The upside of a new cross-party appointments process would be distance from the government of the day. The downside is the danger of boiling it down to a lowest common denominator.
The lessons from history are clear. If you give stakeholders no reason to back reform, you will fail.
We give you divorce reform, abortion law in Northern Ireland, citizenship rights for three million Hong Kongers, and the rainbow flag.
“I’m very, very positive about China, but I’m very, very negative about the Chinese Communist Party.”
Four in five of our party member respondents say yes. Hunt is top choice to come in from outside – but there’s no strong support for any non-member.
There can be no return to ‘business as usual’ with the Communist Party. Here’s how Britain can play a leading role in holding them to account.
One has to pinch oneself to remember that as recently as last July May was Prime Minister, Hammond Chancellor of the Exchequer and Gauke Lord Chancellor.
They want to defend their way of life, their basic freedoms, their human rights, all of which they see as increasingly threatened by Xi Jinping’s brutal regime.
Unbridled worship of the market, ahead of principle, responsibility and loyalty, would be a betrayal of our Party’s history.
If two men are in a car, and the passenger says to the driver: “Look out! You’re going to crash,” he is shouting out the second, not the first.
Plus: Which of Hancock’s Slags should I liaise with? I’m not known as “Uncle Herod” for nothing. And: Here’s hoping 2019 is happier than 2018.
China is disregarding its pledge of ‘one country, two systems’ – as a result the rule of law in the territory is under threat from growing autocracy.
As Patten says, the Joint Declaration gives us a specific responsibility to ensure that China’s promises are upheld – which we are not meeting.
In that sense, his speech could easily have been given by a much more fitting figure for the Ditchley Foundation: Tony Blair.