Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Tory Turncoat Joins Labour


Oh dear, oh dear. Quentin Davies has defected to the Labour Party. He has certainly been semi-detached from the Party for some time and is someone who has always thought that his talents have never been recognised by the Conservative leadership. Despite being thought to be on the left of the Party he supported Iain Duncan Smith in 2001 and flirted very much with David Davis in 2005. IDS made him Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, but David Trimble thought he was bonkers and refused to have meetings with him. I guess that like Peter Temple-Morris, he views this as his only way into the House of Lords. What a disloyal s***. Or possibly he will be Gordon Brown's Northern Ireland Secretary in a Government of all the talents - if that is the case it shows just how few talents Brown has available to him.

Right, that's the denunciation out of the way, now to a bit of slightly more dispassionate analysis. Is this a blow to the Conservative Party? Yes. Is this a triumph for Gordon Brown? Yes. Will it have any long term effects? Probably not. Defections are always embarrassing for the party which a politician has left and this one will be no different. There will be many people who rubbish Quentin Davies over the next few days and there will be many Labour MPs trumpeting his defection from the rooftops. We'd do if it were happening the other way round. And you know, it's entirely possible that there will be a defection the other way before very long, so let's hope Labour MPs do not go overboard on the rooftops.

By the way, can I just say how nice it was to See Quentin Davies at the Conservative History Group last week. In the light of today's events he truly is Conservative history.

UPDATE: Phil Woolas has just described this as the most significant defection since 1945. No danger of overstating the case there then...

90 comments:

Anonymous said...

ill mean that he can spend more time with his directorships and concentrate on being a Lloyds Name. Should fit right in with his new colleagues

Anonymous said...

A bit mean-minded, Iain. You didn't mention any of this when he was a tory??

Anonymous said...

I always amazes me that we have an electoral system that allows someone to resign a party whip (whichever party) and retain their parliamentary seat. If I were a Tory and if I had voted for him I would not be best pleased. If he has any honour, he should resign properly and stand in a by-election (assuming his new party selected him).

Anonymous said...

Man of principle switches sides!

Everyone is trying to tell Cameron that style is no substitute for substance. Now he has lost a well-respected MP for just this reason.
Cameron is shaping up to be a really hopeless leader.

Guthrum said...

So he is no longer a Tory- his views have no longer any validation ? Brown is going to be a tougher nut to crack because he is not a lightweight media star

Kris said...

Ok Iain- the thing which I , and I suspect others will focus on, is what he said: "David Cameron doesn't stand for anything".

True or not- that is what I believe at any rate.

Unless and until Dave sorts that perception out, the conservatives will remain on a hiding to nothing.

Anonymous said...

Surely not as major a defection as Paul Marsden??

Marsden wrote poetry!!

jailhouselawyer said...

Talk about rats leaving a sinking ship. The quicker the others jump overboard the better chance they have of getting into the short supply of lifeboats. Meanwhile, as the band plays on, and the Tory Party rearrange the deck chairs, Dave's request is played "I'm a yesterday man"...

Anonymous said...

He used to do a very nice turn as the unctuous useful idiot for the EU during the Major years. These types (Yeo is another) are neither real tories - The Julian Amory sort (I was born in an inner city terrace - Belgrave Square) nor the genuine moderniser. Look what a pillock Shaun Woodward now looks!

Anonymous said...

If McCharisma-Free Broon can pull off stunts like this, Camoron has his work cut out. The timing is suspicious, but to join McStalin Broon's NuLab party is v. odd, what has been promised to Davies? Can't recall Mrs Thatcher having any losses to Labour of this sort.

Isn't about time that Mr Yates hauled Levy, Turner, and others in for charges?

Tim Roll-Pickering said...

I was surprised to learn he was still in the Commons.

Does anyone else fancy raising a little leaving present for him? I think £1.50 in 5p pieces would be appropriate.

Anonymous said...

Er unknown and anonymous MP leaves Tory party and joins the Labour party. Yawn.

As Mark Williams says, he's sure to fit in, especially with that posh Ms. Harperson.

I wonder what baubles Damien McPoison has offered him...?

Anonymous said...

Quentin Davies writes about the tory party:
"appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything".

A nation nods in agreement!

Anonymous said...

