Friday, July 06, 2007

Telegraph Column: Weathering the Brown Storm


After a fortnight of remorseless battering, Tory MPs at last have a spring in their step. Gordon Brown's lacklustre performance at PMQs on Wednesday proved to them that the new Prime Minister is far from infallible. One Tory MP walked out of the chamber clenching his fist and shouting "Game on"!

On their own, one dodgy performance by Brown and one good performance by David Cameron mean nothing, but perception is everything in politics, and if these performances are repeated in the three remaining PMQs before the summer recess, Brown's honeymoon will be over almost before it has begun.

Brown had an impressive debut week as PM. Until PMQs, he had hit the right note, both in his response to the terror attacks and his reshuffle. It wasn't until his statement on constitutional issues that the wheels started to come off, and all because he reverted to type.

Forget all the consensual, government of all the talents guff: leopards do not change their spots and politicians who try to be something they patently are not get found out. Cameron's strategy of watching with wry amusement as the New Gordon Brown was marketed to the nation was right. But now he has drawn blood, he should go in for the kill.

Just as Brown is considered a control freak, Cameron is seen to be "policy-lite". In fact, it is Cameron's biggest PR failure that he has allowed this perception to fester: there is actually a raft of policies that Cameron himself has announced.

These policies include the setting up of a pensions lifeboat fund, a 3p reduction in business taxes, the abolition of stamp duty on shares, no more closures of special schools, a Bill on NHS independence, abolishing many NHS targets, reducing carbon emissions, the abolition of ID cards, the introduction of border police, a Bill of Rights, scrapping the council tax revaluation, a referendum on the new EU treaty… you get the picture.

Next week, Iain Duncan Smith's social justice commission will publish its report and the following week David Cameron will publish the globalisation commission report while on a trip to Rwanda, while 40 Tory MPs, candidates and officials will work on 20 "social responsibility projects" throughout the country.

The public services, economic competitiveness, security and environment commissions will all report by the middle of September. Hundreds of people have been involved in working on these policy groups and they are producing work of real substance.

Over the summer, the findings of all the commissions will be analysed by Oliver Letwin's team, and the party will have the opportunity to debate them at conference. A website will contain all the policy recommendations and a forum to allow party supporters to debate the findings. In November, final decisions will be made on which policies will form the basis of a full manifesto.

An interesting, but little commented-on, aspect of David Cameron's shadow cabinet reshuffle was the appointment of William Hague and Francis Maude to roles in policy development. Maude's "enforcer" role is an important one, for it is he who will develop a strategy for implementing policy when in government.

Once Cameron has cherry-picked the recommendations, it will be Maude's job to ensure that the shadow cabinet gets to grips with them quickly.

It is clear that Cameron is gearing up for an election. Caroline Spelman's appointment shows that the role of party chairman will become more political and less organisational. This is balanced by the return of two former officials, Stephen Gilbert and Gavin Barwell.

Their re-emergence will be welcomed by party agents and campaigners. They will continue to plan the target-seats campaign with Lord Ashcroft, whose remit has also been widened to focus on building a campaigning organisation.

Normal politics won't resume until after the party conferences. By then, we will have a much better idea of the policy and election battleground.

109 comments:

  1. Harold Wilson was in a no hope position for PM yet turned his fortunes completely around with ace performances at the despatch box.

    Broon you're doomed :)

    Auntie Flo'

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another reason to celebrate:

    The BBC News website claims that Blair is hugely popular because his message to Sarkozy in French got about 370,000 viewings on YouTube.


    Boris Johnson V Germany has to date well over 868,000 viewings.

    Or, as Simon Cowell would say,

    Boris is number 1!

    Auntie Flo'

    ReplyDelete
  3. A week is a long time in politics, is it not?
    After the euphoria of finally getting the top job, Gordon is suddenly having panic attacks.
    He was obviously nervous about his first big test in PMQs, but he was persuaded that everything would fall into place.
    Oh Jesus, it was awful, wasn't it?
    Nerves took over and he was stuttering and farting and losing the plot. Even Ming put him down with the "trap door" riposte.
    So what next?
    Well, he can send out a few upbeat press releases. He can go up to Hull and look concerned as looters take over the flooded areas, but he's thinking: "Oh fuck, PMQs next Wednesday, and that slimey fucker Cameron is going make me look bad again.
    It's not fair. I've only been in the job for a fortnight.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great news! Auntie Flo' is here again. The Tories must be on the way back

    Good article Iain - even though it was heavily edited by the DT subs.

    Spot on about Gordon's inability to become another sort of leopard. Over the next three weeks of PMQs Cameron should drip feed nuggets of the sort of thinking that is emerging from his policy commission reports. Get Brown to make instaneous responses and store them for the future.

    Let's hope David Cameron reads the Telegraph!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thats your best yet Iain and an article that has a significant place in the Daily Telegraph. Heffers and Daleys have painted themselves into a corner from which they cannot offer serious considered support for the Conservative Party . They may be diverting but the majority of readers in fact want to be rid of Labour and know perfectly well that to let Brown in for the sake of this or that quibble would be madness. Your tone has authority balance and a nerve steadying sanity that is just what we need.
    You seem to have a remit for a what you might call reportage from the trenches while others debate the wider issues and their resonance . I suppose this is because you are seen as expert in the machinery of politics and not a performing opiner. Personally I would like to see you bring your intimate knowledge of process to bear on moral and particularly constitutional issues where you might adopt a more expansive style . For the subject matter you are dealing , however , I cannot see how it could be bettered .

