Last week we highlighted the activities of Greg Stone, the Lib Dem candidate for Newcastle-upon-Tyne East. He had been using a pseudonym to post extremely personal attacks on Conservative and Labour MPs on the Guido Fawkes blog and his suitability to remain as a parliamentary candidate was raised by his Conservative opponent, Dominic Llewellyn. Yesterday, […]
Last June ConHome reproduced this anonymous letter being circulated among Conservative MPs, purporting to come from a colleague complaining about the power of Team Cameron. Its authenticity was in doubt, and another similar unsigned letter sent to Conservative MPs this morning – on House of Commons notepaper – makes me all the more convinced that […]
The Christian campaigning charity CARE has issued a new report today to coincide with the Committee Stage in the Lords of Harriet Harman's Equality Bill. It concludes that urgent changes are needed to the Bill to prevent a serious clash with the Catholic Church and other religions over a number of issues. CARE is concerned, […]
Working with Taxpayers' Alliance research this morning's Independent on Sunday has published the extent to which the Labour government has mismanaged public spending projects. The costs total £22bn or £330 for every person in Britain. Listed below are five of the worst examples of Labour wastefulness: Project: NHS national IT programme Budget £2.3bn Current cost […]
A new book by Peter Watt, former General Secretary of the Labour Party, paints a devastating picture of Gordon Brown. The Mail on Sunday has exclusive extracts: "Mr Brown’s Cabinet ally Douglas Alexander said the PM’s inner circle wanted an early Election partly because even they didn’t like him – and they feared the British […]
Polly Toynbee in The Guardian: "Mandelson is profoundly wrong and out of date to accuse others of "class war". The 50p tax rate and tax on bonuses are not some "core-vote" strategy. Polls and focus groups prove them so popular that the Tories dare not vote against them. Mandelson's claim that taxing the rich makes […]
Shadow Secretary of State for Local Government and Communities, Caroline Spelman, warned on ConservativeHome this morning that the Government was woefully (and unnecessarily) ill-prepared for the severe weather we are experiencing. The Times is now reporting the following development: Britain’s salt supplies reached dangerously low levels today forcing the Highways Agency to stop gritting motorway […]
That's according to the findings of a ComRes poll for the BBC's Daily Politics programme. The pollster asked the following questions of 1,003 adults between 6th and 7th January: "The Labour Party would have greater appeal with voters if Gordon Brown stood aside to allow someone else to lead the Party at the next election" […]
Sky News are reporting that Labour deputy leader and Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman has pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention. A second charge of driving while using a mobile phone was apparently withdrawn. She was not in court for the hearing. Since the Telegraph reported that the maximum penalty she […]
As the the papers conduct a post mortem on Wednesday's failed coup against Gordon Brown, there is general agreement that David Miliband is the biggest long-term loser from the debacle. His failure either to swiftly back Brown or join the coup has earned him the soubriquet of "serial bottler" and seriously damaged his future leadership […]
At yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions, Gordon Brown alleged that David Cameron had replied to the question "Are you committed to educational maintenance allowances?" at a public meeting by saying "Let's just say I'm not uncommitted to it". There was much excitement at the Left Foot Forward blog during PMQs that Brown had lifted the quote […]
The wounds are all over this morning's newspapers: Steve Richards' verdict in The Independent: "The events of yesterday morning are a small illustration as to why the insurrectionists show colossal misjudgement. First, Peter Mandelson delivered the most effective speech on government policy that any minister has made since the start of the economic crisis. Next, […]
8.45pm Douglas Alexander backs Brown saying "he has shown he can deliver for the British people". 8.30pm LabourList is publishing some of the replies that Labour MPs have sent to Hoon and Hewitt. Click here to read them. 7pm David Miliband finally issues a statement in support of Brown: "I am working closely with the […]
Deirdre Alden is Conservative candidate for Birmingham Edgbaston and reacts angrily to Labour MPs' complaints about the Conservative campaigns in their constituencies. What short memories some Labour MPs have! "We're being outgunned by slick Tory machine, says Labour's Andrew Slaughter" ran the headline in yesterday's Times. "I think the way they promote Conservative candidates with […]
The Labour MP for Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy, is her party's so-called "Twitter Tsar" and is the subject of a web-based campaign to unseat her, KerryOut, organised by Tory Bear and others. She is facing a strong challenge in the seat from Conservative candidate Adeela Shafi, and she now appears to be reinforcing her electoral […]