Howard Confirms Total Capitulation to EU to Resume as Official Tory Party Policy

A report in Ananova on a BBC interview given by the latest interim Conservative Party Leader, one-time Home Secretary to John Major: Michael Howard, highlights these depressing facts:

"I want positive EU role for Britain", says Howard:

a Tory government would take a constructive approach to Britain's membership of the EU:

"We are not going to leave the European Union. I want the UK to remain an important and positive member of the EU," said Mr Howard.

The Tory leader was reluctant to speculate about the approach a Tory government would take to the Constitution if it was already in place.

AND ALL THIS the very day after his own Shadow Defence Secretary (see post immediately below) had stated on the reported defence agreement reached by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Naples at the weekend:

“If this is indeed true, it is catastrophic news for Nato and a betrayal of Britain’s defence interests".

First Signs of Tory life since Howard's Putsch

Nicholas Soames, another name from the Tory Party Past is once again apparently Defence Spokesman and has come out of hibernation, at the weekend no less, to actually say something on the Government having sold out Britain's defences. According to this report from The Scotsman filed at teatime today headlined EU Defence Proposal 'Catastrophic':

Shadow defence secretary Nicholas Soames said: “If this is indeed true, it is catastrophic news for Nato and a betrayal of Britain’s defence interests.

“The Conservatives understand that there is a greater need for European co-operation and improvement of capability but only under the umbrella of Nato.”

The outline plan foresees a permanent EU military planning and command cell based at Nato’s military headquarters near the southern Belgian city of Mons.

From there, EU military planners would, with the alliance’s backing, draw on Nato assets – notably transport planes, satellite intelligence and the alliance’s communications network – for peacekeeping missions.

In addition, the Europeans would also beef up a long-term, strategic planning unit at the EU head office in Brussels, Belgium.

'Telegraph' Trumpets False Tory Triumph

Unsurprisingly for the paper that was in the vanguard of the despicable putsch that displaced IDS, this morning's Daily Telegraph (on the morning the crucial Foreign Ministers IGC meeting commences in Naples) leads with Banner Headlines on another false dawn for Michael Howard's leadership of the Conservatives.

As reported below on our post of 16th November, the first YouGov poll of Howard's reign was a disaster and this is hardly better in spite of the Torygraph's headline Tories back in lead with Howard

The actual poll results of 36 per cent for Labour, 38 per cent for the Conservatives and 19 per cent for the lib dems are really only significant for the smallest party. A look at the recent polls from YouGovs Polltracker shows little movement over the same results for recent months, the most recent of which we quote below:

Date Client Lab Con Lib Dem Other Lab lead

September 23-25 Daily Telegraph 31 32 30 7 -1
September 25-26 Sunday Times 30 33 30 7 -3
Sept 31- Oct 2 Daily Telegraph 33 33 28 6 0
October 2-3 Mail on Sunday 34 33 26 7 1
October 10-11 Mail on Sunday 33 38 22 7 -5
October 16-18 Mail on Sunday 34 34 25 7 0
October 30-31 Daily Telegraph 36 34 23 7 2
November 7-8 Mail on Sunday 36 34 24 6 2
November 13-14 Sunday Times 39 36 20 5 3

Today Nov 28 Daily Telegrapgh 36 38 19 - -2

IDS did better on October 10-11, hardly the effect the Tories could have been hoping for in spite of the column inches devoted to stating the contrary.

AND Where is the Conservative Party's outrage at what is now taking place in Naples? Hardly to be found in the Daily Telegraph; in its place we get supposed arch-eurosceptic John Redwood in their Opinion section railing against the plight of the motorist. Quite lamentable!

Frankenstein Tories

This was the opening of an article by Peter Hitchens in the Mail on Sunday recently. We would like to provide a link, but it is unavailable on line, so for copyright reasons must restrict ourselves to this sample:

A squalid putsch and a series of dirty deals will not save the Tory Party. Nothing will
save the Tory Party.