Iain,

You mention someone coming the other way. Do you know something or are just trying to muddy the waters of a defection by a long standing Tory MP? Just because Frank Field does not like Gordon and Harriet does not mean he is going to jump ship to a Tory Party that is led by a PR man that does not believe in anything. Or are you talking about someone else - Kate Hoey perhaps? C'mon you are a blogger committed to breaking stories, if you know something spill the beans, if not then stop making stuff up in the hope of deflecting attention.

Anonymous said...

Dave walked warily down the street with his polls sat way down low

Ain't no sound but the sound of defeat

His MPs ready to go

Are you ready, hey

Are you ready for this?

Are you thinking 'bout losing your seat?

Out of the doorway, Quentin skips

He's skippin' to the sound of defeat

Yeah yeah

Another one bites the dust!

Daily Referendum said...

Iain, can you post a picture of DC I'm stating to forget what he looks like.

Dave needs to grab at least two policies by the scruff of the neck and force them down the media's throat. If he doesn't he'll soon be working for Hilliam Hague.

Anonymous said...

Iain, but what about the charges he made in his resignation statement?

About the party lacking substance and principle? That under David Cameron, a sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda? As kris said, this is what people believe. He is not making outrageous claims.

Would it not be better to address these claims than to insult Mr Davies? I know it is painful to have someone defect, but he has raised some serious points, and perhaps better to address these.

Geezer said...

The Tory party is well rid of this idiot.
Let's have a by-election then to see who the good people of Grantham want as an MP.

Anonymous said...

Towcestarian hints that MPs who change parties should be required to seek re-election. There is a good argument against this in that it gives the party whips an immense power. One of the few countries to have such a rule is Zimbabwe, where it is used to enforce party discipline: a few years ago when an MDC member of the House of Assembly became too semi-detached, she was expelled from the party and simultaneously pitched into a byelection to retain her seat (she lost).

There is also a positive argument for not requiring defecting MPs to seek re-election: it encourages the party to check thoroughly the background of their candidates to make sure they don't lose them.

Anonymous said...

Good to see that the Tory 'bovver boot boys' are on hand to do some arslikhan on behalf of their beloved leader and give one of their friends a bloody good kicking in public...

With friends like that, who needs enemies...

Care to comment on the substance of his resignation letter ? Thought not..

Anonymous said...

Iain, I think you're missing the point.

Davies is right, Cameron DOES lack substance and the Tory party has lost direction.

We've heard plenty about what tories no longer believe in but what the hell does it mean to be a Tory under Cameron's PR regime???

Anonymous said...

Everyone is trying to tell Cameron that style is no substitute for substance. Now he has lost a well-respected MP for just this reason.

Bwahahahaha. I might have fallen out with the Tory party, but that is priceless. How much do you Nu Lab luvies get paid for these gems?

Anonymous said...

How very funny. A Tory Mp who has progressively convinced a greater proportion of his constituency to vote for him (97' - 2,692maj, 01' -4,518, 05' 7,445).

The fact is, despite his un-Tory nature and views re: Europe, this man has increased his majority to the extent that he feels assured that his constituents will back him.

Like it or not, Europe is back on the agenda. It is the one area that Camerons pinko-liberal whitewash of crap cannot cover in terms of the true nature of the Tory party. The whole country will get to see the Tories foaming at the mouth for two years about the constitution, up to 2009 when the European Elections, withdrawal from EPP and ratification of the constitution will create a nice impression of the lovely changed tories just in time for the general election. Two years of getting battered by a one eyed, nappy wearing, rocking horse riding beast - enjoy it! "Should have done better in the phoney war" will be how the history books will remember the latest tory leader to loose an election to that shower of shite.

Anonymous said...

"In the light of today's events he truly is Conservative history."

Oh, come along on Iain, who do you think you are ? The Stasi ? Part of the Khmer Rouge ? or the NKVD ?

What is this ? 'No more Mr Nice Guy'?

You will be getting a job advertising Walker's Crisps next...

Paul Burgin said...

"By the way, can I just say how nice it was to See Quentin Davies at the Conservative History Group last week. In the light of today's events he truly is Conservative history..."
Oh come on Iain, there was no need for that extra twist of the knife! ;)
Have to say though, when the news came through I almost yelled in delight. So good to have a Labour MP and those who voted Labour in vain in his constituency must be delighted too :)

Praguetory said...

There is one incident I can remember him for - an incident which was, in my opinion, sufficient grounds for deselection anyway.

