Brian Walker On a homely note if only just – ex-Cabinet minister Ruth Kelly who left her native Limavady at 3, claimed thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money for flood damage to her second home, rather than claim it off her building insurance policy at the time, according to the Telegraph. Is the paper correct in assuming a claim off insurance would have been valid? Ruth was a enthusiastic homemaker at pubic expense, although always well within the annual limit. She will …
Update Cabinet members are pressing Gordon Brown to launch a big initiative to reconnect the public with politics in the wake of the expenses scandal, announces the Guardian. “The discussions were launched inside the cabinet by the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, when he raised the idea of a British constitutional convention on the model of the Scottish constitutional convention. What the modernisers inside the cabinet want on the agenda is: • A referendum on electoral reform for the House of …
Gordon Brown’s anger at the stubborn refusal of banks –including Northern Ireland banks – to lend to small business at affordable rates after all those billions of public money handed over to recapitalise them, broke surface at Prime Minister’s Questions today. His message to frustrated small businesses was this : if you’re having trouble getting a bank loan, get your MP to contact me and I’ll take it up with the bank myself. Would be borrowers should take the Prime …
Partial new version. Anger and barracking reminiscent of the launch of Eames Bradley greeted the long awaited unveiling. “The little comfort we have is the knowledge that it vindicated the victims who were raped and sexually abused,” said Mr Walsh, of the leading campaign group Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (Soca). I’m very angry, very bitter, and feel cheated and deceived. I would have never opened my wounds if I’d known this was going to be the end result.” This …
The BBC needs to take care not to sleepwalk into another disaster. Its top people are behaving as if has nothing has changed in the climate of public accountability in the last couple of weeks and that the recession is just a minor blip. It needs to think up – fast – a much cannier response than the positioning of its chairman in advance of a Conservative-sponsored Commons vote later today on a motion to freeze the licence fee. The …
It may not be the best metaphor for the perky red-headed Communities Secretary, but it looks as if the biggest scalp about to taken in the expenses scandal will be Hazel Blear’s. Gordon ditched the Speaker privately but Ms Blears has had no such luck. He called her flipping sale “totally unacceptable” although “she has not broken the law, she has not broken the rules of the House of Commons.” This surely seals her fate in Gordon’s expected summer reshuffle. …
Update. It’s now clear Michael Martin will resign his seat. So Mick quits, in a statement of thundering anti-climax, in less than 100 words before a full House, proving his inadequacy to destruction for the second time in 24 hours. He even left up in the air if he was resigning his Glasgow seat. In the meantime, the arrangements for cleaning -out the stables begin without the slightest idea of what “breaking the rules” means in terms of natural justice, …
Steve Richards in the Independent counsels well against a blood lust in the Commons. He was writing before the news broke that the Speaker is announcing at 2.30 pm that’s he’s bowing to the overwhelming pressure to quit. The speculation is that he’ll link his departure to an emergency expenses system to be discussed among party leaders later in the day. If Gordon Brown hadn’t botched his ghastly grinning YouTube initiative, the Speaker would probably have survived. Remorse and some …
I felt so proud of Ulster this afternoon as our Green MP Sammy Wilson urged MPs to follow where the DUP leads over MPs’ expenses reform. Could the fate of Parliament rest in Sammy’s fragile hands, even for a fleeting moment? The Speaker even remembered his name, which was more than he did for some! But then Sammy was offering support to the Speaker – which is not always the rule for the DUP with Speakers. (Sammy’s Hansard quotes are …
David Cameron has caught the smell of power. He isn’t waiting until or unless he wins power to move into devolved territory. He’s jazzing up the boring old European campaign by ordering his candidates to hawk round a petition to call for an immediate general election. And he’s turning up next week at – guess where? – Ballymena. Will Jim Nicholson hand round the petition to oust Gordon Brown? We should be told. Brian WalkerFormer BBC journalist and manager in …
48 hours is a long time in politics these days, when whole careers are coming to an end in the few minutes it takes to read the Daily Telegraph lead. My prediction that the Speaker would survive today is looking fairly wobbly. The political class is gearing itself for a nice satisfying purgative along the usual pattern of – baying media, MPs’ hysterics, big build up to climax followed by — the collapse of the big moment everyone says with …
Why does the Pope fluff his lines so badly and so often? Or have I got him wrong? As a non-Catholic I see it like this. First of all, the Pope matters: it won’t do to sneer and dismiss. He reaches out to the world and the world should try to understand him – or that part of the world which has an interest the Roman Catholic Church and Christianity as a whole. That’s the deal. Inevitably, all Catholics are …
The frenzy over MPs’ expenses in the UK should pale by comparison with the public reaction in Ireland to the long-awaited report this week of the Commission to inquire into the horrific extent of 60 years of child abuse by Catholic priests and order members. At least it ought to: I expect it will, I’ve only observed the unfolding story from a distance. Or could it be that the public are becoming desensitised by the subject at last? Outrage and …
In a very significant speech in Perth last night, David Cameron made a firm pledge to end the dual mandate of elected representatives if he comes to power. I’ve some personal doubts about the wisdom of a total ban which I’ll explain at the end. Although he was talking of Scotland and made no reference to NI double jobbery, it must follow that Cameron will make up the NI parties’ minds for them on that score. And if Cameron leads, …
In a mysterious way, the authority of a Speaker reflects the effectiveness of a Parliament. That is why MPs face a dilemma over mounting pressure to remove Speaker Martin over his terrible handling of the expenses saga. The office of the Speaker at Westminster is the gold standard, thanks to getting in first. At Stormont, Willie Hay, a junior edition of the Westminster model, has shown he understands the potency of the office. In the interest of the authority of …
To give you the full flavour of the bitterness between the DUP and their prodigal, I post this ranting analysis from former DUP publicist Simon Hamilton. If Jim Allister had remained in the DUP would the party have caned him for his claims? Would he have behaved any differently? “Using figures provided by Jim Allister on his own website, we can deduce that Jim Allister is costing the UK tax-payer in excess of £285,000 per year.” “The rank hypocrisy of …
Is Justice Secretary Jack Straw stealthily about to demolish a bunch of the anti-terrorism laws brought in since 9/11? He gave a hint of it in a speech last Tuesday when he declared: “There is a case for going through all counter terrorism legislation and working out whether we need it. It was there for a temporary period.” He gave no details but there’s bound to be speculation that the government will retreat on the controversial 28 days maximum detention …
At last the Robinsons. We know the big picture but there are a couple of embarrassing details. Peter and Iris Robinson who have always spend most of their time in Northern Ireland are a high maintenance couple. Along with two children, they resemble a family business, an SME ( a small or medium enterprise). Mr Robinson, the MP for East Belfast who has also been the First Minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly since June last year, and his wife, …
A magisterial verdict on the MPs’ expenses scandal is delivered from leading political scientist Vernon Bogdanor ( who it so happens, was David Cameron’s politics tutor but is not parti pris). Mr Brown, “is not to blame for the greed – the person responsible for filling more boots than Imelda Marcos is Margaret Thatcher”, says a former MP with a long memory. The cost of furniture, gardening, swimming pools and horse manure should be paid by MPs from their salaries. …
I normally deplore expletives but on this one, I can’t think of anything else to say. Why doesn’t that bombastic bully O’Leary stop inflicting torture on his customers, do the honest thing and just put up the fares? Ryanair is to start charging customers to check in online. The no-frills airline said that check-in for all its flights booked after May 20 would be by website only and that passengers must pay £5 to do so. Passengers without a printer …
