Having flirted with the idea, the UKIP leader beats a hasty retreat.
A post-European elections poll in Newark this spring would give UKIP a second publicity bonanza.
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Last night an adjournment debate was held on SAS soldier Sergeant Danny Nightingale's court martial and imprisonment after illegally bringing home a pistol given to him by grateful Iraqis. Julian Brazier, himself a former Captain in the SAS, led the debate. As well as setting out the facts of the […]
by Paul Goodman I was the first journalist to write that Quilliam is to close, but the think-tank's doing its best to defy my prediction. For those who haven't followed the story, Quilliam is Britain's sole counter-extremism think-tank. It's funded by government (though it's long been seaching for private and voluntary sector money to replace […]
Patrick Mercer is Conservative MP for Newark. This week we have seen an attack by Islamist fundamentalists against queues in Moscow Airport that left many dead. Just such an attack – against the queues that extra security measures create – rather than against aircraft has long been predicted and the results have been bloody. Similarly, […]
As most readers know, the Select Committee Chairmanships have been carved out among the parties, and tomorrow's elections for the posts will be cross-party. So Conservative MPs, for example, can vote for Labour candidates, and vice-versa. Jonathan has a list of those standing here. A question follows: on what basis will Labour MPs vote for […]
Patrick Mercer has been MP for Newark since 2001 and is a former shadow minister for homeland security. After the July 2005 bombings, which killed 52 innocent British citizens and injured over 700, Tony Blair announced that we would immediately proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir and its successor organisation, Al Mujahiroun. To date, neither organisation has been […]
Defence Questions came around again yesterday. Conservative members dominated the session and exhibited excellent technical knowledge. James Arbuthnot (MP for North-East Hampshire) chairs the Defence Select Committee. He asked about Pakistan: "Does the Secretary of State accept that the events in Lahore today show that instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan extends far beyond the border […]
Patrick Mercer has been MP for Newark since 2001 and is a former shadow minister for homeland security. A former army officer, he now chairs the Counter-Terrorism Sub-Committee of the Home Affairs Select Committee and considers the lessons that can be learned from Northern Ireland as we seek to tackle Islamic terrorism. Under the auspices […]
The House of Commons returned yesterday and got stuck into Defence questions. Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox asked about Afghanistan: "The general consensus on Afghanistan in the House has put the United Kingdom in a strong position in NATO. Does the Secretary of State agree that, if there is to be further British deployment in […]
Herewith some interesting recent early day motions. Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff put down EDM 676 to call on the Government to make business rate relief for small businesses automatic: "That this House notes with concern that business rate relief is not taken up by over half of those small businesses eligible to claim it; […]
Patrick Mercer MP: "Whatever we do and whatever we say, if we extend the period of detention before charge, our enemies—wrongly, in my view—will label it internment. Would it be internment? Would it bear any resemblance to what went on during the war years, when Italians and Germans were held? Would it bear any resemblance […]
Patrick Mercer OBE is MP for Newark. This week has seen Abu Qatada doing what he does best. The media has been swamped by his undoubted right to a fair trial whilst the rights of Britain’s population have been eclipsed. Be in no doubt, whatever the results – whether he is deported or not – he […]