I went to a local Conservative party branch AGM last night, and was going to write about it last night, but, well other things came up.
My local MP Nicholas Soames was there and spoke. He has been involved in politics for a long time, and in parliament for 25 years.
His take is, and I agree, that this Labour government has the stench of death about it. It simply can't do anything right. The press, well apart from the Mirror, hate them now and look to find new ways of bashing them.
Nicolas has of course seen this kind of thing before. It is, it seems unmistakable.
What is more there will be infighting. Gordon Brown is no Tony Blair. He won't do Prime ministers questions in a quit witted and good humored way. He will fall flat on his face.
This leaves Labour in a real dilemma. If they elect Gordon Brown then they will surely lose the next general election, and cause infighting with the ultra Blairites. However the alternative is far far worse. If they don't elect Gordon Brown, the dour ones reckoning will rip the party apart.
It may well be too early to say who will win the next general election, but one thing is for certain. Labour have lost.
This can't be a good time to be Labour.
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17 comments:
I think you may be right but who else is there to vote for?
I can see you rubbing your hands gleefully, BW. By the way, check the blogfocus.
Oh, yeh, really terrible. I mean we only run the country.
And what the fuck would that dipstick Nicholas 'Wardrobe' Soames know ??
Old farts like him are exactly why the people think the tories are such a shower of shit.
People like David Davies win elections, not that pompous jumped-up arsehole..
Labour may have the smell of death about them but from where I,m sitting the Tories don't smell too good.
After ten years this lamentable shambles of a government are matched by an oppostion of the same complexion. I should know, I used to vote for them.
Which strand of the vote blue go green do you belong to ?
Bag, Well there is us Conservatives, but the point is not who people will vote for, but who they wont. Hence my post.
Labour look to be in trouble, and I can't see them getting out of it.
James, I would not say I am rubbing my hands with glee. True there is some smug satisfaction about getting the spinners shafted, but in reality it just makes it harder for honest politicians of all parties (including Labour) to do their work, get messages across and generally go about the business of politics.
Thanks for the mention on Nourishing Obscurity!
Anonymous at 6.41, Labour do, sort of at the moment, although they are likely to take a battering in Wales and Scotland in May. Does it console you to know you are in the same position the Conservatives were in 1995? It shouldn't.
Anonymous at 6.42, Plenty of bile, but not enough balls to use a real or blogging name? Hmm.. Says it all really.
Anonymous at 7.30. The Conservatives do not need to come good yet, or rather they don't need to roll out all their policies. As for not smelling good, it looks like the shadow cabinet are working as a good team, we all have a spring in our step that we did not have before. It's looking good from where I am siting!
I am mostly blue, but green around the edges :)
Hmmm- I don't know what to think, really. When you are out of your country , you sort of miss the "between the lines" stuff of what is happening. I actually feel a bit sorry for Gordie: there he is, surely a successful Chancellor and is he the longest serving one? - but he can't do anything right. He is boring to listen to, though and it is true he doesn't have Blair's wit. If only he hadn't used the word "prudent" so often so long ago! I think DC is charismatic and people who do not remember the Thatcher years might go for him. It will all be very interesting, anyway! [Living in a country where voter turn-out is over 83% for a general election, I'll be fascinated to see what the British turn-out will be next time.]
There is a long way to go and many twists and turns yet. but still we will have ot face broon as Pm for up to 3 years.
My wallet shudders.
Welsh Cakes, 83% turnout and you get water delivered?
It has to be said that it feels like it is crumbling here!
Cityunslicker, My wallet also!
Absolutely Benedict, they 'smell of mortality' as Lear remarked of his own hand.
It is interesting that, not so long ago, a lot of people were accepting the hung parliament scenario. As every day goes by it is not impossible to consider that the Tories will get a working majority, perhaps, sooner than I thought.
I think you are right about Brown. He is the face and the remembrance of things past, and with him is the moribund, oleaginous stench of death.
It could all go so wrong for them in the next seven days, and frankly, it's about time they ran out of lucky breaks.
They've contracted Gordon Brown, the condition is terminal
decline and fall, wrinkled weasel and point of no return, interesting comments.
