Oliver Letwin MP

This is, in all probability, the last “View from Westminster” that I will be able to provide before the general election is upon us.

We are, of course, already in the phoney war that inevitably precedes a general election in the fifth year of a parliament.

When elections are called in the first, second, third or fourth [...]

One of the most frequent and least productive guessing-games being played just now is the “when are we going to have an election?” game.

This is a very British pastime. You are no more likely to find someone in most other European countries engaging in it than you are to find them baking Yorkshire puddings or [...]

Black Rod has issued his sonorous summons. The Queen has been, spoken and gone. Her speech has been debated. And the new Parliamentary session is well under way.

Of course, this year it is largely a charade.

With an election likely to start not more than four months away, the chances that much of the legislative programme [...]

Normally I try to write in this column about events at Westminster.  But, this month, I want to raise an issue that is of huge concern locally – and which the View from Bridport has rightly taken up.

The issue in question is what happens to people when they leave hospital.

For some people, of course, this [...]

Happy days are here again.  The party conference season is over.

Sighs of relief all round.

But the fact that it all goes on too long shouldn’t make us forget that this annual round of jamborees is actually quite remarkable.

Enthusiasts of one brand of politics or another make long journeys from all over Britain to congregate, [...]

I imagine that many readers of this article will start with the assumption that it is being written from some far-off beach – since the newspapers regularly tell us that MPs are on holiday from the end of July until mid October.

The reality is that (probably, typically) I have taken a total of 16 working [...]

If someone asked you what people in West Dorset are concerned about, what would you answer? Agriculture? Affordable rural housing? The closure of pubs and post offices? Local food and green energy? The condition of the roads? Or a thousand other local issues?

Any one of these answers would be true. Quite a number [...]

The last few weeks in Parliament certainly cannot be described as boring.

After the razzmatazz of the G20 summit, we had the Budget, brimming with red ink (and the unwelcome prospect of a decade or more of thrift ahead as the nation gradually gets its finances back into order).

But all of these international and domestic financial [...]

View from Bridport

A lot of what goes on in Parliament is technically open to inspection, but actually is hidden from view. You can read it in Hansard if you are odd enough to read Hansard, and you can watch it on the box if you are unusual enough to subscribe to the Parliamentary channel; [...]

View from Bridport

Last week, Parliament had one of those splendid moments when everybody does the opposite of what everybody thinks that Parliament does.

We agreed about something.

The agreement in question was about community land trusts.

There was a little “debate”, initiated by a Labour backbencher.  Her support for community land trusts was echoed by those of [...]