Brown’s zero percent answer – now with added video
As an addendum to Fraser’s detailed post, here’s footage of Brown’s “0 percent” moment for CoffeeHousers who missed it first time ’round: Hat-tip: ConservativeHome
Peter Hoskin
Wednesday
PMQs live blog | 1 July 2009
Stay tuned for live coverage of PMQs from 1200. 1202: And they’re off. Brown starts with by welcoming the “new recogition” that British troops killed in combat will receive. The Queen will make a statement on this later. 1204: First question on swine flu. Brown confirms that there are now over 6,000 confirmed cases. He
To review or not to review?
So will we see a spending review before the next election or not? Peter Mandelson said that we wouldn’t, but there are rumblings that his claim wasn’t Treasury-sanctioned and that he subsequently called Alistair Darling to apologise for making it. And now today’s papers contain two different strands about Darling’s own intentions. In the Independent,
Tuesday
The state we’re in
Just to recommend the FT’s analysis of the size of the British state to CoffeeHousers. Click through their slides, and you’ll get plenty of digestable facts and graphs about public spending, the size of the public sector and, ahem, the MoD’s 21 concrete mixers. Who knew, for instance, that of the 30 children in an
Monday
John Bercow is the Speaker-Elect of the House of Commons
John Bercow: 322 votes Sir George Young: 271 votes UPDATE: Bercow has just given his acceptance speech. Nothing too surprising: plenty of “heartfelt thanks” and references to reform. His tributes to the other candidates sounded unintentionally patronising (imagine this said very sloooowwly: “Each had a contribution to make … and I can honestly say that
Your choice for the Speakership
Ok, voting has now officially closed on the Coffee House Speaker poll. Turns out that CoffeeHousers would like to see Ann Widdecombe win the Speakership – and by quite some distance. Here are the top three positions: Ann Widdecombe — 44.2 percent Sir George Young — 22.1 percent Sir Alan Haselhurst — 12.8 percent Meanwhile,
Young stakes his claim
I’m not in the mood for making predictions, but it’s worth noting some of the late momentum that’s gathering behind Sir George Young, probably the Tories’ first choice for the Speakership. The PoliticsHome Index of Westminster insiders has paid him the rather backhanded compliment of being the “least unbearable candidate”; the betting markets have swung
Who would you choose as Speaker?
There’s plenty in today’s papers about the election of the new Speaker – much of it unedifying, if unsurprising. Despite all the talk about electing the “best person for the job”, it sounds as though there’s a serious, party political tug-of-war going on, with Margaret Beckett the most likely to emerge as victor. In which
Friday
Brown and McBride: still partners in crime
So it’s as we suspected: Gordon Brown hasn’t ditched “McBride” after all. Here’s a great insight from the Telegraph’s Alex Singleton: “Before Mr Brown appeared on the Andrew Marr Show on May 31, he discussed his lines with Mr McBride by text message. This surely puts him at the heart of Gordon Brown’s inner circle.
The “Politicians Against Redaction” movement is born<br />
Predictably, a skirmish seems to have broken out between Labour and the Conservatives over redaction. Here are two entries from Paul Waugh’s Twitter feed which caught my eye while I was wandering around Westminster just now: “David Cameron to outflank Brown by publishing Tory exes unredacted, unilaterally on line.” Followed swiftly by: “Brown has just
Why Fred Goodwin delayed his pension concession
Now that Fred Goodwin’s poised to pay back a chunk of his pension, I’d recommend that CoffeeHousers read Jane Croft and Jean Eaglesham’s blow-by-blow account of the saga in today’s FT. Crucially, it answers the question of why Goodwin has waited until now to make the decision: “His decision finally to do so came several
The point of no return
Look at pretty much any newsapaper front cover this morning, and you’ll see the word “blackout,” along with blocks of black ink meant to represent those censored expense claims. Flick through the pages inside, and the tone of the coverage is – rightly – vituperative, with the consensus being that yesterday’s expenses release is little
Thursday
Would Labour cut by 10 percent (again)?
One important story which has been rather obscured by all the expenses revalations today is Andy Burnham’s claim that the health Budget would never be cut under a Labour government. It’s a position that he stated last week, but quickly retracted after realising that it impled, yep, 10 percent cuts for other departments. Anyway, he’s
Darling’s measured approach will drive Brown mad
I’ve just got around to reading Alistair Darling’s Mansion House speech from last night, and I’d recommend that CoffeeHousers flick through it too. It’s a strange mix which takes some dechipering. At first glance, there’s plenty of talk about “investment”; the doubling, tripling and quadrupling of budgets; and how “cutting spending across the board would
Breaking: Fred Goodwin to make a concession on his pension
So says Sky’s Jeff Randall. UPDATE: Sky report that Goodwin is “considering” handing back around half of his pension.
An obscure form of transparency
And so here it is: the list of Members’ allowances for 2004-08, uploaded – after months of delay and prevarication – onto the Parliament website earlier this morning. You can hunt down any MP from those years – apart from some, like Blair and Boris, who have left the House – and download pdf copies
Wednesday
Another one bites the dust
Just stepped off the Tube to read that Kitty Ussher – the Treasury minister – has resigned from the Government over her expenses. The Telegraph writes that “further disclosures” about her claims are “due to be published” by them – so I imagine that could have been the direct cause. All in all, a reminder
When a picture speaks a thousand words
Daniel Finkelstein has picked up on the most striking aspect of Michael Martin’s valedictory statement earlier: the cutaways to Brown and Cameron when the ex-Speaker laments their failure to “show leadership” over expenses last year. Fairly or unfairly, it seems to speak volumes about their characters. You can see it 0:19 into this video on
PMQs live blog | 17 June 2009
Live coverage of PMQs from 1200. 1202: Brown kicks off by marking this as the Speaker’s final PMQs. We’ll have a “valedictory” session for the Speaker after PMQs. 1203: Oh dear. Labour’s Alan Whitehead asks what would happen with climate change commitments if budgets were cut by “say, 10 percent”. Embarrassing. I think we can
Cameron’s failure to communicate?
Fascinating stuff. ConHome’s Tim Montgomerie has got his hands on a letter sent on House of Commons writing paper to all Tory MPs, by – allegedly – a group of Conservative parliamentarians. Tim has uploaded a pdf of the entire thing but, as he says, this is the key section: “We all know that the
