By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Mr J.A.Prufrock (Grummidge West) (Con): The amendments tabled by the Prime Minister reconcile two key principles. The first is total solidarity with the victims. I am not afraid to say, Mr Speaker, that I am on their side. We need to keep before us at all times what the […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Tory MPs have reacted with concern to the terms of a bailout of Cyprus’ banks which will see up to 9.9% of depositors’ money confiscated as part-payment for the rescue. John Redwood has blogged that savers have been “mugged”. The unexpected raid on depositors was, he continued, “a great […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. I've just returned from an intellectual romp of an evening with Jesse Norman who, courtesy of Localis, gave a lecture entitled t"he Road to EUtopia: Britain and the EU after the Bloomberg Speech". The spine of his talk was set out in this morning's Daily Telegraph, but its detail […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. There's a great deal to be read between the lines of Steve Barclay's interview, posted earlier on this site, about Jeremy Hunt's announcement on NHS whistleblowers earlier today. Barclay welcomes Hunt's decision, and is right to do so. It's part of the Health Secretary's campaign to try to lead […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. To the Carlton Club yesterday evening…for a Taxpayers' Alliance's dinner to celebrate the 1988 budget, the silver anniversary of which takes place this year. That's the one in which Nigel Lawson, the then Chancellor, cut corporation tax from 27p to 25p, raised personal allowances by twice the rate of […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter The MP who brought you campaigns on fuel duty and the 10p tax is now speaking out on another issue, although it is related to those other two. Using figures provided by the Treasury, Robert Halfon today points out that a fifth of income tax receipts go towards funding benefits […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter With the Budget less than a couple of weeks away, I thought it would be a good time to collect some of the recommendations being put to George Osborne by Tory parliamentarians. Of course, the parliamentarians listed below may want other measures too – and there may be other parliamentarians […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Within the last few weeks, Conservative MPs have recommended that the following taxes be cut in the budget: Income tax. Corporation tax. Employers' National Insurance contributions. Capital gains tax on business investments Fuel duty. Air Passenger Duty. Beer Duty… …And there are more calls if one trawls back further, […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Grant Shapps tweeted the news roughly 15 minutes ago. It isn't up on the Party website as I write. Flick Drummond will be taking on Mike Hancock (I presume) for the second time at the next election. Hancock beat her by 5,200, but a lot has happened since then. […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Here are the results of the Eastleigh by-election: Mike Thornton (Lib Dem) 13,342 (32.1%, -14.5%); Diane James (UKIP) 11,571 (27.8%, +24.2%); Maria Hutchings (Con) 10,559 (25.4%, -14.0%); John O'Farrell (Lab) 4,088 (9.8%, +0.2%) Grant Shapps, Tory Chairman, gave his reaction on Andrew Neil's by-election programme last night: If the […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Tuesday morning update: Kevin Foster is adopted for Torbay. *** It's time we updated readers on a recent set of seat selections in target constituencies: David Warburton has been selected for Somerton and Frome; Tony Cox for Newcastle-under-Lyme; Robert Loughenbury for Chorley; Michelle Donelan for Chippenham; Caroline Ansell for […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In the final few days of the battle for Eastleigh there is a new spring in the step of the Tory campaign. The bookies still favour the Liberal Democrats for many good reasons but Maria Hutchings is far from defeated. 500 Tory activists descended on the Hampshire constituency on […]