howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Having spent many years in the Commons, I viewed the 2010 Election as the lancing of an angry boil. I hoped the biggest intake of Conservative MPs in many years would cleanse Parliament, bringing new blood to make the Commons a better place.
But for many established MPs, there was a niggling doubt. Historically, it was a source of pride to me that anyone from any walk of life or social background could become a Tory MP. The last Election was very different. David Cameron and George Osborne cynically manipulated the list of candidates to ensure constituencies had a much narrower range to choose from.
Top of the list were their friends who went to the same school or moved in the same social circle. Or women with degrees from smart universities who could glide through the Tory death-by-canapé drinks parties with flawless received pronunciation - even if they had been Labour members only yesterday.
Then there were the ambitious sycophants and plain old careerists who would sell their own grandmother for a pat on the back or a wink from a whip.
Yet those of us who are a little longer in the tooth put the doubts aside. After all, we told ourselves, Parliament is a great equaliser. Speeches Cameron made before the Election about a new politics gave us great hope.
But before too long, the less appealing side to his character became clear as he displayed an immature tendency to poke fun at certain individuals or groups of MPs. It may have gone down well at Eton in the Eighties, but not in the Commons. Not in 2011.
When the expenses furore exploded in 2009, Cameron launched a hypocritical and appalling attack on veteran Conservative MP Bill Cash, who has dedicated his life's work to taking on the European Union.
He said Cash had 'questions to answer'.He didn't. He was clean as a whistle and threatened Cameron with legal action to prove it.
Cameron, the millionaire who used Commons expenses for his mortgage and to tend his garden, backed off, but it didn't stop him throwing other innocent Tory MPs to the wolves. Curiously, MPs with close personal links to Cameron seemed to escape the criticism aimed at Cash.
'Control freaks': David Cameron and George Osborne have surrounded themselves with 'gissa job' Tories and careerists that obey their agenda
The newly recruited army of pro-Cameron candidates waiting to win seats in the 2010 Election took note: every barb and jibe was aimed at MPs on the Right. The image of Cameron, the Tory 'Flashman' (the fictional public school bully), was established.
After failing to win the Election outright and teaming up with the Lib Dems, Cameron decided to target the Right. He did so by trying to mount a coup against the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, which represents rank-and-file MPs and has always been a beacon of the traditional Tory values found on the Right of the Party.
The Cameroons saw such MPs as a threat to their 'project'. But the coup failed spectacularly and the traditionalists - the Right - were elected to power on the '22 executive with record support.
Thwarted, Cameron deployed new tactics against the Right. He invited the new intake of ambitious Tory 'modernisers' to cosy briefings for them alone at No 10. His aim was to use them to divide and rule - and attack the '22.
Tory MPs who entered Parliament at the last Election behave as if they are the first-ever intake, oblivious to the unspoken rules of the Commons, the subtleties that it takes years to learn. Instead, they arrived with a born-to-rule arrogance and tossed aside these courtesies.
For example, there is a longstanding custom in the tea room that after you buy your food you take the next vacant seat at the first available table. It is designed to ensure no MP has to eat alone. Parliament can be a lonely place.
This went out of the window with the 2010 intake, who walk past members in search of one of their own clique, or snub someone they feel is out of favour with the whips or Cameron. The same happens in the bars, as they kept to their own group, openly nervous about whom they are seen talking to.
Cameron's clique: The millionaire former public school boy with his new breed of Tories, including Nicky Morgan for Loughborough, who are oblivious to the unspoken rules of the Commons
Last week, things took a nasty turn as Mark Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, brought forward a motion to ban live animals from circuses.
Mark is one of the MPs that the Prime Minister and the whips don't like. He is an independent thinker and does what he believes to be correct - not what the whips tell him to do. As well as being the secretary of the '22, he is also a Right-winger and proud of it.
It became obvious that Mark was under attack from No 10 and the whips office as the '22 met on Wednesday. Anna Soubry, Tory MP for Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, launched an unpleasant personal verbal attack at Mark. Her fellow 2010 Tory newcomer Nicky Morgan, MP for Loughborough, was cheerleading from her seat in the stalls.
From the day Anna arrived in Parliament, her zealous enthusiasm for every dot and comma of Cameron's Tory modernisation programme has been painfully obvious. A female MP told me rather harshly it doesn't help that Anna 'looks as if she is sucking on a lemon'.
Similarities: Cameron has been likened to the self-confessed weasel 'Harry Fashman'
Anna seemed to blame Mark for effectively putting Tory MPs on the spot in a Commons vote on banning animals in circuses. Mark is passionate about animal welfare. But Cameron couldn't stomach the thought of a backbencher having influence over Government policy, even one as minor as circus animals - though a ban has 92 per cent public support. The word went out from No 10: 'Kill Mark.'
Perhaps it is sheer coincidence that Anna is Parliamentary Private Secretary to Simon Burns MP, Minister of State for Health, who is a close personal friend of Chief Whip Patrick McLoughlin and was also a long-serving whip prior to becoming a Minister.
First, Mark was offered incentives to drop his motion. Then it got ugly as No 10 telephoned, threatened and bullied him. But he bravely stood his ground.
