HomeBlogs & ViewsBirmingham Mail ColumnistsJon Walker

How the Iron Lady lost her marble and turned bronze

MISTY eyes in the House of Commons Lobby, as MPs unveil a statue of Margaret Thatcher. Read

Net widens in hunt for Brown challenger

CHARLES Clarke is a former Home Secretary who got the sack after a series of disasters in his department. Read

Tory funding comes under fire

DAVID Cameron is under fire again for accepting funding from the Midlands Industrial Council, the body representing a number of the region's top business leaders. Read

With 'friends' like these...

THE uncertainty caused by Tony Blair's postponed departure from Downing Street is making some of his colleagues tetchy. Read

Tory backbenchers plan a rebellion

LABOUR isn't the only party with discipline problems. Read

Short: I was never confident enough

CLARE Short says she never had the confidence to become an MP - until she became a civil servant. Read

Fears of another fine mess

A LEAKED Treasury report a few years ago revealed that more than £1.5 billion has been squandered on botched or delayed Government IT projects since 1997. Read

Let he who is without wig pull the first hair...

MICHAEL Fabricant is one of the most easily-recognisable MPs in the Commons. Read

Petition power isn't all it seems

OPPOSITION to road charging continues to grow and 682,000 people have now signed an "electronic petition" against it on the Downing Street website. Read

Did you meet Tony in 1997?

LABOUR has rarely looked more disunited. The current Home Secretary is at war with two predecessors over his plans to divide the Home Office in two. Read

Tribute to planning chief

SOLIHULL councillor Les Kyles, the borough's planning chair, was remembered in the House of Commons following his death recently. Read

Marathon man makes Commons plea

IT'S not unusual for staff to ask their colleagues to sponsor them when they take part in charitable events. Read

Pole position for one of Brown's 'boot boys'

AS TONY Blair clings to power, Gordon Brown is preparing his team for when he takes over. Read

Flagging up a bit of a problem...

AS the nation debates what it is to be British, Black Country MP John Spellar is taking action. Read

Creative wordplay from MP

BIRMINGHAM MP Liam Byrne (Lab Hodge Hill) likes to think of himself as a straight-talker. Read

Appearance is Julie noted!

WHO says sexism is dead? Read

Rival says Blunkett is talking Balkans on split

HOME Secretary John Reid has ruffled a few feathers with his proposal to split the Home Office in two. Read

Jacqui's whipping up support

THE post of Chief Whip has traditionally been shrouded in secrecy. Read

Peter's friends in the north

THE 300th anniversary of the union between England and Scotland passed with relatively little fanfare. Read

Hemming goes all-in to fight supercasino

THE nation will learn in a fortnight where Britain's first supercasino is to be built, but we already know it won't be in Birmingham. Read