    Fine work

    (Not that I know anything about it ..of course)


    Hi Flo

    XX

    ReplyDelete
  6. These policies include the setting up of a pensions lifeboat fund, a 3p reduction in business taxes, the abolition of stamp duty on shares, no more closures of special schools, a Bill on NHS independence, abolishing many NHS targets, reducing carbon emissions, the abolition of ID cards, the introduction of border police, a Bill of Rights, scrapping the council tax revaluation, a referendum on the new EU treaty...

    Wow. I knew those ID cards were expensive, but are they really going to pay for all that? Individually, many of those are fine proposals (though some are meaningless - "reducing carbon emissions" how? - and some are mistaken). But taken together they don't add up - they are either additional costs, reductions in revenue or cost-neutral. It's not being policy-lite that is the problem, it is the suspicion that what lies at the heart of his project is pure expediency, little principle, and precious little coherence. Make the right noises to get elected, regardless of whether it stacks up. That is my impression of the Cameron philosophy.

    And don't fall back on the Laffer-Curve benefit - the last refuge of the political scoundrel trying to make his figures add up. No one can predict or quantify it. Show where you make the savings to enable the tax-cuts, and then bank the Laffer-Curve benefits as a bonus that allows you to go further - that is the only credible way to tackle Leviathan. Otherwise, he is just Dubya with a posh accent.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You are very out of touch if you think PMQs has any relevance at all. It's a malaise the Westminster village can fall into ...

    ReplyDelete
  8. This should come as no suprise as we have only ever seen Brown making pre prepared statements.

    He was very very poor at PMQs.

    Lets hope the Tories start to actually oppose at every turn.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cameron is most certainly "policy-lite", in the best/worst Blair tradition. He is not a leader, any more than the Perpetual N2 man Broony is.

    The fear is that a Churchill, only a grovel-to-the-EU variety, like a Sutherland will emerge from nowhere and sweep to power.

    Britain, quite frankly, has the lwoest quality leadership seen for decades.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The BBC keeps prattling on about the "new government" to try an gull the gullible but this isn't a "new" government just a shuffling of the deckchairs. The "changed" Gordon Brown is the same guy that has been in the most influential position within the Blair Administration for a decade and 3 years prior to that in opposition and as his supporters never tired of telling us was "the real PM" during that time overseeing every piece of domestic legislation.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Swallows and summer.Boy scouts should still be aware of cluncking fists.Nice try to boost Dave but it falls well short of the real world outside the "village".
    Hague was good in the House but how many elections did it win?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Why not abolish the NHS Computer Project while you are at it ? Tories have a disastrous record on Computer Projects too - Passport Office, Immigration Service, National Insurance Agency, Child Support Agency......and the Inland Revenue contract with EDS was no great shakes either

    So there is no reason to believe a Tory Government could make the NHS Project work - save some money and write it off

    ReplyDelete
  13. percentage of population who watch or could give a toss about PMQs= 00000.9%

    Last time Tories got all exicited about PMQs? 1)Hague versus Blair
    2)Howard versus Blair

    ReplyDelete
  14. a fair list of policies, but still no commitment to solve the West Lothian problem.

    No commitment for an English Parliament.

    No commitment to restore the rights of individuals specifically lost within Blairs 26000 new laws.

    No commitment for total transparancy of Parliament, by publishing everything created or held by government unless it falls within the National Security arena.

    Basic stuff. Until he does, he still has not won my vote.

    ReplyDelete
  15. He also needs to commit to repealing laws that allow every Tom, Dick and Harry into my home without a warrant.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Why abolish shares stamp duty?
    That must be a nice little earner and abolishing it hardly a vote winner.

    He would do far better to look at Stamp Duty Land Tax and raise the 1% threshold way above £125,000 to reflect a realistic view of current house prices. It wouldn't cost him much and he should be raking it back on the 3% and 4% bands anyway. To be even more popular a new 5% band on houses above £1 million would would go down well.

    On the same subject he could make inheritance tax more reasonable too.

    He needs to start winning votes from the general public, not Stock Brokers.

    ReplyDelete
  17. "One Tory MP walked out of the chamber clenching his fist and shouting "Game on"!"

    Yeah, it was Cameron.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Did anyone else see Ken Clarke on Channel 4 News last night laying into Brown's record? Pure class! KC showed that Gordon cannot claim that Independence for the Bank Of England has been a great idea when he has undermined their attempts to tackle inflation by all his fiscal shenanigans. GB released the interest rate levers of power whilst keeping the tax & spend powers. By spraying money around like mad, money raised on debt - he has criminally fuelled inflation and undermined the Bank Of England's actions. Clarke was pure class - attacking Brown where he is supposed to be strongest - undermining his supposed credentials for economic stability/probity. Chickens coming home to roost, Gordon!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Newmania wrote in his usual florid prose - 'Personally I would like to see you bring your intimate knowledge of process to bear on moral and particularly constitutional issues where you might adopt a more expansive style'.

    I'm not sure Iain dale is the total all-rounder. He is so good at the detail that he often misreads the bigger picture. He occasionally offends his readership be expressing opinions which jar.

    For example? I watched the now famous PMQ's after reading iain's blog on it, and thought Ming did well with his 'trap door' rejoinger. I've noticed one or two similar.

    It's like Iain has a strong view as to what is happening and going to happen, and this colours his perception too much. He'd be less than human if he got it all right, if he didn't have strong views and less interesting to read.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Pity we haven't got an opposition leader or shadow treasury who can do that.

    ReplyDelete
  21. should have put glasses on!

    rejoinger.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Now if Cameron would only commit to a full inquiry into Iraq if he were elected, even I would vote for him!

    ReplyDelete
  23. See Ashcroft and his team of failed cchq hacks are moving back in.Are they preparing for the "second coming"?

    ReplyDelete
  24. "It is clear that Cameron is gearing up for an election".


    But when Ian?

