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 | We’re going to fight and winAttended a great rally for Susan Elan Jones, our excellent PPC for Clwyd South last night in North Wales. Peter Hain gave a great speech on the damage a Tory Government would do to this country and the party members went away with a spring in their step. Then just at the end, news came in of the new YouGov tracker poll - the lead down to just three... |
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Memoirs are made of this
DANIEL Kawczynski is not a happy camper. Shewsbury’s Tory MP has written to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, to complain that Paul Flynn MP used a room on the House of Commons estate to launch his memoirs. Kawczynski has been gracious enough to “share” his letter...
The Gordon and Mandy Show
Techie Labour MP Derek Wyatt (the only Member with his own iPhone app) has suggested that the Prime Minister should deliver a regular address to the nation over the internet, a proposal apparently inspired by President Obama’s weekly radio talk. A few months ago, it was mooted that Lord Mandelson was...
Poodle future
Many, many times have I blogged about my pride in the work of the Public Administration Committee (PASC). Now it’s demise is imminent. The Tory whips are trying to kill the committee as a powerful weapon of independent scrutiny. The Labour members have always voted for the...
Infallible Gordon
Hard on the heels of my post of yesterday (showing that, contrary to Gordon Brown’s assertion that defence spending is rising year on year, it has in fact drastically declined as a share of GDP), come the findings of an inquiry by Channel 4’s FactCheck. These reveal that in real terms – taking...
Why I love t’web
We're in Chirk on the Prescott Express for the start of a three day tour of North Wales and Cheshire marginals. Obviously, I try to respond to tweets and one asked me if I was going to Cornwall and Devon. As we're still working on the grid I mentioned the nearest date, Bristol a week on Saturday. ...
High Speed (6)
I have just come off the phone after a ten minute conversation with the Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis. He accepted straight away that the route he has proposed for HS2 would have a damaging impact on my constituency and the lives of many local residents. He told me that he had personally travelled...
Drafting the manifesto
Regular readers will know that I do rather like to contribute when it comes to policy suggestions. I'm therefore especially pleased to have been allowed to write a section of the manifesto. The Spectator magazine manifesto,...
A new personal best!
You might not have expected it from me, but yesterday lunchtime I swapped my suit and tie for my shorts and trainers and jogged the Westminster Mile for Sport Relief.Here I am with former England rugby player Kyran Bracken after I'd crossed the finish line in my own personal best time of 9 minutes and...
High Speed Two (5)
The Department of Transport has now published most of the key documents on its website here. There is also information on the Exceptional Hardship Scheme Consultation, which will look at ways to compensate those constituents whose homes may be affected by High Speed Rail. More information about the...
Association AGM
It's really nice to have an evening to say 'well done' to people. ......
Back to the Balkans
Straight from the transport statement in the Chamber to a meeting (in my Shadow Foreign Minister role) with the President of Bosnia. Let no-one say that this job lacks variety! ...
Another day, another boycott in the blogosphere
SOME might say that, as the author of a blog that did rather well in the last two Total Politics Blog Awards, I have more to lose than others by indulging in a boycott of this year’s contest, as proposed by Though Cowards Flinch. The boycott is being suggested as a response to Total Politics publisher...
Goats and Tsars
An excellent report out today from the prolific Public Administration Select Committee on which I serve. “Goats and Tsars” looks at the increasing practice of bringing people in to Ministerial jobs from outside Parliament. This is often justified on the grounds that the Westminster gene pool is simply...
