Should Gordon take a lower profile?
May 15th, 2008
Screen shot from the Daily Politics
What’ll be the polling impact of today’s media blitz?
It has been very hard over the past eight or nine hours to avoid Gordon Brown. He’s gone from one TV or radio studio to another doing a big series of interviews to try to seize back the initiative.
But will it have helped in the polls and at the Crewe and Nantwich by election? How will all this be going down with the public. Put bluntly is a Brown appearance a net vote winner or vote loser for Labour?
The problem he’s got is his style and his tendency to deny he’s said things even things, like on Adam Boulton this morning, which were played back to him. The danger is that these appearances just feed the media narrative. Brown’s in pickle; Brown gives away nearly £3bn; Brown feels the need to go everywhere to put his case.
Sometimes just being out of the spotlight can help. Maybe two or three weeks when there are hardly any public appearances might just take the steam out of the story.
This would also create space for some of his top team to improve their media skills by being able to talk themselves about the developments in their areas. The fact that it is only Gordon that makes the announcements just reinforces the perception that he’s a control freak.
With a bit of luck there should be an avalanche of polls in the next two to three days - maybe even something more from Crewe & Nantwich. These might give us a better picture of how the Brown fight-back is playing with the public.
Mike Smithson
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Think you might be right their Mike, Brown misjudges peoples intellegence over the £3BN threshold change. Does Gordon ever stop spinning or playing silly political games - the political game smile was on his face again yesterday!
Brown demeans the office of prime minster in a way Tony Blair never did. Gordon is a pymigmy to Blair’s giant of a PM. Brown is so crap and naff all he has to do is put on the Y - Fronts and he is a super naff John Major!
422 on previous thread. Bondgate, I suggest you get your ears syringed, James Landale went to Eton. Is it possible you mean James Hardy?
Gordon has trotted around the radio and TV studios, basically saying “I fixed Britain before, I can do it again!!”
2 points in response. Before, Mr. Brown performed his role as Britain’s Undoubted Saviour from No. 11 Downing Street - as Chancellor. Perhaps he should just ask for his old job back if he wants to repeat the trick. And secondly, he was lucky enough to have “fixed Britain” whilst stood on the shoulders of Ken Clarke’s masterful job in turning the economy around. Brown kept Ken’s spending limits and tax bands. My granny could have done that. And she’s dead….
Brown should keep a lower profile - perhaps by retiring to spend more time with his “family”.
Mike,
I don’t think he can win on this one. If he keeps out of the spotlight for a few weeks then it won’t be long before the Macavity attacks return.
He’s put himself between a rock and a hardplace and lacks the personality to work his way out of it. That’s why he is probably doomed.
1 - Talking of Major he said that when the curtain comes down its time to get off the stage. The problem with Gordon is that although the curtain hasn’t come down the stage is falling apart, the scenery is collapsing and poor Brown grinds remorselessly on with his soliloquy.
The fact that Brown finds it impossible to turn media appearances to his advantage only further weakens his position. How can Labour get through a general election campaign if the PM loses votes every time he appears in the media? His position remains very weak and a bad result in C&N will in all probability lead to unstoppable pressure on him to go.
Brown is just a lies about everything. He is now saying the current economic cycle started in 1997!
He says he created Economic success and the downturn is coming from abroad. Brown is so out of touch on inflation, housing, economic growth and rising unemployment it is unreal.
A few days peddling corrective action for mistakes Brown has made will not give him a chance to gain a fig of comptence. Brown is compeletly inept and needs removing from office. Gordon has raped and murdered prudence this week and needs politically castrating for this!
Definetly not,Brown on TV is like Hewitt on the NHS or Hodge on cultural diversity or Prescott on ethics or Harmann on grammar schools or Balls on yobs, all guaranteed to send truck loads of voters to the Tories.
Brown has no choice but to get out there and try to pull it around.
His authority with the PLP is at rock bottom, his credibility with Labour members has disappeared, his power over the unions, Scotland, Wales and other Labour core constituencies is no more. His only hope of survival is a direct appeal to voters.
Sadly, for him if not for Conservative activists, he has neither the skills nor the ammunition necessary to cajole or bribe them.
