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The Nation -- Why would Australian Prime Minister Michael Howard separate out Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) from all of the other contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination -- and from all the prominent Democratic and Republican critics of President Bush's dangerous foreign policies -- for attack as the favorite son of the terrorists? Why would Howard, suggest that the Illinois senator's candidacy will "encourage those who wanted completely to destabilize and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory"? What was Howard thinking when he claimed in...

New HampshireThe day after the election, the BBC reported that the Iranian government was interested in buying MG Rover. This was a useful reminder of what one might call the internal contradictions of Blairism. It would be difficult to imagine circumstances in which the mullahs would buy, say, General Motors, yet here was George W. Bush’s alleged poodle presiding over a land where what’s left of the native automobile industry is happy to become a wholly owned subsidiary of the Axis of Evil. I’ve no idea what MG Rover makes these days, but no doubt it will soon be changed...

On election day, I happened to be motoring through the leafy lanes of Warwickshire, and thinking, as I do every couple of years or so, well, maybe I ought to get out the car and pick up some local colour and so forth. And, just as the thought occurred, I passed a Porsche dealership and a riding club and I realised, oh, no, I'm in Solihull. Nothing against Solihull, I hasten to add, but let's face it, it's not exactly the liveliest posting on anybody's election battleground map. "Conservative since the dawn of time," as the chap on the BBC's...

Americans are accustomed to thinking of Britain as their most reliable ally, always there in a crisis. Broadly speaking that has been true since 1941 — and mutual. With the exception of a few wobbles like Suez and Edward Heath's refusal of landing rights to U.S. planes supplying arms to Israel in the Yom Kippur war, the Brits have shared a common approach with the U.S. on defense policy, intelligence cooperation, nuclear weapons, trade liberalization, and much else. Margaret Thatcher's backing for Reagan's Libyan raid and Tony Blair's commitment of British forces to the Iraq war strengthened this habitual cooperation....

Gamble that was Howard's way FRASER NELSON POLITICAL EDITOR THE Conservatives took a leap in the dark with their 2005 campaign. They used guerrilla tactics, "dog whistles" and character attacks more vicious than anything used before. Today, they are analysing their gamble. Lynton Crosby, the Australian author of the campaign, was treated to a standing ovation as he addressed Central Office workers on Tuesday. His imported tactics seemed to bring the Tories back from the dead. But when asked later if he deserved the applause, he was sanguine. "I don’t have a clue," he said. "We’ll find out on Friday."...

The BBC is reporting that Michael Howard is to step down as Tory leader. Nothing more yet, just a banner headline.

Conservative challenger Michael Howard is trailing Prime Minister Tony Blair in the British polls, and Margaret Thatcher has had enough. Facing the possibility of her cherished Tory Party losing to Blair again, and upset at the possibility that Labour will be leading England's government again, Thatcher skipped town for a little holiday - just days before the election. She is not campaigning for Howard, and British papers quote a close friend of the baroness as saying, "She wants to see a Conservative government again. She is frustrated that is not going to happen, despite the Labour Government's serious shortcomings and...

John Kerry's problem last November was that he wasn't Tony Blair. Had the Democrats managed to find a candidate who was fierce and clear-sighted on the war but a big nanny-state control-freak on health, education and all the other pantywaist stuff, they might well have pulled it off. Iraq wasn't going so well, if only in media terms; Mr Bush was a controversial figure; and, for all the weary repetition of the allegedly inviolable rule that "Americans don't switch commanders-in-chief in the middle of a war", recent history suggests that wartime presidencies usually cease well before the hostilities do (Johnson...

The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader. The Tories have made an official protest after the hecklers, who were given the microphones by producers, were caught at a party event in the North West last week. Guy Black, the party's head of communications, wrote in a letter to Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news, that the hecklers began shouting slogans that were "distracting and clearly hostile to the Conservative Party". These included...

The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader. The Tories have made an official protest after the hecklers, who were given the microphones by producers, were caught at a party event in the North West last week. Guy Black, the party's head of communications, wrote in a letter to Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news, that the hecklers began shouting slogans that were "distracting and clearly hostile to the Conservative Party". These included...

