by Jonathan Isaby Peter Bone, Wellingborough MP and serial rebel, is continuing with his campaign seeking to undermine the institution that is the Whips' office. He has already tabled a Bill to abolish whips altogether, and his latest demand is that Hansard formally publish the "advice given by Government business managers" to MPs on how […]
By Jonathan Isaby Yesterday at questions to Eric Pickles and his team of ministers from the Department of Communities and Local Government, a number of Tory MPs took the opportunity to highlight how their local Conservative-run councils are coping with the financial squeeze. Doubtless their local papers will be encouraged to cite the praise heaped […]
By Jonathan Isaby At the end of proceedings on the European Union Bill yesterday, there was an opportunity for the Commons to debate and vote on the amendment from Wellingborough MP Peter Bone, which he wrote about here on ConHome last month. The thrust of his amendment was that an in/out referendum on British membership […]
Peter Bone is Conservative MP for Wellingborough. Yesterday on ConservativeHome the Minster for Europe, David Lidington MP wrote: "This week the new European Union Bill will go through intense scrutiny by MPs as its details are debated, and rightly so. The EU bill is the most radical piece of legislation on how we handle the […]
Peter Bone is Conservative MP for Wellingborough. Today I am writing the article not in my normal position as a right-wing Conservative but for the first time as a coalitionist. I am writing it not as a Eurosceptic, but as someone who is trying to bridge the gap between Euro-enuthusiasts and Eurosceptics. It has been […]
Peter Bone is Conservaitve MP for Wellingboorugh and Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking. I thought I would break from tradition and tell you a rather unusual Christmas story, by the young girl who was lost and then found. It occurred during my recent fact-finding trip to Asia in relation to Human […]
By Jonathan Isaby Peter Bone has this week already put a few noses out of joint by suggesting that Whips be abolished. At yesterday's Business Questions he came up with another bright idea: "This new Government have shown themselves willing to put themselves up for scrutiny, especially from Members on their own side of the […]
By Jonathan Isaby Peter Bone, the independent-minded MP for Wellingborough, yesterday introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill with the innocuous-sounding title of the House of Commons Disqualification (Amendment) Bill. Its effect would be to abolish whipping in the Commons by disqualifying anyone who is a Whip from membership of the House of Commons. He said […]
Peter Bone is MP for Wellingborough and co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking. Anthony Steen, when Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking which he founded in 2006, not only raised awareness of the scale and effects of human trafficking into the UK and the EU, but also put forward […]
The BBC's Mark D'Arcy has noted a number of so-called Presentation Bills tabled by Peter Bone, Chris Chope and Philip Hollobone. Mark presents these bills as an Alternative Queen's Speech. They include: The EU Membership (Referendum) Bill The BBC Licence Fee (Abolition) Bill The National Service Bill The Asylum Seekers (Repatriation to Safe Countries) Bill […]
One of the innovations in this new Parliament is the creation of a BackBench Business Committee which is gaining the power from the Establishment to determine the backbencher-initiated business in the Commons chamber and Westminster Hall. Last week Labour MP Natascha Engel beat Tory MP and former Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst by 202 votes […]
I wondered earlier this week here whether Labour MPs would use the Select Committee elections to make life difficult for David Cameron. They didn't. Instead, they lined up behind the Conservative establishment candidates. Andrew Tyrie took the Treasury Select Committee; Richard Ottaway, Foreign Affairs (a big, big consolation prize, after his defeat in the 1922 […]
As most readers know, the Select Committee Chairmanships have been carved out among the parties, and tomorrow's elections for the posts will be cross-party. So Conservative MPs, for example, can vote for Labour candidates, and vice-versa. Jonathan has a list of those standing here. A question follows: on what basis will Labour MPs vote for […]
Question Time in the Commons on Thursday saw a large clutch of questions about the campaign to Save General Election Night aimed at Tory MP Gary Streeter in his capacity as the MP representing the Electoral Commission. He gave the following update of when counts are scheduled to take place: The Electoral Commission informs me […]
Peter Bone is Conservative MP for Wellingborough. Jonathan Isaby's article earlier today on Conservative Home accurately recorded that twnety Conservative MP’s defied a heavy three-line whip and voted for an in/out referendum on the European Union last night. Of those twenty, seven were from the pre-2005 intake, five were from the 2005 intake and eight […]