Frank’s Blog

The Labour leadership question is at the moment settled. The Labour side is beginning to recharge its political batteries. One would expect by this weekend for the focus to return to the Speakership race. This Speakership will differ from others in that the holder of this office will need to help rebuild trust amongst voters in the parliamentary system. The Speaker therefore needs to have a reach into the world outside parliament. But a Speaker must also, at the same time, command support…

Productivity in the public sector fell by well over three percentage points between 1997 and 2007. This finding, published by the Office of National Statistics is the starting point of the new politics that will dominate the next ten to fifteen years. Most politicians are still singing from the same old hymn sheet which is now irrelevant. The theme music has been an ever expanding public budget. It was obvious this time last year that Britain faced a major budgetary crisis. The National

Labour supporters claiming that the European results were not a catastrophe for the party can only do so by inventing a new meaning for the word catastrophe. Whether one looks at them on a national, regional or local level the picture is pitiful. The results reflect the collapse of support for the Government in the country. They also ring a clear verdict on the EU. Take the Wirral results, which cover four Labour Westminster constituencies. The Tories romped home with almost 21,000…