By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Andrew Feldman has issued a statement as follows: "There is speculation on the internet and on Twitter that the senior Conservative Party figure claimed to have made derogatory comments by the Times and the Telegraph is me. This is completely untrue. I would like to make it quite clear […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Parliament means Party, and Party means Whips. In other words, MPs must always form themselves into political parties, which in turn will require whipping, if the executive is to work in our system of Parliamentary government. It follows that Prime Ministers have both a selfless and a selfish reason […]
By Andrew GimsonFollow Andrew on Twitter Is the Nick Clegg who promised a referendum at the time of the Lisbon Treaty "an impostor or just a hypocrite"? This was the contemptuous choice offered by Edward Leigh (Con, Gainsborough) as Clegg stood in for David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions. Leigh was one of several Tory MPs […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Really, honestly, I woke up this morning intending to write a post on what the continuing EU farrago implies about the next Tory manifesto and, indeed, the formation of the next Government. My argument was straightforward. With David Cameron being pushed into ever more spectacular shows of commitment to an […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. The main argument for the Baron/Bone amendment to the Queen's Speech, which regrets the absence of an EU bill, is either that a mandate referendum bill, which aims to give David Cameron a mandate for EU renegotiation, or an In/Out bill, which seeks to write his promised referendum into […]
By Harry PhibbsFollow Harry on Twitter Nigel Evans MP has made the following statement: Yesterday I was interviewed by the police concerning two complaints, one of which dates back four years, made by two people who are well-known to each other, and who, until yesterday, I regarded as friends. The complaints are completely false and I […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. I was opposed to the arbitrary and unjust removal of the whip from Howard Flight, a regular contributor to this website, just before the 2005 election. It brought to an end the Commons career of an intelligent and dedicated servant of the Tory cause, and was utterly disproportionate to […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. I'm in a position to offer this morning to offer an insight into current thinking in Number 10. Tim Montgomerie touched on its current charm offensive yesterday, of which the Jo Johnson appointment was a part. I'm not going to comment on this thinking – though I will certainly […]
By Andrew GimsonFollow Andrew on Twitter How astute of David Cameron to make Jo Johnson the head of his policy unit, and to ask some other backbenchers to contribute to policy. As Tim Montgomerie noted here earlier today, the Prime Minister may at last be starting to get his Downing Street machine into shape. The 2010 […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Is David Cameron finally getting his machine into shape? There are signs that he might be. There has been the skilful and sensitive management of the sad death of Margaret Thatcher. The PM has used the period to reconnect with some of his MPs – dining with key Thatcherites […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Three questions: The Policy Unit is a Government policy unit, not a Conservative Party policy unit. So what's the LibDems' role in the new set-up? How will the bright and energetic Jo Johnson – who knows a lot about India, by the way – spread himself between running the […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter That rush of air you just felt was from Downing Street, breathing out a collective “phew”. And the reason why? This morning’s public finance statistics from the Office for National Statistics – rounding off the financial year 2012-13 – have government borrowing falling from the previous year. But only just. […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. David Cameron's well-judged tribute to Margaret Thatcher won't make the coming days any less difficult for him. For although he will have a certain ceremonial position during the coming week, and a certain status as the leader of the party she once herself led, he also has certain difficulty: […]