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Diary: YouTube gold as BBC query sends Oliver round the twist

Tue, 29 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

A superb video went up on YouTube yesterday, a revelation to anyone who has never witnessed a real life spin-doctor haranguing a journalist.

The Feral Beast: Game, set and match

Sun, 27 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

It was the wedding of the year, for the Chipping Norton set at least. I can disclose that yesterday saw the marriage of the Hon Henry Allsopp to Naomi Gummer at her family home in Oxfordshire. She is the eldest daughter of Lord Chadlington, the PR guru chairman of Huntsworth and brother of ex-Tory minister John Gummer. A lobbyist and close friend of David Cameron, Lord C sold the PM a parcel of land next door to his home in Dean, which Dave forgot to declare last year. The groom is the 38-year-old brother of TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp, and the son of Christie's chairman, Lord Hindlip. His godmother is the Duchess of Cornwall. And, just to complete the circle, Naomi Gummer works at Google under Rachel Whetstone, the wife of Cameron's ex-chief adviser, Steve Hilton. Before Google, she was Jeremy Hunt's parliamentary assistant. Piccolo mondo! Lord Chadlington was rather busy yesterday when I called, and the vicar declined to discuss the guest list. Still, we trust the best man remembered to include the story of Henry's scrape with customs in Bermuda – he was found to be, er, wearing a condom filled with weed.

Diary: Crossed wires make a splash out of Letwin's bin dumping

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Henry Macrory, the former tabloid hack and much-liked spinner for the Tory Party, told a tale of classic misunderstanding at his farewell party in Downing Street.

Luke Blackall: Those Cannes yachts miss no opportunity to be over-the-top

Sat, 26 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Pictures of me aboard yachts in Cannes have been the subject of humour and ridicule among my colleagues this week, and helped disabuse them of any notion that I was doing serious work out there.

Diary: MPs are silenced by a masterpiece of mandarin-speak

Fri, 25 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

To be a successful Whitehall mandarin you need to learn never to lose your cool or rise to provocation, and to make your point without exaggerating. Sir Jeremy Heywood, who has reached the very pinnacle of the civil service, as Cabinet Secretary, exhibited these qualities to the full when questioned by MPs yesterday about Steve Hilton, the recently departed Downing Street adviser and friend of David Cameron, whose farewell gesture was to suggest that 90 per cent of civil servants should be sacked. "The way Steve operates is to challenge, he is a very challenging person," said Sir Jeremy, in classic mandarin speak.

Andy McSmith's Diary: Ed Balls's joy, Campbell's debut at the Bridge, and a game of two halves

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

David Cameron is worried that his displays of bad temper in the Commons are damaging his reputation. He knew he had made a mistake yesterday even before the Speaker, John Bercow, ticked him off for calling Ed Balls a "muttering idiot". That explains the unexpected and graceful apology he offered to Dennis Skinner not long afterwards, for having suggested during their previous exchange that it was time for Skinner, who is 80, to collect his pension.

Diary: What price to dine with the Prime Minister?

Wed, 23 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Donations of £250,000 a year will buy you dinner with David Cameron, the Conservative Party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas told undercover reporters in March. He had to resign as soon as his words – which Mr Cameron described as "completely unacceptable" – appeared in The Sunday Times.

Diary: Mandelson 'backs the wrong horse' – this time in China

Tue, 22 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

It is a shame that the Leveson Inquiry could not have stretched its terms of reference yesterday to take in power politics in China, for that is a subject on which their star witness, Peter Mandelson, might have had some interesting insights.

The Feral Beast: Did Dom reach for the skive?

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The Sun editor Dominic Mohan has maintained a whiter-than-white image since the hacking scandal erupted. So what to make of worrying allegations in a book by ex-News of the World journalist Graham Johnson?

Diary: Council heads to the Orient in hunt for missing £20,000

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

If I were a Kent council tax payer, I would not know whether to laugh or cry over this one. One day in April 2008, the county council leader, Paul Carter, discovered his bank account was almost at its overdraft limit. He wondered why.

Luke Blackall: Cannes isn't just about the beach front parties, you know. There's the yacht ones, too

Sat, 19 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

And so I'm back at the International Festival of Big Yachts and Parties, also known as the Cannes Film Festival. I may sound as if I'm mocking it, but it really is one of the very nicest things about a very nice job that I have been able to come here regularly for the past few years.

