Is Cameron's vacant look hiding nothin?

We wonder what other possibly really startling pieces of gossip will be slipped to the press if the 'man of straw' Cameron actually succeeds in being gerrymandered into place. This item was from the Rod Liddle column in today's Sunday Times:

I am happy that David Cameron believes in relaxed licensing laws, but that is no more than one should expect from a chap who until recently was a director of a nightclub that sold to its undoubtedly poncy customers such alcoholic concoctions as Slippery Nipple and Pink Pussy.

Big Beast backers of Cameron - in it for WHAT" ????????????

The Times this morning, linked here, reports as follows

THREE Tory heavyweights who will be offered senior roles in the Shadow Cabinet if David Cameron win the leadership contest grossed more than £1.7 million in outside earnings in the past 12 months, according to figures released yesterday.

Their combined earnings account for more than half the £2.7 million declared by MPs in the annual Register of Members’ Interests.

William Hague leads the list, with more than £1 million from book deals, a newspaper column, directorships and after-dinner speaking. He made six speeches, worth £65,000, in April during the general election campaign, when most Tory MPs and party workers were on the campaign trail.

Kenneth Clarke, the former Chancellor, who was defeated for the leadership for the third time, earned close to £500,000 from five directorships, including British American Tobacco. An MP’s salary is £59,095.

Francis Maude, the party chairman and leading moderniser in the Cameron camp, declared ten paid outside interests, including two directorships he took after the election, when he was recalled to the Shadow Cabinet. Mr Maude, like Mr Clarke, does not declare any of the fees, as is permissible in Parliament’s rules.

Cameron chooses cheap and easy Blair criticism rather than complicated and risky "course" charting

Given the incredible opportunity of an entire opinion column in today's Sunday Telegraph, what does the star dust touched, wonder boy use it for - tired and predictable attacks on Blair! Is this really all the Tories hope to have to offer for the years ahead?

Read the simplistic claptrap from this link.

Haig and Fox for Cameron

My warnings of MP's opportunism of yesterday (see posting beneath this) were well timed as today's Sunday Times reports both William Haig and Liam Fox today declaring for the empty vessel.

Remember that this is the same William Haig who once commanded respect in the party and country yet without shame wrote in his News of the World column in the early part of this year that he was making far too much money on his US speaking tours to consider an active role either within the party or then certain General Election campaign. What weight should party members put on the recommendation of such a man?

Remember also that the timing of his declaration seems curiously timed to have possibly been made with the advantage of some knowledge of the early voting results, if these are being deliberately slanted by those pulling the party strings, a travesty of democracy could be underway!

If David Cameron is elected, how long will the supposed "stardust on his collar" or as Haig is quoted as saying " “a certain quality which was impossible to define but you know it when you see it” really last. Such qualities are best used by confidence tricksters as far as I can see.

Look at the likely consequences as reported in the same Sunday Times article, linked here:

As prospective party leader, Cameron is preparing to help Tony Blair push through a series of public service reforms that, aides say, will keep a “wounded” and “isolated” prime minister in power.

The leadership favourite signalled his support for the government against Labour rebels on greater independence for state schools, city academies, benefit reform, foundation hospitals and more private sector involvement in the National Health Service.

Although he argues that he supports Blair’s modernisation of public services because he believes it is the right thing to do, his aides pointed out it is also designed to have the political effect of making Blair look “isolated” from his party. The move comes after the prime minister faced a first Commons defeat over his anti-terrorism bill.

If Cameron becomes the opposition leader next month, it could be Tory votes that keep the prime minister in power. “It will leave Blair badly wounded if the only way he can get his reforms through is with our support,” said a senior aide.

Tories heading for oblivion?

If the headline article in the online edition of the Daily Telegraph is to be believed the Conservative Party is doomed as David Cameron, the media darling who will become its mauled and mangled victim by the next General Election were he to become Party Leader, is reported to have opened an early and large lead over rival David Davis in the leadership contest.