In yesterday's Daily Telegraph, Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrats' health spokesperson, was asked for his reaction to the latest survey on attitudes to the NHS. "These figures," he said, "show that what people want is to have control over their health and their health care. That means better information and opportunities to make healthy choices." No, it doesn't. That second sentence is a lot of soothing somnolent buzz words - "opportunity", "choice" - but it bears no relation to the first. The reason people don't have "control" over their health care is because the government has control over it. If...

(This is part of the transcript of Mark Steyn interviewed by Hugh Hewitt talking about seal hunts and environmentalism in Canada and the upcoming British general election. The complete version includes Hillary Clinton and US senate judicial confirmations as well and could be found at the link provided above) It's the middle of the week, and so with great anticipation, Mark Steyn begins the Hugh Hewitt Show. Last week, I posted the transcript, and was overwhelmed with the response. So without further adieu, here's Hugh Hewitt and Mark Steyn: HH: I want to start with a Candian story. Up in...

Labour and the Liberal Democrats attempted to paint Michael Howard as an extreme Right-winger on immigration yesterday amid signs that his policy is winning widespread support. In what appeared to be a co-ordinated ploy, the two parties accused the Conservative leader of crudely exploiting the issue in order to boost the Tories' chances on May 5. Last night evidence of a Tory surge was confirmed when a YouGov poll for The Daily Telegraph put Labour and the Conservatives neck and neck on 36 per cent. The Liberal Democrats are on 20 per cent and other parties eight per cent. The...

While most national polls seem to suggest Labour Party candidate Tony Blair will be re-elected to a third term as Britain's prime minister in the upcoming May 5 elections, there are reasons to believe an upset may be afoot and that the rival conservative Tories have a decent chance to recapture 10 Downing Street. The Economist reports that most polls currently have Blair still "comfortably" ahead, with the most reliable pollster, ICM, giving Blair an 8-point lead. But, the magazine says, Labour "lost ground heavily during both the 1997 and 2001 elections," with its average poll rating falling off by...

LONDON, April 5 - After months of speculation and political maneuvering, Prime Minister Tony Blair called Tuesday for an election on May 5, seeking a record-setting third term in office by offering voters "a big and positive vision for the future of our country." Mr. Blair is already Britain's longest-serving Labor prime minister, and a third consecutive term would be the first on record for his party. The announcement coincided with a wave of opinion surveys suggesting that Mr. Blair's Labor Party was losing ground to the opposition Conservatives. On Tuesday, Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, urged Britons to choose...

Time to make yobs fear the police again, says Howard By George Jones, Political Editor(Filed: 01/04/2005)Michael Howard promised yesterday to combat a growing "yob culture" that was turning town and city centres into no-go areas at night and weekends.He would ensure that lawless teenagers once again feared the police, he said.   Tough love: Mr Howard ‘wants yobs looking round in fear’ A Conservative government would end the "defensive policing" and political correctness that had allowed teenage yobs free rein.As home secretary in the last Tory government, Mr Howard angered libertarians with his tough law and order policies, claiming...

Poll puts parties just 3 points apart, as Blair fails to regain confidence Labour's opinion poll lead has been cut to only three points in the last month as the Tory pre-election campaign gains momentum, according to the results of this month's Guardian/ICM opinion poll published today. With the expected date of the general election only 72 days away the poll results will alarm Labour election strategists who fear Conservatives could use the intensive "phoney war" campaigning to close the gap between the parties. Tony Blair effectively launched Labour's campaign a fortnight ago with his helicopter tour, the six pledges...

Since leaving office, I have not sought publicity. Even when provoked I have usually kept my counsel. Yet the changing character of the way politics is conducted is an issue on which it would be wrong to remain silent. The turnout at the last election was pitiful and is likely to be even more so at the next one – probably below that in Iraq, where voters ran the gauntlet of bomb and bullet. In one of the world's most secure democracies, how can such disillusion have set in?One cause is the way politics is conducted. It is a robust...

