Some Light Reading from David Cameron at the Guardian

David Cameron has four articles in the Guardian tonight at A New Politics which is on the Comment is Free site.

The first article is entitled We need a massive radical redistribution of Power and starts out

Adding his voice to the Guardian debate, the Conservative leader argues today that public fury at the MPs' expenses scandal points to deep problems in the British political system, and calls for restoring local control in the spirit of glasnost

In it David Cameron argues that

The anger, the suspicion and the cynicism – yes, with politics and politicians, but with so much else – are the result of people's slow but sure realisation that they have very little control over the world around them, and over much that determines whether or not they'll live happy and fulfilling lives.

The second article is entitled Democratic accountability and starts out

From local to central government, the driving principle of Conservative reform will be from the powerful to the powerless

In this Cameron says

But it's not just by decentralising power and reforming parliament that we can redistribute power away from an over-mighty executive. We need to end the culture of sofa government, where ­unaccountable spin doctors in No 10 – whether it's Alastair Campbell or Damian McBride – toss around ideas and make up policies not to meet the national interest but to hit dividing lines or fit the news cycle.

The third article is entitled The Post-Bureaucratic Age and starts out

Where the information revolution meets progressive Conservatism, people will control the things that matter to them

In the article David says

The lack of power and control people experience from politics was barely tolerable when times were good. But now times are hard and people are on the receiving end of wage cuts, job losses, negative equity, home repossessions and rising crime – and revelations about their rulers' behaviour, which has disgusted them. They are furious and finally demanding big change. Big change and a new politics is exactly what people can expect from a new Conservative government. We'll begin a massive redistribution of power in our country from the powerful to the powerless – from the political elite to the man and woman in the street.

The fourth and last article is entitled Electoral Reform and starts out

We'll consider fixed-term parliaments, but not proportional representation, as many in the Guardian series have demanded.

In it Cameron has a go at the current Government and its, and our, unelected leader

We also need to look seriously at the immense power prime ministers wield through their ability to call an election whenever they want. I know there are strong political and moral arguments against fixed-term parliaments. Political – because there's nothing worse than a lame-duck government with a tiny majority limping on for years. And moral – because when a prime minister has gone into an election and won it promising to serve a full term, but then hands over to an unelected leader halfway through, the people deserve an election as soon as possible. These arguments are of course particularly relevant today

I would recommend that anyone of any political persuasion reads these and has a think about what they mean.

You may agree or disagree with them, you may or may not believe that any party, far less a Conservative party, could be able to put them into being, they may make you angry or happy, they may even get you interested, if so they have achieved their aim and made you think about what is going on in the UK at the moment and make you want to do something about it.

Only when most of us want to do something about the current state of this country will it happen. Politicians themselves don't make anything happen, the truly good politicians though, might just get us pointed in the right direction, and get us back on our feet and believing in this once great nation.

A new politics: blueprint for reforming government | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Voting Tory in Scotland - Michael Gove

Micahel Gove writes in the Scotsman about getting people to vote Tory in Scotland. His final paragraph is

It is, of course, part of my job to convince them that the only way they can get the Cameron-style policies on education they might like, on eliminating illiteracy or dealing with poor discipline, is if they vote to get them implemented in Holyrood as well as Westminster. Voting Tory, as Annabel Goldie pointed out this week, is still a big ask for some Scots. But, increasingly, the question many Scots are asking themselves is, why not?

This is the question, why not vote Tory at the General Election. Since 1997 when no Tory was returned to Westminster both Scotland and the Conservatives have changed significantly. A new optimism and confidence has come to Scotland with the start of Devolution, a belief that we are as big, if not better, than our nearest neighbour and with this has come a realisation that we can aspire to bigger and better things, not caught up with the tribal beliefs of a stagnant and dying Labour Party. This has already been seen with the SNP being the biggest party in Holyrood, but now the Tory Party is seeing the beginning of a renaissance with the polls showing that Labour is now in third place in Scotland with the Tories a strong second. Michael Gove gives some of the reasons this might be true

Under David Cameron, the Conservative party has changed in a way which brings it more closely into alignment with mainstream Scotland. The Cameron policy instruction to test every idea to see if it helps the poorest first, the Cameron spending decision to protect the NHS at this difficult time, the Cameron campaigning injunction to defend public-service professionals from attacks on their independence, all place modern Conservatism and middle Scotland back in synch.

