By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter In an article for the Daily Telegraph today, Caroline Spelman, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has written of the need to be "realistic about the challenges" and problems faced by rural communities and businesses. Such challenges, she said "have been exacerbated by over a decade […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The end-December survey of ConHome members found a big jump in support for the Northern Ireland Secretary, Owen Paterson. Paterson's intervention in the public debate about what Cameron should do in advance of the EU Treaty summit was another important signal to the Prime Minister that the party would not […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter A group of senior Ministers including Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson sought to meet the Prime Minister during the run-up to today's Brussels summit to urge him to harden his stance on the repatriation of powers. The group features Chris Grayling, the Employment Minister in Duncan Smith's Work […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The most notable change this month has already been noted; a big drop in satisfaction with George Osborne. There are no other significant movements in net satisfaction. Iain Duncan Smith: 92% minus 6% = 86% Michael Gove: 92% minus 9% = 83% Eric Pickles: 82% minus 16% = 66% […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. My evidence for the claim? The following: Simon Heffer's column this morning, headed: "Could this man save Britain's schools?" Heffer is neither an enthusiast for the Government nor an easy man to impress, and I have never pictured him as honorary president of the Gove fan club. But his […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Public procurement may not be the most exciting of topics for a Sunday morning but the state is now spending half of the nation's income. Much of this spending involves transfers to pensioners, the unemployed and families but the state is still by far the biggest purchaser of goods and […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter This is what I write in this morning's Times (£): "David Cameron has never tried party management, preferring party control. He has acted as a presidential Il Duce rather than as a prime ministerial first among equals. He has marginalised alternative voices — stuffing the front bench, his No 10 […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter In a speech at the Royal Commonwealth Club today, Theresa May announced plans to put women at the forefront of the Government's plans for economic growth. One of the measures proposed by May was to allow funding to recruit 5,000 female mentors to encourage more women to become entrepreneurs. The […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter There are signs that the EU debate has influenced the end-October ratings for the Cabinet. William Hague is sharply down with nearly a quarter of members now dissatisfied with his performance. Nick Clegg, who has been publicly intolerant of Tory Eurosceptics, loses his net positive rating for the first […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Tobias Ellwood was Liam Fox's Parliamentary Private Secretary, and I'm reliably told that he is also moving out of the Ministry of Defence. This is rather tough on Ellwood, who's a special interest in defence generally and Afghanistan specifically: he went there frequently before his appointment to the MOD […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. In my Sunday Telegraph column I return to the issue of the Right's representation inside the Cabinet: "Fox was one of only three traditional Right-wingers in the Cabinet, the others being Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson. Cameron could have maintained the existing balance by replacing Fox with someone […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. In Tomas Alfredson's new film of the John Le Carre novel, Gary's Oldman's George Smiley begins his on-screen presence by saying nothing at all. He ends it by marching triumphantly into the top room of the Secret Intelligence Service to take control. George Osborne is unlike Smiley in character […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Most papers this morning report the consensus account of Liam Fox's depature: he leapt. In other words, he concluded that his position was impossible yesterday and phoned Cameron yesterday lunchtime to resign. The Financial Times hints at a different narrative: the former Defence Secretary was pushed. According to this […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Three quick points: For defence, David Cameron clearly wanted someone who will calm down the department, who has management experience, and will see the spending scaleback through. I'm unaware of Hammond having any previous defence experience, and suspect that he'll be seen by some senior military figures as a […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. David Cameron has three main reasons not to sack Liam Fox. The first is that he dislikes reshuffling his own team, let alone one in which the Liberal Democrats are involved. The second is he believes governments look and are weak if they allow the media to dictate terms […]