When George W. Bush arrives for his European visit next week, a special ceremony will be laid on in Brussels: the discreet burial of hatchets. Dinner with Jacques Chirac will start the rapprochement with Old Europe while other leaders wait in line, olive branch in hand. But there’s one politician the American President certainly won’t be meeting: Michael Howard. Even if the Conservative leader was at the European Union summit, he’s unlikely to have been granted an audience; he languishes, unforgiven, in a special kind of purgatory. Four months ago, before Bush’s historic victory, Howard was parading his credentials as...

On the eve of the Iraq election, the Times treated us to a riveting columnar collaboration: ‘We need to fix an exit timetable, say Robin Cook, Douglas Hurd and Menzies Campbell’ — in perfect harmony. To modify Churchill, defeat may be an orphan, but defeatism has many fathers, and these three were in tripartisan agreement about what a disaster Iraq had been. You’d have got a better idea of how election day was likely to proceed from that week’s Speccie, which blared across its cover ‘Iraq — the unreported triumph: Mark Steyn says that things are going Bush’s way’ —...

Michael Howard’s election guru has told him that the Conservatives have no hope of winning the next general election. The crushing blow from Lynton Crosby, the Australian campaign expert hired by Mr Howard at great expense to bring about a surprise Tory victory, came as Mr Howard attempted yesterday to put immigration and asylum at the heart of the party’s election campaign. The opposition leader was accused of desperation for his personal pledge to restrict immigration to Britain, to be presented in a speech today as a Tory vote-winner. The Times has learnt of an extraordinary power tussle at Conservative...

Migration needs to benefit all BritonsBy Michael Howard (Filed: 27/01/2005) The first responsibility of Government is to control the nation's borders. But this Government has comprehensively failed in its duty to police entry to our country. For all those of us who believe that Britain benefits from immigration, the Government's failure is a particular tragedy. Modern Britain is immeasurably better off as a result of the new Britons who have made their homes here over the last century. We all benefit from the social diversity, economic vibrancy and cultural richness which immigration has brought. But, if those benefits are to...

FALTERING Tory leader Michael Howard has been thrown a political life-line - from the mastermind behind George Bush's victory in the US election. The shock signing of Karl Rove is all the more amazing as President Bush's right-hand man banned Mr Howard from the White House just three months ago. The highly-rated strategist discussed the Opposition leader's fading General Election hopes in a trans- atlantic phone call this week. And during his talks with party chairman Liam Fox he agreed to bury differences over the Iraq war and draw up Mr Howard's masterplan for the May poll. The development will...

Editorial: Anglosphere's leadership is singing in tune IN an analysis of George W. Bush's election victory in the current issue of The Economist, the magazine's acerbic US commentator, "Lexington", warns the Democrats against the self-serving view that the US President won by appealing to base instincts such as fear and hatred. The Republicans "clobbered them on hope". Mr Bush was better than John Kerry at "exuding optimism" and "addressing the aspirations of an aspirational people". This is always the winning strategy in a pro-growth culture such as the US, and shows the Republicans have turned themselves into the "party of...

Howard refuses to congratulate Bush Nicholas Watt, political correspondent Monday November 8, 2004 The Guardian Michael Howard deepened his feud with the White House yesterday when he pointedly refused to offer the traditional post-election congratulations to George Bush. Angered by a White House edict banning him from meeting the president - as punishment for criticising Tony Blair over Iraq - Mr Howard said it would be wrong for him to express any view on the poll. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph the arch-Atlanticist was asked whether he was pleased that a fellow rightwinger had beaten a liberal. He...

Can the Tories figure out how Bush won again? By Charles Moore (Filed: 04/11/2004) A conservative has just won for a second time, more strongly than four years ago. It is the biggest vote ever cast for a conservative in the history of the world. And that conservative's job is the most important in the world. Where is the British Conservative Party? The most honest answer is, no one is quite sure. Michael Howard, the party leader, is strongly Atlanticist, but he devoted so much energy earlier this year to trying to catch Tony Blair out over the war in...