The efforts to do so are macabre and ugly, like the goings-on in Dr Frankenstein's
laboratory.

The pathetic relief and forced smiles of Tory MPs after the latest leadership
transplant have the look of desperation, as well they might.

I marvel at the blatant dishonesty of the whole thing. Is anyone really fooled?

Down Under the Right Way UP

In New Zealand they know how to read a poll. The headline for the same poll as that commented upon in the post below is Tories falter under new leader.

Britain's Labour Party has taken a poll lead since Michael Howard was installed as the new Conservative leader according to a new political survey of over 2,000 people.

The Tories were five points clear on 38% support last month despite a party conference dominated by speculation about Iain Duncan Smith's doomed leadership.

But now the party, under Michael Howard's leadership, has fallen back to 36%.

Labour is up six points to 39% - the party's highest rating since April - while the Liberal Democrats have dropped two to 20% support.

Just as we were saying.......

Polls

Reuters publishes a YouGov Poll Howard Shines in Polls.

While it reports the Tories rising by 4 per cent to 36 it nevertheless has them trailing Labour by three. Strange result for what might be considered as a honeymoon period for the new leader.

Looking at the results for this year (from the link below) the performance is even worse. Five YouGov polls between June and September had the Tories under IDS above the 36 per cent level now being trumpeted as a Howard triumph.

YouGov Voting Intention Poll Tracker shows the Tories again behind Labour as they have been since before the plot to topple IDS became clear. In the months before that the Tories were clearly in the lead, with seven polls on the run showing them ahead, the highest margin being by 5 points. A three point deficit is the worst since last April, and that during what should surely be a honeymoon period. Howard is nevertheless reported as popular with 80 per cent of Tory Party Members.

Adding this link to your Browser's Favourites will allow easy access to the latest opinion shifts:

YouGov - Understanding People

Selling Out

The Tories having apparently sold out their active resistance to further EU encroachments and any pretence of considering the desires or preferences of their members in the country at large are now set to dispose of another of their valuables, this time the long term lease on their Smith Square Offices for which they hope to obtain six million pounds. Read the article in the Telegraph's Tories seek £6m for Central Office Those using the link should note the photograph of the new party leader and perhaps ponder the party spokesman's statement about the building in terms of their new leader:

A party spokesman said the decision was not purely financial but the building was no longer deemed appropriate for a modern political party.

"It is a 1950s building with a Georgian facade and is not a suitable office environment for a party in the 21st century,"

Shadow Cabinet

The List in full from epolitix

Kenneth Clarke hails new broad-based Shadow Cabinet on BBC Radio Four 'PM' Programme

Party Leader : Michael Howard

Shadow Foreign Secretary, International Development and Defence: Michael Ancram

Shadow Chancellor: Oliver Letwin Background

Shadow Home Secretary" David Davis

Health and Education: Tim Yeo Background

Transport: Theresa May Theresa May Web Page

Work, Pensions and Policy Development: David Willetts Background

Local Government and Devolved Regions: David Curry Backgorund

Chief Whip David Maclean

Lords Leader : Lord Strathclyde

Joint Party Chairmen:

Maurice Saatchi and Liam Fox

There is to be a gimmicky panel of four wise men, one being Kenneth Clarke, another John Major and the last two leaders William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith. All but Major will be asked to speak from the front bench from time to time. This face saving formula is presumably designed to cover Howard's embarassment that no senior or particularly influential figures seem to have been attracted into the Shadow Cabinet.

More disgruntlement within the party was the probably predictable report from Andrew Marr on the six o'clock BBC Radio Four news.

Howard to Hurt more Feelings

According to the BBC's World at One programme, Howard is planning to reduce the Shadow Cabinet from 22 to 12. Guaranteed an extra ten disgruntled figures on the backbenches then.

