Sunday, September 30, 2007

Conference Diary Day 1

1230 There was a time when the opening speech of the conference by the Party Chairman was a must for all those attending. Today the hall is a quarter full. I'm sitting here listening to a discussion chaired by Caroline Spelman with the devolved Tory leaders. Someone really needs to sort the sound out. Truly terrible. Off to a fringe.

1200 Hague delivers a barnstormer of a speech - full house.

11am The nightmare for any conference organiser is that the entire sound system fails. Cue the sound system failing.

*10am Spotted on a flight from Gatwick to Manchester, none other than Francis Maude. Just as well Dave junked the Gummer/Goldsmith air taxes this morning, isn't it?
* Dizzy is not a happy boy. He is not thinking, he's just apoplectic. Despite having sent his pass application to Fingerprint Events in early July, he remains pass-less. ConservativeHome reported yesterday that the Police had processed all passes. This morning Dizzy was told: "Your pass is still with the Police". Is history repeating itself?

* Who should I run into in the queue for passes but none other than The Brute (Bruce Anderson)? "Thoroughly brilliant column in the Telegraph on Friday," he barked. "Jolly good stuff". Should I be worried?

THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED DURING THE COURSE OF THE DAY

26 comments:

Chris Paul said...

Bruce Anderson should be worried. Old boy's clearly lost his marbles.

Unknown said...

Andy Jug Ears did a pathetic interview with the Donkey

Hope Adam can do better, it's funny the BBC Interviews are now just so bland..
Think it's because they are all doing Celebrity instead of sticking to their craft which was Politics..

Miss old Frostie

HH

Unsworth said...

Just keep your back to the wall at all times...

Take nothing at face value!

@molesworth_1 said...

i could not help but chuckle at the guffaws from Adam, yourself & the other guest (sorry, did not catch name) on Sky just now following Ali Miraj's somewhat combative assertion that "we will fight them and we will win!"
he is, i suppose, half right!

Anonymous said...

Dave should call back Maude to sort it out.

barry monk said...

I have been catching up on my reading, and have only just realized that Sir Derek Wanless, who advised Gordon Brown five years ago how to spend all that extra money on the NHS (our money, may I remind you) and who recently (in a King's Fund report) told us that most of it has been wasted, is also, in his spare time a non-executive director of the Northern Rock bank.

Northern Rock is a salutory reminder that much of NuLabour's reputation for financial prudence is a fig leaf; indeed the party itself is hardly an example of financial prudence. Perhaps we should start calling it NuLabourLite.

Comments please

Anonymous said...

For Barry Monk.

Wanless was not just a NE director, he chaired their RISK MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE. HMG just paniced when it saw the damage that could be done to the Labour party and used taxpares money to bail out the NR for PARTY interest. And then spun that the Gov'nor of the BoE was to blame! Also note that Wanless was, I believe, Chairman of Nat West untilit got into trouble and was taken over by the RBS

Anonymous said...

Passes still missing and sound system not working.Sound familiar?

Unknown said...

Iain won the tie contest today folks clear winner..

HH

Anonymous said...

Why the f*ck aren't you taking the train you lazy bastard ?! You could use it to read 'The Revenge Of Gaia' by James Lovelock to gain a bit of an understanding about what your Audi and other non-sustainable transport is doing to this planet !!!!

You have wiped out the benefit from Boris cycling to work for years !!!!

Anonymous said...

Has anyone noticed - every time the BBC does news on the tories conference, a labour minister or spokesperson has the opportunity to reply in a deroga"tory" fashion at the end. I never saw a tory responding to the matters of the labour conference.
The BBC has been nobbled by New Labour.

Anonymous said...

I predict with certainty that all next week you will see the BBC political programmes having either a Labour Minister or Labour MP to pass derogatory criticism of any Tory policy plans. As a previous contributor said - I don't remember any Tory politicians being invited to do the same to Labour.

Impartial. "My ar*e !"

Anonymous said...

So, David Cameron was just interviewed by Andrew Marr on the BBC. He was very charming - unlike Gordon Brown who appeared on Andrew Marr recently.

DC says he would like to see a general election - he says bring it on.

I agree with DC - we do need change in this country - but can the Tory Party deliver?

Andrew Marr brought up two points that have always concerned me.

Sayweeda Warsi. She will continue to be a thorn in Cameron's side. I'll never understand why he promoted someone like her. It sends out a signal that the Tories haven't progressed. Warsi openly denounces homosexuals - she supports section 28, she is against the equal age of consent and she is against all sex education is schools. And she refuses to apologise for it.

Point 1) Sayeeda Warsi's latest faux pas:
______
Quote:
"BNP voters' views 'legitimate'

A Tory frontbencher risked igniting a race row by claiming that BNP voters have "some very legitimate views" on immigration and crime.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the shadow community cohesion minister, made the potentially incendiary comments in an interview with the Independent on Sunday. "
____

That woman is a huge liability to David Cameron. He should sack her now.