Simply replay the Parrot Sketch and you get the picture.
He would be far better advised to haul his ar*se off to Crewe and go down fighting.
Looks like Guido could be taking a lower profile.
http://www.chickyog.net/2008/05/15/breaking-news-drink-driving-guido-fawkes-gets-three-month-9pm-6am-curfew-order-and-electronic-tag/
10. Perhaps with a soap box - Major style ?
He is awful on the media but unfortunately the acolytes occasionally sent in his place are even worse.
Oh how I bet Labour are wishing they hadn’t been quite so quick to crash and burn Blair and with him Clarke, Reid, Prescott, Milburn, Blunkett, Hain, Beckett etc, etc.
What is happening in C & N? Does anyone know anything?
10 I am pretty sure that it is a Parliamentary convention that the PM never campaigns in a By Election. So even if he wanted to go, he couldn’t.
Ho ho ho
I am on schadenfreude overload at the moment. This government is such a monumental failure that it defies description. These polls are gonna be golden moments: with each publication a little bit of Labour will die. Soon the Hydra will be in full Tortuous Agony mode.
Clarke, Reid, Prescott, Milburn, Blunkett, Hain, Beckett.
Sorry, which of those would make Labour look better?
4. You wouldn’t wish that on those poor souls, surely.
16 Stuart, laughing at the misfortune of others is not the conduct of a gentleman. But on the other hand, when I see Post number 11 above, somehow I cannot help but join in.
15. Blair went to a by-election in Edisbury.
18. Yes - perhaps its not in Mrs B’s “contract”
Gordon Brown should travel to the banks of the Tamar, and speak to the nation re: the emerging menace of extreme Cornish nationalism.
Indeed, have come to the conclusion that Gordo must be nursing a nest of Transtamarian vipers to his bossom.
Could a secret Mebyon Kernow conspiracy within No. 10 explain why everything the PM has touched in the last six months has turned into a crappola pastie for the PM & the Labour Party?
20 Sorry, Martin, but when was that? Was he PM then, or just Leader of the Opposition? (I cannot remember.)
14.Icarus - I am sure Lord Rennard does!
14. I was doing some telephone canvassing one evening this week and the results were very good; but I was canvassing a fairly strong Tory area anyway.
Most of us there were looking pretty happy but you can’t tell much from a ‘phone canvass.
Busloads of volunteers have been going there, including virtually every Mp and countless PPC’s which is, lets face it, unusual for the Conservative Party….
But the really good news is that the Lib Dems just don’t seem to be getting any traction whatsoever.
If they are squeezed out as I anticipate it will be yet more evidence that there is little appetite for voting Lib Dem as a protest against New Labour; unlike in 1997 when there was plenty of people willing to back them in protest against John Major.
We could have a whole thread on why this is, but in my view it is because Liberals on the ground just cannot rage against Labour with quite the passion they manage against the Tories.
23. The Tory MP got to be the commisioner in Austrailia, it was in Blair’s first time about 1998 or 1999 i think!
Todays TV relaunch is going well then - or not, if the comments on Nick ‘Red’ Robinsons blog are a barometer of feeling towards Brown.
19 Augustus
I’m sorry. You are of course quite right, and my wife told me exactly the same thing a couple of days ago, after I answered her query as to why I was so happy every time I read the news.
But darn it, I just CANNOT stop smiling lately!
26.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/399132.stm
Labour didn’t win though so Blairs trip was in vain!
29. It shows that Blair supported his Labour candidates and Brown does a mcavity though!
I think Brown’s politically hero (John Major) visited Newbury and Eastleigh by the way! So Brown should really go to Eddisbury if he is not Chicken!
I think Blair has been only PM since Douglas-Home to campaign at by-elections (he also visited Uxbridge in 1997).
30. Sorry i mean Crew and Nantwich! Not Eddisbury if Brown is not Chicken!
26 & 29 Thanks very much, I stand corrected. I suppose that I should just put that old chestnut along with all the other aspects of the British constitution which the Labour Party have messed up for their own narrow sectarian advantage.
