The Crabb and the Octopus
If yesterday’s accommodation had been reached last week, Duncan Smith wouldn’t have felt the need to resign in the first place.
We should face up to the end of ‘retirement’
The notion of long years of post-career idleness is an artefact of a clumsy system. We are living and active for longer, and provision for our dotage must adapt.
Enough! Time to restore Cabinet Government – and make Gove Deputy Prime Minister
Both a supporter of Osborne and a backer of Brexit, the Justice Secretary’s promotion would help bring order, calm referendum passions, and protect Cameron himself.
Ros Altmann should be sacked
Numbers 10 and 11 say that she attacked Duncan Smith without their approval. They can prove it by removing her as Pensions Minister.
The IDS aftermath
Live fire is exchanged in both directions. Gove plays peacemaker. And might Osborne decide to pull out of the leadership race?
Why Duncan Smith resigned – his story
His friends say that he strove for a week to reconcile making spending savings with protecting the vulnerable – and collective loyalty with personal conviction.
Duncan Smith’s resignation. The quiet man roars.
This zinger of a departure is about social justice as well as EU membership – and his farewell letter is a missile aimed at Osborne’s character and conduct.
The Government’s attempts to head off a tampon tax rebellion haven’t settled the issue
Given the slow pace of change in Brussels, the vote could still go ahead on Tuesday.
We need an Opportunity Commission, not an Equality Commission
Parliament has left a gap in legislation that the courts and a quango are filling.
Budget trouble brewing over disability benefits
Andrew Percy sounds confident that there will be sufficient Tory rebels to defeat the Government.
Less a Budget for renewal than a Budget for the referendum
It felt more like a pre-election than a post-election one – and was shot through by a sense of the Chancellor’s political mortality.
Andrew Gimson’s Budget sketch: Osborne sounded as boastful as Lawson in his pomp
The Chancellor was a commanding figure, Jeremy Corbyn could do nothing to spoil things for him, and Andrew Tyrie will now check whether the figures add up.
Your at-a-glance guide to the Budget’s economic and fiscal forecasts
We’ve sifted through the Office for Budget Responsibility’s supplementary documents so that you don’t have to.
Newslinks for Wednesday 16th March 2016
Osborne to announce school reforms… “George Osborne will spend £1.5 billion on additional lessons and activities at secondary schools over… Read more »
Syed Kamall, ECR hero
There is an important campaigning role for his pro-Brexit views. Let’s hope that we see and hear a lot of him during the weeks ahead.