Bournemouth – This seaside resort town has seen better days. So has the Tory party, which last week convened here for its annual conference. The town was devastated when cheap airfares made the sun and beaches of Spain affordable for vacationing Brits. The Tories were devastated when they first deposed their electoral meal ticket, Margaret Thatcher, and then descended into intraparty feuding over the role of Britain in Europe, treated themselves to a round of sex and finance scandals that made a mockery of their "Back to Basics" theme, and ruined their reputation for economic management by joining a European...

Howard: I'll sack ministers who break promises Michael White and Nicholas Watt Tuesday October 5, 2004 The Guardian Michael Howard will today make a dramatic attempt to win the trust of disillusioned voters by promising to sack cabinet ministers who fail to deliver the detailed election promises on target. In a self-lacerating address to the party faithful and the wider television audience, the Conservative leader will admit during his speech to the party's conference in Bournemouth: "Politicians seem to live in a different world, where promises are dropped just as casually as they are made, a world where there are...

Howard hopes tax pledge will lift gloom Nicholas Watt and Michael White Monday October 4, 2004 The Guardian Michael Howard will today attempt to breathe new life into a despondent Conservative party by turning the clock back to the glory days of the 1980s with a pledge to match Margaret Thatcher's tax cutting commitments. As gloomy Tories gathered in Bournemouth for their last conference before the general election, the scale of the challenge facing Mr Howard was underlined by a poll which showed that he is even less popular than Iain Duncan Smith. The findings of the Populus poll could...

With rumours of mushroom clouds over North Korea and genocide in Sudan, it's good to know the Government has identified the real threat in the world today. As The Telegraph reported: "Chief constables intend to site CCTV cameras on hedgerows, fences and trees along known hunting routes to enable them to photograph hunt members who break the law after hunting with hounds is outlawed. "The controversial measure was agreed at a secret meeting between David Blunkett and the chief constables of England and Wales after the hunting ban was announced last week. Police chiefs warned the Home Secretary that enforcing...

With rumours of mushroom clouds over North Korea and genocide in Sudan, it's good to know the Government has identified the real threat in the world today. As The Telegraph reported: "Chief constables intend to site CCTV cameras on hedgerows, fences and trees along known hunting routes to enable them to photograph hunt members who break the law after hunting with hounds is outlawed. "The controversial measure was agreed at a secret meeting between David Blunkett and the chief constables of England and Wales after the hunting ban was announced last week. Police chiefs warned the Home Secretary that enforcing...

New York THE REVOLUTIONARY POLITICS of the post-September 11 world have claimed another victim--the ties that bind politically like-minded Anglo-Saxons A hapless bunch of British Tories made the rounds at the GOP convention this week reassuring just about anyone who would listen that they really, truly, honestly are the Republicans' best friends. The trouble is that the party that has produced ideological icons for American conservatives from the Duke of Wellington to Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher, has been cold-shouldered by the Bush White House. And all because of Iraq. Michael Howard, the Conservative leader since late last year, has...

A Convention for British Bush-backers this week would not need Madison Square Garden. A Manhattan milk bar would do -- room enough for Tony Blair, a tiny band of his ministers and a rather larger contingent from the Opposition Conservatives. One of those at that bar should be the new leader of the British Conservative Party, Michael Howard, former minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments and her successor as probably the most deeply committed Atlanticist in the House of Commons. Yet Mr. Howard has been left out in the street and, thanks to a fresh flurry of leaks to newspapers in...

Rift harms Tory links with Bush Sarah Hall, political correspondent Monday August 30, 2004 The Guardian Liam Fox, the Conservative party chairman, will fly into New York for the Republican convention today despite a row between Michael Howard and George Bush. The senior Tory, attending the convention with the party's former leader William Hague, and frontbenchers George Osborne and Tim Loughton, will be hoping for a meeting with the US president, though none has been promised or arranged. Any discussion is likely to be seen as a chance to build bridges after the Tory leader was provoked into issuing a...

