It’s probably uncharitable to point out that there’s a YouTube movie on Guido’s blog in which (if you have the stomach for it) you can see the Chancellor picking his nose during yesterday’s PMQs. It’s probably uncharitable but you could say the same about Mr Brown’s Budget speech. Greg Clark MP, Shadow Charities Minister, has […]
"Decontaminating" the Tory brand has been a big part of Project Cameron. In a comment on another thread William Norton wonders if a lasting effect of yesterday’s Budget is that Brown has "decontaminated tax cuts." If Brown is happy to be associated with lower taxation it should be harder for him to paint a (real) […]
Columnist Award: Jeff Randall. Mr Randall’s piece in this morning’s Telegraph is almost the only thing you need to read about yesterday’s Budget. It is magisterial in its analysis of what the Chancellor’s words mean for business, pensions and the nation’s finances. The article’s opening paragraph also wins the Best Quotation Award: "For most taxpayers, […]
George Osborne was good on the Today programme at 7.09am this morning but he spoilt his performance at the end. He was good in that he highlighted the craftiness of the Chancellor and the fact that you cannot trust what he says. Mr Osborne reinforced the crucial point that it is the craftiness/ slyness/ lack […]
It’ll be interesting to see how the newspapers report tomorrow’s Budget. The Chancellor will have been delighted at the "Brown cuts 2p off your income tax" headline that appeared above Joe Murphy’s front page piece for the Evening Standard’s ‘London Lite’ freesheet. He will be less pleased with the headline given to the same Joe […]
George Osborne is calling the Budget a "con." He is, of course, right. ConservativeHome may wish that Mr Osborne was much more committed to making the economic case for lower taxation but Mr Brown has zero credibility with us on tax. The 2p cut today had a lot more to do with yesterday’s 28% poll […]
Very difficult job for Cameron after Brown’s announcement of a 2p cut in income tax (from next April). Cameron responded by saying that the Chancellor had, after all, accepted the Tory idea that you could cut taxes and raise spending through the proceeds of growth. He said that Brown only normally cut taxes before an […]
12.30pm: And we’re off with a typically modest comparison with him and Gladstone – the last time a Chancellor delivered 12 budgets was when Gladstone combined the jobs of Chancellor and Prime Minister! 12.31pm: Joking reference to Lord Turnbull – this is the ‘new Brown’ who can take a joke! 12.32pm: Claiming credit for 59 […]
David Cameron’s first subject of the day: Zimbabwe. David Cameron called for a wider assets freeze, the cancellation of visa access for Mugabe’s acolytes, and to ensure no Zimbabwean participation in the forthcoming EU Africa conference. (Related link: William Hague in last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph called for the screw to be turned on Mugabe). David […]
"Gordon Brown’s Budget Day report into town hall finances today dropped a tax bombshell on working families and pensioners across the country Conservatives have warned. The small print reveals: New home improvement tax: On top of new banding, the report recommends not just a council tax revaluation, but regular revaluations (p.240). The council tax revaluation […]
There is an important profile of David Cameron’s top advisory team in today’s Guardian. Here are a few key observations from the extended piece by Andy Beckett – for which he has clearly been granted considerable access: Little known: Most of David Cameron’s back office are unknown with the exception of Steve Hilton. Inexperienced: Michael […]
Last night David Cameron gave the annual William Wilberforce Address to a gathering of more than 850 Christians at an event organised by the Conservative Christian Fellowship. When I organised the first Wilberforce Address nearly ten years ago the attendance was only a third of that number. It is a mark of the progress of […]
The Telegraph’s Jonathan Isaby has done an excellent job in recording that 12 shadow cabinet members joined David Cameron last night in supporting the Government’s doctrinaire attempts to bring Catholic adoption agencies within the scope of gay equality legislation. This dozen – plus Cameron himself – accounted for a huge 45% of the vote against […]
Mark Prisk MP is Shadow Minister for Business and Enterprise. He is writing after the publication of the Interim Report of the Small Business Task Force. The Final Report will be published in May. The level of direct Government support for small business has mushroomed more than five-fold between the early 1980s and the present […]