What Will Change If David Cameron Gets In?

so not gonna happen...?

I couldn't understand why he wasn't in his constituency (Witney) at the w/end with his wellies and barbour on, standing in a flood and blaming Gordo for being tight with money for flood defences. Turns out he was in Rwanda which led to a great quote something along the lines of 'flooding, climate change and poverty could not be dealt with, without engaging with Africa.'

He seems to have lost some momentum thats for sure.

I did roffle at him asking a Rwandan journalist if she had any questions and she replied "yes, why aren't you in your flooded constituency back at home?"

Let me repeat for the umpteenth time:

Said the Nader supporter: "Tell me how Bush and Gore are different."

Redwood's back with some novel ideas to woo business:

- repeal the working time directive
- abolish the data protection act
- opt out of the social charter
- make it easier to make staff redundant
- relax health and safety legislation
- something about bingo

Is nice guy Cameron still in charge?

Labour 10 points ahead in the polls. Redwood's "plans" should double that. If I was Gordon Brown I'd be going to the country ASAP.

TS - early election that makes people go "hang on a minute, does he know something we don't? Is the economy about to go tits-up" vs waiting longer and risk the economy going tits-up in the meantime.

If I was him I'd wait now - an early election campaign would galvanise the Tories whereas making them sweat for longer gives them time to get cranky and start taking potshots at one another.

it was quite alarming to see Redwood's face on website news pages yesterday (but slightly better than 'Madeline parents heartened by police 'we don't think you killed her after all' assurance')

- repeal the working time directive
- abolish the data protection act
- opt out of the social charter
- make it easier to make staff redundant
- relax health and safety legislation
- something about bingo

terrible fact-checking job on the bingo there onimo, hang your head

Here you go:

Other proposed measures include scrapping controversial home information packs and horse passports and lightening the regulations on herbal remedies, charity bingo and raffles.

As a representative of the National Tombola Association I can only voice my disappointment with Mr Redwood's priorities.

i would have said a spring election would make more sense, but it all now depends how bad the recession is going to be

It could all hinge on this horse passport issue.

Home-owning, horse-riding, raffle-ticket buyers = Tory grass roots support. I'm waiting for Redwood to state that he will not bow to Brussels on the matter of standardising sponge cake tins.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1578898.jpg

Conservative leader David Cameron is pledging a zero-tolerance approach to all crime along with a major prison building programme, says the Daily Mail.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1578897.jpg

Metro adds that Mr Cameron blamed a rise in violent crime on video games, music and films.

Next week: The Permissive Society.

Mr Cameron blamed a rise in violent crime on video games, music and films.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4585264.stm

All that gloomy stuff really fucks you up.

" I have a face that you can just see exactly when I'm bluffing."

a ha ha yes, very good.

The Killers album I think is fantastic - that is my like favourite album at the moment.

Did he really say that? Not the Killers bit; I meant his use of "like" in what seems to be a 14 year old schoolgirl kind of way.

Amazing to see that The Metro story actually uses 'experts' to rubbish his claim rather than not printing any criticism and therefore implicitly agreeing.

Metro adds that Mr Cameron blamed a rise in violent crime on video games, music and films.

He said his favourite album was by the Killers.
oops

oh xpost

Oh look the Daily Mail has a Di article in it!

very clever of Di to figure that out way before anyone else

election y/n

Y if Brown makes a u-turn on EU referendum, N if not.

if he calls it it'll be a very un-snappy snap election after all this back-and-forth. if he doesn't call it now, he'll look very weak. this is the big chance to kill off the tory party, isn't it? cameron's own base seems to hate him, and for reasons of their own opinion poll respondents admire brown's authoritarian one-party state steez.

hate all the "I am concentrating on running the country"

My sources tell me y and that the tories are (despite a bit of bluster about it this morning) depressed about the whole thing. For this reason alone he should go for it.

Osborne 'to cut inheritance tax'
Shadow chancellor George Osborne will outline plans to cut inheritance tax and stamp duty at the Tory conference.

Well that's the tory vote secured.. oh wai.

strangely reminiscent of the last labour budget.

so, indeed, a tory policy.

2007 election + 2012 post-Olympics election = no Tory government for 20 years.

I can't stand Cameron, he reminds me of Gwyn Barry in The Information.

Inheritance Tax threshold up to £1M, my offspring will be so relieved.

"offspring" lol

let's ban some words

This is the issue of the day on HYS...

Can I suggest David Cameron concentrates on issues that really concern the public if he wants to win the next election.

Clue: The number one issue is immigration.

This fellow has an interesting turn of phrase...

Who cares what "Baby" Cameron and the rest of them say? They haven't any chance of being elected. The only policies which appear are limp-wristed green nonsense.

Even John Major made a better fist of it that this shower.

