My Top 100 Tweeters of 2015
- 19 Dec 2015
Each new year I compile a list of people whose tweets I have most enjoyed during the previous 12 months. I follow about 2000 people on Twitter, which is far too many to be honest, but I whenever I try to cull the number I end up giving up because it’s so difficult. Anyway, the...
ConHome Diary: My End of Year Political Awards
- 18 Dec 2015
Seeing as this will be my last column of 2015 I thought I might look back and hand out a few end of year awards and brickbats. Anyone who says politics is boring only needs to look back at the events of 2015 and look forward to next year. What a fascinating time to be commenti...
ConHome Diary: Exposed - The UKIP London Candidate, Who, Er, Is Begging for a London Address
- 11 Dec 2015
UKIP candidate for the Greater London Assembly, David Kurten, seems to have got himself into a bit of trouble. He’s number two on the UKIP list behind Peter Whittle and ahead of Suzanne Evans. I’ve been sent an email he has sent out to UKIP members pleading for one of them to ...
WATCH: My Interview With Donal Blaney on the Tory Party Bullying Scandal
- 7 Dec 2015
Today I did a 15 minute interview with Donal Blaney, chairman of the Young Britons Foundation, about the Tory Party bullying scandal. In the interview he announces the cancellation of this year’s YBF conference, is highly critical of how the Tories have handled the scandal a...
ConHome Diary: The Day Hilary Shone
- 4 Dec 2015
Sometimes the Prime Minister just can’t help himself. Up until Tuesday he had played a blinder in persuading Labour MPs of the case for air strikes in Syria. He had been calm, measured and persuasive. And then he blew it at the 1922 Committee by asking Tory MPs if they really ...
Keith Simpson MP's Christmas Reading List
- 1 Dec 2015
Guest Post by Keith Simpson MP As we look forward to the Festive Season colleagues will be looking for interesting books to put in the stockings of loved ones and friends whilst ministers will be desperate to read anything rather than civil service briefs. This selection is p...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 41: The Consequences of Radio Regulation
- 30 Nov 2015
These are two short excerpts from my LBC show today. The first was part of an interview I did with Bernadette Smyth from the Northern Irish Pro Life group ‘Precious Life’. Now I have a pragmatic view on abortion issues, but I am not unsympathetic to the pro-life lobby. But...
WATCH: Iain Dale on Sky News Sunrise on the Tory Bullying Scandal
- 29 Nov 2015
The Tory bullying affair continues to dominate the political news headlines, which must come as a relief for many in the Labour Party, given the headlines they are generating at the moment. Here’s a six minute interview I did in my garden this morning with Steve Dixon on Sky...
WATCH: Lord Feldman Has Questions To Answer - Interview on Channel Four News
- 28 Nov 2015
This evening I appeared on Channel Four News to talk about the resignation of Grant Shapps and the bullying scandal that has beset the Conservative Party. It was a close run thing as the Sat truck was late arriving and the camerawoman arrived four minutes before I was due to...
WATCH: Jacqui Smith & I Have a Chinwag About the Autumn Statement
- 27 Nov 2015
I don’t normally post these, but I do love doing the Sky paper review with Jacqui Smith and Anna Botting. To be honest I don’t do an awful lot of TV nowadays, mainly because I don’t particularly enjoy it. I only do things I like or think I’ll be any good at. And the Sky pape...
ConHome Diary: This Scandal Could Result in Two Resignations
- 27 Nov 2015
The Mark Clarke scandal has moved from the Sundays to become a nightly stream of stories across the dailies, each more horrific and shocking than the last. My very real concern, as someone who has got to know Elliott Johnson’s father, Ray, through my radio show, is that too ma...
WATCH: Syria Debate on BBC Sunday Morning Live with Owen Jones, Iain Dale et al
- 22 Nov 2015
This is a 20 minute debate on whether we should bomb Syria, chaired by Sian Williams on Sunday Morning Live. It features myself, Owen Jones, Bishop Stephen Cottrell and Emily Dyer from the Henry Jackson Society. Hattip to @liarpoliticians for the video
Reconstruction: Twenty Five Years Ago Today Margaret Thatcher Chaired Her Final Cabinet Meeting Where She Announced Her Resignation
- 22 Nov 2015
This is a dramatic reconstruction of the Cabinet Meeting which took place on 22 November 1990 – 25 years ago today – at which Margaret Thatcher dramatically announced her resignation. It was intended to be part of a book on her downfall, but in the end I never got around to wr...
ConHome Diary: Bullying Tories, I say 'Daesh', you say ISIS & More Travails for Mr Corbyn
- 20 Nov 2015
So Mark Clarke has been expelled from the Conservative Party. For life. Within minutes of that being announced by CCHQ I interviewed the father of Elliott Johnson, the young man who took his own life back in September, and who had made complaints (not acted on) by CCHQ. Ray Jo...
Why I call IS 'Daesh' and Will Continue to Do So...
- 18 Nov 2015
And it’s nothing to do with political correctness!
Sixteen Things Britain & The World Must Do To Beat ISIS/Daesh
- 14 Nov 2015
At times like this we all try to think about how we can beat those who seem intent not just on murdering innocent people but on attacking our very way of life. The bombing of the Russian plane and terrible events in Paris and Beirut demonstrate that the policy of trying to con...
Aujourd'hui, nous sommes tous français
- 14 Nov 2015
Beautiful video shows thousands of people singing French national anthem as they exit the Stade de France in Paris pic.twitter.com/QayDIXCnud — BreatheSport (@BreatheSport) November 14, 2015 This morning I woke up, looked through my Twitter timeline and shed a tear. ...
ConHome Diary: The Tory MP With Balls of Steel
- 13 Nov 2015
So, David Cameron’s letter to Donald Tusk… Where to start? Bear in mind that I write as someone who hasn’t yet made up his mind how to vote in the referendum, I find the whole thing a bit of a charade. Cameron’s speech at Chatham House outlining his renegotiation strategy was ...
ConHome Diary: Another Establishment Snub for Mrs T
- 6 Nov 2015
You couldn’t make it up. The Egyptian President started his visit to London yesterday, only hours after Britain had angered his government by cancelling all flights to Sharm-Al-Sheik. The resort’s bookings were already well done, with some hotels almost empty. This move will a...
ConHome Diary: The Naughty Table at the Margaret Thatcher Centre Dinner
- 30 Oct 2015
On Tuesday night I went to the Margaret Thatcher Centre dinner at the Guildhall, along with 400 others. What a fabulous venue. I had never been there before. It was quite an occasion and raised a huge amount of money to go towards funding the activities of the Centre. All the ...