By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. In May, 47 per cent of Conservative members said that the Coalition is good for the country…and 47 per cent said that it isn't. There has been little alteration since then in our surveys, but this month's finds a step change among activists: 59 per cent now say that […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Cynics will say that now Edward Leigh has his knighthood in his pocket (so to speak), he will feel free to be as openly critical of the Government as he likes. But I think this would be to mis-read the significance of his sweeping dismissal on this site today […]
By Lewis SidnickFollow Lewis on Twitter The departure of Steve Hilton and Andy Coulson from Downing Street received widespread media coverage. But much less attention has been given to the wave of Prime Ministerial advisers and Special Advisers (SpAds) deserting their posts. Since 2010, with a few exceptions, Secretaries of State have been allowed to […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. It would be an exaggeration to write that every Conservative born into the world alive is either a Little Authoritarian or a Little Libertarian. But how much of one? The result of our last monthly survey question about the Communications Data Bill (a.k.a the Snooper's Charter) may point towards […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. When Freeborn John Lilburne, the Leveller, appeared before the Star Chamber in 1637, he refused to do as they asked. He would not take the oath or answer questions, and as a result he was fined £500, whipped, humiliated in a pillory and thrown in jail. Given that history, it is […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Here are three measures that, if implemented – Will help to quell the charge that the Party is being led by a "Chumocracy" unrepresentative of its MPs and members. Will stop David Cameron being ambushed by Conservative backbenchers on EU policy, as he was by John Baron's amendment to […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. No political party should alter a bedrock institution without the following conditions applying – especially if it is the Conservative Party. A sizeable campaign to change that institution should be in place: in other words, there should be real evidence of public pressure. The Party should then discuss and […]
Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Even now, despite the economic difficulties, the Tories are still preferred to Labour on questions of economic competence. That's before any economic recovery. More people blame the last Labour government for the deficit than blame the Coalition. Cameron beats Ed Miliband on nearly every measure of what it takes to […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Parliament means Party, and Party means Whips. In other words, MPs must always form themselves into political parties, which in turn will require whipping, if the executive is to work in our system of Parliamentary government. It follows that Prime Ministers have both a selfless and a selfish reason […]
By Andrew GimsonFollow Andrew on Twitter Is the Nick Clegg who promised a referendum at the time of the Lisbon Treaty "an impostor or just a hypocrite"? This was the contemptuous choice offered by Edward Leigh (Con, Gainsborough) as Clegg stood in for David Cameron at Prime Minister's Questions. Leigh was one of several Tory MPs […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Michael Gove spoke for nearly every Tory minister on the Marr show earlier. Growing frustration at the way the Lib Dems agree to a policy before abandoning it boiled to the surface and the Education Secretary made a planned and pointed attack on the way Mr Clegg is constantly […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Roy Jenkins used to argue that the Conservatives dominated British politics during the last century – and mustn't be allowed to do so in this one. He went on to maintain that the two parties of the left – the Liberal Democrats and Labour, as he saw it – […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. And almost a third want it to end as soon as possible – some 30%, according to the latest ConservativeHome survey. 17.5% want it to end in 2014. I'm interested to see that 37% want it to "stop shortly before the 2015 general election so the parties can set […]