Gazette

Lord Howard of Lympne becomes a Companion of Honour in the Queen's Birthday honours list

by Paul Goodman

Michael Howard is a great servant of the Conservative Party, and our readers will be delighted to read about his elevation this morning.  Having seen a bit of him over the past 15 years or so I can report that he is as kind close up as he is intimidating at a distance.

Sir John Major, who is also a Companion of Honour, was of course Prime Minister.  That Lord Howard, who was not, is now of the same rank is recognition of his seniority and ability.  He is also very close to David Cameron, who when he was Home Secretary served him as a special adviser.

Edward Lister, until recently the leader of Wandsworth Council and now Boris Johnson's Chief of Staff (as well as a Deputy Mayor) , is knighted.  The only MP I can see on the list is Labour's Alan Meale.  Read the full list here.

10.30am Update The Daily Telegraph lists three Conservative MPs as having been appointed to the Privy Council - Nicholas Soames, Desmond Swayne, and Sir Peter Tapsell: many congratulations to them.

ConHome's Graeme Archer has won the Orwell Prize for blogging

By Matthew Barrett

Huge, huge, huge congratulations to Graeme Archer, who has won the 2011 Orwell Prize for blogging for his writing on ConservativeHome.

Graeme beat a very strong short-list:

• Cath Elliott of Too Much To Say For Myself
• Daniel Hannan MEP
• Duncan McLaren of Visiting Mabel
• Heresiarch of Heresy Corner
• Molly Bennett of Mid-Wife Crisis
• BBC Newsnight's Paul Mason

I'm sure all readers will join me in congratulating Graeme for this hugely deserved award!

8.30am on 18th May | Tim Montgomerie writes:

Over the years of editing ConservativeHome I'm proud of many things we have done. I'm proud we've given members a voice and a place to come together. I think of ConHome as the party conference that never stops. I'm proud of our campaigning for members' rights in the leadership election and other internal party selections. I'm proud of the way we've argued for a broader and more compassionate conservatism. I'm particularly proud that we've been able to encourage new talent. Putting former Deputy Editor Sam Coates on the map, for example, and now, in Matthew Barrett I think we've found another star of the future. It's also been a great privilege to give a platform to writers who otherwise might never have found an audience for their insight and eloquence. Graeme Archer has contributed many dazzling pieces over the years to ConservativeHome. He has made me laugh out loud. His writings have changed my mind about things. His writings have always been characterised by compassion. He has a great gift for relating his own experience of life with his political worldview. Thank you Graeme for all you've contributed to ConHome. You and writers like Andrew Lilico and Peter Cuthbertson have made this site what it is. I am delighted that your brilliance has been recognised.

And this is how it began, in May 2008...

"There is a beautifully camp scene in an old 1960s episode of Doctor Who, where Patrick Troughton, locked in a cave full of cybermen, is confronted with the treachery of two human logicians, who have deliberately sabotaged their comrades' spaceship in order to give them time to build an alliance with the ice-cold creatures of steel. Why on earth do you believe the cybermen will form an alliance with you? asks the Doctor, in bemused horror. Because we're logicians, and because such an alliance makes sense, they reply: everything yields to logic, doc-torrrr.

I was quite powerfully moved by that scene as a child, and it probably had more to do with my ultimate choice of career as a statistician as anything else. Secretly, shamefully, I rather empathised with the logical humans. It's taken many years of therapy (aka "life") for me to discover that love is somewhat more important than critical thinking. However, I do retain a sincere belief that evidence, measured numerically, can tell us something real about the hidden motivations of politicians. Please don't quote Disraeli at me: even he wasn't right about everything." [MORE...]

ConHome's Graeme Archer now short-listed for the Orwell Prize for blogging

By Jonathan Isaby

I was delighted a few weeks ago to announce that ConHome regular Graeme Archer had reached the longlist of the 2011 Orwell Prize for blogging for his writing on the site. The prize is awarded to authors, journalists and bloggers who "make political writing into an art"

On the long list he found himself one of a field of 22 out of 205 entries.

So even more congratulations are now in order, since he has tonight been short-listed alongside six other bloggers for the 2011 prize. I'm sure all readers will join me in agreeing that this is a hugely deserved accolade!

The other short-listed bloggers are:

• Cath Elliott of Too Much To Say For Myself
• Daniel Hannan MEP
• Duncan McLaren of Visiting Mabel
• Heresiarch of Heresy Corner
• Molly Bennett of Mid-Wife Crisis
• BBC Newsnight's Paul Mason
  

The winner will be announced on May 17th. More details are on the Orwell Prize website.

ConHome's Graeme Archer longlisted for the Orwell Prize for blogging

By Jonathan Isaby

Huge congratulations to Graeme Archer, who has reached the longlist of the 2011 Orwell Prize for blogging for his writing on ConservativeHome.

He is one of just 22 out of a field of 205 entries to have been longlisted.

The prize is awarded to authors, journalists and bloggers who "make political writing into an art" and I am delighted that Graeme's talents have been recognised in this way. You can read his work on the site here and here.

You can see the full list of those longlisted here, which also includes Daniel Hannan MEP and Paul Waugh of PoliticsHome.

The shortlist will be announced on 26th April and the winner revealed on 18th May.