By Jonathan Isaby On Tuesday night Jeremy Brier wrote this CentreRight post flagging up the fact that Ken Livingstone, now Labour's official candidate for the London Mayoralty in 2012, was actively campaigning for the Independent candidate in yesterday's Tower Hamlets mayoral election. As it happens, the Independent, Lutfur Rahman, beat the Labour official candidate, but, […]
By Jonathan Isaby At PMQs, David Cameron gave it both barrels at Ed Miliband for his failure to come up with ways of reducing government spending – whilst attacking the Government's proposals. Meanwhile, shadow chancellor Alan Johnson – who admitted on his appointment that he needed an economics primer – has admitted that he appears […]
By Tim Montgomerie It was in August that it became obvious that Ming Campbell was determined to stop Trident. See my blog from 1st August. Today Ming and his party succeeded and at least two Tory MPs expressed their disappointment in the Commons. David Cameron has, of course, said that Trident is only being delayed […]
By Tim Montgomerie Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson made at least three mistakes today. First he accused the business leaders who wrote to today's Telegraph of being "politically-motivated". These businessleaders include the leaders of M&S, ASDA, Microsoft UK and other hugely successful enterprises. Their support for George Osborne's deficit reduction strategy follows other endorsements from the […]
By Jonathan Isaby One story that I missed during the week but which is worth noting was in the Daily Mail on Wednesday. It turns out that Ed Miliband has trousered the pay-off of nearly £20,000 he got for losing his job (and salary) as a Cabinet Minister, despite now earning nearly £140,000 after becoming […]
By Paul Goodman A leader's first requirement is authority. He or she must be able to lead and, almost as importantly, be seen to do so – to project confidence and command. I thought that Ed Miliband's first Shadow Cabinet was a fair play of a hand of cards that he hadn't chosen. But as […]
By Tim Montgomerie The LibDems’ tuition fees u-turn, expertly executed by Vince Cable in the Commons, was the right thing for the higher education sector. As the Business Secretary said, it is “no longer feasible” to oppose tuition fees given the debt situation. I also applaud Mr Cable’s attack on what he called the “misguided” […]
By Tim Montgomerie Interviewed on BBC1's Politics Show Ed Miliband confirmed that he opposed George Osborne's restriction in eligibility for child benefit. He told Jon Sopel that child benefit was a proper recognition by society of the costs of raising children. He also said he would protect all universal benefits from cuts, even those paid […]
By Jonathan Isaby After the announcement of the Shadow Cabinet yesterday, news is starting to emerge of Ed Miliband's junior frontbench appointments: David Wooding from The News of the World has tweeted that Diane Abbott has been made shadow public health minister. Meanwhile, Patrick Hennessy from the Sunday Telegraph has tweeted that there are roles […]
by Paul Goodman …Who also "owns a battered Land Rover, a working dog and an Aga"? Who has "antlers on the wall, a stuffed stoat called Stan and dozens of copies of Trout and Salmon magazine"? And who "has just retired to spend more time fishing and shooting in the Highlands"? Answer – behind the […]
By Paul Goodman Seven quick points on the Shadow Cabinet reshuffle – David Cameron's first Shadow Cabinet appointments showed confidence. Ed Miliband's show fear. Cameron had won two-thirds of the vote in his election as Conservative leader. Miliband won barely 50 per cent – and, as CCHQ has been reminding anyone who'll listen, failed to […]
By Jonathan Isaby We know who the 19 elected members of the shadow cabinet will be – but what jobs will they get? We will pass on the news as soon as we have it. 1.15pm – First jobs announced: Alan Johnson – Shadow Chancellor (up against George Osborne) Ed Balls – Shadow Home Secretary […]
By Jonathan Isaby Last night I posted the results of the Shadow Cabinet elections here on ConHome. Looking a little more closely at the results, it is interesting to note that of the 19 elected members only five backed Ed Miliband in the leadership election: Hilary Benn John Denham Maria Eagle Sadiq Khan Ann McKechin […]
By Jonathan Isaby 8.30pm update: Sky News reports the figures for the successful candidates as: Yvette Cooper – 232 John Healey – 192 Ed Balls – 179 Andy Burnham – 165 Angela Eagle – 165 Alan Johnson – 163 Douglas Alexander – 160 Jim Murphy – 160 Tessa Jowell – 152 Caroline Flint – 139 […]
By Tim Montgomerie In her speech to the Tory Conference, her first as Party Chairman, Sayeeda Warsi listed Labour's key failures in office: "In the mills, my Dad was told that Labour was the party for him. They said that Labour looked after the poorest. That it looked after the vulnerable and minorities. But Conference, […]