Other rumours Letwin Shadow Chancellor plus Trade and Industry, Davies at the Home Office, Tim Yeo on all 'touchy feely' areas.

Steven Norris former Mayoral Candidate insisted on air that the party would be shifted to the centre.

Full details will be posted here when published.

Congress for Democracy's Rally

The following is part of an e-mail from Harold Green (Leader Reform-UK) reporting on the above rally.

Quote

IDS made a rousing speech in favour of a referendum on the EU Constitution with all the usual arguments against an EU constitution.

If Blair was to receive parliaments approval for ratification then he stated that" no Royal assent should be given."

He likened the ratification to a political party winning an election and then holding on to its seats forever.

IDS underlined his image as a man of the people by stating that " He was inspired by the qualities of the British people." He said that he "fears little but fears the might of a distant power and we need to breed a fierce appetite for the fight ahead.

A fight for the truth.

A fight for our sovereignty.

A fight that we must win"

He was then given a standing ovation with only a few sour faced UKIP and Lib/Dems remaining seated.

IDS spoke like a Prime Minister in waiting. It is inconceivable that his dismissal can be considered as anything but a Europhile plot! (Our emphasis - ed.)

The anti-EU campaigners from France spoke well despite the language Difficulties, notably Phillipe de Villiers who took the precaution of providing us with a complete English version of all that he had to say.

I shall make this available to all who want sight of it, should you ask.

On the subject of a French referendum on the EU Constitution he had this to say:- " Yet French federalists seem to be doing all they can to stop the people from having their say. They are terrified. It is true that, according to the polls, most French people favour the idea of a constitution, at least in the abstract (it's a fine word 'constitution' ; we must concede that). But that is because they don't know what is actually in it. Once they understand that what is being proposed is a superstate, they will surely turn against it.
And consider something else. Let us assume that such a referendum might realistically be held in the latter half of 2004. This would mean that it came just as the European Council was deciding whether or not to open accession talks with Turkey. Now an overwhelming majority of French people oppose Turkey's admission. If these two questions - the superstate and Turkish Membership - become conflated in the minds of my countrymen, it would be explosive for the federalists.'

Phillipe de Villiers finished by observing " how refreshing it was to pay the taxi fare from Heathrow airport in real money!"

Martin Howe Q.C.'s booklet 'A Constitution for Europe' is a 'must have'reference. It is a legal assessment of the draft treaty.

March & Rally There is to be a march and rally on 24th.April 2004 calling for a National Referendum on the European Constitution.

For more details, contact Diana Coad on peterdgtorg@aol.com

Unquote

Another Poll reports the Obvious

From this morning's Independent on Sunday:

If the polls are anything to go by, Mr Howard will need all the help he can muster. An ICM poll for 'The News of the World' showed the Conservatives slipping two points since replacing Iain Duncan Smith as leader with Mr Howard on Thursday. The survey puts the Tories at 31 per cent, trailing eight points behind Labour. The Liberal Democrats scored 22 per cent.

If translated into actual votes the figures would provide a third Labour landslide in an election with Tony Blair losing just two seats.

Earlier the article reports Francis Maude is to be brought back to the Shadow Cabinet, another backward step, watch for further poll slippage ahead!

Britain's Shamed Conservatives

The following is the e-mail I sent this morning to my Conservative Member of Parliament, copied to my Conservative MEP:

As a registered elector within your constituency I had to write to express my total disgust with the Conservative Party. As a one time party member in the ---- Branch, and with strong views on individual freedoms and responsibilities I should be, and was for many years a natural Conservative voter.

I am appalled at the actions of all sitting Conservative MPs excepting only Iain Duncan Smith and (with no admiration) Michael Howard, who one cannot blame for his new found but totally misplaced ambition.

The real shame for recent events must fall on the 163 unprincipled sheep who allowed the properly chosen party leader to be thrown out on his ear, while then sitting back and permitting a small secretive cabal to impose a failed, elderly, shop-soiled candidate to be installed without offering the party at large any opportunity of choice or say.