14. I believe there is a by election taking place.
31 I suppose Douglas Home had to attend the By Election, seeing as he was the candidate!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/7402858.stm
401 last thread - someone asked for a link to the Scottish Conservatives comments on the fighting last night in Manchester
“The Scottish Conservatives said using riot police was an “overreaction”.
They have demanded an inquiry into the policing operation.”
Rather silly comments if you ask me, the use of riot police didn’t look like an overreaction to me.
I seem to remeber that John Major went to a by-election in either Newbury or Eastleigh. I think it was Newbury?
It would not surprise me if Thatcher had gone to Mitcham and morden in the early 80’s?
Brown may have believed that he had been PM in waiting since the day Blair took office, however, he seems to have done little to prepare himself for dealing with the media. The McCavity trick of avoiding media scrutiny for much of his period at No. 11 Downing Street, doesn’t look like good preparation after all. The constant repetion of tractor output since 1997 is wearing thin, likewise the mantra of inflation is only 2%.
One of Blair’s less convincing slogans was Forwards Not Backwards, yet Brown’s attempt to pin 15% interest rates, 3 million unemployed and negative equity on Call Me Dave could have been useful in 1997, but the state of politics and the economy in 1991-94 mean little to toddlers at the time. These toddlers from the black years of Tory Britain are are now the new first time voters. What does Brown’s vision mean for them, how far has his message become too inward looking and backward? How will they react when Darling’s wizard wheeze to push up car taxes be viewed by those who have just started to drive? Interviews which reveal that Brown didn’t seem to know how much it cost to fill up a Ford Fiesta with petrol do little to build up his reputation. As for wishing Rangers luck, the message doesn’t look quite so clever as Manchester clears up the glass shards on the streets.
“I think I can steer this economy through difficult times” was a recurring theme throughout this mornings magical mystery tour. Poor Alistair Darling must be wondering WTF am I doing here whilst the Supreme Helmsman has his nail bitten mits on the tiller.
Brown should be going to C & N really - He is Chicken if he will not venture out of the Bunker!
Also after spending £2.7 BN he really needs to face the by-election voters as what was it all for?
25. No Marcus, the Lib Dems didn’t do particularly well in by-elections where they started 3rd in the 1992-1997 parliament either.
What do you think the result of a by-election now would be in a seat where the starting point was Lab 48%, Con 18%, LD 32% ?
40. Less the supreme helmsman methinks, more Charon the boatman ferrying us down the Styx to Hades…
43. The only place Brown has piloted us is up shit creak!
43 (A Pedant writes) Across, not down.
43. Quite right, quite right.
Gordon is chicken for C & N!
http://tinyurl.com/6ls9eq
Story I copied from the Guardian (link above) was suppressed - I only cut and pasted the first two paras!
Well it just shows what the Tories are like -vested interests financing their private offices in exchange for favours later!
42
Lib Dems lose their deposit?
What about a by-election 54% Tory, 26% Lib Dem 155 Labour? Not quite enough labour votes to be squeezed.
15% not 155 flipping shift key
38
Don’t think she did, but then the Argies won that one for the Tories.
50 - Wait for the Henley by-election to find out
39 One question Mr Humphries neglected to ask when Gordon was sharing our pain on high petrol prices was “Why don’t you cut the fuel duty then while you are in this expansive mood of helping hard working families through tax cuts?”
There is no absolute convention about PMs campaigning in by elections, as previous posts have illustrated. They don’t do it as a rule so as to avoid personal association if it all goes pear-shaped.
52. Think Gordon has to go to the by-election, If Tony Blair could campaign in a seat where Labour did not even hold the seat - think Gordon should be supporting his candidate!
54. I personally like how Gordon is comparing his 10p ‘bribe’ to the tax-cutting measures in the US!
Unbelievable!
Does he seriously expect anyone to believe that he would have done the same thing had no-one complained about the abolition of the 10p rate? It was a premiership-saving measure, nothing more, nothing less.
43/45. Augustus it wasn’t a crossword clue!
Had it been I would have suggested the following.
Boatman slipped anchor(6).
48. I think you proved the point at 25
Wooden sound crossed by ferryman (4)
What on earth do you mean, Marcus (26)? “….in my view it is because Liberals on the ground just cannot rage against Labour with quite the passion they manage against the Tories.”
