But now Stephen Pollard is reporting that the government is bringing the MCB back in. A DCLG spokesperson tells Pollard that an MCB commitment to examine “their internal processes and ensure that the personal actions of all... Today, the Tories launched their green paper on national security with speeches by Pauline Neville-Jones and David Cameron. The document is a mixed bag. But the Tories deserve credit for squarely facing... The week that was Fraser Nelson congratulates Ross Kemp for giving both sides of theIsraeli/Palestinian debate. James Forsyth believes that Jon Cruddas may be Labour’s coming man, and scents Labour’s plotters gathering to oppose international jurisdiction. Peter Hoskin is stunned to hear Ed Balls say the same stuff differently, and praises the Tories sensible re-think of their marriage tax proposal. David Blackburn watches Alastair Campbell appear before the Chilcot Inquiry, and believes it is immaterial who fronts Labour’s election campaign. Martin Bright on the Labour revolt against Israel. Susan Hill rails against edu-cay-shun. Alex Massie... Andrew Neil’s guest on this week’s Straight Talk (BBC News Channel – Saturday at 0430 and 2230 and Sunday at 0130, 1530 and 2330) is former Speaker Baroness Boothroyd. There is a delicious anecdote about the time Boothroyd invited herself round to Bercow’s flat and advised him on several weighty matters, but I’ll leave you to discover what was said. With characteristic independence, Boothroyd set herself firmly against the decision to impose, presuming the election doesn’t alter the social make-up of Commons’ membership, quotas on parties to increase the number of women and ethnic minority MPs. But the truth will out as they say. It turns out that the Chairman of BUPA, Lord Leitch, wasted £5,000 on Gordon Brown’s unopposed leadership... Oops! Britain's inflation is heading back to 4 per cent territory as you'd expect with the Bank of England printing money and using the debt to finance government spending. If you create more money, you reduce the value of the money. Citi has done another brilliant research note, which it is putting online, laying out the implications. The punters are facing pay freezes, or settlements below 2 per cent. The cost of living is soaring. Result: misery. Here are the two graphs from Citi that spell it out. First, inflation (much affected by the VAT hike in... We have led the magazine this week on coming Tory defence cuts, with a brilliant piece by Max Hastings. Look closely at the cover image (our second by Christian Adams) and you can see the guillotine blade will hit he RAF and Navy guys before the Army. This, Hastings argues, will be the effect of the Tory Strategic Defence Review. And even this will leave cuts of up to 20 per cent across the defence budget under the Tories. How could Cameron justify that, in this dangerous world of ours? David Cameron prepares the ground today with an important... ‘The Conservatives are committed to increasing the international development budget to meet a United Nations target of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national product on aid. However, some Tories believe the party can honour that pledge by counting some spending done by the Ministry of Defence as development aid,Friday, 15th January 2010
The government caves in to the Muslim Council of Britain
JAMES FORSYTH 7:15pm
The government has caved in its dispute with the Muslim Council of Britain. The government broke off relations with the group over its deputy director-general Daud Abdullah signing the Istanbul Declaration. Indeed, Daud Abdullah even instigated legal action against the then Communities Secretary Hazel Blears over her statements about what the declaration called for.Fighting terror with the National Security Council
JAMES FORSYTH 6:15pm
Since September 11, Britain has lost one war and is not winning another. But the question of why this is the case remains depressingly low down the agenda. There is remarkably little interest in why the “British army was defeated in the field in southern Iraq”, toquote Gordon Brown's and David Miliband’s favourite counter-insurgency expert, David Kilcullen.
5:56pmBoothroyd slams quotas for women and ethnic minority MPs
DAVID BLACKBURN 4:44pm
Burnham's exocet misfires
DAVID BLACKBURN 3:21pm
The sword of truth is working overtime this afternoon. First, Andy Burnham writes a letter to David Cameron demanding answers about a £21,000 donation from John Nash, chairman of CareUK, to the office of, oh dear, Andrew Lansley. As Paul Waugh notes, a conflict of interest scandal looms here because CareUK is a private firm that makes £400m running GP surgeries and so forth for the NHS.Surprise, suprise, inflation's on the rise
FRASER NELSON 1:45pmHelping Haiti
DANIEL KORSKI 12:05pm
As the world has geared up to help a devastated Haiti, new challenges came into view. Destroyed ports, a crumbling airport and the lack of a local counterpart are hampering the international effort to help people still trapped under the rubble. Survivors, many of whom have no place to sleep, may have lost friends and family, and are now left to scavenge for food. President Obama has pledged $100 million and is dispatching 5,000 soldiers, as well as a hospital ship. Britain, China, France, Belgium and even debt-saddled Iceland have followed suit. But the...The cost of saving the Army
FRASER NELSON 10:36amThe Tories may raid the aid budget to fund the military
DAVID BLACKBURN 9:04am
The think tank, Chatham House, is the next venue for Cameron’s intermittent policy blitz. He will unveil his national security strategy, part of which, the Telegraph reports, will enable the government to raid the international development budget to fund military projects.
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Saturday, 16 January 2010
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