The Conservative Party has a long history, but clearly now exists only as a hindrance to the beliefs and principles it was once supposed to represent.

While under Duncan Smith I had been contemplating a return and even active support for the Tory party, (following a very brief and unhappy dalliance with what I discovered is the completely corrupt and rotten UK Independence Party), I must now divert my efforts to ensuring the Tories never rule again.

Did Portillo quit in disgust I wonder? If not then he and the rest of you certainly should. Shame on you all.

Patten's Poison Patronage

Chris Patten, possibly one of the most seriously flawed politicians of the present day Conservative Party has now joined other Eurofederalists in throwing his support behind the leadership of Howard.

Nothing could better illustrate the collapse of euroscepticism within the Conservative Party than such endorsement. Iain Duncan Smith aware of this reality has been forced to announce from the backbenches that he, possibly now almost alone among these spineless Tory MP's, will continue the fight against the EU and its dangerous proposed Constitution. Read it here from the Daily Telegraph

Portillo to Retire

According to this report Portillo has thankfully had enough Media bound and will seek a new career in the media following the next General Election.

He confirmed he was offered a place in Howard's Shadow Cabinet (as reportedly was Clarke).

One safe seat should be available for the next session then!

Howard on Europe

The following is an excerpt from an interview between the newly installed Tory Leader and the BBCs Chief Political Correspondent Andrew Marr:-

Marr: "Are you Michael Howard completely committed to Britain's membership of
the European Union?"

Howard: "Absolutely. Er, I always have been, I've made it absolutely clear. I think
there are all sorts of reasons why that's terribly important..."

Marr: "... [interrupts] even if we're bound in by a new constitution?"

Howard: "Well you see you keep coming back to this hypothetical question..."

Marr: "I do."

Howard: "And I'm not prepared to accept that hypothesis. But it's very important.
Europe could develop in a number of different ways in the future, and some of those
ways would be very difficult for us. That's why we've got to be in there, really making
our case - not only our case for Britain but our case for Europe, to show them that
there's, er, a different way, a way that will actually be much better for the rest of the
European Union as well as for us."

A recording of the section can be heard by clicking this link, but the original date and where transmitted is not at present known. Distressingly it sounds genuine!

Clarke rules out (Shadow) Cabinet Post

This report from The Guardian taken from an earlier BBC interview says:

Mr Clarke, interviewed on the BBC this morning, hinted he may be prepared to take another role in the party outside of the frontbench.

Asked if he would take a senior party job, he said: "I will be as supportive of my party as I can be and certainly supportive of Michael Howard and any suggestion he puts to me in which he wants me to support him, he will get my eager backing."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I would be delighted to be supportive. After 10 years of civil war which has made all of us extremely miserable and done a great deal of damage, we want to get back together."

He said he did not think he would be offered a shadow cabinet post and has already said he would not accept one.

He urged Mr Howard to lead the party from the centre as he has promised to do.

Mathew Tempest reports

Telegraph predicts Dramatic Shift of Fortunes!

Labour feud bursts into open as Tories hail 'King' Howard is the headline of this piece from which the following is a brief quote:

Tory MPs claimed his "coronation" signalled an end to bitter infighting that has engulfed the party since the removal of Margaret Thatcher and showed the Conservatives were now prepared to make a serious bid for power.

The board of the Conservative Party announced last night it had decided against holding a formal postal ballot of the membership to ratify Mr Howard's election by MPs after "overwhelming representations" from the party at large that it was not necessary.

The Independent' hints that there might be a role for Portillo on the Front Bench.

Meanwhile the Labour Party Tories confirm victory of the Right seem to have deliberately chosen to intially open their attack on Howard's 'extreme' right-wing credentials. It will be interesting if Howard should lose votes in that area from his courting of the centre, while failing to gain new support because of his past. Falling between two stools perhaps, we await the shadow cabinet announcements with interest, let alone the first policy pronouncements.

