Sir Peter Tapsell recalled voting in favour of the 1963 Peerage Bill
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter My series profiling the groups of Tory MPs continues with a look at a pioneering Eurosceptic group which helped backbenchers cause significant headaches for Prime Minister John Major during the early 1990s. The Bruges Group is a well-established forum for advocating looser ties with Brussels, and it has gone from a […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Yesterday afternoon, the House of Commons questioned David Cameron on his trip to the European Council. Backbench Conservative opinion being mostly Eurosceptic, the Prime Minister received some testing questions. At the Council, issues like the next European budget and a Europe-wide banking union were discussed, and at home, the issue […]
Friday 8.45am John Redwood MP blogs: "Orderly but rapid break up would be the least cost option. It would liberate the countries allowed out, and permit them to adjust their competitiveness by a devaluation which would be swift and easier to sell than large wage cuts. There is no foundation to the proposition that the […]
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 Paul Goodman George Osborne bested Ed Balls yesterday. But the Treasury team also faced three sharp questions from its own side, which the sketchwriters have duly picked up this morning. Here they are in full, together with the answers. First – "Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con): There is a lot of public […]
Treasury questions came around yesterday. The Equitable Life scandal was rightly prioritised by Conservative members, who leapt on Economic Secretary to the Treasury Ian Pearson, who had this to say: "I am very disappointed that the Public Administration Committee should choose to obscure the real help that it accepts the Government’s payments scheme will deliver […]
Following Shadow Chancellor George Osborne’s success in securing it, the House of Commons held an Emergency Debate on the Pre-Budget Report yesterday. Mr Osborne was on bullish form: "The public would have found it extraordinary if the House of Commons had not properly considered the huge tax measures put forward by the Chancellor on Monday, […]