What else could go wrong for David Cameron in the next 6 months?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01008/mandelson-460_1008589a.jpg

osborne is so repellent

The wisdom of bringing Mandelson back into the cabinet is starting to tell. None of the young guard in the cabinet is particularly adept at dirty politics, Brown has only ever done it by proxy and badly, so he called in the professional with no reputation to lose.

Dirty politics doing really well for the McCain camp right now.

Different country, different part of the cycle, plus the republicans have no one playing clean politics.

Cameron only likes to criticise in retrospect.

It's too early for him to criticise what's happening right now.

Dunno, I don't see Mandelson and Osbourne hanging out with Russian oligarchs and getting into a trivial 'he said she said' bunfight playing particularly well with voters of any stripe at a time when Britain is sliding into a recession.

It hurts the Tories more than Labour though.

I expect this will all get blamed on Rothschilds. See the odious Letts in the Mail f'r'instance. Although quite why they would want to damage the conservative party is not clear. If this does happen the tories may have to look elsewhere for funding as they've given a ton of cash to them over the years.

Dunno, I don't see Mandelson and Osbourne hanging out with Russian oligarchs and getting into a trivial 'he said she said' bunfight

heh now i'm imagining mandelson and osbourne doing the 'he said she said' dance

and wondering who gets the "she's lovin' the fact that she's gifted" line

Channel Four news was spinning this last night as Rothschild getting angry at Osbourne for breaking the 'what goes on the yacht stays on the yacht' rule.

The other good thing about this story is we have another Bullingdon photo to gawp at.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/04_01/bullindonDM_800x484.jpg

Newsnight was pretty good at covering the 'bad manners' aspect of the row as well.

The bloke on the far right doesn't look old enough to be at university.

Insert 'I thought they were all on the far right?' gag here.

Signs you're getting old #32: students don't look young enough to be at university

(this happened to me about 3-4 years ago, I think)

Hm, uncomfortable truth there^. I was just thinking 'it's quite funny seeing children dressed up in adult clothing'.

This whole row has been quite useful to me, actually. Much as I think Labour deserve a kicking for certain, um, harms, and much as I think the next government will do good on those issues, the fact is that once the shackles are off the tories will be many times more abhorrent than the current lot, and for more intransigent reasons.

Newsnight was pretty good at covering the 'bad manners' aspect of the row as well.

WTF has Buster Bloodvessel got to do with all this?

He was present on the yacht.

did the speccy one end up in politics?

I heard that old Oleg Oligarch was keen on Special Brew...

Best way to get through those cold Russian winters is Special Brew and 2-Tone!

Ah, but Bad Manners were on Magnet. Pete Waterman signed them, you know.

Actually Dale was doing 1981 on POTP last Sunday and I'd forgotten what a good single "Walking In The Sunshine" was. They did have their occasional moments.

ooyeh.

Shenanigans over the 'new' Bullingdon photo. All rather amusing.

Compare and contrast...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/2975864070_23436db25c_o.jpg

Seems to me that this 'new' new one is the original, a rather messy cut'n'paste job. And the one from the Mail last year is a cleaned up copy thanks to modern technology.

Still if it got Peter Hitchens all riled up...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/columnists/maguire/2008/11/18/gordon-brown-s-strategy-on-tax-cuts-has-panicked-david-cameron-115875-20905743/

Mandelson has to be man of the year as well. Dude is the Phil Brown of Brazilian twink fucking media manipulators.

Yes but he can't just come in and pick up where John Sergeant finished.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7753557.stm

That's very strange. I'm uneasy at the idea that the opposition shouldn't be doing everything they can to monitor what the govt are up to.

is that what it is?

if he's receiving stolen files then isn't that the same as receiving stolen goods?

I'm assuming it's an enquiry into leaks. If so, leaking to the opposition strikes me as very different to any other kind of leak. I haven't really thought it through - it kind of reads like it's bribery or similar, which he obviously shouldn't be doing. But then finding out what the govt is doing (and holding them to account) *is* his job

10 o'clock news made this sound rather innocuous - basically involvement in leaks on immigration statistics and employment of illegals i.e. politically-embarrassing info, not national security type stuff

The T in ITN stands for Tory though.

I would have expected the Tories to have gained ground again in the past week, tbh. They seemed genuinely fucking horrified at the PBR, mostly due to what might happen if they actually win the election and inherit that mountain of debt.

How interesting this should all happen on the same day as Ian Blair is forcibly retired as head of the Met, having been forced out by a Tory mayor.

ComRes:

CONSERVATIVES 37% (-6)
LABOUR 36% (+4)
LIB DEMS 17% (+5)

Labour majority of 23.

Guido Fawkes originally reported this as poll as having a 25% lead for the Tories. HEY LET'S GIVE BLOGGERS ACCESS TO THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT PRESS FACILITIES ASAP.

That's ComRes poll for the Indie On Sunday, btw.

Much as I would like a 2% Labour lead to spark widespread panic and regicide among the Tories, this is all getting a bit silly now.

I think what we need right now is a resurgent UKIP. Just to really make UK politics as wacky as possible.

They're not having Kilroy back, so it won't happen.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2008/dec/03/obama-cameron-lightweight

amazing
especially with cameron's please be my friend gorillaz + wilberforce party pack.

"You might not have heard of this Radiohead in the colonies."

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/obama-cameron-3-431x300.jpg

they kind of look like they're doing the robot.

so great, anyway.

http://steadyoffload.com:8080/JS1CQ3F8Y6.aHR0cDovL3BvbGl0aWNhbGJldHRpbmcuY29tL3dwLWNvbnRlbnQvdXBsb2Fkcy8yMDA4LzEyL2d1YXJkaWFuLWljbTEuanBn....

Which gives us....

LAB 295
CON 279
LD 47

I don't really understand this. Has Cammy's bubble burst?

New media narrative is that the Tories are the "Do Nothing" party.

Plus the public are generally loathe to change horses in the middle of a recession.

Which gives us....

LAB 295
CON 279
LD 47

Con/LD pact? Should be fun.

I do love the idea that the young, skinny, wiry, relatively inexperienced Obama is a HEAVYWEIGHT - because he is.

LAB 295
CON 279
LD 47

Con/LD pact? Should be fun.

If that result comes off I bet Labour will regret not giving Paddy Ashdown a position in the first Blair cabinet. Clegg and Cameron have been cosying up to each other so the Con/LD option looks more likely.

Gee, regretting something they didn't do in 1997 is going back a bit, non? If they ever wanted to realign with the LDs there have been plenty of years since in which to do so.

Do you really see Con / LD together though? I suppose maybe just cos of LD opportunism, with the above figures. But what if the Lab / Con figures were reversed: what prospect then for a Lab / LD pact? Why not?

Can the Lib Dems really still pull 19% of the vote?

I just clicked on http://www.libdems.org.uk/policies and the browser timed out before it found any :)

More importantly will the LD's be able to persuade people to vote tactically against Labour and the conservatives where it counts for them.

Labour will trot out the old favourite about how a vote for the Lib Dems/SNP is effectively a vote for a Tory government, while gently pulling back Labour candidates in can't win seats where the Lib Dems have a chance.

How many DUP/UUP MPs are there? 9 or 10?

I think a pact with the DUP is difficult given that the Tories and UUP are so close and don't the UUP only 1 mp left?

I finally got into the Lib Dem policy page then I get time outs when I click the links to policy documents and proxy errors when I click on the tags. I think I'll vote for someone else.

This is from their email link
mailto:%20?subject=Liberal%20Democrats%20have%20interesting%20content%20on%20their%20web%20site

Your're not missing much...

The Best Start for Children, the Best Deal for Families
Security and Liberty in a Globalised World
Shaping Our World Through a Strong Europe: Reforming the EU's Policies
Fast Track Britain: Building a Transport System for the 21st Century
Make It Happen
Empowerment, Fairness and Quality in Healthcare
Zero Carbon Britain
For the People, By the People

If you'd posted without telling me where it was from I wouldn't have been able to tell you what party it was from. I'd have guessed "all of them" :(

MAKE IT HAPPEN

Make it Happen includes plans to:

Deliver big tax cuts for people on low and average incomes paid for from taxing pollution and closing tax loopholes used by the rich

Invest more in the education of the most disadvantaged children

Deliver on an ambitious green agenda, including forcing energy companies to pay a large share of their windfall subsidy to help homes use energy more efficiently

Protect civil liberties, scrapping ID cards and introducing a Freedom Law to get government off people's backs and keep personal data private

Clean up the political system and bring an end to the influence of big money on politics

I still expect Labour to lose the next election. Things haven't got really bad yet, and the media and the Labour Party have been building Brown up to such an extent that reality will look like an enormous fall.

"We saved the world" will look like the worst gaffe ever when unemployment figures top 3m.

unemployment is a price worth paying to save the world though innit

Never did Thatcher any harm.

Think how many jobs would have been lost when the meteor hit!

David Cameron vowed today that if he was elected Prime Minister he would bring an end to the era of government secrecy over UFOs and extra-terrestrial activity.

Speaking at one of his “Cameron Direct” public meetings, the Conservative Party leader pledged that a Tory government would be “entirely open and frank” in sharing any information about alien life-forms.

At the meeting in Tynemouth, North-East England, he was questioned about a string of recent mysterious incidents. “I have no idea if there is intelligent life out there,” he replied. “I do believe in freedom of information and openness and this question has been asked from time to time, and I think we should be as open and clear as possible.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5600271.ece

Nice way to get the old "swamped by an alien culture" meme back into Tory discourse.

Conservative leader David Cameron's eldest son Ivan has died in hospital.

The six-year-old was born with cerebral palsy and epilepsy and needed round-the-clock care at the family's home in West London.

Ivan, who Mr Cameron described as "wonderful", was a regular in-patient at St Mary's hospital in Paddington.

Mr Cameron had been an MP for less than a year when Ivan was born in April 2002. He and wife Samantha have two younger children, Nancy and Arthur.

Wasn't going to start a new thread, but thought I'd put it somewhere.

Whatever he is, this sucks for the guy.

Sympathy. And a day off for him...

hazel blears must be pretty pissed off at being upstaged

Jesus, DG.

Let's leave this here, for once.

dearie me

I posted a comment on the Guido Fawkes blog earlier since they're making up some shitstorm about Nick Robinson and got right royally abused (I'm an "illiterate" al-JaBeeba employee, apparently) by the other posters.

Never again. Thank heavens for ILX, etc.

link!

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8212152&postID=7852432376076963136&isPopup

someone made up a claim that robinson said cameron was unlikely to get any electoral advantage because brown also had a kid die. james and others set them straight with transcripts and facts and the paranoia becomes ever more elaborate.

Some sterling detective work there James. Your mistake was clearly letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

the former president of oxford uni's conservative association and national chair of the young conservatives would be the obv place to look for left-wing bias in the bbc, though.

That thread is a nightmare. I've hung around there myself but really a lot of them are a hateful bunch. See how quickly it descendss into "string him up" language.

What a bunch of sanctimonious stupid tossers on that shitty thread.

The funny thing is, I actually did check the tapes. BBC1, BBC News and Radio 4. It's what I spent my lunch hour on. I literally don't know what the commenters who claim to have an actual transcript are referring to.

