CentreRight

Crewe and Nantwich - be part of it

Just got back (9pm) from campaigning in Crewe. We decided to just turn up today. We pulled up to find the car park of the campaign office absolutely packed. Got out to discover David Cameron was giving a press briefing about twenty yards away.

Slipped in to the campaign office and signed in. They have a book for your name, address and constituency, so those of you who go to help - people are taking notice. Even though David was leaving, pursued by a crowd of reporters, the campaign offices were thronged with MPs - Shadow Cabinet members and frontbenchers. I saw Alan Duncan, Charles Hendry, several others. Even got to introduce myself to the great man himself, hero of May 1st, Eric Pickles MP.

Frank Field threatens Brown with "no confidence"

How is it that this has recieved so little comment? Any Questions last edition featured Frank Field and Alan Duncan. On the programme, Frank Field stated openly that he - and the Labour backbenches - were prepared to bring down the government if the 10p tax losers were not compensated in full, and that it was all backdated. (The sensational threat starts at 17:43 - hear for yourselves).

Field is a highly principled man. He is a Labour MP because he sees it as Labour's mission to assist the poor. As his Spectator article points out, there is no point being a Labour MP if Gordon Brown's new mantra is to be "tax the poor until the pips squeak".

We all know the story. Field tabled an amendment to alter the 10p tax penalty and had enough Labour MPs to force Brown to back down. Brown saw Field one on one and personally promised him that all losers would be compensated and the compensation would be backdated to April. Satisfied, Field withdrew his amendment. But as soon as Field backed off, Brown backtracked.

How should we tackle Lords reform?

Life peerages are a good thing. They offer the State a way to provide a tremendous reward to an individual at no cost to the taxpayer. They incentivise businessmen to donate to charity and they acknowledge major contributions to the life of the nation. By limiting the title to one generation, they do not corrupt an ancient tradition of hereditary titles.

The problem is not life peerages. It's the idea that anybody should have a seat in the legislature for life.

Effective Lords reform should separate the honours system from Parliament.

How I celebrated

Lynn, Robert, David, Sean, Richard, Sam (16 years old) and I all went out today and delivered a load of 10p tax leaflets to a key ward in central Corby.

We got the whole thing done in an hour and a half. Everybody was buzzing from yesterday and the day before. We will be campagning every Saturday until Labour (whoever leads them) have the bottle to call a general election, or until the clock runs out.

Those Labour MPs who think the Conservatives are going to sit on our laurels will be sorely disappointed.

Has Gordon sent Tony flowers?

We at the "Save the Gordon" campaign have become a little worried of late. Another week, another double digit Tory lead, and the Sunday and now Monday papers are a nightmare. The Sun, Mail, Independent, Times, Telegraph have all carried pieces by their star columnists arguing that Gordon is weak, must go, etc. Surely even the Mirror can't be far behind. Is Gordon Brown in serious danger of being ousted from the job he schemed and brooded over for ten years?

Cameronism

I attended a conference hosted by the Center for Policy Studies today on ‘the post-bureaucratic age’. Its greatest exponents admit this is not the snappiest of titles. But workmanlike or not, the morning’s speeches grouped around the topic were electrifying. There was a large number of Shadow Cabinet and Shadow Ministers present; Michael Gove, David Willets, Eric Pickles, Sayeeda Warsi, Oliver Letwin, Greg Clark, Caroline Spelman, Grant Shapps and others. Detailed reference was made to the work of other colleagues not present, like Chris Grayling and his paper on welfare reform. David Cameron attended for most of it and gave his concluding remarks at the end.

Are Catholics welcome in Labour?

Today is Good Friday, when Catholics commemorate the death of Christ on the cross with fasting and abstinence from meat. We have several Catholics as members of the Cabinet. The Daily Mail report this Good Friday is chilling to me as a Catholic and parliamentary candidate. It speculates that
Catholics in the Cabinet may either have to resign or be forced to commit a serious sin of scandal.

The Embryology bill wending its way through Parliament is anathema to Catholics, and I use the word advisedly. For months, Catholic churches across Britain have been praying for its defeat. Geoff Hoon, Labour's Chief Whip, is quoted in the "source close to" format, disgracefully, as saying Catholic members of the Cabinet must not prevent passage of this bill.

Big Labour rebellion on Post Offices

The Conservatives have played a blinder tonight with an Opposition Day debate on Post Office closures. Copying the exact wording of a Labour MP's EDM on stopping closure of local post offices, which was signed by 35 Labour MPs, the Tories called for a halt to this divisive programme of closures. Alan Duncan was assured and measured leading the debate for our party, taking interventions and leavening his remarks with both common sense and humour.

Result? the Conservative proposal was defeated by a mere twenty votes. At least 19 principled Labour MPs voted with us. A serious rebellion and a great credit to our party's fight for the Post Office network.