He is right the Tory ideals are now as much Scottish ideals, a desire to become better but also to ensure that no-one is forgotten as we grow. This is in distinct opposition to Scottish Labour who are still stuck in the 70's thinking and their tribal warfare.

Let us hope that Gordon Brown is soon forced to call an election and Scotland can get the representation in Westminster it deserves.

Michael Gove: Tory vote is a big ask for Scots, but nation and party are changing - Scotsman.com News

How to do an Attack Video - Nothing Britsh about the BNP

This is how to do a proper attack video compared to Labour's inept attempts.

The British National Party likes to hide its true nature behind lots of policies that many people agree with. It's true that many of the big parties are failing but there's a horrible truth at the heart of the BNP. The BNP is a racist party that wants to build an All White Britain. Here's a key quote from the BNP leader Nick Griffin:

“I want to see Britain become the 99 per cent genetically white country she was just eleven years before I was born, and I want to die knowing that I have helped to set her on a course whereby her future genetic makeup will one day not even resemble that of January 1948, but that of July 1914. Nothing will ever turn me from working towards that final vision.”

The BNP wants to deport non-whites from Britain. First voluntarily, it says, but it would soon create a climate of fear for all people of a different skin colour. There's nothing British about that.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS VIDEO TO YOUR FRIENDS + SIGN THE ANTI-BNP PETITION

This is a campaign against the politics of discrimination, segregation and racial supremacy started by Tim Montgomerie and James Bethell.

There's Nothing British About the BNP

Blue Blood for the NHS

Instead of ranting on about who invented or voted for the NHS Annabel Goldie has done something simple and effective to back the 60th anniversary of the NHS, she has given blood.

This marking of the anniversary, is typical of the understated and very effective way, that Annabel has led the Tories in the past 18 months.

Mind you as one of the comments on the site says

Why not, she gave blood at the opening of the NHS.

Goldie bringing blue blood to ordinary Scotsman(or woman).

Goldie gives NHS something back - Scotsman.com News

Rifkind: How the Irish No Vote may help the Tories

Malcolm Rifkind on the Irish No vote in a European Affairs discussion last week.

I have highlighted the most important point which is that the No Vote may delay the ratification of the treaty beyond the length of the current Labour Government. The Conservatives will then be free to put the Lisbon Treaty to a Referendum. We can only hope this is true and the public can have their promised vote.

The hon. Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) ended her speech with a quotation; perhaps I may begin with one from many years ago. G. K. Chesterton said:

"The golden age of the good European is...a place where people will love each other; not...a place where they will be each other."

Although he was clearly not envisaging the European Union, there is a resonance between his words and the debate here and throughout Europe on the kind of Europe that we are trying to create. Is it a Europe of close co-operation, close friendship and close amity with the wider world, or a Europe that is constantly seeking further integration with some distant aspiration and ideal? Debates in Britain and elsewhere in Europe increasingly show that the wider public simply do not give their consent to the more integrated type of Europe that many of its founding fathers assumed would be Europe's destiny, and to which many in Europe, particularly continental Europe, still aspire.

Let me comment on some of the conclusions and implications that we ought to draw from the referendum in Ireland. My first point is potentially of domestic significance. If the Irish Government were to propose holding a second referendum at some future date, it would, at the very least, mean a major delay before final implementation of the new treaty; that would be an unavoidable consequence of the Irish saying that they wished to hold a second referendum. It would be perhaps another year, a year and a half, or even two years before all countries could ratify. Before then, there will almost certainly be a United Kingdom general election. If that led to a change of Government, one consequence would be that even if the treaty had been ratified in the United Kingdom, if it had not come into effect because an Irish referendum had not yet taken place, an incoming Conservative Government could reopen the whole issue by calling a referendum. That was not true until last week. Even if we had ratified, we could de-ratify if the treaty had not yet come into effect.