Unless he was on Nicky Campbell, but I seriously doubt it.

they're referring to an unsubstantiated false rumour that supports their desirte to feel offended by the BBC. it's how they work. and its infuriating.

its like a brit right wing version of that girl who faked her own mugging and carved the B in her cheek.

I like how it gets more and more mental and sanctimonious and then calms down for a bit before the inevitable moment when someone pipes up with how we shouldn't really feel any sympathy for the Camerons because of all the dead children in Iraq.

robinson was on nicky campbell's 9-10 phone in thing where they were talking about hazel blears until the news broke

lol i was so wrong

did he 'do a DG'?

xpost

he's not nearly as accomplished at being glib about others' suffering as i am

Thing is, even if Robinson did say that, how is that being a Labour stooge? The level of paranoia is fascinating. And this at a time when their party is riding high to victory. Robinson takes his politics very seriously and would of course be thinking about this angle. It's also just naive not to think that every politician will be thinking about that, politics is like that - always has been. And if we're honest about it and look at it dispassionately - cuddly photos of David and his son all over the news is not going to do him any harm politically at all.

BUT and this is surely more important, would he not give all that back, would hand back the leadership of his party, and so the keys to No.10, to have his son back? Right now I'm feeling for him far more as a father, than as a tory, big time.

I've just had a listen to Nicky Campbell's show on the iPlayer. So far as I could hear, Robinson said (at about 9:34am) that Gordon Brown would have sympathy because he had suffered a similar blow himself - all heartfelt and restrained, and nothing about political advantage. I only flicked through the rest of the show, which seemed to be largely news bulletins and taking calls, so while it's technically possible that he returned very briefly to say something crass, it seems pretty unlikely

I bet Nicky Twatting Campbell did tho.

I only flicked through the rest of the show, which seemed to be largely news bulletins and taking calls

it was all calls about cerebral palsy this cerebral palsy that so i switched over

Gay Tory frontbencher faces police probe after Miss Universe death threat live on TV

All manner of mangling from the Daily Mail as it changes its position from the one it held during the Brand/Ross kerfuffle.

he did come across as mental

Yeah, I saw this.

Complete jawdrop openmounthness from Ian Hislop, Paul Merton, and (even) Frank Skinner.

hey I didn't know Have I Got News For You was back. Or broadcast live. Since when was it live? Am I going to not be able to see it on iplayer as a result of this? :'(

almost 100% sure it isn't live

It's never live, due to 'have to edit out truly libellous things' panic.

xpost it definitely isn't - they record about 2 hours and edit it down to the best bits.

it's on iplayer now, about 34 mins in

I remember thinking at the time "there goes his career" and I've got the feeling Hislop and Merton couldn't believe their luck.

He came across as someone trying too hard to ingratiate himself with the cool kids. And yes, a bit mental.

trying too hard to ingratiate himself with the cool kids

i thought this too

was rly awkward because a lot of older tories think of the bbc as 'buggers broadcasting communism' (i have honestly heard someone say this), so yeah a-dunc felt he had to fit in and show that cameron's new tory party has bought into the liberal consensus. but he's wound up alienating real tories and new tories alike.

I think he's just shown that he has zero judgement really. Maybe he won't be sacked from his current position, but he certainly won't be in the Cabinet now.

You got to love the DM though.

Because, as Alan Duncan has found out, there are always a few individuals who don't see the funny side.

His website is under construction. The only link is to the Conservatives homepage and before you get there it says...

The page you have requested is not a part of the Alan Duncan Website. Views expressed on any pages outside of this site may not be those of Alan Duncan.

In April 2009, during the storm over Tony McNulty's second home allowance claims, he was reported to be one of sixty-five MPs to claim an expense on second homes whilst simultaneously receiving rental income from privately renting out other properties. Since 2001, he had claimed a total of £143,392 in second home allowance, despite owning two properties in Westminster, one of which he rents out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Duncan#cite_ref-28

He's a shoe-in for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival slot though...

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pixies/2009/4/29/1240966252336/Young-raver-Cameron-looka-001.jpg

I know it's going on 20 years ago but I want to marry the dark haired girl in that raving video.

The dude she's dancing with looks like Jeremy from Peep Show.

The other dude is so not Cameron.

Even if it is him how could this possibly be something that "goes wrong" for him? I don't know why the tories are denying it.

The dude she's dancing with looks like Jeremy from Peep Show.

I thought it was Howard from Take That.

Even if it is him how could this possibly be something that "goes wrong" for him?

Because it was 'leaked' by Tory stooge Paul Staines, no matter how many times the Daily Mail says the Labour Party did it?

It was probably one of his raves.

Samantha Cameron used to hang out with Massive Attack and Tricky in Bristol apparently. There have been loads of drugs all over the place. No one gives a shit apart from particularly puritanical Tories who are going to vote for him anyway.

Linky to ravey vid please?

The period DC was at Oxford was very, very druggy and I'm certain he was friends with Olivia Channon, daughter of cabinet minister who ODd on smack. SamCam was not as friendly with the Bristol massive as to be BFF with any of them except maybe Martina Copley-Bird.

is this dave "the rave" cameron?

Acid House Sunrise 1988 Part 4

this is surely a tory "leak"

this is as lollsy as balls imo: big haha and egg on face for the reynolds stans imo. rave is some reactionary tory-boy shit.

I thought you weren't that into it?

this is as lollsy as balls imo: big haha and egg on face for the reynolds stans imo. rave is some reactionary tory-boy shit.

self parody

In further raahdcore continuum news:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1171778/Harrys-illegal-rave-Hardcore-Sisters.html

They are denying but it really does look like him. NB Guido Fawkes used to be Tony Colston-Hayter's PR for Sunrise parties. This information means I am wholly unsurprised to see that he 'turned into' Tory scum. My very first London flatmate worked the doors at those parties, but was from Holmfirth and as Labour as poss. Will make a few more discreet enquiries amongst my Brizzle/raver/contemporaneous Oxford mates, they are of the correct vintage to deal with this.

GOD HENRY YOU'RE SO STUPID it's ouroborosing to genius in this instance. Sim0n R would be useful right about now, being as he was at the same college at the same time as DC, when the acknowledged druggie legend besides Channon was Will Self.

im owning the fuck out of this debate tbh

most of the working and/or published journalists on this thread would disagree tbh

staines has just put this on his blog:

http://img.order-order.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Picture%20Match.gif

http://www.da-net.dk/images/Prodigy.jpg

l-r big state, back-to-nature conservatism

xpost

um ok waht? i totally get published.

but what is the relevance of that? most published journalists are rubbish.

Seriously doubt that is Cameron. In 1988 he'd be desperately trying to break into the Tory machine, ie no ravey long hair.

maybe he was going for a heseltine thing?

Yeah this is, what, four years before Black Wednesday? I'm not seeing it somehow.

I've no doubt Cameron did drugs and went to raves like every other student but the guy in the vid just doesn't look like the full-blown eighties Sloane that Cameron clearly was

yall have not met enough poshos (lucky you)

Yeah tbh this thread would do better to have more Photoshopped PLURring up of the Bullingdon Club photo and less pointless arguing about crypto-Tory "HAHA the hippies all grew up and became accountants DO YOU SEE?" statements reheated from the 80s.

it was all a ruse!

i think it's relevant & ur butthurt but w/e i got bidness to take care of

enrique out

TBH I'm more mocking you for acting like the idea of Tory poshos going raving (even in the 80s) is some sort of controversial revelation.

haha TROLLED I know you get published H-dawg, whatevs CONGRATULATIONS.

Remember, when your daddy is the chairman of White's you can pretty much decide when you want to become active as a Tory, and you will walk straight into whatever it is you want to do in the party. That video is summer '88, and that hair is just an outgrown, centre-parted public school crop but not the full Cocker Spaniel. You'd only have to leave it grow for a few months to get that result, and something tells me DC was not working in the summer when at Oxford. Also another dead giveaway is that it appears he is all dressed up to go to his first rave.

Apparently when SamCam first started dating him, all her friends wanted to know what she was into that stupid Tory boy for.

http://www.virginmedia.com/microsites/playbetwin/slideshow/celeb-breakups/img_11.jpg

According to Wikipedia he graduated in 1988. Summer of '88 he'd have left Oxford to network himself into a London job.

Didn't he go straight to the Conservative Research Office?

[the rave] it looks like him, i hope it is him. good times.

If you carry on reading that Wiki, his networking was done for him. Plenty of time for a spot of raving, Glastonbury, whatever.

There was no Glastobury in 1988, writes a pedant

why on earth would anyone have expected that raves did not have tories/accountants etc at them?

the idea that reynolds (or anyone with a brain) would think this is fucking ludicrous. the idea that this popular subculture which was in papers/magazines etc etc had some divide across political lines is so fucking ludicrous that even to imply (falsely) that others hold this idea is fanciful and silly.

Plz to photoshop Andrei Arshavin

Yes, LG is right: however the cohort for a Sunrise rave was very very different from the cohort at a United Systems or Spiral Tribe rave (Simon's not going to add anything to this thread so I might as well say it). Overlaps, yes, but there was a rave spectrum that I am old enough to remember. Going back to the video, some of the people gurning in it are LOL and I don't get the love for the frizzy-haired girl. At hairdresser I saw Oxbridge nostalgie article in Tatler or Harper's featuring Bullingtards, Nigella Lawson (clearly the most beautiful woman in the world at the time, is sick-making) and maybe Alice Thompson, the Tory columnst who used to be the rather attractive woman in the Woodentops <---'why why why' was Balearic ANFEM so it all links up.

Future Con special advisors at raves just underscores the hypocrisy of the Criminal Justice Bill enshrined in law by Tory government, big surprise there along with the accountants etc. It's kind of like Portillo going all metrosexual after being into Section 28, but there ya go.

Not the same Alice Thompson.

Haha also the stupidly obvious reason why rave is always set up in narratives as in opposition to Thatcher and the Tories is because Thatcher and the Tories were in direct opposition to it. It's not even a matter of opinion or music crit theories or whatever, it's historical fact.

but "the Tories" isn't a monolith - the fact that Thatcher, the Tory party and the Tory press were in direct opposition to rave doesn't mean that young tory kids wouldn't gleefully be into it as a semi-sneaky sowing-one's-wild-oats-before-Establishment-position last hoorah type deal.

It isn't a monolith no and yes your encapsulation of the young Tory kids is probably exactly right but the shadow cast by Thatcher on the landscape at the time and the Tory party even now is pretty much undeniable.

politicians hypocritical wankers shockah.

Also - marcello is back!- or have i just been on different threads? Missed you man.

I knew Marcello would not be able to resist the chance to dish shit on his contemporaries, YAY.

My bad: Thompson and the other Thomson very very easy to confuse, both Oxbridge. I am wondering which Alice dated Will Self...I know which one dated legendary working-class posh totty chaser S. Hughes.

I thought you meant Simon Hughes and got very confused.

HAHAHAHAHA.

