Monthly Archives: November 2013

Watching the watchers: a serious test for the Intelligence and Security Committee

Recent months have seen a diverse cast of characters including newspaper proprietors, senior police officers and BBC executives being grilled by Parliamentary select committees. Today’s appearance of intelligence agency heads before the Intelligence and Security Committee is not likely to … Continue reading

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They really do work for you: Parliament, MPs and Prime Ministerial neglect

In a series of papers for the right-wing Centre for Policy Studies the Conservative MP, Andrew Tyrie, highlighted the problem of Prime Ministerial neglect of Parliament under Tony Blair, characterising  Parliament as, Mr Blair’s Poodle. The data presented by Tyrie … Continue reading

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More on the payroll vote

Sarah Wollaston is one of the more interesting of the 2010 intake of Conservative MPs. She was selected to stand for the Conservatives in the Devon seat of Totnes through  an open primary, in which all voters in the constituency were … Continue reading

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Does David Cameron have a problem in the North?

The inconclusive 2010 general election saw voting in the UK divide on regional (and to some extent national) lines with the Conservatives failing to make significant gains in the North of England.  An interesting article in this month’s Prospect magazine by Peter … Continue reading

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The rise in the payroll vote

The recent Cabinet reshuffle once again raised concerns about the size of the Government, and in particular its impact on the Executive’s power to control parliament through what has become known as the payroll vote. The payroll vote refers to … Continue reading

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