Benedict Brogan

Britain’s picking the wrong fight with China.

Jack Straw accuses the Tories of trying to buy the election.

Newly released papers give a fascinating glimpse of Margaret Thatcher’s fight to cut back on wasteful expenditure.

GSM mobile phone calls can now be intercepted. How long until a politician suffers from this?

Posted by Alex Singleton

Ed Balls calls off the class war. Not.

Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, attacks Tory policy. How safe is his job?

On January 1, Gordon Brown will squash the recovery.

The Obama administration slipped out an announcement on Christmas Eve.

And an American magazine names Michael Bloomberg its nanny of the year. Which Brit would win such a contest?

Posted by Alex Singleton

David Cameron wants the election to be a clean fight. Does Gordon agree?

Children from poor backgrounds are more likely to bunk school. But do they also have the worst teachers?

Shoppers avoid Gordon Brown’s next tax rise.

Photographers issue a plea to end “humiliating” searches by the police.

And the EU is to blame for bans on photography… not.

Posted by Alex Singleton

It’s been a beautiful day down here in Worcestershire. The Malvern hills are dusted in snow and the frosted fields promise the white Christmas we hope for. In my Telegraph column today I report on some of what David Cameron is thinking about as he retreats for Christmas in the country with his family. These few days offer him and Gordon Brown a brief respite before what will be a gruelling campaign. I’m away in the US next week, back in the new year. Many thanks for reading this blog, and I wish you a most happy and peaceful Christmas.

Reports of a rift between Gordon Brown and Mandy just won’t go away.

William Hague attacks the decision to delay Gordon Brown giving evidence on the Iraq War.

Whitehall staff shared a £30 million bonus pot.

Police are to question a key Cameron ally.

And the idea that thrifty families are prolonging the recession is nonsense.

Posted by Alex Singleton

Lovely item from the great Ephraim Hardcastle this morning:

Rendezvouz With Destiny, a new biography of the late President Ronald Reagan by a former Republican press spokesman, Craig Shirley, discloses: ‘After Reagan was re-elected in 1984, the diplomatic tags on the cars used by the Soviet Embassy in Washington were changed to begin with the initials F.C. Nobody needed to guess what it stood for. The C was for Commies . . .’

Sterling falls on news that Britain is still in recession, and Fitch, the credit ratings agency, thinks Britain need to do more to cut expenditure.

Alex Salmond says it would be “outrageous” if the SNP were excluded from the party leaders’ TV debates.

The French Government buys British.

Tracy Corrigan wants to know: who will be next year’s most hated?

And Simon Heffer says that the great William Gladstone saved our country.

Posted by Alex Singleton

A former Microsoft techie wants to fix climate change by running a hose up to the stratosphere  pump out sulfur particles.

There’s no Christmas cheer in the Mail today for David Cameron.

Christopher Hope selects the 10 top stories of 2009.

And there’s a huge liberal backlash against Barack Obama, says Matt Welch.

Posted by Alex Singleton

Gordon Brown has finally agreed to debate David Cameron on television…

…and, ever the fan of global government, our PM wants a new organisation to police world environment issues.

James Forsyth explains why Livingstone is talking up the threat Mandy as a Labour candidate for Mayor of London.

Dan Hannan gives 10 reasons to leave the EU…

…while Dan Lewis says that Cameron will have to immediately confront the EU over energy policy.

Posted by Alex Singleton

Alan Johnson had a go at ‘public schoolboy millionaires’ yesterday in the Sunday Times. “The Conservatives are the party of inherited wealth, private education and conspicuous affluence, ” he said. “If they were to win the election, you would have a mayor of London, chancellor of the exchequer and prime minister all coming from a tiny clique who went out trashing restaurants and left large wodges of money to pay for the damage.”

This has gone down badly at City Hall, where Boris “I fear no man” J0hnson is preparing his riposte for when he comes to face to face with the Home Secretary at the “Johnson v Johnson” debate organised next month by Policy Exchange. The event is ostensibly about PR, with Vernon Bogdanor seconding Johnson A and Lord Norton of Louth assisting Johnson B. But like a row about whether to put the toilet seat up, it can very quickly be turned into something else. I’m told Hizzoner is itching to “put that man Johnson in his place”. So book your seats now: the class war is about to go live.