Owner: Westminster Whispers URL:http://westminster-whispers.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:22:39 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: A commentary on the daily buzz of Westminster politics and the goings-on in the UK Assemblies and the European Assembly. Site statistics:Click here
Gordon brown gets more electoral jitters! 2008-08-19 06:48:00 It's catching, at least for Gordon
Brown. Seeing polls on the horizon and the poor man panics. According to the Tories he is "terrified" of a double defeat and wants to hold next year's European and English local elections on the same day. this would mean moving the local elections up to June as he couldn't possibly upset the EU Commission and hold the Euro elections a month early. So he is tempte Read more:electoral
Labour MP dies 2008-08-13 03:23:00 Scottish Labour
MP John MacDougall has died after a long illness. Thankfully this was kept quiet from the general public, because it would have led to all kinds of speculation. Nicholas Winterton, the ever-so traditional Conservative MP, thought that Geoff Hoon's quickfire approach to by-election date-setting after Gwyneth Dunwoody's death was unseemly. Hoon merely said it was all done with the fa
Welsh AMs get wind of MONEY!! 2008-08-12 17:13:00 It was going to be catching, like a disease of the 1800's. MPs at Westminster got to study the "John Lewis List" and thought that all their Christmasses had come at once. Now the AMs in Cardiff are getting in on the act.How many jobs give you the description that says "generous expenses including £2,000 sofas and £1,000 surround-sound TVs"? Very few, I'd say. The only ones are the jobs for those Read more:Welsh
Watford worries for the Tories 2008-08-05 16:48:00 The former Tory candidate for Watford
has pleaded guilty to a campaign of harassment against his Liberal Democrat rivals. Ian Oakley, who quit as a prospective parliamentary candidate last month, admitted five charges of criminal damage and two of harassment. This case came to light a while ago and has now been dealt with, albeit awaiting sentencing.What I find strange is that he only quit last mo Read more:Tories
Labour in the sights of LibDems! 2008-08-02 04:08:00 Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, says a true thing. "You never know how quickly things will change. Gordon Brown may find the guts to call the general election we should have had last year." Things do change in politics. "Events, dear boy!" said Harold Macmillan. It's always been about events.If the LibDems target Labour
seats they should do the ones the Tories don't want to do or agree a
Milibandwagon moves on - haltingly! 2008-07-31 17:05:00 David Miliband is a busy guy. Appearing on a radio phone-in show, writing articles in newspapers and signing autographs for an adoring public. None of this indicates that he is mounting a leadership challenge, of course. What did Mandy Rice Davies say? "He would say that!". True about her "him" as it is about Gordon Brown's. The Prime Minister will be sitting amongst the sand dunes of Suffolk mutt Read more:moves
Browned off with Brown 2008-07-28 17:34:00 It's going to get fairly predictable over the summer. Various Labour top dogs are going to come out in favour of Gordon Brown
and various top dogs aren't. Which means some of them have taken their bones back because they think they are wasted on a toothless hound.Oh dear, it was always going to get messy. Ever since Tony Blair first waltzed into Gordon Brown's room at Westminster, Mr. Brown has be
Glasgow East gives Brown a seismic jolt 2008-07-25 09:28:00 The by-election in Glasgow
East was being touted earlier this week as a dead cert for Labour, albeit with a much reduced majority. The perceived wisdom amongst the chattering classes was that the people of the East End had nowhere else to go. Well, that was misplaced! As it happened on the day, the voters went into the SNP camp and a sizeable chunk drifted off to the SSP and Solidarity.Labour lost Read more:Brown
David Davis returns! 2008-07-11 09:51:00 I'm not sure why the BBC asked Tony McNulty for his opinions on the Haltemprice and Howden by-election. He has little credibility as a minister other than the natural New Labour ability of being able to keep out the proverbial shit - a bit like his previous boss Teflon Tony.He only has mocking words to make, very little constructive to say, and is still oblivious of his history as a ministerial fl Read more:David
, Davis
SNP take a 33% in Westminster poll 2008-07-11 07:57:00 The SNP is now seen, I think, as an OK party to support at Holyrood for a wide section of Scottish society and is seen as a convenient battering ram down in Westminster
