ZoomClouds: John Redwood MP for Wokingham

... seeking a mortgage, and a more difficult time for those with a variable rate mortgage, facing higher interest payments as a result. Today Parliament will be debating mortgages on a Liberal Democrat motion. The LDs have been saying for some time that people in the UK have borrowed too muc...

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...

Yesterday in Parliament, John Redwood asked the Foreign Secretary how he intends to police the protests when the Olympic torch comes to London. The exchange, taken from Hansard, follows. Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): When issuing instructions on the policing for the progress of the Olym...

... it was just about a common market, which would create and guarantee more jobs for the UK. We were told that our sovereignty was not at risk, that our Parliament could continue to make the main decisions for our country. This very one sided presentation of the case began the long tension be...

It™s April 9th and there™s frost on the ground. Once again there is no Parliament to go to, as Parliament has been sent away for another fortnight off. It means we cannot cross examine Ministers on falling house prices, the continuing credit crunch, the IMF downgrade of their UK economic f...

Mugabe and his cronies are moving quickly now to undermine the legitimacy and possible authority of the recently elected Zimbabwean Parliament. If they persuade the Electoral Commission to overturn just nine of the “Opposition” - now the majority - MDC seats then Mugabe’s peo...

... s they have gained elsewhere and the passions and enthusiasms they bring to the job. Some constituents imply that as the local Member of Parliament, sharing a party with the majority on the local Council, I am just a phone call away from changing anything that the Council is doing. I w...

... stice in England. 1. English people do not want their country balkanised into Euro regions. We do not think you make up for the lack of an English Parliament by offering elected Assemblies for the South East or the North West. Indeed these unelected regional governments throughout England, whic...

... nister that he should have sacked Gordon Brown. I always felt that Tony Blair should have offered Gordon Brown the Foreign Secretaryship in the third Parliament. He could have presented it to him as a necessary broadening of experience before eventually taking over as PM. If Gordon had accepted, it ...

... ection Labour™s vote was well down. The most remarkable thing about the election was the size of the turnout. Normally in a by election to a Parliament where the government has a large majority turnout falls, as voters do not think they can make any difference to the national situation by t...

All this week, Parliament is once again in recess. It may suit the Prime Minister. It gives him a fire-break from all those frantic conversations between MPs about his suitability to remain as Prime Minister, and all those plots about how to get the PM to change his agenda and to understand the moo...

... nt house prices are to consumer confidence and jobs in the UK economy, let alone to voter attitudes. Both subjects were on my agenda in Parliament yesterday. At lunch time HBOS came in to tell any MPs interested what they thought was likely to happen in the UK housing market. Last time...

... ight bulbs were burning away. I suggested they turned them off but to no avail. It was the same yesterday at another government/industry meeting in Parliament where all the lights were on on a sunny day. The private sector is cutting its fuel use because it has to cut its costs. When will Westmi...

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 ...

... readers of the top sixty political blogs in the UK and Total Politics magazine. John Redwood™s blog was voted the best blog produced by a Member of Parliament. The full results will be published in the œGuide to Political Blogging in the UK 2008-2009, which is published on the 5th September. J...

... en by Russia as a green light to supporting independent states out of Georgia™s regions? How can he belong to a government which set up a Scottish Parliament which now wants a vote on Scottish independence, and yet argue that people should not be allowed to change their states if they wish? He i...

The Chancellor™s devastating interview shows we need a Parliamentary statement on Monday to give us a completely new set of forecasts for the UK economy. Parliament should be in session to cross examine him over one of the biggest downward revisions to forecasts ever made by an incumbent Chancello...

The Chancellorâ¬¢s devastating interview shows we need a Parliamentary statement on Monday to give us a completely new set of forecasts for the UK economy. Parliament should be in session to cross examine him over one of the biggest downward revisions to forecasts ever made by an incumbent Chancel...

