Tory Twittery: Bleating at Clever (?) Labour Flier

Have no idea whether the Tory Toff line (e.g. flier, right) is helping in the Crewe and Nantwich. But I do think the Tories are bleating about it far too much. They have a Toff for leader riding high in the polls. Their Toff candidate has beaten Ken in London, albeit quite narrowly. And their allegedly wonderful shadow (or shallow) cabinet are mostly Old Etonians and the like. In other words the electorate, or at least the poll-ectorate, are not even slightly put off by the Toff-iness of the so-called New Wave Tories, with Morrissey on their ipods 'n'all. What's more ET only went to Uppingham and OxfordDurham, poor dear. Not even sure he made it into the Bullingdon or the Piers Gaveston as a guest. Perhaps not ET's kind of wheeze with his halo and all? Do you know different?

Anyways, it is beyond belief that Conservative Boy Bloggers or "Con Men" for short are making such a fuss about this banter.

As far as I can see there has still not been any reaction from Tory leadership of Boy Bloggers to an absolutely outrageous juxtaposition of Tory and Hizb_ut-Tahrir literature (similar to that below, left) in Manchester.

Yes, one of your candidates in Manchester's Town Hall elections two weeks ago had helpers dishing out Hizb_ut-Tahrir leaflets. These claimed the Qur'an was to be banned and coincidentally carried a picture of Brown on them (just to smear him by his being pictured with Bush). As it goes Brown is rightly unwilling to consider banning this suspect organisation without proper evidence, the BNP are worse, while Cameron would do ... yet allows his activists to consort with HuT to win votes from some small c conservative Punjabis.

Now that's what I call worrying. Calling Tories Toffs is not in the same ball park. And claims that Tamsin Dunwoody is any way more posh or privileged than ET - the heel bar billionaire - are frankly stupid. And smearing grandad ditto.

Lib Dem Leaderships: Manchester and Salford

The Lib Dem goon Cllr Simon Ashley - who famously promised that his then employer and then Cllr John Leech MP (right, glass fully empty) would be donating his Council winnings to the party, and has then seen that however wrong that would be, morally if not legally, it sadly has not happened - has hung on to his leadership of the Lib Dem group in Manchester.

This despite having failed to capitalise on Labour's war wounds of 2003 and 2004 and indeed losing a good few seats back. And defectors in both directions.

Laughing boy Cllr John Commons span a yarn to a credulous comrade that both Ashley and his ambitious arse sidekick Paul Shannon had been ousted. In fact they had survived and no blogger or journo had been taken in. Cllr John Cameron gets the other paid slot as a Scrutiny Chair.

Meanwhile in Salford where the Lib Dems have an all time record ten seats Cllr Norman Owen is being challenged by Cllr Joe O'Neill. The MEN had the story from Neal Keeling on Monday. But the vote is today. O'Neill has at least one new ally as son Martin took one of the gains on 1 May.

Salford Lib Dem Cllr Steve Cooke has maintained radio silence on this on his blog but may be the first with the news.

Down in the Dumps: Osler on Crewe and Nant

Dave Osler seems to think that a loss of any dimension in Crewe and Nantwich could be catastrophic:

It's not quite 'weigh the vote'/'donkey with a red rosette' territory, but C&N can fairly be classified as a heartland seat. It is impossible to overstate how catastrophic defeat next Thursday will be for Labour. It would call into question not just New Labour’s arrogant insistence that the stupid proles have nowhere else to go, but the party’s ability ever to form a government again. Yes, it really is as serious as that.

One comment, from the infamously argumentative Andrew Coates, suggests:

Anyway, word I have got is that the working class loathes Brown from the bottom of its heart. Really really hates his tripes. Whether that will be enough to swing this by-election, don't know.

Others point out that mid-third-term this is just the kind of seat that any government stands to lose in a by-election. What does the panel think?

HAMES ON TORIES IN C & N: On the Crewe and Nantwich by-election “Save the poor, vote Tory” has the ring of “Save the whale, vote Harpoonist” about it. -Tim Hames, The Times, 12 May 2008. Hat tip: Cole Not Dole.

Labour of Love: Some Additions to the Blog Roll

Some new links. Boris Watch (occasional) and Tory Troll (boundless) are watching Boris bumble and fumble his promises. One now has a Part Time Spoofster though they are struggling to keep up. Hurry Up Harry you know, it's old. Labour and Capital and Labour Outlook are new.

Leighton Andrews AM is fighting the good fight in the Welsh Assembly while Paul Burgin sticks to Mars Hill. Manchester's most cosmopolitan political blogger is Norman Geras, Sadie now has a Tavern of her own, where she gets served however squiffy or out of order she may be, but also contributes soberly at the Wardman Wire.