    ReplyDelete
  25. I think to base your optimism on one duff PMQ by Brown is ludicrous, Brown will never be a great parliamentary performer, he shouldn't even try. Voters will not be basing their GE choice on PMQ impressions, they'll have other things on their minds.

    ReplyDelete
  26. @ CCTV:

    Personally I don't understand the hysteria around a central NHS computer system. Many European countries have had one for many years. In fact, when my friend from Finland heard about this, she honestly couldn't believe that we didn't have a central system already and called us 'well behind the times'.

    ReplyDelete
  27. You forgot to mention the following vote winning tory policy that Davy has just come up with

    'EQUAL CITIZENSHIP' - of the United Kingdom for the people of England ;

    The average amount of public spending per head in England will be set at the same level as that in Scotland.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous said...
    July 06, 2007 9:25 AM Said..
    Is being equal to the scots, demotion, promotion or bullocks.
    Who the hell is Charlie Elphicke, anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  29. This is one of the best columns I've read in months. Love a bit of optimism. Good stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Tapestry said

    "I'm not sure Iain dale is the total all-rounder..... He occasionally offends his readership be expressing opinions which jar."

    I don't always agree with Ian but to suggest his readership has always to agree with him is the mark of a simple view of the world.

    How do you learn if you are not open to new - and differing - opinions?

    Look at Gordon Brown for an example. Neither he nor Tony Blair got where they are today by following Labour orthodoxy...

    (pity but that's life!)

    I have high hopes GB will lose it cos he is in a job where it is not possible to control everything:-))

    ReplyDelete
  31. Personally I don't understand the hysteria around a central NHS computer system. Many European countries have had one for many years. In fact, when my friend from Finland heard about this, she honestly couldn't believe that we didn't have a central system already and called us 'well behind the times'.

    Finland is a tiny country with 5 million people and a land area 50% bigger than the UK....it is a different matter from a nation of 62 million if only from the standpoint of database size.

    The complexity of keeping 62 million records updated and secure is impossible within the NHs and before long medical records would leak into the public domain.

    In a clause in the 2000 Health Act Milburn gained powers for the Secretary of State to divert health records to anyone he chose without informing the patient.......thus health records could be transferred to drug companies in the USA where data protection rules are lax.....or they could be available to anyone whose relative works in the NHS and knows the simple passwords.

    It is an invitation for people to check on employees to see which prospective nurse has had an abortion or other matters - any NHS employing agent can thus check the medical record of any applicant and since all databases under the PRUM Treaty are now available EU-wide it would not take long for Bulgarian police to access any files they need to help them "in their investigations"

    ReplyDelete
  32. Nip over to ConHome.The header reads "the mugs are on the way" over a picture of Osborne,Ashcroft and Spelman.
    Is the chairman happy with her body I wonder?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Excellent piece Iain.

    After the euphoria has died down, I think it will become clear the Brown is not all conquering as we have been led to believe.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Sadly,neither is Eton Dave.

    ReplyDelete
  35. We (that is me and an unknown number of others who think like me) don't want normal politics resumed.
    Bin there, seen that!
    We want parliamentary democracy to be re-established, and not Cameron as Blair Mark 2.
    We want Blair tried in The Hague on the Nuremburg charge of conspiracy to wage war.
    We want a royal commission on the question of Who Does What ('Who' being Brussels, Westminster, Devon County Council, and Exeter City Council in my case), and based on its findings strong local government re-established.
    Normal politics must not be resumed.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Policies…. Are you having a laugh

    Pension’s lifeboat fund: No details, No Costings
    A 3p reduction in business taxes: No details, No Costings
    Abolition of stamp duty on shares: Wow, the super rich will be delighted.
    No more closures of special schools: What like Tory run Bham City council who are currently closing them?
    Bill on NHS independence: Vague.
    Abolishing many NHS targets: What so that when a Tory run NHS goes down the toilet, the public will have no data or stats.
    Reducing carbon emissions: Vague, its pretty clear that Dave is an eco phoney.
    The abolition of ID cards: Haven’t even been introduced.
    Introduction of border police: Vague, copper every 100m around the coast..Please.
    Bill of Rights: Vague
    Scrapping the council tax revaluation: Already has been.
    Referendum on the new EU treaty: Will soon be ratified, cannot have a ref on a ratified treaty.

    I sorry to pee all over your bonfire, but these are not exactly ground breaking or inspiring ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  37. One Tory MP walked out of the chamber clenching his fist and shouting "Game on"!

    What a nonce. Game on, a 14% poll lead is gone. I think its Brown who will be clenching his fist and shouting “Game On”.

    I suspect that Tory MP had his tail up after the PMQs exchanges about the Muslin group Hizb ut Tahir. Oh dear 24 hours later it seems that the Tory Party had been writing to this group thanking them for their good work.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Am I florid Tapestry? I thought I my prose was sinewy and discursive. I will immediately study Wittgenstein at his most Gnomic and purge myself of ornament.
    Starting next week.......

    On your point I have sometimes wondered if Iain isn`t a little too lost in the woods to see the trees. He must ask himself if he is to be Pliny the younger or just Lurcio in Brown’s Pompeii... I can see him as Frankie Howard muttering to the audience. Lurcio is never going to be in the Senate , of course, I wonder if Iain will
    Come to think of it with the amount of debt we are sitting on I `m not at all sure that our happy consumerism isn`t about as deluded as the Pompeians as ignoring Vesuvius.
    On the timing of the election the timing of the boundary commissions work has always seemed crucial I was astonished at favoured Labour currently are by the inequitable distribution of Constituencies. I thought the Conservative Party were due another 30 or so seats but when is this to take place?Brown mus surely take this into account

    ReplyDelete
  39. One of the most interesting thinks I have noticed over the past week, is “Camera On” putting on his serious face… it’s the funniest and most fake attempt at being prime ministerial I have ever seen

    ReplyDelete
  40. AgreedBrown fluffed his lines at PMQs. However what cameron was after was a knee jerk populist call for the immediate banning of another silly Moslem organisation. This wasn't really considered policy making. At the very least if it is wise to ban the group it is something that should be done after consideration not immediately after these attacks, unles there were some actual evidence of a link. It does not sit well with Cameron's claim to be a liberal trusting in freedom, nor indeed to the "control freak" image of Brown.