I am not a Liberal - I am a Liberal Democrat - but since you are a Tory you are (like a certain G. Brown) a bit behind the times. About 20 years behind the times, Marcus. A time when Tories still ate babies, and were proud of it…. Now they like to pretend that they don’t…..
That was my anti-Tory rant, Marcus. I do have an anti-Labour rant too, but generally it seems pretty pointless, since we don’t have any Labour people where I live. They all vote Lib Dem. So I get a bit out of practice.
Try this, though.
What on earth was Hazel Blears doing organising a gang of hoodies? (from a previous thread). I know that the Labour Party is the same as the Tories and has been taken over by American consultants. And they both do things the American way now.
But to take a gang of thugs, put them into uniform (Hoodies), and send them out onto the streets in order to intimidate the opposition parties (in this case poor defenceless Mr Cameron, I think) comes very close to the tactics of the Nazis, doesn’t it?
If this is indeed the case, Blears ought to be sacked forthwith, not only from the Cabinet, but also from Parliament; and she ought to spend the next twenty years doing penance in a lepper colony, like John Profumo did, more or less.
I was not there in Crewe and have not seen the evidence. That come here second hand via Tory sources. But if the information stands up, there is no possible way that she can continue in office.
Is there evidence of this? And does Brown have the courage to sack her? Watch this space…
Is that good enough for you, Marcus? I detest the Tories and I despise Labour. And contrariwise, of course.
The strange thing is: why haven’t the Tories put all this Blears business into the public arena? Why is it just innuendo on PBC?
60. Aaron. Touche’
I wonder how much damage the Liberal Democrats close association with the Labour Party has damaged the LD’s? Not to mention Nick Clegg behaving like Neil Kinnock!
48
‘in exchange for favours later!’
Did the Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman manage to get a reduced prison sentence for their jailed donor?
Has the £ 2 million been repaid yet?
Guido found guilty..
http://www.order-order.com/2008/05/ok-let-rip-in-comments.html
61. As they say in todays Guardian: Labour are the nast party. The one that cracks me up is Hazel Blears line about your Labour Government……..
I find it quite offensive as i have never voted for this crock of shite government. Blears should be sacked if she has insighted a gang of thugs to intimidate people. Sending comic chareters such as the top hat brigades is one thing - this sounds quite sinister if true.
Brown is so weak he will not do anything about it. Brown is Fvcking useless!
61 this has to be corroborated by somebody soon 1 ) were the “thugs” real and 2) did she organise them , were they paid, or just encouraged to act like idiots for fun? what really went on? was Cameron jostled, booed, what? it would be great to have some real facts with this, it has been popping up all day.
61. Didn’t Brown condemn Robert Mugabe for this type of thing? Mind you i think Brown has double standards on Zimbawe anyway!
66 Blears is another of the tories best assets; totally brain dead vacuous muppet
OT
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-mayor/article-23484836-details/Three+held+over+Jasper+City+Hall+fraud+inquiry/article.do
Three more people have been arrested in connection with the fraud inquiry into City Hall-funded projects linked to former mayor’s aide Lee Jasper.
69 - hey! I *like* the Muppets!
So much for Macavity. ‘At whatever time the deed took place, Browny WAS there!’
People who want favours are not likely to give money to the Lib Dems.
But with the scent of power the Conservative Party seems to be up to its old tricks.
69. Too true - cannot stand the women! The “your Labour Government”
line really does annoy me though!
70. Just goes to prove my point that Labour are a shitty, sleazy, incomptent bunch of talentless crypto-communists who are more interested in feathering their own nest rather than their *dumb* voters who seem to believe the rubbish Labour come out with!
66 Great insight, Martin.
73.
Yes the only person to give the LD’s money was a crooked business man! Must be something to do with the lack of talent on the LD benches. I mean if Nick Clegg is the best the LD’s have got - might as well pack up and go home to the Labour party! 
36. Thanks toontoon. I agree completely.
Having seen some of the video footage released by Manchester police showing Rangers ’supporters’ vandalising a car (seemingly because it was just there) and attacking a police officer en masse I hope whoever the fools were who condemned the police retract the comments with the necessarily level of humility extremely quickly!
