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 | The thriller in the Rhyl-ah!Day 2 of our Go Fourth tour of North Wales and Cheshire and it's been a great day. Peter Hain joined me campaigning in Clwyd West with our fantastic candidate Donna Hutton. But whilst I was in Ruthin, the local Tory MP, David Jones, thought he'd have a go on Twitter, saying my presence there actually helped him. My subsequent twitter exchange,... |
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Inspirational Edmonton Eagles
The name "Edmonton Eagles Amateur Boxing Club" may be getting more and more familiar to you.Recently the club was awarded the Club of the Year prize for its community work at Enfield's Celebrating Sports awards night at the Lea Valley Sports College. And prior to that, Head Coach Costakis Evangelou...
Blog the Week Episode 10
With my lack of blogging this week, you might expect that I have something special hidden up my sleeve for this episode of Blog The Week.Unfortunately, I do not. I do get a little help from Douglas Alexander and Jess Asato though:And here's the Jeremy Vine clip I was referring to:...
The Electoral Commission and Bearwood Corporate Services
Did the Electoral Commission give the Conservative Party a clean bill of health on the money it received from Ashcroft’s Bearwood Corporate Services? I was shocked to learn that Conservative party staff had refused to co-operate with the Electoral Commission. Here is my exchange yesterday in the Commons...
“Hedging Our Bets” – Lib Dems reveal election slogan
The Liberal Democrats today revealed their new election slogan, "Change that works for you, building a fairer Britain".The slogan was accompanied by a statement from the party: "We are pleased to announce that our slogan for the upcoming election campaign will be 'Change that works for you, building...
When the bans don’t work
It's time for those of us who loathe the BNP and its vacuous racism to face facts: the bans and boycotts not only don't work they are actively counter-productive. They play to the BNP's own sense that the system gangs up on them, that they are somehow the plucky outsiders presenting uncomfortable truths...
Hague invited to Ashcroft hearing
William Hague has been invited to come before the Public Administration Select Committee next Thursday to shed what light he can on how Michael Ashcroft got his peerage. Ashcroft told Hague in 2000, in his solemn and binding undertaking, that he would become a permanent UK resident. But we now know...
We’re going to fight and win
Attended 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...
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...
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...
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. ...
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...
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...