    The real winner was Reid for his "assistance" to his leader.

    ReplyDelete
  41. The honeymoon ends in August.

    Have you noticed that Gordon Brown purses his lips when he is being 'insincere'?

    ReplyDelete
  42. Have you noticed “Camera Ons” lips are moving when he is being insincere.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Brown is frankie howerd with his ointment!

    ReplyDelete
  44. dear annon 10.34,

    Well said my friend! I was thinking along the same lines. The poisoned politics of the last 20 odd years must not be allowed to continue!
    On a related point, did you know that the EU are setting up "education camps" to brainwash kids with EU propaganda? How sick is that? That merkel woman used to be head of the East German "agitprop" unit so perhaps she is using her soviet inspired skills to force kids to love the EU?

    ReplyDelete
  45. I like what you say about David Cameron's policies. We should be PATIENT for the specifics - policy making is a long-drawn out business that requires time and deep thinking investigation as time and cirumstance dictate.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Dear Neil Craig,

    I dont think it was a "knee jerk reaction" to call for banning a group that calls for the murder of British troops and the overthrow of our way of life. as I understand it this gang are quite a nasty bunch and given the ongoing threat from the Islamists dont you think it wise to crack down on treasonous behaviour such as they seem to support?

    ReplyDelete
  47. "One Tory MP walked out of the chamber clenching his fist and shouting "Game on"!"
    Nothing if not original then,bet he felt a right pillock after uttering that inane comment.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Tricky if your fighting a Bye election without any policies.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Tories lack an economic policy. It's no good saying "we shall stick to the labour policy". Lib Dems are going to introduce tax cuts.

    Cameron is very anti-business too.

    ReplyDelete
  50. Anonymous said...

    You are very out of touch if you think PMQs has any relevance at all. It's a malaise the Westminster village can fall into ...

    They grasp at straws this lot.Bet most of them never bother to vote.Too busy composing blogs for their little friends to praise.Silly people.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Policies…. Are you having a laugh

    No he is making a slightly more subtle point than you have understood in that policy direction can be imputed form the stances adopted on New(? Is it now ?) Labour`s “thrilling and inspirational” initiatives.


    Costings

    These will only start up the Brown lie machine which we are delighted to pay for and misrepresented as they have been in the past

    Wow, the super rich will be delighted.

    The super rich are already delighted as you will read in the New Statesman this week. Brown has noticed that his revenue from the super rich has increased by taxing less. He is against taxing Private Equity profits as income and is pleased to accept hand outs from some to finance the Smith Institute which operates as his “party within a Party and is under investigation “ . In fact his closest friends are non domiciled. He saves his torture for the middling sorts unable to move either money or selves. I wonder if you think the increase of state managed expenditure from 38% to 45% is was “ground Breaking”.


    Bill on NHS independence: Vague.Abolishing many NHS targets: What so that when a Tory run NHS goes down the toilet, the public will have no data or stats.

    When they are crystal clear they will be stolen and the NHS is already collapsing . It just costs us more . You have noticed how well targets work.....




    Reducing carbon emissions: Vague, its pretty clear that Dave is an eco phoney.

    To who ? Thatcher reduced carbon Emissions more by accident than Blair /Brown have. Not much to beat is there .


    The abolition of ID cards: Haven’t even been introduced.

    Hardly the point .


    Introduction of border police: Vague, copper every 100m around the coast..Please.

    I `m impressed you recognise we have a border at all such has been the Labour cavalier attitude to it . Did you know the second choice Party of 35 % of labour supporters is the BNP. This is why a series of fascistic and racist comments have recently come from Hodge Blears and Brown .
    “ They come `ere , take our jobs , change everything and sneak on the housing list.....” welcome to your labour national Socialist Party







    When was Coucil tax revaluation scrapped ?

    Referendum on the new EU treaty: Will soon be ratified, cannot have a ref on a ratified treaty.

    Yes you missed the point again , see above . How do you feel about an unelected PM signing away the country and lying about what he has done by the way . Proud ?

    I sorry to pee all over your bonfire


    You have not. You sound worried. It must have been unpleasant seeing your hero look so foolish. Get over it

    ReplyDelete
  52. Please explain to me why with
    30, 000 people flooded out of their homes in hull Cameron (and yourself) are off on a jolly to rwanda?
    Are you so out of touch that you think the vast majority of people in this country give a stuff about rwanda?
    more presentational BS

    ReplyDelete
  53. Newmania said...

    Am I florid Tapestry?

    God your boring.Been at the bottle again ?

    ReplyDelete
  54. The Hitch said...

    Please explain to me why

    Hi fatty still eating a bucket of lard a day.Remember lard is good for you.Now buzzzzz off back to Guidos' and post an obscenity or two.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Newmania said...

    Policies…. Are you having a laugh

    It's quality not quantity Newmania.Your posts are more of the quantity not quality variety,much like Veritys'

    ReplyDelete
  56. english democrat said...

    I have been reading your comments here and at Guidos', all boring rants very similar to those of Verity.Your not Verity are you I'll bet you are,your Verity in drag.