77. Probably Scottish Labour voters!
On the subect of defections, is the talk of defection to the Tories or the Lib Dems?
Christians having a go at Obama…
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/behind-the-obam.html
OT
74
Have a read of this, 210k per year, now binned by Boris, ha-ha-ha.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23483161-details/%C2%A3210k-a-year+City+Hall+Official+in+Lee+Jasper+row+is+ousted/article.do
Unpopular group of society (estate agents) slam anothe unpopular group of society (current prime ministers)
http://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=165096&d=403&h=401&f=402
76 Neil Hamilton, Archer, Aitkin, Conway, Spink, Lady Porter, Tim Smith
79. Former Labour minister thought to be defecting to the Tories this weekend. Not sure of where the source is eminating from or who the former minister could be?
Some very good points there. Its refreshing to read a blog that sticks to its guns. I run a tiny website that reviews gambling websites online If you would like to take a look please visit http://www.sportsbook-watch.com
I think that it would be an excellent idea for Brown to at least announce a leadership election to actually see whether the British public accept him and his policies
83. You might Libel yourself there!
73. Unless of course they want to be recommended for a peerage, perhaps by someone among the Lib Dem peers who happens to be a business contact or partner.
81 this is great news. all these fellow traveller parasites of ken’s are getting dispensed with, their vastly inflated salaries most folk could only dream of, contributing nothing but hot air.
84 - I wonder if after the next election the Blairites will have a Gang of Four moment?
probaly Kate Ho-ey
36. Toontoon.
Re Rangers behaviour. It seems the Scottish Conservatives have already retracted their comments to some extent. Quote on Conhome from Murdo Fraser Conservative MSP.
Recent CCTV footage, which was not available this morning, shows the situation was far more serious than any of us at first suspected. The attacks on police officers and paramedics are deplorable and have to be condemned without reservation. The perpetrators need to be brought to justice and dealt with by the courts and Rangers Football Club should ban those who have played any part in these despicable acts. This new footage only serves to underline the need for an urgent inquiry. I am pleased such a measure has now been announced. It may be a minority of Rangers supporters who were involved, but their behaviour is inexcusable and it has heaped shame upon their club and country.”
85 doubt it
88. Could be the LD’s as they are divided between Orange & Brown and Pro and anti EU hence the terrible leadership by Clegg on the parliamentry EU vote.
89. Is she a former minister?
93. Actually think about it she was minister for sport?
93 - Yes she was Sports Minister.
89. Could be to UKIP, then?
81
Long overdue clean up of city hall.
83. re Neil Hamilton - I wonder if he’d be convicted if tried now after the nation has seen M.A.Fayed’s behaviour and honesty examined as part of the Diana enquiry.
Kate Hoey’s defection would be long overdue. That said she’s just written a very grovelly letter to her local association stating that taking a job with Boris did not preclude her from staying a Labour MP. So unless she’s got very negative feedback it seems a bit premature for her to be jumping ship if that’s the line she’s taking…
73
‘People who want favours are not likely to give money to the Lib Dems.’
Difficult to imagine that a party that’s been in permaneant opposition for nearly 100 years could offer any favours,Maybe he just wanted a peerage?
48 and 73. I agree, Icarus, that we should have total transparency, and this ruling should make targeted donations clearer.
You fail to note, however, that all these donations were declared by the Conservative Party to the Electoral Commission and the parliamentary authorities were asked whether they should be declared on the list of members’ interests; they said it was not necessary.
You might also recall that we still do not know who financed Ken Livingstone’s mayoral re-election campaign because, as with the Osborne case, all the money went to the Labour Party and not to Ken. Wllling to condemn him too?
Latest news on Cherie ‘contraceptive equipment’ Blair
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/people,962,former-judge-calls-for-cherie-dismissal,28963
Meanwhile, the latest extract from Speaking for Myself details yet more information the public could happily do without. This time, it’s an account of how she began a love affair with the future prime minister on the top deck of a No 74 London bus, at a time when she was seeing two other men. “It was a double-decker and we went upstairs. It was completely empty and by the time we got off we knew each other better than when we’d got on. And even better the next morning. So that left me with three men in my life.”
