Politics – Cameron has Blown the Election, on Day 1?
Cameron has scored an own goal It is always nice when people agree with you, even if it is the Torygraph, Here is what they say about Cameron and his election priorities. “Just what are the Conservatives’ election priorities? If you go to the Conservatives’ website, you’ll find this list on the homepage: • Income tax cut for 30m people • Benefits capped • An in/out EU referendum in 2017 • Getting immigration under control • The deficit eliminated • Strong and stable leadership Today, David Cameron is giving a speech outlining the central themes for the Conservative election campaign: • Deficit • Jobs • Taxes • Home ownership • Education • Retirement You will, I’m sure, quickly spot some rather significant differences. The biggest is that neither immigration nor an EU referendum are on the new Conservative list. Labour, meanwhile, is noting that the NHS isn’t there either.” It seems that Cameron and his aides have decide to play to their strengths, but to my (albeit biased eye) they are few. They lag behind UKIP on immigration, better to ignore it. They lag behind Labour on the NHS, much better to ignore it. The really interesting thing is Europe. He knows that he can not deliver on a re-negotiated treaty. There is no appetite for it anywhere else other than Cameron’s fevered imagination. The dilemma for Cameron is whether to fight UKIP on immigration, or not. The truth is that UKIP are peddling dangerous lies. The immigrants from Europe enjoy a much lower unemployment rate in the UK than indigenous UK citizens. In other words, they work harder, for less, that the average Brit. In politics the truth matters little. The Tories, and Cameron lose on this issue. Cameron can afford to lose on the NHS. After all the people who care about the NHS, above all, are likely to be Labour leaning voters. The problem is those pesky UKIP transfer voters. If they are going to vote Labour anyway then do not expend any energy on them. But, Tory to UKIP voters. Surely Cameron has to fight to save them? The problem is that anything that the Boy Cameron has to say about immigration will come across as UKIP-lite. Being out of power, and a party made up of one issue nutters, UKIP can make outrageous promises, and they do. – But they don’t talk about legalising guns too much – why should they? Cameron is on a hiding to nothing. He vowed to reduce immigration to “tens of thousands” it stands at more than 200,000. It is like the deficit. It is a stubborn problem that will not go away, no matter how he dresses it up. Cameron is just so lucky that he up against the UN-photogenic Milliband In any event some of his “loyal friends” are beginning (beginning?) to position themselves for the inevitable blood-letting should/when Cameron loses the election. (Perhaps we should think about what “loses” means, no majority, no majority and forced into another coalition?) The usual suspects are there Boris, Theresa, but how about Owen Paterson? (Who he? More to follow) That traditional friend of Cameron and the Tories the Sun is particularly hostile today: “If he won’t address the issue of immigration, you have to wonder if he really wants to win.” With friends like that………………
Politics – Has Cameron Blown the Election?
David Cameron Spells Out his Top 6 Priorities, and Upsets Everyone! The election campaign has begun, Cameron has spelt out his top 6 Priorities. Obviously Europe is there, he has to head off UKIP. Immigration is there, again to deal with UKIP and expose Labour. The last obvious subject has to be the NHS, he has to spike Labour’s guns. The strange thing is, none of these are in his top 6 priorities! What is going on? Surely Cameron is not running scared on immigration? Perhaps he is. There was an absolute promise to reduce immigration to “tens of thousands” in the life of this parliament. Failed, abysmally. How about Europe? There is Cameron’s pledge to renegotiate the treaty and have an in and out referendum in 2017. So, why, if he is on solid ground here is he risking the wrath of UKIP, the voters, and his right wingers? Perhaps he is facing up the reality that he can not deliver. Our 20 odd (the right wingers say very odd) European partners do not want to renegotiate anything. He can not deliver a referendum that he can win. Better to run away David, oh, you are. How about the NHS? Cameron uses the NHS, believes in the NHS. However, it is failing. After 5 years of Cameron’s tender loving care it is in intensive care. A&E is a nightmare. The problem is that people insist on getting ill. Worse still, they want to be made better. Just how unreasonable is that? Although he did not set it up, the first hospital to be privatised has just failed. The NHS is a poisoned pill for Cameron. So, what is on Cameron’s list? The deficit. (Cameron has seen it grow, not shrink) Jobs. (All those zero hour contracts) Taxes. (He has made good progress here, as long as you are one of his millionaire friends) Education. (We are still slipping down the league tables) Housing. (Does even Cameron believe that the bedroom tax was a good idea?) And retirement (Hang on a second, was it just today when it was announced that the much vaunted level state pension was exposed to be a sham? Yes it would). Sometimes you almost need to feel sorry for the Boy Cameron, almost.