    ReplyDelete
  57. On today's "Daily Politics the guest Conservative MP "implied" (it came out as)that their strategy for the time being is to wait for the Government to make mistakes!!.. a negative viewpoint & i'm sure it was not intended as said but it made me wince & other guests were quick to trounce it! The sort of mistake labour will spin.
    The Tories surely must be aggresive & positive.. we have a wide open goal at present..it may not last too long

    ReplyDelete
  58. NHS Blair targets enable or make probable recruitment of low grade doctors. All the terrorists to date were refused jobs in Australia as not being well enough qualified.(today's Daily Mail)

    In Britain, if managers recruit the required numbers of doctors, a few dead patients here and there doesn't hit the media radar screen. Targets are all that matter. As the saying goes, doctors bury their mistakes.

    Problem is that some low grade doctors seem to have their own targets - us.

    I'd like to compete with Newmania's erudite flourishes which he disclaims as 'sinewy and discursive'. It must be fun to write like that. He gives the impression of verbal and general amplitude while expressing his opinions concisely.

    ReplyDelete
  59. The Hitch may be right that your mission to Rwanda will not produce any good result but it will be educational for you and the others and may help you to understand why Africa will always be a basket-case.

    He is wrong to criticize you for going whilst the clear up after the floods is in progress - you are not in Government.

    Tony Blair took off for his many free overseas holidays irrespective of what was happening and he was Prime Minister!
    Brown will spend the holidays in Britain like a sensible man.

    An aside - is John Prescott still MP for Hull? Why is he so quiet about the predicament of his constituents?

    Victor

    ReplyDelete
  60. That merkel woman used to be head of the East German "agitprop" unit

    within the Academy of Sciences....

    ReplyDelete
  61. Amusingly, Tories think taskforces are as good as, if not better than, polices.

    Policies must relate to beliefs and objectives. Without objectives any "policy" is mere posturing.

    The Boy Dave wants to be PM. That is all.

    "..politicians who try to be something they patently are not get found out.."

    So true.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Tories think taskforces are as good as, if not better than, polices.

    So did Tony...it is pure NuLabour

    ReplyDelete
  63. I will judge Brown on what he does politically, not how he comes across on camera at PMQ's. To be honest the idea of an MP punching the air and exclaiming 'Game on!' is extremely cringeworthy and would be regardless of what political party they were from...

    ReplyDelete
  64. Never underestimate the gullibility of the Great British electorate ! The BBC is pushing Gordon and his "new" government for all their worth and at every opportunity. It's as if the last 10 years never happened !

    Remind me . Wasn't Gordon a member of the non-person Blair's Cabinet ?

    ReplyDelete
  65. Labour party, and their media friends, only bang on about Tory policies so they can be announced, then Labour can steal them and Heath Robinsonise their introduction just like everything else they've touched.

    Patience, let Prudence implode, I suspect that if you substitute the words Blair and Brown in following sentence you won't be far from the truth; "Clough was never as successful without Taylor and vice versa."

    ReplyDelete
  66. Anonymous said...

    Never underestimate the gullibility of the Great British electorate ! The BBC is pushing Gordon and his "new" government for all their worth and at every opportunity.

    Why would they do it ? You really believe if it were true a mole or two would not be selling their story to The Daily Mail by now ? your just plain daft.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Just watch the 'bogeyman' youtube file on guido and try to imagine the great British public falling for the BBC's determination to sell Gordon Brown.

    Blair was improbable. Their apparatchick selected to betray Britain this time is hysterical. We are the laughing stock of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Listen to yourselves. You are truly all in the land of delusion. A Tory supporter writes a rosey article about the Tories in the Torygraph ( paper that no one reads ), and this has given you all a boost of over confident belief in your cause. How naive can you get. PMQs happened on Wednesday, and you are still going on about it, no one cares about a competition in the commons. It starts at mid day, while the population are all at work (Yes work, Tories). The last PMQs was only special because it was the new PMs first. The previous PMQs was also special as it was the out going PMs final appearance at the despatch box. The next 20 PMQs will pass with little comment, yet you die hard blues noses have got the idea in your heads that a lacklustre performance by a new PM on is first appearance has put the next election in your bag.. How stupid can you actually be? Hague always did well at PMQs as did IDS, but it means nothing. Two weeks ago you were deriding the analogy that he was a clucking fist, the cluck hasnt materialised and you ridicule about his lack of cluck. As Quentin Davis pointed out, “Conservatives under Camdo are always two facing”

    ReplyDelete
  69. It's quality not quantity Newmania.Your posts are more of the quantity not quality variety,much like Veritys'

    Oh elegantly put anon bravo.Oh alright , I really really don’t like you either or something ...yawn. Other people get proper stalkers and what do I get a couple of mental pygmies mewing like frightened kittens

    I deserve better !!!



    Twenty More Years -. I noticed Brian Cathcart the other day reheating the Labour fatuity that the BBC has to be biased to counteract the right wing Press. What right wing press? The Independent , the Guardian , The Mirror are all left , the Mail is pro Brown and the Telegraph is so UKIP it is more of a hindrance . That is why I relished Iain`s solid support for David Cameron.. Conservatives have become the daring radicals shunned by the media , the heroes of the new underground . The BBC is getting worse . I cannot say how much I enjoy the spectacle of Scottish Socialist Andrew Marr serving up grovelling delicacies for Gordon to feast on.

    Jimbo – What do you mean by “Yes work Tories”. We do work . otherwise how would you benefits and public sector sinecures be paid ? Silly.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Tongue tied Gordon is so used to bullying and getting his own way that democracy has come as something of a culture shock to him. The man of such substance completely humiliated by a supposed lightweight toff? the shame! look on the bright side Broonites, Harriet can always stand in for him! Good to see John Reid showing the pleading wounded and whimpering Brown how it's done too.

    ReplyDelete
  71. Brown's nae match fit.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Newmania said...