Anonymous said...

towcestarian. I agree with you. Defectors are so full of self-righteousness, yet they never feel righetous enough to apply for the Manor of Northstead and see what the electors think. I think the man must be a cad!

Chris Paul said...

Think that's another of my predictions in. I'm going to count West Ham as down too. Is that OK Iain?

As for Towcestarian's point. I'd suggest that the distrust of and distaste for Mr Cameron in Grantham would be sufficient to carry off any kind of defection and win a by-election against some child actor, Big Brother star or champion blogger.

There will be more. None though in the other directions IMO.

Anonymous said...

Must be a suicidal impulse ; Gordon's already haemorrhaging votes. Don't delude yourselves little labour cyphers, Gordon's lethal (for you), and there's nothing, not a thing, you can do about it!

David Lindsay said...

"withdrawal from EPP"

Dream on, Steve! And try not to mock people for being disabled, will you?

He can't be Northern Ireland Secretary now, because he's a member of the Labour Party, and therefore, by definition, incapable of it from Brown's point of view.

Anonymous said...

Hmm.. Some other hyperbole and tired old cliches for you, Mr Dale.

"Tonight, Quentino sleeps with the fishes.." [probably somewhere near Sheffield]

"Bring me the head of Quentin Alfredo.."

"A Wise Guy never rats on his friends"

"Wise Guys realise there's danger in emotional ties.." [Enough..Ed.]

Anonymous said...

It is incredible that with a government this discredited and with the uncharismatic Gordon Brown taking over that the Tory party is STILL imploding. I really think that Cameron, who I was initially enthusiastic about, has blown it. He had a great opportunity and acres of postive media coverage but I think people have just rumbled him as a lightweight with no ideas whatsoever. I suppose things change quickly and he may yet turn it around if Brown ballses things up spectacularly but things are looking bleak for those of us who would like a change of government in the near future.

Anonymous said...

How many tories, hand on heart, could decribe what their party stands for.

Cameron is a study in superficiality.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't things have been better if David Davis had been put in charge ?

stalin's gran said...

Politicians who defect are by definition scum who think they are more important than the people who voted for them. it should be in electoral law that there has to be an immediate by-election....

Anonymous said...

Bye Bye tories

.... Hello Labour

Neil Reddin said...

So, MP on left of the Conservative party jumps ship to Labour. He does it at the worst possible time, for him: the Conservatives have bounced back up the polls after the precitable weekend dip, and tomorrow’s headlines have already been written. Cameron’s euro-sceptic credentials won’t be harmed by this either.

(My view, FWIW.)

Anonymous said...

If he has any honour, he should resign properly and stand in a by-election (assuming his new party selected him).

whilst I agree in principle, I'm not sure he can. In order to 'resign' as an MP, wouldn't he have to apply for the Chiltern Hundreds? Which would then disbar him from standing again (for any party)...

Anonymous said...

At least he had a bit of gravitas. Maude is stuffing the party full of inconsequential airheads that I wouldn't trust with running a WI raffle.

Anonymous said...

Which would then disbar him from standing again (for any party)...

I've just checked wikipedia. It wouldn't.

I have clearly neglected my constitutional studies of late.

sorry.

Anonymous said...

David Boothroyd 3:42

Even after 10 years of ZanuLub, I don't think that comparing Zimbabwe and Britain's democracies is exactly fair!

If the electorate want to be represented by a party not an individual (as is usually the case) their wishes should be met; in this case through a by-election. This is not the same as Party Whip coercion, it is respecting the wishes of us, the electorate.

Maybe rather than mandatory resignation imposed centrally, there should be a mechanism whereby local parties who suffer such a defection can demand a by-election.

Anonymous said...

Are we supposed to believe that the tory MP's who have stayed put are any more principled than Davies. They don't agree with a word Cameron says but keep quiet in the vain hope that it will see them into power.

lincoln imp said...

he has been going for years,strange very pompous fellow with somewhat right wing views mixed with very pro european stance.How can you really hold both.I am delighted he has gone.the constituancy party will not be surprised. A spoilt sulky arrogant man,never really got anywhere.he has had his day of notariety before well earned oblivion.

Anonymous said...

He could have chosen a day when there weren't floods AND a British win at Wimbledon...

On the other hand, maybe the BBC 'Helly Telly' 'copter can circle the Houses of Parliament for some vacuous shots while the story is told on the Six O'Clock News

Anonymous said...

