Reading West MP Martin Salter joined the Dean of Reading Canon Brian Shenton to launch a hard-hitting exhibition on the horrors of racism, war and genocide on Monday 25th January at Reading’s Broad Street Mall. The exhibition entitled ‘Anne Frank - A History for Today’ was sponsored by Reading Borough Council and Reading Council for Racial Equality and tells the story of this Jewish girl’s account of the persecution by the Nazis in World War II.

Thanks to an unguarded bumble by “Capt” Bob Ainsworth, we now have confirmed with worst kept political secret in Britain, that the General Election will take place on May 6th. So with just three months to wait and ten points ahead in the polls all should be sweetness and light in the ranks of “Team Dave.” Sadly this is far from the case as recent reports have indicated, whilst behind the scenes my Tory snouts tell of simmering tensions and personal enmities.

As another week draws to a close, I have to say how much I’ve enjoyed my first excursion into the world of blogging for the Torygraph - every MPs favourite paper! Amongst the usual array of frothing, sleep-deprived, right-wingers that inhabit these spaces, it has been rewarding to read some of the more thoughtful comments which these early scribings have inspired. I will try to be stimulating and occasionally amusing as requested by our esteemed editor.

David Cameron has a lot more work to do if he is serious about “de-contaminating the Conservative brand” to quote his election strategist. It seems that as well as an expensive private education and a lucrative personal portfolio of outside business interests, the other factor that binds Dave’s Shadow Cabinet together is a tendency to accept questionable donations from companies best placed to benefit from their policies.

Now I don’t have a lot of time for LibDems as a group, they invariably seem petty and pointless and watching them trying to act collectively is akin to witnessing a Jack Russell trying to herd cats. However, they do occasionally throw up some impressive individuals and I was sad to learn that David Howarth, [...]

Westminster has been buzzing with rumours about George Osborne’s financial plans - not so much what the Shadow Chancellor has in mind for our great nation, rather how he arranged for the taxpayer to help him fund the mortgage on a £450,000 farmhouse in the Peak District National Park. Just the sort of place [...]

Today Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in response to a Question from Reading West MP Martin Salter gave his backing to the all party campaign for a permanent memorial to the men of the Berkshire Yeomanry and, in particular, to Trooper Potts, Reading’s only holder of the Victoria Cross.

On Tuesday, the powerful House of Commons Home Affairs Committee took evidence from Pauline Bryant and Clive Barber in their roles as Governor and Deputy Governor of Reading Young Offenders’ Institution. The Select Committee is conducting an inquiry into “The Government’s Approach to Crime Prevention” with a particular focus on strategies to cut re-offending rates.

Now I was brought up just a few miles downwind of the Mars factory in Slough and was, as a teenager, possibly overly mesmerised by the imagery associated with the Cadbury’s Flake adverts. Chocolate continues to be a part of my life - I wish it wasn’t so, but it is. However, news of the [...]

It has become a tradition in the House of Commons that the New Year has to begin with a plot. For the last couple of years the Liberal Democrats have kept us entertained with their rendition of “Musical Leaders”, with Charles Kennedy being resigned in January 2006, in order that he could spend more time [...]