The start of a new term

During the summer holidays, as you might expect, not much was happening in the political world. It all changed this week though as the coming of September has brought with it about a month's worth of stories in a week.

Probably one of the biggest stories was the release of Tony Blair's memoirs. They were surprisingly frank, and showed that the rivalry between Blair and Brown (know by Downing Street civil servants as 'the TB-GBs') was a lot worse than most people thought. Also, Mr. Blair likes George W. Bush and still thinks the invasion of Iraq was right – what a shock!

Ballot papers for the leadership election started going out this week. What influence Blair's book and the memories of the Blair/Brown relationship will have on the leadership election will only be known with the result on 25th September.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Secretary commented on allegations on the internet that he was gay and in a relationship with an aid with whom he'd shared a hotel room during the election campaign. William Hague categorically denied ever having been in a relationship with any man and stated that he and his wife are happily married, despite having recently suffered the tragedy of a miscarriage. There have been rumours about Mr. Hague's sexuality for years, but only on the political blogs and he has never been talked about in the mainstream media before. It just goes to show, don't trust what you read on blogs!!

For the second time in 12 months, UKIP is electing a new leader. This week Nigel Farage announced his candidacy. Mr. Farage has been leader before, but he resigned last year in order to focus on fighting the constituency of Buckingham in the general election. Nigel Farage is the best known member of UKIP and the leadership election is his to lose.

The Communications Director at No. 10, Andy Coulson (David Cameron's Alastair Campbell) has been on the wrong side of the headlines in recent days. Before working for Mr. Cameron, Andy Coulson was editor of the News of the World during the phone hacking scandal when the newspaper logged into the private voicemail of politicians and celebrities. This week, John Prescott has been calling for a judicial review into the affair, and specifically Mr. Coulson's role in it. I wonder whether Lord Prescott would be doing this if Andy Coulson was working for Labour instead of the Coalition.

And finally, the Camerons have brought their new daughter to Downing Street for the first time. The only question the proud parents would answer was "Is she keeping you awake?" To which Mrs. Cameron replied "Oh yes". I'm not sure a sleep deprived Prime Minister is not the best thing for the country.

So much news in just seven days, and Parliament isn't even back yet!!

New Government - New Blog!

One of the great virtues of blogging is its immediacy - the fact that, unlike newspaper journalists, bloggers can react to events as they are taking place. And in that spirit, for my inaugural blog, I'm going to talk about something which happened two days ago.



Even the Conservative blogger, Iain Dale, said that his 'eyes moistened' when Gordon Brown walked out of No. 10 for the last time as Prime Minister.

No matter how you voted, it was a sad moment to witness a man's political career come to an end. But actually, Brown himself looked relieved - in fact he was smiling! And not the infamously scary joker-like smile, but a genuine warm smile. Some in the Labour party must have wondered why Mr. Brown didn't smile in that way during the election campaign - if he had, Labour may have won. But, of course, Labour lost and the elegance and brutality of the UK's unwritten constitution came into effect.

Gordon Brown drove the short distance to Buckingham Palace where he tendered his resignation to the Queen. As this was happening, Labour officials and Ministers were flooding out of Downing Street and other government buildings like soldiers fleeing a medieval castle before the enemy army come through the gates.

A short time later, after his own meeting with Her Majesty, David Cameron really did come through the gates (of Downing Street) and walked into No. 10 as the first Conservative Prime Minister in thirteen years. Crucially though, he does not lead a Conservative government. Almost 70 years to the day after the formation of the last coalition government, the United Kingdom has two governing parties.

The idea of 'Prime Minister David Cameron' has been seen as a likelihood (at some points even a certainty) for many years, but the words 'Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg' would have seemed ludicrous just a few days ago. Now the Lib Dems are in government with the Conservatives, and the dominate party of the last decade is leaderless and in opposition.

Some may say I should have started this blog before the election campaign, as now all the excitement in politics is effectively over. Personally, I think the excitement is only just beginning.