Diary: Ashdown - get a life, get a real job... and then enter politics

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Paddy Ashdown, the first leader of the Liberal Democrat party, has remarked on how politics has been taken over by people who have never had a job anywhere else but in politics, giving the strong impression that he does not approve. "The difference with politics today, and politics when I was leader of the Liberal Democrats, is the people working in politics," he said. "I worked in the military. I was involved in business. I have been unemployed twice, working as a voluntary youth worker. Today's politicians have simply only ever been politicians."

Diary: In the Lib Dem heartlands, the disaffected defect

Thu, 17 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

After losing 330 council seats at this month's elections, the Liberal Democrats can scarcely afford to lose any more – but at least five have gone in three days, in parts of the country where they would hope to do well.

Diary: The Tory memoir that carries a whiff of sour grapes

Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Some of the best headlines from the old expenses scandal were provided by a Tory MP, David Heathcoat-Amory, who lost his seat in 2010. It was not that his expenses were outstandingly large. He was one of the rare ones who claimed nothing for mortgage and rent on his second home. But he did claim for maintenance, which was his undoing, because the small print included 19 claims over three years for manure, at a total cost of £388.

Diary: How sandwich celebrations were left with a bitter taste

Tue, 15 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

It saddens me to see that the 250th anniversary of the sandwich has been sullied by a repeat of an old libel against a hard-working public servant. The British Sandwich Association is to blame.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Andy Coulson, Rebekah Brooks and a strange outbreak of mass amnesia

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:11:01 +0100

Amnesia has many potential causes, and some are more obvious than others. In the 1945 noir classic The Lost Weekend, for example, alcoholism robs Ray Milland of recall, but with the 2010 remake shot at Dorneywood, the memory loss is harder to explain.

The Feral Beast: Bin Laden toppled as top Gooner

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

It came to be well known, among Manchester United fans at least, that they had an ally in the Elysee Palace: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is United fan, and I assume he'll be quaffing a couple of pints of pastis down at his local this afternoon with Carla for the game against City.

Diary: Flowers finally lay to rest memory of assassinated PM

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:16 +0100

There was a brief ceremony at the House of Commons yesterday to mark the 200th anniversary of the murder of Spencer Perceval, the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated. In The Daily Telegraph that same morning there was a letter marking the event from Lord Lexden, formerly known as Alistair Cooke, historian of the Conservative Party.

Luke Blackall: I'm all for pies, pop-ups and "squatter" restaurants

Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

I hate to see empty buildings in the centre of London. It's not just the houses, flats and apartments that could house entire communities, but also those places that could provide exciting bars, restaurants and galleries for that community.

Diary: Obsessed by gay marriage? Look who's talking, David Davies

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:57:01 +0100

Another Tory MP has followed the intrepid Nadine Dorries in warning David Cameron that he is in danger of the sack. David Davies, MP for Monmouth (not to be confused with the better known former minister David Davis), has told his local newspaper, the South Wales Argus: "David Cameron needs to change his tack very rapidly, otherwise he's not going to be in position for very long."

Diary: Cameron's radical desires give way to return of the quangocrats

Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

David Cameron and his ministers like to talk the talk of radical reformers, but yesterday's Queen's Speech was evidence that two years in power has taught them just how difficult it is to change anything much.

Diary: Did Ed Miliband's failure of nerve cost Labour the mayoral contest?

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

As the Labour Party contemplates why it lost the London mayoral election when everything else was going so well, the campaign organisers have insisted it was not for lack of effort by the door-knocking foot soldiers, who squeezed every last vote they could from an indifferent electorate.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Naydee-een wants to do for SamCam's man

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Could it be that tomorrow's historians will date our politics' final descent into its satirico-nihilist phase to the moment the member for Mid-Beds became a vaguely serious player? Nadine Dorries's musings are now respectfully treated by newspapers, and her latest revenge on David Cameron for that nasty sexual jibe about her being "frustrated" saw Nadine starring in the Mail on Sunday.

The Feral Beast: Dust-up is more than academic

Sun, 06 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

As bookish spats go, it's a hum-dinger. Historian Tom Holland has lashed out after his acclaimed new book was demolished by American academic Glen Bowersock in yesterday's Guardian.