According to The Sunday Telegraph, "Howard Tells Bush: I Don't Care If You Won't See Me". Presumably he didn't actually "tell" Bush, since his lack of access to the guy is what this thing's all about. "Face time" they used to call it in Bill Clinton's day. So Bush is probably unaware that Howard doesn't care if he won't see him. By next Sunday we might be seeing headlines such as: "Furious Howard Slams Reeling Bush: I Don't Care If You Don't Know That I Don't Care If You Won't See Me". But, despite the lively account in the Sun,...

Tory leader Michael Howard has hit out at White House aides after he was told would never meet President Bush. The Sun reported senior aide Karl Rove told Mr Howard in February: "You can forget about meeting the president full stop. Don't bother coming." The officials were reportedly furious at the Conservative leader's call for Tony Blair to resign over the Iraq war. Mr Howard said he would carry on doing his job as he saw fit and accused US aides of trying to protect Mr Blair. "A Conservative government would work very closely with President Bush or President Kerry,...

Bush: Stay away Howard By TREVOR KAVANAGH Political Editor TORY leader Michael Howard has been barred from the White House and told he will never meet President George Bush, it emerged last night. The bombshell ban was slapped on Mr Howard after he called for Tony Blair to quit over the Iraq War. And it was reinforced last month when he said he would have vetoed military action if he had known the full facts about Iraq’s WMD arsenal. Last night, a spokesman for Mr Howard did not even try to deny the Tory leader had been banned from meeting...

[SNIP] Michael Howard’s less important piece of luck concerns the UK Independence party. At the time of its European election triumph in June it looked as if Ukip — which holds a poignant appeal to the most atavistic and, sadly for Michael Howard, by no means least numerous section of the Conservative party activist base — could cause desperate problems at the general election. The worry is not that Ukip could win parliamentary seats on its own account, rather that it would shave thousands of voters in marginal constituencies, costing the Tories dozens of seats. This disconcerting prospect has become...

Howard finds nowhere to hide from polished Prime Minister JAMES KIRKUP THE last gladiatorial clash of the parliamentary session yesterday saw Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, escape unscathed and left Conservatives downcast at the faltering performance of their leader, Michael Howard. Mr Blair conducted himself masterfully, repeatedly allowing MPs to interrupt his opening statement in a show of confidence about his ability to absorb and overcome any of their arguments. Mr Howard, by contrast, became snared in a web of his own making, entangled in his legalistic argument that although he still fully supports the war, he now wishes he...

Tories Back Fathers' RightsJuly 12, 2004 MND NEWSWIRE British Tory leader Michael Howard is to call for a change in the law which would give parents equal access to their children when relationships break down, according to the BBC. At a summit on custody battles today, Howard is expected to say that "the best parent is both parents," a familiar phrase coined as the title of a book by Children's Rights Council President David Levy. It is thought that ministers are considering changes in law that would give divorced fathers a better deal on custody and access. The Tory...

Howard pledges 'grammars for all'By John Clare and Liz Lightfoot (Filed: 18/06/2004) A grammar school place for every parent who wants one and whose child is qualified for it was the prospect held out yesterday by Michael Howard, the Tory leader. He said a Conservative government would encourage grammar schools to take over failing comprehensives and make them academically selective if there was sufficient parental demand in the area. Similarly, grammar schools that were over-subscribed, as most are, would receive as much money from the Government as they needed to expand as they saw fit. Mr Howard was speaking to...

Howard faces plot by Tory Eurosceptics Gaby Hinsliff, chief political correspondent Sunday June 13, 2004 The Observer Michael Howard is facing a plot by right-wing Tories to force him into a harder line on Europe if tonight's election results show voters deserting in droves to the UK Independence party. Eurosceptic MPs will take informal soundings among their colleagues tomorrow if, as expected, the far-right party - which favours withdrawal from the EU - makes a breakthrough in elections to the European Parliament. Privately, Howard is resigned to getting a lower share of the vote than William Hague in the 1999...