Stuart, Huddersfield

I'm getting tired of all these people who aren't even white. Bring back hanging and gollywog dolls.

Adolf, Burnley

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,420,000 for fist shower. (0.12 seconds)

I don't usually intrude on britishes threads, but...

Nude Spock, USA

xpost

Decent companies like Kettle Chips will be able to manage productive healthy relationships with employees without communist al-qaeda green tree hugging pervertalists like Red Robbo making them do mad shit like pay them well.

Pay restraint is essential, Brown tells unions

ok, g brown has just announced a 1,000 pull-out "by christmas" (welcome to 1914 amirite).

so i reckons it's on.

Call me shallow, but the sight of the audience at a Tory Party conference is enough to make me vote Labour. I don't want an election.

g brown has just announced a 1,000 pull-out "by christmas"

Jona Lewie's Stop the Cavalry is one of G Brown's favourite records.

The sight of William Haighue addressing the conference with a "gordon, you are no Margaret Thatcher" and smiling cause it went down REALLY WELL!!!

If Thatcher carks it between now and the next election, is that a boost for Cameron or Brown?

A boost for humanity in general

It depends on how many Lab MPs get caught pissed up and HAPPY at Maggie Muerte parties.

yes. xpost

Also, there seemed to have been a distancing of the tories from M.Thatch. ~She dies, they all start waxing lyrical /crying about her, and the GBP all go "HEY WAIDAMINNIT!!"

Thatcher's dead [Started by NewsHound, last updated 29 seconds ago] 239,108 new answers

loads of people (mostly southern and middle class) think thatcher was great.

Arseholes, you mean?

lol, yeah. there are plently of left wing arseholes too, tho.

Yes, let's be fair and even-handed about this......................

people who think that being uncomprimising is a strength are more likely to think Thatcher is great.

Yes, she's always been very popular on the hard left

Hague "Say what you like about Margaret Thatcher, she never blah blah small businesses"

So, say what you like about margaret thatcher, basically.

Some reports are saying that Cameron had previously told everyone not to mention Thatcher or immigration under caring sharing nu-blue and that their invoking of both at this conference smacks of desperation. I don't recall any shoving of Maggie under the carpet tbh.

I still think Brown will hold fire and see how the polls go next week before calling it.

I'm voting BNP, myself. they seem alright now.

A front bench Tory peer seems to think they have some legitimate views:

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hw-SphT1JD1rdYbPZ8sxOWrBi_vg

surely the only hope for the tories is the batshit facebook communities vote?

The Muslim peer - a close ally of Tory leader David Cameron Look! Look! We've got a Muslim too!

yeah, there's loads of right wing people on facebook, isn't there?
it says i'm "apathetic" on mine.

What makes me laugh is all my extremely conservative gay male friends who don't quite get that conservatism is NOT THEIR FRIEND INNIT.

Cameron = totally looks like he spent the summer at Fat Camp. We noticed this yesterday on his C4 appearance.

The Muslim peer - a close ally of Tory leader David Cameron Look! Look! We've got a Muslim too!

-- Tom D., Tuesday, 2 October 2007 11:47 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I certainly can't think of any examples of a right-wing, pro-"family values", business-owning Muslim community in the UK, so it's a total shock to me that there'd be Muslims in the Tory party.

Funny how there aren't that many tho, eh?

GB will announce next Monday / Tuesday for an election on November 8th, according to family friend who's in the Cabinet.

What makes me laugh is all my extremely conservative gay male friends who don't quite get that conservatism is NOT THEIR FRIEND INNIT.

Cameron = totally looks like he spent the summer at Fat Camp. We noticed this yesterday on his C4 appearance.

-- suzy, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 12:50

I certainly can't think of any examples of a right-wing, pro-"family values", business-owning Muslim community in the UK, so it's a total shock to me that there'd be Muslims in the Tory party.

-- Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 2 October 2007

economic conservatives, INNIT.

I'd never met a right-wing gay dude before I came to London, and since I have I don't think I've met a left-wing one. lol at trust fund kids buying property age 22.

i know a ldnr left-wing gay labour party member who also could buy your dad's house with his pay increase this year. so not really that left-wing.

Left wing people not allowed pay rises?

they're not allowed pay at all! they just get it through a loophole called "fruit and flowers".

Not that I'd ever vote Tory, but Cameron says he wants to scrap ID cards, which is a plus in my view.

How do you scrap something that doesn't exist yet?

with the greatest of ease?

Cameron says he wants to scrap ID cards

Dudes going to say a lot of things between now and the election.

i'm not voting for him, obviously, but saying "i will scrap them" is better than saying "i will implement them". just saying, like.

OK, I didn't put that well. He was saying, I think, that the money the government are going to spend on ID cards could be put to better use elsewhere.

Bribing voters?

Lipo?

I love elections, but only because they're sports to me. Hoping the Tories don't win = logical impossibility.

