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The Tory Witch Hunt
Excerpt: One knew that things were bad in the Conservative Party - but thanks to Iain Dale we now know just how strained things have become.
One knew that things were bad in the Conservative Party - but thanks to Iain Dale we now know just how strained things have become.
According to Iain, attacks on one "A list" name (note for readers: the A list is a list of "Dave's Faves" - minor celebrities who are now to be promoted above the so-called "provincial second-raters") amount to a Witch Hunt:
The hounding of Adam Rickett, both by the media and disdainful Conservatives, has gone far enough. It's time to stop. It's a disgrace that he has been villified in such a disgusting manner by people who should know better. He has become the lightning rod for the whole 'A' List saga, and it should stop now.
Still Iain can hardly resist the temptation to damn with faint praise himself:
While his appearance on Question Time was not an unqualified success - as I am sure he would himself admit - it was hardly a disaster. He actually answered the difficult questions reasonably well, but was weaker on the easier questions.
Iain's rage is understandable - in the Daily Mail today
Jonathan Holborrow has the following to say: "I think it is unlikely that Mr Rickett will advance much further in the selection process in Folkestone & Hythe, which is a very traditional Conservative seat." Well, it's a point of view you might say, and what's wrong with that? What's wrong is that Jonathan Holborrow is the constituency chairman in Folkestone & Hythe.
Indeed the Daily Mail is rather scathing:
As one of the 100 political hopefuls on Mr Cameron's roster of elite candidates, the former male model and failed pop star is being touted as the future face of the Conservative Party. Mr Rickitt's decision to go for Mr Howard's seat despite having no political experience caused consternation and left the party leadership on the defensive after Right-wing backbenchers dismissed the A-list as a collection of "pseuds and poseurs of London's chi-chi set".
In response, the Tory high command offered to review the way the list is managed later this year, and ordered those already on it to volunteer for seats which are far from safe.
Candidates were threatened with removal from the list unless they put their names forward for hard-to-win seats held by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
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I think it's a long-standing principle that first-time candidates should stand in hard-to-win seats, unless they have some other defining attribute - normally, years of service to the party in question, either behind the scenes or actively in another level of government, such as local councils or the European Parliament.
The idea of A-listers jumping the queue for safe seats is something I can't imagine the Tory rank-and-file will like much. Nor do I think it will be successful; such candidates will open themselves up to accusations of carpetbagging, or accusations that they have no experience to bring to bear. This may have the effect of making some nominally safe Tory seats vulnerable to under-the-radar campaigns if they decide to field an A-lister.
Bad? Ah yes. Poll leads across the board, government in pre-meltdown, second opposition party lead by an elderly and inferior politican. Things can only get worse, surely?
"Main" opposition party led by a spinmeister with no solid acheivement to his name to date, elevated to his position by media manipulation from his friends, surrounding himself with lightweights ...
If one wanted to be facetious, one might observe that a candidate lusted after equally by women and men (ie, Adam Rickitt) is likely to garner a disproportionate slice of the frivolity vote.
Clearly, Cameron has decided to focus on presentation to the almost total exclusion of substance. This will be tolerated by the membership as long as the Party does well in the polls, but Cameron's enemies have their knives ready and waiting for the moment the strategy belly-flops.
As far as I can divine from the few available runes, the two consistent policy threads in Cameron's "modern" Conservative Party are (1) unreserved support for the neo-con agenda, and (2) a hostility towards individual liberty and human rights protection, as evidenced by Cameron's call for the Human Rights Act be repealed, and his advocacy of conscription (or some forced labour scheme in lieu thereof).
Adam Rickitt is a freakshow. I am dumbfounded that the Tory Party considers him fit for public office. (Would Cameron force him to join the Army?)
It'll be interesting to see how Cameron deals with the steady build up of criticism over him being a hypocrite (such as the Guardian's story about him taking donations from a man who practices policies he then criticises). Looks rather similar to the shoe chauffeur following him round while he rides a bike - says one thing, does another...
He's trying to copy Blair's act, but I doubt that the press are likely to fall for it twice. Even if they do give him positive coverage, he's never going to have the unconditional support that Blair enjoyed until Iraq.
He is also raising expectations he won't be able to match...
Peter
http://pigeon-post.blogspot.com/
Such a move has put Tories in a difficult position. The Conservatives know they have to change, but this is really testing the nerve of the core vote. I was shocked to see an article by Mr Rickett in today's Telegraph, just what would MacMillan or Home have thought!