Wednesday, October 05, 2005
I'm finding the Conservative Party Conference strangely alluring, possibly because it's coinciding with the whole 'who will be our leader?' thing. Certainly no-one seems to be talking policy beyond the leadership hopefuls talking about what they'd do when they are in charge. I suppose I've always been a bit of a sucker for this sort of thing since Grimlock stood on a 'Crush puny Decepticons!' ticket against Optimus Prime for the Autobot leadership back in 1987.
As a unfocused left-wing Lib Dem kind of voter I'm obviously hoping for an attempt by the Tories to head back towards the centre-ground, since the start of the 90s they've let themselves get pushed rightwards by a combination of mad backbenchers like the Eurosceptics and then New Labour. I'm sure the Eurosceptic part of the party is still there (one old duffer on Newsnight last night seemed to think that Kenneth Clarke was the best candidate in every area except his Europhilia) but they seem to have quietened down and don't get on telly any more. As New Labour seem happy to lurch rightwards with proposals for ASBOs for babies that cry too loudly and making it a crime to comfort pensioners (I may have misheard that one), this would be an ideal time for New Tories to nip round and tack some centre ground.
A combination of Clarke as Tory leader and Cameron as his deputy seems to be shaping up as an attractive one. Certainly other candidates like David Davis and Dr Liam Fox don't appear to be offering much more than 'the reason we don't win elections these days is that we're too left-wing' but the Tory party is so far right that the only votes they can now pick up is from the Nazi party who unfortunately can't vote being German and dead.
Does anyone know what happened to Oliver Letwin? He seems to have completely disappeared from the radar since the election. Has he gone to find this island he thought we could exile all immigrants to?
Pimp my Party. Awful but strangely compelling.
As a unfocused left-wing Lib Dem kind of voter I'm obviously hoping for an attempt by the Tories to head back towards the centre-ground, since the start of the 90s they've let themselves get pushed rightwards by a combination of mad backbenchers like the Eurosceptics and then New Labour. I'm sure the Eurosceptic part of the party is still there (one old duffer on Newsnight last night seemed to think that Kenneth Clarke was the best candidate in every area except his Europhilia) but they seem to have quietened down and don't get on telly any more. As New Labour seem happy to lurch rightwards with proposals for ASBOs for babies that cry too loudly and making it a crime to comfort pensioners (I may have misheard that one), this would be an ideal time for New Tories to nip round and tack some centre ground.
A combination of Clarke as Tory leader and Cameron as his deputy seems to be shaping up as an attractive one. Certainly other candidates like David Davis and Dr Liam Fox don't appear to be offering much more than 'the reason we don't win elections these days is that we're too left-wing' but the Tory party is so far right that the only votes they can now pick up is from the Nazi party who unfortunately can't vote being German and dead.
Does anyone know what happened to Oliver Letwin? He seems to have completely disappeared from the radar since the election. Has he gone to find this island he thought we could exile all immigrants to?
Pimp my Party. Awful but strangely compelling.