    It's quality not quantity Newmania.Your posts are more of the quantity not quality variety,much like Veritys'

    Oh elegantly put anon bravo.Oh alright , I really really don’t like you either or something ...yawn. Other people get proper stalkers and what do I get a couple of mental pygmies mewing like frightened kittens

    I deserve better !!!



    Twenty More Years -. I noticed Brian Cathcart the other day reheating the Labour fatuity that the BBC has to be biased to counteract the right wing Press. What right wing press? The Independent , the Guardian , The Mirror are all left , the Mail is pro Brown and the Telegraph is so UKIP it is more of a hindrance . That is why I relished Iain`s solid support for David Cameron.. Conservatives have become the daring radicals shunned by the media , the heroes of the new underground . The BBC is getting worse . I cannot say how much I enjoy the spectacle of Scottish Socialist Andrew Marr serving up grovelling delicacies for Gordon to feast on.

    Jimbo – What do you mean by “Yes work Tories”. We do work . otherwise how would you benefits and public sector sinecures be paid ? Silly.

    Remember you are a very boring poster and we don't want you to keep posting.Do you understand me Newmania ? Well do you ?

    ReplyDelete
  73. "Screwed up the British economy for years to come by drowning it in debt to fuel an unsustainable boom based on borrowing to spend....

    Who dear, me dear, no dear.....that must have been someone else dear.

    How very very dare you!!!!"

    ReplyDelete
  74. tapestry said...

    Just watch the 'bogeyman' youtube file on guido

    That's the best the Tory Party can come up with is it ? We have this silly video.The voters will flock to you in droves.That's what the voters want alright,a video.Dafter than a brush lad,dafter than a brush.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Jimbo said...

    Listen to yourselves. You are truly all in the land of delusion. A Tory supporter writes a rosey article about the Tories in the Torygraph ( paper that no one reads ),

    I read it once Jimbo,just the once.

    ReplyDelete
  76. I don't work.

    There's no point as I pay enough tax on my income anyway. Since Gordon Brown converted National Insurance into a tax, it hasn't been worth working for a living. It's only worth making capital gains. It's not only Private Equity that's spotted that one. The same rules apply to the whole country. You can pay 64% tax or 10%. Now let me think....

    My brother doesn't work either.

    But for different reasons. Gordon Brown's tax credits are so generous that he loses so much benefit if he works, it's not worth the risk of jeaopardising it. He has 6 children which is unusual I admit, but he's university educated, fit and healthy but sees no point in fighting Gordon's generosity.

    I don't know what he votes. He's never discussed it. But if it was Tory, then you can see why Tories and anyone else might not work with Gordon Brown running the country.

    He claims to be eradicating poverty. As far as I can see, he's not doing that. He's eradicating work.

    ReplyDelete
  77. I see saddo "Mike" the Brownite troll has crawled out from under his stone again.

    ReplyDelete
  78. Brron materialized on both the breakfast TV slots this morning. Evidently he is a worried man.

    ReplyDelete
  79. A timely and first rate article Iain.

    ReplyDelete
  80. NHS Independence ? Bollox - this will be an excuse to farm out unpopular decisions to unelected quangos with no possibility of holding politicians to account, or voting them out, if they get it wrong.

    Can you imagine if the NHS was made 'independent' under the control of Patricia Hewitt, except she wasn't an MP and couldn't be 're-shuffled' ?

    One of the most ridiculous ideas I've ever heard.

    ReplyDelete
  81. stop Newmania posting please said...

    Ah bless , I have an admirer. Lets see ....how do we keep the ball rolling here. Here goes


    "On the contrary anonymous adolescent I am thrilling and attractive and I wouldn1t think of depriving you of the great pleasure of learning at my feet . Oh go on please do your little girl running up to her bedroom “ Your so Boooooring “ shtick again. Its charming in an infantile way. Unfortunately filthy trade requires my attention but I `ll look in later to see if you’ve managed to be funny.

    Go on you can do it !!!Say something "interesting "

    ReplyDelete
  82. FOA NEW MANIA

    Jimbo – What do you mean by “Yes work Tories”. We do work . otherwise how would you benefits and public sector sinecures be paid ? Silly.

    July 06, 2007 2:24 PM

    What I mean by ( Yes work, Tories )is that people, the population, the masses are at WORK at 12:00 on a wednesday; as oppossed to being on the dole during Tory years of power.

    ReplyDelete
  83. If the masses were on the dole during the Conservative Govt years, how come we left such a good economic legacy to Blair/Brown?

    The fact are that Thatcher had to take a tough line to clear up the sh*t left by Wilson/Heath/Callaghan - maybe you are too young to remember what the UK was like in the 70's - we were the laughing stock of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  84. For once I find myself in agreement with the hitch.

    ReplyDelete
  85. Jimbo -

    Unemployment was caused by the misguided policies of the Callaghan period and successive socialists of both Parties .The reconstitution of the economy was a painful necessity and the measures introduced have not been amended by Blair /Brown . Unemployment was already coming down fast in the Major period .With 5500,000 people of working age now collecting benefits the true level of unemployment is rising fast as is inflation .Its taken a while but we are back to stagflation even in a booming global economy. Debt is soaring and interest rates punishing.
    Expect the Brown backlash soon


    Hey where’s my fan gone ? I `m waiting for his “interesting “ comment. Go on , don`t be shy

    ReplyDelete
  86. Ah Judith those long golden years of no lights , uncollected rubbish , dead bodies unburied , the three day week, 25% inmfaltion and goverment by Union

    The good old days

    ReplyDelete
  87. Did you know the second choice Party of 35 % of labour supporters is the BNP

    I don't know where this figure comes from, but if true (and I can believe it), it sheds an uncomfortable light on the "alternative vote" electoral reform that Brown is said to be considering, and which I was starting to find attractive.

