John Redwood: MPs who defect will find it harder to make a difference outside the Opposition
Who's accountable for the results?
Sir John Redwood is a former MP for Wokingham and a former Secretary of State for Wales. He will soon join the House of Lords.
Conservatives are doing a serious job of opposition. Under the leadership of Kemi Badenoch, the official Opposition have forced some changes to government policy and rhetoric. There have been u-turns of sorts on pensioner support, taxes on pubs, fuel costs, the Farms tax, anti-business employment laws, and others.
It is true we need more and better u-turns than this government has so far managed, but their wrong policies, followed by hesitations and partial recantations, will make them more cautious about inflicting further damage, and will invite more pressure for change.
The Government has had to delay its deeply damaging and expensive give away of the Chagos Islands. Conservative MPs and peers have demolished the government’s case of why they have to do this. Conservatives have now exposed how a government of international lawyers have got themselves into a predicament where they are proposing to tear up an important Anglo-American treaty without bothering to get US agreement to do so; they seemed also unaware of the Mauritius anti-nuclear treaty, which could interfere with the running of the Diego Garcia base.
This is a government which insists on any anti-British interpretation of international law and Treaties where it suits them, yet ignores these same sources when it is in the UK’s interest to interpret them correctly.
When I and others first pointed out how our opt into the Court came with express exemptions for Commonwealth and defence matters, these government lawyers refused to accept the International Court of Justice cannot make us give Chagos away. Now these same lawyers are trying to catch up with Conservatives showing they will be breaking the 1966 treaty with the US by giving the base away, and claiming Mauritius will break its own anti-nuclear treaty obligations when it owns the base. Are they bad lawyers, or just slippery when it comes to Treaty law?
The Conservative Party is the only one telling public and government the truth: that we cannot fix the economy without first reducing spending and getting control over the benefits bill. The party has recognised that current extreme Net Zero policies will land us with dearer energy and the need to rely on imports to keep the lights on, and Badenoch’s response to the second dreadful anti-growth budget was the finest response to a budget I have heard in a good few years of listening.
I am sad that Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman have left the Conservative party. I was part of a group trying to persuade the last Conservative government to take stronger measures to implement its pledge to stop the boats and people trafficking.
When Jenrick resigned as …
Who's accountable for the results?
Sir John Redwood is a former MP for Wokingham and a former Secretary of State for Wales. He will soon join the House of Lords.
Conservatives are doing a serious job of opposition. Under the leadership of Kemi Badenoch, the official Opposition have forced some changes to government policy and rhetoric. There have been u-turns of sorts on pensioner support, taxes on pubs, fuel costs, the Farms tax, anti-business employment laws, and others.
It is true we need more and better u-turns than this government has so far managed, but their wrong policies, followed by hesitations and partial recantations, will make them more cautious about inflicting further damage, and will invite more pressure for change.
The Government has had to delay its deeply damaging and expensive give away of the Chagos Islands. Conservative MPs and peers have demolished the government’s case of why they have to do this. Conservatives have now exposed how a government of international lawyers have got themselves into a predicament where they are proposing to tear up an important Anglo-American treaty without bothering to get US agreement to do so; they seemed also unaware of the Mauritius anti-nuclear treaty, which could interfere with the running of the Diego Garcia base.
This is a government which insists on any anti-British interpretation of international law and Treaties where it suits them, yet ignores these same sources when it is in the UK’s interest to interpret them correctly.
When I and others first pointed out how our opt into the Court came with express exemptions for Commonwealth and defence matters, these government lawyers refused to accept the International Court of Justice cannot make us give Chagos away. Now these same lawyers are trying to catch up with Conservatives showing they will be breaking the 1966 treaty with the US by giving the base away, and claiming Mauritius will break its own anti-nuclear treaty obligations when it owns the base. Are they bad lawyers, or just slippery when it comes to Treaty law?
The Conservative Party is the only one telling public and government the truth: that we cannot fix the economy without first reducing spending and getting control over the benefits bill. The party has recognised that current extreme Net Zero policies will land us with dearer energy and the need to rely on imports to keep the lights on, and Badenoch’s response to the second dreadful anti-growth budget was the finest response to a budget I have heard in a good few years of listening.
I am sad that Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman have left the Conservative party. I was part of a group trying to persuade the last Conservative government to take stronger measures to implement its pledge to stop the boats and people trafficking.
When Jenrick resigned as …
John Redwood: MPs who defect will find it harder to make a difference outside the Opposition
Who's accountable for the results?
Sir John Redwood is a former MP for Wokingham and a former Secretary of State for Wales. He will soon join the House of Lords.
Conservatives are doing a serious job of opposition. Under the leadership of Kemi Badenoch, the official Opposition have forced some changes to government policy and rhetoric. There have been u-turns of sorts on pensioner support, taxes on pubs, fuel costs, the Farms tax, anti-business employment laws, and others.
It is true we need more and better u-turns than this government has so far managed, but their wrong policies, followed by hesitations and partial recantations, will make them more cautious about inflicting further damage, and will invite more pressure for change.
The Government has had to delay its deeply damaging and expensive give away of the Chagos Islands. Conservative MPs and peers have demolished the government’s case of why they have to do this. Conservatives have now exposed how a government of international lawyers have got themselves into a predicament where they are proposing to tear up an important Anglo-American treaty without bothering to get US agreement to do so; they seemed also unaware of the Mauritius anti-nuclear treaty, which could interfere with the running of the Diego Garcia base.
This is a government which insists on any anti-British interpretation of international law and Treaties where it suits them, yet ignores these same sources when it is in the UK’s interest to interpret them correctly.
When I and others first pointed out how our opt into the Court came with express exemptions for Commonwealth and defence matters, these government lawyers refused to accept the International Court of Justice cannot make us give Chagos away. Now these same lawyers are trying to catch up with Conservatives showing they will be breaking the 1966 treaty with the US by giving the base away, and claiming Mauritius will break its own anti-nuclear treaty obligations when it owns the base. Are they bad lawyers, or just slippery when it comes to Treaty law?
The Conservative Party is the only one telling public and government the truth: that we cannot fix the economy without first reducing spending and getting control over the benefits bill. The party has recognised that current extreme Net Zero policies will land us with dearer energy and the need to rely on imports to keep the lights on, and Badenoch’s response to the second dreadful anti-growth budget was the finest response to a budget I have heard in a good few years of listening.
I am sad that Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman have left the Conservative party. I was part of a group trying to persuade the last Conservative government to take stronger measures to implement its pledge to stop the boats and people trafficking.
When Jenrick resigned as …
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