They Blog For You

               The Barnsley by election might have been a good time for the Eurosceptics to come out and show their strength. After all, the Lib Dems  were not very popular, a Labour victory was always likely, but the cause of  the by election was not a helpful one for the defending party. [...]

                    The tragedy of the Eurosceptic movement continues. The enthusiasts for more EU government delight in the  continued divisions.                   The choice of voting system is important. Eurosceptic Conservatives are sure that keeping first past the post is the best chance of having fair elections which can change governments, and of [...]

             This week’s politics have been dominated by the economy. The GDP figures will lead to further measures to promote growth, and to much more debate about where we are heading. Meanwhile, business on the floor of the Commons has been dominated by the government’s EU Bill.               The Bill was [...]

                  Last week I went to a working lunch with experts from France and the UK on the Euro. I am telling you this so UKIP supporters can add me to their list of apostates who sup with the other side!                 The view from the continent is very different. They [...]

This week Westminster has been preoccupied by possible changes in the voting system. The bill to give the people a referendum vote [...]

Like three shining pinnacles emerging from a sea of dross and doublespeak, three wise men spoke today. Professor Donald Light described the pharmaceutical industry as a "market for lemons" - one in which the seller knows much more than the buyer about the product, and takes advantage of this fact. "Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about [...]

There are UKIP supporters and other strong Eurosceptics who still do not seem to grasp the voting arithmetic and the reality of the modern House of Commons. It is no good writing to me to say you want out of the EU or want major [...]

Some of you took exception to hearing the late Mr Hood described as an armed robber. I did so, as in the accounts and films of Robin Hood that I have seen, taking money off successful local entrepreneurs at arrow point was an important [...]

OK, someone is having a laugh.... Not only have I been trying for months to stop Conservative campaign HQ sending me 'personal' and to be frank, rather over-friendly, emails from David Cameron, George Osborne and Eric Pickles, to both my own email account and to my parliamentary email address.... Latest [...]

Could UKIP supporters explain why it helped to prevent Eurosceptic Conservatives winning in 21 seats, so giving us a a more pro EU Parliament? More importantly, could they explain why their candidate came third [...]

There are three features of the result that I find particularly worrying. The first is once again a largely Eurosceptic country has elected a Parliament with a federalist majority. UKIP played a minor part in again securing this unfortunate outcome by standing against [...]

David Lidington (Conservative)      27, 736         52.2% Liberal Democrat                                         15, 118           28.4% Labour                                                                     6, 695         12.6% UKIP                                                                           3, 613            6.8% Conservative majority                                12, 618         23.8.% Turnout was 68.2%. Because of boundary changes, the 2010 result is not directly comparable with the 2005 result for the Aylesbury constituency. Notional results for Aylesbury in 2005 on the new constituency borders are estimated by the BBC as follows: [...]

I'm delighted to be the first Member of Parliament for 'Thornbury & Yate' - indeed at one stage this evening I was the first Lib Dem MP in the country!The full result was:Steve Webb (Lib Dem) 25032Matthew Riddle (Con) 17916Roxanne Egan (Lab) 3385Jenny Knight (UKIP) 1709It was a great honour [...]

So, nominations are in for Bristol East and there are eight candidates on the ballot paper. Those leaning to the right are spoilt for choice, with the BNP, English Democrats, UKIP, Tories and Lib Dems (well, it is Popham after all), and on the left we have Labour, the Greens [...]

30-30-30 we were told was the scoring at last night’s political X factor show. The Lib Dems and their sympathisers in the media are working hard to say people want a hung Parliament. We are told that floating voters in the audience expressed [...]

Last night the local branch of the NFU held its election hustings at the Kingswell Hotel in Harwell.  As well as me, we had the Green candidate, Labour and for the first time the UKIP candidate.  The Lib Dem candidate was an hour late, so naturally I used his absence [...]

The next three weeks could be crucial for Euroscepticism. The polls make consisently clear that by a huge margin that there is not going to be the UKIP breakthrough that some crave. The new House of Commons composition is still unclear, [...]

I took part in my first TV debate on Sunday.  I am not sure if the viewing figures are yet in, but I doubt we reached 9.9 million.  I was on with Labour's Andrew Smith, the Liberal Democrats' Evan Harris, and UKIP's Nigel Farage.  The audience was allowed to clap, [...]

I've spent the evening listening to political pundits analysing the leaders' debate ad nauseam, so will reserve my words of wisdom for next Thursday's debate, the Sky one, on foreign affairs, which is of course being held in Bristol. Quite where it's taking place, I'm not sure. I did a [...]

Cambridgeshire CC, Wisbech NorthCon 548 (34.8; -6.9)LD Dave Patrick 506 (32.1; +20.0)Lab 287 (18.2; +2.7)UKIP 233 (14.8; -15.9)Majority 42Turnout 21.1%Con holdPercentage change is since June 2009.Fenland DC, Wisbech KirkgateLD Dave Patrick 287 (51.3; +51.3)Con 145 (25.9; -74.1)Lab 74 (13.2; +13.2)UKIP 54 (9.6; +9.6)Majority 142Turnout 31.1%LD gain from ConPercentage change is [...]