It's time for clarity on human rights. There is too much political testosterone causing subpoena envy
- 18 Jul 2014
The Conservative Party is going to get itself in a terrible mess over the Human Rights Act. As David Cameron will soon discover, changing the lawyer is not going to solve the problem. Now is the time for clarity without looking through the prism of party advantage. Firstly, a ...
The PM's que guapo moment.
- 16 Jul 2014
This was a very strange and totally unpredictable reshuffle. It is neither a disaster nor a triumph. Just a little odd. I was pondering yesterday whether the appointment of Hammond to the Foreign Office was an act of insanity, vandalism or just an elaborate and inexplicable jo...
Number 10 needs to get a grip on the Dickens dossier disappearance before this turns into a political scandal
- 5 Jul 2014
I have been wracking my brains to recall what we knew and what we suspected about Parliamentarians being involved in paedophilia during my time in the Commons as an MP and a journalist between 1983 and 2002. The terrible realisation is that the answer is precious little. Desp...
Juncker is a lame duck president before he has even swum onto the pond
- 28 Jun 2014
A few days ago John Major, with characteristic good sense, gave us a clue what would happen when Juncker ascends into Euro heaven. A sense of guilt would prevail that Britain had been hard done by and that amends need to be made. This prediction was borne out by Merkel’s comme...
Macmillan and Napoleon III were quite good news. Such strange Cummings and goings
- 16 Jun 2014
“My biggest mistake”, said Norman Tebbit about Margaret Thatcher, his voice aching with irony, “was leaving her to the care of her friends”. Cabinet ministers take note. The moment your SPAD goes on a frolic of their own in madcap briefings to ‘assist’ their charges by denounc...
Gove has taught an old dogma new tricks
- 8 Jun 2014
Well, I wasn’t all that far out in my predictions of what would happen in the May versus Gove skirmish. My only surprise was that Fiona Cunningham got the chop. Of course she deserved it, but I thought that a deal might have been done. But with a Gove apology May would have be...
Secret trials are an aberration of British justice. Trust the judges and not the executive
- 6 Jun 2014
One of the cornerstones of British justice is that it is transparent. In other words secret trials are an abhorrence. As there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth by the press about a terrorist trial which may be heard in secret it might be helpful to set out the law wh...
The Darling SPADS of May
- 5 Jun 2014
Whoever leaked a private letter from Theresa May to Michael Gove really should be hung out to dry. But I doubt whether they will. I find it hard to believe that someone as politically sure footed and ambitious as May would have signed off such a politically damaging stunt. And...
The Cameroons bedecked in hunting reds have a sporting chance of chasing the Farage fox out of the Westminster hen house.
- 3 Jun 2014
I am cautiously optimistic about the Newark election. It would take a miracle for the Tories to maintain their sixteen thousand majority for all the obvious reasons in particular the sleazy cloud that hangs over the ghastly Patrick Mercer. Roger Helmer has been an MEP for the ...
Cable has transformed from Saint to sinner. He has been Oakshott in the foot.
- 28 May 2014
I won’t have a word said about Lord Oakshott, I want the whole grisly, rat infested library. It has been an open secret that every piece of anti Clegg tittle tattle and every poisonous off the record briefing has resulted in trail of gastropodian slime leading to the good lord...