May’s shuffle continues.
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Last night an adjournment debate was held on SAS soldier Sergeant Danny Nightingale's court martial and imprisonment after illegally bringing home a pistol given to him by grateful Iraqis. Julian Brazier, himself a former Captain in the SAS, led the debate. As well as setting out the facts of the […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Guido Fawkes has a list of new Conservative members of Select Committees, from Graham Brady's office. Mr Brady explains: "For the following committees I have received the same number of nominations as there are vacancies, the following are therefore elected". The appointments are: Communities and Local Government John Stevenson […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. We know that 91 Tories voted against the Lords Reform Bill last night. That's the big, headline grabbing figure – the biggest rebellion in this Parliament.
By Jonathan IsabyFollow Jonathan on Twitter I have already covered Conor Burns' sideswipe at Lord Heseltine from the debate on Lords reform, but what else happened during the debate? Overall, one got the impression that (with a few exceptions) the Conservative benches were highly sceptical about an elected second chamber – including many who are […]
Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude has pressed the Prime Minister over the rather fraught issue of Lord Falconer’s pension. In November 2007 the Telegraph reported that Lord Falconer was ready to sue Gordon Brown over the size of his pension. Lord Chancellors have historically had generous arrangements to reflect the fact that […]
The House of Commons was dominated by the Pre-Budget Report yesterday, which has been well reported elsewhere on ConservativeHome. But there was also an oral questions session on Work and Pensions. David Evennett, MP for Bexleyheath and Crayford, exposed a worrying fact – that far too many gas fitters are not properly qualified: "Mr. David […]
Oliver Heald is the MP for North-East Hertfordshire and a former Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs I served as a member of the 2007 Parliamentary Cross-Party Working Group convened by Lord Falconer and Jack Straw MP to consider House of Lords reform. More recently I have been a member of the Parliamentary Joint […]