Blaming the OBR is easier than acknowledging that some elements on the right have had a central tenet of its thinking rejected. Tax cuts don’t always pay for themselves.
Whatever Harrison’s personal qualities as a candidate, her selection has immediately been overshadowed by her personal life. Harrison is the girlfriend of Peter Bone: the current Wellingborough MP who has been forced to stand down.
Skidmore was already planning to stand down at the next election, but said his decision to resign now was ahead of a vote on Monday on the issuing of new oil and gas licences.
After Brexit and Covid, five Prime Ministers and a cost-of-living crisis, a war in Ukraine and a war in Gaza, the Labour leader wishes to appeal to a weary electorate with a vision of tedium.
Combing an income tax cut with a reduction in stamp duty could form an obvious sequel to Hunt’s Autumn pairing of a reduction in national insurance with permanent full expensing.
The OBR predicts that our total debt pile will more than triple to 310 per cent of GDP by 2070. As staggering a figure as that is, it will never be a priority for politicians interested in buying their re-election on the backs of future generations.
It pulled out of Gaza previously for a reason. Yet it will have no alternative but to stay there, if it is unwilling to hand over control to either foreign peacekeepers or the Palestinian Authority.
Unable to conceive that it may have made mistakes, officialdom seeks to set Johnson up as its scapegoat.
Michael Gove and Nick Gibb’s efforts in raising standards have been hampered by both lockdown and subsequent ministerial churn.
This continues the general trend of associations choosing male and local candidates.
Last week, ConservativeHome exclusively revealed that CCHQ will be bringing back ‘proper’ party membership cards. This will be in place of the ‘keepsake certificate of membership’ introduced in 2020. Members can vote online.
He long warned of the perils of NATO expansion, the need to manage China’s emergence onto the world stage, and the paucity of Western strategy. Tragically, he has been vindicated.
Next week will see the launch of an online vote on their design. Four options will be given to members to vote on.
CCHQ has no constitutional power to impose a particular replacement candidate on the association if he loses the vote.
The Government may be looking ahead to another winter of mild disruption, lengthening waiting lists, and protracted negotiations. Nonetheless, the prognosis is not half as gloomy as this time last year.