Politics – UKIP _It’s That Man Again
UKIP now reduced to an old comedy programme? Readers of a certain age will be aware of an old, (very old) radio comedy programme called ITMA (It’s That Man Again) starring Tommy Handley. UKIP have their very own version starring Kerry Smith one time candidate for South Basildon and east Thurrock. You may remember that he was the official candidate before Neil Hamilton became it. He was it again after Hamilton was forced to resign after his expenses were called into question. Smith was then forced to resign after he made some choice remarks. He made offensive remarks about gay people, other UKIP members and Chigwell in Essex. You may ask what those remarks were? The Maiil on Sunday says that he mocked gays as ‘pooftahs’ and referred to a woman as a ‘chinky bird’ in phone calls. Just what did he say about Chigwell? I have yet to find out but for it to be on a par with homophobic and racist comments it must have been quite something. That is all getting away from my point, if I have one. Mr Smith says that he may have been the victim of “black arts” within the party, however that does not seem to ring true if you read The Mail Online. That says that Smith was protected by Farage. It says; A leaked email shows the lengths Mr Farage was prepared to go to help him be selected for the seat. When Ukip members in Basildon met 11 days ago to pick a candidate, Mr Smith was not on the list, having been banned weeks earlier. But hours before they met, Mr Farage emailed Ukip’s national executive urging them to give him another chance. He wrote: ‘As leader of Ukip I have never involved myself in candidate selections. But in the case of Basildon South, I have received many objections to the removal of Kerry Smith from the local branch. The reason for his exclusion is he is a bit rough and ready, and there were several rumours which have not been substantiated. ‘We have been too cautious so I recommend we reverse our earlier decision.’ It may well be that Farage’s main concern was to block Neil Hamilton, not that I would blame him if that was the case. Hamilton is seen as a toxic candidate given his past, and obnoxious wife. His candidacy would taint the rest of the party although not everyone agrees with me. (Also from the Mail Online) A senior Ukip source said: ‘Nigel has shown a lack of judgment over Kerry Smith. In the eyes of some he abused his power in trying to get him a Parliamentary seat. We can’t understand why he appears so keen to speak up for Smith. It looks as though he was so desperate to stop Hamilton, whom he dislikes and sees as a rival, he lost all sense of proportion.’ Ukip leaders also revealed a tape of Mr Smith’s remarks was sent to them months ago. A party insider said: ‘Farage’s team knew about Smith’s disgraceful remarks. That is why he was fired in the first place. They thought the tape recording would never see the light of day so they put him back on the list. Others thought the public should know the truth.’ The most amazing thing about this whole story is not that Farage wanted to stop Hamilton. It is not that Smith used racist and homophobic terms. It is his excuses for his language; After apologising “unreservedly” he added: “My language, for the record, was no worse than watching an old episode of Fools and Horses to be fair. I come from the East End, the word was never offensive and if you talked politically correct where I grew up you were battered for being a boffin.” Sorry, he still watches Fools and Horses? That is just the forward thinking MP that we need. Also what does it say for where he grew up that not using racist language makes you “a boffin”? Mr Smith said the UKIP constituency had “become a real farce as far as the national party’s concerned”. At least the former UKIP candidate has that right.
Can a Privatised NHS Work?
The first NHS Hospital to be taken over by a Private Company Fails. Hinchingbrooke Hospital, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire was privatised in 2012 although the process started in 2009 under the last Labour government. The agreement was that Circle would take over the hospital from the NHS and any profits above £5m would be returned to the NHS. The trouble is that that there were no profits, just losses. Admittedly, the Losses started at £10m in 2012 and fell to £1.5m in March 2013. However, the NHS is not something that can be made to comply to “the market”. People get sick at odd times, mainly during the winter. Just because more people are ill does not mean that prices go up. The laws of capitalism do not apply. As a capitalist you can cut costs, reduce wages, reduce the number of jobs etc. but that does not help when the CQC ( Care Quality Commission) are on your back and the numbers going to A&E are going through the roof. All you can do is to suck it up – or ditch the whole thing, as Circle has decided to do. As much as I hated the idea of any company running a hospital I can not but feel a bit of sympathy, not much but some, for Circle. They take on a proposition that looks like it will make a profit only to find that the Tories, their natural partners in crime (it’s an expression, not a judgement!) start cutting the funding…. On top of that the impending CQC report would have criticised the standard of health care demanding better service levels. That is so unfair. Circle says that its funding has been cut by 10%. It is unreasonable to expect any organisation faced with increased demand to be able to cope with reduced funding at this level. Unless it is the NHS, of course. Circle can hand back the keys. The NHS is just told to do more with less by this heartless and BUPA insured government. (You don’t really think that the boy Cameron uses the NHS, unless it makes a good story n the press do you? So, when can the private sector run the NHS successfully? It is quite simple, Never.
Politics – UKIP – Such a Well Run Party!
UKIP not paid their bills? UKIP has been receiving plaudits about how much better their organisation has become since the last election. They seem to have modeled themselves on the Liberal Democrats’ local strategy that they have been working for years. UKIP’s local organisations have become much slicker. Testament to that was the show of organisation that they put on for the recent bi-elections. They identified the vote. They organised the vote and then they mobilised the vote. Perfect! However, not all their organisation seems to be as slick. Their web site has disappeared! It was on UKIP.org. Try putting that in today and you get one of those DNS holding pages. You know the sort of thing, if you do not renew the registration the domain gets parked until you pay up or someone else buys it! As an aside I have just tried Godaddy.com to see if UKIP.org was available. Sadly, it was not. I really fancied starting a one trick pony political party to grab all that money from Europe while saying how dreadful the European gravy train is. Oh well, never mind, at least I will not have to associate with ex members of the National Front and other sundry nutters. As a service to the party, just in case someone else has nabbed the various UKIP domains. I can offer them this bit of information. According to Godaddy USKIP.org and variations on USKIP are available. It seems to me that this is a good alternative. After all where else, apart from a skip, would you want to dump stupid policies?
It’s The Economy, Stupid!
