Paul Goodman
@PaulGoodmanCH
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Conservative Peer. Senior Fellow, @Policy_Exchange. Editor, @ConHome 2013-24. MP for Wycombe 2001 - 2010.
Joined April 2010
Number Ten Policy Unit member Elena Narozanski has quit.
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Understand that the background to the @SuellaBraverman resignation was the mother of all rows about migration. Told she was under pressure from Number Ten to announce liberalising migration plan which would make it easier for OBR to say Gvt would hit growth target.
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Leicester East is a terrible warning of British politics dividing on communal lines - with the Conservatives becoming the party of India and Israel, and Labour that of Pakistan and Palestine. No good can come of it.
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It’s now more likely than not that the mini-Budget will be withdrawn and that @KwasiKwarteng may have to go
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"Maybe the Conservative Party no longer cares. Perhaps the sum of its ambition is to become the provisional wing of the right-wing entertainment industry, while @Keir_Starmer gets on with the tiresome business of actually running the country."
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Hard to overstate what a personal rebuff this is to @BorisJohnson. Mirza is one of his longest-standing, loyal and most senior aides, having first worked with him when he was Mayor of London.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Munira Mirza, the Downing Street head of policy, has resigned over Boris Johnson’s Jimmy Savile attack on Keir Starmer.
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As the local MP (then), I met the Duke of Edinburgh in 2002: the Queen and he were visiting Marlow as part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. The Duke fixed me with a gimlet stare, and said: "So they've let you have a day off from the monkey house, then?".
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+ @ConHome interview with @BorisJohnson: he says that every member of his Cabinet must sign up to Britain leaving the EU on 31st October – deal or no deal
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+ @BenHouchen smashes it. Re-elected Tees Valley mayor with 73% of the vote. Yes, you read that correctly. 73% of the vote.
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From @SteveBakerHW on @ConHome: What madness is this that a Conservative Prime Minister would rather negotiate with Corbyn than deliver on democracy?
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Told that the Devizes Association voted this evening by 116 - 19 to express no confidence in Theresa May.
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If May isn’t on her way out by the end of today, don’t back her in tomorrow’s European elections
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Sir Bob Kerslake: rebuked by a former Lords Speaker for breaching his crossbench status by acting as an adviser to the Labour Party.
Have just spoken to Sir Bob Kerslake, former Head of the Civil Service. He told me that if Cummings is a full member of SAGE: “it’s both surprising and concerning. The risk is the government is leading the science when it’s supposed to be the other way round.”.
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1) Conservatives in Canada after 1993. It’s well known that in that year the Progressive Conservatives won only two seats in the federal election. What’s not always so well known is what followed. A thread….
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Our snap survey. Fifty-five per cent of @ConHome’s party member panel say Tory MPs should remove @BorisJohnson.
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What’s at stake tomorrow is even bigger than Brexit. It is trust in politics. Which is why the deal as it stands must not pass.
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+ @ConHome exclusive. CCHQ has been notified that the threshold for a voluntary party confidence vote in May’s leadership has been reached.
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I won in court. There are no charges against me. The Electoral Commission is discredited. Now there must be a reckoning, writes @darrengrimes_ (correctly) on @ConHome
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"The Electoral Commission seems utterly consistent in only two things: an unwillingness to apologise for its errors, and an inability to learn from them." @wallaceme on the scandal of its treatment of @darrengrimes_.
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There’s much to be said about @KemiBadenoch as she chucks her hat into the Conservative leadership ring. So here’s a thread….
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Please, all channels: fewer talking heads, more live declarations. @BritainElects beating you all out of sight.
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+ @SamGyimah departs this contest with the best response to any question in @ConHome's candidate survey. Asked about his biggest mistake in life, he replied "I’d candidly suggest that standing for the Tory leadership on a second referendum platform must rank quite high.".
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Welcome to our new @ConHome columnist - the heroic @darrengrimes_. A Pride Day? There’s a good case for one, he writes. But a whole Pride Month? That’s just virtue signalling.
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New @BorisJohnson Brexit video aimed fairly and squarely at potential Brexit Party waverers worried about extended vassaldom. "We will not extend the transition period beyond the end of 2020."
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Figures in the dark 1) My declared total for @BorisJohnson plus a few others is 139 as I write. But not all of them will stick.
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By @darrengrimes_ on @ConHome: We must reject demands that the EU would make of no other independent state
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Many thanks to Lord Howard of Lympne & @Patrick4Dales for supporting me today on my introduction to @UKHouseofLords. Also to my family, friends, and to @CharlesHMoore, @montie and former colleagues.
