During the last Parliament I used, snobbishly, to boast that there was no McDonald’s in the whole of my constituency. The worst you could do, if you wanted delicious unwholesome food, was Domino’s in Devizes.
The long-brewing political crisis of the grooming gangs has finally broken over Westminster, which is a good thing. I wish the Government were doing more to empower the local enquiries they are setting up (instead of the single national enquiry the Conservatives are calling for), but it’s good
Brexit - Farming, Planning - BustardsThis week I was credited (ok, partly credited) with the UK leaving the EU (see here by David Frost, our chief Brexit negotiator in 2019-20). This will confirm some readers’ dim view of me, but I was highly gratified.
ChinaSir Henry Keswick - the quintessential taipan, chairman of Jardine Matheson, life-long Sinophile and deeply Conservative Englishman - died this month. He and his wife Tessa (who died last year) were good friends to me and to my Party here in East Wiltshire over many years.
Last week in the Commons (see here) I did what I could on behalf of the Opposition to challenge the Government on the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment from 10 million pensioners.
Military familiesThere are encouraging hints in the papers today that the Government will offer military families a reprieve from the planned taxation on education.
I spent Friday and Saturday this week in Larkhill, the military town. One thing dominates local conversation here: the hundreds of Afghan nationals relocated here, and to neighbouring towns, since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
