By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In last week's edition of the New Statesman I took a brief look at the state of Tory modernisation. I suggested that certain of the big change themes that Cameron has pursued since 2005 or more recently had not really stood the test of time – notably climate change […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter There are lots of potent messages from the Prime Minister’s big speech on welfare today. I suspect they'll resonate with a clear majority of the British people: Mr Cameron will say that work is the best welfare and that a job is “the only thing that really beats poverty”; Taking […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Cameron's Jimmy Carr dilemma… When David Cameron decided to pronounce on Jimmy Carr's tax affairs, he knew that both an academic question and practical consequences would follow. The academic question is: so how much tax should Mr Carr pay, then – what proportion of his income? 20%, the standard […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Nick Pickles of Big Brother Watch wonders if Theresa May is burying bad news today by publishing its thinking on increased internet surveillance on the day that the Prime Minister is appearing before Lord Leveson. Nick doesn't like what the Home Secretary is proposing. The same cannot be said, however, […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter "Be truly Conservative and the votes will come" argues The Telegraph's Philip Johnston but what does it mean to be "truly Conservative"? A YouGov poll published this morning by Stephan Shakespeare identifies what voters associate with "Right-wing". Being Right-wing is not necessarily the same as "Conservative" but it's unlikely to […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The Prime Minister is on breakfast TV this morning to promote his vision that, one day, all of us – not just those from difficult backgrounds – will be able to access government-backed help for new parents if they choose. He is unveiling three new features of this help this […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter As Nick Clegg has noted, there are global rules covering the trade of bananas but no rules on guns and grenades. International development minister Alan Duncan has today given a speech in which he has called for a UN treaty to govern the arms trade and tackle the illegal spread […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter What would the Queen's Speech have looked like if a majority Conservative government had been elected two years ago? That's the question we attempt to answer in the Alternative Queen's Speech that ConservativeHome publishes today. It will, no doubt, be presented by some commentators as a Right-wing agenda – or […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter Iain Duncan Smith's interview in the Times (£) this morning covers a number of different issues, four of which I've pulled out below. Difficulty of cutting welfare Firstly, IDS stresses the difficulty of cutting welfare, in light of George Osborne's call for further cuts to the Work and Pensions budget. […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter This morning's Guardian carries the news that David Cameron has been asked to chair a United Nations committee to create a new set of millennium development goals. The Prime Minister, who was asked by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, has accepted the task, and now has the opportunity to take […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter George Osborne gave a good defence of his Budget yesterday, declaring that he wasn't in this for short-term politics but had taken decisions for the long-term competitiveness of the UK economy. Putting aside my belief that he should have done a lot more on competitiveness a lot earlier, should have accelerated […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter We're cutting welfare bills. Reforming schools. Devolving power to local councils. Lowering taxes on business. Introducing democratic oversight of policing. And, of course, embarking on the longest period of spending cuts in British history. This is the impressive list of reforms that Downing Street trots out whenever they receive incoming […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter It was only two weeks that David Cameron and George Osborne were basking in the sunlight of Barack Obama's rose garden. Today they are living through the worst period of their time in government and they've just been warned by David Davis that they are at risk of becoming defined […]
Source: Red Book. And let us remember, throughout Labour's years in office the top rate of income tax was 40p. Measures announced by George Osborne today will raise FIVE times as much money from wealthier voters than the 50p tax rate would raise.
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Tory strategists want voters to think of two words when they think of David Cameron: Strong and Fair. Voters already think Cameron is making the tough decisions. I don't have the exact figures to hand but a recent YouGov survey found that more than FIVE times as many voters think […]