Monthly Archives: January 2008

Yesterday I was invited to lunch in the House of Commons by the Thames Valley Economic Partnership. It was the kind of invitation I usually decline, as I do not approve of lunches at the public expense for public servants. I went because the rules of the game to get approval and money for important [...]

<p>Yesterday Parliament debated the great European take away. The rebate of our contributions, so brilliantly negotiated by Margaret Thatcher against the odds in 1984, was thrown into the dustbin of history for extra spending on the enlarged Union. Our partners succeeded in overcoming the UK veto on preserving the full rebate, so the other rich [...]

Yesterday, speaking to a sixth form in a school in my constituency, I tried a new approach to combat negative feelings about politics. I reminded my audience that they were all volunteers. Whilst it was true that at 9 am on a wet Monday morning they were told they had to be in an hour [...]

The Education Bill we will debate today in the Commons contains the worse kind of gesture politics. Frustrated at the lack of progress in raising standards in schools, and worried by the continuing difficulties of getting 16-18 year olds into work where they are not studying A levels, the government has come up with the [...]