Several Ministers helped to see off the Government’s best hope of avoiding a full-on crisis in the Party – and perhaps of saving Brexit too.
Philip Davies, a famously long-standing and committed Brexiteer, is among their number.
The Speaker’s ill-judged intervention in the case is the latest in a long series of serious errors on his part.
Plus: Marr again. Shot foxes. Unhatted rabbits. Bercow’s revenge. Sir Trevor Brooking’s posterior. And: thanks to Stuart in customer services, who made this column possible.
Does Ed Miliband see taking more money in tax as the way to help people out of the “cost of living crisis”?
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter My series profiling the groups of Tory MPs continues with a look at a pioneering Eurosceptic group which helped backbenchers cause significant headaches for Prime Minister John Major during the early 1990s. The Bruges Group is a well-established forum for advocating looser ties with Brussels, and it has gone from a […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. Mark Pritchard is right. He is right to say that CCHQ should not "fast-track favoured ethnic minority candidates over equally talented white-British candidates". Right to say that it is "politically naive to think that by merely increasing ethnic representation within the Parliamentary Party…Asian and Afro-Caribbean voters across Britain will […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. The Daily Mail this morning reports on the 118 Conservative MPs who have written to constituents indicating their opposition to gay marriage proposals. The Mail says "Their opposition has been expressed in letters and emails sent to constituents who have contacted them with their own concerns", and points out that […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Last week a group of Tory MPs began work on a campaign to encourage the Government to harden its stance on the EU budget. Ed Balls and Douglas Alexander have also now seized on the issue in an intervention in The Times overnight. The Tory MPs have now agreed […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. After today's 1922 Committee elections, Robert Buckland has been elected Joint-Secretary (replacing Karen Bradley, an Assistant Whip) and Simon Hart and Karl McCartney have also been elected to the Executive, replacing George Hollingbery (now PPS to Theresa May) and Simon Kirby (now PPS to Hugh Robertson). A few results of […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. Guido Fawkes has a list of new Conservative members of Select Committees, from Graham Brady's office. Mr Brady explains: "For the following committees I have received the same number of nominations as there are vacancies, the following are therefore elected". The appointments are: Communities and Local Government John Stevenson […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter. We know that 91 Tories voted against the Lords Reform Bill last night. That's the big, headline grabbing figure – the biggest rebellion in this Parliament.
A variety of reactions are pasted in this blog. The names of those calling for some change of message, priority or operational changes are emboldened. We have also included the contributions of MPs who have not advocated substantial changes. 5.45pm A little round-up of what Tory MPs have said during the day: David Ruffley MP […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter In the Commons yesterday, a debate was held on whether to suspend Sunday trading restrictions for the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. The Bill passed through the House, with only extremely minor rebellion from the Tory benches. This was surprising because there was some consternation felt by […]