Why Now?

The London based Daily Telegraph newspaper faces the most serious question about David Laws’ resignation, and that is: Why now?
Why reveal information pertaining to his personal relationship as it relates to a rule change in 2006 about MPs renting accommodation from a “partner” -- a murky term if ever there were one?

It is certainly most detrimental to the coalition government, and hence the economic fortunes of the United Kingdom, and thus totally irresponsible.

Today the Telegraph makes the naïve claim they had no intention of revealing the victim’s sexual orientation. What a foolish claim.

It’s ironic that had David Laws defected to the Conservative Party at the time of the rule change he could then have safely come out, and stopped claiming for the London flat without giving rise to any suspicion.
But he didn’t, because he wrongly thought the Conservative Party more homophobic than his own LibDems.

Deepwater Horizon

I find the media reporting and reaction to the oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico astoundingly amateur.
The resources being brought to bear by Sunbury-on-Thames based BP are truly remarkable.
In contrast the response of the American Government -- including their President -- is a complete joke. And the British Government could afford to show a bit of backbone and stick up for it’s economic interests.

BP has 1,100 vessels involved, and 22,000 people working on the containment exercise, including a whole series of largely experimental solutions until one cures the unprecedented problem. Whilst these methods worked successfully to plug the wells blown by Saddam Hussein in Kuwait, they’ve never been tried before at 5,000ft depth of water.
The final solution maybe another two months away when a relief well is able to plug the well bore 16,000 feet below the surface, with a backup relief well two weeks behind that, in case of any snag.
In fact all the skills needed to cure the problem are entirely within the private sector, and the almighty US Government is completely out of its depth.

Coalition Misgivings

I couldn’t help noticing the Liberal Democrats in Twickenham and Richmond are having a meeting on Thursday week (3rd June) to “discuss the coalition government”. Vince Cable will “speak, answer questions and listen to members' views.”
Now, political parties do not have meetings like that unless they have serious misgivings amongst their rank and file.
And for a party that has spent the last fifty years preaching the wonders of proportional representation and coalition government, the fact that they hesitate when they find themselves part of one is utter hypocrisy.

TaxPayers’ Alliance

This evening I attended a political dinner in Staines with Mark Wallace, Campaign Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
Similar to the Tea Party movement in America, the TPA sees itself as the guardian of British taxpayers’ money, and delights in exposing government waste by using the Freedom of Information Act.
More interesting is that its growing membership of around 50,000 could soon overtake that of the Liberal Democrat Party.

How the Other Half Lives

In the last two years I’ve had two TVs breakdown, so am now reliant on an ancient 14” portable set, as I simply do not have the time to go out and buy a new one.
Go around any housing estate and I used to reckon you could spot the families living on welfare by the flat screen TVs visible through the curtains.
But it’s more subtle than that. These days only those on benefits can afford Sky subscription, which is too expensive for those in work.
So the quickest way to slash the Government deficit is to marry the benefit claimants with the Sky TV customer records.

A Good Deal?

People ask me whether the coalition is a good deal. If activists from both parties are complaining in equal measure that too much was given away, that says that it was about right.

No one believes that a minority Conservative government would have lasted beyond Christmas. Now there’s a good chance the coalition will last long enough to get to grips with Labour’s economic mess.

Meantime we must stomach the hike in capital gains tax and the delay in abolishing inheritance tax for families with modest wealth.
And hope for the best.

A Five Year Parliament

I don’t fully accept the notion that “the people have decided” when it comes to election results, especially the idea that Britain somehow chose a hung parliament last week.
Most people made up their own minds and voted individually -- only a minority were wishing for an inconclusive result. And none of them was expecting such resounding coalition deal.
I can’t help thinking that a lot of floating voters treated the entire process as a TV talent contest like the X-Factor and American Idol.
They imagined it was just for this year, and they’d get a chance to vote again next year.
Maybe they will, but the odds are that David Cameron has played a blinder, and they’ll be stuck with their decision for five years.

