A federal UK is the answer

SO the English are starting to rebel against all the gross ingratitude of the Scots, who have been given their own Parliament, take millions of pounds out of English taxpayers, and have their MPs at Westminster voting on legislation affecting England...

Victory for Priti in Witham

SURPRISED but highly delighted - that's today's verdict by Tory insiders at the success of Priti Patel in defeating three men for the right to fight the safe Conservative seat of Witham. The area may be well up county from Mondeo Man's...

The Witham test for the `A' list

TONIGHT'S the night in Witham when David Cameron's much vaunted `A' list will be put to the test. Three `A' listers - Priti Patel, Charlie Elphicke and MP James Brokenshire - are up agsint popular Euro MP Geoffrey Van Orden, whose disadvantage is his...

Queen's Speech is a Vote for John Reid for PM

7.00 Arrive Ipswich station in planty of time for the 7.08 departure. Naturally, it's running late. Thank goodness, Her Majesty does not rely on One Railway and Network Rail to get her to the Commons on time. 8.30 Pull into Liverpool Street, remarkably...

Another year, another Queen's speech

15:45 and it's absolutely chucking it down outside the office. The forecast is none too bright for tomorrow, the Big Day, the State Opening of Parliament when Her Majesty, in all her glory, rides by horsedrawn carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster...

Four left standing in Witham

SO there we are -  Witham Tories have confounded Ali Miraj and the doom merchants of the Labour Party and put an Asian woman, the highly intelligent Priti Patel, one time media adviser to William Hague, on their final shortlist of four. Miraj last...

Lib Dems prepare for snap election

THE Liberal Democrats are gripped by General Election fever. They think Gordon Brown will cut and run if he becomes Prime Minister, seeking his own mandate after succeeding Tony Blair. Party campaign chairman Ed Davey is telling his troops to turn their...

Goldsmith should step aside

NOW that Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has recused himself from any involvement in the cash-for-ermine investigations, it's time for the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith to follow suit. Sir Ian rightly says his close working relationship with the Prime...

Twits

MY good friend Tory MP Mike Penning has called Colchester MP Bob Russell a twit. But let's face it, there are plenty of twits in the Commons, and they're not just confined to the Liberal Democrat benches. (One day, I'll tell the story of why one...

Wily Witham outfoxes the pack

WITHAM Conservatives are looking for an MP - they have to because it's a new a new seat in Mid Essex with bizarre boundaries either side of the A12 and the East Anglia main railway line and taking in territory from the current constituencies...

The Speaker makes a pig's ear of Questiontime

IT was not a good day for Speaker Michael Martin. For the first time in memory. he stopped an opposition leader from asking the Prime Minister a question, judging it to be about the Labour Party and not the duties of Mr Blair. In the cut and thrust of...