By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. The police in Balcombe are evidently not the only ones to have learned nothng from the London riots. Shockingly, Sheila Peacock, the Labour mayor of the London Borough of Haringey – which encompasses Tottenham, has said that the riots were: "the best thing that’s happened in Tottenham for a while" Why? […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. Back row: David Miliband, Ed Miliband, Ed Balls, Harriet Harman. Standing in middle: Hillary Benn, Chuka Umunna. Front row: Fiona McTaggart, Tristram Hunt, Tessa Jowell. It's become a regular refrain from Labour ranks that the Tories are posh. The infamous Bullingdon photo, which Carla Millar today mimics above, is used as […]
By Harry PhibbsFollow Harry on Twitter When I was compiling the rolling blog of tributes to Lady Thatcher yesterday I chose not to include any of the unpleasant comments (usually made via Twitter or the BBC) from those on the Left welcoming her death. For all decent people such a welcome was repulsive. Yet for some […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter I once got into a tussle with Mehdi Hasan. He accused me of "guilt by association" for asking whether whether the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain shared the view of Hamas that Osama Bin Laden was an "Arab holy warrior". He was duly let down the very next day, and […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. This morning, Tory MP Greg Hands tweeted: "Still lots of Labour MPs on Twitter carping and trying to find fault – any fault – they can with the Jubilee. Sad, but not surprising." Hands was referring to the lack of positive tweets about the Jubilee celebrations coming from Labour […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter If you don't think Sayeeda Warsi is an ideal Tory Chairman you are a racist. The allegation is not made directly – smears rarely are – but readers of the New Statesmen are left in little doubt. Exhibit A from Mehdi Hasan in the New Statesman from 3rd April: "Judged […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter The BBC's Jeremy Vine has a new book out and it's being serialised in the Daily Mail. "It's All News To Me" includes his reflections on New Labour's bullying and manipulative management of the press when Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson were at the height of their powers: "At any […]
By Tim Montgomerie Follow Tim on Twitter. The tweets of Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, speak for themselves*. The unrest last night followed the fatal shooting by local police of a 29-year-old man on Thursday. A protest at the shooting got out of hand. The BBC has more here. * Hat tip to […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter The Daily Mail reports today how the Labour whip, Lyn Brown, attacked blind talkSPORT journalist Sean Dilley: "A Labour whip unleashed a four-letter tirade at a blind man for getting in her way during a fraught exchange in the Houses of Parliament. Lyn Brown, the burly MP for West Ham, barged […]
By Jonathan IsabyFollow Jonathan on Twitter On yesterday's newslinks I included the story about how Ken Livingstone had likened Edward Lister, the former Wandsworth Council leader and now chief of staff to Boris Johson, to Ratko Mladic. Livingstone, who will of course be challenging Boris for the London mayoralty again next May, was first reported […]
By Jonathan Isaby Ever since the announcement was made last year, Labour have refused to accept that capping housing benefit at £20,000 per year is reasonable – despite the fact that people earning far less than that are currently paying their taxes to fund payments of housing benefit in excess of that amount. And whilst […]
By Jonathan Isaby We have already covered David Cameron's speech on multiculturalism this morning (ToryDiary and video clip) but one who was opining in advance of it being delivered was Labour MP Sadiq Khan. The Tooting MP and shadow justice secretary told this morning's Daily Mirror that the Prime Minister was "writing propaganda for the […]
By Jonathan Isaby I have only just clocked a piece written by Simon Carr in yesterday's Independent, which refers to a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party which took place earlier this week and was addressed by shadow health secretary, John Healey. He wrote: John Healey (Health) gave the MPs a speech that must have […]
By Jonathan Isaby As the world awaits the verdict of FIFA from Switzerland this afternoon, Ed Miliband's spokesman, Katie Myler, has broken the cross party consensus praising David Cameron's efforts on behalf of the bid in Zurich, as her comments on Twitter (reproduced below courtesy of PoliticsHome) demonstrate: She has since issued the following statement: […]
Tuesday lunchtime update: The BBC reports that 24 hours later, McDonnell has apologised for his "joke" about Margaret Thatcher: "In that audience everyone took it as a joke and in that atmosphere and that audience it was just a normal joke .. but I can understand, if people have taken offence I can understand. I'm […]