Quentin Davies: gone and forgotten

My aim was to produce this review of the week feature every Friday but I have decided to make this an aspiration rather than a commitment!  Anyway, here's my take on one of the busiest weeks in politics for a long time...

Good week: Gordon Brown. He did become Prime Minister after all! He also attracted a Tory MP to cross the floor and three opinion polls put Labour ahead of the Conservatives for the first time in a long time. The terror scares of Friday and yesterday disrupted his 'grid' but security as an issue will probably boost his standing further. Expect next week to be full of announcements, too. Conservatives will continue to struggle in the polls during the Brown honeymoon.

The Tory by-election machine had a very good start.  The party was first to select of any of the parties; Tony Lit in Ealing Southall and Graham Robb in Sedgefield.  For those wanting to help - please visit CampaignTogether and sign up.  Good results in these by-elections are the most obvious way for Team Cameron to kill the Brown bounce. They will also be important tests for Ming. If the LibDems perform badly expect a Clegg or Huhne leadership by the end of the year.

A good week for ConservativeHome with David Cameron endorsing the 'And theory'.

Bad week: The BBC also had a bad week.  Our great public service broadcaster cut coverage of Tony Blair's farewell remarks to Parliament in order to break for some TV trailers for 'Rome' and then a second round Wimbledon match. 

A bad week for democracy with Brown'n'Blair wriggling out of their manifesto commitment to provide the British people with a referendum on the new Treaty.

Something of a bad week for blogging.  Some blogs were more guilty than others but there was lots of speculation about Bercow, Rifkind, Patten and others following Quentin Davies.  It wasn't blogging's finest hour.

Left turn.  Quentin Davies MP. He got his 24 hours in the sun but he'll soon be forgotten. His letter about the weaknesses of Project Cameron will have chimed with some Conservatives but his decision to defect lost him any respect. He'll have a long time to reflect on his treacherous left-turn.

Issue of the week: The return of terror to Britain's streets.

Comments

[TomTOm]

You didn't even mention car-bombs overshadowing all political news this week; nor whether any of those preparing such devices had Control Orders because British Judges like to give them a sporting chance........

Surely that is the news that will be remembered this week ?

[Editor]

I mention terror in the first full para TomTom but you're basically right and I've added it as issue of the week now.

Thanks.

[TFA Tory]

The voters and Tory members will not have forgotten Quentin Davies.

The Tory party has welcolmed defectors such as Reg Prentice and John Horam MP (ex Labour and SDP). The words pot, kettle and black spring to mind!

[Henry Mayhew - ukipper]

Quentin Davies will be forgotten when DC proves him wrong. Until then his points are pretty much front and centre aren't they?

[Traditional Tory]

Either the Times or the Telegraph - I forget which - quotes a CCHQ official as saying that the Davies comments about Cameron will be used endlessly.

I'm sure they were carefully honed by Labour HQ for this very purpose and of course they are right. They will be used endlessly and they will damage.

Does it ever occur to the super-loyalists here that 99% of the voting public couldn't give a tinkers cuss about Mr Davies's so-called 'treason'?

You have to be a foam-flecked Colonel Blimp type circa 1955 to burst a blood vessel over a matter which Joe Public considers worthy of nothing more than a casual snigger.

Which only goes to show that the very section of the party which claims to have 'changed' hasn't really changed at all.

[Umbrella man]

What was good about the Good week bad week during the leadership election, Editor, was the up and down ratings for the contenders. Why don't you do the same for the shadow cabinet. This thing you are doing is a bit tame.

[Richard Carey]

I agree that terrorism and security have been the issues of the week – not only is the security of the British people the first responsibility of any government, it has been the first issue to enter the in-tray (by deeply worrying means) into the in-tray of the new Prime Minister and his in-tray and that of his new team.

I hope I won’t hear any charges of political opportunism from our own side in the coming days when serious and searching questions are asked of the Government on related issues. We also have a duty to the country to monitor and assist the Government where we can on these issues, and that may require detailed questioning of the Home Office by an experienced and serious Home Affairs team. I fully expect this, by the way, to be reflected in any Shadow reshuffle in the coming weeks.

