Plus the Deputy Speaker election. Alun Cairns & Damian McBride. And: has Adam Afriyie lost his marbles?
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. There's was legend in my family that the Jewish Chronicle once reported a race with the headline: "Goldstein seventeenth". I apologise if my headline is also somewhat parochial, and rather less accurate. But as far as I can see Cairns was the fastest Conservative MP round the course. A […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter On the whole, Tory MPs don’t have much love for Jeremy Heywood, the Cabinet Secretary. For many of them, he is someone who wields too much power and who uses it to influence the direction of government. Increasingly, they apply the same lexicon of insults to him as they do […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Here is a selection of the arguments that Tory MPs made during yesterday's debate on limiting the increase in benefits to 1% for each of the next three years. The Government's overall policies help those on low incomes: "The Opposition have argued that this uprating of 1% will impact […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Daily Mail this morning reports on the 118 Conservative MPs who have written to constituents indicating their opposition to gay marriage proposals. The Mail says "Their opposition has been expressed in letters and emails sent to constituents who have contacted them with their own concerns", and points out that […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Guido Fawkes has a list of new Conservative members of Select Committees, from Graham Brady's office. Mr Brady explains: "For the following committees I have received the same number of nominations as there are vacancies, the following are therefore elected". The appointments are: Communities and Local Government John Stevenson […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. On Friday, 50 MPs, including 34 Conservatives, wrote a letter to the Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, expressing their "serious concerns" with the Department of Health’s proposal to introduce plain packaging for tobacco products. The letter stated that: "There is no reliable evidence that plain packaging will have any public health […]
A variety of reactions are pasted in this blog. The names of those calling for some change of message, priority or operational changes are emboldened. We have also included the contributions of MPs who have not advocated substantial changes. 5.45pm A little round-up of what Tory MPs have said during the day: David Ruffley MP […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter It's the London Marathon tomorrow, and five Conservative MPs have decided to take on the great task of completing it for charity. Last year, Edward Timpson and Stephen Crabb ran the Marathon, and this year, Timpson is competing again – with four other MPs who will join more than 35,000 other runners […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt (pictured) was one of forty or so MPs and peers from all parties who ran yesterday's Westminster Mile – a race to raise funds for Sport Relief. The winner, though, was another Tory MP, George Eustice. He beat last year's winner David Davies into second place. […]
Alun Cairns is Conservative MP for the Vale of Glamorgan. Follow Alun on Twitter. The Health and Social Care Bill has completed its tortuous journey through the parliamentary process. Without doubt it has been dubbed by the press and the Labour Party as one of the Coalition government’s most controversial moves. I am a strong […]