Should the public be told whether or not the Home Office have refused visas to individuals linked to serious crime?

I have tabled an amendment to the Serious Crime Bill, for consideration today, making the case for greater transparency. You can read my blog-post outlining the case for the change on The Spectator's Coffee House blog here.

Last Monday, Paliamemt's long-awaited debate and vote on the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) descended into a navel-gazing farce. This week, there will be a second chance in the House of Commons.

Today, the Mail on Sunday features an interview with the latest victim, Keith Hainsworth, a Greek tutor from Hampton, caught up in an absurd Greek EAW, which turned his life upside down and cost him around £40k in legal fees. You can read the account here.

I have written a column to accompany the interview with the Hanisworths, which you can read here.

Today, the House of Commons debated whether or not Britain should engage in military air strikes on the terrorist group, Islamic State, in Iraq. The motion was tightly drafted - you can read the text here - to assuage fears airstrikes would lead to ground troops, or action in Iraq would spread to Syria.

I sat through the entire debate - from 10.30am until 6pm - queuing to speak. The system is that, after Ministers, Select Committee Chairs and former Ministers with relevant experience, backbenchers are listed according to how infrequently they have spoken in Parliamentary debates. In my view, this protocol is totally arbitrary. But, in any case, because I have participated in a lot of debates I didn't get an opportunity to speak. In the end I supported the government motion - albeit with reservations and something of a heavy heart.

I have pasted below the speech I would have given, so you understand my views on such an important issue ....

I see no legal bar to intervention in Iraq,
Given the Iraqi request for military support.
In addition, there is a more limited but well established right of self-defence against terrorist groups threatening either the UK or her citizens.

So, we have the right to intervene.
The question is whether and how we exercise it.

Here, like others, I have to question whether airstrikes alone are capable of affecting positive change on the ground.
Like Al-Qaeda,
Islamic State is an amorphous organisation.
It can hunker down,
Take savage losses,
And re-appear once the patience, will or attention of the West has drifted.
It will bide its time.
It can and will fill vacuums that appear across the Middle East.

Even if we vanquish IS in Iraq,
It has a foothold in Syria,
And there is nothing to stop it morphing and re-emerging further afield.

Regrettably, the West has no credible wider regional strategy.
The reticence of Turkey and Jordan in taking on Islamic State,
The absence of Iran from the recent Paris conference,
The failure to court relatively moderate groups,
Including the Muslim Brotherhood,
All point to this strategic frailty.

There are serious questions about Saudi Arabia’s support,
Tacit or otherwise,
For Islamic State.

And, here at home, British involvement elevates the risk of blowback,
By providing a pretext for attacks by returning jihadis.

Overall, Mr Speaker, this international operation feels like it’s prodding at a hornet’s nest with a short stick.
I hope, but I’m not convinced, that we can affect positive change.
And, the more involved we get,
The more we take responsibility for the mess.
As Colin Powell used to say,
His Pottery Barn rule,
“If you break it, you own it.”

Today, on Radio 4's World At One program, I debated whether we need new legislation to fight terrorism, making the argument that we need to focus more on prosecution - enforcing the laws we already have more effectively.

You can listen to the discussion here.

How do you solve a problem like Vladimir Putin? In a column today for The Independent, I make the case for beating him at his own game by imposing automatic smart sanctions on anyone connected to a list of international crimes - from torture to terrorism.

You can read the column here.

I have been campaigning for reform to strike laws since 2011. In particular, I have been pressing a private bill to require union bosses to carry majority support from their members before striking.

Today, in advance of nationwide strikes tomorrow, I raised the issue again at Prime Minister's Questions. The PM responded with a pledge to make my proposed reform a commitment in the 2015 Conservative manifesto. You can watch the exchange below.

I joined the panel yesterday, for the post-budget Question Time up in Warrington. There were questions on the budget, HS2, Ukraine, teaching and the BBC.

You can watch it here.

The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, gave an impressive speech to Parliament today. I went in thinking she might lecture Britain about the need to be realistic about renegotiating her relationship with the EU. I left wondering whether it was, in fact, Germany that needed a reality check about her reform ambitions within the EU.

I have written a column for The Times tomorrow on the subject here.

In November, the Fresh Start Project - backed by over 100 Tory MPs - set out a mandate for reform of the EU, making the case for Britain's relationship to be re-cast on a firmer footing, following the renegotiation pledged by David Cameron.

Fresh Start Project founder, Andrea Leadsom MP, and I have penned a column for the Sunday Times, explaining how we can revise our relationship in a way that is good for both Britain and the EU. You can access the article here.

Today, The Times reports on a new survey I obtained from Global Visas, showing the ongoing flow of Britons out of the country is overwhelmingly made up of middle income strivers - not bankers or employees of big multinantionals.

This contrasts the steep rise in foreign benefit claimants reported in the Daily Telegraph this week here. I assess these dual trends in a column for Con Home here.

The government was defeated even on the much diluted House of Commons motion, which you can read here. The motion called for  a humanitarian response and UN action.  It made clear there would be no UK military action without another vote in the House of Commons first. I supported the government on that basis, having made clear I would not vote for British military action if it were put before us later.

Amidst the efforts to revive peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, Benjamin Netanyahu has promised the Israeli public a referendum on any deal.

Today, I penned a column for the Daily Telegraph, here, on the lessons the Israeli strategy holds for Britain's 'renegotiation and referendum' approach to revising its terms of membership with the EU.

I have written a column for tomorrow, in the Sunday Times, on the so-called 'liberal' coup in Egypt and what it means for the wider Middle East.

You can access it here.

Last week, the British Geological Survey published new estimates on UK deposits of shale gas. At a time when we face a real pinch on energy supplies, this is a lifeline for Britain.

I have written a column for City AM today, explaining why shale can help us forge an energy policy that makes economic and environmental sense. You can read it here.

I have written a column for City AM today, questioning the dogmatic assumption that the EU promotes free trade.

It looks at UK trade trends across the world, and the recent performance of UK car manufacturing. You can read it here.

I have written a column for the Sunday Times tomorrow, arguing that Britain should be wary of intervening in the deteriorating civil war in Syria, and that the international response is emblematic of a changing world order.

You can access the article here.