Iain, the problem in the tory party is not Quentin Davies or his defection. It is Cameron! Why don't you address the substance instead of spinning.

Anonymous said...

please for goodness sake Cameron has to go - bring back David Davies - at least he had some policies - and interestingly is able to talk convincingly about a strong society - and not be illiberal (he attended a gay wedding) Maybe Ian was right to support him against Cameron who is letting the party down.

Anonymous said...

No, it is perfectly possible to seek re-election by being appointed Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds or the Manor of Northstead, and then stand in the byelection. It is the appointment to an office of profit under the crown which is the disqualification. It is actually a moot point as to whether the offices actually exist beyond a momentary notional existence when people are named to them.

There are three cases since the war of MPs who have sought re-election, of which two were defeated: Sir Richard Acland (Lab, Gravesend) in 1955, on going Independent over the H-bomb, and Bruce Douglas-Mann (Lab, Mitcham and Morden) in 1982 on joining the SDP both lost. Dick Taverne (Lab, Lincoln) in 1972-3, on forming the Lincoln Democratic Labour Association, was successful.

Hughes Views said...

Hell hath no fury like a party scorned.

It's a little ironic that the issue of Europe is almost certain one day to lead to the break up of the Tory party. Ironic because it was the party that took us into the EEC and into the EU (without referendums natch). Now something like 75% of the membership seem obsessed with the issue and many of them would have us leave asap. A neat match with the 75% or so of the electorate who really don't seem to care very much at all about it.

A question for the facebook Tory to ask at PMQs "can we have our pal back now please mister?"

Anonymous said...

Yes, we ought to be taking note of some of the comments Quentin Davies has made in his letter of resignation. Identical comments have been made here many, many times before and maybe someone somewhere, should be listening as this is now getting beyond a joke. Personally, I don't believe anyone has a cat in hell's chance of changing his, or her, demeanour. It just isn't possible. Therefore, there seems only one option for the good of the party - Cameron must go!

David Lindsay said...

FULL TEXT OF DAVIES LETTER TO MR CAMERON

"I have been a member of the Conservative Party for over 30 years, and have served for 20 years in the Parliamentary Party, in a variety of backbench and front bench roles.

This has usually been a great pleasure, and always a great privilege. It is therefore with much sadness that I write you this letter. But you are entitled to know the truth.

Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything.

It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda.

For the first 19 years of my time in the House, in common I imagine with the great majority of my colleagues, it never occurred to me to leave the party, whatever its current vicissitudes.

Ties of familiarity, of friendship, and above all of commitment to constituency supporters are for all of us very strong and incredibly difficult to break.

But they cannot be the basis for living a lie - for continuing in an organisation when one no longer has respect for its leadership or understanding of its aims.

I have come to that appreciation slowly and painfully and as a result of many things, some of which are set out below.

The first horrible realisation that I might not be able to continue came last year. My initial reaction was to suppress it.

You had come to office as leader of the party committed to break a solemn agreement we had with the European People's Party to sit with them in the EPP-ED Group during the currency of this European Parliament.

For seven months you vacillated, and during that time we had several conversations.

It was quite clear to me that you had no qualms in principle about tearing up this agreement, and that it was only the balance of prevailing political pressures which led you ultimately to stop short of doing so (though since then you have hardly acted in good faith in continuing with the agreement, for example you never attend the EPP-ED Summits claiming that you are "too busy" - even though half a dozen or more Prime Ministers are always present.)

Of course I knew that you had put yourself in a position such that if you did not leave the EPP-ED Group you would be breaking other promises you had given to colleagues, and on which many of them had counted in voting for you at the leadership election.

But that I fear only made the position worse. The trouble with trying to face both ways is that you are likely to lose everybody's confidence.

Aside from the rather significant issues of principle involved, you have of course paid a practical price for your easy promises.

You are the first leader of the Conservative Party who (for different reasons) will not be received either by the President of the United States, or by the Chancellor of Germany (up to, and very much including, Iain Duncan Smith every one of your predecessors was most welcome both in the White House and in all the chancelleries of Europe).

It is fair to say that you have so far made a shambles of your foreign policy, and that would be a great handicap to you - and, more seriously, to the country - if you ever came to power.

I have never done business with people who deliberately break contracts, and I knew last year that if you left the EPP-ED Group I could no longer remain in a party under your leadership.