Knives out early

Sky News carries a report that "Howard can't do warm" from Amanda Platell, who was William Hague's media chief, Ms Platell said Mr Howard had failed the "GMTV sofa test".

"Too cold and too confident was the verdict," she said.

"You have to be able to do `warm' to work on morning TV, and even his most devout supporters would not claim this of Howard.

"Rumours that a blood transfusion was standing by, I understand, are purely malicious," she added.

Judging by the photograph selected to accompany the item, it appears that this part of the Murdoch Empire is not still aboard the Howard band-wagon. It will be interesting to see how other media elements now react.

Howards Speech MarkII

Herewith another version of the speech being put out from the BBC. Roehampton Speech

In another BBC Report John Major heads a list of those offering their congratulations:

Tory former prime minister John Major was one of the first to congratulate Michael Howard on his leadership success - describing him as "the best choice for the party".
Mr Major, prime minister between 1990 and 1997, said Mr Howard deserved "the support of all present Conservative voters and the millions of others now so disillusioned with Labour".

Other reactions can be found from the link.

Howard's Victory Speech

The full text of the speech delivered by Michael Howard in Putney, once constituency of David Mellor another noted figure of the Major era if I remember correctly, can be found in this link from the BBC Howard's speech in full

It opens:

'Who was it who said a week is a long time in politics?

This has been a bruising period for the party.

Some hard things have been said on all sides....'

Not least, indeed by this blogger. I will now watch developments and hope that my political instinct has been very badly wrong!

Howard Anointed

There are now only two sitting Tory MPs within the United Kingdom worthy of re-election: those being Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard.

The former not having been allowed to stand against Howard and the latter who can hardly be blamed for believing in himself in spite of all the evidence and logic arguing to the contrary.

The remaining 163 will have no excuse for what will now be seen to follow.

Opinion Polls

The Mori Poll commissioned by and published in The Independent yesterday is quoted in this article on Michael Portillo in today's Telegraph Portillo is tipped for return to front line by Toby Helm, Chief Political Correspondent.

It quotes: "A frontbencher from the Right said: "It would be a brilliant idea." Which, if true, provides proof positive, as if more were needed, of the total loss of any contact with the real world now on display from that section of the party.

As the Tory's House Journal has decided to include mention of the Mori Poll and provide a link it is worth another look at what your typical Tory MP will be reading this morning that most of us had fully absorbed yesterday:

There's no "bounce" yet evident in the public's voting intention for the Conservative Party after the Tory MPs' choice of Michael Howard as the Leader of the Party.

All the tables look disastrous for the Tories with them losing 3 points to the Liberal Democrats since Howard's appearance. The sole area where he seems to be an improvement over IDS in the public's eyes (naturally seized upon by the totally biased and probably complicit Telegraph) is in his readiness to be PM with 30 pct agreeing (vs 16 for IDS) and 48 disagreeing (67 for IDS)

Being ready to be PM in the publics eyes is one thing, getting to be PM is, of course quite another. In these increasingly presidential campaign style days of General Elections "Trust is generally considered a key.

On trustworthiness the true disaster of the Tories rush to crown Howard becomes clear. In June 2003 48 per cent of the public found IDS trustworthy against 36 who did not and 16 per cent who did not know.

Michael Howard, even before he has really started to get grilled about his past record, scores as follows:

Trustworthy.....41 per cent Not Trustworthy.....49 per cent Don't Know 10pct

The Tories are about to APPOINT as Leader a Candidate, who, before he even assumes office is distrusted by half the electorate.

Now is that LUNACY? If not, then it most certainly is Electoral Suicide! The question, of course, is WHY?

The 'Howard Paxman' Interview

By clicking this this link you will find, towards the end of the BBC page that then opens, a video link on which it is possible to watch the 13th May 1997 Jeremy Paxman, 'Newsnight' interview of Michael Howard, where the latter famously refused to answer a straightforward question 14 times.

