The DNA profiles of innocent people arrested in England and Wales will be kept for six years and not indefinitely under new government proposals. The changes will be put before the European Court of Human Rights, which had ruled the current policy unlawful. Police have defended the system, which it says has led to the solving of crimes, but human rights groups are unhappy with the compromise. Julie...
Separately, NDP Leader Jack Layton lauded his party's hefty win over the Tories in a Vancouver area seat as a repudiation of the Harper government's role in an unpopular sales tax change in B.C. The Harper government is bankrolling the shift to the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), which will mean increased prices on about one in five consumer purchases in British Columbia.
All the talking heads said the Tories are dead in Quebec. Well people, its not true. The polls show the Tories have been making a comeback and this byelections confirms this. Indeed the gun registry vote probably helped us. John Ivison has a good piece on the byelections. We are now only 8 or nine seats away from a majority. The biggest surprise of the night was clearly the Conservative...
Business secretary says newspaper's coverage of Gordon Brown's phone conversation with Jacqui Janes was bad-taste, crude politicking Lord Mandelson claimed today that there was a "contract" between the Sun and the Conservative party that could undermine the impartial coverage of the BBC on the general election. The business secretary said that Sun journalism influenced the way politics was...
One of the most respected Eurosceptic Tory MPs today launched a campaign for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in a direct challenge to the party leadership which last week said it would not make good David Cameron's pledge for a poll on the issue. In an email to constituents announcing his intention to campaign for a referendum, Douglas Carswell said: "I want you to know that I have begun...
Labour warhorse Lord Mandelson has emerged as the Government's prime attack dog in the ongoing war between Gordon Brown and the Sun newspaper. The business secretary went…
Gosh, our local Tories do know how to have a good time! Whilst in South West Norfolk, the local Conservative Association has imploded over the question of Liz Truss's affair with Mark Field, somewhat closer to home, the final shortlist for the 27 November open primary for my neighbouring constituency of Central Suffolk and North Ipswich has sparked off a more basic but no less intriguing dispute....
Those seeking to prevent a Conservative victory constantly allude to the party's social elitism ( Why public schools are likely to rule in 2010 , 7 November). While it is clear that the replacement of Labour MPs by new Conservative ones will inevitably increase the proportion of the Commons educated at private schools, the percentage of Tory MPs from private schools will be lower than ever...
Oh Jesus. John Tory leads the pack of undeclared candidates for mayor of Toronto by a wide margin, according to a new poll by Angus Reid Strategies. Of decided voters, 46 per cent said they would vote for Mr. Tory, former leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, who came a close second to David Miller in the 2003 mayoral race. Ontario Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister...