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"Why after a year of his leadership are we only one point ahead of where we were at the start?" - Leigh's attacks Cameron.
The Evening Standard has a serious of damaging quotes from Edward Leigh.
According to the Standard, Leigh asks
"Is it any wonder that there is a steady drift of voters to UKIP and the BNP?
"Indeed, UKIP is cleverly making a bid for these votes by espousing a Thatcherite agenda across the whole field of issues."
This sounds rather like defection talk to me.
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It says something of the mix of views in Labour and the Conservatives at the moment that at this morning's liaison committee meeting he calmed Blair by saying that as a Conservative he was a friend. And, this morning at least, Blair did look relieved.
I have said the same on a couple of forums after a few polls showing the Tories going backwards. No matter how Cameron wants to spin this people DO want something and just hoping Labour will cock it up will not win it for him.
I think once he starts with some serious policy that many right wingers will jump ship once they knwo they are being ignored.
UJIP will take them in and both at local and national level(to a lesser extent) it will damage thir vote, and they bloody well know it!
Leigh is relatively unlikely to defect to UKIP as he has too much to lose (he is still only in his 50s and has a safe seat and a nice little number on the Public Accounts Committee).
But it shows the level of disquiet. Remember, Leigh is the leader of the Cornerstone group of around 40 MPs and he is canny enough not to stick his head above the parapet without their support. These people simply don't like Cameron or what he is saying and it appears the slightest wobble (this is only one poor and a couple of vaguely iffy polls) is enough to signal open revolt. You have to wonder what it will be like if Brown gets some new leader bounce, or worse still from the Tory perspective if Cameron is ever called upon to run the country.
Gay adoption is a big issue for Leigh, who is a keen Catholic. I imagine it is a big issue for a lot of the Tombstone crowd.
Peter
I don't think I have ever met a keen Catholic. I have met several devout ones (who keep it up out of a deep sense of duty) and many more lapsed ones, but "keen" ones are pretty rare (and that is no bad thing).
I must introduce you to my inlaws.
"the Cornerstone group of around 40 MPs"
According to their propaganda. In truth I believe they're much smaller.
I met Leigh a couple of years ago at the top of Ken's south-bank mayoral bubble-thing. He started going on about "standards" on television. Would be hilarious if he defected.