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Newsflash. It's coming thick and fast. Fiona Hill has also resigned.
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Raises serious questions for @BorisJohnson which have implications for his current plight. My godson @raffymarshall was the Foreign Office whistleblower.
In other news, emails just published by @CommonsForeign re the Afghan evacuation refer to the PM giving personal authorisation for the Nowzad animals to be evacuated. This was denied by No10 spokesman.
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+ @BorisJohnson may well have reached 100 signatures - but this @chhcalling msg doesn't actually say so.
Here’s Johnson MP Chris Heaton Harris in their campaign WhatsApp group claiming they’ve now verified 100 MP nominations and completed paperwork to get on the ballot… we’ll find out tomorrow
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China isn’t only an oppresssor in Hong Kong. It’s a threat to all of us. Here’s how to respond. By @lukedepulford on @ConHome.
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Housing, the Villiers amendments and a Tory revolt. Why on earth would young people who can’t afford a home vote Conservative?
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CCHQ: "Campaigning for or endorsement of any other political party is incompatible with membership of the party. The board will not hesitate to enforce these rules.” So it's ready to expel 60% of activists & 40% of councillors.
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If it's a "permament reminder", why is it being temporarily covered - rather than safeguarded?.
The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country – and the whole of Europe – from a fascist and racist tyranny. 1/8.
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From @darrengrimes_ on @ConHome: Today, it’s Conservatives who are the real rebels – against woke conformity and the cancel culture
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+ @BorisJohnson @ConHome interview highlight 1) He says that every member of his Cabinet must sign up to Britain leaving the EU by October 31 - deal or no deal
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- @RuthDavidsonMSP is the ultimate demonstration of traditional values in a modern setting. She is handling her departure plan immaculately - and will, I’m sure be back.
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Surprised, or maybe not, by the absence of pushback from senior Cabinet members, @JamesCleverly aside, at @Nigel_Farage over Putin.
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From @darrengrimes_ on @ConHome: Since we must use coal, why import it all – when we could instead create jobs by mining it in the North-East?
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Delighted to be joining @Policy_Exchange, Britain's most prominent think tank, to lead its programme on the future of the right.
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From @lukedepulford on @ConHome: The UK has failed to stand up to China – and @DominicRaab must ensure that it does
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On @ConHome, @SteveBakerHW argues that Ministers should reject a second lockdown and prepare for Plan B
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Unfit for office. But worse even than @jeremycorbyn are Labour’s moderates – who are willing to put his anti-Jewish racism into power.
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Since the Conservative leadership election is now under way, it may be worth a thread on the Party’s future - recognising that the odds are against its return to government any time soon. So here goes. .
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It’s time for @DominicRaab to bring Magnitsky sanctions to bear on those oppressing Hong Kong, writes @benedictrogers on @ConHome
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A shot across @BorisJohnson's bows from @OwenPaterson on @ConHome. He says that dual-tariff systems for NI would be unacceptable, and that the PM himself has said that the Withdrawal Agreement is dead. Brexit must happen by 31/10 - "deal or no deal"
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"Within Whitehall, fears that the EU would behave irresponsibly if there is No Deal receded. The body language from the EU has been signalling a willingness to have an informal understanding over a nine month transition period." George Eustice on @ConHome
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+ @SteveBakerHW is 100% correct.
If we fail to understand the magnitude of the corruption of even a single vote, we are a politically bankrupt nation. Read the full speech here: .
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Told Cummings has summoned all SpAds to No 10 for 7.55 tomorrow: something’s up. .
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1) The post-election Conservative Parliamentary Party. Will they all be SpAds, professional politicians, and ex-MPs? A thread.
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A lot of Tory MPs will be horrified by that blue-on-blue version of Hunger Games - and ask themselves why the candidates agreed to participate. I wonder if @PennyMordaunt will gain from her attempt to distance herself from the carnage. #itvdebate.
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You may not like the cut of Gove's jib. But as an exercise in holding an audience, he is completely in control. Masterclass. #inorout.
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MP retirements. A thread. 1) It’s claimed that Conservative MPs are quitting the Commons rather than lose their seats on July 4. In some cases, this is true. But it’s not the whole truth. Or even the most important part of it. After all….
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The new Conservative Parliamentary Party. A thread. It’s been suggested that the balance has tilted against Tory MPs from left of party centre. Is it true? Let’s have a look….