104. *Shudder*
Is there no depths to which this woman will not sink to?
104
It just doesnt bear thinking about YUK.
On Channel 5 news just now, lovely clips of Brown repeating the phrase ” I’m concentrating on getting on with the job” instead of answering questions directly.
As Natasha said afterwards to the reporter outside no. 10…” I think he’s getting on with the job, then!”
104 - I feel sorry for the children.
100 - I reckon you’d get the same result. Fayed claimed he’d paid Hamilton cash for questions. Knowing what we know about Fayed, that seems only too believable. Hamilton’s problem was that Fayed admitting to doing something disreputable was more believable than Hamilton protesting that he had done nothing wrong.
PS The blogosphere has correctly predicted 10 of the last 3 defections.
100 - Neil Hamilton was never CONVICTED of anything. He lost a libel claim he brought against Al Fayed for the latter’s comments on Dispatches that he asked for and received cash and holidays for asking Parliamentary questions.
My view is that he would still have lost that case - Al Fayed was hardly seen as a reliable witness in the libel trial but the case in fact turned on bank statements etc. The fact was that they had received ample freebies and he had asked numerous supportive questions - the timing and the inadequacy of the Hamiltons’ own testimony made it inconceivable that there was anything other than a link.
104. horrid horrid horrid
109. Which defection were they then?
104. I cannot get the link - can you paste it on here or tell me more about it?
104. cherie was already low in my estimation , she’s sunk even further. what a tawdry scouse slag.
113
This is the gist of it
Gerald Butler QC said that Mrs Blair should be sacked from her position as a recorder.
“If she wants to tread this path of making money by outrageous comments, that is up to her; but I don’t think this is a job for a judge,” said Butler, 77, who served as a senior justice at Southwark Crown Court for 13 years until 1997. “It shows a complete lack of any kind of decency. It is the kind of conduct which demeans the legal profession. It is altogether disgraceful but nothing less than I would expect from her.”
John Cooper, a senior criminal barrister, told the Evening Standard: “One of the important factors in being a judge is being able to exercise judgment, and part of that judgment is being trusted with confidential material… Put it this way, I know of no High Court judge who has written their memoirs before they have retired.”
Cherie Blair countered on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour that she certainly wouldn’t quit, as law was “really important to my life”.
The fragrant Cherie has the advantage of a mailbox for a mouth. This, presumably, is how she kept three men ‘on the go’ at the same time.
115. Thank you.
116. Yes i think she behaves in a most undignified way.
I could not believe the bit in the book about Chris Smith being introduced to the queen and the later information about “sex” - how common and vulgar!
116. And how did sh*gging three different men at once square with her supposedly fervent Catholic faith? What a fraud. She and her husband suit each other.
118. I am surprised that Cherie didn’t say they bugger each other..
119. What contraceptive equipent did she use anyway?
116, 119 - please, please can we change the subject? This is just too hideous for words.
121 - contraceptives? Good Roman Catholics like the Blairs?
I wonder how many mobiles Gordon will throw is someone defects to the Tories
124 - I’d hate to be the functionary charged with bearing that bad news.
124.Perhaps the defector is Bliar
124. Hope Brown has not claimed on the insurance!
If the defector is a former Labour minister- I’m going to say Charles Clarke. Big critic of Brown and very much on the right of the party- makes sense if it’s him if you ask me.
124 - Maybe Gordon’s defecting… solve 2 problems at the same time - Labour are rid of him as leader, and he can say that he’s following the mood of the country and making the right long-term decisions
126. Would the Tories have Blair though?
Re 17 Icarus “Clarke, Reid, Prescott, Milburn, Blunkett, Hain, Beckett.
Sorry, which of those would make Labour look better?”
Right now? All of them. That shows just how bad it has got for Labour.
128 - Gordon isn’t defecting, just defective.
Re104. That must be harder on a bendy bus
130. Milburn and Byers have been linked to defection talk before but i would think they are too Labour and too associated with the Government to defect. Besides they have been writing pieces about where Labour should go forward in the future - although they have been critical about Brown.
130 but which one would the Tories WANT????
131 you beat me to it!