Diary: When PR goes bad: UKIP aide sorry for Twitter rant at Warsi

Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Baroness Warsi, who may soon be the ex-chairman of the Conservative Party, picked up a curious but meaningless fact and gave it air time on live television.

Luke Blackall: Curtis tips an unlikely hat to Animal House

Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The question "what's your favourite film?" is an awful one. Try it as an ice-breaker, and it can have the opposite effect, paralysing conversation as one scrambles around for a single, definitive answer.

Diary: Bad news for libel lawyers is good news for free speech

Fri, 04 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Two of the most notorious libel cases of modern times have involved defendants called Singh. Singh 1 was Simon Singh, an author and journalist who was sued by the British Chiropractic Association over an article that criticised what he described as bogus practices. After the case had dragged on for two years, three law lords warned that "this litigation has almost certainly had a chilling effect on public debate which might otherwise had assisted potential patients".

Diary: The candidate even UKIP found too embarrassing

Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Steve Moxon was a Home Office civil servant who won plaudits five years ago when he sacrificed his career to reveal that the immigration service in Sheffield had been asked to "fast track" applications by migrants from East Europe. A month after Mr Moxon blew the whistle, the Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes resigned.

Diary: A freedom too late for the Enigma code-breaker

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

In a small but important step towards redressing past wrongs, the Protection of Freedoms Act, which passed into law yesterday, means that men with convictions for consensual gay sex, or those who have been maliciously convicted of "loitering with intent", can have the convictions expunged from the record.

Diary: Councillor reaches new high with cannabis tourism drive

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Ben Duncan, a Green Party councillor and member of the Sussex Police Authority, has thought of a way to get Brighton's tourist trade on to a new high.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Who's just the man to replace Jeremy Hunt? Why, it's John Whittingdale, of course!

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

With Jeremy Hunt's hold on his post loosening hourly, melancholy contemplation of his successor becomes a painful duty. So thanks to the Mail on Sunday's Brendan Carlin for this tip: "Tory insiders expect John Whittingdale, respected chairman of the Commons culture [media and sport] committee, to replace Mr Hunt if he is forced to quit."

The Feral Beast: Model of forgiveness

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

While we've all been fine-tuning our opinions of Rupert Murdoch in the light of his performances at the Leveson inquiry, many of his former compatriots retain a robust scepticism about the old boy. One such is artist Tony Sowersby, who entered the above offering, A Marriage of Convenience, for Australia's Bald Archy satire competition. It features James and Rupert Murdoch and model Elle McPherson, a victim of News International phone-hacking but who found it in her heart to forgive. Sowersby was quoted in Australia recently as saying: "Elle Macpherson was just one of the celebrities and others who had their phones hacked by the Murdochs' tabloid the News of the World. But she didn't grandstand, or complain, or play the blame game... well, except for sacking her business manager, who had nothing to do with it! True, Elle did accept an incredibly well-paid gig from a Murdoch station, but that wasn't to buy her silence. No way. She only took that money to help her favourite charity. She wanted to help tall, emaciated girls to become so famous that one day their phones would be hacked too."

Diary: Bureaucrats bite back as politicians play NHS blame game

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Blaming bureaucrats is one of the easiest games in politics because, like the Royal Family, they rarely answer back and, unlike the royals, no one defends them. So Claire Perry, MP for Devizes and Cameron loyalist, must have thought it was easy to defend the Government's criticised NHS reforms by attacking officials whose jobs are to be axed.

Diary: Is George really preaching as one of Islam's converted?

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

George Galloway, the newly elected MP for West Bradford, has denied that he took part in a ceremony years ago to convert to Islam. Mr Galloway, whose family background is Roman Catholic, is undeniably popular with British Muslims, particularly the young, but whether he is a Muslim is something he does not consider to be anyone else's business.

Diary: Bishop makes his point – without a red-hot poker

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The real-life Bishop of Bath and Wells was more polite than his fictional counterpart from the 1980s comedy series Blackadder, who brandished a red-hot poker and announced: "I'll make your bottom wish it had never been born." But he got his point across all the same during a brief exchange in the Lords about the decision to impose VAT on alterations to listed buildings.

Diary: Expenses fiddlers fear not – the Lords has mercy on you

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

A convicted criminal recently released from jail slipped into the House of Lords on Monday, registered his presence, and slipped out again, unchallenged.