... by Russia as a green light to supporting independent states out of Georgiaâ¬¢s regions? How can he belong to a government which set up a Scottish Parliament which now wants a vote on Scottish independence, and yet argue that people should not be allowed to change their states if they wish? He i...

... eaders of the top sixty political blogs in the UK and Total Politics magazine. John Redwoodâ¬¢s blog was voted the best blog produced by a Member of Parliament. The full results will be published in the â¬ÓGuide to Political Blogging in the UK 2008-2009â¬, which is published on the 5th September....

I am publishing later this morning some delayed government answers to questions I tabled when we last had a Parliament in this country, which show a jump in the numbers taking early retirement from different government departments. It reminded me that in some cases now we have pay three times ove...

... hem announce a buy up plan for unloved mortgages. The US Congress, which is allowed to meet, will be passing emergency legislation next week. The UK Parliament has been prevented from meeting throughout this summer’s crisis and remains uninformed of the government’s latest forecasts and...

The events of the last few days are spooky. Parliament remains on holiday. We learn from the BBC Business correspondent that the Bradford and Bingley share price has fallen a lot and they are looking at “solutions”. We hear that the PM has not ruled out nationalisation, and it is...

... day in London at the House of Commons, which includes lunch with John Redwood and a tour of the Palace of Westminster, followed by a chance to watch Parliament in action. The John Redwood Cup is engraved with the winners™ names and presented to the school for the year. The winning school also rec...

... he authorities did it. I have long argued there can be no such thing as a truly independent Bank or Monetary Policy Committee in a democracy. Parliament - or Congress and President - can leave an “independent” body free to do these things as long as they like. However, this freed...

... off us in taxes, gives the money to the banks, who then might lend some of it back to us for interest and a fee if we are lucky. Yesterday in Parliament I pointed out to the Chancellor that the 3 banks he is considering buying shares in have combined balance sheets of £3 trillion. Yes, £3 tr...

... ater to get the job done. These amendments are not being abandoned because there is no time. It must be because the government does not want Parliament to debate them, and wants constituents wishes thwarted when they write to us for changes to the law. They should tell us why they are again...

... rnment debt issue, so it is hands on in the money markets as it used to be. I therefore intend to restore these powers as soon as possible. I believe Parliament will welcome this move. It was clear that in the good days the Bank did not see enough of the business to realise that the commercial banks...

... rnment debt issue, so it is hands on in the money markets as it used to be. I therefore intend to restore these powers as soon as possible. I believe Parliament will welcome this move. We need a strong Bank which is close to the needs and misdeeds of commercial banks, so that it can correct and adj...

Do you remember Gordon Brown on coming to power telling us he would take Parliament more seriously and make it the centre of our political life? Ministers would report first, and fully to Parliament. So this weekend the government was busily leaking all the contents of the Pre Budget Report a...

Well done to George Osborne for carrying the case for a debate to Parliament and getting us one. Now today 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...

I was pleased to see David Cameron speaking out in the News of the World today concerning the defence of our liberties through Parliament. The silence of the Prime Minister is eerie. I seem to remember him telling us he wished to re-estabish Parliament at the centre of our political life. We a...

... Government to re-visit the banking package and also look again at the regulatory framework in order to get credit flowing again. He also called for Parliament to be given greater opportunity to hold the Government to account, and consider the laws and statutory instruments which they intend to pus...

... o called topical debates to highlight the issues that we think are topical, she has failed to get many of her colleagues to make their statements to Parliament first, and in some cases has failed to get statements or debates at all. It is difficult to have much confidence in a Leader of the House w...

Once again our part time Parliament had to rush the task in hand. Only three hours was allowed yesterday for the debate about the public’s right to know what its government is doing. There was no chance of being called for many MPs wanting to speak, and even interventions were strongly ra...

... I have to be at one of my regular Business breakfasts, when I brief local business people on the current economic situation and relevant matters from Parliament. My office explained this to the Post Office, and said it would be better to come early, or failing that later after breakfast, or some oth...