ConservativeHome's ToryDiary

Blogswarming John Prescott

The blogosphere is awash with rumours about John Prescott's private life and I do not intend to add to that 'blogswarm' here.

I do believe that the private lives of public figures are of public interest (and I explained why here) but I think there are risks in believing that anything that is "common knowledge" in the Westminster village is legitimate material for a blog.  Things that are "common knowledge" amongst MPs and journalists are not always true.  On this occasion the "accused" 'Tory blogs' have probably stayed on the right side of the line as John Prescott failed to deny allegations of other affairs when repeatedly pressed by John Humphrys this morning.  But next time?

The overriding reason why John Prescott should resign isn't, of course, because of affairs or alleged affairs but because of his abject incompetence and policy failures.  It was John Prescott himself, who in the earliest months of 'New Labour government', said that the Dome was its 'first big test of competence’.  ‘If we can’t make this work, we’re not much of a Government,’ he continued.

With the considerable help of William Norton I've drawn up a list of some of the ways in which Mr Prescott has proven that Labour really isn't much of a government...

Charles Clarke gets even on tonight's Newsnight

Pasted below is the transcript of a Newsnight interview (due to be aired tonight but leaked to ConservativeHome) with former Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

The interview reveals how Mr Clarke feels that Tony Blair reneged on a promise to give him enough time to complete a programme of Home Office reforms.

It also shows a strong disagreement between Mr Clarke and his successor John Reid on the state of the Home Office and how law and order issues should be handled...

This government couldn't run a booze-up in a brewery

Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes are doing great work highlighting Labour sleaze with their Little Red Book but will it be Labour's endless incompetence that will be engraved on the tombstone of this government?

Yesterday's newspapers were full of more stories of Labour incompetence.

The Mail highlighted overpayments to benefit claimants.  The Sun spotlighted the latest 'Home Office lunancy'.

Here are some examples of incompetence that I most remember:

1. 1,000 foreign prisoners are released without being considered for deportation
2. 500 convicts released from mental hospitals
3. Failure to pay single farm subsidies on time threatens farm bankruptcies
4. Record spending on the NHS can't prevent debt crisis and redundancies
5. Sharp rise in tax credit fraud
6. Ministry of Defence overspends
7. Sex offenders in our schools
8. IT projects that never work...

As the first instalment of our ChameleonArmy programme, ConservativeHome will be launching a new website on Wednesday - dedicated to Labour incompetence.  What other incompetencies would you suggest that we highlight?