The interview gives clear evidence why Conservative MPs then thought this man unsuitable to be leader of their party. He came bottom of the subsequent poll.

It also clearly explains why even to this day only half the people in the country would trust him.

What it does not explain, of course, is why there is not apparently one single Tory MP with enough respect for their party or country to have the courage to supply them with an alternative to this sure fire loser.

Howard "I'll Never Stand for Leadership"

These are quotes from a BBC News report in November 2002, linked here.

'I'll never stand for leadership'

"But I have no interest or desire in becoming leader of the Conservative Party, because we have an excellent leader in Iain Duncan Smith, whom I wholeheartedly support."

Is the shadow chancellor ruling himself out in a David Davis sense ("I will never stand against Iain"), or in a Michael Portillo way ("I never want the job")?

"I will never stand again for the leadership of the Conservative Party," Mr Howard unhesitatingly replies.

So he rules himself out completely, whatever the circumstances? "That's right."

No wonder half the country do not trust him!

These are some of the directorships he has pledged to give up if annointed:-

Eschmann Holdings Limited (medical supplies manufacturer Chairman George Kennedy), the Imprint Group (specialist printer Chairman George Kennedy) Finex plc (PR company), Crime Reduction International Limited and is a member of the Advisory Council of Gas and Oil company Consort Resources Limited (chaired by ex Tory Minister Lord Moynihan)

Did Howard mislead Parliament?

Private Eye seems to think he might have done so according to these reports from December 1994 and February 1995 which can be read in full from this link:-

Howard or this quotation gives the feel:-

In an answer to the Leyton MP Harry Cohen (dated 19 January this year) Howard declares that “the Home Office did not make any staff redundant; subsequent redundancies by Sema Group are a matter for the company”. Sema Group made it clear, he continues, that the number of staff required would be dependent on an “operational review.”

Howard’s use of the word subsequent is odd. For Sema had already completed their review in September last year, and knew exactly how many staff it wanted to keep. So did ED5, and so did everyone else, it seems, except the Home Secretary himself.

Howard is also coy about the size of the ‘transitionary payment’ (from the taxpayer) covering the redundancies. He can’t wouldn’t reveal its size he says because “the precise details are commercial in confidence.”

The Home Office still insists that the deal works out cheaper in the long run. But embarrassingly, the newowners Sema Group have already sub-contracted some of the work to a third party, helping themselves to a profit.

New Statesman, April 1995:

The Home Secretary Michael Howard has been accused of misleading parliament over the £50m privatisation of a Home Office computer department.

The Spineless Bottom Feeders of the Conservative Party

In just under two days time, it seems that the British electorate will be presented with proof positive, that there is no living organism so far down the evolutionary scale, to compare in political terms with a British Conservative MP. Even in the deepest mud of the darkest, smelliest and most stagnant of ponds could there then lurk a lowlier equivalent?

Old Etonian Oliver Letwin, one of the earliest Tory MPs to make a deal with putative leader Howard and now famous for his recent crass remark about state schools and his own children was asked over the weekend:-

Some of Mr Clarke's friends made clear to Mr Howard's team that they wanted assurances for their support. David Curry, who could help sway up to 14 votes in Nick's Diner, a Clarke-ite dining club, said he wanted an assurance that there would be no attempt to pull Britain out f the new EU constitution if it was signed by Tony Blair; This of course is THE crucial question. I, and I expect most Tory supporters (and millions of non-Tories too) in the country, want to know just that:

Will Howard pledge to "pull Britain out of the new EU constitution if it is signed by Tony Blair"?

To which Letwin replied,MH is totally committed to a referendum

Further clarification was then sought by this internet debater, particularly as to whether Howard would grant a referendum on gaining power after Blair might have already signed the country up for the new constitution. Straight reply came there none, only this final exchange:

Questioner: Dear Oliver,
If you don't know yet, can't you find out? And if not today, then when?

