Guardian Column: Politicians Should be Honest about Election Results
- 4 May 2007
I never fail to understand why politicians can’t be honest about election results. Tell it like it is and you cannot fail to gain the respect of those who are watching you. Watching the TV this morning you’d think that the LibDems had, at worst, held steady. So far the...
It's About That Old Fashioned Thing Called Shame
- 2 May 2007
Lord Browne has had a very unpleasant 24 hours. In some ways, for having lied to a court, you'd have to say he deserves it and that few should have sympathy with him. But - and it is a big but - that would be to ignore two facts. This story would not have taken up so much spac...
Labour MP: Don't You Know Who I Am?
- 27 Apr 2007
Yesterday, Labour MP Geraldine Smith had a 'don't you know who I am' incident on a train back to her Morecambeand Lunesdale constituency. One of her fellow passengers was less than impressed by her behaviour. Shee was travelling on the 8-46am to Glasgow from Euston when he ...
EDP Diary: How to annoy your Neighbours
- 27 Apr 2007
Political campaigning techniques are undergoing a revolution. You’ll still be getting leaflets through your door during the local election campaign, but all the political parties are now using more modern means of political communication to engage with voters. South Norfolk Co...
Telegraph Column: Cameron & the Women's Vote
- 26 Apr 2007
Here’s something for Polly Toynbee to ponder on. It’s a startling fact that if women had never had the vote Britain would have had a continuous Labour government since 1945. Whenever the Conservatives have won an election the women’s vote has been crucial. At the last election...
EXCLUSIVE: Tories Want Dyke to Fight as a Joint LibDem/Tory Candidate
- 18 Apr 2007
I've been doing some digging into the Greg Dyke Story. As I reported below, Andrew Neil said on his programme this lunchtime that the Conservatives want Greg Dyke to stand against Ken Livingstone. I've now had it confirmed that this is indeed the case, but it gets even more bi...
Telegraph Column: Cameron & Devolution
- 12 Apr 2007
John Major is rarely seen as a visionary, but in the case of Scottish and Welsh devolution he was ahead of his time. During the last, desperate days of the 1997 election campaign he made an impassioned plea for voters to vote Conservative to save the Union. It was a call which...
Book Review: The Adoption by Dave Hill
- 4 Apr 2007
It's a terrible admission but I very rarely read novels. In fact, the last one I read cover to cover was Ann Widdecombe's ACT OF TREACHERY about three years ago. However, one of the guests I regularly invite on to my 18 Doughty Street show is the journalist and novelist Dave H...
Memories of the Falklands
- 2 Apr 2007
What follows is an updated version of the introduction to my book MEMORIES OF THE FALKLANDS, which was published five years ago. Twenty five years ago today I was on holiday, visiting friends, the Weber family, in the German spa town of Bad Wildungen. I was 19, and was on a...
EDP Diary: Be Nice to Canvassers
- 31 Mar 2007
The chances are that at some point over the next five weeks you will hear a knock on your door from a representative of one of the political parties. It’s local election time! Before you let out a volley of abuse at your doorstep canvasser just spare a thought for them. ...
Telegraph Column: Is Cameron's First Defection About to Come Over?
- 29 Mar 2007
Political commentators have become so obsessed by opinion poll leads as the best sign of political success that they have stopped looking for other signals. The revelation over the weekend that George Osborne had made a serious attempt to lure the LibDem Work & Pensions sp...
EDP Diary: Margaret Beckett, Trident & Languages
- 15 Mar 2007
The men who spent 18 years in prison for the murder of newspaper boy Carl Bridgewater, but were later cleared of, have been told that they will have to pay back 25% of their compensation money to cover the cost of their "board and lodging" while in prison. Surely to God if the...
My Stance on Climate Change & Why I Remain a Tory
- 12 Mar 2007
I suppose if you stick your head over the political parapet, you deserve to get it shot off from time to time. My post on Al Gore BELOW has caused a certain frisson on some blogs. Tom Watsonthinks it very rude. Devil's Kitchen wonders why I remain in the Tory Party. More on th...
Telegraph Column: What Should Cameron Do About the Special Relationship?
- 8 Mar 2007
Since 1917 Britain’s relationship with the United States has been the most important component of our foreign policy. When former US Ambassador Sir Christopher Meyer was told by Number Ten to “crawl up the backside of the White House and stay there” he became merely the latest...
EDP Diary: Visiting my Favourite City
- 3 Mar 2007
I have spent the last week in my favourite city in the world – Washington DC. It’s a city with a buzz, a mecca for those of us who love to obsess about politics. And it’s a city full of culture, history and entertainment. The fact that it’s an appallingly run city and a v...
Wednesday in Washington
- 1 Mar 2007
It's nearly midnight here in Washington and I'm exhausted as I type this. I've just come back from a dinner held by the Anglosphere Institute at the Metropolitan Club. It's the sort of place where you just happen to stand next to Henry Kissinger at the urinal. Which I did. And...
A Visit to Foggy Bottom
- 28 Feb 2007
Earlier today my colleague Shane Greer and I went to the State Department to meet the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs (could she have a longer job title?!) Colleen Graffy. We were rather early so we stood outside the building in the morning sunshine on a...
Anecdotes from the Thatcher Statue Unveiling
- 27 Feb 2007
A word of praise for James Hardy of the BBC. His report on last night's unveiling of Margaret Thatcher's statue struck just the right tone. Having been a journalist on the Daily Mirror, I suspect that James is not a card carrying Tory, but he capture the mood of the occasion b...
My Day in DC
- 27 Feb 2007
For those who have absolutely no interest in my activities in the capital of the free world, feel free to scroll down. I spent Saturday and part of Sunday with some old friends Mark & Jane Milosch who live in Silver Spring. I worked with Mark when he was an intern in the C...
Responding to Frederick Forsyth
- 24 Feb 2007
I am honoured that Frederick Forsyth has written a letter to the Telegraph commenting on my article on Wednesday. Here it is... Sir - Iain Dale ("Tories' Champagne should stay on ice", Comment, February 21) tells us that David Cameron "wanted to make Lib Dem voters feel th...