Swiss Tony stays at Defence

As Victor Meldrew would say "I don't believe it"!

My bete noir will still cause my bile to rise.

Matthew Parris on rare form

Writing in the Times today, Matthew Parris drops in the best quote I have read about political defections:

Every time a Conservative MP crosses the floor to join Labour there is a small
but measurable increase in the average IQ of both parliamentary parties.

Classic!

Lib Dems lose out as politics gets interesting again

Gordon Brown is entering his honeymoon period just as David Cameron is coming out of his. The almost blanket coverage of Labour in General and Brown and Blair in particular was always going to give them a bounce in the polls, the real picture won't emerge for a few months.

People want to see what Brown will do differently to Blair and they also want to see how Cameron will react. Is Brown a leftly at heart? What will Blair do next? Who will be in the cabinet? Will David Cameron shine or sink? Will there be a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle? etc. etc. etc.

What no one cares much about at the moment is the Lib Dems. They are increasingly coming across as an irrelevance, at a time when a snap election and a hung parliament are both real possibilities people should be paying a great deal of attention. They are not.

This is the tipping point for the Lib Dems, they can either establish themselves as a real force in British politics or they can gently slip under the surface. Drowning, not waving!

Quentin Davies joins Labour

No not Quentin Wilson, he was a presenter from the old Top Gear.... no not Quentin Crisp he's dead. You know... Quentin Davis!!!! He's famous for. . . . . ?

Well he used to be a Conservative (a long time ago from what I hear) and now he has crossed the floor to join Labour. Good work on behalf of the Labour party backroom boys, the timing couldn't be better and it goes to show that Gordon Brown has just a good an eye for the media stunt as Blair ever did.

Funnily enough Quentin's resignation letter is pretty damning, pointing out all the perceived deficiencies in David Cameron's leadership. It bears a striking similarity to the script of the cycling chameleon advert. Rootless PR man, etc. etc. Labour haven't changed the record but they have wired up a bigger set of speakers to the record player.

I don't know Quentin Davies and I am not going to start slagging him off on this blog but from what I understand he has been only loosely attached to the Conservative party for some time and was clearly not going to get anything more than a backbench role under David Cameron. I wonder what Brown has promised him to make him jump ship? A peerage perhaps?

Will this hurt us? Of course it will, defections always do but I doubt the fall out will last for long. Still on the good side it does open up a seat in a lovely part of the country for someone who actually believes in what the Conservatives believe in.

UPDATE:
Conservative home makes an interesting point:

I knew he was unhappy with Project Cameron. He has felt shabbily treated by the leadership. A lifelong Europhile he wrote for ConservativeHome only two weeks ago - disagreeing with the party's alleged politicking on Iraq. I bumped into him during the grammar schools row and he told me that he was unhappy with the leadership's line. But he was in favour of grammar schools! Why is he joining a party that hates selection? Mr Davies has opposed ID cards and the Government's anti-terror measures. He has opposed the ban on foxhunting. He opposed Labour on tuition fees. He opposes state funding of political parties. Mr Davies cannot easily accuse David Cameron of having no bedrock and then defect to a party with a worldview that stands in contradiction to his own twenty year parliamentary record.

Harman starts back-tracking right from kick-off

This new leadership team might be more fun than I thought!

Blair's EU negotiation was full of holes

Blair went into the EU negotiations with four "red line" issues. These were the issues on which there would be no compromise!

Guess what! It turns out that, not only did he give away the family silver in return for these issues, he also managed not to stand his ground on at least one of those issues. Even by his own rules a referendum should now be unavoidable.

I have one question for Gordon Brown. "Where's my bloody referendum?"

All change in the Labour party?

So the Labour party has a new leader and a new deputy leader! I am finding it hard to be excited about this in either a positive or negative way.

Some Conservatives feel that Harman will herald a lurch to the left for the Labour party or that there will be a battle of ideals between her and Brown. There may well be the former there will not be the later.

