Government

HERALD COLUMN

It is a sunny afternoon. A young man, returning from work overtakes on a highway, and runs into a car, killing the other driver. The young man misjudged whether it was safe to overtake but he was sober, and not using a mobile phone. What sentence should he receive? The children of the victim feel […]

THE POINT OF POLITICIANS

It once seemed easier to define the point of politicians. Historically this was done in three ways. Aristotle’s ideal politician was a virtuous and philosophical man, serving the city-state of Athens. He only required his politician to defend Athens, to rule it justly, and to beautify it; not to change it. For Ancient Romans, and […]

ON THE RECENT FREE SCHOOL MEALS VOTE

The recent vote was not to remove food entitlement from the most disadvantaged. Still less was it “taking free school meals from a million people.” The vote, instead, removed entitlement from the better off, in order to focus free lunches on those children whose parents cannot afford them. As a result, by 2022, 50,000 more children […]

MINISTER FOR PRISONS – HERALD COLUMN 3RD MARCH 2018

I became the Minister for Prisons six weeks ago. When I first visited prisons – teaching briefly in Oxford prison – in the early 1990s, there were 45,000 prisoners in Britain. Today, there are 85,000. This is not because crime has increased – the national crime survey suggests that there was four times as much […]

Politics: A Dozen Small Things

Article first published in the Cumberland & Westmorland Herald on 1 December 2017 When I lived outside Britain, I felt that the greatest problem in Britain was injustice. Once I became a ‘parliamentary candidate’ I began to feel that the problem was that government was completely out of touch with reality on the ground, and […]

WELCOME FOR HISTORIC BORDERLANDS DEAL IN CHANCELLOR’S 2017 BUDGET

Penrith and The Border MP Rory Stewart has responded to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget Statement, delivered this afternoon, and has in particular applauded the Chancellor’s commitment to progressing a devolved growth deal for the Borderlands region, including north Cumbria – a deal on which Rory has worked since initiating the proposal while a […]

RORY PRAISES GOVERNMENT BOOST FOR PENRITH MOUNTAIN RESCUE

Penrith and The Border MP Rory Stewart has praised the work of a group of dedicated volunteers, who have been awarded £5,958 to boost their vital life-saving work. The money for the Penrith Mountain Rescue Team has been made available from the Government’s inshore and inland rescue boat grant fund and is the fourth round […]

RESPONSE TO CHANCELLOR’S 2017 SPRING BUDGET

Penrith and The Border MP Rory has responded to the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget Statement delivered this afternoon. He welcomed the strong message of continuity, and the government’s commitment to remaining on the path to security and prosperity – while applauding in particular the Chancellor’s announcements on investment in skills and young people; in […]

The Public Point of View

My father died just over a year ago. I dreamt about him last night. Thinking about him, I’m reminded of two things today: first, that he loved me; and second, that he was – to put it mildly – puzzled by my choice of profession. He never saw the point of parliament, which he thought […]