Diary: Thank British Communists for our right to ramble

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Communism never found a fertile breeding ground in Great Britain, perhaps because the English chopped off Charles I's head centuries before the Russians discovered revolution. The British Communist Party was one of the smallest in Europe, and yet 80 years ago, it scored an unusual and enduring victory.

Matthew Norman on Monday: A Ukip alliance? Murdoch may have news for Leveson...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Here's one to file under the header of Idiotic Predictions Not Worth a Second Thought, assuming it merits a first thought, but is Rupert Murdoch preparing to put The Sun's electoral weight behind Ukip?

The Feral Beast: Norfolk too flat for Assange

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Philanderer, hacktivist, narcissist – Julian Assange has been called many things. Now he can add "castle-creeper" to the list, for I can reveal that the WikiLeaks founder has abandoned the Norfolk grandeur of Ellingham Hall for a 3,000-acre estate in East Sussex. He has taken up residence in a lodge on Lord Abergavenny's Eridge Park estate, near Tunbridge Wells, rented by divorcee cook Sarah Saunders. She put up £20,000 of Assange's bail money in 2010, having met him through her stepfather, Gavin MacFadyen, the director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism. Assange remains on bail, and has given police his new address. Vaughan Smith, with whom he had been living, says they parted "without animosity or acrimony", because Smith's wife has just had a baby. "Oddly, I miss him," Smith says. "In a way." Saunders, who runs a catering company, says she will have Assange "as long as I can", and that he has taken a shine to her Jack Russell, Whizz, and takes him for long walks. "I'm a cook, so hopefully he eats well," she tells me. "I hate the thought of him having to eat prison food, because he has a very sensitive palate." But she insists their relationship is not romantic. "He has many, many young suitors," she laughs. "I'm far too old to go out with Julian. He doesn't want to go out with someone old."

Diary: More VAT, vicar? Is this really what the Chancellor intended?

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Ministers are using some interesting arguments to defend George Osborne's decision to slap VAT on alterations to listed buildings.

Luke Blackall: Drunk on culture as the season of stags is upon us

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The stag party didn't officially begin until the evening, but three of us headed to Manchester in the morning to start things early. Arriving at lunchtime, we did what any thirsty young stags would do: we went to the nearest art gallery.

Diary: Email exchange that became a departmental train crash

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

London Midland, which operates trains along the west coast line, has quietly secured the Government's permission to close down smaller stations along the routes they control, to cut costs. Other rail operators can expect the same later.

Diary: Boris is having the last laugh in Mayoral race

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

David Cameron is running the risk of making himself more enemies on the Tory right than he needs. He caused considerable offence yesterday when he told Douglas Carswell – a popular MP despite his near-anarchist opposition to big government – to get a sense of humour. Carswell's offence was to ask a question which implied that ministers were letting themselves be run by the civil service. He later said: "I can do gags, but I reckon most people voted for me because they want change, not a comedian."

Diary: Scrappy ruling that has angered the metal men

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Phew. I almost thought the minister had told a fib. "All scrap metal dealers, whether or not they are itinerant, will be prohibited from using cash," the Home Office minister, James Brokenshire, asserted, not once but twice, in written answer printed in Hansard. On the face of it, this is untrue, and in a way people concerned about the destruction that metal thieves are causing to church roofs, railway lines and elsewhere consider to be very important.

Diary: Vote Iggle Piggle, the true-blue Tory leader

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

There was time eight years ago when Boris Johnson's eventful political career seemed to be over almost as soon it began, when he was sacked from the Conservative front bench for lying about his love life. While married to one woman, he had an affair with another, and she had an abortion. Yesterday, during a live web chat on the Mumsnet website, London's Mayor was asked: "Are you a feminist?" to which he gave the one word reply "Yes." Further detail might have been interesting.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Business class flight to Diego Garcia for Mr Straw

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Could George Galloway's widely ridiculed mistweet about Respect's by-election being in Blackburn prove a self-fulfilling prophecy? I only ask because even Jack Straw would struggle to brazen it out and remain the MP for Blackburn if he is nicked on suspicion of colluding in the torture of Abdelhakim Belhaj.

Diary: Skintland? Alex Salmond is quick to rise to the bait

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The current issue of The Economist magazine carries a warning to Scotland of the potential cost of independence, illustrated on the front cover by a spoof map of "Skintland", with its capital renamed "Edinborrow" and the islands to the north "Orkward" and "Shutland".

