Tagged with Tories

Some initial thoughts on Labour, patriotism and Tim Soutphommasane

It has been the contention of some that the Englishness we speak of today is rather bleak and shrill, “based on loss and abandonment”, as Jon Cruddas recently put it. But the nation today will be in the throes of national ecstasy, nearing the closure of the Olympic games with 29 gold medals under our belt and a glorious victory from Mo Farah in the 5000m race. Continue reading →

Are the Tories about to have their Blair vs Brown moment?

This supposedly Conservative-led government has always been all about moving quickly, tearing down the red tape left up by the Labour party, and knocking down the barriers raised to build about a new revolution in schools, public sector reform and wider society.

In short they were heirs to Blair who went about exactly the same thing, on a radical mission to change UK politics forever. Only this government appears to be peaking early. Its revolution has been half-baked; the cuts aren’t working, big society has only created a big noise and no substance, while the coalition looks ever more rocky.

Though the Tories have brought to fruition one aspect of the Labour legacy rather early – earlier than I think most were expecting – and that is the designs of a very noticeable bid for a leadership coup. Continue reading →

It’s all over now, for Nick Clegg

What could possibly be worse for Nick Clegg than Labour grimacing at him over his admission that he’d join in coalition with them if they were to fall short of a Commons majority in 2015?

It’s not outright hostility, but pity. Once upon a time it was an unwritten rule that Labour party activists, particularly at a local level, avoid openly begrudging their Liberal Democrat opponents too much because the day could come when they come running to us to form a government.

Now, to pour warm pity over Clegg is a positive boon. No more is it seen as a potentially awkward thumb-bite towards all of the Liberal Democrats, more of a strategic gesture towards the man who is seen to have sold his party short of all principle. Continue reading →