A Foul Taste

I was listening idly to Five Live last weekned and unfortunately caught Edwina Currie talking about her footling existence.
She was a bit down following her eviction from Strictly Come Dancing but confessed to consoling herself with lashings of smoked salmon and champers.
However, she showed she has lost none of her brass neck by querying the sincerity of a carer who dared to say some people in Britain are going hungry. It seemed amazing to much of the public who then phoned in, that a senior Conservative had no idea that many people are forced to chose between heating and food. It must be a long time since Edwina worried about the size of a gas bill, if se ever did.
"No-one is starving in the UK," she said so shifting the question. The Government who doubts the genuineness of the poverty it is responsible for is doomed to look heartless. Unemployment is already up to 1994 levels when La Currie last clutched a Ministerial brief. The Guardian report from Consett yesterday was a graphic portrayal of a desperate life on the edge. www.tinyurl.com/24tz5vw.

The calls continued into the next evening and like a damned fool Currie rang in to continue her ill-advised judgement on the working classes.
"Presumably you own a phone as you are using it to phone this show, "she deducted with her familiar Victorian spite. "You should spend the money on buying food."
Those unable to provide for their families must feel a deep sense of shame and despair and should be spared the icy pontification of this wealthy Matriarch.

Doctor, Heal Thyself

You recall when Peter Mandelson was forced to resign from the Cabinet for the second time. He had broken the Ministerial code by being overly helpful to an Indian businessman, Mr Hinduja, in gaining a British passport. Although it was an avoidable crisis, Mandy had no option but to be 'resigned'.

His error of judgement looks as nothing compared to Dr Liam Fox and his intense friendship with Adam Werrity. There has been no suggestion Werrity, 34, has any level of security clearance yet an FOI request shows repeated visits to the MoD. The Guardian's video of him attending a meeting with President Rajapaska of Sri Lanka is damning enough but there are many more, each of which would be sufficient to force Fox out. He also appears to have fed unreliable information to MoD press officers who have had to issue corrected statements; that won't go down well with other officials who may be tempted to leak further details.

Fox felt compelled to issue an non-apology apology today where he regretted the "impression of wrong-doing." It was a pointless exercise ahead of tomorrow's MoD/Cabinet Office investigation. By some wonderful coincidence it is Defence questions tomorrow afternoon in the HoC although odds may be offered on Fox having been denefestrated by then.

William Hague also jeopardised his career by his refusal to give up his friendship with a young adviser. At least Hague appointed his woefully under-qualified chum; Fox appears to have let his friend access to power without status and with barely any constraint.

With no official qualification or appointment, the first question which needs answering by Werrity is "Who are you?"

Isn't that Lovely?

I read David Cameron's speech yesterday. "What is this about?" I thought.

The only actual theme to emerge was 'come on, we can do better. We are British you know.'

I find myself saying "Not even Thatcher..." a lot these days. For if she had read that draft she would thrown it back. She may have had the same laissez-faire policy but she would at least have wished to show some leadership.

The best Dave could do was to remove the much leaked section about the nation's salvation coming from paying off our credit cards. For a millionaire cabinet to be lecturing those on squeezed middle and lower incomes, that would have been something, Not even Thatcher...

Cameron clearly decided a 'hand-sitting' speech was called for. The country was probably expecting some tangible ideas about growth which could even be loosely described as a policy. But apart the usual guff about freeing up small business and bashing the health and safety rules there was nothing.

Other notable lowlights was IDS's fantastic claim the Tories were the party of the poor unless he meant there are more when the Cons are in power; George Osborne whining about unions and employement tribunals; Theresa May going rogue over the Human Rights Act and spouting utter piffle about how asylum seekers can avoid deportation by buying a cat. Jeremy 'space cadet' Hunt, managed to summarise the media without mention phone-hacking at all.

The Conference was a display of contemptuous complacency with hints of the old nastiness returning. It was entirely managed to cater for their own's supporters prejudices but what did the public think of them? You know, the voters.