Luke Blackall: English accent is access all areas in California

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Declining invitations can be a very nice thing. There is little better than to have the perfect excuse not to be somewhere you don't want to be – whether it's your ex's birthday or the wedding of that rather dull cousin.

Diary: Simon says Brum mayor rivals should stump up

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Siôn Simon, the former Labour MP who wants to be Birmingham's first directly elected mayor, has made what seems like a generous gesture – until you reach the sting in the tail.

Diary: Ukip's Tory defectors could be thorn in the side for PM

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The UK Independence Party has more reason than any other to complain about the British election system: despite winning 900,000 votes at the last general election it has no MPs. In the European Parliament, which is elected by proportional representation, the party has a dozen MEPs.

Diary: Millionaire MP's hosepipe mystery will run and run

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

When the public are being subjected to an inconvenience like a hosepipe ban, there is nothing to beat a tabloid story proving that there is one law for ministers another for the rest of us. So one can imagine the delight in the news room of The People when their reporter returned from a visit to Englefield House, the £125m, 20,000-acre spread that is home to the Tory MP and junior environment Minister, Richard Benyon, having seen water gushing from a garden hose.

Man About Town: Turning a morning after into a full-on day rarely makes for happy endings

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Tuesday morning is an ambitious time to invite anyone for cocktails. You run the risk that entirely the wrong sort of guest will turn up – the under-employed and overly thirsty. Not the sort with whom you necessarily want to spend your weekday mornings.

Diary: Labour's losing (its £2m a year union top-up, that is)

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

June could be a very expensive month for Ed Miliband and the Labour Party. The GMB, Britain's third biggest union, will take a vote at its annual conference on whether to cut its ties with Labour altogether, which would reduce the party's already depleted income by around £2m a year.

Diary: Galloway's back – and his victory was no aberration

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

George Galloway was spotted strutting around Parliament yesterday – proof for those who thought last Friday's result in Bradford West was a bad dream that he has come back. Labour MPs who spotted him were torn between visceral dislike and a grudging respect for his indefatigability.

Diary: Chancellor in ungodly row over stealth tax on churches

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Amid the furore about the granny tax, the tax breaks for the rich, and VAT on pasties the church tax concealed in George Osborne's Budget has been rather overlooked.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Steptoe and Rab C Nesbitt make Cabinet reshuffle shortlist

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Greater love hath no man than this, as Jeremy Thorpe so nearly put it of Harold Macmillan: that he lay down his classmates for his life. The pressure on David Cameron to take the long knives to a few toffs becomes irresistible, and the time to ignite reshuffle fever is upon us.

Diary: Did the PM start a fuel frenzy for no good reason?

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Now that it has got the nation's motorists queuing in the forecourts, it is important for the Government that other actors in the drama play their allotted roles. The head of the Unite trade union, Len McCluskey, has been cast as the Arthur Scargill of our day, Ed Miliband as the weak leader who takes Unite's money but cannot stop it causing mayhem, and the Daily Mail has added in the "embarrassing" fact that the union official who is handling the tanker drivers' grievances is Diana Holland, the treasurer of the Labour Party.

Luke Blackall: Hotfooting it to the launch of... an ice bucket

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

The addresses sound more refined, the waiters more polished and the crowd are infinitely better dressed. And it goes without saying that the food and drink are a step up.

Diary: Where have all the top-rate taxpayers with 10 kids gone?

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

When George Osborne announced that he was abolishing child benefit payment for higher earners back in October, he told the Conservative annual conference: "A system that taxes working people at high rates only to give it back in child benefit is very difficult to justify."

Diary: A cautionary tale of espionage and cover-up in the courts

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

David Davis, a former contender for the Conservative Party leadership, treated MPs to a story of espionage, alleged fraud and bureaucratic wrangling just before Parliament dispersed for Easter.

Diary: 'Disrespectful' Peter Hain faces court appearance

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

In what promises to be a bizarre court case, a former Cabinet minister is being hauled in front of a Belfast court, accused of showing disrespect for a judge.

