By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Daily Mail this morning reports on the 118 Conservative MPs who have written to constituents indicating their opposition to gay marriage proposals. The Mail says "Their opposition has been expressed in letters and emails sent to constituents who have contacted them with their own concerns", and points out that […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Yesterday afternoon, the House of Commons questioned David Cameron on his trip to the European Council. Backbench Conservative opinion being mostly Eurosceptic, the Prime Minister received some testing questions. At the Council, issues like the next European budget and a Europe-wide banking union were discussed, and at home, the issue […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Like Graham Brady I wasn't keen on the nature of some of the electioneering but the overall result of the 1922 elections was, as I blogged this morning, encouraging. I'm more worried about the outcome of the elections for the Backbench Business Committee. The BBBC has been hugely successful. It […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter I recently profiled the 2020 and Free Enterprise groups of Tory MPs. Those two groups are formed by ideology: MPs are attracted to the groups because, in the case of the Free Enterprise Group, members wish to open up markets and make Britain business-friendly enough to compete with other world class economies. The 2020's […]
by Paul Goodman I've found the following methods in yesterday's first day's debate on the budget – having earlier covered the speeches of Andrew Tyrie, John Redwood and Stewart Jackson. 1) Draw attention to the dire state of the public finances bequeathed by the last Government to this one. This was the route taken by […]
Here is the latest in our series of Twenty Questions with members of the Class of 2010… Marcus Jones was elected MP for Nuneaton with a majority of 2,069. 1. What is your earliest political memory? The 1987 General election. 2. Complete the sentence: “I’m a Conservative because… I believe in the virtues, of freedom […]
During his maiden speech last Wednesday, Richard Graham, who gained Gloucester from Labour, spoke about the perils of youth unemployment: “We are a great working city which now has record youth unemployment and too many families with no working role model—in fact, there are occasionally three generations living entirely off benefits. I believe that everyone […]