By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter A couple of Sundays ago I noted the irritation of certain loyalist Tory MPs against their rebellious colleagues. The Mail on Sunday reported that Claire Perry told Douglas Carswell to "f**k off and join UKIP". Well another round of blue-on-blue attacks have broken out today. The Spectator's James Forsyth blogs […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Michael Fallon's long media weekend began last Saturday afternoon when he got early notice of the Sunday Times's Peter Cruddas expose, and it ended last Monday evening with a Jeremy Paxman interview on Newsnight. Between the two, Fallon was grilled by Andrew Neil on the Sunday Politics, Dermot Murnaghan […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Two evenings ago I felt like I'd been transported back two years. David Laws gave a fascinating speech to the self-styled progressive Conservative group, Bright Blue and his continuing enthusiasm for the Coalition was almost infectious… almost. Mr Laws paid tribute to the great success of the Coalition – unity […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Thatcher's tax settlement… Margaret Thatcher inherited economic ruin and high taxes, and the two were intimately connected to each other. The top rate of income tax was 83% and the basic rate was 33%. She believed that such rates thwarted enterprise, slowed growth, depressed revenues as avoidance thrived, and […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Richard Kay of the Mail wrote today about Liam Fox's party earlier this week. He correctly records that George Osborne was present: the Chancellor never misses a chance to keep a friendship in working order. Kay also identifies Chris Grayling and the actor Edward Fox. Among the other Ministers […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter In another ToryDiary this morning I note that the Tory grassroots are much more satisfied with David Cameron's leadership after his popular decision to veto the EU Treaty. We also asked members to rate fifteen politicians on a scale of minus five (furthest from their political views) to plus five […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Patrick O'Flynn is in festive mood in his Christmas Eve column for Saturday's Daily Express. He's even wearing a Santa hat to celebrate the good things that 2011 has brought the Right: "The fact is that across almost every significant area of public policy the liberal Left has been routed. […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Click on Carla Millar's drawing to enlarge Over the last 24 hours we have learnt that the Liberal Democrats are very angry. Friday's measured reactions to the EU 'veto' from Nick Clegg and Ming Campbell gave way to this morning's press briefings. On the Andrew Marr programme the Deputy Prime […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. A group of thirty Conservative MPs have signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph today. The letter sets out the following case: "European Union proposals pose a grave threat to Britain’s financial services industry, which employs nearly two million people, accounts for 10 per cent of GDP, and generates […]
By Joseph Willits Follow Joseph on Twitter Joe Murphy of the Evening Standard has described "an astonishing new story" told by John Whittingdale about Margaret Thatcher, who delivered the Speaker's Lecture on Great Parliamentarians last night. Whittingdale, who was once Thatcher's political secretary, said that because she "always said she had never been defeated by the people", Thatcher "briefly" […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter We reported the headline allegations last night but The People has now published the full text of what Patrick Mercer MP is alleged to have said about the Prime Minister. We repeat what we said then; Mr Mercer is denying the veracity of the account. The transcript below of Mr […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Member of Parliament for Newark, Patrick Mercer (pictured right), is reported by Vincent Moss, of the Sunday Mirror, and Nigel Nelson, of The People, to have called David Cameron “an arse” and a “despicable creature”. Mercer is also reported to have claimed “I would take a beggar off the streets […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter This is what I write in this morning's Times (£): "David Cameron has never tried party management, preferring party control. He has acted as a presidential Il Duce rather than as a prime ministerial first among equals. He has marginalised alternative voices — stuffing the front bench, his No 10 […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. It is now possible to see how Conservative discipline and the Government itself could break down altogether over the EU – leading to an election on the present constituency boundaries, in which the party would need a lead of roughly 8 to 10 per cent to win outright. Such […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Roughly half of Conservative backbenchers failed to back David Cameron yesterday evening – the largest revolt against a Tory Prime Minister on Europe since Britain joined the EEC. Trust between him and his party is in danger of breaking down. To describe the problems he needs to correct, if […]