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Cummings made a reasonable case today, and his critics should accept it – and move on
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"Ask one question," writes @DanielJHannan on @ConHome. "In what conflict has @jeremycorbyn ever been on Britain’s side? He has shown himself willing to back any cause, however vile, provided it is sufficiently Anglophobic."
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Good news for free speech. Surrey Police Commissioner and @ConHome columnist @_Lisa_Townsend is cleared of “misconduct” for expressing her views on transgenderism. But, as @harryph points out, the investigation should never have happened
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Peter Bone's verdict: “You are not delivering the Brexit people voted for. You will lose the support of many Conservative MPs and millions” of voters.
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Watch for the number of nominations for election that the '22 Executive require. 😐.
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In honour of the memory of Roger Scruton, @ConHome wil be clear of everything today bar Scruton videos. There's a mass of good stuff around.
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+ @NickyMorgan01 worked heroically to make Conservatives with different views on Europe come together in search of solutions. She was also a pleasure to work with as a @ConHome columnist - never losing her sense of proportion & humour. I will miss her.
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Two @ConHome pieces on May's Brexit deal today. You will find no more eloquent attack on it anywhere than @DanielJHannan's.
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Some like him (as I do) and some don't - but either way his education reforms were the Conservatives' greatest achievement. And he has been their most effective debater by a country mile. If they go into opposition, as is overwhelming likely, they will miss him badly.
After nearly twenty years serving the wonderful people of Surrey Heath and over a decade in Cabinet across five government departments, I have today taken the decision to step down as a Member of Parliament. Read my letter here 👇
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A Sudan thread. 1) My godson @raffymarshall resigned from the Foreign Office over its handling of the Afghan withdrawal in the summer of 2021.
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So: apparently, Ministers who defy the whip by abstaining will not be fired.
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In memory of my formidable, kind and imposing former constituency neighbour, Cheryl Gillan
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Just when I thought politics was left behind: Seen on bench while climbing path to viewpoint Aksla, Alesund, Norway.
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Watching this with a non-political friend. "Why are they all talking over each other?" #BBCOurNextPM.
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Gove now getting applause (some) for almost every answer. Don't remember that for Cameron from yesterday evening #InorOut.
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From @patel4witham on @ConHome: If the left think I’m hardline on law and order, they should try meeting the British public
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Brexit. It’s time for an end to illusions. May must choose between the backstop and her country.
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+ For the time being, @HenryNewman is de facto Leader of the Opposition.
More on the Labour donor Ian Corfield row in Politico’s morning email . 👇
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@KemiBadenoch 7. @KemiBadenoch is one of the very few Conservative politicians who have seriously engaged with, say, critical race theory and identity politics. This engagement will play a big part in her success if she wins the leadership contest.
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@oflynnsocial Strange but true: three successive Conservative leaders have been migration liberals.
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Congratulations on his knighthood to @NickGibbUK - driver of so many of the @michaelgove-era education reforms from which a generation of young people gained.
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The winner of this contest so far? Conservative Party members at the Conservative Party conference - whose reactions to the candidates' main speeches shaped the coverage and this ballot. Richard Fuller and @BobBlackman have played a big part in making it happen.
Big boost for Cleverly who leaps into front runner status. Cleverly: 39.Jenrick: 31.Badenoch: 30.-—eliminated—-.Tugendhat: 20.
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The most emphatic endorsement of a Conservative leader ever made by our panel. The Party has spoken.
This is basically as close to unanimous as the @ConHome survey of Tory members gets: 90% want MPs to vote for @BorisJohnson's new #BrexitDeal
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Brexit – and why the transition period must not be extended beyond December this year. By From @ShankerASingham on @ConHome
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From @DanielJHannan on @ConHome: We are shuffling towards a deal that is worse either than remaining or leaving
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Tom Bower's wife was ennobled by @BorisJohnson. But his new biography of the PM fails to mention this fact - which @AndrewGimson, another Johnson biographer, swoops on in this @ConHome review
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Enough is enough, writes @BobbyFriedma on @ConHome. The Conservatives must put up a candidate against Bercow in Buckingham.
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+ @BorisJohnson's enemies will never forgive him for Brexit. They must not be allowed to oust him, writes @Mike_Fabricant on @ConHome
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EXCLUSIVE: On @ConHome, Nick Timothy says that he has resigned as the Prime Minister's adviser - and explains why
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classy.
Congratulations England. You had the stronger team today, and a great goalkeeper. When I have digested the result, I will support Three Lions.
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