. No wonder the SNP MPs looked smirky smiley when Harriet Harman was huffily denouncing them on Wednesday at PMQs.According to a YouGov poll for the Telegraph, it is the intention of 33% of Scots voters to support the SNP at a Westm
Davis wins and the debate goes on...... 2008-07-11 03:49:00 David Davis
won comfortably last night. It was not a sensation or a landslide in the accepted sense. Basically his usual supporters turned up, the Labour lot stayed away, and the 25 candidates in the mixed bag tent picked up the crumbs.Some surprises, I thought. I guessed the Greens would come second, but I did not think the English Democrats would push them so hard. It would have been interesting
Ten by-election records under threat 2008-07-10 17:55:00 The BBC have got a nice piece in by-election record keeping - or breaking. Various records could be broken tonight ranging from Lowest Poll to Lowest Vote.It could be that the OMRLP saves its deposit. We'll have to wait and see! Read more:threat
By-election stage to collapse? 2008-07-10 06:28:00 The 26 candidates in the Haltemprice and Howden by-election will not share a stage at the count after fears it could collapse
under their combined weight. Health and safety reasons, or egg-on-face reasons?I'm not sure what this election is all about now. I still stick with David Davis and his stand against the terrors of New Labour and their sinister attitude towards freedom and liberty. Its now p
Brown faces challenge if party loses Glasgow vote 2008-07-07 17:11:00 Now these are real whispers! According to the Independent, a senior member of Gordon Brown
's government has said there would be moves to replace him in September before Labour's annual conference if Labour loses the Glasgow
East by-election or the party remains in the opinion poll doldrums.The knives may not be out yet, but the whispers have started to become rather chatty. The Prime Minister's fa Read more:faces
Two part-time jobs make a Scottish Labour politician! 2008-07-07 16:47:00 I was right. Margaret Curran, who has been named as the Labour
candidate in the Glasgow East Westminster by-election, will continue as an MSP and MP for the immediate future, if she gets elected. So no second by-election, then.Ms Curran should heed the biblical message of serving two masters. I fear she'll follow the rather corrupt notions that the current administration in Westminster have over d Read more:Scottish
Cameron to push for jailing knife carriers 2008-07-07 05:01:00 David Cameron
has decided that anyone caught carrying a knife in public should be sent to jail. Well, those that stuff them down tracksuits and intend to go out to create mayhem or claim "self-defence". Cameron is taking this a stage further from Gordon Brown's position of simple prosecution. The Tory leader wants prison as the only punishment to fit this crime.David Cameron's heart and mind are i Read more:carriers
Key of the door for female prelates? 2008-07-06 16:58:00 When consultations and debate get under way tomorrow at the general synod of the Church of England, one member present will also be a member of Parliament. He is Robert Key, Conservative MP for Salisbury. (Interestingly, next Sunday, the BBC is broadcasting on Radio 4 from Salisbury Cathedral. The preacher is none other than Katharine Jefferts Schori. Will she be recognised as the head of the Epis
What's in a name when I'm claiming on expenses? 2008-07-06 12:14:00 Is all publicity good publicity? It can be. I said I'd wonder if John Lewis Partnership was happy being associated with the expense forms of MPs. Seems it's a neutral response. The publicity has been a "complete surprise," the store said.It could be argued that MPs have good taste and know a quality bargain when they see it. The fact that it is not necessary to shop at John Lewis (it could be Tesc
Labour MSP joins by-election race 2008-07-05 13:05:00 Labour
MSP Margaret Curran has announced she will stand as a candidate for the Glasgow East by-election after the frontrunner, George Ryan, dropped out. If she gets elected and doesn't stand down as an MSP she will give herself a full-time job! The decent thing then would be for yet another by-election - this time in Glasgow Baillieston!Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie is close to the
Hotshot councillor gets by-election cold feet! 2008-07-05 06:07:00 Something's afoot in the murky world of the Glasgow Labour Party. Last night should have seen the "fix" for Councillor George Ryan in becoming the candidate in the forthcoming Glasgow East by-election. Instead he didn't turn up at the selection meeting, so Labour's plans for a by-election coronation were thrown into turmoil just as the crucial first weekend of campaigning is about to start.Come Mo
