Articles tagged Diary:
ConservativeHome Diary: The Nadine Vendetta, A 'Ladyshambles & Why Joe Bloggs Must Fear the CPS
- 11 Apr 2014
It’s a pity that the Telegraph has seemingly renewed its vendetta against Nadine Dorries. It had commissioned columnist Cristina Odone to interview Nadine Dorries about her debut novel THE FOUR STREETS. Odone duly read the book and could hardly contain her enthusiasm for it, t...
ConservativeHome Diary: The Vince Enigma, Two Funerals & Two Debates
- 4 Apr 2014
I remember interviewing Vince Cable for Total Politics before the last election. I spent ninety minutes with him trying to elicit some sort of interesting line from him. I found him to be the coldest, most unemotional politician I had ever interviewed. We didn’t ‘click’ at all...
New Statesman Diary: Two Funerals & an Invitation to Ed
- 3 Apr 2014
It was a privilege to attend Tony Benn’s funeral. Bearing in mind there were 750 people inside St Margaret’s, Westminster, it was still an intensely personal and intimate event. I was one of the first to arrive and decided to sit on my own, in the back row, off to the right-ha...
ConservativeHome Diary: Just Before I Interrupted Myself...
- 28 Mar 2014
As I was saying… It’s that time of year when every Minister of State, and quite a few Parliamentary Under Secretaries, start pushing themselves forward with a single aim of getting two people to notice them: the Prime Minister and the Chief Whip. Why? Because they know that i...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 36: Good Year? Bad Year?
- 20 Dec 2013
I hate the Daily Mirror. Always have. Always will. It employs people who laughingly call themselves journalists but effectively just contribute to a Labour propaganda sheet. And their editor is no better. I hadn’t heard of him until Wednesday evening. His name is Lloyd Embley....
ConservativeHome Diary Week 35: Snogging Jacqui Smith & Other Stories
- 13 Dec 2013
Can anyone explain what our revered Deputy Prime Minister was doing at the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service on Tuesday? No, me neither. I thought his job was, er, to deputise and run the country in the Prime Minister’s absence. He said he had never met Nelson Mandela so quite w...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 34: Why Can't We See the Chinese For What They Are?
- 6 Dec 2013
Am I alone in feeling queasy at the way David Cameron has been crawling to the Chinese this week in a craven attempt to gain their favour? “We will be the main advocate of China in the West,” he announced on Monday. Pass the sick bag. I completely accept we have to do business...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 33: Has Jacqui Smith Looked in the Mirror Lately?
- 29 Nov 2013
I never underestimate the political canniness of Alex Salmond, but his 670 page white paper on Scottish independence was a right old dog’s breakfast. Instead of answering 600 odd questions it provoked yet more of them. I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised but the SNP clearly wa...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 32: What Would Ed Say if It Were a Tory Coke Snorting, Rent-Boy Addicted Religious Banker?
- 22 Nov 2013
I’m sure that like most of you I am left gobsmacked by the antics of former Co-Op bank chairman Paul Flowers – the so-called ‘Crystal Methodist’ preacher. In many ways we should be shocked by his drug-taking, but perhaps we’re not as shocked as we should be. The Sun is terribl...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 31: What the PM Should Do in Sri Lanka
- 15 Nov 2013
The Times (£) trumpets that Croydon South has rejected three of David Cameron’s favoured candidates (they all work for him in Number Ten) during their selection contest. It is apparently a “snub” to the Prime Minister. Bollocks. What is far more likely is that the three of the...