    Brown's nae match fit.

    Are you Andrew Neill, or do you just like regurgitating his imagery?

    ReplyDelete
  88. Met David Cameron at a reception in Liverpool last night and he was absolutely brilliant ! He spoke unscripted for 40 minutes and took questions from people from all over Merseyside, without hesitation, giving logical and sraightforward answers . A refreshing change from the NuLab lying spinmeisters! Anyone who doubts that this man is capable of being a great Prime Minister should take the time to listen to him, particularly the Right wing Tory doubters ! After he finished the reception he then addressed the CBI at St Georges Hall and received a rapturous welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  89. particularly the Right wing Tory doubters

    Doubters are per se right wing

    OR

    only right wing Tories doubt him

    Unclear about your logic

    ReplyDelete
  90. Brown is clearly a worried man.

    He might well be with record private debt of over £1.3trillion, growing defaults, repossessions, and bankruptcies, a huge expanding black hole in the public accounts, a growing record trade deficit, inflation out of control, rising interest rates, cracks appearing in the housing market bubble, growing signs of a retail recession etc etc

    The economy Brown presided over and helped to create is drowning in unsustainable levels of debt. Massive debt, which is the only thing that has kept his pyramid scheme alive for the past few years.

    The whole Enron-like, hollowed-out mess of an economy is unsustainable for much longer and the pain of stagflation now looks increasingly inevitable for the UK.

    Yes, it's no wonder that Brown has that burned-out, haunted look about him today. His "economic miracle" is on the edge of meltdown and he won't get away with blaming the oil price, "global factors", or Alistair Darling, much as he will attempt to.

    And he still has to face Cameron for more humiliation four more times at PMQs before he goes on his summer hols.

    Well he asked for it, and now he's got it, but he's clearly not up to it, as some of us realised a long time ago.

    ReplyDelete
  91. The abolition of inheritance tax and gift tax are what is needed.

    We have paid tax at least once on what we earned, and again as we recieve returns when we invest it.

    I will give it to who I choose, and redistribute as I like. And conservatives should help, not prevaricate over this more than anything.

    Angels in Marble Hatfield Girl

    ReplyDelete
  92. Unemployment was caused by the misguided policies of the Callaghan period and successive socialists

    Ah Newmania was too young to remember Edward Heath and is deregulation of credit leading to an inflationary boom and a banking bust...it was Midland that had to be rescued....he left us with a State of Emergency and a 3-day week.....

    as for the 1980s they did introduce us to 3 million out of work until it was decided to transfer millions onto disability benefit where they languished.....latest figures are that we have 2 million + on disability and 26% non-working population in our inner cities.....so not much has changed.

    The 2007 Real Level of Unemployment study, carried out by researchers at Sheffield Hallam University, shows there were 2.6 mln jobless people in the UK in January of this year, compared with the 0.9 mln official claimant count.

    The discrepancy, the Sheffield Hallam researchers say, comes from an estimated 1.7 mln 'hidden unemployed' who are not included in the official figures. These are working-age people who are either on incapacity benefits or who are actively looking for work, but are not claiming benefits.

    'The large fall in claimant unemployment, coupled with the relative invisibility of unemployment on incapacity benefits or off benefits altogether, has created the misleading impression that the unemployment problem is fading away,' the study says.

    'Whereas parts of southern England appear to have reached full employment, the real level of unemployment in extensive parts of northern industrial Britain still exceeds 10 per cent of the working-age population,' they say.

    alex.brittain@thomson.com

    ReplyDelete
  93. http://www.shu.ac.uk/cgi-bin/news_full.pl?id_num=PR316&db=02

    The new report provides an alternative set of unemployment figures for every district in Britain. These show that hidden unemployment is especially widespread in the older industrial areas of the North, Scotland and Wales.

    In Liverpool, Glasgow, Middlesbrough and several of the Welsh Valleys the real rate of unemployment is estimated to exceed 20 per cent. This compares to real rates of unemployment below 3 per cent in parts of southern England.

    The research also shows that although the official unemployment figures have fallen by more than 800,000 since 1997, hidden unemployment has increased by around 200,000.

    The study was led by Prof Steve Fothergill of Sheffield Hallam’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research (CRESR). He commented:

    “Our report challenges the myth that full employment is just around the corner. The official unemployment figures give only a partial view of the labour market and they serve to mislead economic commentators and policy makers.”

    “Labour ministers have often acknowledged that too many people have become parked on benefits like Incapacity Benefit. What they have failed to recognise is the extent to which this hides the real level of unemployment.”

    “What ministers should also recognise is that although some parts of the South do now have very low rates of unemployment, much of the rest of the country is still a long way behind.”
    - ends –

    (1) For further comment contact Tony Gore on 0114 225 3561, Christina Beatty on 0114 225 3539 or the PR team on 0114 225 2074

    (2) Copies of the new report, The Real Level of Unemployment 2002, by Christina Beatty, Stephen Fothergill, Tony Gore and Anne Green can be obtained from CRESR, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield S1 1WB 0114 225 3073.
    Price £15

    ReplyDelete
  94. Brown Storm?

    More like a shit shower.

    ReplyDelete
  95. What you call "Policies" I call managerial details of existing or rather generically agreed policies.

    "Making Things Better" (In our not so humble opinion). Cameron will have to do a lot better than that if he is to be seen as Political.

    The policies he is most known for are NOT TORY. They are just takes on the Neo-Liberal concensus.

    Whereas even in one week Brown is talking real reforms, and more openness in particular.

    Brown's cabinet is generally appreciated as being creative and useful. Beyond the top three Cameron's is seen as mysterious Shadows.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Two more comments:

    1. Iain Dale's take at the time was that Brown was solid and competent and bished Ming. Whatever happened to that analysis. Or was Iain wrong?

