ZoomClouds: John Redwood MP for Wokingham

Today a Labour led Parliament will approve the second reading of a Bill to allow detention without trial for 42 days. Labour in office have turned out to be the new authoritarians, keen to overturn English liberties established over the long centuries of our forefathers’ struggle for freedom...

... tish-French alliance, as a strong and integrated EU is more SNP than English Eurosceptic. Gordon Brown followed that diversion with an address to the Labour Scottish Conference, reminding us all of the important Scottish influence over current UK policy. Maybe this will bring forward the day when L...

... ing the European Economic Community in Rome. This document has bedevilled UK politics ever since. It was the subject of a referendum in 1975, when a Labour government asked the UK people if they wished to remain within the framework of this Treaty. The government led by Harold Wilson recommended a ...

Let me wind you up this morning, by supporting a Labour Minister who is thought to have made a gaffe. Jim Knight dared to say he saw a very good lesson being taught by a charismatic teacher to a large class “ I think he may have said as many as 70 pupils. He did not say he wanted all classes to b...

How many Labour MPs thought it would come to this? Many of them wanted Gordon Brown with a passion, preferring his more socialist approach to Tony Blair™s Third way ambiguity. Many of them thought he was too decisive and powerful to be stopped. Even the minority of loyal Blairites who privately pre...

On Monday 27th April 1992 the House of Commons elected its first woman Speaker, Betty Boothroyd. I was a rare government Minister voting for a Labour Speaker. I did so because I thought it time a good woman candidate should have the job after 700 years of men, and thought it important that Labour ...

... do not want lower taxes. We have been told that whenever asked, people would rather have better public services. Therein lies the problem. For years Labour, the pollsters and others in the political world have lectured people that there is a choice “ you either have lower taxes or you have better s...

... was as follows: Conservative 58.2% Lib Dem 28.5% Others 13.3% (BNP,Green.Labour,UKIP) I would like to thank all those who voted, and all who worked hard as candidates and helpers for all the parties - th...

The following draft would be suitable for a brave Labour adviser to send to our Prime Minister at bay: To Prime Minister From Senior Political Adviser When I last wrote to you I praised your early statements in favour of strengthening our democracy and listening to the publ...

If Labour want to finish themselves off, they should press on with the Bin Tax. It will be the ultimate parody of their style of government. It means probing into the messy detail of every family™s life, literally rummaging through their garbage to find out what they are up to. It will require came...

The Prime Minister tells us he will do whatever it takes to save the Union. He should begin by remembering that it was the Labour government he supported which put through lop sided devolution for Scotland, and half hearted devolution for Wales. Far from saving the Union, as advertise...

... t have thought it could not get worse for the Prime Minister, we enter the battle of the memoirs. Reading the press this week-end, it is as if senior Labour figures feel they need to speed their stories to the papers whilst the two words œGordon and œBrown are still high news. Labour figures have ...

... ot just to new cars, to put people off buying the larger and sportier vehicles, but also to older cars where there is no such element of choice. Even Labour MPs now see how unpopular this could prove to be when it comes into effect next year. If you own a car which emits 161-165 grams of carbon p...

... stick by his principles over 42 days detention without trial. Which principles might these be, and how can they be reconciled with the traditions of Labour down the years? Is the principle that he now intends to be decisive? In which case, why are his Chief Whip and Home Secretary busily going roun...

This government™s answer to every problem is to make it dearer and blame someone else. Only the rich can afford to live under Labour. Today we have the ultimate irony, that they now think the way to deal with food price inflation is to make it dearer, by appealing to the supermarket...

The Parliamentary recess is a symbol and a symptom of the overmanned and under achieving public sector. Some of my Labour colleagues will tell you that MPs have to work very hard in the recess “ they have to catch up with all the constituency business which the pressure of a Westminster ...

... own years the Chancellor/PM has applied an iron law to the Opposition - they must speak no tax cuts and no spending increases. If they venture either Labour reserves the right to list the worst kind of spending cuts to “pay” for them, as no “unfunded” spending increases and t...

Rail is the Cinderella who came to the ball, but made such a mess of her attendance. Labour spent the first few years in office praising the results of privatisation. It turned the industry round from decline to rising use, seeing good growth in both freight and passengers. A couple of bad crashes...

... ir action group. They feel forced to behave like this, competing for the attention and money of Ministers in this heavily centralised top down system Labour has devised. Too much rests on the decisions of just a few people at the top, in the Ministry, and in NICE. The government has...

What I said to The Sunday Telegraph was if Labour wanted to get back to their budget plans they had to stop spending money like water and cut out waste and less desirable spending. They are going to need an emergency package to put right all the damage they are doing by wasting and borrowing too m...

... European elecitons because UKIP will demand a referendum on Lisbon. Why is it right wing to want to ask the people about such a crucial matter? Was Labour and were the Lib Dems being unacceptably right wing when they promsied one in the last General Election? Did they become left wing when they ra...

