Chris Whiteside for the North

"Liberals are not the only ones who suffer from blurred vision. But we are especially prone to wishful thinking." Self-confessed liberal  Alan Catzeflis  in an article about the US election result which you can read  here. For the avoidance of doubt I have published this quote because I found Catzeflis's views interesting, not because it represents my own, There was an awful lot of wishful thinking from most of those people on all parts of the political spectrum who were hoping for a different result in that election. The word "liberal" should also be treated with great caution because it can mean diametrically opposite things on different sides of the Atlantic - in Britain to call someone an "economic liberal" usually means that they believe in free markets and a small state while in the USA it usually means the exact reverse. I do think that many people on what you might call the liberal left, on both sides of the Atlantic, are indeed especially pron

"This, then, is the time for European leaders to take responsibility for their own defence. Sir Keir Starmer should waste no time in announcing a major increase in defence spending. Last week’s Budget is already out of date. The idea that Britain’s armed forces should be further reduced is for the birds. At the very least, the Prime Minister should announce that the UK will immediately move to 2.5 per cent of GDP — a figure for which Rachel Reeves gave no firm timetable. Right now, Poland (a poorer country) is spending twice as much on defence as the Starmer government has even talked about. The Poles have the example of Winston Churchill to heart, while British politicians sound more like Neville Chamberlain. Sir Keir must move fast not only to reassure our Nato allies that Britain is standing firm, but that Ukraine too can count on increased military support. It is vital at this critical moment to send a clear signal to Moscow that the West is not falling apart. On the contrary,

No party which suffered the sort of defeat the Conservatives went though earlier this year can afford to complacently assume that it is coasting back to power on the basis of a couple of polls with tiny leads, well within the margin of error - no matter how hard the new government is straining every sinew to make everyone who voted for them regret it and has notched up the largest and most catastrophic precipitous drop in support in polling history. Nevertheless, the first poll of Kemi Badenoch's leadership does show a lead over Labour. The Independent reports that "the Conservatives have taken a two-point poll lead over Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in Kemi Badenoch’s first week as leader. The new Tory leader has taken the party to 29 per cent of the vote, according to pollsters More in Common, with Labour behind on just 27 per cent. It is the highest rating for the Conservatives since February. It marks a remarkable fall from grace for Labour, which in July was elected to

 

I have just taken part in a very well attended commemoration for Remembrance Sunday in the centre of Egremont. This is not a day for scoring political points: I discussed how well attended the commemoration was with one of the Labour councillors in Egremont and we were both pleased to see so many people old and young and from such a wide variety of community groups and backgrounds there. My wife and I will be attending another ceremony later today at Moor Row memorial at 1pm. We won't have to use the car to get to that one - it's 20 seconds walk from the front door of our flat! As a quote for today here is the Kohima epitaph:

  What is it with Labour governments? The first thing they always do  - is  slam pensioners in the kidneys With Gordon Brown and Tony Blair it was a £5 billion a year raid on pension funds which, as was accurately described by the late Frank Field, one of the few Labour MPs I ever had any time for, transformed Britain from having some of the best-funded peNsions in Europe to one of the worst. With Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, it was adopting a policy on pensions which Labour themselves had argued in opposition would lead to 3,850 pensioner deaths each winter.   The second thing they always do  -  is  bash the countryside With Tony Blair it was crippling policies on small farms combined with the ideological application of a rigid approach to country spots which showed a grave lack of understanding of the countryside. With Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, it's a tax and inheritance policy which appears guaranteed to result in the break-up or closure of hundreds of family-ru

 

David Williams is political editor of the Sunday Express. Here are some extracts from his article today on the election of the new Conservative leader. "Britain’s most enthusiastic Tories this morning crowded into the elegant basement of a grand events venue around the corner from Trafalgar Square for the announcement of their new party leader. The venue – 8 Northumberland Avenue – says on its website that it strives to deliver “‘wow’ moments”. And the election of Kemi Badenoch as the new leader of the Conservative party counts as one. Her fans jumped to their feet and whooped when she was named as the winner by Bob Blackman, the chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench MPs. The Tories have their fourth woman leader. And they will take delight in pointing out that Labour has yet to have one. As someone who spent much of her childhood in Nigeria, she delights in making the argument that Britain is a unique country that should be proud of its past and excited about its future. To

I was pleased to see that Kemi Badenoch, for whom I voted, has been elected Conservative leader. On a turnout of 72.% of eligible Conservative members she won by 53,806 votes to 43,801. Here is an extract from the statement by the returning officer:

"I don't want to repeat a budget like this ever again" Chancellor Rachel Reeves , quoted in the "i" newspaper Funnily enough, ten million pensioners and millions of taxpayers,  especially farmers and those running other businesses large or small,  don't want her to ever repeat a budget like this again either.

