Archive of articles from 2009

Government legislative programme in full

politics.co.uk gives you the full breakdown of the bills and proposals, some of them still without a home, coming up as the general election approaches.

Audio: Charles Guthrie on shaking up Whitehall

Former chief of the defence staff General Lord Charles Guthrie on why Whitehall needs to shake up its approach to national security.

Audio: George Robertson on UK's national security needs

National security commission co-chair George Robertson explains why his final report has questioned the need for Trident.

Audio: Paddy Ashdown on the new world order

IPPR's national security commission co-chair Paddy Ashdown sets the geopolitical agenda for the next few decades or so.

As-it-happened: Brown on Building Britain's Future

Review our coverage of Gordon Brown's 'public engagement event' selling Building Britain's Future here.

Tory expenses repayments in full

Forty-five Conservative MPs have agreed to make repayments from their expenses claims after the party's scrutiny panel probed their use (or misuse) of the second homes allowance (SHA).

PMQs as-it-happened

Watch John Bercow's first prime minister's questions in real time, with politics.co.uk.

Feature: The voting age controversy

Are we about to let young people, legally not yet adults, help decide who governs the country?

Parliamentary standards

Westminster has been rocked by the expenses scandal

The government has tried to turn the tide of the expenses scandal by creating a new independent body to scrutinise MPs' claims. Will it change anything?

Race to be Speaker: As-it-happened

Keep up with the race to become Speaker with politics.co.uk's live minute by minute account of events in Westminster.

The top ten funniest expenses claims

politics.co.uk's pick of the most audacious, the most brazen, the most absurd expenses claims unearthed in the recent scandal.

How to become Speaker

Are you a senior MP with the political nous to steer parliament through one of its most difficult periods?

PMQs as-it-happened

politics.co.uk's minute by minute account of Michael Martin's last prime minister's questions.

As-it-happened: Expenses evidence

Sir Christopher Kelly's committee on standards in public life is grilling Harriet Harman and co on the expenses inquiry. Follow live updates from Westminster as-it-happens on <i>politics.co.uk</i>.

Iraq inquiry: The responses

David Cameron and Nick Clegg respond to the prime minister's announcement of an inquiry into the Iraq war.

Review: The Face on your Plate

The Face on your Plate, by Jeffrey Masson

A thoughtful, persuasive text outlining some key reasons for not eating meat, ranging from the personal to the political.

Feature: The race to reform

Public confidence in parliament and politics has fallen off a cliff. Everyone in Westminster - from the prime minister downwards - has bright ideas about what to do next.

Brown's constitutional reform as-it-happened

Read politics.co.uk's minute-by-minute account of the prime minister's package of constituional reforms, due to be delivered to the Commons after PMQs.