Such are the results of a YouGov poll which has been so manipulatively reported as to condemn the Telegraph to the lowest possible level of even present day journalism. The report may be read from this link.

To try to grasp the degree of distortion it is necessary to recall the basis on which YouGov polls. Anybody can join YouGov and participate in those polls as they may wish. Is it really likely as the report seems to imply that one third of those conservative party members who have already voted are signed up as YouGov contributors. Unlike most polls published as far as I can find there is nowhere any reference to the size of the sample. Just how many conservative party members who have already voted could have been polled - it must be an incredibly small number unless there was some collusion or identification of names of those who had voted from party sources, any names thus provided could then well have been tilted towards the results desired by the Telegraph group owners and editors and/or the party establishment.

Evidence of the desired outcome of the senior party hierarchy comes later in the same report which states:

"Anne Maine, the MP for St Albans, who formerly supported Mr Davis, said she was now backing Mr Cameron, taking his support to 107 MPs - well over half the 198-strong parliamentary party.

Michael Ancram, the party's deputy leader, said the backing of a clear majority of Tory MPs was an important signal to party members."

The Gaderene rush to support the dubious, media reported front-runner by sitting MPs and their European counterparts is understandable when looking at the calibre and motives of the present elected party and remembering that were Cameron to win at only 39 years of age and given his apparent lack of policies and therefore presumably either character or principles, future advancement within the party is likely to be lost pretty much forever as far as the present entire elected members are concerned.

The announcement by the comparatively youthful Owen Paterson MP for David Davis is particularly commendable in this regard.

This blog quite correctly predicted the outcome of a Michael Howard leadership takeover - I feel equally certain that if the Tories go for Cameron then it will be the end of their party. How best to then restore decency and democracy to British politics will then become an even trickier problem.

Strange concept for Conservatives in today's Torygraph - Deeper Democracy!

A column by Danny Kruger makes interesting reading, even for regulars on this blog, with some IT analogies for a real opposition - highly recommended and linked from here.

David Davis gets Lord Tebbit's backing

The letter of support is in today's The Times as reported in Times Online linked from here.

The full letter may be read from this link. It concludes as follows:

"So Davis will have my vote. Perhaps that nice Mr Cameron will get it in ten years’ time if he learns as much from experience as David Davis has in the past ten years."

One of the few cheerful thoughts from today's news.... that Norman Tebbit with his innate common sense might still be around in ten years....as Mark Steyn concludes in his Daily Telegraph column this morning, quoted below and linked here, how many Telegraph readers can now really wish that:

As to where Britain falls in this grim scenario, I noticed a few months ago that Telegraph readers had started closing their gloomier missives to me with the words, "Fortunately I won't live to see it" - a sign-off now so routine in my mailbag I assumed it was the British version of "Have a nice day". But that's a false consolation. As France this past fortnight reminds us, the changes in Europe are happening far faster than most people thought. That's the problem: unless you're planning on croaking imminently, you will live to see it.

East Midlands eurosceptic Conservative MEPs back Cameron

The statement is reproduced herewith:

LEADERSHIP ELECTION

A Joint Statement from East Midlands Conservative MEPs

IT HAS TO BE CAMERON!

We have looked carefully at the two remaining candidates for the Conservative Leadership, and we have decided that David Cameron offers the Party the best prospect of returning to government at the next General Election. We will be voting for him, and we would urge all East Midlands Conservatives to vote for him too.

Little to choose on policy

Both men are Conservatives, so the policy differences are relatively minor (except for the EPP issue: see below). We believe that the choice hinges on personality and electability, and in our judgement, Cameron is well ahead. He would be the first Party Leader in recent years to create an immediately positive impression on the television with uncommitted voters. He has a little star-dust sprinkled on his Eton collar

So is his privileged background a problem?