Point 2)
David Cameron endorsed proposals that would see the Tories go into the next election promising to favour married couples through the tax system. This includes all the green taxes raised.

This is direct discrimination - it's fundamentally wrong - it's a seriously flawed idea. DC should be in favour of tax neutral proposals and redress the balance.

Most people will agree that marriage is a good thing - it's just not a politicians job to 'get involved' with private relationships. Define the meaning of family? Many people don't have 'perfect' lives, through no fault of their own.

The 'back to basics - family values' approach is dangerous territory. I am married and I think marriage is a good thing - but I don't want a tax break because of it. What does Cameron say to the widow or the abandoned partner? Is that their fault? Is that fair? No.

DC continues to moralise about marriage - I suggest DC calms down on the marriage tax break front - before he puts off any more swing voters.

Laurence Boyce said...

Someone really needs to sort the sound out.

No comment :)

Anonymous said...

Some shocking anti-Tory bias on the Boulton & Co blog. Jokes about hearing aids and splits. I hope you'll be complaining Iain.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree about Boulton & Co - it's disgraceful but, perhaps, reflects Adam's true colours...

Anonymous said...

Left-wing media bias from Rupert Murdoch? You're having a giraffe!

Anonymous said...

Despite the general pro-Labour bias of much of the media there's been some excellent coverage of the Tory conference so far.

Cameron has come across very well in interviews in contrast to Brown's fidgeting, shiftiness, and general moroseness.

Hague's speech was powerful and brought home the message that Brown is basically dishonest and untrustworthy and has been largely responsible for today's mess in the NHS, Iraq, the growing economic problems etc.

Other shadow cabinet members, MP's and party members have come across well and I'm sure this positive publicity will be reflected in the polls later this week.

Brown has a real fight on his hands and after today will, I feel, be having grave doubts about calling an election this year.

Oscar Miller said...

Just saw an interview with Alec Salmond on the Politics Show looking smug as well he might. He observed that Gordon may be 'hoist with his own petard' with his election shenanigans. What started out as a game of 'bait the tories' is turning into a bandwagon he can't stop. By hanging everything on the Tory conference and Cameron's speech Brown has backed himself into a corner that a more relaxed and confident leader would never do. If he'd played a more laid back hand he could genuinely have called a surprise snap election if things had gone his way, but as Hague has pointed out that is no longer an option. He's now sent the extraordinarily weak message that the Conservative conference is dictating the timing of the election. A week really is a long time in politics and things could look very different come Friday.

Anonymous said...

So why did Hague time his speech at the same time as the chairman?

Anonymous said...

So what are you suggesting Billy Hague is guilty of doing?

Anonymous said...

Why is this post arse-about-face? Are we supposed to read it the wrong way round, or from right to left in a darsi-de-farsi style ?

Benny said...

I bet this conference turns into a big sexfest.

Anonymous said...

Canvas..

What are you on? Try and address the facts if you are going to libel somebody.

YOU SAY..

Warsi says,
BNP voters have "some very legitimate views"

On her own website Warsi says, (of Abu Hamza and Nick Griffin):

"BOTH preached hate. Both tried to divide our society. Both were shunned by the majority. And both stood trial for their despicable views"

That's fairly clear, even for an idiot to understand.

YOU SAY:
"Warsi openly denounces homosexuals"

No, you are wrong again..that is a generalisation. What she says, in her own words is,

"Labour has scrapped section 28 which was introduced by the Conservatives to stop schools promoting alternative sexual lifestyles such as homosexuality to children as young as seven years old,"

"Schools are allowed and do promote homosexuality and other alternative sexual lifestyles to your children.

"Labour reduced the age of consent for homosexuality from 18 to 16 allowing school children to be propositioned for homosexual relationships."
That sounds pretty reasonable to me as it's not yet compulsory in this country to think or believe that homosexuality is preferable or normal.

It seems to me, from your ill-informed comments and your wet liberal views on families that you are just the sort of voter that Dave, in his wisdom is looking to recruit, except for one major flaw; You are New Labour through and through.

Unknown said...

Billy Hague is guilty of polishing his head ..Sky News did a superb close-up

HH

Anonymous said...

samuel piffydwarf says:
"It seems to me, from your ill-informed comments and your wet liberal views on families that you are just the sort of voter that Dave, in his wisdom is looking to recruit, except for one major flaw; You are New Labour through and through."
--------

Warsi's right wing views are seriously out of touch - and they are usually pretty offensive. It is only a matter of time before her big mouth gets her the sack. She is a liability to DC.

I might vote for Cameron. I certainly won't be voting for Brown and Labour.