By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter I recently profiled the 2020 and Free Enterprise groups of Tory MPs. Those two groups are formed by ideology: MPs are attracted to the groups because, in the case of the Free Enterprise Group, members wish to open up markets and make Britain business-friendly enough to compete with other world class economies. The 2020's […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter If Labour's failure to vote against the 50p rate cut they've criticised was yesterday evening's Commons farce, a small number of Conservative MPs helped to provide the serious fare. Graham Brady, Douglas Carswell, Christopher Chope, Philip Davies, Edward Leigh, David Nuttall and John Stanley – voted in favour of […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter Yesterday, a Private Member's Bill by Rebecca Harris, the Member for Castle Point, which sought to move British clocks forward by an hour all year round, was brought before the House. The Government was supportive of the Bill, and there was a strong turnout with wide cross-party support for […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Yesterday afternoon, David Cameron made a statement to the House on his recent G20 meetings. Given that the Prime Minister described the main topic of debate as "instability in the eurozone", one could have predicted Eurosceptic members would turn up in force – as indeed they did. Douglas Carswell, […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter As reported last week, this Parliament has seen more rebellions than during the Major years, and in fact, the 2010 intake has been the most rebellious since at least 1945. The last Parliamentary year has seen Conservative rebellions on issues such as European bailouts, recognising marriage in the tax system, or […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Last night at least 32 Tory MPs (listed below) voted with Labour against an 88% hike in Britain's contribution to the IMF. The hike is to partly fund the IMF's ability to fund bailouts. I write "at least" because I've only quickly scanned the voting list. Please email tim@conservativehome.com […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Over on the NottsPolitics blog Professor Philip Cowley underlines the rebelliousness of backbench Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs since the formation of the Coalition. This graph confirms that this is the most rebellious intake since the second world war: Cowley notes: "Backbench dissent amongst government MPs is running at […]
by Paul Goodman As some MPs prepared for the Easter recess, one in particular was still in the Commons yesterday – that inveterate attender, Peter Bone (Wellingborough). He moved the second reading of his Broadcasting (Public Service Content) on behalf of Christopher Chope (Christchurch), which succeeded the Broadcasting (Television Licence Fee Abolition) Bill, also originally […]
David Nuttall is Conservative MP for Bury North and it his backbench motion for a multi-option referendum that will be debated in the House of Commons today. At a time when people pick up their phones and spend their own money voting week in week out to keep their favourite contestants in programmes like Strictly […]