Diary: Labour got terror measures right, May reveals... quietly

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

There were no fewer than 23 written statements from ministers tabled in the Commons yesterday. This is a device by which ministers make announcements on which they are obliged to keep MPs informed, but which are either too trivial, or too embarrassing, to be delivered out loud.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Forget about Ken for London Mayor, vote for Eddie Izzard

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0100

Every now and then in the life of a blighted political campaign, a comical fiasco extinguishes the flickering flame of hope. For Ken Livingstone Inc (company mission statement: pay tax as I say, not as I do), it surely arrived when Bob "Carrion" Crow dipped his beak into the decaying flesh of his mayoral ambitions.

Matthew Bell: The IoS Diary (25/03/12)

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Toulouse gunman Mohamed Merah was determined to get his message across, but he failed to factor in the obstacle of France's 35-hour working week.

Diary: Hideaway ex-PM Misick feels the weight of 'persecution'

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Michael Misick, the former prime minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands, is feeling persecuted.

Man About Town: Talking cheese with Alex James

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

It's tough for for retiring pop and rock stars. What to do next? The country mansion is a lot further from the action than it used to be, the tattoos are starting to merge into one big blue mess and no one is fooled by the orange hue to your hair dye.

Diary: And here's the bad news – stories they tried to bury on Budget day

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

A commissioned officer learnt by chance that someone working in the Ministry of Defence had discharged him from the Army when he was 3,500 miles from home, on the front line, in Afghanistan.

The Diary: The taxing problem that Livingstone just can't shake off

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Ken Livingstone pulled level with Boris Johnson in the London mayoral contest at the start of this year when a fares hike took effect, but lately he seems to be looking for ways to throw the election away.

The Diary: A vacancy for one of the well-connected brigade?

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Senior members of the government used strong words back in April about employers who invite interns to work for long periods without pay, which may provide useful work experience for kids whose parents can subsidise them, but shuts out all the others.

Diary: No wonder Pritchard never inherited a ministerial job

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

David Cameron is the son of a successful stockbroker and is married to the daughter of Sir Reginald Sheffield, who inherited the 300-acre Normanby Hall, in Lincolnshire. George Osborne is the son of the millionaire founder of the Osborne and Little wallpaper firm.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Sun's Christian soldier odds-on in the Canterbury Stakes

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Not since Gordon Brown wrote to Hazel Blears in response to her letter of resignation from his Cabinet has a public expression of regret been as convincingly genuine. "I was greatly saddened," wrote John Sentamu, the Rupert Murdoch Archbishop of York in his enthralling Sun on Sunday column yesterday, "to hear that Dr Rowan Williams will be stepping down..."

Matthew Bell: The IoS Diary (18/03/12)

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Remember Andrew Neil's election night boat party? Brace yourself for a similar spectacle for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee river pageant, but this time with David Mellor. I understand the BBC has come to an arrangement with the Tories' onetime "Minister of Fun", to allow it to film the regal regatta from his home. Mellor lives in a 19th-century former dockmaster's house on the Thames at St Katharine Docks, east London, which commands views of Tower Bridge. The grand finale of the day's celebrations, when the Queen will be borne downstream on a gilded barge from Putney, will be her emergence through Tower Bridge. "The BBC want to park their cameras on his poop deck," says my lad up the crow's nest. "Lots of people in the dock are planning parties that day, and the Mellors are sure to be among them." Mr Mellor didn't return calls asking about his plans, though he and his wife, Viscountess Cobham, are among the dock's more sociable residents. Restaurants along the river are cashing in on the pageant, offering lunch and fizz at £200 per head. The BBC declined to comment on its plans, or say if it would be paying Mr Mellor for use of his home. Could be a nice littler earner.

Diary: Stop bashing trade unions? They still won't vote Tory

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Robert Halfon, one of the more impressive of the new bunch of Tory MPs, has delivered a homily on why Conservatives should be less negative about trade unions.

Luke Blackall: Fizz not quite gone from the journalist's lunch

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The lengthy journalist's lunch, I told a couple of readers at this week's i party in Manchester, is a thing of the past. Not that I could lament it – I wasn't around when it did exist.

The Diary: Big Ben boost could banish backbench success story

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Visitors to the clock tower that contains Big Ben can thank a little known body called the Backbench Business Committee for saving them money. In its two-year existence, this committee has chalked up some small successes in strengthening the influence of the Commons at the expense of party whips.

The Diary: The man who gives a fig for the trees of Portcullis House

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The fightback has begun over Parliament's fig trees. The 12 trees that adorn Portcullis House, the building across the road from Big Ben, were exposed by the Taxpayers' Alliance as costing at least £32,000 a year. That is more than £50 per tree per week. When the Speaker John Bercow heard the fig figures, he dropped a heavy hint that the fig trees may have to be uprooted.