 A BMG Research survey for i shows that just a quarter of the public feel positive about the Government’s first Budget this week, with 40 per cent disapproving of the package set out by Rachel Reeves. You can read the i report by clicking on the link just below:   Tories lead in polls for first time in three years after Budget . The poll also found that  "Voters are much more likely to say that the measures announced by the Chancellor will leave them worse off, than say that they will benefit from the higher spending funded by tax rises and borrowing." Other findings included: Sir Keir Starmer’s personal ratings have suffered, reaching a new low of net -26, with only 23 per cent of the public approving of his performance in office compared with 49 per cent dissatisfied. This was also the first voting intention poll for three years to show a Conservative lead, although only by 1% which is within the statistical margin of error. Robert Struthers of BMG said:  “Our post-Budget p

Received on WattsApp from a contact who I don't think I'll name, who has just been on a briefing about the budget impact from a firm of accountants in Northern England. He described it as, "Very downbeat, you can tell it wasn't going to be upbeat when the head accountant called the Chancellor 'Rachel Thieves.' "

 Happy Diwali to all those celebrating the Festival of Light today

One of the most common things said to people like who are involved in politics is variations on "You're all the same." You cannot ask for more conclusive evidence that Britain's political parties are not all the same than yesterday's budget. To deal with the financial consequences of the pandemic, the last government had already had to reluctantly raise taxes to historically high levels, much higher than we would have liked. Despite promises from Labour during the election that they would not raise taxes on "working people," they hit everyone in Britain yesterday with even higher taxes, including both the biggest tax  rise in British history and the highest tax burden in British history (including wartime.) This at the same time that, despite Labour promises to cut energy prices, those energy prices are actually going up, and bashing pensioners with a measure that Lsboiur themselves in opposition said woiuld result in nearly 4,000 pensioners a year liter

It anyone happens to be reading this who lives in the Kirkby Stephen & Tebay ward of Westmorland & Furness, can I remind you that there is a by-election tomorrow. Can I also recommend the experienced and hard-working Conservative candidate Pat Bell, 

 Today we had a budget which kicked pensioners in the teeth and business somewhere even less pleasant. One or two of the measures, such as the increase in the minimum wage and the increase in NHS spending, may well be popular. Taken out of context they may even be beneficial. The problem with this budget is a catastrophic lack of balance. And what it proves about the present leadership of the Labour party is that you cannot believe a word they say. Here are a few of more than 50 times Labour said during the election they had no plans to raise taxes They’ve just broken that promise in their Budget of Broken Promises. If the increase in the minimum wage had been implemented on its' own as a standalone policy most businesses could probably have afforded it and it might well have done more good by rewarding those who are working hard than harm by pricing jobs out of existence. Similarly the big increase in worker's rights could probably have been afforded on it's own. But here&

 It was wrong for comedian Tony Hinchcliffe to refer to Puerto Rico a  "floating island of garbage"  at a Trump rally over the weekend. The remark was rightly condemned by a number of people on both sides of US politics including at least two elected Republicans. US congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar said she was  "disgusted " by the  "racist comment" . She said on X that it did not  "reflect the GOP values" , referring to the Republican Party, and noted thousands of Puerto Ricans served in the military. US Senator Rick Scott said:  "The joke bombed for a reason. It's not funny and it's not true."  He added that  "Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans ". Nor was it clever for the current US President Joe Biden to criticise Hinchcliffe in terms which when spoke aloud could very easily sound as if he was calling Trump supporters garbage. What the Democrats are saying he said was,  "The only garbage

Remember that British Summer Time in the UK comes to an end tonight and the country goes back to Greenwich Mean Time. Tonight in the UK and indeed in most of Europe, the clocks go back an hour. So in the UK at 3am, it jumps back to a second 2am. Here is a handy guide to putting your clocks back tonight:

"Only three brief months since the 2024 general election and already we can safely consign pretty much everything Labour had to say abut tax during the campaign to the dustbin of history." ( Andrew Neil begins an newspaper article which you can read in full below)

 The third and final phase of the redevelopment of the West Cumberland hospital, all built and equipped with funding agreed and provided during the 2010 to 2024 Conservative led governments, has been opened by the Princess Royal. The new facilities include a therapy gym, a courtyard with access to a 'challenge path' and a kitchen to prepare patients for returning home after a stay in hospital. Princess Anne unveiled the plaque and was invited to sign the visitor book which had previously been signed by her grandmother Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother when she first opened West Cumberland Hospital in 1964 and King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, when he visited the hospital in 2010. Steven Morgan, Chair of North Cumbria Integrated Care (NCIC) NHS Foundation Trust said,  “We are delighted that the Princess Royal, as Patron of the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, has officially opened this fantastic new facility in Whitehaven today. "It’s a great step forward and

  “Nelson’s famous signal before the Battle of Trafalgar was not: “England expects that every man will be a hero.” It said: “England expects that every man will do his duty.”  In 1805 that was enough.  It should still be.” Johan Huizinga

  "Starmer said whatever he thought would get him elected and is now reneging on it: prepare for the biggest tax raid in history." (Andre4w Neil, in a Daily Mail piece which you can read in full at: ANDREW NEIL: Starmer said whatever he thought would get him elected and is now reneging on it: prepare for the biggest tax raid in history | Daily Mail Online 0

Ballot papers are being posted out, beginning today, to Conservative party memberes to choose between the final two candidates put forward by MPs for the party leadership, Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick. Ballot papers must be returned, physically or electronically, by 5pm on 31st October.

James Cleverly topped the poll in the latest vote of MPs for the Conservative leadership election. Votes were cast as follows: James Cleverly:           39 Robert Jenrick             31 Kemi Badenoch           30 Tom Tugendhat            20 This means that Tom Tugendhat leaves the race and the other three candidates go forward to the final ballot of MPs later this week. The top two candidates in that vote will go forward to a ballot of Conservative party members. The winner will be announced on 2nd November. All the candidates displayed different strengths and different visions last week but I thought that James Cleverly gave far and away the strongest performance at party conference. He was the only one with the courage to apologise for the things we as a party got wrong, to talk seriously about how to address them and learn from our mistakes, and he put forward the most positive vision for our country and our party. For that reason I decided on Friday to back James Cleverly and I am