Europe is not working properly. I am quite clear about that. The European Union pumps out too many rules and regulations, and is too centralised and inflexible. It has a poor track record on waste and fraud, and is a prime example of the failed "big government knows best" approach to life. For almost a decade, auditors have refused to sign off the EU's accounts because of the level of fraud and corruption in the organisation. Every year, £3 billion goes missing. Red tape is strangling European business. It has a serious impact on jobs and growth. Productivity in the...

For months, the Conservatives have been rather like the contestants on those grotesque Japanese endurance television shows, who sit in the scorching sun for hours and hours in front of a mouth-watering glass of ice-cold orange juice, desperately trying not to drink it. In the Tories' case, the glass has been labelled with the words: "Attack Labour over Iraq and Bush - go on, you know you want to!" Iain Duncan Smith, to his credit, though not to his benefit, resisted the temptation. Last week, however, Michael Howard finally yielded and tore into the Prime Minister, demanding that Mr Blair...

Relations between Labour and the Conservatives over Iraq reached a new low yesterday after Michael Howard was accused by ministers of endangering the lives of British forces. Tony Blair led a concerted attack by ministers and Labour MPs on the Tory leader, who had said it was time for Mr Blair to be more open about his disagreements with President George W Bush. Although Mr Howard made clear that he still supported the deployment of British troops in Iraq, he complained of a "serious lack of candour" about Mr Blair's discussions with Mr Bush. He said the new "doctrine of...

"Thank you very much for inviting me to speak to you today. The War on Terror "We meet today under a dark shadow, cast by last week's appalling atrocity in Madrid – the worst terrorist attack on European soil since Lockerbie. It was carried out with apocalyptic symmetry, 911 days after 9/11, on the 11th March – 3/11. "Like those who attacked the Twin Towers, the people who carried out this barbarity showed that there is no limit to the suffering they are prepared to inflict. After the attacks on New York and Washington, the bombs in Iraq, Turkey, Bali...

Howard urges US economy for UK Tory leader Michael Howard has said Britain needs a US-style economy, in a speech to a conference of Rupert Murdoch's journalists in Mexico. "Our economy needs to become more like America's again," he said, as he called for fewer regulations and lower taxes. He also told British, US and Australian bosses of News International he backed Tony Blair in the war on terror. His speech was the first by a British politician to News Corporation since Tony Blair addressed them in 1995. 'Wrong path' Mr Howard evoked the memory of ex-Conservative premier Margaret Thatcher,...

Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservative party, has announced his party has withdrawn from the Butler inquiry into intelligence failures in the assessment of Iraq’s WMD capability. Mr Howard said his party withdrew their support because of the limited nature of the inquiry. Lord Butler’s committee will focus on structures and systems rather than individuals. In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Howard expressed his dissatisfaction on what he regards as a narrower interpretation of the inquiry’s terms of references than the two leaders had agreed to. "Lord Butler has chosen to interpret his terms of reference in...

Tories disown cockler joke MP Tory leader Michael Howard has expelled an MP from the parliamentary party for failing to apologise for a joke about the deaths of 20 Chinese cocklers. Ann Winterton, 63, the MP for Congleton in Cheshire, had the party whip withdrawn over remarks made during an after-dinner speech. Mr Howard called them and her refusal to say sorry "completely unacceptable". Twenty migrants died after being caught by a rising tide at Morecambe Bay in Lancashire earlier this month. 'Completely unacceptable' Two years ago Mrs Winterton was sacked as shadow cabinet spokeswoman for agriculture for making a...

Thatcherite principles of enterprise, competition, low taxation and free markets will be championed by Michael Howard to regain policy ground the Tories believe they have surrendered to Labour. Dr Liam Fox, the party chairman, will tonight set out to reclaim the political philosophy that led to limits on the power of trade unions, greater home-ownership and privatisations. Dr Liam Fox: wants the party to use 'language of conservatism'. He will use a speech to entrepreneurs to flesh out the principles announced by Mr Howard, the Conservative leader, in his "I believe" declaration this month. Dr Fox will call on the...