So far the leader of the Labour Party has been a chrysalis. Today he emerged, arguing the best way to solve problems is centralised control.
It’s such a familiar sight – the face like thunder, the hunched shoulders, the refusal to face up to his responsibility for what his people did. Yes, it’s Gordon Brown running away from a journalist asking him about the McBride book.
Watching Ed Balls talk about money being tight is like watching Tiger Woods speak about the importance of marriage. Not content with wrecking the nation’s public finances, his new policy is funded by money he’s already spent ten times over.
The new anti-Euro party, the AfD, fell just short of the 5 per cent threshold required to secure Bundestag seats. Without eurosceptic pressure, Merkel might well simply leave Cameron flapping in the wind.
There are lots of interesting findings in the polls this week – most notably that the Conservatives are at level-pegging with Labour in several of them, a remarkable erosion of the Opposition’s lead in recent months. One of the underlying statistics in today’s Sun poll left me absolutely gobsmacked: “A massive 71 per cent of […]
The Lib Dem conference was never just going to be about Vince moaning and a plastic bag tax. Sure enough, Nick Clegg's big announcement is free school meals for all school children aged between five and seven. As Robert Halfon MP notes elsewhere on ConservativeHome this morning, the sensible part of Clegg's proposal (that which gives […]
Now that both parties are fighting to take credit for the coalition's achievements, rather than seeking to blame each other for its impact, it seems an opportune moment to ask: who is winning the Coalition? Do the Lib Dems or the Conservatives enjoy more success in Government? Let's tot it up, match by match, across […]
I wrote yesterday about the fundamental division within the Lib Dems between the Liberals and the SDP: “Any political party is a coalition of sorts – we Conservatives certainly have plenty of tribes of our own, who disagree about plenty of issues. But Lib Demmery is a more divided creed than most. Having been […]
The ONS’ Labour Market Statistics paint a familiar picture today: Employment is up, both in terms of the headcount (29.84 million, up 80,000 on the previous quarter and up 275,000 from a year ago) and as a percentage (71.6 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points on the previous quarter and 0.4 percentage points from a […]
Yesterday, the BBC published an embarrassing leaked letter, sent by a Department of Education official, on the topic of internet porn filters. In essence, the letter asked Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to agree to a form of words which would exaggerate the level of protection offered – allegedly in order to allow the Prime Minister to […]
Lord Ashcroft's latest polling tests the more than 40 proposals put forward by Peter Bone and Philip Hollobone in their Alternative Queen's Speech (the full list is here). He rightly points out that, in the national scheme of things, the idea that the platform is a mass vote-winner which would swing the General Election is mistaken. […]
Just as the Church of England used to be the Conservative Party at prayer, the Daily Telegraph was at one time the Conservative Party at breakfast. Marmalade, English Breakfast tea and a hefty dose of support for the party leadership went hand in hand. The Torygraph tag, certainly popularised by Private Eye if not invented […]
I grew up by the seaside, and have always counted myself lucky to do so. Despite being an island nation, with so much of our history tied up in maritime commerce and adventure, it is remarkable how many of us rarely visit the coast. There is something about the sea which has a deep impact […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. In an ideal world, every Secretary of State would be great at their job. Given that such a world does not exist, every Government has its successful ministers and their not-so-successful colleagues. It's worth studying what tends to distinguish the former from the latter – not least as a way to […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. Today, the great Spending Review circus comes to a close – the custard pies have been thrown, Ed Balls has done a lap in his clown car and now the Chancellor will walk the House of Commons high wire as the final act. While it has provided much entertainment, from the […]