UK Politics and Current Events

.. .and what ought to be done about it? UPDATE : there is a good debate going on over at Samizdata, here . David Davis There is a school of thought (to which I do not subscribe) that the Tories are cleverly allowing themselves to be the hard-done-by party, courtesy of Labour who has reneged on a referendum promise about Lisbon. The “Labour has boxed us into a corner on this one, so we’ll have to make the best of a bad job” might wash with Old One-Nation-Tories, and perhaps with neo-Labour-voters coming across. But what about the increasingly large constituency of liberals (both ... Read Full Story

It’s official: the Vichy Tories now endorse adultery as an acceptable attribute of an MP. Baroness Morris of Bolton, shadow Minister for Wimmin, has intervened in the South West Norfolk debacle on behalf of Elizabeth Truss, the embattled candidate, to urge local Tories – known contemptuously to Dave’s metropolitan élite as the “Turnip Taliban” – Continued here: Official: pro-family Vichy Tories endorse adultery as an acceptable attribute for MPs Share or Bookmark This Post Read Full Story

Posted by news 4 hours ago ( http://www.guardian.co.uk ) View profile Category : News Prime minister tells G20 that taxpayers must be protected from bearing cost of failure by banksThe prime minister, Gordon Brown, has called for a new "economic and social contract" with the world's banks to ensure that the cost of their failure would never again be borne by taxpayers.Addressing a G20 meeting in Scotland, Brown said it was not acceptable that banking success was reaped by the few but failure was "borne by all of us". He called for a fund for future bank bailouts to be set up, possibly paid ... Read Full Story

MPs will be banned from claiming for home loan repayments and employing family members under new rules unveiled on Wednesday after an expenses scandal which has rocked parliament. A standards watchdog proposed overhauling the system after a newspaper published weeks of damaging revelations that MPs had claimed thousands of pounds for everything from a duck house to cleaning the moat at a country home. The chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life which drew up the proposals, Christopher Kelly, said they were "fair and reasonable" and would bring Westminster into line with legislatures in other countries. "It will provide much stronger safeguards ... Read Full Story

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday backed his predecessor Tony Blair as an "excellent candidate" to become the first EU president. "We the British government believe that Tony Blair would be an excellent candidate and an excellent person to hold the job of president of the (EU) council," Brown told reporters ahead of an EU summit in Brussels where the matter was being discussed. "We would like him to be a candidate, that of course is his decision to make," he added. However, Blair faces strong opposition elsewhere in Europe, particularly in the Benelux nations, not least due to his strong support for ... Read Full Story