Gazette

David Cameron congratulates the England cricket team on their becoming the number one team in the world

By Matthew Barrett
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The England cricket team this afternoon wrapped up the third successive Test win of the current series against India. The victory means that after the fourth Test (the result of which is now largely irrelevant) and the end of the series in a few days' time, the England cricket team will be ranked the number one Test team in the world, a title currently held by the defeated Indian team. 

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, congratulated the England team on their achievement, saying:

"I congratulate the England cricket team on their fantastic achievement. Their performance in this Test - including England's highest-ever innings score in a non-timeless Test and Alastair Cook's magnificent 294 - against the team that has up to now been ranked number one in the world, is a tribute to their domination of the sport. It was a massive team effort, bowling India out twice for less than 250 and always being so sharp in the field. I watched the closing overs on the sofa at home and will remember the joy of the crowd at Edgbaston and England getting to number one in such style for a long time to come. The whole nation can be very proud of our team of world beaters."

House of Commons victorious in Lords vs. Commons Boat Race

By Matthew Barrett
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The annual Parliamentary Boat Race was held yesterday, with the House of Commons team beating their House of Lords colleagues for the third year running. 

The Commons team consisted of the following Members:

• Edward Leigh (Con, Gainsborough)
• Matt Hancock (Con, West Suffolk)
• Matthew Offord (Con, Hendon)
• Claire Perry (Con, Devizes) 
• George Freeman (Con, Mid Norfolk)
• John Stevenson (Con, Carlisle)
• Dan Byles (Con, North Warwickshire)
• Eric Joyce (Lab, Falkirk)

The Lords team consisted of:

• Lord Thomas of Gresford
• The Lord Lucas of Crudwell and Dingwall
• The Lord St John of Bletso
• The Earl of Courtdown
• The Lord Addington
• The Viscount Goschen
• The Baroness Walmsley
• The Lord Bilimoria

The Commons team had the advantage of a former Blue at Oxford (Claire Perry), a Guinness World Record-holder (Dan Byles (for more info, see his Wikipedia entry here)), and seasoned veterans Edward Leigh and Eric Joyce. As well as those experienced team-members, the Commons had Matt Hancock, who stepped in to the team at the very last moment, and first-timer John Stevenson. Matthew Offord took over the captaincy of the team after the retirement of Don Foster (Lib, Bath), last year. Foster announced, on a point of order on the floor of the Commons, the result of the Race after the BSkyB debate finished yesterday evening. Matthew said:

"Those early morning training session certainly came in handy but the power, skill and experience of a first-rate crew ensured our victory over the Lords."

Photo of the team (click to enlarge) (from left-to-right) Edward Leigh, Matt Hancock, Matthew Offord, Claire Perry, Helen (Cox), George Freeman, John Stevenson, Dan Byles and Eric Joyce:

Dan Byles also tweeted this photo after the event, reporting the Boat Race had raised £5,000 for charity (and see more pics on his Twitter page here): 

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...]

Liam Fox picks the winner of ConHome's British Political Facts competition

By Jonathan Isaby

Last month we ran this competition to win a copy of the new edition of British Political Facts. Yesterday the names of all those who gave us the correct answers to the questions we posed were put into a hat (the hat I have been wearing throughout the winter, in fact!) and Defence Secretary Liam Fox picked a winner.

Many congratulations to Sam Barker from Cambridge - the book is on its way to you.

The answers to the questions were as follows:

1. Who was Foreign Secretary in Churchill's Government between 1951 and 1955? Anthony Eden
2. Margaret Thatcher famously told the 1980 Conservative Party conference: "The lady's not for turning". But where did that conference take place? Brighton
3. Which Labour politician insisted in 2008 of the then Prime Minister: "I have always wanted to support Gordon's leadership"? David Miliband