Going back to the pure politics….

The words pot, kettle and black spring to mind!

No, they don’t – we’re a serious political party looking for power – you think that we shouldn’t welcome those who have come around to our way of thinking, while showing little sympathy for those like QD whose over-fed egos cause them to leave us in the lurch? Why, if he is so convinced he has done the right thing for his constituents, do you think he’s willing to stand as a Labour candidate at the next GE anywhere but there? Perhaps his convictions aren’t that solid after all?

A good week for ConservativeHome with David Cameron endorsing the “and theory”

I’m not sure this is the first time he’s endorsed it! Our local government manifesto, for example, I felt embodied this. Some of us in the Party in the country were even perhaps ahead of this – it was the first time I can recall that I read a national manifesto for local contests that chimed so strongly with the messages that I’d been working with various local colleagues to put out on the ground!

Quentin Davies will be forgotten when DC proves him wrong. Until then his points are pretty much front and centre aren't they?

It could have been worse, Henry – he could have gone to your boys, couldn’t he? As if his current move wasn't mad enough. Oh, and I look forward to proving him and you wrong in the coming weeks...

[Editor]

What do people think of Umbrella man's suggestion?

[Tory T]

Unnecessarily divisive, if you ask me.

[Jennifer Wells]

i think it would a very good thing. Who else keeps an eye on the shadow cabinet?

[richard]

Davies' remarks in his resignation letter will be used endlessly by the Labour Party as an election nears (maybe even as soon as this October.) It is bravado to say his defection doesn't matter. It is a total disaster for the Tories, and in particular for Dave.

[Richard Carey]

It is bravado to say his defection doesn't matter. It is a total disaster for the Tories, and in particular for Dave.

Of course any defection from a party is a negative thing for them. It is, however, the latter part of your comment that gives away your agenda. You relish this, perhaps?

What do people think of Umbrella man's suggestion?

It's interesting, but how would you manage it given the new (and I think good) breadth of "Good Week, Bad Week"?

The commentary you give is from a Conservtive perspective on the whole political scene, which is very useful. I'm not sure how we'd give meaningful numerical gradings if Osborne had had a ood week on one issue and Alan Johnson on another, for example. Perhaps during a direct one-on-one contest it was a little easier?

[Henry Mayhew - ukipper]

Go for it Richard. I think we are all looking forward to seeing some real opposition to this government. UKIP is completely opposed to it and has some very trenchant political and, to be a ponce, philosophical principles on which we have made our stand. We look forward to your joining us on a rock of principle of your choosing rather than your current shifting sands approach.

I will be delighted to be 'proved wrong' by your coming U-turn.

[Richard Carey]

I will be delighted to be 'proved wrong' by your coming U-turn.

Funny, Henry, I wasn't planning (and don't see the need for) one of those...

[tapestry]

Portillo analyses Brown's position and shows him having the media, the cabinet and all set fair putting him in an extraordinarily dominant position.

What Portillo doesn't mention is the rebelliousness of Labour MPs. They are angry about many issues from the stripping of trades union input into policy at conference, and the orders to public sector workers to accept below infaltion wage increases for three years, and the lack of a refernedum on the Constitution.

There are some strong and vocal potential adversaries on the back benches in Charles Clark and John Reid. Cameron is being portrayed as weak and no threat. If Labour give the impression of being unassailable, this could prompt back bench rebellion on a scale not seen under Blair.

Of cours Timesonline did not publish my comment, as their narrative is currently the unassailability of Brown. My comment didn't fit the narrative.

[HF]

Henry Mayhew, in which decade will UKIP get just one MP elected?

Your party is in abject disarray, losing councillors in May even though you put up 1,000 candidates.

Half your members have left in 2 years and the average age of your membership is near 75.

A party of the nearly dead. Meanwhile your dwindling band of MEPs are fighting each other like ferrets in a sack in between engorging themselves on their MEP allowances. Although they had promised not to spend much time in Brussels.

[malcolm]

Absolutely HF.I look forward to watching UKIP provide trenchant and successful opposition to this government.(In my dreams).

