LibDems Look Into the Abyss Over £2.4 Million Donation
- 28 Nov 2008
Michael Brown, the man who gave the LibDems £2.4 million, has been convicted of fraud, following an early conviction of perjury. The Electoral Commission has said it will now reopen its investigation as to whether the donation was permissible in the first place. If it finds th...
I Fancied Esther Rantzen
- 27 Nov 2008
I seem to have created a bit of a stir with my latest Twitter/Facebook status update. For those who missed it, this is it... Iain is wondering if it is wrong to admit that as an eleven year old, he fancied Esther Rantzen Now, perhaps it deserves a little - but not too mu...
Neatly Avoiding the 45 Tax Bear Trap
- 26 Nov 2008
Sunder Katwala on the Fabian Society's Next Left blog is trying to stir up a bit of trouble over the 45p tax issue. When it was announced I wrote a post saying that the announcement of a new higher rate signalled the end of New Labour. In the comments we had this exchange... ...
Perhaps It's Time to Legalise Prostitution
- 20 Nov 2008
Over the last ten years, the nature of prostitution in this country has changed, with a growing number of the women involved in it being trafficked into this country for the specific purpose of pimping them out for sex. That's not to say it wasn't an ugly business before - it ...
Message to Yasmin: Demonising Families Is Not the Answer
- 17 Nov 2008
This lunchtime I had the anguish pleasure of listening to Yasmin Alibhai-Brown tell Jeremy Vine that in the field of child protection, it is families who are the problem rather than the solution. Even for Yasmin, that was a corker. In her opinion families just can't be trusted...
Lynne Feathertone is Right: Heads Must Roll Over Baby P
- 16 Nov 2008
Earlier this morning on Sky News, LibDem MP Lynne Featherstone called for heads to roll in the Baby P investigation. Specifically, she said that senior officials in the Children's Services department of Haringey Council should be sacked. She went on to put a lot of blame on th...
When Fiction Poses as Journalism
- 15 Nov 2008
Isabelle Oakeshott has a STORY in the Sunday Times tomorrow which seeks to pour yet more petrol on the GET GEORGE OSBORNE fire. But it is so preposterous you almost have to laugh if this is the best she can come up with. She asserts that Tory activists want rid of George Osbor...
Book Review: FA Confidential by David Davies
- 14 Nov 2008
David Davies was a BBC journalist who in 1994 jumped ship to work for the Football Association, first as spokesman, then as Executive Director. His memoirs are a fascinating account of his twelve years working at the top level of the FA, and they reveal a shambolic organisatio...
Baby P: It's Not Partisan to Ask Questions
- 14 Nov 2008
It seems that even to comment on the case of Baby P produces howls from the left of partisan politics. It is, of course, utter rubbish, and an attempt to deflect blame. If politics is about anything, it is about trying to prevent a repetition of the tragic events in Haringey. ...
MPs Bury Heads in Sand Over e-Democracy
- 12 Nov 2008
Yesterday afternoon I was part of a panel at the e-Democray conference. Pete Bazalgette (who created Big Brother), Labour MP Margaret Moran and LibDem MP Willie Rennie were the other participants. Normally, this sort of panel is quite tepid because there is a certain amount of...
In Conversation with Iain Duncan Smith
- 6 Nov 2008
This interview was conducted in late October 2008. A much edited version appeared in Total Politics magazine. You’ve got a better than average office here, haven’t you? This office was originally the ex-leaders' or ex-prime ministers' office, and I got it when I fi...
In Conversation with Hazel Blears
- 1 Nov 2008
This interview was conducted in October 2008 and appeared in Total Politics magazine. To her fans she’s a human dynamo, to her enemies she’s an irritating robot. Iain Dale talks to Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government about her li...
My Israel Diary
- 31 Oct 2008
DAY ONE I'm so tired I can hardly type, so we'll see how far I get with this. Today was spent travelling through northern Israel in a huge American nine seater 4x4. We set off from Tel Aviv just after 8am. The traffic congestion heading out of the city was New York-esque in...
Speaking at the Conservative 'Madrasa'
- 26 Oct 2008
On Saturday morning I spent a very enjoyable two hours doing some TV training with the 75 twenty somethings who attended the Conservative Madrassa Young Britons' Foundationconference in Berkshire. Several things struck me. There were a considerable number of female participant...
Excited About Israel
- 26 Oct 2008
This afternoon I fly to Israel for a five day visit. It's being arranged by Conservative Friends of Israel (www.cfoi.co.uk) who every year take several groups of MPs, candidates and journalists there to learn more about the country's culture, politics and economy. I am immense...
Killing Time
- 26 Oct 2008
I'm writing this somewhere over the Croatian coast, essentially because I have nothing better to do. I had forgotten how much I hate flying. There's always that sense of excited anticipation but the reality is usually a disappointment. A bit like a one night stand. I have a lo...
Twelve Inches Save My Life
- 12 Oct 2008
Last night at around 10pm, I was driving on the M25 heading for the Sky News studios to do their paper review. There was very little traffic and I was in the fast lane (natch) on a section with no lighting just past Clacket Lane Services. Listening to Stephen Nolan on 5 Live m...
Off The Fence: Why I'm Declaring for Obama
- 10 Oct 2008
In my Telegraph column today I look at why so many Conservatives have decided to support Barack Obama rather than John McCain, and I briefly explain my decision to come off the fence and join them. I never thought the day would come when I would not support a Republican can...
In Conversation with Ken Livingstone
- 10 Oct 2008
ID: Do you think you lost the mayoralty, or did Boris win it? Because there is a difference, isn’t there? KL: You had two candidates with high positives, committed supporters but with high negatives from people who loathed them. London was fractured. There was a huge swing ...
Gordon Brown is Frit!
- 6 Oct 2008
Well, if Nick Robinson is right, Gordon Brown has bottled it. All summer he has wanted to call an election but at various stages he has chickened out at the last minute. I was told recently that he wanted to call an election in early September but in the end he decided not to....