Actually one of the better pieces of awful Tory gossip I've got comes of knowing that Mr. and Mrs. G0ve have done the fake Christian thing to the degree that the agnostic bordering on atheist Mrs. is now teaching Sunday school at the church attached to the highly desirable state primary where their children somehow got places.

turns out guido fawkes doesn't like hotlinking. "gordon is a cunt" image was a pic of david cameron overlaid with the raver screengrab, i wasn't just being abusive.

Cameron's bicycle is stolen again

Mr Cameron is a keen cyclist
David Cameron's bicycle has been stolen again - less than ten months after he got it back.

The Tory leader borrowed a bike from his Parliamentary aide to get to prime minister's questions.

The silver and black Scott bike was chained to railings near his home at 0710 BST but an hour later it was gone.

In July 2008 his bike was stolen from outside a Tesco store near his west London home but was later found in a nearby side street.

At the time he described it as an "old friend", having cycled more than 1,000 miles on it.

The latest theft has been reported to the police.

A Yorkshire Conservative MP has called for the abolition of the national minimum wage, because he believes it is making it harder for people with criminal records or mental health problems to find work.

Although Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley, stressed that his views were not Conservative party policy, he believes employers should be allowed to decide how much they pay their staff.

He said: "Because an employer must pay the national minimum wage, it is less likely that they would be prepared to take a chance on a former prisoner looking for a job, somebody with no qualifications at all, or somebody with mental health problems.

"I believe it is leading to some of the most vulnerable people in our society finding it harder than ever to find a job and, being left on a lifetime of welfare which is not good for them and certainly of no benefit to society as a whole."

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/businessnews/MP-in-call-to-scrap.5234256.jp

OMG Nadine Dorries:

tl;dl

Basically it's like watching the woman who runs that crap shop selling odd designer bits and bobs that you can't believe hasn't closed down in the current economic climate suddenly being asked questions which she has no clue about how to answer but is still going to give you her opinion.

Yeah she thinks we could have stopped King's Cross and 9/11 with Trident.

She's not the only one with that general idea.
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200803/why-we-are-losing-war

That is hilarious but it makes bugger all difference to David Cameron and every difference toward Dorres's brief stint as a lolbackbencher followed by a bad reality TV appearance.

from that above link

Both World War I and World War II lasted for four years.

Yeah, facts aren't really his thing. Or thinking.

He's speaking to an American audience, they took a couple of years to notice there was a World War on.

Jesus fucking Christ, Dorries is a knob.

A Door(ies) Knob!

dorries' knobbishness handily summarised:
http://www.liberalconspiracy.org/2009/05/19/nadine-dorries-an-enemy-of-science/

I'm afraid that I really don't support the motion to remove the Speaker.

I've said before that the Speaker's position and authority should be un-challenged. Over hundreds of years we have had good and bad Speakers, nice and nasty, competent and useless.

It is the only position, along with that of the Monarch, which I believe should remain un-challenged in order to carry the authority needed to execute the role with dignity whilst commanding respect.

It has been over 300 years since a Speaker was last challenged.

The speaker's chair holds the line in Parliament. We MPs dare not defy a speaker's ruling: that may all change now. The Speaker holds us in check, not always an easy task.

Speaker Martin, on behalf of all Speakers to come after him, must defy this motion and fight to retain the chair, whilst treading the fine line of deciding when would be the best time for him to go, and letting the House be aware.

If this motion succeeds where will it stop?

Will there ever again be any respect for tradition and heritage? For the procedures enshrined in stone, brought about by Cromwell and abided by since?

Will the Queen be next?

xp
“It could all be a complete coincidence, but I think it may go someway towards demonstrating how biased and infiltrated the BBC is. Except, it’s not just the BBC. It’s Parliament and universities at the highest level; and the BMA, the RCN, the RCOG and every organisation, which has an opinion which can influence policy. The pro-abortionists had their day and remained unchallenged for too long.”

Matt may be right that we won't see much of her after the next election but there may be another 200 new tory mps, many ready to start their "fight" against abortion. Can't wait.

This is worth reading, on that note.

dorries' knobbishness handily summarised

Ye gods, that is bleak reading.

Yet let's not forget: thousands upon thousands must have voted for her. Ye gods.

(Or maybe it's all a conspiracy.)

This feels like a good point to add "ye gods".

Do the Tories have a Sarah Palin?

Nadine Dorries. Attractive. Sassy. Real. Funny. She should be Chairman.

Posted by: Sammy Finn | September 02, 2008 at 06:46

Clearly Nadine Dorries, she is by far the most attractive tory MP (with some of the most elegant cheekbones ever to have been seen) and is one of the strongest and most determined to stand up for what she really believes in. Palin has nothing on her.

Posted by: lua | September 02, 2008 at 07:08

When was the last time anyone saw Nadine Dorries? Nadine Dorries IS Sarah Palin.
I can't think of two politicians more alike.

Posted by: Matt | September 02, 2008 at 08:37

Nadine Dorries, without a doubt. Both women appear to be made of steel and compassion.

Posted by: hj | September 02, 2008 at 08:48

Fiesty, formidable and female! Mid Bedfordshire Member of Parliament Nadine Dorries is an underused asset for the Conservative Party.

Out there in the real world, Nadine's direct approach, along with her campaign to reduce the number of abortions resonated with the concerns of the public.

I'll give you an example. My sister in law, is a working Mum in her Mid 30s with 2 children and is just the sort of swing voter we need to get back on board. I rarely talk politics with my sister in law, but when we have, she mentioned an interview she heard on BBC Radio 2s Jeremy Vine Show with Nadine Dorries MP talking about abortions. Nadine had spoken with real passion and a lot of sense.

So much so, that for the first time she was thinking about voting Conservative again next time.

Posted by: James Lynch | September 02, 2008 at 10:16

Got to be Nadine Dorries, Debi Jones and Esther McVey.

(All blonde scouse Tories!)

Posted by: Riot Act | September 02, 2008 at 10:27

Nadine is the only one who is an MP and is our very own Sarah Palin.

Posted by: John | September 02, 2008 at 10:44

etc

What I'm looking forward to the most is Scotland getting, in 2 or 3 years time, during the Cameron government, a referendum on independence, voting "no" by a wee majority and then having it thrown in our face that we've effectively given these tory cunts a mandate to rule us for a decade.

xpost

Ha. I nearly compared her to Palin above but thought, no, don't do that. Fucking terrifying that anyone might consider that a positive attribute. Brr.

I'm genuinely worried about her, actually. I fear that combination of ambition and grotesque stupidity greatly.

Jim: gaah, that's really fucking depressed me now ;)

I'm genuinely worried about her, actually. I fear that combination of ambition and grotesque stupidity greatly.

The media will make mince of her pretty quickly though, won't they?

Have the Tories promised a referendum on Scotland? I thought they were just going to reduce your representation to make sure Labour NEVER GOT IN AGAIN!?

They haven't promised anything but considering no-one in Scotland votes Tory and considering this, from Matt DC's link upthread:

"Worryingly for Mr Cameron, who as leader would have to deal with Alex Salmond, the SNP Scottish First Minister, a large majority – 86 per cent – of his candidates are keen to change the funding formula under which resources are shared by the nations and regions of Britain. "

I can see public pressure growing, and I don't see why they wouldn't grant it since figures suggest that Unionists are still in the majority.

The media will make mince of her pretty quickly though, won't they?

I'm not entirely sure. I can see sections of it warming to her, if only because she'll be an endless source of amusing/terrible tales.

I can see public pressure growing, and I don't see why they wouldn't grant it since figures suggest that Unionists are still in the majority

Exactly: get it over and done with sooner rather than later, ie while some people might still be prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

a large majority – 86 per cent – of his candidates are keen to change the funding formula under which resources are shared by the nations and regions of Britain

Cameron has (shockah) been inconsistent about Barnett: his strident IT NEEDS REPLACING spiel seems to have become "er, not really a priority".

So much so, that for the first time she was thinking about voting Conservative again next time.

Can nybody spot the error in this sentence?

Voting Conservative?

Ha. I nearly compared her to Palin above but thought, no, don't do that. Fucking terrifying that anyone might consider that a positive attribute. Brr

In fairness, that thread is from the start of last September, when Sarah Palin was still in the 'timely fillip to McCain campaign' category, rather than the 'absolutely clueless massive fucking liability' category.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45804000/jpg/_45804734_duckisland226longafpgetty.jpg

'Duck island'

^whut?

Duck Island on Expenses...

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45804000/jpg/_45804734_duckisland226longafpgetty.jpg

More second home shenanigans

remember, protestors of britain, this is what you'll be voting for...

I demand video evidence that ducks actually used this property

How has Cameron come out of this so well (relatively)? The only article I saw was an arse-licking Guardian one which pointed out that...
For most of the past five years, Cameron has claimed only for mortgage interest and utility bills on his constituency cottage in Oxfordshire.

His claims for some years are said to run to just 20 pages, compared with more than 90 pages for some of his colleagues.

The Conservative leader's only "extra" was £680 he claimed for repairs to the property.

This included clearing wisteria and vines from a chimney, replacing outside lights and resealing his conservatory's roof. The Telegraph said the bill was passed without query by the fees office.

How is this gardening bill different from Duncans or the moat clearing (apart from being smaller?)?

Far be it from me to agree with Peter Hitchens but I saw him on a couple of TV programmes last week asking why exactly is Cameron getting so much praise? What's he doing to deserve it? His conclusion was the media want him elected - and that included the Guardian, in his opinion.

It's also partly that the media know he'll be elected anyway and don't want to be blacklisted before he's even in Number 10.

Of course they do - so they can have lots of fun bringing him down over the next few years. Who cares if he drags Britain back to the nineteenth century - it's a Good Story!

Basically he's Tony Blair, and the media liked him

Basically he's Big Tony Hadley out of Spandau Ballet morelike

Do the media like Spandau Ballet?

They seem to, their reunion is getting too much coverage IMO.

How did I miss that big news?

You don't watch GMTV then.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5362605/MPs-expenses-Anthony-Steen-claims-people-just-jealous-of-his-large-house.html

shame anthony steen is quitting: "people are jealous of my big house" and "my 500 taxpayer-funded trees are none of the public's business" is the kind of stance i'd like to see the tories taking at the next election.

Politics of Envy... Still Fighting the Class War ... Winter of Discontent... blah blah blah

Dorries is having a mental freak out on Five Live right now.

It's a Daily Telegraph conspiracy to get MPs to commit suicide!

She was on the Today programme too, I didn't hear her but I did hear Stephen Pound calling her 'facile', and they also read out a bunch of emails from outraged listeners.

That Sir Anthony Steen interview was hilarious. The bit about Cameron being surprised and disappointed at his decision not to stand at the next election was revealing.

Actually, he isn't a Sir is he? You expect Tories of a certain age to be Sirs.

Some mad comments on the five live bit "I'm sure we are all thinking of suicide - welcome to the real world".
Not all of us, surely? Even with the prospect of Cameron and Dorries waltzing down Downing Street.

Also surprising amounts of support for her "the only MP talking sense" etc. She has quite a little supporters club.

re: steen - omg what a colossal prick
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8062205.stm

he's blaming the foa!

http://twitter.com/amassivetwat
(not subtle but i guess the time for that is over)

That Steen thing is astonishing.

