My Rwanda Diary
- 29 Jul 2007
DAY ONE I've just finished packing for my trip to Rwanda. We leave at 8pm tonight from Heathrow for an overnight flight to Nairobi and then an onward flight to Kigali. I'm going to Rwanda to make three films for 18 Doughty Street - one on the genocide, one on life in Rwa...
EDP Column: The Plight of a Chief of Staff
- 29 Jul 2007
Dereham’s Andy Marshall can be justifiably proud of his terrific Open performance last weekend. He carried the dreams of all of us hacking golfers with him. Having made the cut on Friday he scored a memorable four under par on Saturday, a round he will surely treasure for the ...
EDP Column: My Rwandan Diary
- 27 Jul 2007
Over the last seven days I have had the experience of a lifetime. I’ve been in Rwanda making three films about the Rwandan genocide, life in Rwanda today and the 44 Conservative MPs and activists who have been spending two weeks on VSO backed social action projects. ...
Telegraph Column: Cameron Should Go to Rwanda
- 19 Jul 2007
Sometimes I wonder why I ever wanted to go into politics. Even as a parliamentary candidate, as part of the poor bloody infantry, everything you do is scrutinised through the cynical prism of a sceptical media. Every time you attend a community meeting or visit a school the cy...
EDP Diary: Up for an Award
- 18 Jul 2007
As you read this column, think of me as I spend a week in Rwanda along with forty assorted Tory MPs, candidates and volunteers. They have each forked out the best part of £1,000 to spend a fortnight on a VSO backed scheme to do good works in a country still ravaged by the afte...
The First 80 Pages of Alastair Campbell
- 14 Jul 2007
Having read the first 80 pages of Alastair Campbell's diaries I have two reactions. The first is that it's a brilliant read and I can't wait to read the rest of it on the plane to Rwanda on Thursday, but the second is that if it is an accurate reflection of the life of a newly...
Is the BBC Saying Sorry to Alastair Campbell
- 11 Jul 2007
I have just come back from doing an piece for 5 Live with Edwina Currie on Alastair Campbell's diaries. It was ostensibly to preview the 3 part BBC2 series which starts tonight. I had, in my naivety assumed that it was a three part documentary on Campbell and his reign of terr...
Telegraph Column: Will Ken Clarke Deliver?
- 6 Jul 2007
This week’s launch of Ken Clarke’s Democracy Task Force paper on parliamentary reform will go some way to dispelling the myth that Cameron’s Conservatives are policy-lite. As the rest of the policy groups prepare to announce their conclusions over the next seven weeks they wil...
Telegraph Column: Is Cameron Really Policy-Lite?
- 5 Jul 2007
After a fortnight of remorseless battering, Tory MPs at last have a spring in their step. Gordon Brown’s lacklustre performance at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday proved to them that the new Prime Minister is far from infallible. The look on the faces of Labour MPs sai...
Telegraph Column: The Clunking Fist Takes Aim
- 28 Jun 2007
Having spent the early part of the week making the LibDems chase their tails, Gordon Brown’s clunking fist was yesterday aimed squarely at the Tories. Last week David Cameron was in two minds about carrying out a wide ranging reshuffle. His instinct is not to do so, bu...
The Strange Defection of Quentin Davies
- 26 Jun 2007
I have just spent an hour or two at the House of Commons. A few pointers on Quentin Davies... Davies was still voting with the Party last night at 5.48pm last night AGAINST Gordon Brown's Finance Bill. Rather strange behaviour for a man who has just written a letter indicat...
EDP Diary: Nominated for an Award!
- 22 Jun 2007
Some time ago a journalist friend of mine, who shall remain nameless for the purpose of this blog, asked me if her 15 year old son could come and do a week's work experience with me in July. I like to be helpful so I said yes and thought no more of it. Yesterday I got a phone ...
Telegraph Column: How Should Cameron Respond to Brown's Reshuffle?
- 21 Jun 2007
By this time next week Gordon Brown will have restructured Whitehall and formed his first Cabinet. David Cameron will then rejig his own team once he knows who his opponents are. Brown’s reshuffle is likely to be radical, with almost half the existing Blair cabinet exp...
You Try to do a Good Deed...
- 19 Jun 2007
Some time ago a journalist friend of mine, who shall remain nameless for the purpose of this blog, asked me if her 15 year old son could come and do a week's work experience with me in July. I like to be helpful so I said yes and thought no more of it. Yesterday I got a phone ...
Best Comeback Line Ever
- 18 Jun 2007
If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman. He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial. The lawyer was trying to undermine the policeman's credibility.... Q: "Officer -- did you see my client flee...
My Evening in Cambridge
- 15 Jun 2007
My evening with Cambridge University Conservatives was certainly not without incident. I was speaking at their termly black tie dinner. Apparently the attendance was the highest for several years. I last spoke there in 2004 when not a single woman was present. This evening abo...
Nominated for Political Commentator of the Year
- 13 Jun 2007
I have been nominated for an award, believe it or not. Each year MPs and Peers vote in the HOUSE MAGAZINE/SKY NEWS PARLIAMENTARY AWARDS. I've been nominated in the Political Commentator of the Year award. Apparently MPs nominate people and they are then shortlisted by the Hous...
Lunch With Gordon Brown ... Or Was It?
- 12 Jun 2007
I wasn't told who the lunch would be with. I was just to be at the restaurant at a certain time. A bit strange I thought, but curiosity got the better of me. A few minutes after I arrived a burly looking man approached the table and said, 'he's on his way', but before I could ...
David Mellor Should Depart the Stage
- 11 Jun 2007
Oh dear. At about five to twelve this morning Julian Worricker said to me on 5 Live: "That's what we like about you Iain, you don't sit on the fence". Little did he realise what was coming next. After the midday news on 5 Live they had David Mellor on to talk about the grammar...
EDP Diary: The Dumbing Down of TV News
- 8 Jun 2007
There is a lot of talk about how TV has dumbed down in recent years. I suppose the rise o reality TV is the perfect exemplification of this trend. This week the Sky News presenter Kay Burley broke off a serious interview on prison reform to go live to California to cover the e...