Articles
Don't disenfranchise the membership - John Wilkin
7th October 2024
Less than a month from now the Conservative Party leadership contest which is currently underway will be over. As we enter the phase where the the final two are put to the Party’s members there we will no doubt hear from voices saying that the members should play no part, that it should be down to the MPs alone. Let’s consider whether previous contests justify that argument.
Prosperity and Democracy – Britain’s future post Brexit - Tristan Jervis
25th May 2018
How things have changed so dramatically. Back when I was Public Affairs Officer at the Eurosceptic think-tank, the European Foundation (EF), the serious political ramifications of Britain having ratified the Maastricht Treaty two years earlier were causing deep tensions inside the Conservative Party and across the nation.
Let’s not turn our backs on the victories of the Thatcher years - Brian Monteith
Sunday Herald (Scotland), 4th September 2005
It’s hard to remember these days just how bad Britain’s industrial relations were back in the 1970s. It’s also hard to recall the militancy of opposition to Margaret Thatcher’s trade union reforms – even her party was split over the issue.
Centre ground is in middle of nowhere - Brian Monteith
Scotland on Sunday, 31st July 2005
This week Sir Malcolm Rifkind made it plain that he intends to contest the Conservative leadership election sometime later this year, and so the party's navel gazing goes on. One has to ask, apart from Conservatives like myself, why should anyone care?
Great sulk spoiled memory of Heath - Brian Monteith
Edinburgh Evening News, 22nd July 2005
The death of Ted Heath this week brought the predictable references to taking Britain into Europe and film clips of him signing away our national sovereignty. One of my sons asked, who was Ted Heath? What was he like?
The EU’s four-stage strategy to reduce Britons to servitude - Daniel Hannan
The Daily Telegraph, 26th January 2005
The penny is finally dropping. Thirty-two years after we joined, we are at last waking up to the nature of our subjection before Brussels. It was always going to take a big issue to jolt us from our narcolepsy, and immigration is that issue.
The master moderniser - Bernard Jenkin talks to Edward Davie
The House Magazine, 17th January 2005
I come from a very musical family. My father was very musical at school; he played the piano, the first violin in the school orchestra and sang in choirs. My mother taught the violin and spent hours helping us practise. My older brother became an accomplished cellist, my older sister has become a well-established professional singer and my younger sister sings with an opera company in Germany.
Network Rail - John Redwood
The Business, 7th July 2003
How much is our whole railway network worth? Only £582 million according to the first Annual Report and Accounts of Network Rail, the new owner. It beggars belief that the whole lot has been knocked down to such a small sum. No wonder the company needs Treasury comfort letters and guarantees to carry on its merry way of borrowing and mortgaging the future.
National ID Cards - John Redwood
Freedom Today, 2nd July 2003
Whenever the government makes a mess of something, it usually takes it out on those it has messed up. It creates traffic jams by failing in its transport strategy. It then decides to tax the motorist who is suffering from the lack of good roads or a good public transport alternative. It fails to deliver a better Health Service in Scotland by spending much more of our money there than in England. Then it says we need to pay yet more tax in England to spend the same as they spend in Scotland!
House prices and the Euro - John Redwood
Freedom Today, 18th June 2003
If you weren't wild about the idea of the Euro before Gordon Brown published the results of his five tests, I doubt if you've become a fan since. The unloved Euro now comes with an added poison pill - the threat of higher Stamp duties and Capital Gains tax on your main residence. It's like promising continuous driving rain for your take it or leave it government offer of a winter holiday in Skegness.
Kava Kava - John Redwood
The Pharmaceutical Journal, 5th April 2003
When I offered to write an article on kava kava, I was asked to declare any commercial interest. So let me begin by explaining. I do not work for or with any manufacturer, distributor or retailer of kava kava. Before the government announced a ban I knew nothing about it. I have never drunk it nor taken it as a medicine or food supplement. I have absolutely no personal interest in it at all.
Convention on the Future of Europe - John Redwood
European Journal, 3rd March 2003
Many of us have long feared the end game in the creation of an EU federal state. We have opposed the long diminution of our power to govern ourselves through successive Treaties and decisions. But now we have finally reached the end game: the Convention on the Future of Europe.