Brown is a good old fashioned left winger, while he may drape himself in the colours of free markets and individual freedom, his heart is still wedded to centralised command and control government. It mattered not what any of the deputy leadership candidates said in the hustings they were always going to end up doing exactly what Brown told them to. There should have been a challenge and a vote for the leadership, the one they had for deputy was irrelevant.

In the next few weeks the highest profile "unknown" in British politics will come out of the shadow of Tony Blair. Will David Miliband be right? Will we all want Tony back?

The EU is now less of a free market

Blair couldn't negotiate his way out of a wet paper bag. I never thought that Blair would make any great steps forward with his EU negotiations but I didn't think he would allow such a huge step backwards either.

The EU no longer believes in "free and undistorted competition", it is no longer a free trade area! I shouldn't be surprised, Blair has form when it comes to talking up his prowess in taking on the other European leaders and then failing to do so, as you can see here and here.

Our relationship with the EU is increasingly becoming a farce. I'm off to lie down with a cold towel over my head before I lose my temper.

A taste of the front line

The Telegraph have a couple of pieces here about the Royal Anglian Regiment on operations. They are both well written and I commend you to read them.

Our forgotten war, follows a company from the regiment and a piece that tells the story of L/Cpl 'Teddy' Ruecker who risked his own life to save a colleague. I have to confess that reading the comments on the Teddy Ruecker story brought a tear to my eye.

New Lib-Lab pact?

The Lib Dems always go on about being the "true opposition to Labour".

Just to jog your memories it was the Lib Dems tactical voting at constituency level and non aggression pact at leadership level that gave Labour the thumping majorities that they have enjoyed over the last few parliaments. The same majority which has let them push through some of the most illiberal legalisation in this country's history.

It seems that the Lib Dems have failed to learn the lessons of the recent past and could once again sell out their principles for a few seats at the top table.

Arise Sir Steve

Has a certain ring to it I suppose. My old sparing partner for the Lewisham Mayoralty has received a Knighthood in the Queen's birthday honours.

Although we have no seen eye to eye over many things I am genuinely pleased to see that he has been given this honour. If only so that I can call him Sir Steve at every possible occasion, I'm sure he'll love that!

Well done Sir Steve.

Never give an important job to someone who is leaving

"What do I care? I'm leaving!"

Clearly this isn't something that you would actually hear Tony Blair saying but I can't quite shake the feeling that this is what he is thinking.

He has set up a list of four paper tigers that he claims are red lines in his EU constitution negotiations. Guarding these will keep us all safe and we needn't worry our little heads about having a say in the whole process.

Those four "red line issues" are:

1. The French won't be allowed to paint our telephone boxes blue.

2. We won't be made to drive on the left.

3. We won't have to gesticulate like the Italians when we speak.

4. The Queen will remain our head of state.

OK, these might not be the exact list but the real ones are almost as meaningless. Blair desperately wants to get us fully into the EU club, it will be his legacy. Brown seems not to have the guts to stop him.

We must, must, must make sure that we get a say, in a referendum, before any more of our sovereignty and legislative power is handed over.

TA funding cut is adding insult to injury

I spotted this via St Crispin's Day blog. £5 million pounds of cuts over the next two years.

Let us just put this into perspective. The TA are busier and more heavily committed than at any point in the last 40 years. They have provided front line and support troops to all of the major conflicts and have done so against the backdrop of an unsupportive government and an, at best, apathetic employment market.

The TA are soldiers on the cheap, they don't need accommodation, they don't need feeding 365 days a year, they don't get the same medical and dental support, they don't get paid while they are on leave and they don't get military pensions. Yet they are being put into the same situations as their regular counterparts with only a fraction of the training.

The regular army is stretched to breaking point and the TA have provided the support that has prevented the whole system falling apart. Despite this the government is seriously considering cutting the funding to one of the most financially efficient parts of the armed forces.