It still could be a hung parliament, but there will definatly be no Labour majority.
Labour do have the stench of death but have the Tories got a whiff of life yet?
I'm no Labour fan but....
Cameron is vacuous and lightweight. He might be trying to do a Blair but Blair had real teeth at this point: he'd impressed as a shadow Home Secretary and he was taking on Clause 4 within the Labour Party and doing it really well - I saw Blair speak at one meeting and do a totally open question and answer session with nothing staged. He was very, very impressive at that point: very sharp, very bright with real steel running through the whole thing. Clearly the steel rusted pretty quickly but he was very 'different class' to Cameron the Toff.
George Osborne meanwhile is utterly laughable as a shadow chancellor. He's only able to escape serious testing at the moment because everything significant Tory policy is 'under review'. Gordon Brown will have Osborne for breakfast lunch and dinner.
What I don't understand is that Labour are there for the taking. Despite pouring bucket-loads of money into everything they've got very few achievements and that's without talking about the foreign policy horror that is Iraq.
The mistake is to talk about managing the economy - all the main parties are doing the same thing now: interest rates are with the Bank of England, and no-one will touch the income tax rates.
The real issue is WHO IS THE BEST AT SPENDING YOUR MONEY? Can you spend it wisely? Can you deliver the right projects on time on budget? The Tories past record in this area has been pretty lousy too: e.g. the farming out of juicy computing contracts to EDS and the flogging off assets at below market prices but the voters have forgotten all about that so they have a pretty open goal to shoot at: why the hell is the NHS in such a mess when so much has been poured into it? Why is education still in such a mess? Why is transport still in such a mess? For that matter, why is EVERYTHING still in such a mess? We've just gone through an amazing ten year period of national prosperity - where has all the money gone?
If I were in charge of the Tory campaign I'd bring back the 'Labour Isn't Working' campaign and in place of a line of unemployed people I'd have a line of unemployed nurses.
Labour Isn't Working but at the moment, neither are the Tories.
thewiseoldbird, You have some points. However yoyu don't refer to Labour toffs, such as Blair or indeed Benn.
Blair may have been charismatic in person, but increasingly he looks like damaged goods in the media, so that no longer matters. Cameron may not be as charismatic as Blair, but comes across well on television which is what counts as that is the only place most of the electorate get to see politicians. A shame but true. The last PM to campaign to the people was Major.
As for your points on where has all the money gone, I agree. I think that is the one big question troubling everyone.
"If I were in charge of the Tory campaign I'd bring back the 'Labour Isn't Working' campaign and in place of a line of unemployed people I'd have a line of unemployed nurses."
That would be an interesting campaign!
"Labour Isn't Working but at the moment, neither are the Tories."
That may be your view now, but watch this space!
I sincerely hope they're in the death throes, and I truly want Socialism to die a well-deserved death, 100 million dead and 2 billion in slavery for most of the 20th century is a damning indictment.
However, the Tories have got to be more convincing - at the moment NuLabour is lying there baring its throat and noone is going for the jugular. Do it! Kill them off with a series of initiatives;
1. Who is better at spending your money? The answer is obvious, we are! - flat tax, simple tax laws and watch the Laffer curve pay dividends. We'll attract so much inward investment that countries in Europe will *have* to do something about their own economies, and a rising tide...
2. In Europe but not governed by Europe - make that a reality, repeal EU legislation that is not in the interest of the country. You will pick up a staggering amount of votes there
3. An end to sleaze - a Royal Commission will be set up at the opening of the next Conservative parliament with a brief to root out corruption from top to bottom. Starting with a close inspection of all 'honours' NuLabour have bestowed in the last 10 years.
4. Most important of all - our checks and balances and civil liberties must be restored. No compromise. A Conservative party that commits to repeal the worst of NuLabour laws created over the last 10 years will do a great deal to safeguard the future of this great nation.
Get those right and I believe the people of this country can start to trust their politicians again.
The country was in a right state in 1979 and a Conservative government arrived to start repairs.
Today, the economy is so-so, but the fabric of the country is at stake now - do the Conservatives have the balls to step up and do the same thing, again?
Yep! - Crazy, isn't it?!
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