Cameron pledges to add £1,000 to pensioners’ income within five years “David Cameron will today claim a Tory government will add another £1,000 to pensioners’ annual income within five years. The Prime Minister will say that, thanks to the Conservative ‘triple lock’, the basic state pension will rise to £6,999 a year by 2019/20 according […]
The mystery surrounding what was behind the meeting last month between David Cameron and Simon Cowell would appear to have been solved. The X Factor judge is the Patron of Children's Hospices UK and has today been quoted by the party as welcoming an announcement that David Cameron has made this morning during a visit […]
In the new year I'm planning a special series of features on effective aid spending. Just because too much aid goes to the wrong people (as Sajid Javid argued last week) we should not say that all aid fails. Much aid – given publicly and privately by the British people – is preventing very poor […]
A Tory poster from last year. Labour's fightback strategy becomes clearer by the day. We already have seen Team Brown throw the kitchen sink at us for sticking with our inheritance tax pledge. Policy Exchange's Neil O'Brien recommended that the party drop the pledge to neutralise the 'Tories-are-friends-of-the-rich' message. I was minded to agree with […]
During this morning's Week in Westminster programme (11am), presented by Steve Richards, I discuss the politics of climate change with Will Straw of Left Foot Forward. I make the case that the issue of climate change has the potential to divide the Conservative Party in the same way that Europe has divided us in the […]
Gordon Brown's scorched earth policy continued apace this morning. A week ago he found £800m to spend on helping developing nations combat climate change. Today he doubled that, announcing that Britain will be committing £1.5bn to the same ends. By the time the Copenhagen circus has ended who knows how much he will have pledged. […]
The tragic scandal of ‘Baby P’ becomes bigger every day. The Daily Mail reveals that "Four ministers were warned six months before the death of Baby P that social workers in his area were ‘out of control’." "They were told," the Mail reports, "that Haringey social services department was failing to protect children." In today’s […]
Interviewed on GMTV earlier today the Conservative Party leader announced measures that would prevent indebted householders losing their homes for what CCHQ describes as "relatively small credit card bills or other unsecured loans". A CCHQ press release outlined three measures to help indebted families: "Stop forced sales: We do not believe families should be forced […]
Tim Montgomerie writes: In three days’ time John McCain will lose the race for the White House. ConservativeHome readers’ favourite conservative – John Howard (in a vote last year) – was ousted a year ago. C entre right leaders in Europe are a mixed bunch. Germany has trended left under the grand coalition led by […]
Prospect Magazine has awarded the Centre for Social Justice‘s “Breakthrough Britain report" ("Ending the costs of social breakdown”). The report published last year won the Magazine’s Publication of the Year Award. The Royal United Services Institution won the overall think tank of the year award with the IFS the runner up. Iain Duncan Smith accepted […]
…and so it should. The idea that crime has roots in broken families and malnourished lives is true. In the most poignant words ever spoken by David Cameron, the Tory leader offered these thoughts to yesterday’s Conservative Party Conference: "Come with me to Wandsworth prison and meet the inmates. Yes you meet the mugger, the […]
In a series of eight short posts throughout today, Tim Montgomerie, Editor of ConservativeHome, offers ‘eight takeaways’ from the Birmingham Party Conference. At a fringe meeting on Tuesday I defended ‘nudging’. I was on a panel of four but I was on my own – even the chairman, Claire Fox, was against me. One person […]
The BBC is reporting that Shadow International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell will tell the Party Conference that a Conservative Government will end aid to China. Britain currently gives £38m pa in aid to China although the communist state spent £20bn on this summer’s Beijing Olympics. We hope that Mr Mitchell will also look at Britain’s […]
The statistics above (presented by Ryan Robson this morning) are just two insights into the terrible disadvantages that children in care face: Exam results for children in care are five times worse than for other children. Only 11 per cent gain 5 A*-C GCSEs compared with 56 per cent of all children. Children in care […]
There was a time when August was a quiet political month. No longer. If today is your first day back at the computer here’s the ten most important (mainly Tory) stories you missed from the last few weeks… The Tories maintain their large opinion poll lead. The month began with a Conservative lead of 19.0% […]