I have made clear my view that it would be absurd for a future Conservative Government to hold a referendum if the treaty had already come into effect; that would be a pointless exercise, and would be wrought with great difficulties. If, however, the treaty had not come into effect because the Irish had not ratified, my Front-Bench colleagues would be perfectly entitled to say, "The United Kingdom made a commitment that the British would have a choice", and that the matter should not simply be up to the Government." That is a profound consequence of what happened last week.

YouGov gives Tories 22% lead

These results will mean more mobile phone buying for Gordon's secretaries on Monday.

YouGov/ Sunday Times Survey Results
Sample Size: 1769
Fieldwork: 12th - 13th June 2008
%
Headline Voting Intention
[Excluding Don't Knows and Wouldn't Votes]
Con 47
Lab 25
Lib Dem 18
Other 10
Would Not Vote 8
Don't know 12
Do you think Gordon Brown is doing well or badly as prime minister?
Very well 1
Fairly well 15
Fairly badly 37
Very badly 41
Don’t know 5
Do you think David Cameron is doing well or badly as Conservative leader?
Very well 10
Fairly well 53
Fairly badly 18
Very badly 8
Don’t know 11
Do you think Nick Clegg is doing well or badly as leader of the Liberal Democrats?
Very well 2
Fairly well 33
Fairly badly 20
Very badly 9
Don’t know 37
Recent news on the economy has been very gloomy.
In your opinion how good or bad is the state of Britain’s economy at the moment?
Very good 0
Quite good 5
Neither good nor bad 19
Quite bad 49
Very bad 24
Don’t know 3
Over the next 12 months do you think Britain's economy will...
Grow at a faster rate than over the past 12 months 1
Grow at about the same rate 4
Grow more slowly 28
Not grow at all 31
Go into recession 31
Don't know 5


results080613toplines.pdf (application/pdf Object)

David Davis: he may strike a chord

Matthew Parris writing in the Times today generally makes a lot of sense and his article about David Davis is no exception. He is one of the few in the Westminster Village who is finally beginning to see what many of the others have ignored.

The problem with the "Village" is it is very inward looking and closed to "outsiders" very like a typical remote rural village. It does not like behaviour that does not follow protocol and custom and while, a little eccentricity is expected, major deviations are frowned upon and the "deviant" is quickly ostracised for daring to step outside the norm.

The trouble with this mentality is that when something different does happen, like say television arriving in a remote area, it is regarded with great suspicion and decried as being "dangerous" and a threat to the normal expected behavior, whilst, outside of the village it is looked upon as the more normal way of life.

So when an MP decides that Principles are more important to him than his career and money, he is immediately looked on as crank, derided as being egotistical etc etc. You only have to look at the vapid gushings of Nick Robinson for an example of what I mean.

Yet outside the village most people have been more than impressed to finally see a man, in particular an MP stand up and say enough is enough we must take action. The number of people from all sides of the fence who have said they would Vote for Davis is extraordinary.

Will all of this, though, help Davis in his mission to expose the stunning lack of respect this Labour Government has for our Liberties, its arrogance in saying it knows best about what is good for us.

At the moment I think that really depends upon how the leaders of the two main political parties react in the coming days to this threat. If David Cameron takes up the challenge and gets right behind Davis,I think this will turn out as good boost to Tory fortunes in the next election, never mind what actions are taken by Labour. If he doesn't do this he will have passed up an opportunity to impress the British voters that he is a more honest, and dare I say it, principled future Leader of this nation.

For Gordon Brown, currently hiding away in his bunker, it is as usual a quandary. If he ignores the challenge then he will again be derided as a "bottler" never willing to take up a fight. If he takes up the challenge then he will undoubtedly be beaten in the by-election, but if he at least fought this on the merits of his case he might earn some sort of respect, which he has lost, with the British Public.