    2. Can someone please provide a respectable source for thie second choice = BNP thing. Of literally thousands of people voter iD'd using a professional marketeers script and no leading questions by Manchester Labour this comes out as a second choice on about 1 in 200.

    In fact very very few will state a second preference (though clearly some now iD'ing as Lib Dem or Green with Labour second are liable to return now that Blair has gone).

    Please back up this figure and explain the survey methodology.

    We have had BNP in three recent elections (two by-es and one ward in the LGs) in the first by-election (in and ethnically mixed or patched area) the BNP votes appeared to come 60% from habitual non-voters and the rest from Lab, Lib and Tory.

    In the other two cases there was the same 60% from non voters but the other votes mostly came from the Tories and the Lib, neither of whom put up a proper fight. The BNP did a Lib style campaignin these places.

    More data please. At the moment the stat has the status of "made up by Tory supporter".

    ReplyDelete
  97. That's what it told me to say in the little booklet I received from Labour Party HQ anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  98. JHL and The Hitch agree about something..............!

    ReplyDelete
  99. Chris Paul asked Was Iain wrong?

    Yes Iain was wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  100. Newmania- your comment about public sector workers doing a job which requires little or no effort is possibly one of the most pompous and patronising points I have read in a long time. I think you may have done more with that comment to taint my view of those who call themselves Conservatives than any other comment could have done.

    How nurses and police could POSSIBLY fit in to that description is absolutely beyond me. What a Grade A prat you really are.

    ReplyDelete
  101. your comment about public sector workers doing a job which requires little or no effort is possibly one of the most pompous and patronising points I have read in a long time



    Really you ought to get out a bit . I could look up the relative days taken off , the relative days of striking , the relative hours , the relative incidence of redundancy the relative economic productiveness , ( of course ) if I could be bothered but take my word for it you would not like the result.” Our wonderful fireman” . In fact a racist sinecure requiring no work where most actually do another job and the freebees are handed out amongst local families . The Police … the Met take an average e ,…. that’s “Average” of three weeks sick off a year . used to run the GMP PA scheme and it was a joke . Not the biggest joke however which is the Supply teachers PA scheme shortly followed by the Teachers PA scheme . I `m not really up on nurses but it is quite clear that the huge wads of cash stolen from working people have for the most part disappeared into salaries in the NHS as well as Gold Plated pensions paid for by people whose own have been removed by stealth.

    You may take it as read that I couldn’t give a flying fornicate , what you think and what your views might be . I tell you what I `m looking through some figures now I may do something on it over the weekend if you really think I am a “Prat “why not turn up and see if you know anything about it . It is about time the public sector discovered the bitter resentment of those of us who exist in a world where redundancy is always a client a way towards those who have jobs for life from taxation. State managed expenditure has increased from 38% to 45% over the last ten years and those taxes have flowed into government serdom mostly from crippling indirect taxes on the poor to middling..
    Yes anyone in that sector is guilty until proved innocent . Why do you bleat on about nurses . What is special about them , why are they any better than estate agents , mechanics builders and the rest of the poor fools who pay for it all currently being further priced out of the housing market as their own money is used to buy “Key “ workers (= public sector workers ) houses . You pass a lot of comfortable assumptions around unchallenged and its time you started thinking before you pontificate.

    PS I wasn`t being 100% serious in the first place but you need setting straight. Private charity , great isn`t it.

    Tosser

    ReplyDelete
  102. Newmania:

    Bloody hell!

    Tell us what you really think!

    ReplyDelete
  103. newmania said:

    Thats your best yet Iain ...Personally I would like to see you bring your intimate knowledge of process to bear on moral and particularly constitutional issues where you might adopt a more expansive style...

    Hi Flo


    Hi newmania - and thanks, Diablo - I totally agree - ace piece, Iain, more please!

    Auntie Flo'

    ReplyDelete
  104. English Democrat
    There are certainly arguments for banning the group, though I don't think any governemnt should ban anything without an overwhelming case. My point is that if they weren't banned a couple of weeks ago & if these new terrorists aren't linked to them then banning them would indeed be a knee jerk reaction.

    As with marriage - legislate in haste & repent at leasure.

    ReplyDelete
  105. Utter rubbish Newmania... as per usual I'm afraid;

    You draw upon such selective figures to try and build an argument that ultimately it just betrays your argument as being pretty baseless.

    Striking- you choose the fire service, I'd select the Police. No power to strike regardless of conditions and the Poice Federation has not kicked up a fuss about it despite probably having a good case if they wished to take it to Europe.

    Sickness Days- "Average" of 3 weeks off in the Met... yes, firstly I'd like to see you cite that source and secondly even you should acknowledge that this figure (however debatable) would be seriously shaped by those who are off work long-term due to injury.

    When it comes down to it, you try to allege that people in the public sector are virtually parasitic but truth be told you wouldn't be up to it. You wouldn't be qualified or physically capable of doing any one of the following- nursing, policing, firefighting. Try to convince yourself otherwise but in your job, which I will speculate is a desk-jockeying paper-pushing vocation you do not face the challenges regularly faced by public sector workers and it is probably just as well.

    Even as I refer back to your post I just can't keep track of every incredibly ignorant point you have made- nurses responsible for 'stealing' money from working people; presumably while managing their off-shore bank accounts from some beach in the Carribean.

    Utterly ridiculous post from you I'm afraid. Stick to something you know about (whatever the hell that is).

    ReplyDelete
  106. ..evere felt so in your depth you can`t be arsed to swim ....?

    ReplyDelete
  107. Unfunny witicism is no substitute for knowledge. Good try though.

    ReplyDelete