Priti Vacant, Chancellor Faces Budget Rebellion, Javid Jostles for Budget Funding and Tweeting Theresa     Priti Vacant They say a week is a long time in politics. For the Conservative Member of Parliament for Witham however, time has flown Priti fast. The now former International Development Secretary was ordered to fly back immediately from Kenya from what was supposed to be three-country visit with International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. Patel’s ministerial career ended abruptly after a BBC investigation revealed that the MP had met with senior politicians while on a family holiday in Israel and discussed official departmental business. […]

This week party conference season drew to a close and things have certainly been eventful. The Lib Dems managed to unintentionally provide a few laughs as new leader Vince Cable claimed he could be the next Prime Minister. At Labour Party conference, Jeremy Corbyn cemented his grip on the party and is now looking stronger than ever. And who could forget Theresa May’s disaster-ridden speech to Tory Party conference as even the stage began to fall apart? Chelgate Public Affairs brings you all the essential highlights from each of the party conferences this autumn.   Liberal Democrats – Misguided Optimism? […]

  Brexit blues On Monday 11 September, Members of Parliament voted on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. Once dubbed the Great Repeal Bill (Which Chelgate Local took a closer look at – read their analysis here), the ‘Great’ has now been dropped – perhaps an acknowledgement that all is not well on the ship supposed to be steering us out of the EU. Brexit Secretary David Davis warned MPs ahead of the vote not to derail the Bill and cause a ‘chaotic’ Brexit. Most Tory MPs took heed of the warning, with just one pro-Remain MP (Ken Clarke) choosing to deliberately abstain. […]

Chelgate Chief Executive, Liam Herbert, reflects on the 2017 General Election.   So, there we have it.  The PM is back in Downing Street and its business as usual.  That at least is what Theresa May would like us all to believe as she spoke to the nation from the steps of No10 today having seen the Queen to form a new Government. No mention of the General Election.  No mention of the loss of her majority, or the dramatic outcome after seven weeks of campaigning.  Nothing to see here, just move along. The General Election has delivered a startling […]

Our ‘man on the ground’ in Brussels has had the honour of posting this week’s ‘A Week in Brussels’ report for PubAffairs. You can read his article below or access it via the PubAffairs website here: “This week has been all about President Trump’s visit to the Brussels bubble. But as I write this, I know that the President would beat any verbose, post-visit analysis with just 140 characters on his Twitter feed during his flight on to Italy. The trip has not alleviated fears in the EU’s upper echelons about the President’s plans. There was no meeting of minds […]