The return of the noteless Cameron won a warm but hardly electric reception.
According to Tim Bale's exhaustive history of the post-Thatcher Conservative Party, just 300 faithful journeyed to the 2003 spring conference. Although Iain Duncan Smith had been the choice of the grass roots to replace William Hague, two years on, his leadership was unravelling, progress in the polls was negligible and there was little appetite for early-spring tub-thumping.
It feels like a different party now, if not in its underlying wish ... read more
The shadow chancellor has no plan for growth
From the Conservative conference
There was a disturbing void in George Osborne's speech today. His address to the conference lacked a single positive proposal to stimulate economic growth. The announcement of a one-year public-sector pay freeze, a rise in the retirement age to 66 and cuts to baby bonds and tax credits left us in no doubt that the Tories will reduce the deficit. But Osborne forgot what Gordon Brown correctly ... read more
Senior Tory declares: "I think we're really going to win"
From the Conservative conference
The gaffe-prone Andrew Lansley has done it again. At the start of his speech this afternoon, the shadow health secretary declared:
I'm looking forward to 2010. We've got the team, we've got the captain . . . I think we're really going to win this time. But you know, I'm not just thinking about the World Cup, I'm thinking about the general election.
Lansley's casual triumphalism is the antithesis ... read more
An encounter with the Jurassic wing of the Conservative Party
From the Conservative conference
Away from the pastel colours and soft furnishings of the conference hall, a packed fringe meeting held by the Thatcherite Bruges Group felt like a foreign land. Here, Enoch Powell was right, Section 28 should be restored, and Britain is no longer a self-governing power. With more than 600 people in attendance, the largest meeting I've seen all conference season, the Tory right showed its muscle.
The ostensible ... read more
The division was once between Europhiles and Eurosceptics; now it is between Eurosceptics and Europhobes
From the Conservative conference
"To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle," wrote George Orwell. And so it has been with the Conservatives and Europe. By reporting the story as another predictable Tory split on Europe, most of the media have missed the extraordinary historical shift that has taken place under David Cameron. Past Conservative divisions over the European Union pitched Europhiles against Eurosceptics; this one ... read more
@mcquade Sorry, think you've missed the point.... So who decides what is frivolous or stupid when an organisation receives an FOI request? You?, Me? or the Polititian trying to hide...
From BigC, 15 February 09:19
"which has no relevance in modern society" Thats been the same argument for so many thousands of years. The difference with Britain post Labour is the state is now systematically against...
From Indu Pendent, 15 February 09:14
Can the UK achieve it’s commitment to carbon reduction targets by 2020?
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