Tebbit warns against "merchant of death" Clarke

Lord Tebbit has provided the Mail on Sunday with some quotes about Ken Clarke:

"Ken may be the kind of bloke you would go out for a beer with, but that does not qualify him to be a good leader."

"He is just too lazy.  He admitted he had not bothered to read the Maastricht Treaty when we were in power.  That was typical."

"He is a big spender, not a tax cutter, and as Health Secretary he completely failed to reform the NHS."

"In recent years, Europe has been one of the most important political issues and Ken got it wrong.  You need better judgment than that to be Prime Minister."

Given that Lord Tebbit also warns that Mr Clarke's tobacco directorships make him vulnerable to being "smeared up hill and down dale as a merchant of death" it would probably be wise for the Clarke campaign to assume that the former Tory chairman won't be endorsing their candidate.

[Click here for Lord Tebbit's recent prescription for a Tory revival].

Comments

[Selsdon Man]

You can rely on Norman to keep up the anti-Ken flak. This shows that the leadership battle could be the vehicle for settling old scores and lead to factionalism.

[Jack Stone]

At the moment the party is polling thirty per cent or below in the opinion polls.Ken Clarke is the only contender who is capable of turning that figure around and get the party polling the forty three per cent they need to poll to win!

[James Hellyer]

That Lord Tebbit's a little slow of the blocks. I've been saying all this for months! ;-)

[Disraeli]

Tebbit opposed Clarke shock!!! Well we wouldn't really expect anything new or original from Mr Tebbit would we? Its a shame these comments about laziness and being a 'statist' are not backed up by any real facts. Tired personal insults are all that we can expect from the hard right of the party. If Ken is so lazy how exactly did he manage to be the most successful post war Chancellor. Maybe we should leave the carping to the ideologues like Tebbit, whose right wing philosophy has helped keep us out of power for almost a decade, and the rest of the Party can concentrate on getting into Government and making a real difference to people's lives.

[The Political Thinker]

Jack,

Weren’t you recently advocating we elect David Cameron?

Also I disagree that Ken is the right man to lead us to victory. His views on Europe are at odds with the general public, let alone the voluntary party, and as is pointed out, he is a big spender and managerialist.

The public are getting tired of high taxes and Blair’s Third-Way managerialism; they want a Conservative Party which would drastically cut taxes and remove the state’s interference (as much as if possible) from public services. Ken isn’t the man to do that.

[James Hellyer]

"Its a shame these comments about laziness and being a 'statist' are not backed up by any real facts."

Other than the fact that Ken Clarke boasted about not reading the Maastricht Treaty? Or that Clarke favours centralised control of institutions (check out the speeches on his website)?

Still I suppose you don't count things Ken Clarke says as "real facts".

"If Ken is so lazy how exactly did he manage to be the most successful post war Chancellor."

Judging by the burning holes he left at his other ministries, I suspect Eddie George deserves some credit...

[James Maskell]

Tebbit, causing mischief again? The last time he spoke up was about Mark McGregor during the election, calling him a "destructive force". It basically cost him the election. Because of that, Steve Ladyman (Labour) got re-elected. I personally dislike Ladyman for a number of reasons. We now have 4 more years of a guy who doesnt fight for his constituents in South Thanet at all. I wont forget it. Tebbit is not on my fave Tory list I can tell you that!

[malcolm]

Surely Tebbit just for once could turn his bile on our Labour opponents rather than as usual his own side.
For me, Tebbits never ending attacks on fellow Conservatives sum up why our party is in such a bloody bad state.

[James Hellyer]

Hey! Everyone else seems to be allowed to criticise the candidates (yes, Alan Duncan, I'm looking at you), so why can't Tebbit wade in? Everything he's said is old news and is just what the press would trot out if Ken became leader...

[Selsdon Man]

Surely it was the voters who for Farage who cost Mark MacGregor Thanet South. Do you honestly think that thousands of voters were swung by Tebbit? Dream on!

[Richard Allen]

Either way, I for one am glad that MacGregor lost Thanat South.

He should have been deselected for his disgraceful roll in the downfall of IDS.

[James Maskell]

Id rather have Mark McGregor than Steve Ladyman. As I understand it, MM backed off when Tebbit attacked him. It ruined his campaign and he lost his momentum.

Ladyman isnt a good constituency MP at all. He hasnt shown any individualism and has instead become a loyal Blair friend. Of course for that hes now Minister for Transport.

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

I'm glad that swivel-eyed fossil Tebbit isn't backing Ken. Endorsement from the 'ghost of government past' would be, at worst, severely damaging to any candidate's credibility in claiming to take the party forward and, at best, irrelevant.

[malcolm]

Blimey! The above are comments are all from Conservatives.Do we really hate each other this much?

[EU Serf]

....If Ken is so lazy how exactly did he manage to be the most successful post war Chancellor......

Given the fact that nobody has ever accused Gordon Brown of being lazy, and yet he is screwing everything up with his meddling, perhaps it was Ken's laziness that lead to his success. After all in general the more a politician does the worse it is for us :)

[Daniel Vince-Archer]

Sorry Malcolm, you're right. I did get a bit carried away with my comment about Tebbit being a swivel-eyed fossil. He's not swivel-eyed, just a bit narrow-minded for my liking.

[Lord Cashcroft]

Keep repeating:
blindness good
swivel eyes bad
blindness good
swivel eyes bad
blindness good
swivel eyes bad..........