We don't think so. It would be perverse if Conservatives rejected an excellent candidate because he went to a good school. It would be the worst kind of inverted snobbery. And Blair, after all, went to Fettes, one of Scotland's finest public schools

Cameron can reach the groups the Party desperately needs to recover

We believe that Cameron will appeal strongly to groups where the Party has lost traction and desperately needs to get it back. Critically, these include:

· Middle-class professionals who have drifted to the Lib-Dems

· Young people who may currently not vote at all

· Women, where our vote has slipped dramatically

Against this, Davis says he will play well in the inner cities. But we are not convinced that this will bring in the volume of votes we need.

Was Cameron damaged by the drugs stories?

We think not. His firmness and dignity in the face of attacks from the press showed him in a good light, while many younger voters if they cared at all would be positively impressed by the fact that he had, as he says, "a normal university life".

Cameron has made a clear commitment on the EU issue

One policy difference that does impress us is Cameron's clear commitment to take MEPs out of the European Peoples' Party group in the European parliament. It may not be a big issue in the overall scheme of things, yet it sets out a clear marker on policy. But this is one of the few things a conservative Leader in the opposition can deliver. No longer will we talk a good euro-sceptic story in England, only to go and cosy-up to the federalists in Brussels.

We are concerned that Davis has been equivocal on this issue, with some of his lieutenants telling sceptics "Vote Davis -- he'll have us out of the EPP in two years", while others tell former Clarke supporters "Vote Davis because he'll keep us in". We believe that politics should be based on clear principles, and we are not impressed by prevarication.

If you share our views on these points, please give David Cameron your support.

ROGER HELMER MEP CHRIS HEATON-HARRIS MEP

www.rogerhelmer.com www.heaton-harris.com

The UKIP factor!

The former editor of the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore, in an article explaining why he plans to vote for David Cameron in today's edition of that newspaper states the following:

".... a pedantic, historical, 20th-century point, is that, when he had the chance, Mr Davis did little for Euro-scepticism. As a whip, he helped bash through the dreadful Maastricht treaty. I notice that most of the committed, expert Euro-sceptics - David Heathcoat-Amory, Bill Cash, Daniel Hannan - are backing Mr Cameron. Mr Davis wants to maintain the Tories' membership of the Europhile European People's Party at the European Parliament, while Mr Cameron says he will stop it."

This is indeed a worry as this blog has consistently pointed out. The double referendum proposal by David Davis seems initially attractive and potentially answers concerns about the past stance of David Davis, but the fully detailed proposal is hard to find therefore final judgement remains suspended.

Conservative Party voters concerned about the EU deserve a full explanation from the three individuals named above for their support for David Cameron, (they should also however, bear in mind the presence on the BDI refusnik list of Bill Cash and David Heathcote-Amory).

The Conservative Party, regardless of leader, will likely find it nigh impossible to win any General Election without neutralising or compromising the UKIP. More on this as the campaign develops. The Davis referendum proposal might be a step in that direction but could subsequently be adopted under a Cameron led party. No party should select a leader based on the nature and calibre of its opponents! But which of Davis and Cameron will be most effective in dealing with Nigel Farage MEP and regaining the votes of his natural supporters?

I would also suggest the party deserves the detailed views of Roger Helmer MEP on the EU position of the two leadership candidates. The relevant website may be reached by clicking here.
Queries could also be sent direct to rhelmer@europarl.eu.int

David Davis offers double referendum on EU

In an interview in The Sun today and as reported on Radio 4 it appears that David Davis is prepared to finally offer something meaningful on the EU. This blog will comment fully on the proposal when it is has been fully detailed. With several more weeks remaining for the final vote, there is now much to be gained by party members pausing to await developments - as well argued by Simon Heffer in the Daily Telegraph this morning, linked here.

Leadership Election

The following post was put on my blog Ironies Too this morning under the title 'Cameron, Davis, the EPP and the EU' it is clearly also of interest here.

Quote
This blog has earlier made clear its strong doubts as to the suitability of Conservative Party leadership candidate David Cameron and in particular the depth and sincerity of his supposed euroscepticism. In the past few days it has been reported that he has been gathering so-called right wing eurosceptic support based on pledges regarding withdrawing the party from the EPP group in the European Parliament something this and my other blogs have repeatedly urged. (Some of the names mentioned should be checked against the information as to their position on the EU at the last election as reported on the results page of the British Declaration of Independence website linked here.)

