By Jonathan Isaby We have already carried a report on the Standards Commissioner clearing Nadine Dorries of wrongoing, and also today comes news about two of the MPs who stood down during the Expensesgate saga – Julie Kirkbride and her husband, Andrew Mackay, formerly MPs for Bromsgrove and Bracknell respectively. The question about Ms Kirkbride […]
During questions to the ministers from the Department for Communities and Local Government yesterday, a torrent of Conservative MPs asked questions of Ian Austin – a junior minister and former aide to Gordon Brown – about Home Information Packs, demanding their abolition. It's interesting to see the argument being deployed by Labour that abolishing the […]
Ministers from the ludicrously named Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills had questions in the House of Commons yesterday. Shadow Secretary of State David Willetts asked about funding provision for apprenticeships: "In a parliamentary answer on 20 April, the Under-Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Mr. Simon), […]
One for the localists amongst you: there were oral questions on communities and local government yesterday. Monmouth MP and pugilist David Davies asked about the Government's programme to tackle violent extremism, a topic which Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government Paul Goodman has also been pursuing. "David T.C. Davies: When I last raised this […]
Health questions were put in the House of Commons yesterday. The situation at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which has been slammed by the Healthcare Commission for "appalling" emergency care at Stafford Hospital, stood out. Between 2005 and 2008 about 400 more people died there than would ordinarily have been expected. Stone MP Bill Cash expressed his […]
The House of Commons hosted Culture, Media and Sport questions yesterday. Andrew Mackay, Bracknell MP and one of David Cameron’s right hand men, asked about the possibility of England hosting the World Cup. Would such a move be popular? The 2012 Olympic Games are not currently universally so. "I warmly support the bid. Does the […]
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson yesterday challenged his opposite number Shaun Woodward. The Secretary of State had announced that following advice from the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, he was extending the weapons decommissioning amnesty to February 2010. This amnesty comes under the provisions of the 1997 Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning […]
The Conservative MP for Bracknell made the suggestion during Justice questions yesterday. Andrew Mackay MP: As one in five men reporting drug use admit that they started taking drugs in prison, we still clearly have a real problem. Would the Secretary of State consider stating that no prisoners should be released early from their sentence […]
Andrew Mackay MP: How come it took until yesterday for the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State to condemn the Royal Mail strike? Could it have anything to do with the fact that, until the Prime Minister bottled at the weekend, he was expecting lots of funds from the Communication Workers Union to fight […]