Of course as Matthew Parris says it might all blow over into a damp squib from which David Davis emerges as as a diminished and broken politician. I only hope this is not the case but that he emerges from it with the knowledge that he has helped Britain get rid of this dangerous and dying Government. He will at least know that he has galvanised the public into thinking about what is happening to Britain under Gordon Brown.

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via FoxyTunes

David Davis: he may strike a chord | Matthew Parris - Times Online

The 42DD Campaign - Principles or a Stunt

Today David Davis stunned the Westminster world by resigning on a Point of Principle. This has put the fourth estate into feeding frenzy mode as they try to work out what this means and try to understand what "Principle" means, it is a word that is normally quite alien to them. This confusion has meant that they have resorted to making up bigger and bigger stories as they try to work out what is going on in this strange new world.

Davis has really put the cat amongst the pigeons, but is it just a stunt as the Labour MP's are trying to tell us. To them it is, as most have them have deserted their principles since they were elected to power back in 1997. Since those heady days there has been a gradual drift into a world where only they know what is best for us and only they can be trusted to look after us from our cradles to our graves. They want to control us in our every move and watch us at all times in case we step out of line and threaten their cosy existence.

However Davis is a man of strong principles, he is not the standard Tory having been born to a single mother, brought up by his grandparents, his grandfather was a communist who had been disinherited by wealthy father. Brought up in some of the tougher parts of London he left school to work in Insurance and was in the Territorial Army's 21 SAS Regiment before retaking exams and going onto University (Warwick, London Business School and Harvard) He then became a senior executive in Tate and Lyle working there for 17 years. He entered Parliament in 1987.

Davis has campaigned long and hard on the 42 day detention limit and on other civil liberty issues such as ID cards. He has made many friends across political boundaries for this fight, of whom many have praised his current stand today. One worth listening to is Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty on the Radio 4 PM programme just after the 5:30 news today (The article starts about 33 mins into the programme). In this Chakrabarti describes how passionate Davis is about these issues and when asked if Davis is being led by his Head or his Heart replies that cynicism has taken over and people won't step out of line or put their necks on the line, and are driven by opinion polls rather than leading opinion. To her, Davis is a man of Principle who is prepared to put them before his own career.

To my mind this is a principled stand. Davis is a man who has looked at what is happening under Brown's Leadership and does not like what he sees.

I suspect much of the problem for Davis is that he sees that Gordon Brown will not give up and we will still have at least another two years to put up with Brown ruining this country and leading us back into the situation Britain was in the dark days of the late 70's. It is a feeling of helplessness as this country lurches from one crisis to another while Gordon turns his blind eye to what is going on and leads us further and deeper into the abyss on every front. Taking a stand is the only way he can see of at least getting the public to pay attention to what is happening to them.

Will it work? Who knows, the next 3-4 weeks will be interesting! He has at least got people thinking and this can only be good. The papers, mostly, will not be great reading for him tomorrow but if he looks at blogs, comments and public opinion his resolve may be strengthened because he seems to a have a lot of support from all walks of life.

As for David Cameron, I'm sure he will not be that happy with the events of today, but I think in the end the Conservatives will be stronger after this. They need to support Davis in his fight on this issue and show that Politicians can still have Principles and that the public can start to believe in them again. If in any degree Davis achieves this then it will be a victory for him and also a victory for the Conservatives.

For Gordon Brown it's a case of mixed blessings. It has taken the spotlight away from his hollow victory last night and his lies about not bribing his own MP's and those of other parties. But it also exposes the shallowness and lack of backbone that this Government has. Brown has as usual disappeared from sight whilst, Gollum like, he makes his decision on what to do about the by-election. I suspect he will again bottle it and not put up a candidate as they will lose humiliatingly.

Davis resigned with the following speech

The name of my constituency is Haltemprice and Howden. The word Haltemprice is derived from the motto of a medieval priory, and in Old French it means "Noble Endeavour".

I had always viewed membership of this House as a noble endeavour, not least because we and our forebears have for centuries fiercely defended the fundamental freedoms of our citizens. Or we did, up until yesterday.