Diary: Have a researcher on us, Pricewaterhouse tells MPs

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Hazel Blears, the former Blairite Cabinet minister, is doing some sterling work trying to make it possible for youngsters who do not have wealthy parents or a place to live in London to work as interns in the House of Commons.

Diary: Russia to put British whistle-blower on trial... except he's dead

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The Russians are defiantly sticking to their plan to have a trial with an empty dock. There will be two accused. One will be absent because he is a British businessman, banned from Russia from 2005. The other cannot be there, because he is dead. The dead man is Sergei Magnitsky, whose case is now an international cause célèbre. While he was working for Hermitage Capital, an investment fund run by the US-born British businessman, William Browder, he gathered evidence that 60 Russian officials had defrauded Russian taxpayers of £147million.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Fair's fair – Rebekah may have prejudiced her own trial

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

While wishing Rebekah Brooks the very best of British with her attempt to avoid standing trial for alleged bribery of police, the omens aren't so good. Before she gets too excited by her lawyer Stephen Parkinson's argument that Sue Akers' Leveson testimony about "a culture of illegal payments" is fatally prejudicial, Rebekah should talk to her her old friend David Blunkett.

Diary: Gay marriage makes strange bedfellows

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Who'd have thought it? Gilbert & George clambering into bed with Cardinal Keith O'Brien? Yes, on the issue of man-on-man matrimony it seems the country's top gay (marriage) hater and the art world's very own Adam and Steve are singing from the same hymn book.

Luke Blackall: Fifteen years of sushi and cod from the Codfather - an offer we haven't refused

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The invitation to Nobu's 15th birthday party this week wasn't too hard to accept. Admittedly, I was hoping to be fed (I decided to break my "no canapé" rule in advance), but it was principally because the Park Lane sushi restaurant has become such an institution on the London restaurant scene.

Diary: Campaign for codebreaker's pardon is thwarted again

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The centenary of the birth of the English mathematician Alan Turing is just 15 weeks away, and still the smell of a nation's ingratitude hangs over his life story. There are very few men or women who contributed as much as Turing did to the defeat of Nazi Germany. He was the master codebreaker, the mathematical genius in residence at the Bletchley Park spy centre, the linchpin of a secret operation that Winston Churchill described as "The geese that laid the golden eggs – but never cackled".

Diary: Will Wright-Phillips pay Babestation penalty?

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The usual complaint about the bureaucrats of Brussels is that they regulate too much and interfere too much in the free market. But Brussels is too liberal for some parents anxious about what their children are watching. Because we are in the EU, the UK cannot prevent certain soft-porn stations from offering their tacky output on Freeview television. Any station that has a licence from any EU regulatory authority is entitled to broadcast throughout the EU, and it would be illegal to bar them. Ofcom, the British regulator, is trying to do what it can. Yesterday it announced it had approached Dutch counterparts, who are responsible for allowing Babestation and Smile TV to infest our screens, requesting that they think again.

Diary: Our caller has a question for Ed 'laughing stock' Miliband...

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Tony Blair called it the "masochism" strategy when in the run up to the Iraq war he put himself around studios and newspaper offices, coming face to face with the anti-war lobby, hoping that he could at least soften their hostility.

Diary: Endangered Lib Dems... prepare for incoming lovebomb

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

As if the Coalition was not strained enough already, the Conservative Home website has unearthed a cunning plan that can only make relations worse. Conservative MPs have been told that their election strategy will be to concentrate on defending 50 of their vulnerable seats and taking 50 off the opposition, including 14 from the Liberal Democrats.

Matthew Norman on Monday: Come on, Boris. It wouldn't take long to tell us about your tax

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Strike me pink, but with the London mayoral race too close to call, Boris Johnson only turned up on time for a BBC1 interview yesterday with Superinjunctor "Andy" Marr! He isn't always so punctual, and in the updated edition of her warmly recommended Just Boris (Aurum Press, £8.99), Sonia Purnell recalls how, having dithered in returning from holiday during last summer's riots, he pitched up half an hour late for a Cobra meeting at No 10.

