political commentator * author * publisher * bookseller * radio presenter * blogger * Conservative candidate * former lobbyist * Jack Russell owner * West Ham United fanatic * Email iain AT iaindale DOT com
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Oh to be a Fly on the Wall
Jack Straw and Harriet Harman are having lunch together at a corner table in the Members dining room of the House of Commons as we speak. Are they planning a "men in grey suits" moment or is it a Granita moment?!
maybe they were just colleagues having lunch. i just had lunch with a colleague and we weren't plotting anything. also doesn't members' need an apostrophe?
Probably a more prosaic explanation - that Jack Straw, after his cock-up about saying kids carrying knives would do time, when they plainly are not going to, even if caught.. - is asking Harriet for advice on 'damage limitation' after her 'stab-proof' vest debacle..
The danger here is, surely, that Harriet is allowing too much gossip and speculation to be generated too soon - rather in the manner of the 'election that never was'..
She is danger of popping her cork too soon, so to speak..
She needs to save her energy for the party conference season, when no doubt the knives will be being sharpened.. The last things she needs is a 'false start' before the starting gun has been fired..
dunno ....but if Straw sticks the final knife in the Goon, and gets to be the stand-in Prime minister until the next elections , (when he will stand down... not a snowflakes chance in hell of winning)..... ..... he will have significantly increased his porcine pension pot, and after dinner speakers fee charges ..... an utter snout fest.!
seems good odds to me ....just from a personal greed point of view !
Probably begging Harperson to keep her large gob shut until after the Glasgow East By Election.....Let us not forget her announcement of discrimination against white males on the day of the Henley By Election!!!!!!!.....
"This is a complete non story. She's even more unelectable than Kinnock. Not even labour will foist another unelected, useless PM on us." Er.........there's never a dire situation that could not be made worse!
The country's saved - Harriet Harperson to the rescue!
Just what the country needs right now - the woman who thinks the most important thing the government can do right now is ensure that a white, hetrosexual male finds it impossible to get employment.
Someone somewhere is talking up Harriet as a possible replacement for Gordon. The possible conspirators are many and the reasons are also just as complicated not all in her or Labour's favour. But then again in the present frebile atmosphere within the Labour Party who can you trust ?
Or were they just a bit peckish after an hour or two of rampant cocaine-fuelled sex behind the speaker's chair?
Or possibly that's only every second Tuesday and they were deciding if there is a "safe seat" left in the country to gift Brother Jack?
Ridiculous story Iain, but we all look forward to hour-by-hour news of lunching arrangements from now until ... whenever even you find it too tedious to continue.
You're all thinking 1995 when it should be 1990 or so. Populus has a Tory plummet from 45% to 41% which is a step in the right direction.
Straw Poll in the House of Love has Harriet Harman nul poins btw.
Guido has been titillating his creatures with the same bait.
I'm sorry to see this blog descend to such depths.
I challenge you to deny that neither you nor Guido nor anyone within the Labour Party - not even her mother (assuming she wasn't cloned from Dolly the sheep) believes that Ms Harperson is a satisfactory Minister, never mind would be a likely PM.
The sooner you both get back to proper politics the better.
Though some commenters have sought to rubbish your article, Iain, the PoliticsHome expert panel is strongly of the opinion that Harman is positioning herself to take over (perhaps as caretaker leader) from Gordon B, presumably in the expectation of an imminent need to have someone ready and prepared...
I have today written an article on Alan Collins's site on the whole subject of where Labour go next, prompted by (and touching on) the news on Harman. Might be worth a read.
well Powers in the South East is already taking soundings in his(sic)region-though he claims Martin Salter, and not Harry herself,put him up to it..though why would Salter do that?
Probably just discussing how to beef up their expense claims.
ReplyDeleteIt's unlikely that Jack Straw would ever plot to get rid of Gordon. He ran Gordon's campaign for leader!
ReplyDeleteProbably tossing a coin to see who will do PMQs tomorrow.
ReplyDeletemaybe they were just colleagues having lunch. i just had lunch with a colleague and we weren't plotting anything. also doesn't members' need an apostrophe?
ReplyDeleteIn Straw's case it's more likely to be a Granola moment. He seems to be completely constipated - at both ends of the spinal column.
ReplyDeleteNo men in granita coloured suits or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteHe's probably just reminding her why labour have never had a woman PM - namely that she, along with all the rest of the wimin in the PLP are shit...