He'll be abolishing the smoking ban, next! Or, suggesting that if he were elected, he might look at the possibility of doing something that takes into account the social and politik aspects of controlling people to the extent of prohibiting the prohibition of smoking, as compared to the banning of public drinking oh yeah.

Most Seats At Next UK General Election

Labour Party 1/3
Conservative Party 9/4
Liberal Democrat Party lol

I think it is a shame that the Lib Dems went and made an old dude leader and stopped UK politics from being a two and a half horse race.

Hahaha:

When will David Cameron step down as Conservative Party leader?

October-December 2007: 6/5

When will Gordon Brown step down as Labour Party leader?

After January 2011: 1/2

When will High Tension Line, step down?

my gf commented last night on how similar to each other and how young David Cameron and George Osborne looked.

(mind you she should be used to politicians looking similar)

This is a tempting bet:
"Which Year Will Gordon Brown Leave Office Of Prime Minister"
http://www.willhill.com/iibs/EN/buildcoupon.asp?couponchoice=PO1726712

If he does call an election this year then 2011 @ 12/1 looks a good shout, or 2012 @ 14/1

Strange that 2007 is favourite - I assume that means the punters are convinced this is a guaranteed election year.

How many Labour seats would the Tories need to win to keep Cameron his job? 30? 50? 70?

And with Cameron gone, they really are screwed. Next permanent leader of the Tories odds:

W Hague 2/1
D Davis 5/1
A Duncan 7/1
A Lansley 10/1
L Fox 12/1

Zombie Enoch Powell 8/1

OK, I didn't put that well. He was saying, I think, that the money the government are going to spend on ID cards could be put to better use elsewhere.

-- Daniel Giraffe, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 15:48

i heard they were going to spend the money on more prisons.

The least bad one, Liam Fox, has the longest odds
I always get David Davis mixed up with Peter Lilley
If Hague did come back would it be the first time that a Tory leader has been sacked then reappointed?

Robert Mugabe 11/4

"least bad one" Albert Speer 25/1

Robert Kilroy-Silk 12/1

David Mitchell 4/5 fav

darraghmac 5/2

Tony Blair 4/6

darraghmac wins on promises to curb those bully-boy unions and bring back hanging for Dutch former Spurs managers.

it's tough for the tories, cuz they are basically running against their clones.

Liam Fox least bad? He's shit! I thought Osborne was next in line?

If Hague did come back would it be the first time that a Tory leader has been sacked then reappointed?

No, Bonar-Law was.

Hang on I don't know if he was sacked - possibly took a break through ill health.

Was dropped for sounding like he was called Boner.

Brought back in when Ronald Felch took over as Liberal party leader.

Bonar-Law is the only British PM to be born outside of the UK. That's it, that's all I've got.

nothing but excuses

i think hague would be next up. they were mad putting him up in 1997-2001. have they even BEEN to soviet russia?

i heard they were going to spend the money on more prisons.

-- max r, Tuesday, October 2, 2007 4:26 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

on the one hand: oh snap those awful tories huh!!!1!!

on the other: labour so loves locking people up they keep them in police cells when they run out of prison space!!!!1!!

I can see why the idea of a snap election terrifies the Torys so much (Cameron's bring-it-on message had an air of desperation to it). If Cameron loses and goes, they really don't have a plausable replacement. David Davies is a nasty unelectable little fuck, Hague's lost his ambition, and Osbourne is the most inept politician on all three front benches.

i think they'd lay off loads of public sector workers.

International Development debate going down a storm:
http://timesnews.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/10/02/newtories_385x185_215145a.jpg

The one on the left doesn't see what's so wrong with the Pisa tower.

My girl wants to party all the time, party all the time, party all the time...

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/10_01/NewTereMayES_468x790.jpg

Hot cocoa has just ejected itself, through my nostrils, all over my keyboard.

okay the guardian is calling it for 1 november. (the independent has 'CRUELTY' + pic of dolphin.)

What, the dolphin's tipped to be next Tory leader?

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/01/Hague1101DM_228x347.jpg http://www.westernhigh.org/projects/worldproject/indianocean/piolt.jpg

Quite uncanny really.

The one on the right is the lead singer with the Sensibles, who had a hit with "I'm not in love with Margaret Thatcher"

OMGZ Teresa May's white woman's overbite...

How many Labour seats would the Tories need to win to keep Cameron his job? 30? 50? 70?

-- Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 2 October 2007 15:23 (3 months ago) Bookmark Link

Hey, remember when the Labour party weren't totally fucked? Happy days.

I found myself thinking about how the earlier 2010s - say, the Coalition period - is quite remote now. Some things are very similar (maybe even wages for instance), some very different.

I think the distinction I am trying to grasp is between the era of 'Coalition austerity', which was somewhat stable, but bad, and the post-2015 era (still going ?) of unpredictability and new crises erupting all the time.

