The man, who is this man? says it so well!

Strange Things Afoot With the Conservatives Methinks!!!

What on earth is going on with David Davis? I understand that he and the rest of his party might be a little upset with the outcome of the vote in parliament the other day, but why would anyone from the Conservative party resign over it. It would be understandably thatsomeone from the Labour party might consider stepping down if in disagreement but the Conservatives are in opposition. This logically means that they will oppose the governments stance and will be defeated on certain issues. If they resign, and risk by-election everytime they are defeated in the commons there is no chance they are ever going to gain any ground. Apart from everything else it almost seems a bit like Davis is throwing his dollies from the pram.

When I heard the news, I started thinking that this was a gesture by a politician who actually has morals and ethics; that he actually feels so strongly about this that he is prepared to give it all up for his beliefs. The longer I thought about it though, the more the nagging doubts and cynicism started to tug at me. David Davis is a man who has on two or three occasions so close to running the party that I can't help thinking that nothing he does is without careful planning and strategic political advantage. It didn't take me long to forget all possible altruistic possibilities (and there is only one) in favour for the possibility that this move can only be politically motivated. The problem I have is that for the life of me, I cannot figure out what the motive is!!!

The first idea was that he was simply doing it to prove that the conservatives were a party of conviction and that the positive vote was so bad that resignation was the only reasonable option. Then I realised that this was not right. The only reasonable option would be to stay put and campaign agaionst the government and defeat them at the next general election.

The second thought I had was that the conservatives wanted to force a by-election based on the vote in parliament which would give the people a chance to tell the government what they really thought about their terrorist and extended detention without charge policies. However any result would be negated by the fact that David Davis would presumably be campaigning for re-election in a safe conservative seat so there is no way that anyone could saliently argue that a win would be a knock at the government. They could be trying to keep up some kind of momentum in terms of beating Labour by-elections and thus try to force a general election but I don't think that Gordon is going anywhere near the polls until the last possible second and will not be pushed.

I wondered if Davis was looking for an opportunity to resign from the shaddow cabinet without making the party look divided and this provided him with the perfect opportunity. It is possible perhaps that Cameron wanted him out and rather than sack him, gave him an opportunity to go with dignity and without tearing the party to shreads.

Whatever the reason, I'm not sure I will ever find out. I cannot even wirk out who benefits and who suffers in this. One thing that seems to be emerging is that it hasn't done the conservatives any good. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it has done them any bad either. All that has happened is that I'm totally confused (doesn't take much to do that though!!!)

A Political Assassination in the Making

Political assassination is always an interesting thing to watch. I remembered seeing it happen to Thatcher and its effects made long lasting and deep, near fatal wounds on the conservative party. They never recovered even after Major won a general election after Thatcher's departure and it is only now, 18 years after her departure that they are beginning to look like a united party again. The obvious explanation for their sudden and long overdue cohesion is that they are doing well in the polls again. A renaissance is upon them although I think it is more likely as a result of a poor performing government than the brilliant leadership style and innovative ideas of Mr. David Cameron.

Labour has had a rough time lately and is doing what the conservatives did after too long in power; it is imploding. It's seeming invincibility is being crushed by it's own previous success. This was a government which was held together by an uneasy but iron partnership of Blair and Brown who despite all the media waffle about hatred and fighting between them, always backed each other unfalteringly on every occasion. It was in fact a very successful marriage. Now that Blair has left his political wife, the power of the marriage has vanished along with him.

With the power seemingly gone, together with any credibility it held for Gordon, those amongst the party who, drunk with power and full of ambition appear to be sharpening their knives for a bit of old fashioned political back-stabbing and assassination. I think that Lord Desai took the first gouge earlier this week, likening Gordon Brown's leadership style to porridge or haggis and even suggested a replacement, David Milliband. Suddenly, confronted with the prospect of becoming the next leader of his party, Milliband came out in the papers today undermining his leader in the process, calling for unity over the tax debacle and saying that it was important to admit mistakes when mistakes had been made. He obviously believes Lord Desai that he is going to inherit the earth and thinks he's up and ready for it. He also obviously believes that Gordon has made mistakes otherwise he wouldn't be suggesting apologies to the nation.