In fact you held back and I tried to put this ugly incident out of my mind and carry on.

But the last year has been a series of shocks and disappointments. You have displayed to the full both the vacuity and the cynicism of your favourite slogan 'change to win'.

One day in January, I think a Wednesday or Thursday, you and George Osborne discovered that Gordon Brown was to make a speech on the environment the following Monday.

You wished to pre-empt him. So without any consultation with anyone - experts, think tanks, the industry, even the Shadow Cabinet - you announced an airline or flight tax which as you have subsequently heard from me in a long paper (which has never been refuted) and I am sure from many others, is certainly defective and contradictory - and in my view complete nonsense.

The PR pressures had overridden any considerations of economic rationality or national interest, or even what would have been to others normal businesslike prudence.

Equally it seems that your hasty rejection of nuclear energy as a 'last resort' was also driven by your PR imperatives rather than by other considerations. Many colleagues hope that that will be the subject of your next u-turn.

You regularly (I think on a pre-arranged PR grid or timetable) make apparent policy statements which are then revealed to have no intended content at all. They appear to be made merely to strike a pose, to contribute to an image.

You thus sometimes treat important subjects with the utmost frivolity. Examples are 'inequality' (the 'Polly Toynbee' moment - again you had a paper from me!), marriage and the tax system (even your own Party Chairman was unable to explain on the BBC what you really meant) and, most recently, mass consultation of the public on policy decisions. (In view of your complete failure to consult with anyone, within the Party or outside it, on many of the matters I have touched on, or on many others, the latter was perhaps intended as a joke).

Of course I could go on - up to three weeks ago when you were prepared to stoop to putting forward a resolution on Iraq (demanding an inquiry while our military involvement continues) which it was admitted at a Party meeting the following Monday (by George Osborne in your presence) was motivated by party political considerations. That was a particularly bad moment."

Believe it or not I have no personal animus against you. You have always been perfectly courteous in our dealings. You are intelligent and charming.

As you know, however, I never supported you for the leadership of the Party - even when, after my preferred candidate Ken Clarke had been defeated in the first round, it was blindingly obvious that you were going to win.

Nor, for the same reasons, have I ever sought office in your shadow administration.

Although you have many positive qualities you have three, superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions, which in my view ought to exclude you from the position of national leadership to which you aspire and which it is the presumed purpose of the Conservative Party to achieve.

Believing that as I do, I clearly cannot honestly remain in the Party. I do not intend to leave public life. On the contrary I am looking forward to joining another party with which I have found increasingly I am naturally in agreement and which has just acquired a leader I have always greatly admired, who I believe is entirely straightforward, and who has a towering record, and a clear vision for the future of our country which I fully share.

Because my constituents, to whose interests of course I remain devoted, are entitled to know the full background, I am releasing this letter to the press."

Anonymous said...

Quentin Davis looks like the archetypal arrogant Tory MP (now lifelong Labour member) who is now absolutely outdated.

Short term embarrasment for Cameron and friends, long term won't make much difference.

Anonymous said...

You know when you've been Gordoed.

Anonymous said...

The worst thing about this news is that it may provoke another SMILE from Gordon. Spare me! Spare me!

neil craig said...

Why announce this today when the press are already full of Labour stories rather than waiting till the first day of the Tory conference?

Perhaps most interesting is that, having resigned apparently over the EU, he has chosen Labour rather than the LibDems as one would have expected a few years ago.

Anonymous said...

I rather like Quentin Davies though I don't always agree with him. A few more Quentin Davies in Parliament and far fewer John Bercows and things might be better.

Cameron's loss, Brown's gain. If the Conservatives attack him ad hominem they will show that he was right to defect

This political childishness is tribal and voters are fed up of it.

D.J. McGuire said...

If Cameron plays this right (and that's a HUGE "if"), he'll spin this as a defection over Europe, which from over here (in America) is the one issue where DC has been at least somewhat consistent (and if he ever does get around to leaving the EPP, he'll be very consistent).

I, for one, find it at least a little suspicious that this fellow didn't bolt until just after the new EU Constitution-that-is-even-though-no-one-in-power-will-admit-to-it was sealed and delivered.

Beat up on the Brusselian Empire and hardly anyone will notice Mr. Davies.

Anonymous said...