Nadine Dorries doing her best Arshavin impression:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01404/nadinedorriesjohnr_1404783c.jpg

xp He's a real life Alan B'Stard.

He's more just an old school Tory cunt really

love how he just goes on, boasting about his vewy, vewy large house - we need more of this type of honesty

You know, that whatever he says in front of the camera, that, behind the scenes, Cameron will be all, "Sorry about all this old boy, but you're going to have to go - believe me, I'm as unhappy as you about it but the proles are out for blood and we've got an election to win, so do you mind awfully?"

http://www.anthonysteen.org.uk/files/upld-news420photo?.jpg

Yes, still fighting for the underdog...

excellent

I say! Jolly good, that man!

I well remember visiting shops with you in Totnes during a family holiday in Devon, and seeing the warm welcome you received.

Yeah mate, that's the kind of service you get when you're spending £87k on expenses.

This thread is Cold Comfort Farm.

I'll take anything I can get.

xp okay Alan B'Stard in his later years then.

That you have continued to win elections, during good times and bad for our Party, is a mark of the high regard in which you are held.

Not an indication that Ian Huntley could wear a blue rosette in Totnes and get elected?

Is he up for selection then?

It's a broad church, the modern Conservative Party

In the sense that it makes me want to get all Varg Vikernes on it, yes.

And already Steen's apologising. Why?

The modern disease - just apologise for saying anything that sounds remotely independent minded.

Sorry seems to be the easiest word these days.

I'll vote for anyone running on the "never apologise, never explain" ticket.

You vote for an MP - let them get on with it.

You don't like what they're getting on with or how they're getting on - vote them out next time.

Otherwise the electorate should STFU.

Kind of the natural party for sociopathic lunatics with criminal tendencies though. Would imagine him and Lord Tebbitt would have a lot to talk about. Swap corpse paint tips, that sort of thing.

x-post

Dorries isn't the Palin of Tories, she's the Michele Bachmann.

heard someone else describe her as the heather mills of politics

LOL

PS of those three Scouse Con Babes, I know for a fact one INHALES.

Well I hope she doesn't claim expenses on those...

Few things worse than a Scouse Tory

fighting for the underdogs who are all just jealous of his big house

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v356/kenjuggle3/arshavinsteen.jpg

Damn those haters, I say! xpost

The Scouse Tory List Of Shame:

Cilla Black
Stan Boardman
John Conteh
Ken Dodd
Kenny Everett
Vince Hill
Emlyn Hughes
Paul O'Grady
Jimmy Tarbuck

There MUST be more...

(I'm purposely NOT counting Edwina Currie...)

Lennon and Harrison?

How soon we forget...

Doddy and Everetty are Deady, so can't vote don't count.

Dodd's not dead, it just his Dad's dog, Doug!

Nobby The Sheep

ffs

If Cameron carries on like this he'll have nobody left in the party.

Bring back an honest right wing Conservative Party and an honest left wing Labour Party. Fuck the middle ground (or leave it to the Lib Dems). Or bring in PR so that the (non-)governance of this country doesn't depend on a few thousand discontented floating voters in the Chilterns.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotelling%27s_law

But Cameron was right. It was an barmy thing to say. In this climate to say something like that and think it would be OK just shows that what passes for independent thinking in the Conservative party is stupidity in disguise. Cameron is playing the hard man and it seems to be doing him good.

Doesn't this read as "In the heat of the moment, I said what I actually believed, therefore I must stand down" ?

Why is it barmy? Isn't he just being honest - and, moreover, saying what everyone in the Tory Party feels in their bones anyway?

He's got a big house! He owns lots of land! He's a Tory for heaven's sake! Isn't that what they're supposed to be like?

Or are all politicians supposed to become call centre clones?

Being honest and barmy are not mutually exclusive.

And of course you're right, but so is Cameron to slag him off. Cameron isn't try to please you Marcello.

why can't these Tories just do the decent honourable thing and behave like the over-privileged pantomime villainous swine people so perversely want them to be?

xp
You might hate it but his method seems to work just fine.

why can't these Tories just do the decent honourable thing and behave like the over-privileged pantomime villainous swine people so perversely want them to be?

Bingo. All Marcello wants is A Good Story.

oh no he doesn't!

notice that i worked the term 'swine' in there. topical, motherfuckers.

tories historically represent the aristocrats and landowners. quite right too. they shouldn't try and be down with the masses whom they hate anyway, especially since the latter pay the former's wages.

i want the return of a real choice when it comes to political parties - be unapologetically right wing or left wing, offer monetarism or socialism, paternalism or people power. for moderates the lib dems exist. having to choose between waitrose and tesco, well death is not an option.

tories historically represent the aristocrats and landowners. quite right too. they shouldn't try and be down with the masses whom they hate anyway, especially since the latter pay the former's wages.

they may have historically represented that section of society, but they have also been the party of populism, of new money, of traders, and of the midlle class at several points and periods in history, including the 1980s, and it is only through that wider appeal to different groups that they have continued to be elected, and to gain members from other classes.
During their history they have been for both free trade and protectionism, for and against reform, for and against the NHS... this "be unapologetically right wing or left wing" stuff is
ahistorical and simpleminded. Labour and Con have always inhabited the centre to a greater or lesser degree.

even with the grocer's daughter in charge though the tories' populism sounded and felt forced. their attraction was all about get OUT of your class (which goes directly against their gut instincts but it goes down well in basildon), be brutalist futurist and yet still have these ghastly trappings of victorian pseudo-morals (preached, then as now, as an excuse for indulging in yet more public expenditure cuts).

bringing everyone up to the same level (like, ahem, "communism") sounds great on paper but on practice it fails because ultimately capitalism only rewards those whom it wants to.

and also because, of course, capitalism de facto can go down in value as well as up.

imagining how another letter from cameron to steen post his "one more squeak ... his feet won't touch the ground" warning could read

well he was saying something about withdrawing the whip so fast his feet &c. in his first letter but there's another layer of tory pastimes we probably don't really need to know about.

oh there's another letter? was thinking about the first first letter about steen retiring and when they went to the shops together

where's the real letter btw?

not this one:

http://www.anthonysteen.org.uk/files/upld-news420photo?.jpg

?

no, the one mentioned in the item to which i linked above ("ffs") which strictly speaking was the second one so fair enough

conrad i assumed the actual letter would be better spellchecked ("...to pay tribute for all YOUR have achieved..."). also "i well remember" seemed silly but that may just be me.

Looks like a shell letter.

i.e. insert bobbins where..

"to pay tribute for all your (insert achievements and complments). I well remember (some bob where we met and did summat together)"

If Cameron had wanted to be a bit snarky, he could have had the tree in the letterhead pollarded.

it's from steen's website Hard House SugBanton so I never thought it wasn't actual

ok i haven't been checking here much but seriously has no-one -- i googled and got nothing -- has no-one come up with 'BIG HOUSE aka the steendriver' yet? come on!

not yet

I mentioned this on the WECGWFGordonBrown thread but really I think she should be on this one. You may remember that lovely and fragrant Dorries accused the Barclay Brothers of various shenanigans and immediately got her blog shut down by the Telegraph's lawyers. Well she's back!

http://blog.dorries.org/Default.aspx

And in classic form.

It was shortly after reading the Saturday morning press when realising that with the Archbishops comments, that at least I had God on my side, I began to vomit.

She's golden.

I have been, at sometime or other, all of those people.

More dispatches from the Bullshitingdon Club

He said a Conservative government would "seriously consider" the possibility of fixed-term parliaments

... and then dump it, along with all his other proposals, as soon as elected

"Just imagine the effect that an army of armchair auditors is going to have on those expense claims," he said.

A fucking logistical nightmare?

You've got to hand it to him though. He gets front page headlines without promising anything and with utterly meanigless bilge like "We will begin a massive redistribution of power in our country, from the powerful to the powerless, from the political elite to the man and the woman in the street."

Or "pledging" an end to policies "dreamt up on the sofa at Number 10 Downing Street". That means NOTHING AT ALL. But it sounds good.

I don't think even Blair ever got away with as much superficial shite as Cameron does, and at least he was challenged on it occasionally

guys fyi the full text of this is more specific, this is because it is the full text - well, i think it's basically the two-page comment article published under his name in the guardian today - it's a bit o_O tbh

Dorries probably shouldn't begin her defence by admitting she's a liar in her second sentence.

it's a bit o_O tbh

Because it's utter fucking crap you mean?

xp
Actually it's 4 page article (spread v. thinly over 4 pages I might add) and it's really not much more specific. It merely takes longer to say nothing.

Politicians will have to change their attitude – big time.

Sorry, right in the fucking bin, Dave

Ultimately it doesn't really matter whether or not Cameron is called out on a lack of substance, he knows exactly what he's doing and the Tory party has been policy-light for years because they know those policies will be unpopular. They don't need to go all out to win the election with bold alternative visions because Labour are doing a good enough job of losing it for themselves. Those Guardian articles are more about what Cameron won't do than what he will.

No-one expects any politician to be heavy going on policy these days and Cameron is much better at bullshit than Brown (although let's not forget Britishness) but it's still amazing how much of an easy ride Cameron is getting, including from the Guardian.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Guardian weren't setting themselves up to support Cameron

And who can blame him for the soundbites - when he get's mroe specific..

Instead of raging impotently at some distant regional government decision to dump thousands of new homes in your town without any thought about the impact on traffic, public services and the character of your community, through new local housing trusts neighbourhoods will have the power to build the homes they want. And we're going to empower councils by cutting right back on all the interference from central government: the rules and restrictions, the targets and inspections.

...it just seems completely contradictory. Also whatever happened to market forces. lol.

That's right, Tory governments have a long and noble history of not interfering in local government

That article is one of the prime reasons why the Graun will go easy on Cameron until he's in office. Cameron is looking to build his appeal with Guardian readers in the same way Blair courted the Sun and the Mail, it's probably more important to him than the Telegraph (who are unlikely to be his favourite people right now). And the Guardian want to make sure he keeps penning lengthy articles and giving them exclusives.

There is no incentive for anyone to call him out. I can see the Mirror being the only paper going into the next election on an anti-Cameron tip.

xp
Ahh, but that was when local councils were run by lefties. You've got to keep up with progress.

I can see the Mirror being the only paper going into the next election on an anti-Cameron tip.

Sadly true, barring some major disaster/scandal

... Tory disaster/scandal, that is

to endear to guardian readers surely david cameron can just write lots of recipes involving parsley and sundried tomatoes?

He will.

I believe he has already promised he will seriously consider it

If the Guardian endorses Cameron at the next election it will lose so many readers that it won't be worth it.

Even though a good many of those readers will be voting for Cameron?

I think the greater demographic (quantity wise) are the old school readers (i.e. over 45) rather than the Raefs the paper so desperately wants. The whole differential with the Guardian is supposed to be that it's the only paper that speaks for "us."

Given the paper's recent excellent Tax Gap reportage and G20/Tomlinson coverage - i.e. when it sticks to being a newspaper it's a very fine newspaper indeed - I can't quite see how it would or could convert to the Tories.

xp
Surely he'll pledge to use only locally grown organic tomatoes? Probably bought from his local farmshop.

