The IDS Fallout: Power Is Ebbing Away From Cameron & Osborne
- 20 Mar 2016
“What an utter copper-bottomed shit”. Those were the words that greeted me when I took a call from a Tory MP a couple of minutes after Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation was announced on Friday night. My caller fulminated about the self-indulgence of a man who dared to ruin the C...
ConHome Diary: Why Ken Clarke's Publisher Deserves a P45
- 18 Mar 2016
Apparently my LBC colleague Steve Allen has been broadcasting his wonderment at the fact that I have snapped up Ken Clarke’s memoirs for the eye watering sum of £430,000. Except I haven’t. And I wouldn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to publish Ken Clarke and I am sure he will...
ConHome Diary: Zac Rediscovers His Mojo, The Naivety of Dan Jarvis & Could Suzanne Evans Rejoin the Tories?
- 11 Mar 2016
The London mayoral campaign continues apace, but I feel something has changed over the last few weeks. All the polls have shown Sadiq Khan quite a way ahead of Zac Goldsmith, although the latest one in the Standard shows the gap narrowing. It seems to me this campaign is mirro...
The NHS Can Never Meet All the Demands Made of It & It's Time We Accepted That
- 10 Mar 2016
The NHS debate will never move on until we accept that in its current form the NHS will never meet all the demands made on it. It’s a 1940s system struggling to cope with 21st century medical advances. Jeremy Corbyn continues to believe that all NHS treatments must be free at...
Biteback to Publish the Next 4 Volumes of Alastair Campbell's Diaries
- 7 Mar 2016
Iain Dale, MD of Biteback Publishing, has acquired world rights to four new volumes of diaries from Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former chief press secretary and director of communications and strategy, and the author of several books, including the number one Sunday Times...
ConHome Diary: Labour Shows Again That It Has Given Up on Winning Elections
- 4 Mar 2016
Ben Gummer is a very good MP according to many friends of mine. I rather admired him for standing in a seat which is never going to be ‘safe’. He won Ipswich in 2010 by a majority of just over two thousand. Most predicted he would lose the seat to Labour in 2015, but he confou...
Why Religion Needs to Adapt to a Changing Society
- 27 Feb 2016
Even when I was a campanologist (no sniggering at the back), ringing the bells at our village church, I didn’t believe in God. Ok, I was only a teenager, and I was only ringing the bells each Sunday as the lesser of two evils. It was that or being a choirboy. You’ll understand...
ConHome Diary: How Does Boris Get Away With It & Is Dave More Wilson Than Macmillan?
- 26 Feb 2016
Listening to the Prime Minister last Friday night, when he announced his EU deal, there’s no doubt that he talked a good game. He did it again on Marr and he did it again in the Commons on Monday. Whatever you think of the content of what he said, he’s at his best when his bac...
ConHome Diary: The LibDems Who Are Voting Out & The Exit of Tim Montgomerie
- 19 Feb 2016
On Newsnight Evan Davis called Tim Montgomerie “the most well-known Tory who isn’t an MP”. So his resignation as a Tory Party member is news, no matter what some might say. The editor of this site has described it as akin to ending a marriage. What Tim’s critics need to unders...
ConHome Diary: Zac Needs To Get Pumped Up
- 12 Feb 2016
The EU Referendum campaign continues albeit with the Prime Minister still rigging things in his favour. He still feels free to opine on the issue and yet bans any minister who takes a different view from speaking. His ridiculously pathetic attempt to scare us into believing th...
Why the PM Is Pushing Me Towards the Brexit
- 5 Feb 2016
Like many of you, I guess, I haven’t yet decided on which way to vote in the EU Referendum. David Camerson’s so-called deal isn’t helping me make up my mind. Frankly, if you go into a renegotiation asking for very little, you can expect to receive even less. The Prime Ministe...
VIDEO: World Cancer Day: How Cancer Has Affected Me
- 4 Feb 2016
World Cancer Day: Iain Dale’s Story Today is World Cancer Day and LBC is proudly supporting Cancer Research UK Watch Iain share his story and donate now to show your support #ADayToUnite Posted by LBC on Thursday, 4 February 2016 This is a video to mark World Canc...
WATCH: My Response to David Cameron's "Renegotiation" (Or Hoodwinking the British People)
- 2 Feb 2016
My response to David Cameron’s EU “renegotiation”.
A Visit to the Brilliant Ebbsfleet Academy & The Difference a Good Head Teacher Can Make
- 28 Jan 2016
When I was a parliamentary candidate I used to enjoy visiting local schools. I always learned something. Of course academies that time were a mere glint in Andrew Adonis’s eye. On Wednesday I visited an academy for the first time. It came about following an invitation from on...
Cecil Parkinson 1931-2016: An Obituary & Personal Memories
- 25 Jan 2016
Iain pays tribute to one of his political mentors Embed from Getty Images Cecil Parkinson, who died today at the age of 84, belonged, albeit fleetingly, to that unfortunate group of politicians known as ex future Prime Ministers. At the peak of his political powers in mid ...
ConHome Diary: Seumas' Power Grab, Crispin's Poppers & Margaret's Ostrich
- 22 Jan 2016
The appointment of Seamus Milne as Jeremy Corbyn’s Director of Strategy raised many eyebrows at the time. A Labour friend of mine who knows about these things told me: “Within a few months he’ll have complete control, you just watch the purge of anyone who dares to confront hi...
ConHome Diary: Who Will Lead the LEAVE Campaign?
- 15 Jan 2016
On Wednesday afternoon I hosted the first of Alex Salmond’s weekly phone-ins on my LBC Drivetime show. Whenever you do something new on the radio there’s always a slight nervousness that it might not work and go terribly wrong. Let’s put it this way, some politicians are more ...
WATCH: The Inaugural Alex Salmond Phone-in on LBC
- 13 Jan 2016
This is the full length video of the inaugural Alex Salmond phone-in which I hosted today on LBC. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Good reaction on Twitter too.
ConHome Diary: Winston McKenzie Enters the Big Brother House
- 8 Jan 2016
So serial party defector Winston McKenzie has joined the Big Brother house. What could possibly go wrong? He’s been a member of every political party apart from Labour. In the autumn he left UKIP to join the poor old English Democrats. What on earth did they do to deserve that...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 43: Interviewing Katie Hopkins
- 8 Jan 2016
Any words are superfluous. Judge for yourself.