A Deal

It looks as though there’ll be a deal before the day is out.
It almost makes you want to believe in a proportional voting system, with single transferable votes and perpertual coalitions.

But these are very special times.
There’s thirteen years of Britain’s economic and social decline under Labour to sort out. And of all parties the Liberals can least afford a second General Election this year.
So whilst I’m happy to sup with the devil at Westminster, Britain’s third party -- with it’s childish campaigning methods -- is not welcome in Surrey.

The Cameron-Clegg deal will either make or break the Liberal Party.

Winning isn’t Everything

Elections are about making difference, and I’m still recovering from last Thursday’s marathon.
My day started in Surbiton at 5:30am with a deft touch to avoid clanking any letterboxes. After five hours delivering it was time to start door-knocking to encourage Conservative supporters to turn out. Ten hours later and I was still bumping into Liberals doing the same thing, meaning we’d kept them pinned down all day long.
Even if you can’t beat Liberals, it was just as nice stopping them concentrating their resources in Richmond Park where they lost a seat.
Ironically for a party that moans about the First Past The Post voting system, they are usually the ones who work it most to their advantage by mobilising their limited manpower to best effect.
Finally back to Spelthorne to watch over the count -- another five hours –- and about the last process left in Britain that is not electronic!

Always be Nice

For you never know who you might bump into.

A couple of weeks ago Ed Davey was asking directions to get to a meeting in Kingston, and a nice lady assisted -- at which point he rushed off without thanking her.
That lady joined the Conservative campaign team a few days later.

Maybe if Gordon Brown hadn’t been so intolerant of the media they wouldn’t have released the Bigotgate tape?

Vote Conservative on May 6th
A vote for the LibDems is a vote for five more years of Gordon Brown.

Bigotry

Seasoned political campaigner as I am, there’s hardly anything that shocks me on the doorstep.
Except working with a pregnant candidate recently, I’ve encountered bigotry from another age -- the Stone Age.
Admittedly forty years ago it was considered acceptable to believe a woman’s place was in the home. But it really is shocking that in the 21st century some people still think a woman should make a choice between having a career or raising a family.

Today’s LibDem Lie: Sorry this blog will no longer mention the name of Britain’s third party, or the despicable things they say in connection with the above subject.
Fortunately the police have started arresting them.

Conservative Support Firming Up

Expect the opinion polls to move tomorrow after I’ve detected a change in the last 24 hours.
Yesterday LibDem voters were being rude on the doorstep -- always a sign of piousness.
Whereas today (Sunday) even those people who have already voted LibDem (by post) were being pleasant, and wishing the Conservatives good luck -- rather odd, but symbolic I think.

Today’s LibDem Lie: Ed Davey, the man who has already claimed victory in his own constituency-wide leaflet, announced at lunchtime that "People dislike politicians because they don’t tell the truth".
This was after telling us that 80% of UK immigration comes from the European Union, when in fact it’s less than a third; and that the Conservatives stopped counting people out of the country, when it was in fact Labour who abolished exit controls in 1998.
Mr Davey also claimed his party’s amnesty would have no impact on future illegal immigration, when in fact all the evidence is to the contrary, from other countries which have tried it. Goodbye Mr Davey.

Don’t Attack LibDems

One of the great oddities of British politics is that small protest parties can win large numbers of votes by attacking the two mainstream parties. The more hypocritical the attack on policy, and the more personal the abuse about the opponent the better.
However the British love of the underdog means the reverse does not apply. In fact any attack on the LibDems can be counter-productive, as David Cameron found out during the third TV debate, when he criticised the LibDem's ridiculous amnesty for illegal immigrants. His rating immediately plunged.
It is frustrating to explain to Conservative voters why LibDem lies must go unanswered, but that’s just the way it is.

Today’s LibDem Lie: This will be almost the last LibDem lie feature -- unless next week’s election results in a realignment of British politics, and the LibDems cease to be a protest party, and return to the mainstream two-party system.