Who Would Have thought that the Economy could be the Tories’ Achilles Heel? It is official, the UK economy grew slower than thought previously. It grew by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter of 2014 rather than the 3.0 % that was estimated. But, hey ho, that is still growth so where’s the problem? As David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: “The stark revision in annual growth confirms that the pace of recovery is slowing. The most concerning aspect of these figures is that the current deficit has risen to an un-sustainably high level.” The deficit? I thought that was going to be destroyed by all the cuts? No. (The problem with politicians, one of the problems, is that they use “deficit” and “debt” as if they are interchangeable, which they aren’t. This is true of both main parties, and the Liberals). The Tories were referring to the debt, the structural debt, probably. Also, revised down was the gross domestic product (GDP) which is one the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country’s economy. It represents the total value of all goods and services. Think of it as the size of the economy. The current deficit now stands at 6% of GDP. Which is a record, but not one that Gideon, sorry George, is going to boast about. In fact, the current account deficit has been above 5% of the GDP for the last 15 months which is the worst record since the early 1950s. Who cares? We all should. If you add up all the debt in the country, the government’s, businesses’, personal etc. the total debt is about 500% of GDP. Put like that we should all be scared. It will be almost impossible to get the debt burden down with the size of the current account deficit. The economy has always been by saved by the positive balance that we enjoyed between the return on our investments abroad and the payments we make to foreign investors. Trouble is, even that has been in deficit since halfway through 2012. So, we really in the deep do-do. Or are we? One way out could be to keep selling our best, blue chip companies, and any other assets we have to foreigners. But, how long can that go on? Right up to the point where the foreign investors think that we can not repay or service our huge debts and with the scale of our growing debt…………… It’s the economy, Stupid, and it is not good,
Politics – The Tory Party at War
The Tory Party may not be at war but tensions are running high! The race to be Cameron’s successor seems to be ramping up inside the Tory Party. We all know that Boris (the public buffoon who is really calculating and determined) is in the race. So is The Chancellor George Osborne (formally Gideon Oliver Osborne – the Gideon did not have the common touch. Frankly George, it would take more than a name change). Now, Theresa May is also beginning to make waves, quite big ones actually. She has been told to get a grip of her aides who are beginning to resemble the packs of aides that surrounded Blair and Brown. Two of them refused to canvass during the campaign for Rochester and Strood. For that Nick Timothy and Stephen Parkinson were suspended from the list of approved Tory Party parliamentary candidates. They said that they could not campaign as it was against the rules for aides to undertake party political work. Both Grant Shapps, the Tory Party chairman and Cameron himself disagreed. May went to bat for her underlings, but to no avail. Rumour has it that some members of the Tory Parliamentary Party are accusing her of not being a team player. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer are they? She never has been. The question of Timothy and Parkinson rumbles on, they will be admitted back into the Tory Party fold if they agree to campaign, so far they have not done so. Obviously they still have her support. The Sunday Times (21/12/14) talked of May starting a war against other ministers when she announced that Universities would have to ensure that foreign students would have to leave the country once their studies have finished. That sort of thing always plays well with the rabid right of the Tory Party, or the nasty party as May called it some years ago. The problem about students over staying has been dealt with. The bogus colleges that was a one way ticket into this country have been closed. The bogus student problem is over. What May is talking about here are those students that been to real universities and colleges, the sort of people who would help this country by using their qualifications here, not abroad. Not surprisingly her plan will be opposed by The Treasury and The department for Business, Innovation and Skills. They believe that Britain could only benefit if highly skilled overseas graduates are allowed to enter the UK job market after completing their degrees. Addendum. An interesting comment from the Daily Mail Online about the war in the Tory Party. Number Ten is said to be fed up of criticism of what they see as incompetence in David Cameron’s political operation from May’s camp Chancellor George Osborne is said to have been concerned by a surge in support for Mrs May among party activists, among whom she is now the clear favourite to succeed Mr Cameron, though sources insisted he had played no role in the suspension of Mr Timothy and Mr Parkinson. One of the Home Secretary’s supporters was yesterday quoted as saying: ‘Osborne is obsessed with having spies everywhere so he can either succeed Cameron or be kingmaker. Theresa has every right to protect her own interests. ‘That is not disloyalty and she will not be intimidated by anyone in Downing Street.’ Tory Party backbencher Nadine Dorries said: ‘The man pulling the strings is Osborne, not Cameron. ‘Osborne is desperate to ensure he has enough Tory Party MPs in place to vote him on to the shortlist of two, which is put before members to choose the next leader, should there be a contest in 2015. Those two are likely to be Boris Johnson and Theresa May.’ She added: ‘If Nick and Stephen become MPs that is two more votes for Theresa and two fewer for George. Theresa has had a lot to put up with. The more popular she is among party members, the nastier it becomes in Westminster.’ Mrs May has repeatedly stressed her loyalty to Mr Cameron and personal relations between the two remain reasonable, though she has never been part of his inner circle. However, the Home Secretary, dubbed ‘Britain’s Angela Merkel’ by allies, is thought to regard Mr Johnson as a ‘faintly ridiculous’ figure and would run against him if the Tory Party loses in May and Mr Cameron is forced to quit. So she thinks that the Tory Party might lose in May?
