gdp's Comments

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : John Redwood: Cabinet ratings have taken a tumble. My analysis of what's behind the figures.

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 08:51:38 +0000

Indeed. Few people know him well, because much of his personality is an act. But those who do - former teachers, former employers, former colleagues, former partners, and his current children - have long been numbered among his harshest critics.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : John Redwood: Cabinet ratings have taken a tumble. My analysis of what's behind the figures.

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 08:05:43 +0000

Why I broke with Boris Johnson - A devastating indictment of the Prime Minister from one of his former allies and Downing Street advisers. “ https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/06/... “ . Key talents had been reshuffled out of the cabinet because they had committed the sin of independent-mindedness. The top table was left with a very middle-ranking membership. Ministerial special advisers who dared to differ had been dispatched and years of hard-won experience lost in the process. MPs learned that messages to the Prime Minister needed to be effusive to have much hope of a reply. More often than not, any critical messages – how- ever constructively worded – were greeted with silence.” “ the team inside today’s No 10 has often preferred to greet internal dissent with retribution – much of it pre-briefed to favoured journalists. ” “ I could see the car crash coming and I couldn’t bear to be part of it.” “.. his former wife, Marina..was his anchor and, despite everything, had been for most of his adulthood“ “Many MPs...no longer believe in the Prime Minister in the way they did”

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : John Redwood: Cabinet ratings have taken a tumble. My analysis of what's behind the figures.

Thu, 11 Jun 2020 07:05:25 +0000

It is striking how very quickly this government has turned into a failing one. Montgomerie's just published article sets out some of what is going on behind the scenes. Meanwhile, after a confident start, and with the benefit of the Italian experience to learn from, we have sunk slowly down the league table of successful performance against the virus, and now have more population-adjusted deaths than any other major country, including Italy, Spain and the US.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Bernard Jenkin: For their strategy to work, Ministers will need more than double the number of trace

Mon, 25 May 2020 06:43:25 +0000

I invite you to have another look at the UK v Italian position.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Darren Grimes: In defence of Cummings

Mon, 25 May 2020 06:40:31 +0000

Not the strongest of grounds on which to try and build an argument. It appears rules are just for ordinary people.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Bob Seely: What the Isle of Wight has learned from trialling the NHS's Coronavirus App

Wed, 20 May 2020 07:11:27 +0000

No. We've been told it requires "significant contact". They haven't given any specific details but I expect this aspect is being tested and tweaked during the island trial.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Bob Seely: What the Isle of Wight has learned from trialling the NHS's Coronavirus App

Wed, 20 May 2020 06:49:41 +0000

Some good points here. But the statement "With this number of downloads, we can expect there to be meaningful suppression of the virus" doesn't, in itself, make any sense. Reporting symptoms via the App is simply a substitute for reporting symptoms in some other way (including via the earlier widely publicised Covid symptom App). This new App only makes a difference when prior contacts of an infected (or symptomatic) person are contacted and isolated ahead of time. The fact that Seely uses the formulation "we can expect" indicates that either this hasn't happened yet, or he doesn't know.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Bernard Jenkin: For their strategy to work, Ministers will need more than double the number of trace

Thu, 14 May 2020 06:41:29 +0000

You are making my point. Having just two major countries worse than us and the US, with very many much better, is hardly a good outcome. Watch the trend. The Americans were consoling themselves that the per population data was worse in Italy - until it wasn't. Our absolute total is already higher than Italy and our relative total is gaining fast. Italy and Spain took it early and had less warning. We had their experience to learn from.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Bernard Jenkin: For their strategy to work, Ministers will need more than double the number of trace

Wed, 13 May 2020 06:30:31 +0000

It’s not about weakness, it’s about lack of clarity. Matt Lucas had it nailed. Making a Prime Ministerial address to the nation while the policy was still being written (and re-written) was dumb. We appear to be in a similar position to the US, still clinging to our assumption of national superiority while the emerging picture from the data is that both Britain and America are doing the worst.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Carlaw elected new Leader of the Scottish Conservatives

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 17:29:39 +0000

Who?

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle 2) Iain Dale: It's a scandal that Housing is now on its tenth Minister in ten years.

Fri, 14 Feb 2020 08:36:51 +0000

So he's going to spend a long time in therapy, commit multiple crimes, have affairs with some dodgy women, and - as the police close in on his associates and his colleagues turn against him - things will suddenly go all black?

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 13:23:29 +0000

It's always been said that beneath his bluster and shtick he is fundamentally insecure.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 12:45:28 +0000

It's about removing anyone who might say, "hang on, we haven't got the money".

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 12:43:58 +0000

It's all about Yes People, now. And spending.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 11:53:29 +0000

Perhaps your idea of what is conservative might be a tad behind the times.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 11:48:01 +0000

I think we'll find that Boris doesn't feel constrained by the nature of his mandate, since he's not even constrained by his own promises.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 11:33:56 +0000

I fear he's morphing into one of those essentially insecure people who doesn't like to be challenged by capable independent members of his team?

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 10:54:47 +0000

Well, he can only choose from those available.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : Reshuffle Live Blog - As the reshuffle winds down, the new Johnson Cabinet in full

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 10:29:00 +0000

Boris now has the political capital to cut out some of the leaver dead wood and move towards more centrist Cameronian politics.

http://www.conservativehome.com/ : WATCH: The Prime Minister announces that HS2 will proceed

Wed, 12 Feb 2020 09:43:05 +0000

The dome was a disaster as a public sector project and only became a commercial success when the initial losses were written off within the public sector and the venue turned over to a private company. If you have been anywhere near that cable car you will know that it is basically a visitor attraction and otherwise runs back and forth mostly empty.