Glasgow East

Another by-election, and another terrible defeat for Labour, this time in the once safe Scottish seat of Glasgow East. The SNP, which won with a 22% swing. This was obviously a major victory for Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, who took advantage of the UK government's lack of popularity and growing economic difficulties, especially the rise in inflation. Once again, questions about Brown's leadership are being raised. Will he survive as PM until the next general election ?

Miliband speech on Europe

David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, gave a speech on Europe on 2 July at the Progress think-tank, in which he gave his view on the situation of the EU in the wake of the Irish referendum. Arguing the case for Europe, he said the EU should not try to legislate on day-to-day issues affecting the electorate - a classical British support for subsidiarity - nor attempt to be a substitute for national identities. Instead, it should focus on three priorities which are best dealt with at a supra-national level : completing the single market, tackling climate change and providing security to its citizens. He gave his full support to the priorities of the French presidency mentioning immigration, energy, the environment, and defence. On European defence, he strongly approved of France's wish to reintegrate NATO's military command (which it left in 1966) in return for a strengthening of European capabilities. This is a potentially interesting development, because until now Gordon Brown had seemed very reluctant to go any further in this field, for fear of a eurosceptic backlash at home or/and of US opposition. But the Bush administration now officially supports a strengthening of European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
See also an interesting article on Gordon Brown's foreign policy in his first year as Prime Minister in The Economist.