Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

I jokingly asked a Labour whip the day before the vote whether he had a knuckle-duster ready for use. He rather sardonically replied that it would take a bit more than that…..

The Liberal Democrats, all over the place and increasingly marginalised and irrelevant, argued that we had to wait until 2010 to decide, a view more to do with their own divisions. The overall majority was made possible by the Conservative vote, not a joyous moment for the Government. Labour MPs not only looked at the future of Trident per se, but also had the opportunity of giving the Prime Minister a bruising. Discipline within the party is breaking down as Labour MPs look beyond the Blair reign.

When the wheels begin to come off a Government, they continue to do so. If Gordon thinks he will restore calm, trust and discipline to his Party he has an unwelcome surprise ahead of him. The vote was simply another sign of more to come.

Many primary producers are benefiting from high mineral and other product prices. We have seen these movements before but it would be unwise to believe that the high prices will last forever. Ultimately it is countries which can embrace and deploy state of the art technology and its applications which will succeed – it will be the great divide of our time.

Harold Wilson captured the imagination of people with his talk of the white heat of the technological revolution. In retrospect, this was nothing more than a good line. Equally, when Tony Blair launched the Lisbon process to bring Europe to the forefront of the knowledge economy, in practice, no such thing happened. It typically sounded good at the time but rumour had it that he had yet to send an email which is quite believable.

George Osborne made a speech last week which is critical reading. Firstly, he wrote it himself. Secondly, he has captured the reality of the world we now inhabit. In contrast to the soufflé speeches of Messrs Wilson and Blair, it has real depth.

Please read it by following the link below:

 http://www.georgeosborne.co.uk/shadow_news.php?id=21