Politics – UKIP – More Twists to the Soap’s Plot
UKIP Kerry Smith Resigns from the party. Following on from my last comment about the continuing soap that is UKIP Kerry Smith has resigned from the party. He said that he was “sick of internal backstabbers who hold minor roles in the party”. Now, hang on a second he resigned as the UKIP candidate for South Basildon and East Thurrock after racist and homophobic comments he made came to light. True, the comments came to light after “insiders” apparently released a tape of the comments, but they were HIS comments. He did say that he was on medication at the time. (As if medication turns you into a racist homophobe.) He will now be an independent councillor on both Essex County Council and Basildon District Council. He also stated that he continues to support the general goals of UKIP. Remember they are the party that went into the last general election saying that they wanted to reduce Social Security to 1997 levels, in cash terms, not adjusted by inflation. They were also in favour of lifting gun controls and heaven knows what else. Actually, heaven may know but not many of their party did as most did not read the manifesto. In another development UKIP hates the EEC so much that it has created a new pan-European party so that it can skim £1.5m from Europe. The new party is called The Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe. It is so pan Europe that 21 of the 27 registered members belong to UKIP. Jumping on the Euro gravy train (as Farage puts it) is not new for UKIP. It already gets money from Europe by being a member of Europe for Freedom and Direct Democracy, another pan European grouping. UKIP skimmed £2.1m from Europ in 2013 with that wheeze. By the way, UKIP talks of democracy. In 2011 UKIP held a big internal debate on the issue. The party membership voted two to one against UKIP’s affiliation to a PEPP (one of those nice and lucrative pan European groupings).
Politics – UKIP. Just another week in the soap opera
UKIP soap rolls on. So what happened in the UKIP soap this week? A candidate resigns after saying that she was sexually harassed by the party’s general secretary during the selection process, although he strenuously denies the claims. He claims that they had a consensual sexual relationship. She denies that claim, very strenuously. The most interesting plot from the soap was Kerry Smith’s resignation as UKIP’s candidate for South Basildon and East Thurrock. A recording came to light of a phone call that Smith had made during which he made homophobic and racist remarks. Now why he should feel obliged to resign is a mystery. I thought that being racist and homophobic was part of the entry test for UKIP. UKIP has had been having a bit of trouble in South Basildon and East Thurrock. Smith was the candidate until Neil Hamilton was selected in his place. (You remember that old idiot, him of the strenuously denied Hitler salute while he was a Tory MP. Him with the dragon of a wife. Him with the cash for questions scandal. Him that was destroyed by a man in a white suit.). Then Hamilton resigned and there were claims that he had been fiddling his expenses (what again? You would have thought that he had learned from the past.) Obviously he denies the claims, strenuously. Then Smith was reselected, and then resigned. Whither now? The BBC web site says “UKIP hopes to make a serious challenge for the South Basildon and east Thurrock seat in the forthcoming general election” Serious? They must be joking.
Olympic Torch
Why is anyone surprised at the troubles surrounding the parade of the Olympic Torch round the world? When China was given the Olympics they agreed to far reaching changes over theri attitude to human rights. At the time the politicians in the IOC said that by giving them the games China would have to change. Now that they have not the same IOC politicians say that athletics should play no part in politics. The sad truth is that the Chinese had no intention of changing, the IOC knew that, the political leaders in the West knew that but no one really cares, as long as China is a valuable trading partner. That is why you will not catch Brown, Bush, Clinton, Obama etc. condeming the Chinese in other than the broadest terms. They will certainly not call for cultural or business boycotts. Sometimes it is difficult to be proud of your country, no matter which country it is. This week I was proud to be British. Proud to see the protesters out on the streets.
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
