By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. New Governments often over-react to the errors of the one before. Tony Blair succeeded a faction-plagued Prime Minister who had originally presided over a "Cabinet of chums". Blair responded post-1997 by crafting a Presidential Premiership, giving political appointments such as Jonathan Powell and Alistair Campbell the authority to instruct […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. Interesting claim from Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat President, on this morning's Today programme. About three-and-a-half minutes into his interview with Justin Webb he claimed that the Conservatives would be running the country with a majority of sixty by now if the Liberal Democrats hadn't entered into the Coalition […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter. What are we to make of the constant attacks on the Conservative Party from our Coalition "partners"? I noted some of them yesterday. Tory MP Priti Patel said Chris Huhne's latest attacks were "misjudged", "insulting" and "disparaging". More worrying for Mr Huhne will be criticism from Shirley Williams. The […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter There is no point in complaining about Vince Cable's annual left-leaning speech to the Liberal Democrat conference – the crude jokes about bankers, the re-plugging of his beloved mansions tax, the way in which support for deficit reduction is wrapped up in the garnish of social democracy, with Bevin, […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter Now I know that the party conference season has begun, and that one must therefore be even more suspicious of being spun than usual, but two stories in this morning's papers are a reminder that the great tax debate is very live. Vince Cable has given an interview to […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter The former Chief Secretary to the Treasury gets in early before the coming Liberal Democrat conference, writing in the Sun this morning under the headline "We must tackle our economy and mend our broken society." The piece has three main messages as his party prepares to gather in Birmingham. […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter The Times claims this morning that David Cameron is gearing up for a fight with Nick Clegg over the European Court of Human Rights – "Britain would be able to ignore human rights rulings from Europe if MPs voted to override them, under proposals submitted to Downing Street. The […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter I'm usually sceptical about reports into matters commissioned by lobby groups with an interest, but today's Daily Mail report about a Daycare Trust and Save the Children report is worth reading: "One in four working parents has been plunged into debt due to the crippling cost of childcare, a […]