A shadow cabinet minister told me last night that the party leadership was winning the battle over grammar schools. If today’s newspapers are victory I’d hate to see defeat. Page two of the Daily Mail warns that "Top Tories" are about to quit (they’re always "Top" when they are caught in bed with an unexpected […]
I had to visit my local GP on Friday afternoon and noticed the waiting room had four piles of a leaflet summarising the 2007 Budget. Published by the Treasury it was little more than propaganda at the taxpayers’ expense. A few snippets from the leaflet will give you the gist: "The Government’s economic reforms have […]
David Cameron has written for the Mail on Sunday about grammar schools. The full article is on conservatives.com but here are a few key extracts and ConservativeHome responses: "In eighteen years of Conservative Government, neither Margaret Thatcher nor John Major created grammar schools. That’s why Conservative MPs and candidates in areas without grammar schools do […]
Two weeks ago The Sunday Telegraph’s Melissa Kite wrote a highly speculative piece about a shadow cabinet reshuffle. Fox was to be sacked, Hague to be demoted and David Ruffley would enjoy a massive promotion. ConservativeHome covered it here. Iain Dale fisked it here. Alan Duncan MP rightly dismissed it as shoddy journalism here. Ms […]
David is studying philosophy, politics & economics at the University of Essex. In something of a response to Brian Monteith’s article, David argues that holding steady at third place in a two horse race counts as a success. Prepare yourselves for a shock: the Scottish election results weren’t a total disaster for the Conservatives. No, […]
The self-described "oldest, most elite, and most important of all Conservative clubs" will retain its membership rules after modernisers didn’t get enough votes to reform them. Led by current Chairman Lord Cope of Berkeley, who is also the Conservatives’ Chief Whip in the Lords, most votes were in favour of the change but they didn’t […]
Mike has have been in education all of his life, in teaching and pastorally. Since retirement he has been a governor at the local comprehensive, a coach and a supply teacher. He argues here that the successes of Secondary Moderns shouldn’t be overlooked. Poor old John Prescott, who didn’t get his bicycle when he failed […]
David Cameron has given some comments to the Evening Standard on the opposition to his education reforms. None of them stand out, he says that those who seek to "perpetuate a pointless debate", and who are "splashing around in the shallow end of the education debate", need to "rise above that attitude". But there is […]
MPs have been debating Conservative MP David McLean’s amendment this afternoon, which in essence seeks to exempt them from the Freedom of Information Act. It passed its Third Reading by 96 to 25 two minutes ago, although almost all speeches in the chamber were in opposition to it. The bill supposedly aims to protect the […]
Radio 4’s World at One has just reported that a Plaid-Tory-LibDem coalition is "90% likely" to govern Wales. If this emerges both Wales and Scotland will have nationalist first ministers. Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne (who blogs here) has long hoped to put his Tory group into a grand coalition but that hope only became […]
Rumours around the Westminster village yesterday suggested that today would see an article appear in The Telegraph in which Michael Howard would question the new Tory policy on grammar schools. I was told that The Telegraph was "excited" by the piece. A member of Michael Howard’s office confirmed the existence of the article yesterday morning. […]
In this week’s Spectator Fraser Nelson offers his readers a funny little insight into ‘Operation Humanise Gordon Brown’: "It is rumoured that his aides have littered little ‘smiley’ stickers throughout his paperwork, and inside his car, reminding him to grin at every occasion." But as, I think, William Hague has said: Brown is learning how […]
Cllr Dr. John M Howell OBE, Cabinet Member of Oxfordshire County Council, warns that the Greens are more of a threat than is realised – to Conservatives and to scientific progress. Here’s a question for you.What do Berinsfield Ward in Oxfordshire and Forest Row Ward in the depths of Sussex have in common? First, […]
David Cameron has just responded to the grammar schools row on WebCameron: "I announced over a year ago that the party would not go back to a policy of opening new grammar schools or introducing the 11 plus and so am slightly surprised that the press has got so excited about this clear pledge being […]
Jim McConalogue, Editor of the European Journal, fears that Ed Balls’, and therefore Gordon Brown’s, "hard-headed Europeanism" will be more of the same. Yesterday, Gordon Brown’s key political architect, Ed Balls MP, wrote an amazingly refreshing article in The Sunday Times on the future of the EU treaty. The article entitled "Europe doesn’t need a […]