Sunday, October 26, 2003
Quite how anyone can complain that the British don't know how to write good comedy any more when we have the Conservatives who have for ten years given us our longest running comedy show where first they loose power, then they loose their collective marbles. Now they're locked in the long running farce of Iain Duncan Smith must go. The only annoying thing is they win enough seats in Parliament to be given the unearned honour of being the official opposition party, but they spend more energy stabbing one another in the back than attacking the Government. Something for which the autocratic Blair, who increasingly seems intent on ruling by decree rather than consensus (The Independent on Sunday today reports that Blair is intending to ignore widespread public and scientific opposition against GM Foods), must be eternally grateful. He is apparently a weak performer in debates in the Commons, such as Prime Ministers Questions and, when they've not had to deal with rumbles from their backbenches, apparently both IDS and his predecessor William Hague were often able to outwit Blair at the Despatch Box. Not that the country would know it, when the Tories were in power we saw their disintegration weekly, but now we see little debate on telly.
Anyway, the Tories. The Independent fingers Michael Howard to replace IDS. Which pretty much guarentees Labour the next election. IDS was chosen by introducing the Conservative's to the foreign concept of democracy, the MPs didn't vote for him but the constituencies at large did. Thus the MPs are taken their revenge against the little people by using their power to force out the popular choice. This is what you get when you have a party that consists of the old and senile who have regressed in their second childhood and don't care that other people have opinions too.
When it came down to Blair and Brown leading the Labour party it became a question of presentation over policies, Brown might have been a better PM on paper but Blair had the charm, if the party had gone with Brown they might have won the next election but it wouldn't have been a sure thing and definitely wouldn't have been with the same size majority. The party chose a candidate that they may not have thought was the best Labour leader, but one they knew would appeal to non-Labour supporters. The Tories since '97 have persisted in picking Tories that they personally liked, not people to appeal to the outside world. Due to that age problem they are incapable of looking outside of that little bubble that is Toryland. I grew up with Thatcher, but possibly when I was a toddler the Tories didn't win that election, Labour lost it and we had a decade of Thatcherite hell. Maybe the Tories are incapable of thinking outside the bubble and picking someone who can appeal to non-Tory supporters. Maybe there isn't anyone who fits the bill, a Conservative Blair (yes I know...), but Howard certainly isn't it.
Anyway, the Tories. The Independent fingers Michael Howard to replace IDS. Which pretty much guarentees Labour the next election. IDS was chosen by introducing the Conservative's to the foreign concept of democracy, the MPs didn't vote for him but the constituencies at large did. Thus the MPs are taken their revenge against the little people by using their power to force out the popular choice. This is what you get when you have a party that consists of the old and senile who have regressed in their second childhood and don't care that other people have opinions too.
When it came down to Blair and Brown leading the Labour party it became a question of presentation over policies, Brown might have been a better PM on paper but Blair had the charm, if the party had gone with Brown they might have won the next election but it wouldn't have been a sure thing and definitely wouldn't have been with the same size majority. The party chose a candidate that they may not have thought was the best Labour leader, but one they knew would appeal to non-Labour supporters. The Tories since '97 have persisted in picking Tories that they personally liked, not people to appeal to the outside world. Due to that age problem they are incapable of looking outside of that little bubble that is Toryland. I grew up with Thatcher, but possibly when I was a toddler the Tories didn't win that election, Labour lost it and we had a decade of Thatcherite hell. Maybe the Tories are incapable of thinking outside the bubble and picking someone who can appeal to non-Tory supporters. Maybe there isn't anyone who fits the bill, a Conservative Blair (yes I know...), but Howard certainly isn't it.