An item in today's The Times covers this topic and may be read from here.

Conservative party members with the final say over the next leader are now faced with a very real choice and a real dilemma. Only a full and detailed explanation of each candidates' plans regarding the EU, Britain's place within or outside it and the exact strategy for achieving those ends both in government and opposition will now allow a well-informed vote to be cast by party members on the real number one question today facing the nation.

One major question for each contender I would suggest might be the following:

Is David Cameron proposing the Conservative Party will immediately join the group in the European Parliament which presently includes UKIP, or will he try and tempt UKIP away from the more extremist members of that present grouping or does he consider UKIP itself to be extreme?

David Davis owes the conservative party members a fuller explanation of his activities and views at the time of the Maastricht vote and a detailed summary of how they have evolved since that time.

Unquote

Root out Conservative cronyism!

Janet Daley skirts around the problem in her article in today's Sunday Telegraph , linked from here.

The rest of the media have been, sometimes timidly, other times more obviously (such as this item in the Telegraph click here) making the same point - that the media darling and conservative leadership candidate David Cameron 'has no clothes'

And there in a nutshell is the country's problem epitomised!

The Tory Party that propelled Old Etonian David Cameron into Leadership favourite with one of their safest seats in the country inherited from fellow Old Etonian Douglas Hurd ( probably one of the most disastrous Foreign Secretaries in the nation's history), with apparently few other earler or subsequent qualifications than advising Norman Lamont during the country's crashing out of the ERM and partly penning the awful manifesto for the election just past, is in no state to be the main opposition to the present government!

The ninety Tory MP's who voted for Cameron should now be probed to fully explain their motives and reasons for so doing to their Constituency Associations. Where there is the slightest suspicion that either cronyism, possible future preferment or even capitulation to establishment pressure were motives in their decision - deselection, for which much time now remains available, seems the best option.

Conservative Constituency Associations for such MPs seem like a worthwhile area of spare time activity for true democrats in the coming years. Party attempts to limit the membership vote, and how far it is prepared to go to achieve the installation of its obvious puppet, widely reported this weekend, clearly indicate how low the Conservative Party has presently sunk.

Cameron's background and career to date, like so many within the party (not least Sir Michael Spicer, Chairman of the 1922 Committee, who ran the leadership election) screams out to the world at large the true depth and nature of the Tory Party's problems. Even at this early stage in the countrywide campaign, the establishment pressure for Cameron to succeed is self-evident while the attempts to hide his obvious flaws become ever more absurd.

In my opinion only by David Davis making this into a real bare knuckled fight and highlighting these facts will the country receive the kind of opposition any democracy deserves!

Self-confessed drug user Cameron's central office allies move to disenfranchise membership!

Ninety Tory MPs will have to increasingly learn to live WITH the reality of their unprincipled and opportunistic vote for this shallow man, who within hours of topping the Conservative Party second poll for leader, effectively admitted a youthful use of drugs - a fact about which - he had ducked, dived and weaved during the Commons campaign.

No wonder the old party stalwarts, who must be looking in his direction for continuance of their stipends, are now set to take the kind of disgraceful steps as reported by the press below.

The Tory establishment dirty tactics have already begun. as may be read in the full report (click here) from The Times - of which the following is but a brief quote:

Reports this morning suggested that as many as 60,000 of the 300,000 members across Britain may not receive a ballot paper when they are sent out in a fortnight’s time. Members who pay less than £15 a year to the party or have joined since 1998 may not get a vote, while husbands and wives who have joint membership may receive only one ballot paper, the BBC reported.

Christopher Montgomery, who led the Better Choice campaign that saw off Mr Howard's plan for his successor to be chosen solely by MPs, said that the number of ballots was "not going to be anything close" to the total membership and accused Francis Maude, the party chairman, of trying to boost Mr Cameron's chances.

