Whilst I don't expect to be seeing the former Pulp frontman given a speaking slot at a Tory conference any time soon, Jarvis Cocker has declared a Conservative victory at the next general election to be "necessary". In the new edition of GQ magazine, the singer is quoted as saying: "A Conservative government is necessary… […]
I blogged the title to this post last night and my friends at PoliticsHome decided to put the anecdote to the test… Asked "In general, would you say you now pay more attention to policy announcements from the Conservatives or the Labour government?" 50% of the Westminster insiders answered Conservative. Just 7% said Labour. 42% […]
Ever keen to provide comprehensive coverage of developments in the Conservative Party, here are details of some proposals outlined by shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey in a speech to the London Libraries Conference at the end of last week, but which have not received any attention in the national press. He was launching the party’s […]
From 22nd to 28th December 1,816 Tory members told us their highest and lowest priorities for twelve calls on public spending identified by ConservativeHome. The two graphics below summarise the findings (click on either to enlarge): HIGHEST PRIORITY FOR PUBLIC SPENDING LOWEST PRIORITY FOR PUBLIC SPENDING We asked the two relevant shadow cabinet members – […]
As reported in today’s Daily Mail, the Conservatives wish to reform the National Lottery so that it returns to its original purpose of only funding good, voluntary causes. During the Labour years £3.8bn has been taken away from good causes to fund politicians’ pet projects. David Cameron and Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will promise […]
There are two draft ‘media policy’ ideas that ConservativeHome would like to see fully embraced by the Tory leadership in 2008. One was released just before Christmas by Jeremy Hunt MP, our Culture spokesman. It’s an idea that will take a modest portion of the licence fee (perhaps 2%) – currently monopolised by the BBC […]
There’s a story in tomorrow’s Times that is genuinely exciting. The Times’ Sam Coates reports this: "Mr Cameron’s culture team has begun a policy review into public service broadcasting which is looking at ways to ensure Britain will have a “plurality of public service broadcasters” in the digital era. It will report early next year… […]
"You know my trouble? I’m just too generous to the government." "Forgive me being a little slow but I’ve only just properly clocked yesterday’s revelation that 11,000 illegal immigrants had been permitted to become security guards. Why am I telling you about it now then? Because it’s dawned on me just how different these numbers […]
The EU’s leaders signed the Treaty earlier today and the BBC could have predicted that it would be a topic of some interest for tonight’s Question Time. And guess who they put on the panel? Four Europhiles… Piers Morgan, Charles Kennedy, Hazel Blears and Chris Patten. Kirstie Allsop was the only Eurosceptic. This failure by […]
I can’t disagree with Mr Boulton but I’m surprised to read Sky’s Political Editor writing it openly. Mr Brown certainly lost friends in Sky, ITN and the bulk of BBC Westminster when he gave Mr Marr the non-election exclusive.
One of the great things about Facebook is that you can find the nichest of niche groups of like-minded people. It has an advertising package to match. You can, for example, upload an ad banner that will appear 10,000 times to female twenty-somethings who live in York and enjoy listening to jazz. This kind of […]
Who feels sorry for the BBC and the loss of 1,700 jobs? Guido doesn’t. He regards the job cuts as "a good start"! A post on Platform10 calls for BBC3, BBC4 and other new services to be scrapped so that core public service broadcasting can be properly funded. Dan Hannan thinks it’s over for Auntie: […]
If allowing election fever to get out of control was mistake numero uno, giving the exclusive to Andrew Marr was Gordon Brown’s second big mistake. Sky and ITN are furious and that’s reflected in their coverage. But Mr Brown doesn’t appear to have endeared himself to Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor either. Here are some […]
The BBC is in the news again for all of the wrong reasons. The Controller of BBC1 has fallen on his sword for his part in the Corporation’s recent ‘framing’ of The Queen. Yesterday I highlighted John Humphreys’ ludicrously soft questioning of Bill Clinton. He harangues Bush adminstration officials but Bill Clinton was able to […]
Jeremy Hunt MP has described the position of his opposite number – James Purnell, the Culture Secretary – as "increasingly untenable" after it was revealed that he had agreed to have his image added to a photo of a hospital opening – to which he was late. The fake image can be viewed on the […]