ConHome Diary: Boris's Big Speech, No Sex Please We're Aussie MPs & Why Despite Brexit Europe Is Still Part Of Us
- 16 Feb 2018
Everyone gets rather overexcited whenever Boris Johnson makes a speech. The Westminster lobby do their normal thing and judge it through the prism of whether they can spot any split with Theresa May, even though they are fully aware that the whole speech has been pre-approved ...
I voted Leave, but Brexit Doesn’t Mean we Lose Everything European - Including Our Identity
- 15 Feb 2018
This is the text of an article I have written for the ‘i’ newspaper today… In some respects, life in the limbo between the UK voting to leave the European Union and Brexit itself has engendered some unfortunate habits in discourse. As a radio host, I’ve done my best to ask ...
My Interview with Morgan Tsvangirai
- 14 Feb 2018
Ten years ago I interviewed the Zimbabwean Opposition Leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. It was the cover interview of the second ever edition of Total Politics magazine Tonight it was announced he had died, at the age of 65. Here’s the i You won the election in March. Do you now fee...
WATCH: CNN Talk - The Oxfam Scandal
- 12 Feb 2018
We debate the Oxfam scandal and ask if it undermines the case for international aid. Clue: No it doesn’t…
WATCH: Interview with Alastair Campbell on the State of Brexit Negotiations - It gets feisty!
- 9 Feb 2018
This afternoon I did a two hour phone-in on the seemingly deteriorating relations between Michel Barnier and David Davis. My guest was Alastair Campbell. It developed into, well, quite a feisty encounter. I always enjoy interviewing Alastair. In this twelve minute interview ...
WATCH: CNN Talk - The Winter Olympics & the two Koreas
- 9 Feb 2018
In Friday’s CNN Talk we discussed how the Winter Olympics might affect future relations between North and South Korea, and also North Korea’s relations with the United States.
ConHome Diary: Pardons, Apologies, Soubers & Corbyn on Crime
- 9 Feb 2018
I’ve always liked Anna Soubry and I completely respect the fact that she holds very strong views on the European issue, which are in contract to my own. However, as an elected Conservative MP, you are a participant on politics, not a commentator on it. Her outburst on Newsnigh...
WATCH: CNNTalk on South African political turbulence & Media censorship in Kenya
- 6 Feb 2018
On our latest CNN Talk we discussed the political upheavals in South Africa and the closedown of TV stations in Kenya.
In Memory of Bert Rose - 1928-2017
- 6 Feb 2018
Last Friday I attended the funeral of Bert Rose at St Martin’s Church, Overstrand, near Cromer. Bert was a dear friend, and a key ally of mine when I stood for the Conservatives in North Norfolk. I gave the second eulogy. His good friend Paul Cater took us through his whole li...
ConHome Diary: Vote for Widders, The Mancock App & Collective Responsibility
- 2 Feb 2018
Ann Widdecombe needs your vote. For those of you who don’t watch Celebrity Big Brother, she’s in the final and voting finishes this evening. It would be great to see her win it, and confound her critics. If you want to vote for her dial 090 20 44 24 03. I keep trying to put...
WATCH: 25 Minutes With David Miliband
- 2 Feb 2018
David Miliband game into the LBC studio yesterday and I interviwed him for 25 minutes about all sort of subjects including Syria, the Rohingyas, Trump, Brexit, whether he fancies coming back into UK politics and his relations with his brother.
ConHome Diary: Doing God's Work with the Devil's Money & Why Life's a Bitch
- 26 Jan 2018
The Cybernats really are the most vicious trolls on the internet. On Wednesday I highlighted a story which had appeared in most of the day’s newspapers that Nicola Sturgeon had ordered that the Union Jack could only be flown from Scottish Government buildings on Remembrance Su...
Nicola Sturgeon: An Apology
- 26 Jan 2018
On Wednesday I read a story in The Times about the Scottish Government ordering a change in its flag flying policy, meaning that the only occasion the Union Flag could be flown on Scottish Parliament buildings was on Remembrance Sunday. Previously there were 14 other occasions...
The 'Irish Times' London Editor Owes London's Black Cabbies An Apology
- 21 Jan 2018
I got an email from a listener on Friday, which I thought I’d share with you. I’m a long-time listener of your show via the internet here in Ireland. As an Englishman living here I’ve become increasingly concerned at some aspects of the anti-English coverage of Brexit, mo...
ConHome Diary: Conservatives Are Failing to Make the Case for Capitalism
- 19 Jan 2018
The collapse of a company like Carillion was always going to result in Jeremy Corbyn attacking the whole concept of ‘contracting out’ – or ‘privatisation’ as he would say. He conveniently ignores the inconvenient fact that it wasn’t Carillion’s public sector contracts which ca...
The Government Needs to Reverse a Thirty Year Policy and Start Increasing the Number of Hospital Beds
- 13 Jan 2018
A lot has been written and said about the crisis in hospitals this January. Much of it repeats what was written last January. And yet it shouldn’t have been like this. The Health Secretary and the Prime Minister and various NHS managers continue to insist that planning for the...
WATCH: CNN Talk - Is Donald Trump a Racist For Calling Some Countries 'Shitholes'?
- 12 Jan 2018
Watch out for a sparky row between me and Ayesha a few minutes in… And watch how I can’t bring myself to say ‘shitholes’ on live TV!
ConHome Diary: A Reshuffle With No Narrative & Why No Jobs for JRM & Kwasi Kwarteng?
- 12 Jan 2018
“It’s all going terribly well, isn’t it?” was my opener to a friend in Downing Street on the afternoon of the Cabinet reshuffle. I was going to devote this whole column to an in-depth analysis of the reshuffle but I think enough has been said already. Paul Goodman’s analysis o...
I've Reason to Know What a Good & Thorough Journalist Michael Wolff Is
- 6 Jan 2018
Now, dear reader, bear with. This blogpost is really about Michael Wolff, but it takes a little time before we get to him… Back in June 2004, when I was Conservative candidate in North Norfolk I remember telling my good friend Keith Simpson, MP for the neighbouring constituen...