MPs get to keep the "John Lewis List"! 2008-07-04 08:26:00 Talk about having your cake and eating it. MPs are getting a huge slice of Waitrose cake given to them on a John Lewis
plate. All on expenses? Well, yes, if last night's Commons vote is anything to go by. Gordon Brown is seeking "transparency" in this expense debacle, but he'd be better off with a clean sheet of paper.The Tories have accused Mr. Brown of failing to show leadership on reforming MPs
Will Geoff Hoon be “appropriately rewarded”? 2008-07-03 08:12:00 In another revelation from PMQs, it transpired that the effective protege of Machiavelli had written to Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee. This missive has been leaked to the Daily Telegraph. David Cameron took up his time by questioning Gordon Brown - "Perhaps the Prime Minister can explain why, this morning, a letter has been published by The Daily Telegraph from the Labour Chief Read more:Geoff
, rewarded
Alky Ada and her Taliban friends 2008-07-03 06:49:00 The Prime Minister now has to read out the names of dead soldiers on a weekly basis. He says they died fighting for their country and I do not doubt for one minute that they did. However, I am uneasy about the way they died, why they died, and for what they died. Gordon Brown appears to have no doubts as he reads from civil servant produced scripts.Jeremy Corbyn is a Labour MP who has mellowed a b Read more:Taliban
Three Welsh politicians 'raped' 2008-07-02 06:30:00 This is an amazing piece of questionnaire truthfulness. Three
members of the Welsh
Assembly have disclosed that they have been raped. This was in a questionnaire set to AM colleagues by Nerys Evans of Plaid Cymru. She sent it to all 60 AMs, but only eight responded. Three out of eight is a high number.The thing I noticed is that none of them reported it. Time and again this happens. Why? I think b Read more:politicians
Calamity Clegg comes out fighting for Deputy Davis! 2008-06-28 10:44:00 Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has come out saying that the Tories should stop "hammering" David Davis
over his surprise resignation. Apparently several Tory MPs have criticised his resignation as an MP and shadow home secretary, in protest at the extension of pre-charge terror detention limits. Mr Clegg, whose party also opposes the extended detention limit, said some issues "go beyond party Read more:comes
Miliband in "To tell the truth" contest 2008-09-24 04:42:00 David Miliband is living up to his status as the "contender-in-waiting" when he denounces the BBC for playing games. Basically, Miliband is saying he NEVER SAID IT, which either makes him out to be a man falsely accused or a liar.My hunch is that the BBC reporter got him spot on. He said it, we all know it, and Miliband makes himself out now to be, not a novice, but a charlatan."I have absolutely
Clegg is no calamity! 2008-09-17 10:14:00 It was a rather unfortunate epithet that his rival gave him, but then politics is....! Today Nick Clegg outlined his vision for the LibDems. At least he has one. Gordon Brown's appears to be in the re-write stage.If I had my way, I'd dissolve New Labour rather like an AlkaSelzer tablet. Then we could have a choice between the Conservatives and the Liberals (Democrats). New Labour has run its cours
Brown's collapsing House of Cards! 2008-09-16 11:19:00 As predicted by most commentators close to the scene, so to speak, a minister has indeed resigned. Scotland Office minister David Cairns has left the government, Downing Street has confirmed. Another nail in the proverbial coffin?Gordon Brown
has three options. 1. To come up with an idea of what his plan really is. 2. To carry on and weather the storm, probably until polling day. 3. Pack his bags Read more:House
, Cards
Top Tory Totty 2008-09-13 12:09:00 In this month's Tatler (or next month, October actually, as these publications always seem to be a month ahead!) there is I Want To Sell You A Tory Top Tory totty, Tatler-stylee, by Olivia Cole. Sounds like fun! For them at least. Olivia got ten Tory wannabe MPs to show off for the Tatler. It's not really what the electorate wants. I would think it far better that they seem to understand the pligh
Pressure mounts on Brown 2008-09-13 07:20:00 It now seems inevitable that there will be some kind of leadership election in the Labour Party. Either it is a formal one or it will be an informal head count. Whichever it is Gordon Brown
won't be leader at the election. He has a very few loyal associates. The rest are on a spectrum ranging from outright indifference to his leadership to those who would say "sorry Gordon, but" and plump for a ri Read more:Pressure
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