Tag Archives: jim callaghan

Lord McNally writes… Justice and Security Bill: our authentic and liberal efforts

I am the last person to argue that you should never resign from a political party. I resigned from the Labour Party just over thirty years ago. I know it to be an intensely personal and often painful decision. So I pass no judgement on those who have decided to leave the Liberal Democrats because of opposition to the Justice and Security Bill. I think I am entitled to ask, however, what kind of Justice and Security Bill we would now be contemplating if either Labour or the Conservatives had been governing alone?

It seems incoherent to me to resign …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 49 Comments

A political prediction which didn’t turn out too well

“Whatever happens in the election this week it is not going to make all that much difference” – Peregrine Worsthone, just before the 1979 general election in which Margaret Thatcher defeated Jim Callaghan.

Hey ho.

Mind you, even in the first few months after the 1979 general election he was far from alone in the view that the choice in 1979 between Labour and Conservative was an incremental one rather than one of major choice.

In large part that is because – with one notable exception – the 1979 Conservative manifesto avoid radical specifics and the campaign itself saw both Sir Keith Joseph …

Posted in News | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment
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    1 State procurement teams being outwitted / outhought by sector experts (paid more and with greater specialist knowledge) is not exclusive to MoD - i only have ...
  • cim
    @David Allen Absolutely agreed. Incremental changes, fully-costed policies, a focus on "competence" as opposed to "ideology". It's not necessarily a bad offe...
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    "stopping the tech companies harming their users" which should mean regulating the tech companies not the users, i.e. forcing the companies to change their busi...
  • Edward
    A PhD is really the most meaningless qualification that there is, you really can't judge the worth of a PhD without reading the thesis. For some subjects you h...
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    While I agree with every word, I am at the same time, more than a little discombobulated. If we believe all this fine "power to the people" stuff, then isn't...