Quentin davies is correct about the nuclear power issue though - what in gods name is the front bench doing opposing nuclear. I just dont get it - is it some sort of misplaced belief that Nuclear is not environmentally friendly - or is it a Political exercise to wrong foot Labour - whichever, he has to change policy and support nuclear

Anonymous said...

A very well crafted letter by Quentin Davies, even if I don't agree with every part of it.

But the $64,000 question is whether anyone will listen ?

Unknown said...

If he has any honour, he should resign Or perhaps if he has been promised any honour (or peerage, or directorship)?

Interesting how most of the pro-davies commenters are anonymous...

Anonymous said...

Oh, have no fear, I think when David Cameron reads the whole of Quentin's letter he certainly WILL change his policy and 'Go Nuclear' !!!

Anonymous said...

Davies lists Cameron's qualities:

"superficiality, unreliability and an apparent lack of any clear convictions,"

Precisely!

The Hitch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

How much longer to we have to wait until our esteemed host Mr Dale appears to say..

'Move along here, nothing to see here ..fuss about nothing, only a small train crash..'

Anonymous said...

Whatever the dissagreement or slight that this man feels, there can be no circumstance that justifies such craven behaviour especially at this pivotal moment and obviously Gordon Brown must have had a hand in this stinking business and gave it his sanction.
Both he and this low life creature should remember one of lifes few certainties, what goes around comes around. May he rot in hell.

The Hitch said...

marvelous
As predicted by demi god Peter Hitchens the useless Tories are beginning to implode .
Cameron is a pile of nothing and everybody knows it.
Brown may be a socialy retarded nincompoop but he is in his own words "A conviction politician" Shame that his convictions arent the ones they should be....
Genocide
treason
theft , and being a jock.

Anonymous said...

So, Thatcher's home town is now Labour.

Oh Joy!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks to David Linley for posting the text of the letter.

Can't say I disagree with much of what he says about Cameron PR obsession and lack of substance. However, I can't quite see why this is reason for joining the Labour party? After all they are the ones who perfected the politics of spin. Its very difficult to see this as anything more than a self-serving move on his part.

Anonymous said...

Disaster for Cameron but Davies is fairly irrelevant - not exactly a big fish. I encourage Gordon to put him in the cabinet, he's a laughable character.

My thoughts and sympathies go out to Grantham Conservative Association who have been lied to and cheated.

Anonymous said...

Gordon wants a government of all the talents - so if there are any other tories out there who want to jump ship and help run the country rather than just devise clever spin - im sure Mr Brown will welcome you with open arms.

Anonymous said...

Ive said it all along, if Cameron tries to be bliar like he will lose. Its the ONLY way he can lose but hes decided thats the way to go.

Its not terminal, he just needs to offer proper Tory policies on economic migration, EU, tax and change his stance on iraq and he wins by a landslide. The public are so sick of this NuLab spin they will vote for anything else.

Cameron just needs to give them SOMETHING to vote for.

Anonymous said...

Cameron is not a load of nothing. He certainly wasn't to start with. He was a welcome and refreshing change. He was a huge relief after the stage-managed PR driven spin we'd all learnt to recognise and despise. And what did the Conservative Party do? It brought in a load of stage managers, PR dickheads and spin doctor parasites who turned him into a Blair clone. A carbon copy of the man the nation is eager to see the back of. Why in heavens name would anyone want to emulate the vile and loathesome Tony Blair.

Sir-C4' said...

Oh, come along on Iain, who do you think you are ? The Stasi?

Funny that you should mention that....

http://conservativemindblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/quote-of-day-562007-iain-dale-stasi-spy.html

Anonymous said...

I agree with the sentiments expressed in the letter - I am just amazed that the first defector was to Labour and not to UKIP.

It seems to me that Cameron has lost the next election but that could still be a golden scenario for the Conservatives. In the next few years there are going to be some serious problems with the economy and who wants to be in the driving seat then? Better to let Labour lose their reputation for economic competence, replace Cameron with someone who is really conservative and then win the following election.

Anonymous said...

Two thoughts:

a) Perhaps Michael Portillo had a point about Tory collapse, and

b) this isn't the defection that matters. The one that will matter is the moment when David Cameron has the decency to admit what so many have observed, that his natural political home is in the Liberal Democrat party, and cross the floor.

Quentin Davies is right to point out that Cameron is not a principled Conservative. His defection to the LDs would allow the appointment of someone who has gravitas, political weight and Conservative principles as leader - David Davis.

