Congratulations and good luck to Lord Hunt of Wirral - David Hunt - who has been appointed as Tory spokesman on Business, Enterprise and Regulation in the House of Lords.
It's not the first time Lord Hunt has accepted a daunting task. During the accident-prone Major years he became known as Minister for Banana Skins; not his own but clearing up the elephant traps left by and for others. He was also Employment Secretary and a champion of Christian Democracy. He may be the first of an increasing number of (thought-to-be-retired) Major years ministers to serve David Cameron.
Baroness Wilcox - former Head of the National Consumer Council - will join Greg Clark's team as the new Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change.
Lord Strathclyde commented: “I am delighted to announce David and Judith’s new roles. David’s experience is outstanding. We welcome him onto the Front Bench, and Judith is the perfect person to head our new Shadow Energy team.”
Oh this is an excellent choice and I am delighted to see David Hunt back on the Front Bench! He is a skilled and wily performer and will out-twist and out-turn the slimy Mandelson creature better than most!
Posted by: Sally Roberts | October 07, 2008 at 18:27
Im a little confused, I thought Mandelson would be operating from the commons on the front bench, not the lords.
Posted by: John Parker Sussex | October 07, 2008 at 19:04
I am not surprised that Sally Roberts is pleased. Hunt was a notorious EUphile wet (as bad as Hezza, Gummer, Patten, Hurd) in the last Tory government.
Posted by: Libertarian | October 07, 2008 at 19:13
Excellent news!
Posted by: Justin Hinchcliffe | October 07, 2008 at 19:34
How very appropriate. DC is still trying to run with the hare and the hounds. In thid case it is with the hares, whose job should be to stand and fight, but whose tendency will be to flee in fright.
Posted by: David Parker | October 07, 2008 at 19:48
"How very appropriate. DC is still trying to run with the hare and the hounds. In thid case it is with the hares, whose job should be to stand and fight, but whose tendency will be to flee in fright."
What the heck does that mean???
Posted by: John D | October 07, 2008 at 20:33
"slimy Mandelson creature" ! This kind of comment brings the Tory party into disrepute.
Posted by: Roberts | October 07, 2008 at 20:37
Dull but safe. Don't expect any fireworks here.
Posted by: Londoner | October 07, 2008 at 21:05
The latest Populus poll is giving us a 15% lead.
It would have been interesting if Peter Mandelson had renounced his peerage and stood in the Glenrothes by-election next month.
Posted by: Votedave | October 07, 2008 at 21:46
It would have been interesting if Peter Mandelson had renounced his peerage and stood in the Glenrothes by-election next month
To be honest, I'd rather he was focussing his attention on the financial crisis and his ministerial role in the light of it, as opposed to wasting valuable time on a by-election he wouldn't be likely to win anyway (not just because he's Peter Mandelson, or even because he's Labour, but also because he'd be an English candidate in a Scottish seat, a gift to the SNP which they don't need or deserve).
Posted by: Nigel Rathbone | October 07, 2008 at 22:27
Excellent appointment - David Hunt is a first rate politician and one of the best debaters in the House of Lords. Mandy will have to be careful. I wouldn't be suprised if Central Office put up David as one of our media performers.
Posted by: Tory Drummer | October 07, 2008 at 22:54
OT but we haven't heard anything from Cameron since his speech.
A financial crisis is raging and there's deathly silence from the Tories. Come on people, get out there and trumpet the Conservative solution!
Posted by: RichardJ | October 07, 2008 at 23:43
Unfortunately, Richard J, no-one has the cojones to articulate a real conservative solution. That would entail letting the bad banks go to the wall, stopping throwing taxpayers' money at the problem, getting off the regulation bandwagon, advocating sound money policies and mapping out a route to a balanced budget.
Instead, Squeaky Gideon whines on half-heartedly about nanny-government eliminating risk in the financial system, underwriting the dodgy business practices of bad companies, and advocating more government involnement in the system, all in the hope someone hears him and listens to him.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | October 08, 2008 at 00:05
As one of David's former junior ministers I welcome his appointment. David is a first rate forensic debater well used to assimilating complex information. A thoroughly nice bloke to boot!
Posted by: Nicholas Bennett | October 08, 2008 at 16:23