LibDems terrified of empowering voters

I hope all Tory PPCs facing LibDem opponents are checking out Iain's blog. He has an amazing scoop; actual documents and presentations from a LibDem parliamentary awayday in Henley. There are questions about whether the donation in kind was proper and declared, but it's the policy that interests me. Iain's documents expose LibDem doubletalk on the reality of a Labour or Tory win at the next election. There are some hilarious moments, when they talk about wanting PR but "it must be legislation, not a referendum". Sound familiar? The LibDem leadership, then and now, are terrified of letting voters make a choice, whether it's on voting systems or the European Constitution.

The value of polls can go down as well as up

Contrary post of the day: the massive poll leads recorded in recent days make me nervous. It's good to have a lead, of course, and despite protests from various quarters, Cameron has in fact always had one apart from Brown's honeymoon bounce. When the history of this failing, tired government is written, I hope it will record the important fact that ICM's poll of a 6% lead for us in fifty marginal seats came before Brown's Yellow Saturday moment; caused it, indeed, and was not merely an effect of it.

But....

Ed Balls: "So what?"

I apologise for the breach in netiquette in blogging twice in one day, but this is an important story.

In David Cameron's excellent Budget reply, he said at one point (I paraphrase):

"Under Labour, Britain is more taxed than at any point in its history".

On the front bench, Ed Balls - The Man Who Would Be King (part II) heckled:

"So what?'

Cameron destroys Brown

...because of course the mess that is this Budget belongs to him, not to Mr. Darling.

And I'm not asking you to take my word for it. Just read the live reactions over at Political Betting . Posts on Cameron's response start at post # 183. The site is one of my favourites for polling analysis and cross-party comment. A sample of the posts on Cameron's reply, starting with Mike Smithson, respected poll analyst and owner of the website:

Democrat Governor of NY runs prostitution ring

No, it's not April Fools' yet.

UPDATE: It seems he was using, rather than running, the prostitution ring. I expect the impact on his career will be much the same.

Sarah Teather MP questions Prince Harry's integrity

I spent part of Sunday morning appearing on BBC 1's 'The Big Questions'. Fascinating show, despite my dog-tiredness due to the fact that a yob decided to drive through our village at 3 in the morning last night, horn blaring constantly (I have been converted to being in favour of the death penalty).

The three on-air questions were 'Do politicians deserve the title Honourable?' 'Does every woman have the right to be a mother?' and 'Do we need Heaven and Hell?'. The BBC iPlayer link will, I assume, come live soon. Sarah Teather did very well on the first question. She was robust in refuting some Labourite who had worked for Harriet Harman who was arguing MPs shouldn't bother with casework and it was all electioneering. I thought Teather was brave and articulate and came over well.

Something for the weekend

Light relief on a Friday: try this fabulous website. "Beautiful Britain" offers wonderful free wallpapers, for desktops and various sizes of laptops, of glorious shots of the British countryside. Photos vary seasonally and they have photos of the day and of the week. Highly recommended.

Re: the Long Parliament

Douglas Carswell is right when he says Parliament needs reform. As somebody fighting to become an MP at the next election, I view with dismay a clubby, backwards system where the favour of the Speaker and "seniority", ie length of time in Parliament, govern how often a Member is called to speak.

The procedure has it exactly backwards. It focuses on the dignity of the MP as a person, rather than their constituents. Voters in areas with recently elected MPs have as much right to representation, with their MP getting an equal chance to speak on their behalf, as the constituents of the Father of the House.

David Heath MP - running scared?

You can tell a PPC has their opponent on the ropes when the MP confronts them personally.

When I saw the headline last week, 'LibDem MP breaks ranks on Euro referendum' I knew at once it must refer to David Heath. And so it proved. The LibDem frontbencher is defending ultra-marginal Somerton and Frome against a young and dynamic candidate, Annunciata Rees-Mogg (a friend of mine). Annunciata is well-known for her ardently Eurosceptic views. She is quite prepared to campaign on the LibDem's shameful stance on Europe, as they break their manifesto promise of a referendum.

Indeed, the LibDems are exceptionally vulnerable on this. A large chunk of their parliamentary support comes from the South-West. Unfortunately for them, voters in the region are whole-hearted Eurosceptics. Conservative candidates who underline that the LibDems are actively helping the Treatystution get rammed through without a vote may find the marginal seats trending ever bluer.

The Republican right are embarrassing themselves

We all know that sinking feeling. You're at a wedding or a party, and one of your best friends has got drunk. You love the guy, but he's making a total idiot of himself, and you wish to heaven he'd just shut up...

Republican sympathisers on this side of the Atlantic have been put in that position watching the GOP primary race. It appears the American right have lost their perspective, the "compassionate" from their Conservatism, and frankly their marbles. First, they asked America's Republican voters to believe that Mitt Romney was a conservative, despite the fact of his long liberal record on abortion, tax cuts, and being "an independent during Reagan/Bush". They insisted, despite the evidence, that Mitt was a changed man, even as he won Michigan by promising auto workers he'd get their jobs back, market forces be damned, and called seniors in another state to complain McCain had not backed a Medicare tax hike.

After backing a candidate who was obviously saying whatever it took to get elected, depending on his audience, they then abandoned any vestige of pragmatism - poll after poll showing McCain beating either democrat, but Romney losing to both by double digits, did not faze them.