Tag Archives: richard benyon

Paul Walter

Johnson has deeply split the Tory party – on an historic level

By Paul Walter | Wed 2nd October 2019 - 12:33 pm

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It is worth standing back and pausing to consider how remarkable the historic split in the Tory party has been under PM Johnson is just a few weeks.

“One Nation” Tories have been the backbone of the Conservative party for a couple of centuries. But now they have been cast out of the party.

This extraordinary split can be seen in the words of two “One Nation” Tories who now sit in Parliament as independents.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
Paul Walter

Owen Smith fishing with his ‘rich Tory friends’ – when Twitter gets rather silly

By Paul Walter | Wed 10th August 2016 - 2:29 pm



The tweet above, and others like it, caught my eye.

Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith is pictured on a fishing trip with rich Tory MPs Richard Benyon and Charles Walker. “Not much socialism there” was one tweeted comment.

So, the inference is that Owen Smith has lots of rich Tory chums and goes on fishing trips with them. So he can’t possibly be a socialist, or even a true “new Labour” man.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
Paul Walter

When politics, business and comedy collide with real lives

By Paul Walter | Tue 23rd December 2014 - 12:15 pm

 

The following story is a bit like a Tom Sharpe novel. It involves an American investment firm, an estate in London’s East End, aggrieved local residents marching on Downing Street, the family firm of (reputedly) Britain’s richest MP and a famous comedian who speaks in a sort of Victorian “luv-a-duck” lingo. All that is missing, to complete the manic Sharpesque scenario, is a climactic explosion liberally showering the whole cast of characters with the contents of the local sewage farm.

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Posted in News and Op-eds | Also tagged , , and | 9 Comments
Paul Walter

Something stirring in the heart of England

By Paul Walter | Wed 13th August 2014 - 9:54 am

Newbury public meetingNewbury, Berkshire, is a relatively prosperous place which tends to mind its own business. “O little town of Newbury, how still your ruins lie”, goes the song in the Liberator song book. Occasionally the town has been at the heart of protests, such as those at Greenham Common and against the Newbury by-pass.

There is nothing more British than the public meeting. It is a great expression of our democracy.

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 21 Comments
Paul Walter

Opinion: A refreshing exercise in transparency

By Paul Walter | Mon 13th December 2010 - 4:19 pm

A couple of years ago I made a complaint about my MP, Richard Benyon. I feel a shiver of guilt even writing the word “complaint” now. I suppose I am very English about complaints. I don’t like making a fuss. I have bumped into Richard off and on since 1992 and always found him to be “a nice enough cove”, as P.G. Wodehouse might put it. Making a “complaint” about such a harmless fellow just didn’t seem British. But occasionally I feel I must put pen to paper, as I did in this case.

What I thought were political comments …

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Posted in Op-eds and Parliament | Also tagged , and | 5 Comments
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