Up until yesterday, I took the view that what we did in the House of Commons representing our constituents was a noble endeavour because with centuries or forebears we defended the freedoms of the British people. Well we did up until yesterday.

This Sunday is the anniversary of Magna Carta - the document that guarantees that most fundamental of British freedoms - Habeus Corpus.

The right not to be imprisoned by the state without charge or reason. Yesterday this house decided to allow the state to lock up potentially innocent British citizens for up to six weeks without charge.

Now the counter terrorism bill will in all probability be rejected by the House of Lords very firmly. After all, what should they be there for if not to defend Magna Carta.

But because the impetus behind this is essentially political - not security - the government will be tempted to use the Parliament Act to over-rule the Lords. It has no democratic mandate to do this since 42 days was not in its manifesto.

Its legal basis is uncertain to say the least. But purely for political reasons, this government's going to do that. And because the generic security arguments relied on will never go away - technology, development and complexity and so on, we'll next see 56 days, 70 days, 90 days.

But in truth, 42 days is just one - perhaps the most salient example - of the insidious, surreptitious and relentless erosion of fundamental British freedoms.

And we will have shortly, the most intrusive identity card system in the world.

A CCTV camera for every 14 citiziens, a DNA database bigger than any dictatorship has, with 1000s of innocent children and a million innocent citizens on it.

We have witnessed an assault on jury trials - that balwark against bad law and its arbitrary use by the state. Short cuts with our justice system that make our system neither firm not fair.

And the creation of a database state opening up our private lives to the prying eyes of official snoopers and exposing our personal data to careless civil servants and criminal hackers.

The state has security powers to clamp down on peaceful protest and so-called hate laws that stifle legitimate debate - while those who incite violence get off Scot free.

This cannot go on, it must be stopped. And for that reason, I feel that today it's incumbent on me to take a stand.

I will be resigning my membership of the House and I intend to force a by-election in Haltemprice and Howden.

Now I'll not fight it on the government's general record - there's no point repeating Crewe and Nantwich. I won't fight it on my personal record. I am just a piece in this great chess game.

I will fight it, I will argue this by-election, against the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government.

Now, that may mean I've made my last speech to the House - it's possible. And of course that would be a matter of deep regret to me. But at least my electorate, and the nation as a whole, would have had the opportunity to debate and consider one of the most fundamental issues of our day - the ever-intrusive power of the state into our lives, the loss of privacy, the loss of freedom and the steady attrition undermining the rule of law.

And if they do send me back here it will be with a single, simple message: that the monstrosity of a law that we passed yesterday will not stand.

David Davis statement

Gordon Brown worse than IDS shocker.

After a bad weekend for the Tories, with Snouts in Trough alerts for 3 MEP's and the nannygate affair of Caroline Spelman, this week has got off to a rather better start for the Tories.

First we have tonights Dispatches programme on Channel 4 entitled "Gordon Brown: Where did it all go Wrong". This was illuminating in that in one hour I have never seen so many Political cock-ups or so many Cabinet Ministers ready to criticise a man who was their Messiah only one short year ago. Catch it again here shortly.

Second we have a Populus poll in the Times in which public support for Labour and Gordon Brown continues to plunge to new lows with the Prime Minister's leadership rating falling to a level even below that suffered by Iain Duncan Smith.

Labour’s rating has dropped by 4 points since early May to 25 per cent, with the Conservatives up 5 points to 45 per cent. This is by far the worst Labour position since 1997 and the best Tory one. The Liberal Democrats are up one point at 20 per cent.

The Tories may have more to think about with the vote on 42 days later this week which appears popular with the public but not so popular with a former Attorney General, The Lord Advocate of Scotland, Police Chiefs and MI5. However another vote on matters to do with changing Coroners and removal of juries from inquests may be just as hard to get past the commons.