This is a complete non story. She's even more unelectable than Kinnock. Not even labour will foist another unelected, useless PM on us.
Brown is here for the duration and due to the fact that labour is skint, he'll be around till 2010. get used to it...
Maybe Jack is just after a good shagging ? *
ReplyDelete* shagging - a type of American dancing, I believe.
...or is it just lunch?
ReplyDeleteDon't let your imagination run away with you..
ReplyDeleteProbably a more prosaic explanation - that Jack Straw, after his cock-up about saying kids carrying knives would do time, when they plainly are not going to, even if caught.. - is asking Harriet for advice on 'damage limitation' after her 'stab-proof' vest debacle..
The danger here is, surely, that Harriet is allowing too much gossip and speculation to be generated too soon - rather in the manner of the 'election that never was'..
ReplyDeleteShe is danger of popping her cork too soon, so to speak..
She needs to save her energy for the party conference season, when no doubt the knives will be being sharpened.. The last things she needs is a 'false start' before the starting gun has been fired..
dunno ....but if Straw sticks the final knife in the Goon, and gets to be the stand-in Prime minister until the next elections , (when he will stand down... not a snowflakes chance in hell of winning).....
ReplyDelete..... he will have significantly increased his porcine pension pot, and after dinner speakers fee charges ..... an utter snout fest.!
seems good odds to me ....just from a personal greed point of view !
Sometimes a lunch is just a lunch.
ReplyDeleteProbably begging Harperson to keep her large gob shut until after the Glasgow East By Election.....Let us not forget her announcement of discrimination against white males on the day of the Henley By Election!!!!!!!.....
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand....
"This is a complete non story. She's even more unelectable than Kinnock. Not even labour will foist another unelected, useless PM on us."
ReplyDeleteEr.........there's never a dire situation that could not be made worse!
The country's saved - Harriet Harperson to the rescue!
ReplyDeleteJust what the country needs right now - the woman who thinks the most important thing the government can do right now is ensure that a white, hetrosexual male finds it impossible to get employment.
You couldn't make it up!
They're mutual loathing is hardly a secret, but they really conspire in the tea room?
ReplyDeleteSomeone somewhere is talking up Harriet as a possible replacement for Gordon. The possible conspirators are many and the reasons are also just as complicated not all in her or Labour's favour. But then again in the present frebile atmosphere within the Labour Party who can you trust ?
ReplyDeleteHarperson maybe the only person who can unite the Unions, the Blairites and the Brownites - and isolate the eurosceptics.
ReplyDeleteA girl for all seasons.
Brussels approves. She's a shoo-in.
Or were they just a bit peckish after an hour or two of rampant cocaine-fuelled sex behind the speaker's chair?
ReplyDeleteOr possibly that's only every second Tuesday and they were deciding if there is a "safe seat" left in the country to gift Brother Jack?
Ridiculous story Iain, but we all look forward to hour-by-hour news of lunching arrangements from now until ... whenever even you find it too tedious to continue.
You're all thinking 1995 when it should be 1990 or so. Populus has a Tory plummet from 45% to 41% which is a step in the right direction.
Straw Poll in the House of Love has Harriet Harman nul poins btw.
Lunch at half past two?
ReplyDeleteSounds more like afternoon tea to me.
Guido has been titillating his creatures with the same bait.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to see this blog descend to such depths.
I challenge you to deny that neither you nor Guido nor anyone within the Labour Party - not even her mother (assuming she wasn't cloned from Dolly the sheep) believes that Ms Harperson is a satisfactory Minister, never mind would be a likely PM.
The sooner you both get back to proper politics the better.
I'm sure they were just swapping ideas for their retirement plans after the next election.
ReplyDeleteThough some commenters have sought to rubbish your article, Iain, the PoliticsHome expert panel is strongly of the opinion that Harman is positioning herself to take over (perhaps as caretaker leader) from Gordon B, presumably in the expectation of an imminent need to have someone ready and prepared...
ReplyDeleteI have today written an article on Alan Collins's site on the whole subject of where Labour go next, prompted by (and touching on) the news on Harman. Might be worth a read.
well Powers in the South East is already taking soundings in his(sic)region-though he claims Martin Salter, and not Harry herself,put him up to it..though why would Salter do that?
ReplyDelete