They won't outright endorse him but they won't go right up against him either. How did the Telegraph treat Blair in the latter days of the Major government? I can't really remember.

I think it's been coming for a while. Who could forget this sick making article in the Observer?
David Cameron, Westminster's very own eco hero, talks red cabbage, Jane Austen and hair shirts with Polly Vernon.

Solidly opposed him, I would have thought (xp)

How did the Telegraph treat Blair in the latter days of the Major government?

By printing very boring articles by Thatcher.

The Telegraph didn't like Major, far too wet probably, but got behind him for the election.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4016098,00.html

interesting piece about newspaper readership and voting. guardian readers were the most likely to vote and had the most solid labour support. but that was 2000 - think about a third of the readership deserted for the lib dems.

God, that Thatcher article is like looking into a different world, partly because a) could you imagine Cameron or any other big hitting Tory talking publically like that now? and b) she got New Labour so so wrong.

Well she was out on a limb even then

At least we knew where she stood!

On a limb!

HYS-ers showing more commonsense regarding Cameron's new found radicalism than the Guardian I notice

'Do not make me sound like a prat for not knowing how many houses I've got.'

“Where I think Conservatives tend to feel Labour are misguided and wrong, there are some people in the Labour Party who just think the Tories are awful and evil, which is ridiculous and wrong.”

LOL

you WILL vomit

oh god, is US conservatives, forget i posted it/...

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/cartoons/2009/06/01/Steve-Bell-1-June.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/06/02/Steve-Bell-Conservative-scrutiny.jpg
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/6/3/1244019729982/Steve-Bells-If-...-03.06.-004.jpg

David Cameron, leader of the British Conservative Party, will repay £947 for expenses he wrongly claimed

I can't believe none of the Britishes caught the German accent gaffe.

Cameron looked a bit rattled at PMQs t'other day. He's clearly one of those bullies who can dish it out but get all flustered and resentful if they get any in return, so it's about time the Labour Party got stuck into him, obviously none of the media are going to.

Is a German accent really a gaffe though? It's more like the last accent left that one can legitimately 'do', like an Indian accent seems to be in the US for some reason. It's certainly hard to imagine an outcry over hurt German feelings, and if there was one people would just make fun of it.

Imagine if Gordon Brown had done it

It would kind of suit him.

There's nothing offensive about it, but it's perhaps pretty dim-witted for a leader whose party are already having to sit alongside various right wing xenophobic nutjobs in the European Parliament

First big gaffe as PM is going to be a cracker, I can feel it.

haha, george osborne claimed on expenses for two copies of a dvd of one of his own speeches entitled... "value for taxpayers' money".

William "Howard Hughes" Hague claims for hygienic telephone wipes and a lot of handwash.

Well he's almost as rich as Howard Hughes - not that his various money making activities interfere with his duties as a constituency MP and member of the Shadow Cabinet, perish the thought

haha, george osborne claimed on expenses for two copies of a dvd of one of his own speeches entitled... "value for taxpayers' money".

For some reason that one annoys me more than some of the huge claims as it's basically writing "LOL FUCK YOU TAXPAYERS" on a claim form. Also who the fuck wants two copies of their own speech? Reminds me of Charlie Brooker's comment on fomer Big Brother contestant Sezer: "he probably masturbates to videos of himself masturbating."

im more worried about people-who-aren't-george-osborne buying a george osborne dvd. what in the world?

I'm prepared to cut him some slack, he obv. has self-esteem issues, what with him having Flashman as his party leader

Also who the fuck wants two copies of their own speech?

You know, nice things to use as stocking fillers. Probably gets a cut of the royalties too.

Flashman? In his dreams. He's more like the bully from Jennings and Darbyshire.

If indeed there was a bully in Jennings and Darbyshire. I'm sure there was. But he was obviously a feeble, contemptible twat.

Fossilised fishhooks, there certainly was a bully but he is bested by J and D for sure.

Trouble is Cameron probably does seem himself as Flashman in his dreams.

http://side-a.co.uk/images/bercow.jpg

what a fuck-up.

probably even worse than the really awful michael martin.

well done new labour for 'bucking the trend' and installing a labour speaker (well, just) during a labour government; now you can have an ex-nazi during a tory government.

ex-nazi = monday club or is there something even worse? labour mps seemed to have backed bercow solely because it pissed off the tories, eg jim knight on twitter: "Bercow: funny, confident no notes, impressions good but statesmanlike? Listener as well as Speaker. Tory leadership look glum. Very good."

jim knight needs to learn the language imo.

Jesus McFuck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4RHXWs43U4

In the best traditions of the speaker no one should like you and bercow is well ahead of the game in that regard.

"one of the reasons why labour hammered us so hard in '97 was they successfully stereotyped the conservative brand as 'the tories' and the negative connotations of that hit us for quite a few years"

uh yeah

wow just got to the boris johnson = che guevara comparison

Anything that pisses off Dorries is fine by me.
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/debate/article-1194464/NADINE-DORRIES-Bercow-oily-opportunist-lacking-loyalty-courage--I-speak-Tory.html
(as ever the URL is really all you need to read - god bless the DM)

Well, becoming Speaker involves giving up yr political 'position' in return for a totally secure job (the last bloke notwithstanding), a guaranteed seat in parliament (the constituency now gets no vote, in return for having local access to the most powerful MP there is, and so is regarded as an honour), and, um, yeah.

Anything that pisses off Dorries is fine by me.

riiight. even electing a guy from the monday club.

Oh, fuck off. The idea that someone can't change politically is bizarre.

It's a bumper crop of DM URLs to-day...
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/debate/article-1194809/The-House-cheats-nodding-oil-derricks-got-perfect-Speaker.html

riiight. even electing a guy from the monday club.

You just don't like anyone or anything, do you? Pissing off Tories is always a good thing IMO.

Reduction in abortion time limit amendment - 20.5.2008
Amendment to reduce the upper limit for abortions from 24 week to 22 weeks. Against

IVF and the ‘need for a father and a mother’ - 20.5.2008
Amendment to strengthen laws to make IVF clinics consider the 'need for a father and a mother' before allowing women to begin fertility treatment Against

Terrorism bill - 9.11.2005
MPs voted on a government proposal to extend the maximum period for police detention of a terrorist suspect without charge to 90 days. The government was defeated, with 49 Labour MPs rebelling. Against

Identity cards - 20.12.2004
MPs voted on the second reading of the government's identity cards bill. The Conservative frontbench supported the measure, with Labour and Tory rebels voting against Against

Age of consent February 2000 - 10.2.2000
Vote on government plan to lower age of consent for gay sex to 16. For

These are things that matter - not the fact that he once took the minutes at the Monday Club.

you left us hanging on the last one...

Eh?

(oh, and the thread that died of subtlety: SpeakerPOLL / THE POLL Below)

The Tories wanted a Tory speaker, they've got one. Genius move that he's the least popular member of the Conservative Party with Conservatives in the UK.

General argument aside plenty of Thatcherites/Monetarists have combined economic thuggism with "social liberalism".

Oh, got it: Voted for.

(Thought it was the beginning of a sentence)

Also, Govt Majority now increases by one.

Oh, and this...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/nov/07/conservatives.uk

See, I read that as "dude had invited Tebbit to his wedding".

http://www.crimetime.co.uk/covers/large/0749005505large.jpg

The Tories wanted a Tory speaker

again, what the fuck was labour doing imposing a labour speaker in 2000? (not only that, but a completely incompetent one?) it's a bit rich to complain now.

These are things that matter - not the fact that he once took the minutes at the Monday Club.

sez who?

don't want to sound naive, but politicizing the office of speaker as labour have done (twice) is retarded.

if i thought that labour was a force for good i'd possibly be more partisan, but im not really sure what you guys are clinging on to at this point.

Yes, let's all just kill ourselves

Betty Boothroyd was the most popular speaker in years.

The only popular speaker in history probably

Not sure where popularity stands as a requirement for this job

“Tradition says the speakership alternates between parties”

“Tradition”, in so far as it says anything at all, says that the party in power supplies the speaker. For the last hundred and fifty years or so, this “tradition” has been breached only once – by the election of Betty Boothroyd*. Yes, from the sixties onwars, the speakership rotated, but that was because of a remarkable co-incidence between the deaths or retirements of speakers and changes of Government. If you want to quote tradition, a better version would be “Traditionally an MP from the governing party is chosen, except when significant numbers of them decide to vote for someone else“.

These are things that matter - not the fact that he once took the minutes at the Monday Club.

sez who?

Well, they matter to me.

I'm not making an argument here about the position of the speaker or the merits (or otherwise) of Bercow even - it's just that I don'think you should condemn someone for once being part of an odious organisation. It depresses me because it suggests that there's nothing to be done about it.

Not sure where popularity stands as a requirement for this job

Isn't the Speaker a link between the House and the public though? Boothroyd was popular inside and outside the chamber. It's not a requirement but it would certainly have helped over recent events.

Isn't the Speaker a link between the House and the public though?

Really? I think for most people the speaker is the person who occasionally attempts to shout "ORDER" at the rabble that is PMQs.

Speaker has nothing to do with the public and shouldn't have

Whether they should or shouldn't is beside the point, they are (and have been since the televising of parliament) for a lot of people they representat parliament. That doesn't mean they kowtow to the mob (inside or outside the chamber) but they shouldn't be aloof from them either. Betty Boothroyd understood this and gave up a lot of the ceremonial clobber that went with the job, for instance.

Screweed that first sentence up, but you get the idea.

They should be aloof though. Betty Boothroyd never gave any interviews or expressed any opinions on anything when she was speaker, did she?

A bad spell of weather, but hey.. (xpost)

Well, she went on Live and Kicking. As I remember she was on tv quite a lot, due to the wig business and Breast Feeding Controversy, mostly, and so hardly major constitutional issues but you know, she was out and about.

The Conservatives milked the Damian McBride affair for all its worth - turning up on television almost everyday in faux-outrage at how someone could be so nasty in politics. Every day a succession of outraged right-wing bloggers and backbench politicians said they expected better standards from Parliament.

If that is the case, what will they now say about the allegations levelled at Andy Coulson - David Cameron’s director of communications.

David Cameron faced calls last night to sack one of his most trusted advisers over allegations of illegal phone hacking. The alleged offences were carried out while Andy Coulson was Editor of the News of the World.

Andy Coulson, now the Conservative leader's communications chief, was deputy editor and then editor of the News of the World during the period hacking was claimed to have taken place.

John Prescott, the former Prime Minister, last night called for Mr Cameron to sack Mr Coulson, saying: "I hope Mr Cameron will clear him out," he said.

This morning, the Tory leader said: "Of course I knew about that resignation before offering him the job. But I believe in giving people a second chance.

"As director of communications for the Conservatives he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times."

it's bad but nowhere near as bad as mcbride.

heard boris johnson being an evasive shit on the today programme viz, will he ask the met commissioner what the fuck just happened.

Future prime minister being advised by a criminal? No, this will blow over.

oh, i didn't realize he'd been convicted.

Coulson's not front-line enough for this to affect Cameron one iota. If anything, he gets to do his hardman act and sack the dude over something that most of the GBP won't really give a toss about.

