On Friday night I spoke at York University Conservative Association on a range of topics, including being an MP and the coalition government. The following morning International Development Minister, Alan Duncan MP, visited Ingleby Barwick golf club to m

Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell and Minister Alan Duncan sampled some of the UK's finest Fairtrade teas and coffees today, as they saw firsthand the work of Britain's leading ethical traders. The ministers met with some of the UK's pioneering ethic

When Britain begs India to keep taking aid, you know aid is more about nourishing soulless Westerners than feeding hungry Southerners. The debate about whether Britain should continue giving aid to India will surely rank as one of 2012’s most ‘Alice in W

Religion must be given a greater role in public life to push back a wave of "intolerant secularisation", Cabinet minister Baroness Warsi will argue during an official visit to The Vatican. Warsi, a Muslim, will call for Europe to become "more confident i

ON BBC Question Time last week I was acutely aware that a couple of months ago I had written about the format revolving around “members of the public providing pre-selected questions that allow the power brokers to pontificate”. I’d forgotten about the n

Dr David Owen claimed only the prime minister could stop plans for NHS reforms in England and he should back track as he did on a planned forest sell-off. Now Lord Owen, the former foreign secretary and SDP leader who sits as a cross bench peer, said the

The Tories say they have more out MPs than any other partybut does that mean they are for LGBT rights? The Tories have boasted that they now have more out MPs than any other party. Prime minister David Cameron has hosted receptions for lesbian, gay, bise

Democracy is meant to provide a nation with government which, more or less accurately, reflects the public will. It is obviously impossible to please all of the people all of the time; but if there is a settled popular view on a particular issue, the the

Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, left, shakes hands with India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, right (Pics:AP) INDIA turned its nose up at the financial aid offered by Britain – but we begged the country to reconsider. The UK pa

No single issue in recent years has generated so much anti-India sentiment in Britain as the Rafale deal which many Britons see as a calculated ‘snub' to their country. Last week, on BBC Question Time, regarded as a good indicator of British public opini

Britain will continue to lavish more than £1billion in aid to India while making deep cuts to services at home despite India deriding the UK contribution, Downing Street said today. In a deeply embarrassing row for the British government India's Finance

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that India "does not require" British aid, describing it as "peanuts" Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and other ministers tried to terminate Britain's aid to India -- but relented after the British begged them to

The BBC's Question Time programme is frequently like an unruly rabble of children arguing in front of a cheering mob. Thursday night, one of the questions posed on the show was why international aid should be paid to India when India is spending it's own

“We do not require the aid,” he said, according to the official transcript of the session. “It is a peanut in our total development exercises [expenditure].” He said the Indian government wanted to “voluntarily” give it up. According to a leaked memo, th

Labour leads in 6 out of the last 7. No longer neck and neck. Actually this isn’t “Ipsos MORI’s regular Scottish poll”. These happen quarterly, and the next one wasn’t due till the beginning of March. Naturally, I’m pleased that they have decided to poll

As described in the post on Northamptonshire, Leicestershire cedes 21,266 electors to the Daventry constituency in the proposals. This leaves the county a little light to retain its current ten constituencies under the rule that only allows a 5% variatio

PUPILS of Cardinal Heenan Catholic Sports College, in West Derby, were presented with the prestigious British Council International School Award by Minister for International Development, Alan Duncan.The British Council’s International School Award is th

Pupils of Cardinal Heenan Catholic Sports College were today presented with the prestigious British Council International School Award by Minister for International Development, Alan Duncan. The British Council’s International School Award is the highest

OK, apologies first off, for yet another poor attempt to pun on the title of a popular film*. But talks with the Taleban are reportedly back on, so I couldn't resist the cheesy opening. The Afghan government's ill-starred efforts to negotiate some kind