"It’s an open secret that Francis and the outgoing leader would prefer David Cameron to win. They are the people who originally didn’t want the mass membership to get a vote," Mr Montgomery said.

"Now they are the people who are going to determine who among the mass membership gets a vote. There are moves afoot in Central Office to disenfranchise tens of thousands of Tory members. You don’t have to be too much of a cynic to say the people who are going to be disenfranchised might tend to be more at one end of the party than the other."

Second ballot - A Good Result for Britain!

Cameron 90, Davis 57 and Fox 51 ensures that no case can be made by the so-called 'modernisers' to claim they have majority support among MPs.

For me it is now inconceivable that David Davis can falter and not show the other David for the flash in a new and empty pan that he seems to be! Cameron's sparse biography, which may be read by clicking on this link to epolitix, must surely make this immediately clear.

If Cameron can gain a majority amongst the clearer thinking and more sensible electorate of the mainstream Conservative members after six weeks of hustings, then he might well have the potential his backers allege or perhaps merely prove that Davis is as lacking in substance as his conference speech left many to believe. An Old Etonian background remains hugely problematical particularly if the possibilty of a rapidly declining economy becomes reality, with Brown then likely being ditched as a scapegoat - and recession then causing privilege to again become a matter of resentment - a not unlikely scenario and one easily to be exploited by other New Labour contenders for Blair's position!

Dr Fox fought a good fight but for me his nationality and accent made his rejection presently necessary. The Shadow Foreign Secretary has, however, now probably eclipsed William Hague in importance within the Conservative Party.

The Radio 4 PM programme this evening reported a Tory MP as stating that ideology in the party was dead. Effectively this seems correct, further strengthening my earlier advice (on my specialist blogs immediately after the last election to UKIP and Veritas Party members) to join the Conservative Party to have a say in the choice of the next Prime Minister.

That apparently opportunistic advice still holds true today, but if David Cameron wins (is he really Eurosceptic as frequently reported today?) then a switch to the Lib/Dems to have a say in their next leader might become a possibility! Why not? In a political world without principle or policy, those who believe in a best way forward must look to the best means of securing their ends. UKIP with Davis leading the Conservatives will become an even greater irrelevance.

In the meantime serious eurosceptics should be within the Conservative Party. Davis's wobbling on the EPP illustrates the need for strong grass roots agitation on the EU - the suggestion that such a major policy and financial decision should be left to the MEPs is both absurd and disingenuous!

In the battle for our democracy and against the EU, party loyalty counts for nothing, the best means to restore our sovereignty must be the major consideration.

Gordon Brown or the Lib/Dems could even become the best means in securing that end.

When politicians merely follow fads through focus groups then common sense may again prevail!

Ninety Tory MPs today showed their lack of mettle!

Clarke finally finished!

Another minister from the disastrous Major administration mercifully gets his come-uppance ending last with 38 votes in the first round of the most recent Conservative Party leadership battle.

David Davis at 62 votes is now clearly in trouble with Liam Fox needing to pick up a mere further eleven Davis supporters to make it into the run-off against David Cameron who now looks a certainty as the runner-up in the broader membership ballot. (Assuming that inexperienced and unpolicied Old Etonian gathers all the clearly politically challenged Clarke votes)

Dr Fox now needs to address the major problem of how - as a very obvious Scot- he will counter the problems of a potential General Election contest between himself and other main parties led by fellow Scots. An Englishman leading the Lib/Dems in such a scenario would be the safest bet as the first post-New Labour PM. Gordon Brown will need little time as PM to immediately highlight the present inequities of the Scotland vs England political status quo.

If David Davis can play on that point and appreciate the cause of Dr Fox still remaining in the contest is a direct result of his own lack of robustness on the EU question, then he might yet survive.

In all events the Conservative Party looks condemned to irrelevance - who can shed a tear after looking at the pattern of votes today?