More or less front-line than McBride?

I can see the non-Murdoch bits of the media creating quite a stink about this. It's a former editor of the NOTW after all. There are bound to be people wanting to stick the knife in.

It's unlikely to affect Cameron's electoral chances unless it snowballs, which it may do. I don't see how he can't sack him if it does - you can't have a Director of Communications engulfed in something like this in the run up to an election, regardless of whether he knew what was happening at the NOTW.

Also if the Prescott stuff happened while he was Deputy Prime Minister that's serious shit, right?

Essentially I'm calling Cameron to make a u-turn in about three days on this one.

More or less front-line than McBride?

about the same, but the difference is mcbride was doing dirt while working at number ten. coulson's misdemeanours are in the past. d-cam will probably have to sack him anyway. which he should have seen coming.

McBride was caught being beastly in his capacity as Brown's advisor, and I think that whole episode has blown over already. Coulson is allegedly guilty of something he did or failed to do outside of parliament. There might be some legal ramifications for him as an individual, but as far as politics and the next election is considered this is the definition of some chattering classes bullshit.

jinx

No one cares about McBride either really, or any backroom types with the exception of Alistair Campbell back in the day. The expenses scandal (involving actual elected officials who people do care about) blew it out of the water and even that doesn't seem to have hurt Cameron that much.

Well quite. It's the Economy, innit?

The McBride story arose from hacked emails - now Coulson is accused of what, exactly?

Oh.

if you follow that logic through, it makes coulson look like woodward and bernstein, which he isn't.

anyway, not an argument labour can use. "you only found out that we're scumbags because he hacked lying shitsack and former addict derek draper's email account." nagl.

Well, one's illegal and one's not.

Oh why bother trying to reason with him, James. Interestingly, Andrew Neil was rather incandescent with rage about this story on Newsnight.

Yeah, he's next.

yeah, i wouldn't bother arguing.

obviously mcbride and draper were outstanding and noble political operators brought low by the gutter press, and actually smearing opposition mps' wives as mentally ill is exactly the kind of thing keir hardie had in mind.

Don't know what you mean, he was saying it was the worst scandal to hit the British press in 60 years, something like that

yeah, i wouldn't bother arguing.

Well, not with you. No brainer there.

Surely if Cameron sacks him now after saying "I believe in giving people a second chance" (when I heard that this morning it was the first time I've laughed out loud since the last episode of The Inbetweeners) he's going to look more silly? Agh, I don't suppose he gives a fuck. Anything he says is rubbish and it hasn't hurt him yet.

Dude political leaders say they aren't going to sack people and then sack them pretty regularly. In any case, Cameron won't need to sack him, he'll resign.

He's one of the most accomplished resigners of our time

Yeah, I know. It's just the way he said it really, instead of the usual "I fully support so-and-so". No doubt this will be - "I am completely innocent of the charges but I have become the story..."

And Rupert can install him as editor of The Sun just in time for a magnificent Cameron landslide.

"I fully support that so-and-so".

Ned wins:

But - even if more allegations fail to emerge - this remains a tricky story for Team Cameron. It sifts through a past that the Tories had hoped was forgotten, and it gives Labour figures opportunity to question David Cameron's judgement and draw comparisons with Smeargate - a task they've taken up with relish. Worst of all, it means Coulson has transgressed the first rule of spin doctoring, by "becoming the story". The Tory communications corps will have a busy few days, dealing with the fallout.

The moralising/Daily Mail wing of the Tory party has always been lukewarm on Cameron... could be interesting.

This is probably worse for the News of the World than for the Tories themselves, mind. Then again the NOTW doesn't exactly have a reputation that will be harmed by being dragged through the mud, but financially it could be painful.

Can't see it affecting Cameron or the Tories that much - I mean, who really cared about McBride that much? A series of crippling lawsuits against NOTW would be sweet.

One senior Labour source in regular contact with Gordon Brown's inner circle told PRWeek: ‘Cameron wants to present himself as the man who's going to clean up politics. That's going to be difficult if the public think his right-hand man is a complete sleazeball.'

Another Labour insider said that senior party figures had been thrashing out a strategy to target Coulson since the news emerged yesterday. The source said the aim was have Coulson ‘wounded, but still there'.

The source added that if Coulson was to hang on by Cameron's side, then Labour would be able to target him heavily him during last four weeks of a general election campaign.

These guys have watched too much West Wing imo

Coulson will be gone in two days.

Cameron's no idiot

Labour "insider" who blabbed about their attack strategy to PR Week, on the other hand...

Plus more or less everyone's on his side these days

this could end up blowing up in the govt's face, since they're ultimately responsible for the police and the decision not to investigate 2-3,000 incident aside from the goodman/royals one looks like it might have had political motivations.

a home office minister just said govt and police were unaware of the other allegations which is definitely untrue since nick davies' original story was based on police sources.

if govt did use its influence to suppress a criminal investigation into an organisation they needed to keep sweet, it's a bigger deal than coulson imo.

*incidents

"All great stories come from tainted sources", Boris Johnson told the BBC. "You need to look at whether there was any illegality by the journalists concern or whether the story was nevertheless right to bring into the public domain," that's the key issue."

Johnson wears several hats in this story: he's one of those allegedly targetted; he's a close friend of David Cameron; he's chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority; and and he's London mayor.

And he's a very well-known journalist and former Spectator editor.

It's OK though - he gets the other Boris to do the mayor's job while he gets on with the important (i.e. lucrative) job of writing for the telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01396/boris_waxwork_1396818c.jpg

Which one's the dummy?

I thought that was picture of him with his dad

It's from the 'up his own arse' pic thread.

This is going to snowball. Now the story has spread out of politics and involved household names like Alex Ferguson and Alan Shearer and god knows who else, it's too juicy not to. I can see the Graun running with a revelation a day for a while.

There's 2 aspects here. The "let's storm the News of the World with pitchforks and flaming torches" aspect of it will hopefully continue to grow but as somebody, Portillo I think, pointed out on This Week last night it tends to be the minority of celebrities rather than the GBP who are interested in a privacy law, so I don't know how that will pan out. It'll definitely be popcorn-worthy.

The aspect of this that ties to the Tory party and Cameron's judgement is much harder to call. I still think he'll be able to distance himself fairly easily and be joining in with the public cries of "down with this sort of thing" by the middle of next week, but we'll see, won't we?

Yeah I'd cosign all of that. This probably needs a separate thread now because anyone who seriously believes anything short of an arrest for child abuse could seriously damage the electoral chances of David Cameron is indulging in deluded wishful thinking of the highest order.

But as a 'lets throw shit at Murdoch' sideshow it could prove spectacularly entertaining, especially as the lurid details come out. For example:

News of the World believed to have eavesdropped on phone messages of Sun editor, BBC understands

Lololololol.

Are there really gonna be any lurid details, aside from who's been tapped (which doesn't fill a whole lotta inches), to come out of this though? Presumably anything of value harvested from the phones has already been printed?

Yesterday, the front page of the Telegraph was some story about some Tory who did something (can't remember the details, bored of the whole fcking thing) which seemed quite outrageous but there was no follow up anywhere as far as I could see, media too excited about sticking it to Murdoch if possible.

News of the World believed to have eavesdropped on phone messages of Sun editor, BBC understands

Lololololol

Lololololol why? Sister papers they may be, but the rivalry and loathing between them is legendary. If I was a
senior NOTW hack into phone-tapping, a senior Sun hack would be top of my list!

It's odd, though: this is a story I just cannot bring myself to care about -- largely because, I think, I'm cynical to the point of self-loathing about newspapers in general now. It's nice people still care enough about dead-tree-based media to give a shit about journalistic ethics, but really: tabloid hacks alleged to use underhand methods? Well, shit.

But yeh, like I say: that's just down to the fact I loathe the industry in which I've spent 12 years working.

I'd dearly love to think that some of the mud will stick to Cameron, but I sadly doubt it.

In a move that will be seen as a concession to the party’s grandees, he disclosed that he is planning to give jobs to former Cabinet ministers including Peter Lilley and Stephen Dorrell, both of whom served under John Major. Other older MPs, including James Arbuthnot, whose expenses claims were thought to have ruined his chances of a place in Mr Cameron’s top team, are also in line for a job.

Well, this has to be a good thing, no? Anything that reminds voters what an absolute gang of unmitigated cocksmears those fuckers were ...

this is a bit old, but we don't seem to have had any discussion of david cameron's flagship labour council bringing back the glory days of shirley porter. i know i shouldn't be shocked but:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23717484-details/Plot+to+rid+council+estates+of+poor/article.do

Flagship Labour Council? I'm shocked, I admit.

freudian slip...

new youngest mp looks like ruth kelly

All the more surprising, then, the language he employed in his interview with Absolute Radio's Christian O'Connell.

When asked why he was not on Twitter, he said,"It's too instantaneous... Too many twits might make a twat".

Conservative leader David Cameron has apologised for using a four letter word during a radio interview about the social network website Twitter.

Mr Cameron made the remark while talking to Christian O'Connell on Absolute Radio. He later said he regretted if the slip had caused any offence.

Broadcast regulator Ofcom said it had not received any complaints about the interview.

So where's the Daily Mail when...

new youngest mp looks like ruth kelly

she scares the bejeezus out of me

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8177561.stm

'I am deeply saddened and disappointed' - Tory leader David Cameron on Gary McKinnon judgement

Wonder if Gordon Brown will comment on it too. The Guardian report says: Gordon Brown's wife, Sarah, met McKinnon's mother to express her concern, while the prime minister last week said: "Anybody who looks at this must be sympathetic to someone who suffers from Asperger's syndrome."

new youngest MP looks like Rodrigo from Big Brother...

Alan Scard is in charge of selecting a Tory candidate for Gosport, where the sitting MP Sir Peter Viggers quit after trying to claim for a floating duck house on expenses.

Asked in an interview with Channel 4 News if he was happy to support David Cameron's call to put more women in Parliament, he said: "If they are attractive yeah I would go for it."

I can just imagine Cameron's face when he heard that story.

What does [Tory candidate for Chippenham Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones] make of Cameron? "He's done fund-raisers for me. I ain't going to slag him off. There are prejudices against him, because he's a posh git. But he can't help that. It's a bit like being black. He's fine ... he's good. I would not be here if it wasn't for his A-list. But the public-school system creates an aura that some people find difficult. I tend to be friendly and open. He isn't as open." Will he make a good prime minister? "I think it all depends who he surrounds himself with. That's the key. If he surrounds himself with people who understand the code ... the Eton boys ... that will be my struggle. Will he have the courage to put other people round him?"

This guy is my new favourite Tory:

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/7500/56802492177353141863441.jpg

is that donovan on the right?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/feedarticle/8695797

aaaaaah gutted

Duncan's successor will be announced tomorrow.

Wonder which twat big hitter from the '80s they're going to roll out.

Maybe it'll be that rat-face youngster from East Anglia.

