"The difference between the First Minister and me is that the internal memos of
my party do not end up in Scotland Yard."
Ouch.
Friday, March 09, 2007
The Art of the Putdown No 94
Annabelle Goldie, leader of the Scottish Tories, responding to jibes from Labour First Minister Jack McConnell about the leaked memo from David Mundell...
Ouch.
Ouch.
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13 comments:
Touché!
There is life in the old bird yet.
Oh, but they do. And Tories like Aitken and Archer end up banged up in jail as well. Like Lloyd George they break the law to line their own pockets rather than pushing the envelope to raise party funds.
Meanwhile you've missed THIS.
A witty retort certainly, but I can't help but wonder whether the Scottish Tories should be "put down"...
Chris Paul "pushing the envelope..." Since when is Perverting the Course of Justice "pusing the envelope"?
I know the Tories were sleazy in office, but NuLab are far worse and frankly downright corrupt.
As a labour supporter have NuLab met your expectations of that heady day on May 1st 1997?
Have NuLab been seen "that we are purer than pure, that people understand that we will not have any truck with anything that is improper in any shape or form at all". (T Blair)?
I don't think so..............
Iain, if you get the chance watch it.
Jack McConnell's facial expression was priceless as was the audible intake of breath from the whole parliament. It was a classic moment in an often crap first ministers questions. If the Scots ever have a major power shortage, we will be okay if we pipe the hot air from Holyrood.
Goldie was is fine form and showed her inner metal, now if she keeps this up against the opposition and when needed in her own party she will surprise everyone.
To which McConnell should have replied:
'And our Ministers do not end up in their jails either'.
Doom
Obviously 'anyone but blair' New Labour haven't met all my expectations. I'm a socialist!
But they have been a damned sight better than Thatcher and Major for the majority of the population. And even more New Labour is clearly better than the Blair-alike-but-really-Tory Cameron who - let us not forget - ran that disgusting dog whistle campaign for Howard.
The minimum wage is a good thing. The investment in education and health is a good thing. There has been some redistribution. Pensions are still poor but pensioners are demonstrably better off. The economic numbers continue to be pretty good. Labour councils like Manchester (and even Lib-Con ones like Leeds) have been enabled to regenerate their cities without getting constantly coshed by Whitehall.
It's far from perfect. But it's better than Tories.
As for the pushing the envelope line. That has been my view throughout. They're all at it. Honours and lordships are steaming doo doos. Tory off shore blind property deals ... ditto. Lib Dem Michael Brown - in jail.
Get rid of it all. But for any major party to be throwing stones on this is disgraceful hypocrisy. The SNP and Plaid can perhaps get away with it because no one wants to give them money anyway. But they're wasting our money.
IMO the whole enquiry has been a complete waste of time and money and if anyone is charged - before which asserting "perverting the course of justice" is premature - then it will be a case of the whole dirty system in the dock.
Tories meanwhile WERE lining their own pockets, WERE lying under oath, WERE taking cash and favours for questions, and they consider it OK to have fat city jobs and alright jack mentality.
The Bullingdon wrecking tendancy is hardly what I'd want to see in Number 10. Is it what you want?
"Pushing the envelope" will in due course turn into "sewing the mailbag"...
As to Scottish Tories being put down - no, I say. Treat them like any other endangered creature - the dormouse, say. Let them run, let them play, let them frolic in that renowned Scottish sun. They don't take up much room and they are unlikely to have a population explosion. Revisit the idea only if they start taking jobs...
"The minimum wage is a good thing."
Telling businesses how they can run themselves is bossy and interfering. Minimum wages increase costs and reduce the amount businesses can invest elsewhere. Fortunately Labour had the sense to set it low so it couldn't increase unemployment i.e. it's a token concession to the Left.
"The investment in education and health is a good thing."
Paid for by people that don't use those services? How very liberal. Ever thought of letting people decide voluntarily which services they wish to patronise?
"There has been some redistribution."
Redistribution occurs under capitalism, it's called charity and is far superior because the people donating actually want to help others. They aren't threatened with a prison sentence if they object to coughing up large sumes of cash.
"Pensions are still poor but pensioners are demonstrably better off."
Er, are you forgotten Brown's raid on pension funds?
"The economic numbers continue to be pretty good."
Thanks to the maintenance of essentially Tory economic policies. Without all the extra red tape Labour have enforced the economy would be doing even better.
"Labour councils like Manchester (and even Lib-Con ones like Leeds) have been enabled to regenerate their cities without getting constantly coshed by Whitehall."
Instead you prefer Whitehall to cosh businesses, public schools and the successful.
I like her personally but the Scottish Tories are going into the election with no policies. They have allowed the SNP to make very good running with cutting corporation tax to get our economy moving.
If the Tories aren't even a pro-enterprise party then why should anybody vote for them? I suspect the election will reveal the answer.
The entire corps of Conservative Scottish MP's - all one of him - is apparently persona non grata at today's meeting with He Who Walks on Water.
Mundell has unexpectedly been detained on constituency business until later today.
It was left the fragrant Annabel Goldie to snog Cameron as he arrived, on a dreach Edinburgh morning.
I now have the episode of Auntie Annabel handbagging Jack McConnell on my Tartan Hero blog. Just to see McConnell's smug smile reduced to a petted lip in front of matron is worth a couple more percentage points for the Tories in Scotland.
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