7th October 2024
Less than a month from now the Conservative Party leadership contest which is currently underway will be over. As we enter the phase where the the final two are put to the Party’s members there we will no doubt hear from voices saying that the members should play no part, that it should be down to the MPs alone. Let’s consider whether previous contests justify that argument.
Prosperity and Democracy – Britain’s future post Brexit - Tristan Jervis
25th May 2018
How things have changed so dramatically. Back when I was Public Affairs Officer at the Eurosceptic think-tank, the European Foundation (EF), the serious political ramifications of Britain having ratified the Maastricht Treaty two years earlier were causing deep tensions inside the Conservative Party and across the nation.
Let’s not turn our backs on the victories of the Thatcher years - Brian Monteith
Sunday Herald (Scotland), 4th September 2005
It’s hard to remember these days just how bad Britain’s industrial relations were back in the 1970s. It’s also hard to recall the militancy of opposition to Margaret Thatcher’s trade union reforms – even her party was split over the issue.
Centre ground is in middle of nowhere - Brian Monteith
Scotland on Sunday, 31st July 2005
This week Sir Malcolm Rifkind made it plain that he intends to contest the Conservative leadership election sometime later this year, and so the party's navel gazing goes on. One has to ask, apart from Conservatives like myself, why should anyone care?
Great sulk spoiled memory of Heath - Brian Monteith
Edinburgh Evening News, 22nd July 2005
The death of Ted Heath this week brought the predictable references to taking Britain into Europe and film clips of him signing away our national sovereignty. One of my sons asked, who was Ted Heath? What was he like?
The EU’s four-stage strategy to reduce Britons to servitude - Daniel Hannan
The Daily Telegraph, 26th January 2005
The penny is finally dropping. Thirty-two years after we joined, we are at last waking up to the nature of our subjection before Brussels. It was always going to take a big issue to jolt us from our narcolepsy, and immigration is that issue.
The master moderniser - Bernard Jenkin talks to Edward Davie
The House Magazine, 17th January 2005
I come from a very musical family. My father was very musical at school; he played the piano, the first violin in the school orchestra and sang in choirs. My mother taught the violin and spent hours helping us practise. My older brother became an accomplished cellist, my older sister has become a well-established professional singer and my younger sister sings with an opera company in Germany.
Network Rail - John Redwood
The Business, 7th July 2003
How much is our whole railway network worth? Only £582 million according to the first Annual Report and Accounts of Network Rail, the new owner. It beggars belief that the whole lot has been knocked down to such a small sum. No wonder the company needs Treasury comfort letters and guarantees to carry on its merry way of borrowing and mortgaging the future.
National ID Cards - John Redwood
Freedom Today, 2nd July 2003
Whenever the government makes a mess of something, it usually takes it out on those it has messed up. It creates traffic jams by failing in its transport strategy. It then decides to tax the motorist who is suffering from the lack of good roads or a good public transport alternative. It fails to deliver a better Health Service in Scotland by spending much more of our money there than in England. Then it says we need to pay yet more tax in England to spend the same as they spend in Scotland!
House prices and the Euro - John Redwood
Freedom Today, 18th June 2003
If you weren't wild about the idea of the Euro before Gordon Brown published the results of his five tests, I doubt if you've become a fan since. The unloved Euro now comes with an added poison pill - the threat of higher Stamp duties and Capital Gains tax on your main residence. It's like promising continuous driving rain for your take it or leave it government offer of a winter holiday in Skegness.
Kava Kava - John Redwood
The Pharmaceutical Journal, 5th April 2003
When I offered to write an article on kava kava, I was asked to declare any commercial interest. So let me begin by explaining. I do not work for or with any manufacturer, distributor or retailer of kava kava. Before the government announced a ban I knew nothing about it. I have never drunk it nor taken it as a medicine or food supplement. I have absolutely no personal interest in it at all.
Convention on the Future of Europe - John Redwood
European Journal, 3rd March 2003
Many of us have long feared the end game in the creation of an EU federal state. We have opposed the long diminution of our power to govern ourselves through successive Treaties and decisions. But now we have finally reached the end game: the Convention on the Future of Europe.