New Year Honours 1) Politicians from all parties share honours with business and the arts… “Elsewhere in the New Year honours list, a knighthood went to David Amess, a backbench Conservative MP since 1983, and a damehood was given to Anne McGuire, a Labour former minister who has represented Stirling since 1997. Stuart Polak, a […]
Ebola arrives in Britain: Cameron speaks to Sturgeon, Hunt chairs Cobra “Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has chaired a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee, while Downing Street said David Cameron had spoken to Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon and made clear the Government would help in any way possible. ‘The Prime Minister and the first […]
Cameron urged to speak up for a Guantanamo inmate in talks with Obama “David Cameron was last night urged to raise the case of Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer with Barack Obama in face-to-face talks early next year. … Any solution could be part of an expected push by the US president to shut the base, […]
Carswell fires broadside against racism in UKIP ‘There has never been anything splendid about isolation. It was our interdependence that put the Great into Great Britain – and it is what sustains our living standards today. In such a world, a dislike of foreigners is not merely offensive, but absurd…Far from being a party that […]
Education 1) Cameron aides attack Morgan for “burying” Gove reforms “Close allies of David Cameron say Mrs Morgan, the surprise choice to replace Michael Gove, should take a more aggressive stance and trumpet her predecessor’s radical school reforms more clearly. One Government source said: ‘I don’t think there’s any question that she’s stumbling. She will […]
Is an NHS “winter crisis” coming at last? Cameron sends in Heywood and Letwin to stave one off… “Sir Jeremy Heywood, the UK’s most senior civil servant, and Oliver Letwin, minister for government policy, have been spending large amounts of time liaising with health department and NHS leaders to ensure that hospitals and doctors can […]
Willetts: May’s mean-spirited plan will damage Britain “More than four million students every year leave their home country to study: of those almost half a million come to the UK…We should aim to increase our share of this growing market. But if we implement the latest idea from the Home Office for new restrictions on […]
May 1) Further coverage of ConHome’s story about the Home Secretary’s SpAds – will all the bad blood harm her leadership chances? “Theresa May has been given an extraordinary warning that a toxic feud between the Home Office and Downing Street is damaging her chances of succeeding David Cameron as Tory leader. … A senior party […]
Day Three of the Fleet Street follow-up to ConservativeHome’s exclusive over Downing Street’s war with May’s SpAds… “Another high-profile Tory MP said: ‘This is an attempt to screw Theresa. It’s not Cameron who’s responsible but the man next door, George. What they’ve done to her advisers is quite wrong and will backfire badly’. And a […]
Cameron personally approved axing May’s SpAds from candidates list “David Cameron personally approved the decision to axe two of Theresa May’s senior advisers from the Tory candidates list, the Daily Mail can reveal. Senior sources say the Prime Minister ‘signed off’ a recommendation from party chairman Grant Shapps to suspend the taxpayer-funded aides as prospective […]
Another blow for Cameron’s renegotiation plans… “European judges dealt a hammer blow yesterday to David Cameron’s attempts to crack down on the abuse of Britain’s visa system. … Strict rules forcing foreign family members of European Union residents to get a permit before visiting the UK were scrapped by the European Court of Justice. … […]
Fallon denounces “human rights” lawyers who made false claims against British troops “Lawyers who wasted millions of public money pursuing false claims that British troops murdered and tortured Iraqi detainees should now face disciplinary action, senior Government figures have suggested. Ministers condemned the “shameful” conduct of solicitors who brought the claims, which were yesterday dismissed […]
Cameron condemns yesterday’s terror attack in Peshawar… “Politicians and Asian groups in Britain have condemned the attack by the Pakistani Taliban on a school in Peshawar in which 141 people died. … Prime Minister David Cameron called the killings ‘shocking’ and ‘horrifying’. … Ramadhan Foundation chief executive Mohammed Shafiq said terrorism was ‘a cancer within […]
EVEL 1) Hague to present “English Votes for English Laws” proposals.. “The government is expected to set out proposals for introducing “English votes for English laws” later. Commons Leader William Hague is to present MPs with a range of options after the parties failed to reach agreement on the way forward. There have been increased […]
Leader’s speech 1) Cameron opens long election campaign on the economy… “The prime minister will conjure images of homeowners worrying about their mortgage payments under Labour if there were a financial crisis or economic shock. His warning comes amid growing concerns about the eurozone and the plunging price of oil, which is close to a […]