Most lefties have one or two favourite Tories. Me? I own a whole menagerie. Who can resist Nicholas Soames and his waspish tweets? Fabbers’ endless self-parodying? The plastic Thatcher tributes by Anna Soubry? And Rees-Mogg’s distillation of Tory toffism? Yet these colourful characters share a less appetising trait: they’re all irredeemable bastards. I might titter […]
Posts under ‘Conservatives’
Winning in the South: Jez we can.
May 9th, 2016 by Andy Newman.The election results from Bristol came in over the weekend, and it is worth reflecting the degree to which they demonstrate significant advance, particularly as Labour does need to win in the South of England. Simon Woolley has already observed the enormous significance of a mayor of Afro-Caribbean heritage being directly elected in a city […]
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A letter to the Chief Constable
May 6th, 2016 by Andy Newman.6th May 2016 Mr Mike Veale Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police Possible Illegal Practice in Chippenham, contrary to the Representation of the People Act 1983. Dear Mr Veale I am addressing this personally to you, due to the sensitivity of the matter. As you are no doubt aware, in May 2016, the current MP for […]
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Theresa May’s leadership bid
Apr 28th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.As the EU referendum battle gets nasty and Tory tears lumps out of Tory, spare a thought for the chancellor and the London mayor. At times these last six months, both men have had reason to believe their careers are sloping upwards. Number 10 has conceivably been in reach, but their grip on political gravity […]
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Explaining the election of Malia Bouattia
Apr 24th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.What to make of the election of Malia to the presidency of the National Union of Students? Well, the political establishment are pretty clear about the opinions every right-thinking person should have. “Malia Bouattia’s election as NUS president proves deeply divisive“, says The Graun. “Disaffiliation threat could leave NUS facing a financial blackhole“, The HuffPo […]
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Dave finds out what it’s like when the gutter press have it in for you
Apr 10th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.As readers may know, I’m not a politician and when I worked in politics, it wasn’t at the spaddy level where you’re actually listened to. Yet me, a lowly ex-bag carrier responsible for caseloads in an obscure constituency, knows the first rule on resolving a political crisis is to wrap it up as quickly as […]
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Nasty signalling over Port Talbot
Apr 1st, 2016 by David Osland.There is currently no small vogue among polemicists of right-wing bent to accuse lefties of something they call ‘virtue signalling‘. So please allow me to introduce a parallel neologism. Many of the ugly responses from free market ideologues to the crisis now destroying the British steel industry are clear-cut examples of nasty signalling, designed to […]
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Rotten Tory ideology is laid bare by crisis in steel
Mar 31st, 2016 by Michael Burke.In order to defeat Osbornomics it is necessary to understand it. A central tenet is that the private sector is the key to prosperity and that therefore everything possible should be done to promote and encourage it. The state should shrink in order to release the inherent dynamism of the private sector. The argument runs […]
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Is George Osborne finished?
Mar 23rd, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.They seek him here, they seek him there. Those lobby hacks seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive … Chancellor of the Exchequer. Okay, so my reworked rhyme lifted from the Scarlet Pimpernel doesn’t work. But neither do Osborne’s sums, so all is balanced in the world. […]
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Good riddance IDS: long may this internal warfare continue
Mar 19th, 2016 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.When you’re the head of a department that has meted out cruel and inhumane treatment to disabled people, when you’ve sat in the Commons and nodded through cut after sanction regime after tightened eligibility criteria, at what point do you say enough and call time over your complicity in these proceedings? Does one draw a […]
