Monthly Archives: July 2009

A steel works and a couple of banks

The large steel slab works at Redcar is in serious trouble. The collapse of steel prices allied to the loss of customers and demand leaves its future in doubt. The local MP calls for government support, but when cross examined the support he seeks is small and limited. A better system of trade credit insurance [...]

Posted in Blog | 20 Comments

Can anyone tune into Radio Four?

Perhaps the BBC no longer approve of me as a listener, as well as disliking my views as a contributor. I have found it increasingly difficult to pick up Radio 4 on FM at home. I have to put the radio in a contorted position and turn the volume up full to get some sound [...]

Posted in Blog | 33 Comments

Britain at war

The BBC commented that there were not many of us in for the debate on Afghanistan yesterday. The truth was more of us went in than could speak, because once again the time allowed for the debate was too short. Those who did speak were limited to 6 or 8 minutes. I left it to [...]

Posted in Blog | 21 Comments

Helicopters at the air show

I have been sent this by a Tory blogger, www.trueblueblood.com: John Laity comment: This weekend is the Royal Air Tattoo at Fairford. I live in the MATZ for Fairford and have been watching aircraft arrive at low level all day. It is great as we have a 1000 ft cloud base which means you can [...]

Posted in Blog | 13 Comments

John Redwood’s contribution to the Opposition Day Debate on care for the elderly

Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Is my hon. Friend aware that in their latest proposals the Government talk about a £20,000 tax on prudent pensioners—if they still have a pension left. That will be a £10 billion-plus a year tax on the very people who have saved to look after their future. Is that not [...]

Posted in Debates | 1 Comment

John Redwood’s intervention to Ed Miliband’s statement on the “UK Low Carbon Transition Plan”

Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): When will work begin on the first new nuclear station and carbon storage plant identified in the Secretary of State’s statement? If it is not soon, the epitaph of this Government will be that they turned the lights out and left us all in the dark. Edward Miliband: The right [...]

Posted in Debates | 1 Comment

Day 2 of Mr Miliband’s Green budgets

After hearing Mr Miliband announce the dawn of the new low carbon era and after a later vote I walked my way to the tube to go to a meeting about the economy outside Westminster. To my surprise there were still large numbers of Ministerial cars parked all round the Commons waiting to drive their [...]

Posted in Blog | 60 Comments

EDMs, one sided extradition and hypocrisy

The Daily Mail has gone to town today on the 74 Labour MPs who signed Early Day Motions criticising the one sided Extradition arrangements with the US that the government signed up to, and demanding UK justice for Mr McKinnon. Their failure to vote for the Opposition Day motion which repeated their demands from the [...]

Posted in Blog | 6 Comments

Supremacy of Parliament

Conservative peer Lord Jenkin of Roding has tabled a couple of important amendments to the Parliamentary Standards Bill which assert Article IX of the Bill of Rights and Parliamentary supremacy, “notwithstanding any provision of the European Communities Act 1972, the European Convention of Human Rights or the Human Rights Act”. I understand this has official [...]

Posted in Blog | 31 Comments

One flu out of the cuckoo’s nest

So far I have avoided comment on the great pandemic. In the early days Ministers and government told us they were valiantly combatting it, to stop it reaching us. I bit my tongue. It reached the UK. Then Ministers told us they would stop it spreading in the UK. I kept quiet. It spread. Government [...]

Posted in Blog | 35 Comments
  • About John Redwood

    John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College, and has a DPhil from All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has been a director of NM Rothschild merchant bank and chairman of a quoted industrial PLC.
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