Alan Duncan as Shadow Prisons Minister. Richard Littlejohn will have a word or two to say about that I'm sure.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/1259/betathumbalizrcom.png

Bring back the glory days of Jacqui Smith and the funny little ginger biker.

cameron/osborne's economic policies could lead to unemployment doubling to 5 million, according to David Blanchflower, only BoE MPC member to have predicted the recession.

The labour market expert, who is professor of economics at Dartmouth College in the USA and served on the MPC until June this year, told the New Statesman: "Unemployment is going to continue to rise this year and may keep on rising.

"If spending cuts are made too early and the monetary and fiscal stimuli are withdrawn, unemployment could easily reach four million.

"If large numbers of public sector workers, perhaps as many as a million, are made redundant and there are substantial cuts in public spending in 2010, as proposed by some in the Conservative Party, five million unemployed or more is not inconceivable.

"They could be our lost generation."

.. but that's the way they like it!

Nightclub owner and 'tantric master' to stand as Tory candidate at next election

I donate this old thread to him:

I dance everything

Vote BNP or Britain is finished!!

- trevor, perth, 01/10/2009

Is it bad to vote up that sort of comment purely because it's on the Daily Mail website?

http://www.thecnj.co.uk/islington/2008/070408/images/inews070408_02.jpg

This sounds like it'll work! It did in the 1980s!

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Mr Cameron said the party would not be "playing it safe" at what will be the last conference before the election.

He said a Cameron government would scrap the New Deal and "through tax reform and deregulation" help employers take on new staff and encourage the creation of businesses.

The paper said most people who have been unemployed for more than six months, including the disabled and single mothers, would have their benefits cut if they refused to join privatised training schemes.

It said the government would employ private training firms to prepare the unemployed for work.

^^ this is exactly the same as the current system

http://sl.sky.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/8/6/a84516f3-0f23-4aac-86ec-a3fb30629418.Full.jpg

May I introduce you to what seems to be the most popular freebie at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester... 'Gordon's Porky Pies'.

According to Party Chairman Eric Pickles they've already run out (and he didn't even get to try one)!

I suppose the big question is: are they more popular than last year's Labour Conference Milibananas?

Milibananas

Milibandanas would have been a better pun, but a worse gizzit.

What else could go wrong for David Cameron in the next 6 months?

At some point, their "We are going to TORTURE and TAX old people, poor people, children and disabled people BECAUSE OF LABOUR!" begins to make people go "er, hang on?"

You mean as in "...er hang on, aren't Labour promising to torture and tax old people, poor people, children and disabled people too"?

Yeah, almost everything the Tories have announced so far has been something Labour is also planning to some extent. The gamble the Tories are taking in this conference is that 'honesty' will trump 'looking like an evil cunt'. It's a pretty big gamble.

Got to say, Brown has done a wondrous job at maneuvering Labour into a position where they can't actually win any of the arguments at all.

The Tories can't really win the arguments either, but no one cares because a) they're Tories and what they're doing is what they are for and b) voters are so desperate to be rid of the government that hey any port in a storm.

Leadership debate: right wing bastard v. right wing bastard v. right wing bastard

Should be riveting stuff

I am eating one of those pork pies right now! Didn't donate tho.

You eat pork pies?

With or without Eric Pickles?

I wonder what name-related things they could sell for Boris Johnson.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/8/18/1250608328246/Eric-Pickles-the-Tory-par-002.jpg

Seriously, how much fun are the press going to have at this dude's expense over the next four years?

He will be the campest heterosexual (no, honestly) in the cabinet for sometime... probably since the last time the Tories were in power

I wonder what name-related things they could sell for Boris Johnson.

Strawberry (Blonde) Fool

I heart pork pies! Free food innit. Also just had glass of champers from harvey nicks stall

Lex, why are you touring the conferences?

Seriously, how much fun are the press going to have at over this dude's expenses over the next four years?

freezing pay over £18k does not sound like a vote winner to me.

Jesus, this is fucking ridiculous. The only way anyone is going to make a serious dent in that deficit is by getting the banks off the public books at the earliest safe and sensible opportunity and all three parties are being very quiet about how they actually intend to achieve this.

I mean, I don't know how I'd achieve it either but I think the Tories in particular will come to regret making the size of the debt such a hot issue while completely ignoring the massive elephant in the room.

Easier to bash dole scum than bankers

The real enemy are these bastards that work in the public sector obviously

... he warned bankers he may tax their bonuses if they were deemed excessive.

"Vicious, you hit me with a flower
You do it every hour"

Deemed excessive

The Nancy zip bag takes Nancy's signature hand riveted quilting to create a younger, deconstructed shoulder bag. Deceptively roomy with an extra wide zip opening, this new Nancy is the perfect day bag for the working girl-about-town. All the bags have Smythson signature bright linings with zip and ruched interior pockets. £595.
http://www.smythson.com/public/pictures/products/crosssell/NAN09-1005578.jpg

Stunning watch box in classic Smythson black pigskin. The box is lined in soft nubuck calf leather with sections for dressing items and 2 perpetual motion watch rockers. With palladium coated fittings and Smythson engraving on the lock. £1,250.
http://www.smythson.com/public/pictures/products/thumbs/wp-1005068.jpg

we're all in this together

I can't see anything that's happened so far this week sealing the deal for the Tories - quite the opposite in fact. The more substance they put on their policies the more people are going to balk at actually voting for them. It certainly doesn't feel like a landslide in waiting.

Oh I don't know about that

The more substance they put on their policies the more people are going to balk at actually voting for them.

Agreed, they'd win more votes by doing nothing except letting Brown continue being dour. I still think they'll win by miles though.

If Labour got rid of Brown now and called a snap election, the Tories would still win but it might be a lot closer. As it is, Brown flails on and things will be dire in May.

suzy - just for work! can email u more details if u want xx

If Labour got rid of Brown now and called a snap election, the Tories would still win but it might be a lot closer. As it is, Brown flails on and things will be dire in May.

I think the reverse might be true. Esp. if the Czechs and Poles ratify the Lisbon Treaty leaving the Tories well and truly high and dry.

Yeah, the media sense a punch-up in the air over Europe...

They're just waiting for the usual cavalcade of xenophobic loonies to come crawling out of the woodwork

Cameron's probably been looking for a Clause Four moment for ages but I really doubt a big bunfight over Europe is one he's choose. He'll be hoping that the Tories are so desperate for power they'll shut up until after the election.

Yes, but they've proven in the past that they lose all power of rational thought when it comes to Europe

If Labour got rid of Brown now and called a snap election, the Tories would still win but it might be a lot closer. As it is, Brown flails on and things will be dire in May.

I agree with Tom D, though Brown will be betting that the economy will be picking up sufficiently that he can claim credit for saving us all from economic doom. The line last week that the Tories made the wrong call re the economy will be hammered home between now and May, whether it's true or not.

They're just waiting for the usual cavalcade of xenophobic loonies to come crawling out of the woodwork

talking of whom i had to go to an event in the so-called "freedom zone" today

O_O and indeed o_0

lex fb or mail me, ooooh the intrige...

The line last week that the Tories made the wrong call re the economy

I don't recall they even had a "call" let alone a wrong one.

Somebody should ask Cameron what he thinks about Obama's approach to the financial crisis, he obviously must think he's a complete muppet so I think he should be honest enough to say as much

I don't recall they even had a "call" let alone a wrong one.

He was speaking out against banking regulation before the shit hit the fan.

Nadine Dorries for Education Secretary, please:

http://kwout.com/cutout/u/a6/d4/x5a_bor.jpg

vice president surely

Only just noticed this:

Are inner-city areas and other communities more or less in need of regeneration in 2009 than they were before 1997? How so? JAMES MITCHELL, by email

There has been some good regeneration work done, but it's been patchy. We are passionate about urban and inner-city regeneration. It needs to mean more than just turning up in a neighbourhood with a new regeneration quango whose principal expertise is in bidding for government funds. Real regeneration means transforming quality of life, as well as physical structures. We believe that this can be achieved only when the regeneration is partly led by the community itself. We'll introduce measures to ensure that happens.

We are passionate about urban and inner-city regeneration.

Who was that lady PM who said they were going to get and do "something about those inner cities"?

God it's depressing that the same shit just goes round and round.

We believe that this can be achieved only when the regeneration is partly led by the community itself. We'll introduce measures to ensure that happens.

lol satire

I like the way how his answer to my question is essentially "Labour's done alright, so those regional bodies aren't needed anymore, so we'll end up spending less - now you lot all get on with it."

But he can't say that, so he doesn't.

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that the worst thing that could happen to David Cameron would be winning the next election.

The level of strike action, protest and general unrest over the next Parliament is going to dwarf anything we've seen since the Poll Tax, regardless of who gets in. If by some miracle Brown wins, or gets to hold control over a hung Parliament, it could mean Labour don't win power for another 20 years.

the theme at most of the events i've attended this week has been devolving power to communities and the private sector and basically letting them sort shit out. and those are the saner events.

is theresa may speaking now? i will say this for her, the woman has presence.

Do other countries, other than the US, have elected police commissioners?

Britain's young minister for energy and climate change, Ed Miliband, had come to Russia to talk about global warming. Little did he know he would end up meeting a long-lost member of his family.

It came in the middle of a phone-in programme on the popular Moscow radio station "Ekho Moskvy".

As the fresh-faced Mr Miliband prepared to answer questions on CO2 emissions and melting permafrost, the voice of an elderly woman came on the line.

"I am Sofia Davidovna Miliband, I am your relative; I am the only one left."

"I am Sofia Davidovna Miliband, I am your relative; I am the only one left."

What happened to David?

He's more on the right wing of the family.

"I hope that this isn't a political gimmick. I'm always suspicious of government's motives when it does things like this" - shadow home secretary Chris Grayling, who mistakenly thought ex-army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt has been offered a job by Gordon Brown.

"I'm really delighted" - Mr Grayling, subsequently realising the job had actually been offered by David Cameron.

Tory conference slump:
http://www.yougov.co.uk/extranets/ygarchives/content/pdf/YG-today-votingIntention.jpg
Lol at their whole "we'll tell the people how bad it's really gonna be, how we're gonna seriously screw things up for them and then, y'know, they'll, golly, totally respect us and things for being, well blimey, honest with them and stuff."

If you'd wonder whether it was possible to Bono to sell out any more than he already has

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/5581/34785601059f92e3dc3c640.jpg

Tory conference slump

I blame that blighter Richard Dannatt

"There is a steep climb ahead. The view from the summit will be worth it."

Needs video of Bono on a mountain waving a blue flag.

Seriously, how much fun are the press going to have at this dude's expense over the next four years?

"my chum and your chum, Eric Pickles"

OK, I tried but really three minutes of that was enough - how the fuck am I going to make it through five years (at least)?

They're drinking £150 bottles of CHAMPAGNE while YOU beg for pence in BROKEN BRITAIN

suspicious that there's no comments box on that page...

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/08/article-1218978-06B7166A000005DC-994_468x342.jpg

That's it, I'm going back to Scotland

David Cameron vows not to break bubbly ban again after receiving stern 'talking to' from his wife
What Champagne ban? Cameron caught with glass of bubbly as MPs and delegates party hard at conference
Bubbly celebrations on the way as price of champagne plummets in recession

OK, this is bleedin' stupid. Conservatives have to pretend that they don't drink champagne. Policy!

