The BBC's Justin Webb (again) was live-blogging.

Is David Cameron a Whig imperialist? Dave's Part considers the question.

Mike Ion has three suggestions for Gordon Brown's autumn fightback.

Iain Dale thinks the Tories are failing to harness the power of the internet.

This is BBC US editor Justin Webb's script from the Today programme this morning, talking about last night's roll call vote in Denver. If you didn't hear it, it's beautifully written.

Another PR Week story making waves, this time it's about a Miliband leadership campaign. Iain Dale thinks it looks well sourced.

But MP Tom Watson, one of the men named in the "circle of power" gives it short shrift.

Conservativehome considers David Cameron's foreign policy approach in the light of the Georgian crisis.

The Telegraph reported last week that the prime minister thinks his future hangs on an economic recovery, and Ipsos MORI's latest 'issues index' suggests he could be right.

Or perhaps half right, as the stand-out pressing concerns for the public are crime and the economy (pdf here).

The polling firm tracks what people think is the most important issue facing Britain today, and in August 47 per cent picked crime/law and order, followed by 41 per cent who said the economy.

These two issues have raced away from other traditional concerns about immigration, the NHS and education since last summer.

Last year's conferences were all noticeably big on the environment - this September the battle lines will be Britain's "broken society" and its economic woes.

UPDATE: On this note, I've just noticed Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie's Thunderer column in today's Times - he talks about the failing economy causing a "shift from soft to hard politics".

Tyrie is a super-smart backbencher and former adviser to Nigel Lawson and then John Major as chancellor. He has questioned the wisdom of the push to reduce world-wide carbon emissions, and I wonder if this is one of the things he has in mind when he talks about soft politics.

Labour needs a heavyweight to take charge of attack politics and tub-thumping - a McAuliffe or a Dean, says Luke Akehurst.

Following the election of a new leader in Scotland, does the party face the same dilemma as Aesop's dog and a bone? Ideas of Civilisation poses the question.

Are the polls really all over the place? Veteran pollster Bob Worcester explains why they aren't, in an excellent introduction to statistical margins of error.

Andrew Lansley has said the proposed energy windfall tax is fuelled by "socialist hatred". Labour Outlook notes that Geoffrey Howe wasn't opposed to the idea.

Junior ministers threatening a revolt over the energy windfall tax? David Hughes asks if chief whip Geoff Hoon has given up.

Gordon Brown told me that Thatcher had resigned - Tom Harris picks up a popular new meme.

The Herald's Michael Settle blogs from inside the Pepsi Center Auditorium, site of the Democratic National Convention - close encounters of the Barack Kind.

Ideas of Civilisation: can the SNP sometimes try to be too Scottish?

News that the Liberal Democrats have chosen their candidate for Glenrothes means Labour are the last major party to pick a by-election contender.

The Lib Dems, who announce a new Scottish leader later today, have nominated local businessman Harry Wills..

The SNP has already picked Peter Grant, leader of Fife Council, while the Tories have selected Maurice Golden, who stood in Central Fife at the last Holyrood elections.

Labour are choosing their man or woman at a meeting next Monday - the Courier has some tips on who it might be, although Henry McLeish has since ruled himself out.

The "curse" of Gordon Brown may have been lifted, says Ben Brogan.

Other commentators are concerned that the prime minister's visit to Beijing could bring bad luck to team GB.

Labour MP Paul Flynn accuses the Today programme of identity theft in confusing former shadow home secretary David Davis with David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth.

And Liberal Burblings picks up on the FT leader article, which questions whether the Conservatives are ready for office.

As Team GB continues to haul home the medals from Beijing, things are going less well for the other GB. In fact, Martin Bright says the PM finds himself in a uniquely dreadful situation.

Rosa Prince picks up on President Karzai's advice to Gordon Brown about "plotting" cabinet ministers.

Following George Osborne's speech on fairness - which troubles the Adam Smith Institute slightly - the Liberal Democrats also edge into classic Labour territory, launching a review of policies affecting women.

Elsewhere, LabourHome highlights the "ingrained" homophobia among Tory councillors and much is made of Boris Johnson's journey to Beijing.

Number 10's response to a petition calling for Jeremy Clarkson to be made prime minister because "he is a legend" gets plenty of coverage in the blogosphere.