Come on Iain, stand up and be counted. You had the right idea in the first place.

Anonymous said...

The man is a traitor and an ignorant fool.

Anonymous said...

Iain, be interested to see you update your article with a fisk on the timing and way this has been presented.
What should have been a great PR stunt seems to have fallen flat and it does show that already Labour are missing Blair's instinctive talent for getting the attention, timing and mood of the public right?
With the continued bad news today the timing looks very clinical in a nasty way as if the "plan" cannot be deviated whilst managing to lose a lot of media impact?

Anonymous said...

Indeed, a well-written letter. This bit I found laughable though:

"I have never done business with people who deliberately break contracts, and I knew last year that if you left the EPP-ED Group I could no longer remain in a party under your leadership. In fact you held back and I tried to put this ugly incident out of my mind and carry on."

So precisely because Cameron broke the only promise he made during the leadership election, this man was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt? Definitely NuLabour material!

Anonymous said...

There is a type of Conservative,well summed up by a character like Quentin Davies,with massive egos and scant regard for the electorate who put them where they are.Robert Jackson was another one.How Davies can,at the end of his resignation letter, begin heaping praise on the Stalinesque figure, who is about to clunk into No.10, frankly beggars belief.
Writing as a constituency chairman, (Northampton South), I feel for the guys in neighbouring Stamford,who tramped the streets 2 years ago to get QD elected.
I am sure he and Dennis Skinner will make the best of bedmates.

Anonymous said...

In 2005 Quentin Davies was elected as CONSERVATIVE MP for Grantham and Stamford.

Given that the Labour Party were not just beaten but thrashed in Grantham and Stamford in 2005 I believe that Quentin Davies should resign the seat immediately and let the people decide.

He is an absolute disgrace who I have no respect for.

I am absolutely sure that the electorate of Grantham and Stamford feel the same.

Anonymous said...

We do not elect MPs under proportional representation. They are elected by single constituencies. The Zimbabwe case was one of the few legitimate things Mugabe ever did - she was elected on a PR slate and could not cross the floor. Constituency MPs have almost always remained in Parliament and there are many such incidents.

That said, I have two other points - I have no idea who Quentin Davies is - but he is mostly right in his summary of Cameron's time as leader of the party. Before half of you start screaming for blood please stop to smell the flowers. My party has begun to stink again.

I would like a return to the days when a policy lasted more than 24 hours, when a promise was a promise.

Victor

Mark Clarke said...

I saw Quentin Davies at a meeting of candidates and Conservatives MP the other day. After he had spoken I thought to myself... this man is the past. I'm embarrassed he's in our Party.

I'm glad he is no longer.

Anonymous said...

Could this be one of the big wigs to serve in a GB government.

Anonymous said...

The Shitch: "Shame that his convictions aren't the ones they should be... genocide, treason, theft, and being a jock"*

That should read "...and being a cock", so that The Shitch isn't the only one on that charge...

* Spelling, punctuation and formatting corrected for you Shitch - if you got yourself an education your spiteful knob-jockeying wouldn't seem so incoherent.

Anonymous said...

Well said Mark Clarke.

dustybin said...

After 10 years of wasting billions of out taxes what do Bliar and Broon stand for other than spin.
This man is no great loss to the Tories and if he has any grace will stand down for a by election

Anonymous said...

Geoffrey Brooking will note that 53.1% voters cast their vote AGAINST the Conservative candidate in Grantham & Stamford.

Let's all hope Geoffrey G Brooking gets selected to fight this seat as the Sycophant from Lincoln.......then the Tories can implode on a major scale

The Hitch said...

Dunkin donuts , you have never had a sexual relationship have you?
By sexual relationship I mean something apart from the one that you have with yourself
and dogs.

Anonymous said...

Spiteful knob-jockeying Shitch - seems like sex and inadequacy (your own) is another of your petty little obsessions. No surprise there.

Man in a Shed said...

Paul "Oh come on Iain, there was no need for that extra twist of the knife! ;)"

I think you'll find that the knife is in the back of the former colleages, friends and party members of QD's constituency.

He's a worse addition to your cause (or is it a cult now that their is only one official opinion ) than Harriet Harman - and that's saying something!

Anonymous said...

"He has certainly been semi-detached from the Party for some time"

this seems to be borne out by The Public Whip vote map - he seems to have drifted away from the rest of the party over the years ...

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mpsee.php