It would be plausible to say that the 2014 Scottish referendum began that era.

An example of the remoteness of the former era is the cliché of the 'FBPE Type' being nostalgic for 2012, and forgetting that lots in 2012 was bad.

Another example is that 'the Left' then meant Ed Miliband, and people like ... Josie Long?

The answer to this => the decrease in life expectancy.

Another example is that 'the Left' then meant Ed Miliband, and people like ... Josie Long?

Hmm, not sure what you mean by this - that it's strange that in 2012 the left was sufficiently depleted that a not hugely popular stand up comedian would be one of the first names to come to mind? I guess so, obviously Corbyn raised the profile of a lot of left politicians, inspired others and set the stage for a revival of left media in general...but even then, ppl like Diane Abbott or (lol) Paul Mason were reasonably well known, no?

If it's more about seeing Milliband and Long as somewhat of the same stripe, I'd disagree - Long is one of the very very few pop culture figures to have been consistently pro-Corbyn through the years. Last time I saw her live she got heckled twice, once for shitting on Keir Starmer, the other for wishing bodily harm on Suella Braverman. I certainly still think of her when I think of "the left" in entertainment.

her short cuts program on r4 has been good when I've caught it, thankfully it was comedy-free

so that is Josie Long and Alexei Sayle from the world of comedy who've both publicly disparaged Kieth. Not heard of anyone else.

Are many younger people even being allowed to break through in comedy?

I am not saying that Josie Long is not on the Left. Nor criticising her. If she is attacking KS, good for her.

I was just saying that the Left in the UK was so marginal as a ... political and cultural presence, c.10 years ago, compared to now. To the extent that it was literally difficult to visualise it or realise what it could be.

One thing that was a bit notable then was 'the People's Assembly'. Worthy I believe. Also the TUSC party (who I still see on ballot papers).

re Diane Abbott, I did not see her as very much of a leftist figure at that time because eg: she was on TV being polite with Michael Portillo every week. I daresay one would have to look at her specific history of voting and campaigning over decades, to know the detail of her politics.

re Paul Mason, he was still on Newsnight c.10 years ago, so he was not allowed to be openly partisan.

Owen Jones was near the start of his public career, was an important beginning, but an outlier. And I even suspect that the things that OJ said 10 or so years ago were more 'moderate' than he might say now (unsure of this), because he too was operating within different norms.

The Left may seem marginal and powerless in certain ways now, but the window of what and who is Left, what can be thought and said, has moved, since 2015.

In 1983 it was clear that there was a political and cultural Left (from Tony Benn to pop music and tons of community and grassroots projects).

In 2023 it is clear that there is a political and cultural Left - from, say, JC, to Novara, to musical artists I've never heard of, and loads of people publishing things online.

In 1993, 2003, and 2013, I am not sure that this was true in the same way.

This is not to say that the Lefts of 1983 and 2023 are actually effective or will achieve what they want. Nonetheless, I think they exist, and have intellectual ambition, or just visibility, to a degree that they didn't in the intervening period.

I can just about remember in 1983 that in the run up to the election almost every house had a Vote Labour poster in the window, just the odd rare bit of blue or a "Christ Is Risen" poster interrupting the rows of red.

re Diane Abbott, I did not see her as very much of a leftist figure at that time because eg: she was on TV being polite with Michael Portillo every week.

Basically being a punching bag for Portillo and Andrew Neil tbh.

That seems inarguably true to me, the period you cited dovetailing with End of History/neoliberal hegemony as well. I do remember finding the UK left quite lively when I moved here in 2012, but to be fair I was spending a lot of my time going to debates and protests and such. The difference I felt between Portugal and here was probably mostly to do with either larger resources (making it possible for very leftist positions to be discussed in say academic lectures) or previously established traditions (mutual aid, anti raids network and such). My generation was radicalized by the 2008 crisis but didn't have access to those kinds of things yet.

I suppose the fear is that the 2023 left, absent an objective like corbynism, will quickly dwindle back down to the 2013 left.

Also though I don't think this is all entirely an internal issue - the left has become more visible and energized within the period you describe not just in the UK but also in the US, most of the "western" world and beyond it.

xposts

Agree with the parallel, at least partial, with the US - where my impression (perhaps Americans would disagree) was that Occupy was a key catalyst.

In UK, student fee protests (2011?) and UK UNCUT was it? - in similar period.

secret key to left revival? this very thread! born from the same 2000s blogosphere vapours of the old nemesis of ilx "kpunk" the spectre still haunting the tribune crew!

This is a good point. I have often thought that my own lurking on ILX during this period is an oft ignored contributing factor to the ascendance of the left.

we could have socialism by now if only the left had been less mean to russell brand

the vampire castle is actually pretty cool, as anyone who's played castlevania can attest