We first published this piece after her funeral. Today, we re-issue it in honour of the Conservative win there last Thursday. Warm congratulations to Chris Green.
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. "Fracking OK for 'desolate' North East, says Tory Peer". Oh dear. As a Government energy adviser, a former Cabinet minister and father-in-law to George Osborne, Lord Howell should have known better on a number of fronts than to set himself up for the headlines which are sure to savage him in […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Actually, there’s another word of the day – and that word is “group”. David Skelton’s campaign group Renewal, designed to extend the Tories’ appeal into areas like the North, properly launches this evening. The Forty Group, composed of Tory MPs in marginal seats, is publishing a list of policies designed […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Another sign this morning that Team Cameron is succeeding in recruiting the calibre of people that it needs to maximise its effectiveness. Less than a fortnight ago we learnt that Lynton Crosby would be joining the political side of the Cameron operation on a consultancy basis from the new […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The Economist publishes an interesting essay in its latest edition, examining the continuing decline of the north of England relative to the south. It argues that austerity has a strong anti-northern bias. Cuts for northern local authorities are deeper, it argues, and because of the northern regions' weaker private […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. I have previously written about why regional public sector pay will not happen. My reasoning then was fourfold: The Liberal Democrats, including Nick Clegg, were opposed Conservative MPs in poorer areas, such as the North East, had spoken out against the idea Marginal Tory seats quite often had majorities […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter It's not unreasonable to see Nick Clegg's call for an emergency tax on Britain's wealthiest people as (i) another attempt by him to shore up his beleagured position within a very unhappy party and (ii) another sign that the Coalition will drift to the Left. Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Four weeks ago Matthew Parris asked: Why are Tory MPs so "unbelievably lily-livered and flaky"? He was thinking of their failure to back the Chancellor's austerity measures. He returns to the theme today, hurling his keyboard at the "perfect idiots" on the Tory backbenchers who, he says, are "economic […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Coalition's idea of making public sector pay relative to private sector wages within each region is one with which I agree. The latest word from the Treasury seems to be that such a proposal is still under review. It was announced as a proposal in the Budget, but […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter That's my firm prediction and I think Lord Adonis, the Labour Transport Secretary who pioneered the idea, knows it too. Earlier this week he accused the Government of dither and delay over what was once thought to be a flagship environmental and economic project. Three things have changed the Government's […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter If you work in the public sector in Wales you are likely to earn an average 18% more than if you work in the private sector (and that's before pension privileges and job security is factored in). This makes it hard for private sector businesses in the principality to attract […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Government's localism agenda so far has made positive, but limited progress. Directly-elected Police Commissioners are a good example of conservative reformism – handing the power over local policing to local people. But policing should be just one power handed back to local government. More powers, including powers of […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In the latest ConservativeHome survey we asked respondents to rate the importance of 23 policy themes for convincing voters "that the Conservatives are a modern, compassionate party". Respondents voted between 0 (unimportant) to 10 (very important). The average ratings are pasted below: Improve schools: 8.48 Keep inflation under control: 8.33 […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter David Cameron, in the latest edition of The House magazine, has given an interview to Paul Waugh, in which he suggests the Conservative Party should use the ongoing boundary reviews – and the consequent Party selection processes – to push for more women candidates. Mr Cameron says: "We’ve obviously […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter After significant extra concessions to the campaigners justifiably worried about the environmental impact of HS2 it looks like the Government will give the go signal to Britain's high speed rail project. This represents a perfect opportunity for David Cameron to show northern voters that the Conservative Party is determined to […]