Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Bruce Anderson Should be Pensioned Off

Bruce Anderson has never been a columnist I've either liked or felt I had to read. He's certainly not in the class of Matthew Parris, Michael Brown or Peter Oborne. And his fatuous effort in yesterday's Independent confirmed my view of him. To his credit he was one of the first to identify David Cameroon's potential as a Tory leader, but his subsequent slavish adoration of all things Cameroon has made him look so ridiculous that you wondered if he had a picture of Dave over his bed. Let's not take that thought any further...

But yesterday he took things one step too far. He took Tory Party Chairman Francis Maude to task over the 'A' List and concluded his article (if it can be called that) by calling on David Cameron to sack Francis Maude. His reason? He alleges that Francis Maude has "come to blame the Tory political culture of the 1980s for his brother's death...Francis Maude seems to wish to take revenge for his family's problems on the Tory faithful. David Cameron wanted an 'A' List in order to encourage women. Mr Maude wanted to use the 'A' List to humiliate the traditional Tory Party".

I almost want to apologise to Francis Maude for having to repeat that rubbish here, but for some reason the media take Bruce Anderson seriously. Surely to God this passage ought to make some people revise their opinion. The man is nothing but an oaf and is not known as "Brute" for nothing. During the Tory leadership contest his vehement diatribes against David Davis perplexed even DD's bitterest enemies. Perhaps this little snippet from The Guardian may shed some light...

Why this uncharacteristic animosity to the likely next number one? Could it, as Davis supporters suspect, have something to do with an incident when John Major put his leadership on the line and asked his MPs to re-elect him? When the man who is known to all as "the brute" turned up uninvited at a meeting of Major supporters, not it seemed to them in the first full flush of sobriety, and made himself such a nuisance that he had to be ejected - a task assigned to the only former SAS man present, Davis?

So having been thrown out into the street by David Davis, Anderson got his revenge. I wonder what it was that Francis Maude did to upset him. Whatever it was, good on Francis. He rises in my estimation. Perhaps Bruce Anderson could try in the future to write a column free of personal rancour or revenge. But then again, pigs might fly. Anderson has reached his sell-by date. Quite how the article in The Independent got past the editor is a mystery, but if anyone on the Indy thinks that Anderson's articles are taken seriously by most thinking people on the right, they're very much mistaken. Time to pension the old brute off.

UPDATE: Just had this from a correspondent. Re: the Guardian snippett - Funnily enough, he burst into a Cameroon gathering in DC's office (immediately after the final MPs' ballot) in a similar state...



16 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you Iain. BA's interpretation of Francis Maude's reaction to his brother's death was offensive and without foundation.

Kevin Davis said...

Could not agree more. What do you do with a correspondent who has gone off the rails when his editor is too weak to get rid of him?

Did he not once call Johann Hari and "uppity little queer"? Do you think he has a problem in this area?

James at eParliament.tv said...

You only need sit near him in a restaurant to hear him broadcast his tedious little views...

I've said it many times. Francis Maude is the reason the Tories have Dave. End of debate.

He's a reasonable guy and if there were any idiotic attempt to undermine him, the outcome would be damaging.

Anderson's drooping prose will make little sense (to anyone with sense, that is).

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you picked up on this Iain.

I read the article yesterday in the Independent and I was absolutely livid. Maude himself voted against repealing Section 28, so clearly his thinking was in line with much of the Tory faithful although he has since admitted that he was wrong. Anderson clearly knows little if anything about the man.

There is way too much Maude-bashing going on in these days.

He is geting the blame for every thing from the A-list to our "not doing well in the local elections" for being defeatist.

Anonymous said...

Is it possible that Maude is being undermined by Cameroons because thay see him as a comprimise candidate (between traditionalists and modernisers) that could cause them problems if Cameron starts to falter?

I mean, some people might think "I think we need to modernise, but I don't like all this la-de-da rubbish" and see Maude as the answer?

Paul Linford said...

Didn't the brute's great friend, Alan Clark, rate Maude and David Davis as the two best young Tories of their generation?

I've always thought he was a very good man, but not leader material though. If Cameron were to fall under a bus I think DD would inherit, so long as he made clear that the modernisation agenda would continue.

Anonymous said...

I've never been able to make it all the way through a single one of Bruce Anderson's turgid columns.

- Anonymousette

Anonymous said...

I always found Bruce Anderson to be a pretty damn awful writer. He has a writing style plucked out of the Socialist Worker and some of his nasty polemics against Ken Clarke and David Davis during the leadership election were frankly out of order. Even his positive writing is toe curling.

He really has crossed the line here though. He's a man with pretty unacceptable views and I'm surprised that he still has a national media platform.

Anonymous said...

Anderson's days in the Independent are generally thought to be numbered. The recently recruited Dominic Lawson is doing a far better job as the token Tory.

Chris Palmer said...

I'm sad to see, Iain, that you have started to use Guido style bragging/advertising slogans at the bottom of your posts.

I can see why you are doing it, but it is still sad to see.

Anonymous said...

Chris Palmer - Capitalism is never sad. It is invigorating! All our boats go up! Wheeeeeeeee!

- Anonymousette

Anonymous said...

Re: Your advert suggesting that Macaroon is the next PM. An election with Blair as Labour Leader?!

Anonymous said...

I thought that Anderson and Davis were buddies long ago and that Anderson had tipped Davis for high office?

Iain Dale said...

er, no.

Anonymous said...

BA can't be pensioned off! As a Scot isn't he already subsidised enough off the fat of Ken Livingstone's largesse?

Personally I think sacking the north British wannabee Anglo-Tory apologist is enough myself.

Paul Linford said...

Houndtang is at least half right. I don't know whether Anderson and Davis were ever "buddies," but it is certainly the case that Anderson repeatedly tipped Davis for Cabinet promotion under John Major, and repeatedly discovered he wasn't as influential or well-connected in the Tory Party as he thought he was.