[PDF file]: […] him revealing a London-based Soviet spy circle. These came from Czech defector Josef Frolik.2 3 Teacher observed that in February 1979, two weeks after Thatcher’s election as Conservative leader, a House of Lords debate on ‘Subversive and Extremist Elements’, initiated by Lord Chalfont, aired the Frolik allegations.2 4 Josten was a member of the […]
[PDF file]: […] experience on her part, Mattinson lacks a certain perspective while making many of her otherwise correct points. The role of the SDP in disastrously splitting the anti- Conservative vote in 1983 and 1987 is not mentioned at all; nor are the very real difficulties for any major political party, led by even the most […]
[PDF file]: […] countries’. Bryant goes on to make the point that ‘Parliament doesn’t work if you can’t rely on ministers to tell the truth’. (pp 121-123) Of course, the Conservative governments that have been in power since 2010 hardly have a monopoly as far as lying and dishonesty is concerned – a point we shall return […]
[…] than others’. Bryant provides some examples: ‘Meller Designs, which was co-owned by David Meller, who had backed Michael Gove’s bid for leader and donated £60,000 to the Conservative Party, was referred by Gove and won £164 million in Covid contracts’.5 There was Greg Hands who ‘passed on a recommendation . . . which led […]
[PDF file]: […] of bitter Brexit arguments, it leaves behind an EU that would have been very different without it.5 The distancing that took place over time occurred because the Conservative Party stepped back from other political alliances in Europe and identified itself as representing a nationalistic position, spurning political allies. Far from the EU setting itself […]
[PDF file]: The Never Trumpers Never Trump: The Revolt of the Conservative Elites Robert P Saldin and Steven M Teles Oxford University Press, 2020, £21.99 (h/b) Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy David Frum New York: Harper, 2020, $28.99 (h/b) Gaslighting America: Why We Love It When Trump Lies to Us Amanda Carpenter New York: HarperCollins (Broadside Books), […]
[PDF file]: […] as Chief Secretary of the Treasury in 2010, left the ‘no money left’ note to his successor,1 0 words that have helped Chancellor George Osborne and the Conservative party to frame the assault on Labour’s economic record ever since. Draper’s alma mater, the University of Manchester, was the setting for another electoral defeat for […]
[PDF file]: […] pinned on the burgeoning punk scene. Alas, Rhoda Dakar (later lead singer in The Bodysnatchers) recalls ‘Joe Strummer talked in slogans’; Paul Weller proclaimed he would vote Conservative at the next election;4 Malcolm McLaren was too obviously a hustler; Ian Dury and John Lydon were, in different ways, unpredictable. This left Tom Robinson (who […]
[…] apparently come before the national interest – and the interests of the armed forces. Also reflecting on Iraq ten years on was erstwhile MI6 officer and now Conservative MP Rory Stewart, who took part in the invasion/occupation. Stewart concluded: ‘The question for Britain is what aspect of our culture, our government, and our national […]
[PDF file]: […] indeed the only popular politician, in Britain today. He is regarded by many commentators as by far the strongest contender to be the next leader of the Conservative Party, a prospect that most senior Conservatives regard with horror. He might well be our first pantomime prime minister. How has this British Berlusconi, this peculiar […]
