Why is the Government allowing itself to be bullied into accepting this baseless policy by civil servants?
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. Writing in The Times (£) recently, John Bird, founder and editor in chief of The Big Issue, expressed frustration that the current welfare debate had been reduced to whether Iain Duncan Smith could live on £53 per week, […]
Lord Bates is a Vice Chairman of the 'Christians in Parliament' All Party Parliamentary Group. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. Follow Michael on Twitter. What makes bishops so ham-fisted when they enter the political fray is that – unlike politicians – they are not used to […]
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. As 2012 draws to a close there are reasons for hope to be found in the North East of England that suggest that in an area of traditionally high unemployment, and heavy reliance on the public sector, the […]
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. He will introduce his BBC Trust Chairman (Election) Bill into the House of Lords today. The BBC Trust describes itself as “the guardian of the licence payer and the public interest of the BBC,” but how are they accountable […]
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. From 7:30pm crowds of residents, young and old, from the small Flemish town of Ypres (Leper) in Belgium empty from homes, bars and restaurants and make their way to the striking war memorial at the Menin Gate to […]
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. During his five years in charge of the International Development brief for the Conservative Party in Opposition and two in government, Andrew Mitchell did more than anyone before to change the approach to development aid. He brought to […]
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. Last Sunday he argued that the recovery was underway. He returns to his theme in the article below. Sir John Major gave an excellent interview on the Andrew Marr programme yesterday, but one sentence stood out; after citing […]
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. We have a quarterly obsession with GDP as a measure of the health of the economy and its progress out of recession. GDP is a crude measure developed in the 1930s: it is the value of national output […]
Lord Bates of Langbaurgh was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Langbaurgh 1992-7, and Paymaster General 1996-7. During the last parliament he was the driving force behind Campaign North. Boris Johnson is a formidable champion of London, the greatest city in the world, but his message to the Prime Minister yesterday to “stop pussyfooting around” and […]
By Lord Bates Spending Christmas with family in Texas, I was concerned by the anaemic state of the local economy there. Vacant business premises, high unemployment, sluggish consumer demand and a depressed housing market speak of a very different reality to the soothing forecasts of return to 3-4% GDP growth next year being served up […]
I’ve noticed in my constituency that, to parts of the community, I am a disruption to the local natural order.