According to The Sunday Telegraph, Chris Grayling promises to end the police’s increasing use of cautions for violent offenders. Noting a 28% increase in the use of cautions over the last five years Mr Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, says: "If you are found carrying a knife, if you attack a stranger in the street, […]
1.15pm update: Read the BBC transcript of the interview here — Shadow foreign secretary William Hague was the Tory guest on the Andrew Marr Show this morning and the lead topic of discussion was the wildcat strikes going on in protest at workers from elsewhere in the European Union being brought in to work at […]
The Standards and Privileges committee of the House of Commons has this morning published a new report into Derek Conway, the MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, who lost the Tory whip last year over his use of Commons allowances to pay his son for work of which no evidence could be produced. He was […]
There are two myths propagated about the Speakership of the House of Commons. One is that there is a convention that it alternates between Conservative and Labour MPs. This is patently not correct, since there were in fact four Conservative MP in a row who served as Speaker between 1928 and 1965. Secondly, there are […]
If Britain’s political establishment is looking for ways of regaining the public’s trust they should look to restore the link between good conduct and status. Extra transparency is welcome but more important is decisive action against those who do not meet basic standards of behaviour. The failure of ineffective ministers to resign is an obvious […]
Last week David Cameron ordered frontbenchers to declare if they employed relatives. Within hours the Prime Minister was making similar noises. The Tory leader is setting the pace again today – announcing fresh requirements for frontbenchers. This is what Sky is reporting as ‘breaking news’: "All front bench Tory MPs must name their staff, reveal […]
Heroes…. Ben Wallace MP (although the hero status may be questioned by his colleagues) who has provided a comprehensive breakdown of his expenses in a release for The Sunday Times. Two reactions: Ben Brogan: "His unilateral action will not endear him to some of his colleagues (not just Tories) who would rather we didn’t know […]
Since the Conway story broke the News of the World has been leading the Sunday newspapers’ hunt for more details of how many MPs pay their relatives. We have no idea if they have discovered anything interesting… David Cameron has this morning announced his own first policy response to the whole affair: “As you know, […]
Mr Conway has just issued this statement: "I have had tremendous support from my local party, my family and friends but have concluded that it is time to step down. "I stand by what I have said in relation to the report by the Commissioner of Standards and do not wish to add to those comments […]
Tim Montgomerie writes: A final word on Derek Conway. After turning down media for 24 hours I was happy to give a number of interviews this afternoon to welcome David Cameron’s lunchtime decision and to contrast the actions taken by the Tory leader with Gordon Brown’s indulgence of his many miscreant ministers. One thing I […]
David Cameron says: "The usual procedure in these cases is to leave the punishment to the House of Commons authorities, however, having asked the Chief Whip to speak again to Mr Conway and having personally reflected overnight I have decided to withdraw the Conservative Whip from Mr Conway." This is the right action to take, […]
Nick Robinson’s explanation of David Cameron’s decision not to withdraw the whip gets, ConservativeHome understands, very close to the full truth: "Conway is a popular Tory MP who looked set to be his party’s Chief Whip if David Davis had become Conservative leader. He was even talked of as a possible Speaker. Although David Cameron […]
The earlier thread on Derek Conway was very interesting. There was an almost universal wish to see our party take firm action against him. There was a yearning for the party to take decisive action against behaviour that would not be tolerated in any other walk of life. Unfortunately the doves around the Tory leader […]
Breaking news over at BBC Online: "A complaint that Tory MP Derek Conway wrongly paid his son MP allowances has been upheld by MPs on the Commons Standards and Privileges committee. Mr Conway is accused of paying his son Freddie to work part-time as a researcher while at university. The committee recommends that the MP […]
This morning’s FT reports that Gordon Brown and David Cameron are both urging their MPs to reject above-inflation pay increases for themselves. If previous research is to be believed then Conservative MPs are the least likely to be accommodating. There seem to be a number of issues here (in no particular order): The recommendation of […]