By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. George Osborne is sparing with the appearances on camera, deploying them mostly when he wants to make a point – as recently with his visit to night workers. His trip to a nursery yesterday was thus intended to identify him with childcare help for working parents – a modern-minded […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Respondents were asked in our latest survey whether or not they supported David Cameron's proposals on the internet and pornography. 57 per cent said that they do. 27 per cent said that they don't. 15 per cent said that they have no view. This represents decisive support for the […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Fleet Street was briefed over the weekend that the Prime Minister's anti-internet porn plan marks a return to the early David Cameron – the one who campaigned against British Home Stores selling padded bras for children, and against W.H Smith for placing chocolate oranges near checkouts. This is true […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. David Cameron said in opposition that he wanted "the next Government to be the most family friendly Government we’ve ever had in this country". Andrea Leadsom writes on this site today about her recent experience as a member of the Children and Families Bill Committee, pointing out that there […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter I've just come back from an event at the Resolution Foundation. Matt Hancock MP was setting out a Conservative agenda for tackling low pay. You can read his speech in full here but the two big things you need to know about the event and the speech are… A […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter "Parenting is the most important job there is…I have always wanted this Government to do everything it can to help families of all shapes and sizes…All families, including those relying on a stay-at-home parent, will continue to receive more financial help towards childcare". Claire Perry's recent article on this […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In my other blog this morning I give the Coalition low marks for its record on deficit reduction. Progress has been dismally slow. Let me celebrate two other things that the Budget delivered, however, and point to three big achievements overall. First, Britain will become the first major economy […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter It's hard to find much welcome for the Chancellor's new £1,200 childcare giveaway in any of today's newspapers. Left-leaning pundits complain that the allowance that benefits families earning up to £299,999.99p is a poor use of limited funds when many low income families are struggling to make ends meet. […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter On a whole range of issues – including immigration – very few voters hold 'centrist' positions On Saturday at the Victory 2015 Conference Stephan Shakespeare of YouGov published fascinating polling that disproved the nonsense idea that most voters inhabit a mythical centre ground. The reality is that voters have […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter 81 Tory MPs rebelled on David Nuttall's EU referendum motion. 91 Tory MPs voted against Lords reform. 143 Tory MPs have voted against the Coalition's policies at some point. 37 are hardcore rebels. 136 Tory MPs voted, last night, against the Tory leadership's position on gay marriage. Another forty […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. 9.30 pm Update: According to the Guardian, 127 Tory MPs supported the bill, 136 opposed it, and 40 MPs either voted both ways (actively abstaining) or did not vote at all. According to Paul Waugh, 40% of payroll vote (47/119) failed to support the Prime Minister, and 70% of […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. All free votes are free votes, but some are less free than others. Today's same-sex marriage bill vote will help to prove the point. The programme motion will be whipped. So, as Philip Cowley and Mark Stuart point out this morning, will some votes be at committee and report. […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Before marriage was the handfast – a public declaration of commitment by a couple. (There is a charming portrayal of one in As You Like It.) First absorbed by the Church and later abandoned by the state, its memory is a reminder that marriage is at heart not a […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter There's lots of nonsense emanating from certain pollsters, notably ComRes, about gay marriage having a disastrous impact on Tory fortunes. YouGov's Joe Twyman has Tweeted an important link which shows that the effect might well be negative in the short-term but that – AT WORST – it will reduce […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter © i-Images A promise to introduce a tax allowance for married couples was one of the first commitments that David Cameron made when he stood for Tory leader in 2005*. When he told the Tory Conference in 2006 that marriage should be between a man and a man and […]