When Mark used the debate in the Commons on Thursday to expose how the whips and No 10 had behaved, it was instructive to watch the body language of some of the 'gissa job' Tory MPs from the 2010 intake. Stourbridge MP Margot James, second only to Matthew Hancock (Suffolk West) and Claire Perry (Devizes) in her Cameroon outrider credentials, bristled as it became clear Mark had a lot of support from fellow MPs.
Another 2010 Tory newcomer, Angie Bray interrupted Mark to try to throw him off stride. One after another, Parliamentary grenades with 'Whips Office' stamps on them were lobbed at Mark. But he brushed them all off. The ban on animals in circuses was voted through.
Cameron's quasi-Machiavellian later response, laughing off accusations of bullying and dismissing the debate as a storm in a tea cup, is a mark of his contempt for MPs and the public. Flashman has no time for the little people. He spins a glib line, thrashes a few fags (sorry, whips) and thinks he's got away with it.
The fallout from this week will eventually be felt by the whips office. Don't be surprised if Chief Whip McLoughlin is sacked: not yet - too obvious - but it won't be long. McLoughlin is an ex-miner and a decent man. He was useful to Flashman when he had to tone down his Old Etonian veneer. Now he is established in No 10, McLoughlin is expendable.
Cameron should beware. Slick public-school control freak Tony Blair's No 10 was notorious for bullying Labour MPs and the Press. It backfired. And it contributed to the downfall of his Government.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
HOWARD;
Great article, couldnt hve put it better myself
the clock is ticking
i thought thre lib/con pact would tear the cobbled together apart, but now even the tory party itself is into self destruction.
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
Wow that is some article,thanks for posting it Howard.
Audere est facere.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i was totally gobsmackedf when i read it, especially as it was in the "mail on sunday"
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Shame the writer didn't have the balls to identify himself. Could have been written by anyone at the Daily Mail.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i can hardly imagine the most true blue paper of them all concocting a story against the prime minister.
having seen what happened to the pritchard cove, it would be someone very brave to go public with that.
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,706
oh it couldn't Peter, it is grammatically correct and has a natural flow to it that smacks of authenticity rather than the painful stilted prose loved bythe Daily Mail hacks
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
it was well written, i particularly liked the sting in the tail.
the comparisons between dave and tony are unmistakeable, the same "hey i am an ordinary guy" presentation, behind which is a control freak that surrounds himself with all the right people.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
answered in another thread howard
but great to see the mail of all papers showing the true face of the conservative party
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 695- Registered: 30 Mar 2010
- Posts: 426
It was written by the extremely recently deceased Christopher Shale. I'm surprised that nobody's mentioned that.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
not so tony, mr shale has never been an m.p. though i believe a piece by him attacking the blues is in one of today's papers.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
here is a short version of the article from mr shale.
There's absolutely no reason to join the Conservative Party - and that's according to David Cameron's own constituency chairman, Christopher Shale.
In a strategy document seen by The Mail on Sunday, Mr Shale admits that at present there's 'no reason to join. Lots of reasons not to'.
The paper, of which Cameron is aware, presents a scathing assessment of the social skills and fundraising efforts of his association.
Under Cameron¿s leadership Tory membership nationally appears to have fallen by about a third, from 259,000 to 177,000
In a sign of how hard the party is finding it to attract new members, the document concedes that the Prime Minister's own association gained only 22 members in the past year.
Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
Deleted
Audere est facere.
Guest 695- Registered: 30 Mar 2010
- Posts: 426
I unreservedly offer my apologies then Howard, I caught news this am and then again later and didn't realise that the Mail had carried two stories.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
read the article. Howardm why have you disguised N. 10 Downing Street with No £*route66 or something similar (can't find the buttons on my keyboard)?
Why did Martin's post 13 end up deleted, I was reading the thread with interest.
As for T. Blair, my view is that he became a dictator, as he ultimately lied to Parliament at some point and did what he wanted, which I say equated him to a dictator, as he turned off institutional powers (that could have prevented his actions) by lying.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Sorry, Howard, the m should have been a comma
Guest 716- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 4,010
Christopher Shall was not ``anonymous``......He had ``Balls``He was a close friend (A Rock) of David Cameron.It is reported (Daily Mail) that DC shared his views.
Due to the ever increasing fall in Conservative membership,Women Membership suffering the most,Mr Shall views in his memo warned that the Conservative Party came across as grace-less,voracious,crass.always on the take.
Message from a week of incidents is watch this space!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
not a big deal tony i can see why you thought that they were one and the same.
alex
martin deleted his own post, maybe he noticed that someone else had posted the same so decided to cancel his one?
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
Still, this thread is interesting, as I was not aware that the PM had an elite unit of favourites and was contending with other Tory members in the way mentioned.
Woud be interesting to Know Barry W's views.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
certainy looks that way alex, dave wants to surround himself with the "right sort of chaps/chapesses.
they will have to know what knife to use with the soup course, how to pile the mange tout onto their forks with panache, and know the right way up of holding a strawberry at henley and wimbledon.
certainly no room for the oiks who cover the lobster thermidor with ketchup.
notice that posh barry has not been around lately, probably coincidental though.
