By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter A list of nearly the whole new Government has now been published: Cameron the butcher: The official list shows 26 Commons Ministers as having been fired. That's roughly a third of the Tory total. So the answer to the question "Cameron – man or mouse?" is: man & butcher. […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter George Osborne wanted to move Iain Duncan Smith from Work and Pensions, and failed. Ken Clarke was moved to take up a roving economic brief, thus gaining a licence to meddle in the Chancellor's affairs. The reshuffle even brought some distressing family news: Lord Howell, Mr Osborne's father in […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter The culture of the Conservative Parliamentary Party is changing… Half of all Conservative MPs were elected for the first time at the last election, and Tory backbenchers have rebelled more since it took place than in any previous post-war Parliament. These two facts suggest that a new factor has […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter A Conservative Party Chairman who sits in the Lords is no less accessible to party members than one who sits in the Commons. But there are two reasons why he or she should be a member of the latter. First, a Commons Chairman is more accessible to Tory MPs: […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter It is supposedly the silliest month of the year. No big news is said to happen. While MPs increasingly prefer staycations in Cornwall and in the Lake District, political journalists – after writing obligatory hatchet jobs about MPs' long recesses – still disappear to Europe's beaches. But this August? […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Cameron should be willing to move Hague and May in order to get Cable out of the Business portfolio and David Laws appointed in his place. Most reshuffles don't matter. But this one does. That is the premise of my piece in today's Daily Telegraph, though I also write […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Returned from a fortnight on the Isle of Wight. The isle is full of noises… Here is the situation as I see it as the conference season comes into view. Miliband's vote is vulnerable… The most striking opinion poll finding about the three main parties since 2010 is the […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter The most explosive scrap of Tory politics today is contained in this article in the Evening Standard. It’s about a new book (Britannia Unchained, released on 13th September) by five of the 2010 intake: Kwasi Kwarteng, Priti Patel, Dominic Raab, Chris Skidmore and Elizabeth Truss. And it contains some […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Imagine a civil partnership of which one member suddenly announced to the world: "My partner has refused to cook me any food. So I am refusing to give him any sex. But don't worry for a moment: we must now restore balance to our relationship, allowing us to draw […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Some good news for George Osborne today after yet another bruising week. S&P have reaffirmed the UK's triple A credit rating. The Chancellor rushed out a statement welcoming the news: "As Britain welcomes the world to our country for the Olympic games, this is a reminder that despite the […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter The Evening Standard's excellent Joe Murphy is sometimes a means for politicians to get out news that helps them as quickly as possible. So it may be in this case. The paper's Political Editor has tweeted that Baroness Warsi has been cleared by the Lords Commissioner over allegations made […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Neither Tim Montgomerie nor I have given up on George Osborne as Chancellor – see here and here – but there is almost no good news for him in today's papers. We have: Fears over Britain's Triple-A status ramped up in the Financial Times (£) A new dimension to […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Fascinating scoop from James Forsyth in the Mail on Sunday. The Spectator's Political Editor reveals that David Cameron gathered together a special 'secret seven' group of Conservative Cabinet ministers before the recent Lords vote and rebellion. The meeting may turn out to be a one off but let us […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter David Cameron's Telegraph interview opens up a goldmine of questions, and the one above can be added to the one about the EU I asked earlier. The Prime Minister says in the interview: "If no one who ever voted against the Government [got a] ministerial office … [Iain] Duncan-Smith […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter "You see, Albert," said Stephen Crabb, Whip to J.Alfred Prufrock, MP for the marginal West Midlands seat of Grummidge West, ""we have to ask ourselves: how can we best help the Prime Minister? And let's face it, the best way we can do so is by voting for Second […]