THE ILLUSION
http://thestoryandthetruth.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/david-cameron.jpg
vs.
THE TRUTH
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/10/08/article-1218978-06B7166A000005DC-994_468x342.jpg

The champagne thing is just stupid. The idea that no one is drinking champagne at the Labour or LibDem conferences is preposterous.

Man we've got a bottle of champagne in the fridge which isn't strictly speaking mine which is the only reason I'm not drinking it right now

Yeah, but if the Cons could get away with it, they could go LOOK! THEY DRINK TEH CHAMPAGNE! WHILE RECESSION! =not like us nasty tories...

Prepare to puke.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/?bcpid=25500650001&bctid=43969827001

^^^ Should be the next Labour party political broadcast.

I dunno, the girl at 34 seconds is kind of hot.

What's the "one word" ? I can't lipread...

Care in the Community has been a fucking disgrace hasn't it?

Glad they got the opinions of such a diverse bunch of folks there.

Ah, nostalgia...

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/frontpage/images/brightonthumb.jpg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/15/david-wilshire-stands-down-expenses

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/16/david-cameron-climate-change-plan

^ this sounds like a total disaster to me as far as making significant carbon cuts goes

Still really confused by Grant Shapps' 'progressive Conservative solution' for housing:

From NIMBY to YIMBY: Progressive vision for housing services - the Conservative perspective]]

With Grant Shapps MP, Shadow Minister for Housing.

This event will seek to assess the current housing situation in terms of supply, social housing, and community involvement and engagement in the provision of homes. It will examine public opposition to house-building, and outline how a progressive Conservative government will seek to work with, rather than against, local people to incentivise a nation of homebuilders. The Conservatives are currently looking at Local Housing Trusts as one possible vehicle for a progressive housing policy, but what other policy solutions are required to enable us to build the homes we need?

Drivel. Is a 'policy solution' the same as a policy?

No, it seeks to work with, rather than against, local people.

Good luck with that.

What does "incentivise a nation of homebuilders" mean?

I think it means a property developer has donated a big stack of cash to the Tories and will be looking for some contracts in the coming years.

You mean "The Tory party seeks to work with, rather than against, a big stack of cash."

Is William Hague still paid 50k a year by JCB?

He was in January, can't find anything more recent to confirm.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1105430/William-Hague-doubles-salary-earning-65-000-just-months-public-speaking.html

paid between £45,001 and £50,000 as a parliamentary adviser to the JCB Group; between £25,001 and £30,000 as a member of the political council of Terra Firma Capital Partners and £10,001 to £15,000 as a parliamentary adviser to Dunalastair Ireland Ltd.

Dunalastair Ireland Ltd is a property developer.
Terra Firma is a private equity firm that is invested in a number of residential home companies

presume the war on nimbys won't extend to tory constituencies in the green belt, where all the nimbyism is.

I don't think there's a big demand for affordable or social housing in Tory green belt constituencies, or if there is they won't admit it.

well, they're also talking about increasing the overall supply of housing, not just social housing. although in any case the london plan required all areas to include a certain level of social housing, prompting much frothing of the mouth among tories who see it as a reverse shirley porter.

They really can say what they like at the moment. It's cake and eating it time for the tories.

Central diktats that seek to work against, rather than with, etc etc:

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps has accused the government of creating a nation of NIMBYs, failing on house-building and exacerbating the housing crisis.

In a keynote speech given today at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Shapps accused the government of alienating the public through "increasing targets, central diktats and unelectable quangos".

Shapps said: "This government’s insistence on ignoring local people and removing their power and control means that, despite the housing shortage, Labour has left in its wake a deep suspicion of house-builders and developers. A new generation of NIMBYs has been created as a direct response to the government’s own misguided attempt to make something happen."

Shapps described the planning system as "decrepid" adding: "How have we allowed a situation to develop where the very people who are democratically elected to represent the community are accused of not doing their job when they represent the concerns of their local community?

"We have to get out of the mindset of believing that it’s wrong… or somehow inappropriate for councillors to stick up for their residents. But to get there, we need to ensure that there really is local benefit to be gained by seeing a development go ahead."

Shapps also re-emphasised his intention to allow, in some circumstances, planning committees to be by-passed. He said: "In certain situations we will remove the Planning Committee from the process altogether!

"Take a rural area struggling with high house prices, driving young people out of the village. A lack of population threatens the village school… post offices … and GP surgeries.

"So our Local Housing Trusts will give communities the power to grant themselves permission to build. The land will be locked in for village use forever, while the homes that are needed are built."

"We have to get out of the mindset of believing that it’s wrong… or somehow inappropriate for councillors to stick up for their residents." ... "In certain situations we will remove the Planning Committee from the process altogether!"

"If our MPs can't have duck houses we shall let them build swimming pools."

The trickier questions this morning were over Tony Blair's candidacy for the presidency of the European Council. Mr Cameron's first response was that the EU shouldn't have a president: another position that is soon going to become outdated. He also argued that, if there is to be a president, the role should be "chairmanic" rather than "all-singing, all-dancing, all-acting". Ie, it should be filled by an anonymous machine diplomat rather than Mr Blair.

That led to two awkward follow-up questions that Mr Cameron struggled to answer. Was he really saying that Britain's interests in Europe would be better served by a foreign president than by Mr Blair? And wasn't the underlying thrust of his broader point that he wanted the job to be done badly (surely not a good thing, if it is to exist, for either the EU or Britain)?

xposted summary: govt policy is bad because it works to targets and central diktats and is not local, and because it doesn't accomplish things which local people would reject unless enforced by targets and central diktats?

(I live, unfortunately, in Tory home-counties semi-rural country market town - not a pretty or desirable one, however - and we've had a bunch of "affordable housing" projects spring up over the past few years, new estates have to include a certain % of housing association accommodation, etc. Guess if Labour has enforced it nationwide then for the next few years the Tories get to let the nimby crowd get their way and still go "look, there is new affordable housing in this area, therefore we don't need any more", but not really sure how the current system works tbh.)

He claims to be a "tantric master", has set up an eco-nightclub powered by dancing, and wants to be a Tory MP.

Now Andrew Charalambous, the self-styled "Dr Earth" fighting to win Labour-held Edmonton at the next election, has unveiled plans to establish his own Tube line on what is now a cycle lane.

The 38-year-old entrepreneur wants to resurrect a hidden rail route leading from Stratford to Edmonton Green shopping centre. The line would run along an existing trackbed built in the Sixties but never used except as a cycle route.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNLSx3Mt9UY

Let's party.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRhvHU8UiBs

^me spamming because nobody's been watching it and I spent literally minutes editing it etc etc

“Lack of affordable housing in Britain’s most picturesque areas is a real problem, forcing people out of the places where they have grown up,” said Shapps. “Under our plans, communities can really be in charge of their own destiny.”

He said alternative ideas, such as heavy taxes on second homes, were the “wrong approach”.

Or as Shapps himself puts it on his Twitter page "Tories to tackle rural housing crisis by working with (not against) local people"

How does this tie in with letting the market do it's job?

give residents of areas dominated by second homeowners the power to grant planning permission ... heavy taxes on second homes were the "wrong approach"

Tories to tackle local housing crisis by encouraging rich businessmen to buy up all the property as a country seat for ten weekends a year, then letting the businessmen decide whether some cheap flats for poor people should be built next door

Have the Czechs got round to splitting the Tories open like a ripe melon ratifying the Lisbon Treaty yet?

A Bedfordshire MP is calling for councils and emergency services to put on organised raves.

Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, claims 3,000 people descended on Wavendon on Saturday night for an illegal rave on land owned by the Duke of Bedford.

The MP claims the rave was held in an unsafe building which was next to a sheer drop into a lake. She also believes there was no help or assistance for any of the revellers, many of whom were 'popping pills'.

She's actually OTM but that's still not the smartest thing to say in her position. (Oh actually hang on, it's Nadine Dorries, she's never going to a minister, no one cares...)

Never going to what a minister? You tryna imply something there?

Ta-da!

LOLz

This is going to be fun, would this be DC's first substantive policy announcement?

Making second home owners pay council tax would be a good start in my book.

Murdoch's going to be really fucked off with this, as I bet that "cast iron guarantee" was a big part of The Sun opting to switch sides earlier this year.

Bloody Europeans, coming over here and closing our tax loopholes.

Also:

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content/StaticFile/jpg/2009/Oct/Week4/15420313.jpg

Hague: no referendum

Oops Tom D already linked that. Anyway.

No, that's a new LOLfest

Cameron's best hope will be that the Tory party is so desperate for power that they'll let him off this one. I'm not sure that the voters care enough to punish him for it unless the right wing press does a spectacular volte-face and make a big thing out of it.

I fear that the media are so desperate for Cameron to win that he won't get the bollocking he richly deserves

... as per usual

Cameron's best hope will be that the Tory party is so desperate for power that they'll let him off this one. I'm not sure that the voters care enough to punish him for it unless the right wing press does a spectacular volte-face and make a big thing out of it.

yeah. as much as this is terrible for the tories now, it's also something that isn't going to happen in six months just pre-election or anything and fuck things up then.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xbFrx50EjMc/Su4zEGY7buI/AAAAAAAADPY/yU6SiPyw5y4/s1600-h/cough.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2706/4072980614_698b495421.jpg

Shapps, with yet more lols:

Fighting poverty is nothing new for the Conservative Party, but during the 1980’s the emphasis placed on individualism and prosperity was sometimes seen to crowd out social issues like helping the most vulnerable in society.

Today the modern Conservative Party sees no need to choose between two different forms of Conservatism – wet or dry.

Instead we recognise the heritage of our one nation tradition meaning that, for example, everyone should benefit from a decent education and great healthcare, delivered free at the point of use. And at the same time that the strength of individual entrepreneurship – most associated with Margaret Thatcher – is all the more powerful when people work together to create a sense of social responsibility.

Instead we recognise the heritage of our one nation tradition meaning that, for example, everyone should benefit from a decent education and great healthcare, delivered free at the point of use.

http://www.mnddc.org/parallels/four/4b/4b_img/houses.JPG

Love his "blueprint for tackling homelessness" PDF, which states as its first 'solution':

A future Conservative Government will work across Whitehall to ensure that policy is designed to help rather than hinder homeless people.

So, what job will William Hague be expected to do in a Cameron cabinet? Because apparently he won't be Foreign Secretary.

Why not? He'd be good at it.

Why would he be good at it? Tories' plans for "tackling poverty" (LOL, aye right) are total Right Wing Policy Wonk Cloud Cuckoo Land bollocks, almost as stupid as their Europe strategy.

Good speaker, carries a bit of clout. I'm not thinking about the policies.

Hague to be a Mandelson-style Deputy Prime Minister and Grant Shapps as Foreign Secretary, apparently.

Where he will work with [country x], as opposed to against [country x], presumably.

Genuinely never heard of the guy.

Number eight on Cameron's Magnificent 7 list.

He's risen without a trace, this Shapps character. Hague's largely responsible for the Euro Referendum fiasco and for aligning the Tories with Jibrovian Nazi Party? So not a great track so far?

"track record" that is