ConHome Diary: The Ghost of Jo Moore Lives On, The Hypocrisy of The Guardian and My Frozen Shoulder
- 8 Apr 2016
On Wednesday afternoon I saw a newsalert flash up on my screen. “Government to spend £9.3 million on sending leaflet to 27 million homes”, it read. No, I thought, that can’t be right. After all David Cameron specifically ruled out the government doing such a thing back in Febr...
27 Years Ago Today the Dock Labour Scheme Was Abolished - And Here's How I Helped It Happen
- 6 Apr 2016
Twenty seven years ago today Norman Fowler announced the Repeal of the National Dock Labour Scheme in the House of Commons. I had been working for the National Association of Port Employers and, with Nicholas Finney, had been masterminding the lobbying campaign to get rid of t...
My Donald Trump 'Downfall' Video - DONALD TRUMP CONFRONTS HIS DOWNFALL
- 2 Apr 2016
</embed> There’s nothing I like more than making a ‘Downfall’ video. So I made one about Donald Trump. It’s about time someone did. Do share on Facebook and Twitter! UPDATE: Apparently this video can only be seen if Chrome is your browser – it won’t work on Firefox...
ConHome Diary: Silencing John Humphrys & The Thatcherite Who Believes in Nationalisation
- 1 Apr 2016
If I was compiling a Top Ten List of Ultra Thatcherites, and you know how I like my lists, Monmouth MP David Davies would be fairly high on it. So when I interviewed him about the steel crisis in Port Talbot, imagine my surprise when he told me he would be in favour of tempora...
ConHome Diary: The Defenestration of Suzanne Evans & The Rise of Michael Gove
- 25 Mar 2016
UKIP has finally flipped. On Wednesday morning they suspended Suzanne Evans for six months due to her so-called ‘disloyalty’. The aim of this was twofold – to take her off their GLA candidates list and to prevent her standing for the leadership if Nigel Farage quits after the ...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 43: Interviewing a Friend Who's Become the Enemy of Another Friend
- 25 Mar 2016
I was on a panel the other day with Marina Hyde, the Guardian columnist. She said she never goes to media or political parties because she thinks if she speaks to any well known people or becomes friends with them she wouldn’t be able to write what she wants about them in ...
The IDS Fallout: Power Is Ebbing Away From Cameron & Osborne
- 20 Mar 2016
“What an utter copper-bottomed shit”. Those were the words that greeted me when I took a call from a Tory MP a couple of minutes after Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation was announced on Friday night. My caller fulminated about the self-indulgence of a man who dared to ruin the C...
ConHome Diary: Why Ken Clarke's Publisher Deserves a P45
- 18 Mar 2016
Apparently my LBC colleague Steve Allen has been broadcasting his wonderment at the fact that I have snapped up Ken Clarke’s memoirs for the eye watering sum of £430,000. Except I haven’t. And I wouldn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to publish Ken Clarke and I am sure he will...
ConHome Diary: Zac Rediscovers His Mojo, The Naivety of Dan Jarvis & Could Suzanne Evans Rejoin the Tories?
- 11 Mar 2016
The London mayoral campaign continues apace, but I feel something has changed over the last few weeks. All the polls have shown Sadiq Khan quite a way ahead of Zac Goldsmith, although the latest one in the Standard shows the gap narrowing. It seems to me this campaign is mirro...
The NHS Can Never Meet All the Demands Made of It & It's Time We Accepted That
- 10 Mar 2016
The NHS debate will never move on until we accept that in its current form the NHS will never meet all the demands made on it. It’s a 1940s system struggling to cope with 21st century medical advances. Jeremy Corbyn continues to believe that all NHS treatments must be free at...
Biteback to Publish the Next 4 Volumes of Alastair Campbell's Diaries
- 7 Mar 2016
Iain Dale, MD of Biteback Publishing, has acquired world rights to four new volumes of diaries from Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former chief press secretary and director of communications and strategy, and the author of several books, including the number one Sunday Times...
ConHome Diary: Labour Shows Again That It Has Given Up on Winning Elections
- 4 Mar 2016
Ben Gummer is a very good MP according to many friends of mine. I rather admired him for standing in a seat which is never going to be ‘safe’. He won Ipswich in 2010 by a majority of just over two thousand. Most predicted he would lose the seat to Labour in 2015, but he confou...
Why Religion Needs to Adapt to a Changing Society
- 27 Feb 2016
Even when I was a campanologist (no sniggering at the back), ringing the bells at our village church, I didn’t believe in God. Ok, I was only a teenager, and I was only ringing the bells each Sunday as the lesser of two evils. It was that or being a choirboy. You’ll understand...
ConHome Diary: How Does Boris Get Away With It & Is Dave More Wilson Than Macmillan?
- 26 Feb 2016
Listening to the Prime Minister last Friday night, when he announced his EU deal, there’s no doubt that he talked a good game. He did it again on Marr and he did it again in the Commons on Monday. Whatever you think of the content of what he said, he’s at his best when his bac...
ConHome Diary: The LibDems Who Are Voting Out & The Exit of Tim Montgomerie
- 19 Feb 2016
On Newsnight Evan Davis called Tim Montgomerie “the most well-known Tory who isn’t an MP”. So his resignation as a Tory Party member is news, no matter what some might say. The editor of this site has described it as akin to ending a marriage. What Tim’s critics need to unders...
ConHome Diary: Zac Needs To Get Pumped Up
- 12 Feb 2016
The EU Referendum campaign continues albeit with the Prime Minister still rigging things in his favour. He still feels free to opine on the issue and yet bans any minister who takes a different view from speaking. His ridiculously pathetic attempt to scare us into believing th...
Why the PM Is Pushing Me Towards the Brexit
- 5 Feb 2016
Like many of you, I guess, I haven’t yet decided on which way to vote in the EU Referendum. David Camerson’s so-called deal isn’t helping me make up my mind. Frankly, if you go into a renegotiation asking for very little, you can expect to receive even less. The Prime Ministe...
VIDEO: World Cancer Day: How Cancer Has Affected Me
- 4 Feb 2016
World Cancer Day: Iain Dale’s Story Today is World Cancer Day and LBC is proudly supporting Cancer Research UK Watch Iain share his story and donate now to show your support #ADayToUnite Posted by LBC on Thursday, 4 February 2016 This is a video to mark World Canc...
WATCH: My Response to David Cameron's "Renegotiation" (Or Hoodwinking the British People)
- 2 Feb 2016
My response to David Cameron’s EU “renegotiation”.
A Visit to the Brilliant Ebbsfleet Academy & The Difference a Good Head Teacher Can Make
- 28 Jan 2016
When I was a parliamentary candidate I used to enjoy visiting local schools. I always learned something. Of course academies that time were a mere glint in Andrew Adonis’s eye. On Wednesday I visited an academy for the first time. It came about following an invitation from on...