Diary: Why 'horsegate' was on message for the Cameron grid

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Yesterday was "Syria day" on the Downing Street grid. The grid is a device pioneered in Tony Blair's time by Alastair Campbell, under which all forthcoming government announcements, speeches etc are logged on a central calendar to prevent unnecessary clashes and so that the media managers know what the main message is to be.

Diary: After one fracas, MP has another scandal to fight

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

There is more trouble for Eric Joyce, the Labour MP and ex-soldier involved in a fracas in a bar in the House of Commons. It was alleged in yesterday's Daily Record that he has been having an affair with a teenager, 32 years his junior. He denies a sexual relationship and is consulting lawyers, but the allegation sorely tested the patience of Labour's leader in Scotland, Johann Lamont, who snapped that – if true – "this makes him unfit to stand for Labour".

Diary: Mark Oaten emerges as Rupert Murdoch's unlikely ally

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Mark Oaten has more reason than most people to resent journalists who work for Rupert Murdoch.

Diary: Archbishop's sermon may cost him a place in The Sun

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

I hear from someone in a position to know that Lambeth Palace is not pleased with the unusual “Sunday Service” delivered by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, in a column in The Sun on Sunday.

Diary: 'Nasty man' lurks in background at Leveson

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Ray Bellisario, one of the original paparazzi, who was annoying the royals when everyone else treated them with deference half a century ago, is not pleased with Lord Justice Leveson.

Matthew Norman on Monday: The hypocrisy of Ken's tax affairs is not hard to avoid

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The unending quest for populist, eye-catching initiatives with which Ed Miliband might be personally associated steers us into the realm of tax avoidance. Sadly this proposal would do nothing to rebuild fraternal bridges, but Little Ed is advised to announce that, as PM, he would fulfil an old Labour pledge to close a gaping loophole.

Diary: Is Murdoch after Labour's endorsement again?

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

As we await the arrival of the newest national newspaper, the Sunday edition of The Sun, members of Labour's front bench report receiving strange telephone calls. At least two have been invited to "join Ed Miliband" in endorsing the new product.

Luke Blackall: These days the parties are more important than the awards ceremonies themselves

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The music business is in crisis, at least that's what we're told. No one's buying music anymore, with many of those listening paying nothing for it.

Diary: Bercow calls for root 'n' branch change on trees

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

The 12 fig trees that beautify Portcullis House, the huge extension to the House of Commons on the far side of the road from Big Ben, may soon be uprooted. The trees have been there since the building was opened more than 10 years ago, but are not owned by Parliament. They are rented, at a basic cost of more than £30,000 a year.

Diary: A 29-letter word outburst is nothing to Rees-Mogg

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Floccinaucinihilipilification is sometimes said to be the longest word in the English language. At 29 letters, it beats antidisestablishmentarianism, though there are some longer concoctions in medical dictionaries, and the third paragraph of Finnegan's Wake, by James Joyce, has a made-up word of 100 letters.

Diary: How Ed dreads giving Dave a PMQ pasting

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Ed Miliband has spoken about the "nightmare" that is Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons. It is a complaint from every new party leader. Each arrives in office determined that PMQs will be more constructive and less confrontational, only to be carried along by the atmosphere in an over-excited chamber into joining the verbal punch-ups.

Diary: Militant tendencies resurface in Left's 'Abba generation'

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Labour Party veterans remember the great Militant war of the 1980s, as members of a secretive Trotskyist sect who denied being a party within the party were hunted down and expelled, one by one. Eventually, they gave up on the Labour Party and now function openly as the Socialist Party. Their leader, Peter Taaffe, was a guest speaker last week at the Oxford Debating Union.

Matthew Norman on Monday: A Sun reporter who knows if it was the spooks wot leaked it

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

Joy at The Sun over the imminent arrival of its Sunday sibling is bridled, sad to report, by angst about one of its giants. Could Trevor Kavanagh, whose musings on police brutality caused that mass lachrymal eruption last week, be the next "legend of Fleet Street" to be persecuted?

Diary: The Tory pin-up becoming a thorn in Cameron's side

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 00:00:01 +0000

When Zac Goldsmith joined the new wave of Conservative MPs, he was billed as David Cameron's kind of Tory – young, metrosexual, incorruptible, and green. Even before he arrived in Parliament, he was given a lead role in determining party policy on the environment. Last year, he was invited to be the Prime Minister's personal envoy on fighting global warming and saving rainforests.