By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter There's been a lot of speculation that David Cameron might move George Osborne in the September reshuffle. In an unusual move Cameron has acted to kill that speculation today. Talking to Sky News the Prime Minister said that "George Osborne is doing an excellent job in very difficult circumstances and […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter There was more gloomy economic news yesterday with new data suggesting that, in the words of Allister Heath, "manufacturing output is shrinking disastrously". There are also growing fears that the Olympics might be having a very negative short-term impact on the economy. London's shops, restaurants and theatres are reportedly struggling […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter So much Olympics-related news overnight but I must point you to a typically thoughtful speech from David Willetts. David has been one of the party's most interesting intellectuals for more than a generation but he hasn't done much public thinking for some time. In a speech to the Bright […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter There are lots of reasons to believe that George Osborne will remain as Chancellor. Bruce Anderson details one of them in a wonderful article for today's Telegraph: the personal bond between Mr Osborne and David Cameron. I mention another in a column for the Times (£): Mr Osborne is […]
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 Iain Martin was once the loneliest pundit on Fleet Street – at least the loneliest centre right pundit. In opposition he called for George Osborne to be replaced as Shadow Chancellor. It was a brave call and I'm not sure his relations with the man who eventually became Chancellor […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Must admit, I love the Office for Budget Responsibility. Not only are they a decent organisation in spirit, designed to suck much of the dastardly politics from the fiscal process. But also, every so often — once a year, in fact — they let their collective hair down and […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Forget the Lords for a second — perhaps the most significant bit of political news to emerge yesterday was David Cameron's reaffirmed support for universal benefits. Speaking in PMQs, he rejected Nick Boles's proposals for curtailing certain pension-age handouts, saying that, “at the last election I made a very […]
Universal benefits never did make much sense to me. Even allowing for Ed Miliband’s argument that hand-outs for the middle classes (and richer) keep everyone on board with the welfare state, they do seem a bit superfluous. Why should the state borrow and tax money only to give some of it back to those who […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter ConHome is not Ken Clarke's biggest fan and he doesn't love this "blasted website" much either… We disagree on Europe, human rights reforms, the desirability of an elected Upper House and many other things that have been well rehearsed and are subjects for another day. Today it's simply worth […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter 24 hours ago George Osborne announced that the planned 3p increase in fuel duty would not go ahead in August. During the day many readers have been voting in our end-June survey. That survey is still open (vote here) but over 1,000 Tory members have already participated and here are […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter George Osborne's decision to halt August's planned fuel duty rise and freeze it for the rest of this year is an adroit retreat which will be greeted with relief by motorists – and, furthermore, has been played by the book, since he's just announced it in the Commons. – […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter David Cameron's proposed reforms to housing benefit are partly about increasing opportunity and party about saving money. Oh, and differentiating his party from the Liberal Democrats. Which is a reminder that it's possible that none of his plans may be effected, since we don't know what parts of them […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Easy relations between the Coalition partners began to break down in earnest after the AV referendum. But the man who made them look almost natural had left the Government well before it took place. And he is back today in the Sunday Telegraph, making a case that David Cameron […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter I apologise for writing about the same subject twice in one morning, but readers may appreciate the chance to reflect further on how tricky all this tax avoidance stuff is. As some know already, I was a member of George Osborne's Shadow Treasury team during the last Parliament. One […]