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Bye for now

  • Nick
  • 8 Feb 06, 09:09 PM

An incredibly busy week beckons - a by-election, Commons votes on ID cards, glorification of terror and a smoking ban, Labour's Spring Conference so ... er ... I'm going on holiday with my family.

It's all Geoff Hoon's fault. The Leader of the Commons fixes parliamentary half-terms to match, if at all possible, those chosen by most people's schools.

Given the choice of coinciding with London schools or those beyond the capital, this proudly provincial son of Derby and man of the people plumped for the week after next. So I'm missing the next interesting few days.

No need to worry though. On previous holidays I didn't miss anything - oh, except the resignation of Sir Geoffrey Howe, the Omagh bombing and 7/7. Blogging will resume if I get to the bottom of the my Alpine resort or if I can't resist. Do get them to call me if anything dramatic happens!

The boys are back in touch

  • Nick
  • 8 Feb 06, 01:09 PM

Gordon Brown has at last struck the blow he has been waiting for against the new Tory leader, though you might have thought it was Tony Blair who today had a clear victory at Prime Minister's Questions against David Cameron. He branded him a "flip-flopper" and brandished a Tory leaflet from the Dunfermline by-election.

In the leaflet David Cameron described himself as a "liberal Conservative" who now shared the Lib Dems' views on a range of things, including the environment - no huge surprise there. But in a statement that has eyebrows in Westminster heading for the ceiling, he claimed that they agreed on Iraq as well.

So what's Gordon Brown got to do with any of this?

Well, the chancellor happens to live in the Dunfermline constituency and the leaflet was posted through his door. Who says the Blair and Brown partnership isn't working again?

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