Gordon is obviously a different man to Blair and certainly much different to Thatcher but he is going to have to be as strong as both of them here if he wants to survive. It is too late to start apologising for things now and I don't believe that he would want to, after all where and when would it ever end. He has a bigger problem though because he has dissent within his ranks to deal with and if he fails to deal with it appropriately he will look feeble and more will follow. I think Milliband young, niaive and ambitious as he is, may have been duped into being offered as a sacrificial lamb here by other yet unseen shadows in the party. Brown really has little alternative than to sack Milliband or at least discipline him publically for his public criticism. If he does he will look like a brute but the vultures will be less keen to descend and feast upon his carcass for the time being. If he lets this go then his party will tear him apart. From the conservative point of view, it looks like things can only get better.

Lord Desai, Half Right about Labour.

Lord Desai came out today and said what we are all probably thinking about unelected PM Gordon Brown. That he is indecisive and weak. However he got the next bit wrong because he claimed that Gordon was put on earth to remind us how good Blair was and this is where I started to get angry.

I want to make it perfectly clear from here that I think and have always thought that the whole New Labour exercise was nothing more than a re-branding exercise backed up with good, almost genius manipulation of the media and NOTHING MORE. They have not improved our lives since they have been in power. They have also lied about all sorts of things (least of all the reasons for going to war). The guys at the top are all involved in political corruption through cash for honours and Saudi warplanes. We have been told repeatedly that Britain is recession proof, that crime is lower, immigration is great and that hospitals are fantastic because of all the money that has been poured into the NHS black hole. But the thing to remember is that it is not entirely Gordon Brown's fault.

Yes he was there. Yes he stood shoulder to shoulder with Blair throughout and made wild statements that we were supposed to believe without question, but he was working for Blair. Blair was in charge of the country for 10 years and the state of things must fall firmly on Blair's shoulders, not Brown's. Contrary to what Lord Desai says about Brown, I actually think more correctly that Gordon Brown was put on earth to remind us of just how bad Mr. Blair was and how hollow his 10 years in power actually were.

It was also suggested by Desai that Brown's successor should be the current foreign secretary David Milliband. Now this I agree with. Being a supporter of the other side, I think that the choice has to be absolutely the best from the conservative party point of view too. Blair was a smug super confident man who could oil his way through anything and appear half credible to the type of people who voted for him. Milliband is also unbelievably smug too and Lord Desai is probably thinking that Milliband is another Blair. However, I don't think that I have spoken to a labour supporter and I have spoken to a few, who is not reviled by Milliband. In fact most people seem to positively dislike him citing his inability to be sincere about anything together with his smugness as the main reason for their dislike. At least with Blair, he seemed to care about things even if it did all turn out to be a great acting performance from a man who actually cares for nothing but his own political advancement and personal "legacy".

Anyway, I actually started to smile at the end after I found myself defending Gordon Brown for some strange reason. I think defending Gordon Brown would be a bit like defending Goering at Nuremberg. Fact is Brown was at the top of Blair's government and has been a major contributing player in the utter incompetence that has been running this country since Labour got into power. Brown has been left holding the bag though and it is natural that he will look like the villain, after all Blair jumped ship before we started to discover the sticky tape that is holding this Labour government and its actions for the last ten years precariously in place.

If Labour loses badly in the local elections and loses London, I think that Lord Desai is right, Labour will start to panic and I think that people like him are going to start it. I think that this is exactly what we saw from the conservative party after they lost to labour originally and until quite recently, panic and disorganisation caused by a great deal of back and front stabbing from factions within the party. The result of this "panic" is political loss and humiliation" so I think that I am quite confident that we are going to see a good spanking at the next general election. Ah, revenge will be so sweet and I will look forward to another ten year stint by a conservative government until they screw things up and whilst New Labour send Milliband to Hollywood or at least the local drama school to learn how to act with the sincerity that got Blair into power (it'll take him a while unfortunately). Once He learns to say "look" a lot and use his hands and gesticulate in a more forceful way, he will be in a position to lie properly to the country and convince them that he is the man for the job.