The Conservatives and the Taxpayers' Alliance predictably think that the light-hearted and 30 second long snippet done in someone's lunch hour is a waste of money

It is a view shared by dizzythinks who reckons it's a sign of "how crazy the bunker has become".

Guido Fawkes agrees labelling the clip "Your Taxes at Work in Downing Street" and concluding "We would actually rather have Jeremy Clarkson as PM".

Just for a bit of balance Labourhome lays into George 'the man who puts the squeak into pipsqueak' Osborne's attack on Labour's fairness record.

John Prescott seems to be easing himself further back into public life.

The MP for Hull East, who steps down at the next election, dropped out of sight after the departure of Tony Blair - re-emerging only to publicise his autobiography.

Recently, and surprisingly for a man who once seemed to regard bloggers as his mortal enemies, he has been posting in typically combative fashion on Labourhome.

He was also speaking at a lunch for the Oldie magazine on Tuesday, when he told Mail diarist Richard Kay that he wouldn't accept the offer of a peerage.

Kay says this puts an end to the prospect of "a Prescott coat of arms showing a right hook rampant and an outsize chip".

At the end of the Blair era there was much speculation Prescott would be a shoo-in for the Lords, but he told Kay: "I still want to make a contribution."

Peers might be rather miffed to hear the former DPM doesn't think they make a contribution.

Presumably what he means is he wants to be able to continue trading body blows with the Tories, which wouldn't be possible from the rarefied atmosphere of the red benches.

This charming image from Beau Bo D'Or suggests that president Perez Musharraf's resignation has prompted Gordon Brown to ponder his own future.

Westminster Whispers also has this post about Brown's electoral jitters.

Blairite bloggers want the former prime minister to come back and rescue Labour.

Thunder Dragon thinks that David Cameron is "a bit silly" to compare himself to Baroness Thatcher.

Trying to chew over the results of today's ICM poll for the Guardian, it's hard to tell what the conclusions are for any putative Miliband leadership bid.

The paper itself is highlighting different aspects of the results, with Will Woodward concluding on the front page that voters overwhelmingly prefer a Cameron government regardless of whether he faces Miliband or Brown.

But the paper's leader writers think the results hint that "Labour might do less badly under Mr Miliband".

This is based on the breakdown of how Conservative and Lib Dem voters judge Miliband and Brown on factors like which has the widest appeal - slim pickings on which to try to bring down the prime minister.

Politicalbetting says the survey, which was apparently conducted on the internet using pictures of the men, tells us "next to nothing" because it doesn't try to measure how the respondents might vote - a different matter to their perceptions of Brown and Miliband.

In polling the most reliable messages always come from comparing the same questions over time, so the solid message is from the separate monthly voting intention tracker.

As the Guardian notes, after some fairly wild fluctuation in the Tory lead at the beginning of the year, it has stood at least at 14 points since May - and looks increasingly entrenched.

Guido Fawkes corrects what he says is Tory spin doctor Andy Coulson's inaccurate interpretation of the rules governing MPs' staff allowances.

David Cameron and Senator John McCain's statements on the Russian/Georgian conflict are remarkably similar, Coffee House suggests.

Our Kingdom muses on the chances of Alan Johnson succeeding Gordon Brown as labour leader.

When unemployment rises sharply Gordon Brown's current unpopularity will pale into insignificance Bryan Appleyard suggests.

The Policy Exchange attack keeps on rolling, writes Dizzy Thinks.

Transport minister Tom Harris: unfashionable though it may seem, the government has done a good job.

How Neil Kinnock is affecting the Obama vice president choice, by Red Box.

And the readers at Coffee House have been putting questions to shadow communities secretary Eric Pickles.

It must be August - as that Policy Exchange report about abandoning the North (I paraphrase) continues to feature heavily in what political news is about.

The Independent profiles "David Cameron's favourite think-tank", while Michael Brown on the op-ed pages says it risks reinforcing the impression the Conservative leader is a metropolitan elite.

Over at the Guardian, Policy Exchange's chief economist hits back at G2's paint-by-numbers feature on the report, "We didn't say people should leave Leeds".

But the Times says history shows that shifting patterns of trade and economics have always benefited some regions at the expense of others: "Look on King's Lynn, ye mighty, and despair".