Letwin wrote: When the dust has settled, and we have all had time to sit down and talk and think.

One of the Conservative Party's leading eurosceptics for many years was receiving copies of this e-mailed exchange and the last response to Letwin contained a question for him:-

Mon, 03 Nov 2003 10:49:36 +0100
Subject: Re: What IS Howard's position on the EU???
Oliver
Oh, so you mean after the leadership election? That will be too late.

In my view, if Howard DID give the assurance sought by David Curry, namely that he would not attempt - by referendum or any other means - to pull Britain out of the EU constitution once Blair has shoehorned us into it, then he should not be leader.

At present the membership is heading towards a voting paper where the only name on it will be Howard's (a bit reminiscent of the old Soviet-style East European elections...). I have read that there are a couple more days in which another contender could put his name down.

If Howard DID say YES to Curry, there jolly well ought to be another contender, don't you agree?

Why don't you ask him today?

Mr Redwood, don't you agree it would be disastrous if the Conservative Party were to be led on the basis of an (unrevealed) assurance given to Clarke that if Blair shoehorns the country into the EU constitution, the new leader will NOT attempt to pull us out?

I am sure that if this is the case, then when the membership finds out the Party will be destroyed by their outrage. I am told that some are already angry enough about the defenestration of IDS, and some are talking about de-selecting sitting MPs.
Signed T.

PS You will see that once again I have had to copy in the other recipients of my earlier message. I would be much obliged if you could hit the "Reply All" button when replying.

If any reply to that query has been sent we have yet to see it. We will, of course, post it here as soon as one might be received.

There is talk of deselection. The first targets that come to mind are those well known fans of our country's absorbtion into the EU such as Ken Clarke, Ian Taylor, etc. And who could argue that they should not have been so discarded long, long ago?

But worse are appearing as a result of this present crisis. The likes of Bill Cash, John Redwood and David Heathcote-Amory. Presumed stalwarts of the country's independence and always at the forefront of the supposed continuing fight against the EU.

At 11 o'clock this evening it will be 36 hours since the above question was put and left unanswered. Time enough for the truth to sink in to the slowest of minds and a rush of other candidates to have surged forward. But NONE have appeared!

Michael Howard, is so determined to get his hands onto the position of party leader and treat with the Eurofederalists that he is not willing to unequivocally state that he would remove us from the oppressive and totally unacceptable EU Constitution presently being negotiated within the IGC.

Michael Howard is so powerfully backed by the forces of Conservatism that the true craven natures of ordinary elected Conservative MPs is now fully exposed to the public view!

In the face of this treachery, where the individual freedoms, common law rights and unique democratic institutions of this country are planned to be destoyed, there is not one elected Conservative MP apparently prepared to step forward and offer himself to lead the party and save his nation.

The depth of the betrayal of the people of our country, if it continues through Thursday noon is so enormous it can barely be fully comprehended.

The one honourable exception to all the above, is Iain Duncan Smith, who under the party's election rules is not permitted to stand as a candidate!

Time is running out for Toryism!

An Essential Question for the next Leader

The following sentence is taken directly from the Conservative Manifesto for the last General Election:

We will not ratify the Nice Treaty but will renegotiate it so that Britain does not lose its veto.


Apart from the policy on the EU Constitution, the next leader's attitude to the Nice Treaty could be more critical if the Constitution fails to be ratified. This appears increasingly likely with growing negotiating differences, the ever more obvious problems surrounding the euro and the dreadful state of the economies that the single currency is slowly but surely destroying.

The Nice Treaty provides a blueprint for an enlarged but unworkable EU. What would the Tories policy be towards this and all the earlier Treaties if the Constitution is not ratified leaving them all in place?