126 Very droll, hf, very droll!
133. Byers would be appalling, just awful - the Tories should slam the door in his talentless face. Milburn better. But Hoey & Field are the ones they really want.
she just makes a complete mockery of herself. And she’s a judge.
But….. i guess she’s been trying to be hip n’ accessible, yer know, not a boring old Tory fuddy duddy. “What’s bloody wrong wi’ talkin’ ’bout sex n’ condoms n’ stuff, like normal people, eh? Are you some kind of Tory snob?”……………
I’m surprised there haven’t been any embarrassing revelations about running out of tampons or such like yet. it can only be a matter of time.
Sadly the Grazia and Heat culture today means many people will lap exactly this sort of thing up. No , there are no depths she won’t stoop to. All the Blair’s care about is themselves, and having lots of money.
Re 133 and 134, Martin Day and Maggie Thatcher fan, what are you talking about? Someone said that lot would make Labour look better and Icarus queried which one.
I am not talking of defections, we don’t want them or need them.
137. Yes, what a grasping, shameless mendacious pair they are. It’s easy to see how they got on so well with the Clintons.
129 - And the prize for the “genuine question most likely to be mistakenly considered rhetorical” goes to …
Of course they’d have him - most of them revere him privately, those that aren’t too wrapped up being jealous that they aren’t him. I cannot think of a Labour MP (other than Frank Field) more admired on the Tory benches in the last 50 years. Anyone?
Listening to Brown on today, he was rubbish. He avoided questions point blank, with not even a shred of pretence at answering them, bad more. Good interviewee’s always give a little bit of an answer before changing the subject, rather than just deny it. His stupidity on Boulton is a case in point, Blair etc would have come up with a reason why they changed their minds, rather than continue to deny it in the face of overwhelming evidence that they had ever said it!
140. Well from an intellectual point of view, Field is the most dynamic thinker on the Labour benchers. The Tories have Redwood and Willetts. A truiphvite of Field, Redwood and Willetts would be amasingly dynamic - the tories could bannish Labour to permeant opposition and Britain could benefit from a low tax, incentive based society where the guinuine strugglers / ill or incapable are assisted and the cannot be bothereds are cut lose.
err………. thats why I asked the question, I could not see any value, political or otherwise in any of them!
Redwood? He would never be elected as PM in a million years!
Unsurprising poll of the day by Rasmussen from Arkansas:
Clinton 53 McCain 39
McCain 57 Obama 33
Against Obama McCain gets 38% of Democratic votes.
Maybe Hillary could run for Governor of Arkansas?
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/arkansas/election_2008_arkansas_presidential_election
Redwood is distinctly over-bought compared with Letwin.
140. The two kinds of Tory that I can’t stand are people who thought Blair was a vast improvement on Major (the Max Hastings type) and those who couldn’t understand why Blair was beating them out of sight (the Simon Heffer type).
142. Nick Palmer is an intellectual but does not seem to be a policy pamphlet man, which field almost certainly is and so i hope Nick is not offended their by championing Fields Intelectual rigure!
148. Bloody hell bad typo’s there!
144. Maybe Brown is a demonstration of what a Redwood Premiership would have been like had Redwood “won” in 1995?
Certainly we all know that had Redwood been PM in 1997 the Tories would have probably lost all their seats!
Re 143, Maggie Thatcher fan “err………. thats why I asked the question, I could not see any value, political or otherwise in any of them!”
there isn’t any… until you compare them to the current crop of Labour front benchers when they miraculously turn into political giants.
redwood is even more wooden than Brown. remember the welsh national anthem singing incident.
thinking about it, all the labour party have to do is replay that clip, the peter lilley singing about single mums clip, and peter brooke singing danny boy on tv during the troubles, and they’d proabbly win the election!
146. Agreed.
147. Agreed!
152.
Mind you - David Miliband is like John Redwood.
When Miliband wins the labour leadership - I hope he learns the Red Flag otherwise he will be doing a redwood to the music!
What did Lilley actually say about single mothers in his song? (Can’t bring myself to watch it…)
I think the Labour defector, when they come is likely to be someone not on the usual list. The usual suspects are not the ones who jump - it is the under the radar ones where the whips cannot get in before it is too late.