... deals. These need to be evaluated, and their true liabilities and costs put into the public accounts. 2. Green taxes have been given a bad name by Labour, and are now seen as Stealth taxes by the public. The public does not want more of them. 3. The current large deficit will cast a long shadow...

... r “ solvency and liquidity. In other words making sure financial institutions have enough assets and enough cash to do their jobs. I am fed up with Labour™s pathetic attempts to play politics with the issue of the banking crisis. They want to suggest I was wrong and made the problem worse by sayin...

The reaction to Barclays has told us a lot about the agenda of Vince Cable and some Labour figures. They clearly want the taxpayer to end up owning more banks. Their anger that Barclays have paid more to keep their freedom, tells us the UK taxpayer is getting a rotten deal from the proposed...

We have seen a £2.7billion emergency package to deal with the problems of Labour’s tax reforms, and the announcement of new aircraft carriers. This time round there is the £37 billion financing package for RBS, HBOS and its possible new partner, Lloyds. The government will tell you t...

I am glad that the sick joke of Mr Ross has a good outcome - both Labour and the Conservatives now think pay is out of control at the BBC. This state pensioner needs to gain some financial discipline quickly, so the licence payer gets better value for the money we are forced to pay. The large num...

... ilures. My youth was disfigured by the cruel experiment in the Soviet bloc. They thought that comprehensive nationalisation, direction of labour, state planning and the denial of the market would cut out the waste of competitive capitalism and the injustices of the markets. Their experim...

The BBC are up to their usual games, seeking to undermine a top Tory. Conservative supporters should ask themselves why Labour, Mr Mandelson and the BBC are so keen to foment the Osborne story. It’s because George has a good political mind and is important to Project Cameron. Life would be ...

... stock of debt and pension liabilities of £1800 billion is now increasing with borrowing likely to be north of £120 billion this year alone. Labour’s new lie to anyone who questions so much money being spent on bank shares is the say that they want the banks to go bust. This will doub...

The story about Banco Santander and the UK™s taxpayers £18 billion still has not made it into the press. It just shows you the power of Labour spin, and the cleverness of their media manipulation. The story is there on the Treasury website, hidden but clear to anyone who wants to read it. ...

Yesterday the Governor said enough for Labour to be able to claim he supports an unfunded tax cut - a temporary fiscal stimulus. However, he also warned that borrowing could get out of control. He said if people did not think extra borrowing would be reined in quickly and credibly fears would buil...

... Any Questions. I was pleased to see in the document an emerging view that an incoming Conservative government will not necessarily keep to future Labour spending plans. The more out of touch with financial reality Labour’s plans become, the more important it is that the alternative offers ...

Listening to Rosie Winterton last night on the Any Questions Panel, I became angry about the way Labour handle every criticism and every difficult issue the Opposition and the public put to them. They always assert they are completely right. They refuse to accept there could be any other answer o...

... sector! No wonder most incumbent Western governments are being thrown out or will be thrown out by electors“ The Republicans in the USA and Labour in New Zealand were the first of a whole parade who will pay a price for this gross folly. ndency to grow, so we need to call a halt to the wa...

Yesterday in the Sky debate with Will Hutton I was impressed by Will™s realism. Far from trying to argue the self justifying and unrealistic Labour line, Will concluded: 1. There is a serious banking problem, which has still not been solved or gone away 2. There is a UK government borrowing ...

Yesterday I debated the state of Britain with Hazel Blears and the Young Fabians in a Committee Room at the Commons. Mrs Blears did what Labour now always does. She personalised the whole debate to me. She laced her remarks with personal abuse towards me, and ascribed views to me I have ...

It was good to hear David Cameron saying we need to cut out waste and unwanted expenditure, and good that he now recognises that Labour’s spending plans post 2010 are unaffordable. Labour responded in two contradictory ways. They both lied that Tories would cut jobs in front line services, a...

... we need to show the government how wrong they are to propose a further large increase in borrowing to cut VAT. I am expecting lots more Labour lies, as this budget is not a serious economic policy statement but a trap for the Tories that has misfired. It is a silly political manoeuvre ...

Yesterday in the very short Budget debate we were finally allowed, there were signs of a sensible agreement across the House. Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs united to tell the government it is more important to sort out the banks than to borrow more to reflate. Today in the Telegra...

Labour use the language of fairness all the time. They use the idea of fairness to justify all sorts of limitations on liberty and tax attacks on the many. One of the biggest disappointments and surprises is just how unfair they have turned out to be. I feel a speech coming on like Ne...

... a further tax on motoring. In the latter two cases it was not a marginal decision or a small vote. The feeling was overwhelming, in carefully chosen Labour areas. The people had been beaten up by the Labour propoganda, yet they still voted No. The frustration with governments is now intense...

I read in the Labour press this morning we all need to go out and shop til we drop “ but showing suitable responsibility at the same time. I ventured out this morning to buy a couple of newspapers and some fresh bread. I added seasonal marzipan to my basket so I could ice the Chris...