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Andrew Grice: Cameron is raising great expectations that may lead to a very bleak House

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

On the eve of Guy Fawkes Day, David Cameron produced a typically impressive firework display as he explained his new policy on Europe at a press conference.

Andrew Grice: This medicine may lead to unwelcome side-effects

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

A new system for MPs' expenses clearly had to be devised by an independent body, not cooked up by a Westminster establishment which fought so hard to prevent claims being disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act. That would not have carried any credibility with a sceptical public.

Andrew Grice: The Government wants to have its cake and eat it with experts

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

"Advisers advise, ministers decide." So said Margaret Thatcher when Nigel Lawson resigned as Chancellor in 1989 over the role of Sir Alan Walters, her Downing Street economics adviser. Sir Alan followed soon afterwards.

Andrew Grice: Cameron has yet to earn the love of the Conservative Party

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

In his Commons office, David Cameron has artists' drawings of two previous Tory leaders: Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan. Why not Margaret Thatcher?

Andrew Grice: Just as Mandelson was finally winning over his party...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

After Lord Mandelson wowed last month's Labour conference, Tony Blair sent him a text in which he jokingly asked whether the party had been won over by the Business Secretary or whether it was the other way round.

Andrew Grice: Why the City need not fear a windfall tax

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

"Get real – Darling warns the bankers," said a front-page headline in The Independent in July. In an interview, the Chancellor, Alistair Darling, expressed concern that the bonus culture was creeping back in the City and threatened a law to rein them in.

Andrew Grice: He meant to open fire on the Tories. Instead, Brown shot his own troops

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The floor of Gordon Brown's room at the House of Commons was plastered with the parliamentary expenses claims made by his ministers. Remarkably, the exasperated Prime Minister was ploughing through reams of paper by himself, to find out which MPs it would be safe to promote in an imminent reshuffle.

Andrew Grice: Another big headache for Brown

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Gordon Brown must feel he can't win on MPs' expenses. His first attempt to clean up the system, pre-empting the review by the Kelly Committee on Standards in Public Life by issuing his own proposals, is remembered only for his infamous YouTube video.

Andrew Grice: Cameron must fill holes left by a policy-free conference

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Who were the winners and losers from the last party conference season before the general election? The Conservatives won the battle to secure the most favourable media coverage. They will be relieved this weekend that, so far, there is no sign that the past three weeks will interrupt David Cameron's glide towards Downing Street.

Andrew Grice: Cameron is determined to win a mandate for cuts

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

After Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979, she implemented an independent commission's proposal for public sector pay to rise by a thumping 26 per cent. Taxes went up, not down, and the Thatcherites later regretted their mistake.

Andrew Grice: Labour identifies chinks in the Tories' armour

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Labour rediscovered the class war at its annual conference in Brighton this week. It may have been more subtle than the top-hatted "Tory toffs" version which backfired so spectacularly at last year's Crewe and Nantwich by-election. But it was back.

Andrew Grice: Delegates limp in to Brighton in search of a guiding hand

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Labour gathers for its last annual conference before the general election in a sorry state. When cabinet ministers admit that, it must be true – and highly significant.

Andrew Grice: It's up to the Liberal Democrats to win support – with well-defined policies

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

As their annual conference in Bournemouth begins today, the Liberal Democrats sense that they are in the game, but worry, in their private moments, that they are not doing better when Labour is playing so badly.

Andrew Grice: Belt-tightening will happen later

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

It was the most inevitable political U-turn in recent years. Yesterday, Gordon Brown finally bowed to pressure from Cabinet ministers led by the Chancellor Alistair Darling to admit that public spending cuts were coming.

Andrew Grice: What's Labour got to lose by axeing Brown?

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

"It won't happen at the Labour conference. It won't happen when MPs return to Westminster. It could happen around the turn of the year, if he doesn't turn things round."

Andrew Grice: Brown's day of reckoning is getting closer

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:00:01 GMT

"Gordon Brown has a plan – for the economy, for the country. David Cameron has no plan," the Brown aide told me as he described "the crucial difference" between the two leaders, and claimed that it could yet put Labour back in the game.

Andrew Grice: 'Vote Tory for tax rises' – it's not as daft as it sounds

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:00:01 GMT

"The Tories should never do sex, drugs or popular culture," the Tory frontbencher told me with a rueful smile. "It always goes wrong." He was referring to Chris Grayling, the shadow Home Secretary, who likened conditions in "many parts" of Britain's cities to the drug and crime-ridden Baltimore portrayed in the brilliant American television series The Wire.

Andrew Grice: Do not underestimate this peer's reach

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Lord Ashcroft, the Conservative Party's deputy chairman, is feared and loathed in equal measure by some of his Tory colleagues as well as political opponents.

Andrew Grice: Voters ready to mark Brown's holiday homework

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Any Gordon Brown break has always been something of a busman's holiday. While he will have been away from Downing Street for most of August, mostly in his Scottish constituency, he has been thinking hard about the central issue in politics: how to curb public spending.

Andrew Grice: If Daniel Hannan were a lone loose cannon the Tories would be fine. Unfortunately for Cameron, he's not

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:00:01 GMT

"We have to mind the gap," one Shadow Cabinet minister told me. He was referring to the danger of the voters perceiving a gap between David Cameron and a Conservative Party which does not always share his modernising zeal.

Andrew Grice: Can Gordon do a Major? Probably not

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:06:04 GMT

What will be in Gordon Brown's holiday reading when he finally starts a much-needed break in one week's time? It's a fair bet that it will include Labour's latest private polling. I have had a peek. The bad news is that Mr Brown's own reviews are decidedly mixed. He has a bit of a problem among women, although men have a grudging respect for his dogged determination to see Britain through the recession.

Andrew Grice: Clegg has to shout to be heard, but voters may be ready to listen

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

When Nick Clegg agreed to do one of his regular meet-the-people meetings at the Glastonbury Festival, he got more than he bargained for. He was introduced by Merrick, from a radical group called Corporate Watch, who ended his finely-honed poem with a tirade of abuse about the Liberal Democrats, and how they were ****ing s***.

Andrew Grice: Tories fear 'scorched earth' policy by Government

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:00:01 GMT

On the face of it, another grim week for Gordon Brown. A U-turn on the part-privatisation of Royal Mail and a messy Commons defeat on his bill to "clean up" politics followed his climbdown on the Iraq inquiry. And he was outgunned on public spending by David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions.

Andrew Grice: It's your choice: Dodgy Gordon or Honest David

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

"My MPs hate me," David Cameron was heard to remark this week. In an attempt to woo – or at least reassure – voters, the Tory leader has alienated his backbenchers by shaming them into paying back more than £250,000 in expenses to authorities in the Commons.

Andrew Grice: Handle your positives better, Mr Brown

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:00:01 GMT

There was a joke doing the rounds of Labour MPs during the recent wobble over whether they should topple Gordon Brown: "I told Gordon he is denial about our problems – but he denied it."