Every time that I think that this Labour cannot show any more contempt for our armed forces they pull another stunt like this.

Post Office closures

Conservatives in both Bexley and Bromley have been out campaigning against the closure of two town centre post offices. In Bexleyheath and in Bromley main post offices are being closed and relocating their services to WH Smiths.

You can read more about these campaigns on the Bexley and Bromley Conservatives campaign site.

Falkland Islands War 25 yearson

I was 12 when the Falklands war started. My memory is a little blurred but from what I remember I was going swimming with a good school friend at the time called Dean. He was very excited about being at war, Commando comics were very popular at the time and for 12 year olds war generally meant excitement and comic book heroism.

I remember being worried the soldiers were going to be killed and I got a bit angry with Dean for not thinking of that. As it turned out lots of soldiers and sailors lost their lives, but I still believe that sending the task force to recapture the islands was the right thing to do.

The Falkland Islanders were (and still are) British and as such they deserve protection by their government. They are a long way away and 26 years ago the vast majority of the population wouldn't be able to point to them on a map. But just because their defence was difficult and expensive does not detract from the fact that it was necessary.

Would you be happy if the government decided that it would no longer protect you just because it was inconvenient?

Triathlon

OK, I'm going to do something that I am sure that I am going to regret!

I am telling the world (well the half dozen or so people who read this blog) that I am going to do a triathlon, ideally before the end of this season. There, I've said it.

I am now open for ridicule if:
1. I don't enter one.
2. I enter one and don't finish it.
3. I finish one in a really poor time.

I will be more than happy with result number 3. I'll keep you all informed as to how I get on.

PS

I'm talking about a Sprint Triathlon 400m swim, 20k on the bike and a 5k run, not the comedy distances involved in an Ironman event.

Compelling television

I'm currently watching BBC's Springwatch Nightshift. Basically night vision cameras are filming animals doing........... absolutely nothing.

It is a lot like Big Brother but with more intelligent conversation!

Breastfeeding law

Do we need a law telling women that they are allowed to breastfeed in public? I think not.

As far as I am concerned you shouldn't need a law telling you that you are allowed to do something, the assumption should be that it is legal unless the law says that it is not.

Susie, my wife, breastfed both the boys while getting on with the daily business of living and she had no trouble fitting breastfeeding into that schedule. That meant breastfeeding in public where and when necessary.

It is perfectly possible to feed a baby discretely in public, the choice whether to or not is very much dependant on how confident the mother is with the whole process. While I am completely in support of women who want to breastfeed in public I can't help but feel that this is rather unnecessary legislation.

That said I have never actually had to do it myself. Obviously!

Blair and the media

Mr Blair, who will step down as prime minister on 27 June, admitted that New Labour's own attempts to "court" and "assuage" the media in the early days of his government may have contributed to the problem.

Well, as they say "live by the sword die by the sword".

Blair has done more to damage the reputation of politics and politicians than any PM I can think of. The fact that the media have turned on him should come as no surprise and in my mind justified. That politicians at all levels and in all parties have been tarred with the same brush is unfortunate but inevitable.

It's too late to say you're sorry now.

Kiley - £3/4 million a year for nothing?

I am looking at page two of the Evening Standard which claims that TFL cannot provide any record of what Bob Kiley has done for his £750,000 a year consultancy fee.

It also says that he remains in the "Grace and favour" Belgravia home that comes with the job. Two questions spring to mind.

1. How the hell can Livingstone justify the huge amount of public money being given to Bob Kiley?
2. Why on earth is the head of TFL given a city centre pad, why not make him commute to work like the rest of us?

I cannot wait to get a Conservative Mayor into City Hall, I suspect the level of waste will give us a lot of financial options over the next few years.

All the pain of divorce without the need to be married

If the Times is to be believed, any why wouldn't you, unmarried couples may soon get the same rights as married couples. I wrote about this subject over a year ago, and having re-read my arguments, I stand by them.