The Tory's Michael Foot

Out from the shadows to seize control Gaby Hinsliff and Kamal Ahmed have put together a well researched report in The Observer on the events in the Conservative Party from which we quote three paragraphs as a sample below:-

Like most fairytales, the incredible rebirth of Michael Howard - disgraced as Home Secretary over the sacking of prison chief Derek Lewis, humiliated in the 1997 leadership contest when he trailed in third of three right-wingers, dismissed as a has-been when he stepped down from William Hague's Shadow Cabinet two years later, only to rise magically from the ashes last week - is a little too good to be true.

'Michael has had the great advantage of being all things to all men,' says a senior Tory figure who served close to him in government. 'He's never been a proper right-winger, in fact: he is politically androgynous. He has pulled together the Portillo group, his own rather small group and a penumbra of others who have nowhere else to go.'

Howard's past statements on everything from the poll tax to rising unemployment and gay rights will be flung back at him over the dispatch box, week after week. 'What we need to demonstrate is Howard is an old right-winger pretending to be something different,' said one senior adviser to the Prime Minister.

The Tory's Michael Foot Re-visited

As was to be expected from The Sunday Telegragh which was in the vanguard of the media working towards the overthrow of Iain Duncan Smith it now goes overboard in pushing Michael Howard's candidature. Howard tells party activists: Don't risk our new unity
is the headline of an article by Colin Brown and Francis Elliott where the elderly Howard is pictured looking every inch the drawn and failed politician he should by now have been.

Elsewhere in an interview by Dominic Lawson we are asked to believe that there was no deal with David Davies, no deal with Ken Clarke and that the whole thing had come as a complete surprise. Before setting aside the paper as the piece of blatant propaganda it has clearly become, interesting to note that Bruce Anderson seems to have arrived as a columnist from The Spectator via The Sun. Another sign of shifting priorities?

Is a record like this an electoral advantage?

From Scotlands Daily Record watch for similar turning up elsewhere:-

20 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MICHAEL HOWARD Oct 31 2003

MICHAEL Howard is probably best known for his ``hang 'em and flog 'em'' rants during his time as the most unpopular Home Secretary in living memory.

He was a right-wing rottweiler for Thatcher and Major and is the last remnant of the Tory glory years. But there are many things readers may have forgotten, or never known, about the likely next leader of the Conservative Party.

1. Howard is the son of Jewish immigrants. His father came from Romania, his mother from Russia and he was born in south Wales. 2. His looks and Transylvanian ancestry earned his Dracula tag. Anne Widdecombe said he had ``something of the night'' about him. 3. He is a sports fanatic who supports Liverpool.

4. His wife, Sandra, 63, was a model and a Vogue cover girl. 5. Howard was the smirking face behind Thatcher's hated Poll Tax and tested it out on Scots.

6. He was also responsible for the Section 28 law, discriminating against homosexuals.

7. He voted for David Alton's Bill to reduce access to abortion.

8. Howard fought against the national minimum wage, claiming it would cost two million jobs.

9. As Environment Secretary, helet power generators keep their pollution levels secret.

10. As Employment Secretary, Howard opposed EU plans for a maximum 48-hour working week. 11. He refused to recognise an EC directive allowing mums to get guaranteed maternity leave.

12. He wanted to place police authorities under Home Office control instead of representatives chosen by local people.

13. His police reform plans were branded ``unacceptable'' by Tory grandee Sir Willie Whitelaw.

14. His answer to crime was simply to lock more people up, stating: ``An increase in the number of criminals in prison leads to a large fall in crime.'' 15. As Home Secretary, the Appeal Court slammed his ``abuse of power''.

16. He was found to be acting illegally by the European Court of Human Rights seven times.

17. He cut access to health care and education for asylum seekers. 18. Howard manages the Tory parliamentary football side.

19. Less than a year ago, he claimed: ``I will never stand again for the leadership of the party.''

20. A recent ICM poll found that 26 per cent of people are less likely to vote Tory with him as leader.