I mentioned the Tatler Ten a little while ago. Imagine my surprise to tune into the Tory party conference to see Jeremy Brier on stage, having a chat with Alan Duncan, George Osborne and someone I didn’t recognise, only to then see Kulveer Ranger appear in the next segment.
xD.

Yes, they’re very representative of Britain today. Half went to Oxford or Cambridge, eight went to university. Six grew up in London or the Home Counties. Four of the eight PPCs are standing for London seats and the other four are standing in the southern half of England. They are the Tatler Ten.
Tatler (via [...]

I think there are three points that come out of this.
Firstly, I will be interested to see how Mr Davis, now re-elected, keeps the issue in the public eye. I dislike single-issue elections as Mr Davis will represent his constituency on the whole range of public issues. Although David Davis (according to ConservativeHome) has said [...]

It is very rare for a politician to volunteer for an election. The risk calculus is pretty simple; even if the chances of you losing are minimal, the consequences for you are (at best) unemployment and the consequences for your party can be even worse.
So what to make of David Davis’ decision to resign his [...]

Two days ago, David Cameron gave a speech to Relate, formerly the National Marriage Guidance Council. It illustrates two points; firstly, the problems that Mr Cameron is storing up for himself; secondly, the potential contradiction between the free-marketeers and social conservatives in the Conservative party.
The speech makes it clear that the Tories believe in state [...]

Mayor Johnson
The headline news is, of course, the victory of Boris Johnson. It is no secret (at least if you’ve been reading this blog!) that I was and remain a strong supporter of Ken Livingstone and that I have very grave doubts about the Johnson mayoralty. I have tried to draw a comparison between [...]

A recurring theme of late is honesty in politics or, rather, the lack thereof. Politicians want to appear as straight-talking but frequently are not. Three things have struck me on this today.
Brian Paddick, the Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London. As the Evening Standard reports, he has said that the Underground is the most [...]

Had I been voting in the recent Lib Dem leadership contest, I would have voted for Chris Huhne as the candidate most identifiably different from Gordon Brown and David Cameron. In voting for Mr Clegg, they have chosen someone who looks and sounds like Mr Cameron and, I feel, impacts in a similar manner. Mr [...]

The video of last night’s mayoral debate between Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson and Brian Paddick is available here at ITVlocal.com.
xD.

Just because Enoch Powell was intelligent does not make him any less objectionable; just because he spoke in clipped, educated tones does not make him any less racist; just because he was well-educated does not make him any less wrong.
Enoch Powell made his infamous speech in 1968; early in the speech, he quoted a constituent [...]