Gordon Brown slides to lower poll rating than Iain Duncan Smith - Times Online

Colours of the Rainbow

Last night the reds beat the blues to win, tonight the reds beat the blues again but the greens won, and early tomorrow the blues will do, what they haven't done for over 25 years, and will not only beat but humiliate the reds , humble the yellows and, hopefully, help to bring about the downfall of the Brown one.

Big Feartie trails Tories by biggest deficit in 15 Years

The big Feartie will be in more trouble now as his Government goes from bad to worse. he is now presiding over a government with the biggest deficit to the Tories in 15 years. The last time the Tory lead was this high was before Black Wednesday, which says much for his leadership and "Vision".

The Poll from October 10/11 will be a bitter pill for Gordon to swallow after a bad bad week for him.

UPDATE: Must correct this entry. This is not the biggest lead for the Tories(they had a bigger lead as recently as March) but the highest level of support they have had in 15 years. This is probably even better than a big lead as I suspect that Labour still has a few points to fall.

Gordon Brown hit by Tory poll surge - Telegraph

A Declining Institution

I continue to be in the declining and unfashionable relationship called marriage. Roughly since Labour came in 4% less people are married.

Contrast that with the rise in unmarried couples living together which is the fastest-growing family unit in the UK. In the same 10 years that marriages declined 4%, cohabitation by unmarried couple increased by 65%. In addition lone parents have increased by 8% in the same period.

Now this may just reflect changing ideas on marriage but apparently it also has had another effect on the children of cohabiting families. It was found that 17-year-olds were most likely to be in education if their parents were married and they were not in step-families. A total of 69 per cent of boys and 78 per cent of girls at that age would be in education if they were in a traditional family unit.

So why don't people get married. The obvious answer is that changing ideas have changed our society, but also we have the stupidity of being penalised by the government for being married by an unjust Tax system.

The Tories have proposed bringing back the transferable married couples tax allowance, worth around £20-a-week, this would be aimed at making it easier for one parent to stay at home to look after children or elderly relatives. If applied to all married couples, it would cost £3.2bn a year.

This would be money well spent if the traditional family unit does help ensure everyone gets a good education and redresses an unfair penalty on married couples.

Number of unmarried couples rises by 65% - Independent Online Edition > This Britain

Tories the only party with realistic cash plans

Yes you've guessed it the only party with realistic cash plans are the Scottish Tories.

According to Professor Arthur Midwinter who is visiting professor at the institute for Public Sector Accounting at Edinburgh University,

The Tories are the only party to give "modest, fully costed proposals", rather than making "fiscally irresponsible" assumptions. Despite being a vociferous critic of the fiscal policies of the Thatcher government, Prof Midwinter praises the party for setting realistic goals for efficiency savings and costing promises made on issues like crime and education.

He wrote: "This is quite simply the most transparent and realistic set of policy and financial proposals I have read in the lead-up to the current election and far superior to the creative accounting and rosy assumptions in the policy statements of the other major opposition party, the SNP."

He continues in similar vein

"The report is well written and lucid, and returns to traditional Tory concerns, such as families, decentralisation to local government and the primacy of law-and-order issues, with little right-wing rhetoric favouring pro-market approaches across the public sector.

"The Conservatives' return to the centre ground increases the prospects for influencing developments - even outwith a coalition."

He does have some criticisms and said

the Scottish Conservatives are wrong to cite low growth and increased local taxation, which have in fact improved. He also said their policy on mutualising Scottish Water, cutting council tax for pensioners and allocating hospital resources to follow patients must be redrawn.

Annabel Goldie, the party leader, pledged to stick to

"credible" plans to influence the next Scottish Parliament: "We know from the doorsteps that our policies are being well received and are in tune with the voters' concerns about the bread-and-butter issues."

So as usual we see the Tories coming out with simple sensible policies based upon sound finances. Professor Midwinters comments for the other parties are below

Condemned the SNP's plans as

"an uncosted wish-list with a £1.8 billion black hole at its heart".

He has also criticised the Labour Party for merely

"muddling through" rather than taking important decisions on the economy

and he accused the Lib Dems of

"confused political and economic theorising".

Tories 'only party with realistic cash plans'