[Henry Mayhew - ukipper]

I have only just come off a three week banning and am aware that the esteemed Editor does not permit proselytising by other parties. I believe I was just on the right side of that stricture with my response to Richard's 'mad' accusation but don't want to try his patience just yet if you don't mind.

I happen to be 41 and totally reject your ageism! Er..Secondly, I appreciate Malcolm's dreaming about us but think he could be taking his need for political certainty a bit too far. Time for a lie down. Lastly, all the World's a stage and all the people in it merely players. We can only do our best to achieve anything real. I have chosen quality over quantity, which isn't necessarily wrong.

[Traditional Tory]

Henry Mayhew, in which decade will UKIP get just one MP elected?

Presumably the decade in which the EU enforces PR tthroughout its domains.

the average age of your membership is near 75.

Careful, HF...

You are a Tory, aren't you?

[Richard Carey]

the average age of your membership is near 75.

Careful, HF...

You are a Tory, aren't you?

Presumably "Traditional Tory", so are you... or is there something you want to tell us? Especially with your username and attitudes this seems at least a little hypocritical!!

[Richard Carey]

Sorry, missed marking out the quotes on my post above!

[Annabel Herriott]

Re Quentin Davies, I think Quentin Letts has the last word, and I quote:-

"Back in the Commons at PMQs, enter oily baldie Quentin Davies (ex Con, now Lab, for Margaret Thatcher's home town of Grantham). Here was the floor-crosser's moment. Defector Davies, grinning emptily, was goose-stepped to a seat on the Labour benches and had to kiss his neighbour, sturdy Kali Mountford(Lab, Colne Valley) Yum Yum! Kali opened her lips and voluptuous bosom and Mr Davies was briefly lost to view. Now he knows how the average sausage roll feels in big Kali's vicinity."

That in my view, says it all.

[Odessa Calling]

And Kali Mountford is still an MP thanks only to the incompetence of the Colne Valley Conservative Association in getting through three candidates prior to the last general election.

This is a seat the Conservatives should have won. I fear Labour will hold on again next time, with perhaps an increased majority.

While the Tories were making gains up and down the country at the last local elections, Colne Valley was one area where they lost seats, including Kirkburton, a long standing Tory seat to a Green !

[John Travis]

Odessa - You have just illustrated your complete lack of knowledge of the local area. Kirkburton is not even in the Colne Valley constituency.

Colne Valley have an excellent PPC in Jason McCartney, a definite Conservative gain next time.

[John Travis]

Just to add - we didn't lose any seats at all in the Colne Valley consituency in the recent elections. The Labour Party actual only have only 2 out of the 18 seats in the Colne Valley.

Also we are part of Kirklees Council, being run by a Conservative controlled administration for a second year.

[One Nation Tory]

Actually, I am sorry that Quentin Davies has gone. Only because I have, hitherto, thought him a principled and independently minded M.P. : that's honestly all. I think he's a fool to go where he has gone but, there you go, you can't trust anyone these days, I guess.. It certainly doesn’t advance any One Nation Cause (which I had always assumed he would favour) and it diminishes us, already diminished as we are, because it implies that we are up for disintegration… I can assure you all, we are not – we are in this, win or lose, for better or worst… And that means a Tory Government, regardless… I would just rather we had a One Nation one, that’s all!

[One Nation Tory]

I am so sorry. Worse, not worst, is what I actually meant...

[Traditional Tory]

Presumably "Traditional Tory", so are you... or is there something you want to tell us?

The fairly obvious point I am making is that given the notoriously advanced age of Conservative activists it is inadvisable to make the same criticism of any other party.

The problem I have with UKIP is that they are a one-issue outfit which is too small to be taken seriously. Many of their members are good Tories, alienated by the likes of Cameron. I have no argument with their policies, such as they are.

If we could swap Cameron, Richard Carey and the rest of the Blulabour brigade for Nigel Farage and the UKIP ex-Tories it would be the deal of the century.

[Oberon Houston]

Umbrella mans suggestion is a good one. You should also put an automatic bad week in for and shadow nobody has heard of for over a month!

[John Craig]

Quentin Davis is gone but not forgotten - the posts on this site prove this.