The Jobbing Doctor (Free subscription) | yesterday
I have a confession to make. I am a socialist by inclination. I went into General Practice and deliberately chose to work in a deprived area because of a sense of vocation. This might seem absurdly idealistic in this era, but then in the 1970s socialism was what many young people aspired to. Then Margaret Thatcher came along, and with her the whole paraphernalia of money, and 'there is no such thing...
Benedict Brogan (Free subscription) | 21/11/2009
As is well known, George Osborne gets regular advice sessions from past Chancellors. There’s a lot of collected Treasury wisdom on the Tory side for him to call on, in the shape of Lords Howe, Lawson and Lamont, Kenneth Clarke, and even Sir John Major. He gathers them for occasional private consultations, which is one [...]
George Szirtes (Free subscription) | 19/11/2009
I know I cannot be a revolutionary because I am perfectly capable of liking those I disagree with and disliking those I agree with. The basis of such likes is not to do with opinion, it is with the way opinion is delivered. It is to do with intangibles. It is not to do with wanting them as friends or desiring to spend time with them, particularly not on any desert island with only one of them for company,...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009
The Thick of It is a savage send-up of Labour, politics and spin. So would its star feel uneasy inside Parliament? ' It's a ridiculous building, isn't it?" says Chris Addison. We're hurrying past the Houses of Parliament. "It needn't have looked like something built by and for a toddler. But it does. It looks like a play castle for a three-year-old." We're trying to get inside this...
Lord Lavendon's Blog (Free subscription) | 16/11/2009
I find it amsuing that because labour has managed to hold one is its most safest seats, this somehow classes as an endorsement of Brown and that labour are not defeated yet. Whilst this is a predictable thing to say, it may yet be a closer contest than people think, despite the general unpopularity of the current ruling party. In another article over the weekend , it has been pointed out that because...
Tory Bear (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
TB's invite must have got lost on the way, damn postal strike eh? Anyway a word or two on the results of the Spectator Parliamentarian Awards: Newcomer of the Year: Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP - Newcomer? But a good choice, he has managed to tow the line re Europe and has seriously beefed up the Tory economic team. Inquisitor of the Year: Paul Farrelly MP - Something to with a certain Carter-Ruckas...
Working Class Tory (Free subscription) | 12/11/2009
There’s nothing New Labour, the BBC and the Guardian like quite so much as a Tory (or ex-Tory, they’re not picky) attacking his party from the Europhile left. Just look at the reverence with which the likes of Chris Patten, Michael Heseltine and Kenneth Clarke are treated whenever they appear on the Today programmes: in one bound, they are transformed from decreasingly relevant has-beens...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
Britain's problems are now so acute that a Labour victory at the next election would be preferable to a hung parliament in which no one party has the power to take urgent decisions, the veteran Conservative shadow minister, Kenneth Clarke said today. Given the entrenched inability of the political class to make coalition governments effective, he implicitly conceded the risk which some pollsters detect:...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 10/11/2009
One of the most respected Eurosceptic Tory MPs today launched a campaign for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in a direct challenge to the party leadership which last week said it would not make good David Cameron's pledge for a poll on the issue. In an email to constituents announcing his intention to campaign for a referendum, Douglas Carswell said: "I want you to know that I have begun a...
Boulton (Free subscription) | 10/11/2009
A Labour victory at the next election would be better for Britain than a hung Parliament. Who says so? Gordon Brown? Peter Mandelson? No. Kenneth Clarke, actually. Yes, really. "In the middle of an acute national crisis, a hung Parliament would be one of the biggest disasters we could suffer," he told political journalists after a lunch of braised game with puff pastry in the House of Commons....
The Telegraph (Free subscription) | 10/11/2009
Kenneth Clarke the shadow business secretary has risked antagonising Conservative Eurosceptics by suggesting that David Cameron's promises to bring powers back from Brussels are nothing more than warm words.
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 10/11/2009
Shadow business secretary also says he disapproves of proposals to allow peer ministers such as Lord Mandelson to speak in Commons Kenneth Clarke warned today of the dangers of a hung parliament resulting from the next election – saying it was a bigger threat than a Labour victory. The shadow business secretary also said he would be against his government opposite number, Lord Mandelson, being...
John Rentoul (Free subscription) | 03/11/2009
Now that Vaclav Klaus has landed him in it, in a spirit of European solidarity and helpfulness, I offer the following advice to David Cameron, pictured working on his statement for tomorrow. Use these phrases in any order: World has moved on - realism - we were promised - Labour betrayal - never wanted it - will not let matters rest - very clear - no further powers - undertaking - any future attempts...
Bob Piper (Free subscription) | 31/10/2009
David Herdson over at Political Betting writes a thoughtful piece about David Cameron's options post-Lisbon. One of the options that caught my eye was that the Tories could: accept that Lisbon is a done deal but argue that much of the scepticism towards the EU derives from the remoteness of the institutions and the lack of control people have over them. A proposal to elect the Commission from and...
UKIP (Free subscription) | 29/10/2009
UKIP MEP Marta Andreasen is a panel guest on BBC Radio Four's Any Questions live from Cambridge University on Friday night. The topical debate programme , chaired by Jonathan Dimbleby, will be broadcast at 8pm and repeated pm Saturday at 1.10pm. Other guest include shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke, Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Shirley Williams and former Lord Chancellor Charlie Falconer....
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