Clarke becomes the bookies outsider

Kenneth Clarke's odds go out to 12 - 1, were Rifkind's and Ancram's endorsements the 'kiss of death'?

Meantime the new front runner has attracted the following constructive criticism from Frank Johnson in today's Daily Telegraph:

Only one candidate knows just how dangerous policies are

Never mind about him and drugs. What about him and policies? That is what supporters of David Davis, Kenneth Clarke and Liam Fox ask about David Cameron. He showed brilliantly at the party conference that he has a speech. But has he ever had a policy?

Mr Cameron's reply can be imagined: "I'm not prepared to answer that question. I might once have had a policy; not that this should be taken as confirmation that I ever did.

"But if I did, it was before I knew I was going to become a politician.

"I went to a fairly ordinary secondary school near Slough. I probably did a lot of things there that I now regret.

"But I don't see why I should answer questions about them. I know how the media operate. If I confirmed that I had one policy, they would ask me if I had another. Then another.

"Before long, I would be having to say how much I really would cut taxes or where I stood on the Iraq war. These are personal matters.

"I didn't become Tory leadership favourite in a week by having policies. I did it by making lots of people think that I was in favour of their policy, and because Davis's speech flopped."

Later, Mr Cameron would issue a statement saying that a very close member of his family had a policy, and it didn't do that person any good.

That is all the more reason why he is the candidate who understands that policies are dangerous.

Leave the boy alone, I say.

Malcolm Rifkind withdraws

One report may be read from this link.

Speaks volumes on Michael Ancram having thrown his illusionary weight behind him in what seems just a few mere hours ago.

Is there no Tory contender with vision and perception as to the real problems of the country and the really rather simple means to put things right? Two days left to try your luck.....are David Davis, David Cameron, Kenneth Clarke and the scottish encumbered Dr Liam Fox really such powerful talents. Stronger men are there but they lack the guts to step forward - WHY for heavens sake? Nominations close on Thursday

Ignoring the blindingly obvious

Just as the Conservative Party disastrously fooled itself into believing that the general public would change its widely held belief that Michael Howard could not be trusted, so it appears from this week's mainstream media it is about to do the same in the latest selection of their leader.

If reports are to be believed David Davis was probably sunk by his own conference speech leaving David Cameron and Dr Liam Fox a chance of making it into the membership ballot.

Remembering the most likely principal opponent in the next General Election is Gordon Brown, can the Tories really contemplate being led into such a contest by another Scot? What an opportunity for the Lib/Dems to finally consign the Tories to history by picking a leader to replace their own Scot, Charles Kennedy with a very English leader such as Simon Hughes then being able to trade on historic liberal principals of individual liberties to attack this most authoritarian and anti-democratic government.

On the other hand can the Tories seriously imagine painting themselves as a reformed and modernised party under the leadership of yet one more Old Etonian? Even if he can spout double talk in a class almost the equal of Tony Blair? They may well delude themselves as they have before, but the electorate will not be similarly fooled, (even if David Cameron is as brilliant as his supporters profess) for the electorate his schooling will render him unelectable. What a gift for Gordon!

Kenneth Clarke and David Davis are thus all that is left and neither performed in Blackpool in a manner that gives any indication whatsoever as to their ability to beat New Labour.

Hopefully another candidate will materialise before nominations close on Thursday, if not the country seems set to continue without any realistic political opposition.

Good riddance!

Michael Howard's farewell speech to his party is reported upon in the Daily Telegraph and that may be read from this link.

Howard epitomised the John Major years by refusing to retract obvious inaccuracies deliberately made to parliament over Home Office computers - thus setting the tone for ever untruthful New Labour. Peter Oborne's book on the acceptance of lying in our present political system underplayed that point.

Where is our political opposition? None will come from any candidate Michael Howard might endorse, is my gut feeling!

Dr Liam Fox on Radio Four "Today"

The interview was on this morning's programme at seven thirty and may be re-run using the BBC's Play Again facility from this link.

No surprise, listening to this, that Dr Fox is now increasingly seen as the dark horse candidate!