Conway expulsion another sorry saga of MPs and money

THERE is one big lesson to be learned from the Derek Conway affair, but I'm afraid MPs will not embrace it. And that is that they cannot continue to rake in public money and think ther are above the law. We pay MPs well, if not exactly handsomely....

Hain's departure long overdue

PETER HAIN'S gone "to clear his name." If he and the Labour Party had known the first thing about the law, they would have realised that all the evidence pointed to there being a prima facia case against him to answer. He should have gone before Christmas....

EU treaty: I'll vote `no' just for the hell of it

  NON Labour voters who support the European Union and British membership could be facing a dilemma if MPs back the Tories and vote for a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon, aka the European Consitutuion.   Although they want to see Britain...

It's time to end primogeniture

IF the Government wants to modernise the way we are governed, it should start by introducing a written constitution. It's nonsense that Gordon Brown wants to sign us up to the European constiution - oh dear, there I go again, sorry the Treaty of...

Austerity Brown shames the Blairs

PRAISE where praise is due. Gordon Brown has distanced himself from the moneybags Blairs and has decided to give up the grace-and-favour pension worth more than £64,000 which is paid to former Prime Ministers. In doing so, he hopes to shame greedy backbench...

Clegg announces NHS change - pity Labour thought of it first

WE'VE had the first real pronouncement from the new Liberal Democrat leader. Broadly on the right of the party, he's known as an Orange Book Lib Dem, who believes in less centralised state intervention and in lower, but fairer, taxation. Although his...

The law's the law, Peter

THERE'S something deeply unedifying about Peter Hain's refusal to resign over the allegations that he failed to declare more than £100,000 of donations to his Labour deputy leadership campaign. And yes, before you all remind me, I did think - initially...

Expanding for the future and the common good

ACCORDING to the paper to be presented to Ipswich borough council on Wednesday, there are only 3,390 properties in council tax zone Band D - that's just 7.1% of housing in the town. Properties in lower Bands A B and C total a whopping 88.1%. From...

We need nuclear and we need incinerators

AS the Government unveils a new generation of nuclear power stations, the case for their construction is a no-brainer. If we are not to become at the mercy of the political whims of overesas government - especially over the import and pricing of natural...

A pressing evening in Downing Street

THE Prime Minister threw the doors of Downing Street open to the regional media last night and unlike previous receptions hosted by Bottler Brown when he was Chancellor, he worked the room, pressed the flesh and seemed genuinely interested when...

ITN so wrong about Hillary

HILLARY Clinton has confounded the pundits, overcome opinion polls, and narrowly won the New Hampshuire primary. The Los Angles Times describes her victory over Barack Obama as "stunning." Just so, and wasn't I right on Friday to warn it was too early...

Saving the Liberal Democrats

CLEGG the unbeliever has been leader of the Liberal Democrats for a few short weeks, but already he's embarking on a Call Me Dave type of reorganisation of the party machine. During the next five months, there'll be a root and branch review of the party's...

Hillary's defeat not fatal - yet

ANYONE who writes off Hillary Clinton as a result of her third place in yesterday's Iowa caucus would be foolhardy. Her big problem is her husband, who humiliated Hilary in the White House. Bill Clinton should have been impeached for the lies he told and...