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Come here to find out who is saying what to whom at Westminster and what it may mean for you
12:13 UK time, Monday, 7 January 2013
David Cameron will feel Lord Strathclyde's loss keenly after his decision to step down from the cabinet and his post as leader of the House of Lords.
He is a safe pair of hands who, in a long political career, has hardly ever dropped the ball. Behind a jovial demeanour, he is one of the cabinet's shrewdest political operators.
13:33 UK time, Wednesday, 2 January 2013
One or two folk have very kindly suggested that I give this poem a second outing. It was commissioned by Al Murray, the pub landlord, who guest edited the Today programme on 1 January. He performs a sketch that looks back at past prime ministers and he felt some in his audience could profit from a useful mnemonic to remind them of our former leaders:
"Lord Salisbury, Balfour, Campbell-B
17:05 UK time, Thursday, 27 December 2012
As David Cameron and Nick Clegg put their feet up, nibble on a mince pie, and look back on the year past, they could be forgiven for thinking how glorious it has been.
The adoring crowds. The huge achievement. Britain punching above its weight.
13:52 UK time, Friday, 21 December 2012
Dateline: Helmand Province.
For the last eight years or so I have spent part of my Christmas visiting war zones with a prime minister.
02:42 UK time, Tuesday, 4 December 2012
In the end, it all comes down to a choice between Hilaire Belloc and Mötley Crüe. That is the choice that will determine the outcome of the next general election.
On the one side are the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, firm disciples of Belloc and the poet's belief that one should "always keep-a-hold of nurse/ for fear of finding something worse".
13:56 UK time, Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Nadine Dorries is "on probation", I am told by Conservative sources.
She met Chief Whip Sir George Young and she remains suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party. She says it was a very good-natured, very happy meeting. The whips say Sir George was quietly firm.
23:19 UK time, Monday, 26 November 2012
On Tuesday morning, Conservative MP Nadine Dorries will meet her Chief Whip Sir George Young.
She will explain why she went off to Australia to take part in a reality TV show that involved her eating grubs. He will explain why he suspended her from the parliamentary party as a result.
13:40 UK time, Wednesday, 21 November 2012
It is sometimes said that members of the House of Lords only get really hot under the collar about sex, hunting and parliamentary reform.
But today along their red leather benches peers are debating something that deeply concerns them and goes to the heart of politics: the battle between liberty and security. How does the state keep its citizens safe while also keeping them free?
17:24 UK time, Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Oh the joy of a policy delivered! The sweet taste of a promise fulfilled!
So used are we to the compromise and fudge of government that when a politician actually does what they said they would do, there is much rejoicing in heaven. Or at least in Downing Street.
18:06 UK time, Monday, 19 November 2012
Parliament is overwhelmingly opposed.
Polls suggest the public are incredulous at the idea. And, famously, we all know that it makes David Cameron physically sick.
21:44 UK time, Friday, 16 November 2012
Forget for a moment the agonising over turnout in the police and crime commissioners' elections. Forget the chest thumping among the political twitterati over the supposed crisis of democracy.
The new PCCs are legitimate because many thousands of people have voted for them. They exist. They are accountable. They have power. There is an important question about how much authority they have on the back of such a low turnout.
13:31 UK time, Wednesday, 14 November 2012
A small piece of parliamentary history has just been made. Lady Campbell of Surbiton, a crossbench peer, has taken part in the second reading debate on the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.
Nothing surprising about that, you may think. But note this. Lady Campbell is severely disabled and she spoke with the aid of her personal assistant, something that has not been allowed for more than 300 years.
17:48 UK time, Monday, 12 November 2012
David Cameron once said that he got so frustrated with the case of Abu Qatada that he sometimes wanted to get on a plane and deport the terrorist suspect to Jordan himself.
Well, last April the Home Secretary Theresa May had good news for him. She told him that, finally, Qatada's deportation was "under way".
14:04 UK time, Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Ah, the ecstasy of a US election! The anticipation of the primaries, the admiration of the long campaign, the envy of the zillions being spent, the thrill of the attack ads, the excitement of the exuberant conventions, the sheer joy of the fight! Never let it be said that the world of Westminster does not get aroused by the democratic process on the other side of the water.
Elections may come and go in Europe but they disappear, largely ignored by the denizens of London SW1. As for American polls: well, wow! We just cannot get enough of them. Today we are all experts in the psephology of Ohio. Who cares of Corby when you have Colorado?
18:59 UK time, Monday, 5 November 2012
Did you wake this morning worried about the size of MPs' constituencies?
Did you gulp your cornflakes fretting that the House of Commons is too big? Did you brood on your way to work about when MPs should vote on planned boundary changes? Did you agonise at your desk over delays to the Electoral Registration and Administration Bill?
08:04 UK time, Tuesday, 30 October 2012
The Palace of Westminster is falling apart. The 150-year-old building is creaking at the seams. It is stuffed full of asbestos. Much of the electrics are pre-war.
It is so fire unsafe officials fear it would never pass any health and safety test. So the authorities are finally deciding what to do about it.
20:00 UK time, Monday, 29 October 2012
So, it's like this. A bunch of Conservatives called Mark, Mark, Zac, John, Sarah and Bill want a real terms cut in the EU's long term budget.
Their boss Dave says no, that's going too far.
19:31 UK time, Sunday, 28 October 2012
Some news stories are so old they write themselves.
I came to Westminster as a young reporter for the Times in the early 1990s and wrote many stories which began: "The prime minister was last night facing a fresh rebellion over Europe..."
11:34 UK time, Thursday, 25 October 2012
Forget for a moment the debate about margins of error, the impact of the Olympics, and the bounce back from the Jubilee bank holiday.
Ignore the talk of preliminary figures and how they compare with this financial quarter or that.
19:48 UK time, Thursday, 18 October 2012
James added analysis to:
There has been a lot of uncertainty after the prime minister's statement in the Commons yesterday.
Officials in Whitehall were saying this policy is very much in development, and the prime minister had spoken a little bit early on this.
James has been walking the streets and corridors of Westminster for almost two decades. He has worked in his current role as the BBC's deputy political editor since July 2009. Before that he spent five years as chief political correspondent leading all 24-hour news coverage from Westminster.
He has presented programmes such as The Andrew Marr Show, The Westminster Hour, The World This Weekend, Broadcasting House, Daily Politics and Straight Talk.
James joined the BBC in 2003 after a spending a decade at The Times newspaper, primarily as a political correspondent in the Westminster lobby. He also worked as the paper's Brussels correspondent and assistant foreign news editor.
He has written two books, Duel: A True Story of Death and Honour and Landale's Cautionary Tales: Comic Verse for the 21st Century.
He lives with his family in Hampshire.
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