By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The Prime Minister is on breakfast TV this morning to promote his vision that, one day, all of us – not just those from difficult backgrounds – will be able to access government-backed help for new parents if they choose. He is unveiling three new features of this help this […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter Philip Hammond's interview in the Sunday Times (£) this morning covers a number of different issues, the most notable of which is that the Defence Secretary comes out against gay marriage and Lords reform taking up time in the legislative timetable. I've pulled out four topics below. Balancing the MoD's books […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter I don't want to get into another big debate on gay marriage today. While I accept that the issue is unpopular with a large number of big C and little c conservatives the evidence is that most of the public are in favour of the change. I also remain of […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter Iain Duncan Smith's interview in the Times (£) this morning covers a number of different issues, four of which I've pulled out below. Difficulty of cutting welfare Firstly, IDS stresses the difficulty of cutting welfare, in light of George Osborne's call for further cuts to the Work and Pensions budget. […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Earlier today we learnt that a Christian group had decided to purchase adverts on the sides of London buses that promoted therapies that help gay people to become "ex-gays". The ads were a direct response to adverts that have featured prominently in previous months from Stonewall – a charity that […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. It must be close to the next London mayoral election: Boris Johnson is distancing himself from the Government. In this morning's papers, Boris has said two things of note. Firstly, he disassociated himself from this week's Budget, telling the Guardian: "It may be some aspects of the budget are […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter There's a poll in the Sunday Telegraph today showing attitudes towards gay marriage. The population at large favours gay marriage "in principle" by 45% to 36%. More relevant to the Government is the question of whether people think the Coalition should prioritise it over issues like the economy. The […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Some interesting developments on tax policy this weekend. Three stand out. (1) THE JUMP-START-THE-ECONOMY WITH TAX CUTS ARGUMENT The one that has got the most attention is Ed Balls' call for a "temporary reversal of [Osborne's] VAT rise". Guido takes Ed Balls seriously and thinks the Shadow Chancellor is closer […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter In opposition, George Osborne believed that the Conservative Party's family approach was part of its image problem. He thought that key groups of voters think that the party wants women in the home, if not in the kitchen: that they suspected it wants to wrestle the hands of the […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In the latest ConservativeHome survey we asked respondents to rate the importance of 23 policy themes for convincing voters "that the Conservatives are a modern, compassionate party". Respondents voted between 0 (unimportant) to 10 (very important). The average ratings are pasted below: Improve schools: 8.48 Keep inflation under control: 8.33 […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter David Willetts once said that the Tory Party appeared obsessed with homosexuality. Certainly, during our long years in opposition, the topic occupied a lot of internal debate. I remember sat inside Conservative HQ talking with Danny Finkelstein. He was then head of policy for the party and I was running […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. It's not been a good week for Church/Tory relations. The week began with Anglican Bishops voting against Iain Duncan Smith's attempt to bring sanity to the welfare system and ends with the Archbishop of York warning the Prime Minister that he's behaving like a dictator in wanting to introduce […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter According to today's sensationalist Independent front page, David Cameron is expected to face a serious rebellion from Tory MPs (allegedly of over 100 votes) against the Government's plans to allow civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples. The numbers the Independent gives are said to be exaggerated, with only David Burrowes […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Two days ago, David Cameron made it clear that he would like changes made to the child benefit plans which wreaked such havoc at the 2010 party conference, telling the House Magazine: “Some people say that’s the unfairness of it, that you lose the child benefit if you have […]
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has issued a statement on the sentencing of Gary Dobson and David Norris, guilty of murdering Stephen Lawrence. He said: "The failures in the Stephen Lawrence murder case have been a long running sore for us as a city and an embarrassment to our police force. I, like everyone across […]