By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In her first major announcement as International Development Secretary, Justine Greening has confirmed weekend speculation that all traditional UK aid to India will end by 2015. Up until now India has been the second biggest beneficiary of UK aid – receiving slightly less than Ethiopia (£324m pa) and slightly […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Do you know what Ed Miliband's idea of "predistribution" means in plain English? It means employers paying workers higher wages rather than the taxpayer paying them more subsidies – usually in the form of the cats-cradle of tax credits that his former boss, Gordon Brown created. The Living Wage […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Yesterday we published members' answers to questions about how they would meet George Osborne's deficit reduction challenge if they were in his shoes. Members wanted less spending on the EU, aid and welfare. All fairly predictable perhaps. The one surprising response was the support for higher council tax bands […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Chris Grayling, the new Justice Secretary, has just been on Andrew Marr's show to reject Labour's call for an independent judicial inquiry into the Jimmy Savile affair but, more significantly, to point towards what he clearly intends to be a central issue at the next General Election – reform […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The Prime Minister is due to make a big speech on crime and rehabilitation today. He will promise a "tough but intelligent" approach to the prevention and punishment of crime. He will say that punishment is essential but that more needs to be done to first prevent crime and […]
This week's Local Government Chronicle contains a claim (£) that the Government's Troubled Families programme is off course. It carried out a survey of councils and suggested that just 6.9% of their target number of troubled families had so far been identified. Among the councils who responded, Camden has identified just seven troubled families – […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Matthew d'Ancona interprets the speech as Cameron's challenge to the nation, to choose revival or decline: "The purpose of this speech was to remind party and public alike that the Tories represent the whole nation — just as that nation faces a moment of historic decision in the great […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Speeches don't matter very much. They don't move public opinion in the way that those of us in the political bubble sometimes give the impression of believing. The speech was significant nonetheless. Not because it will win many votes in the short-term but because the Prime Minister attempted to […]
Cllr Rowena Davis is a journalist and a Labour councillor in Southwark. She's a warm and intelligent lady. I met her last year when we were both supposed to be reviewing the newspapers on Sky TV and instead found ourselves invited to offer our expertise on the developing grim news of Japanese tsunami. Anyway she […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The Tories should stop banging on about Europe if they want to win. The Tories are too hard on immigration and crime. The Conservatives are homophobic, anti-women and sometimes even racist. How many times have we heard things like this said by commentators, our opponents and even Tory über-modernisers? […]
By Benjamin DisraeliYou cannot follow Lord Beaconsfield on Twitter, since he hasn't a clue what it is. I cannot deny that my grasp of public affairs is not as sure as it might be since, for reasons that readers of this publication will understand, I am presently incapable of taking my seat in the House […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Yesterday, on LeftWatch, Matthew Barrett ran a rolling blog, listing the ways in which senior Liberal Democrats, including Cabinet ministers, were attacking the Conservatives. It's the same at every Lib Dem conference, of course. Chris Huhne and Tim Farron were at it last year. I Tweeted about this yesterday […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter At yesterday's Windsor Conference (a terrific event btw that I hope will be replicated in the months ahead) I suggested that Michael Gove (for his school reforms) and Iain Duncan Smith (for his commitment to social justice) were the two most inspiring ministers in the current government. At a […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter It's not unreasonable to see Nick Clegg's call for an emergency tax on Britain's wealthiest people as (i) another attempt by him to shore up his beleagured position within a very unhappy party and (ii) another sign that the Coalition will drift to the Left. Tory backbencher Bernard Jenkin […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter It is a real honour to be a columnist for The Times and it was an extra honour yesterday to be chosen as Political Columnist of the Year by Editorial Intelligence. I greatly enjoy being able to get up each and every day and pontificate on this blog, in […]