155. Don’t know - long time ago!
I think we are going to see a leveling out of Brown in the polls, with him moving up to a stable low 30s, with the odd mid 30s, and Conservatives stable at 40 when things settle down.
Brown doesnt deserve the improvement, and Cameron doesnt deserve the reduction, but, when you get a 26 point lead, things can only get worse….
156. There is a tremendous buzz around westminister of a team of Senior Tory MP’s dedicated to “turning” Labour MP’s. The rumoured defection this weekend will be interesting to see who will put the knife into Brown.
re defections, what about the return of some ex-Tories such as Shaun Woodward?
160 Mr Turncoat himself was sitting next to the PM at PMQs, he aint going anywhere…
152. Possibly the worst was Virginia Bottomley singing at conference…. I still have nightmares.
160. Perhaps Quentin Davies!? The poor chap has made himself look a fool!
162. Both Vag Bottom and her husband are incredibly charming in person…
163
I dont think he would be accepted somehow…
The more I read Martin Day’s postings the more I am believing that he is really a closet Liberal Democrat, and really admires Clegg, just does not want us to know
166 A repressed Cleggonista? Yes, I can see that….
166 - It’s quite apparent that Martin Day yearns to be the Baskin Robbins
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/97/BaskinRobbinsMpegMan.jpg/300px-BaskinRobbinsMpegMan.jpg
150 - Whilst he would certainly have been slaughtered at a General Election, I think Redwood may have done slightly better than Major did in 1997. It would have helped at the margins because he would have been a “change” of sorts and he would have pursued a core vote strategy which may have saved the odd seat. Of course, it would only have been at the margins and everyone would have said “should have stuck with Major”!
Brown loses out partly from following Blair, who was no Major. Major would have been a fairly easy act to follow for almost any potential Prime Ministers. Blair not so.
163, 165, If Quentin Davies goes anywhere, it would have to be to the Lib Dems, in order to screw them up as well! That way he could at least ingratiate himself with both Tory & Labour heirarchies, before deciding where to end up eventually.
140
Denis Skinner?
171 I heard (from a retired Tory MP) that Skinner was widely disliked.
170. I would have though his natural home was in the BNP.
Could be David Owen
California Supreme Court overturns ban on gay marriage - BBC Breaking News
174
It could be ANYBODY. Without some serious info, isnt the speculation pointless??/
Hey Boys, what do ya think of this new McCain ads? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB3BNgdfEkI
On Neil Hamilton - the judge insisted that the jury had to find against Hamilton on something like the criminal standard of proof. Essentially, Fayed had to prove his allegations as if it were a prosecution for corruption. It wasn’t just Hamilton’s freebies - Fayed had a couple of witnesses (his former secretary was a particularly good witness).
On defections - are you sure people aren’t getting confused with Kate Hoey agreeing today to a position with Boris Johnson? She was a former sports minister. As for Blairie women who might defect, what about Gisela Stuart? Former minister, pissed off over the vote on the Euro constitution, and has a very narrow majority in what should be a solid Tory constituency.
As well as the open courting of Adonis (who doesn’t need to defect since he’s been practically told he can stay in government up to and then after the election) what about all the friendly comments about Alan Milburn coming from Tory frontbenchers. I can’t imagin
On Shaun Woodward - he’s now a man without a friend. Brown wants him out, the Tories wouldn’t take him back. The reason he was next to Brown is nothing to do with ‘parading’ - it’s because PMQs was straight after Northern Ireland Questions! That’s why Owen Paterson was given prime spot next to DC too.
176 It gives Martin Day something else to blather on about . Although I can well understand why noone would want to employ him I do wish someone would it would reduce the number of inane posts he would have time to make on here .
179 Harsh but…
179 It will be more like “Middle East in flames”
re 177. Why not try this McCain portrayal?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtE30B8mQFs
this one is better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkkTFVIxMQs&feature=related
2 - Baskerville
Once I’ve been to the ENT specialist, i’ll tune in again and find out who I’m on about. I sound like Boris now!
Did the new, improved Brown relaunch or that interview on Radio 4 make either the BBC1 or ITV1 news tonight?
179. Your being employed doesn’t appear to hamper your output of hyster