I suspect that this will become one of those issues where reason goes out of the window and anyone who opposes these plans gets branded as some out of touch reactionary. Well I'm sticking my head about the parapet now and await the abuse.

I shall declare and interest: I am married.

Elephant powder

"Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell has brushed off criticism of his record, saying it showed how seriously Labour and the Conservatives now took him."

That would make some kind of sense if the criticism wasn't loudest from within his own party. I feel really sorry for Ming, he got in as the candidate "least likely to have skeletons in his closet" and now he has to spend most of his press time claiming there is no threat to his leadership.

This is very much the situation that IDS found himself in, it is debilitating. IDS has shone since the burden of leadership was lifted from him. Ming was a good foreign affairs spokesman but a hopeless leader. I suspect that most Lib Dems would agree with this but don't want to risk another damaging and divisive leadership election.

Ghost Foreign Affairs

I have posted the first in a series of Foreign Affairs ideas over at the Ghost Cabinet blog. I don't claim to be a Foreign Affairs expert but I hope that my post (and others) sparks some debate.

Go and have a look.

The measure of the man

Blair has apologised for Conservative anti-terror plans being claimed by Brown as his own. This is embarrassing for Blair but what is more telling is Gordon Brown's part in the incident.

He is unrepentant. He seems happy to smash the cross party consensus that is working to keep the county safe in favour of short term political advantage. This has come as a genuine shock to me, there are some issues that are bigger than party politics and security is one of them.

If this is how he is going to act as Prime Minister the country will be baying for his blood before long.

Big Brother racism row.......again

Once again we ask ourselves was it racism or was it just crassness and stupidity? Or are they the same thing?

I haven't watched this series and I don't know any of the people involved so I can't really make any serious comment. I wonder how many people in the same boat as me will come out with defence or condemnations?

Killed by spin?

Not that long ago I mentioned a post on St Crispin's blog about the Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters Regiment training for Afghanistan. The decision to add the battalion to 12 Brigade was initially declined forcing them to miss out on months of pre-deployment training. This was just after Tony Blair said that military commanders could have anything they needed to get the job done.

One of their soldiers has now been killed. Clearly I have no idea if the training delay cost this soldier his life but training is there for a reason and the Worcestershire & Sherwood Foresters got less than they deserved.

Sick as a pig

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last few days. I have a throat infection and a crazy temperature, I have spent the greater part of the weekend flat out.

Still, enough about me what is going on in the world? Here is the whistle stop tour as seen from my sick bed.

Putin says he will point nuclear weapons at Europe if the US builds a missile defence screen in Poland. I don't think so. Who would buy all Russia's gas if they nuked the west? International trade is a great vehicle for peace.

Olympic logo. Rubbish and expensive, I'm sure we'll get used to it. Here are some alternatives (I like James Wren's).

Mandelson's Westminster return. In his dreams, I would laugh myself stupid if Labour bring him back. It would tell us everything we need to know.

And from one sicky to another, get well soon Mr P.

Know who your enemy is

The news that Col Jorge Mendonca has left the Army saddens me because all the reports that I have about him (both from the press and military friends) were glowing. It seems that in its desire to be seen to take a firm line with any alligators of wrong-doing the Army has lost one of its brightest and best.

I do not condone the abuse of prisoners but I can't quite shake the feeling that this was more about show than justice.

Something sensible from the Home Office

The decision to allow Tul Bahadur Pun to stay in the UK is a victory for common sense and fairness.

The story has been well covered in the media so I don't intend to go through it all again now but there is an aspect that I think is worth considering.

Mr Pun has done everything by the book, he fought in defence of our way of life, he applied to come here through the proper channels and didn't try to abuse the system in any way. Yet he was initially turned down and had he not been a decorated hero, would probably still be looking at a Home Office rejection letter.

Compare this with the case of the Afghan hijackers who seemed to have little difficulty in getting permission to stay. Any casual observer would take from this the lesson that truth and honesty don't pay.