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Month: June 2009

Is the battle now down to Young vs Beckett?

Is the battle now down to Young vs Beckett?

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Where’s the best value in the Speaker betting? With less than four days to go before the summer’s big political betting event is resolved – the battle for the Speakership of the house of commons – I’m becoming increasingly convinced that this is now a contest between Sir George Young and Margaret Beckett. I had a good session this afternoon with a Labour MP who has been taking a close interest in the contest and his observations closely coincided what…

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Will it be payday for Goodwin pension punters?

Will it be payday for Goodwin pension punters?

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PB February 27 2009 Is Fred’s offer good for Gord as well? There’s a story running on BBC news that could be great news for those who bet that the £700,000 a year pension for ex-RBS boss Fred Goodwin would be reduced. It would also be good news for the ministers who had made a big thing about the scale of the payment to the man who had been at the helm of the troubled bank during a critical period….

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Welcome to the parliamentary expenses “Big Bang”

Welcome to the parliamentary expenses “Big Bang”

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But has too much been blacked out? This morning at 6am copies of all the expense claims from all members of the house went online – for all to see. The website is here. This is the data that has been promised for so long and which has already cost a number of political careers – the latest one being Kitty Ussher, the treasury minister, overnight. MPs have had the opportunity to blank out personal details that they did not…

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How many more will follow Kitty?

How many more will follow Kitty?

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Daily Telegraph Another minister bites the dust Kitty Ussher, the Burnley MP who only got her latest ministerial job last week, has quit her Treasury post following more revelations. She’s also announced that she won’t be standing again at the general election. She might be the first of many in the next few days. Tomorrow at 6am sees the official publication of all redacted receipts for all MPs. This story is going to go on. UPDATE: Paul Waugh in the…

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The moment Martin criticised party leaders on expenses

The moment Martin criticised party leaders on expenses

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Do these pics support the Linford thesis? HatTip to Daniel Finkelstein on the Times Comment Central blog for spotting the very different reactions of Cameron and Brown to Michael Martin when he was criticising the party leaders over the expenses issue. Just look at the cutaway shots taken less than a second apart. Brown continues reading some papers while Cameron looks quite disturbed. I just wonder whether this is further evidence of the thesis, discussed here on Monday, by the…

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Is Labour losing the tax and spend argument?

Is Labour losing the tax and spend argument?

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PoliticsHome Does the party need to refine its approach? With policies on tax and spend dominating PMQs and almost the whole political debate at the moment there’s a new poll out from PoliticsHome that could cause Labour strategists to re-think their approach. As can be seen in the chart the overall shares on who is “most honest” were CON 37: LD 28: LAB 16: NONE 28 But when this is broken down those polled describing themselves as non-aligned split: CON…

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Will glowing tributes be the order of the day?

Will glowing tributes be the order of the day?

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But what will Nick Clegg say? It’s going to be a strange PMQs with, I guess, almost every MP who is called paying their tribute to Michael Martin for whom this will be the final session before he steps down on Sunday. The commons can be a sentimental place on these occasions and that’s what we will see today. I just wonder how Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg, is going to handle it? For it was he, it will be…

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Was this the moment that the Commons changed for good?

Was this the moment that the Commons changed for good?

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Will Martin’s legacy be less government control? Today is Michael Martin’s final PMQs as Speaker and on Sunday he will finally step down from the position that he’s held for nearly a decade. His successor will be elected the following day. When Martin looks back over his final tumultuous seven months I wonder whether it was the above moment, captured in the YouTube clip above, that he will most regret. For it was the tone and manner of the way…

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