Liberal Conspiracy does what it says on the tin, and I really should have been linking to Nadine now shouldn't I?

FOOTNOTE: If you are linking or would link and LOL're not please drop hints in comments or by email.

BBC Nicky Campbell: GOO is Shallow Chancellor

Oh, I do wish I'd heard Radio 5 Live breakfast presenter Nicky Campbell calling Sir gGOO Osborne the Shallow Chancellor. A vaudevillian slip. Good value.

Coalition for Choice: Noticed by the PR Industry

Mark Hanson, blogger extraordinaire on PR Stories rounds up some of the anti-Dorries action in the blogosphere. Including a link to the Coalition for Choice whose 24 Reasons for 24 Weeks goes beyond our facile name calling of the frankly frighteningly batty Mid Beds plodder Nadine Dorries MP.

Paul "GuF" Staines: Is He Now Back in the Tower?

Has the repeated uninsured drunk driver (twice the legal limit, almost), personal bankrupt, tax avoidance specialist, charity commission investigatee and all round raffamuffin swear blogger Mr Paul "GuF" Staines escaped imprisonment then?

Or is he just tucking into his second and third gallons of Malmsey at the Tower? And if so is he blogging his "last writes" on the top peoples' prison's wireless Cloud?

UPDATE: No sooner asked than answered HERE (three months jail) and HERE (three months curfew with electronic tag, which he'll break of course). So, house arrest for public enemy number one.

Hopi Sen: Catches Sir George Osborne Hypo-Ventilating

When disgraceful Tories across the Atlantic, who have run their poorest citizens into still more poverty, even at one point watching the poorest Black Americans drown and starve, when they give a little tax back that is genius says GOO. When the Darling-Brown Buds of May do it it is however preposterous. HERE. He's a wrong 'un that Sir gGOO.

Debunking Dorries: She Makes Own Bunk and Lies In It

Good headline don't you think? Sunny Hundal does for Dorries' Hoax Science, Unity at Ministry of Truth does for her bunked up statistical claims, her dark comedy routines, and her claims of intimidation. Oh yes, and her twaddle on the margin of error.

Can anyone tell me how Nadine Dorries ever came to become a PPC and an MP when eminently sane and honest and intelligent candidates such as her buddy Iain Dale were still available? Will Cameron now: (a) try to shut her up; (b) withdraw the whip when she refuses; (c) have her de-selected?

Sadie's Westminister Watch: Clegg's Hair and Nad's Mad

Sadie's Westminster Watch at the Wardman Wire notices that the clinically hard-of-thinking Mad Nad Dorries has caused an embarrassing love-in between left and right. I'm noticing right back. Go girl, go! Certainly well worth the price of a premium rate click.

Labour Home Tracking Poll: Tracks Hard Decisions Made?

Labour Home have a newly launched "Tracker Poll" with results left and story and comments HERE. It seems to me that this shows only that the more difficult decisions one has to make the lower one's tracker poll rating.

Which observation also goes for opposition parties in hard times for incumbents - they naturally don't have to take any decisions, just counsel perfection and grin.

There are a few outliers to the above theory based presumably on long standing emnity and distrust. For example Buff Hoon, Ruth Kelly, and Shaun Woodward with Balls also showing some sign of dropping.

Anyways, I'm not sure that giving the people at the top jobs involving more or harder decisions would boost Labour's rankings rather than giving their personal rankings a kicking.

We're told that 330 "activists" took part which would be equivalent to one for every second constituency nationwide. I suspect this is all a bit more metropolitan than that and also armchairists rather than activists considering the enthusiasm for campaigning at just about half mast.

MEANWHILE: Nick Clegg has finally published his expenses which are looking pretty bog standard. Quite a lot on the mortgage and maintenance for his constituency home is the most noteworthy item.

But it's all so bog standard that one wonders why it has taken quite so long to do the maths? GuF is claiming the credit for it only taking 48 Days. Thank goodness for the personally bankrupt, uninsured drink driving, Charity Commission investigatee GuF! Bricks from the Glass House.

Michael Meacher: Taxing Ideas For Darling and Brown

Don't really think Michael Meacher was unsuitable for Labour Leadership through "unfashionability" as Tom Miller asserts, with tongue firmly in cheek I reckon. It was the expansive rentier activity and the utterly mad conspiracy theories that did for him from my point of view.

But Tom is right about Meacher's tax policy analysis here and here. Essentially taking on avoidance and evasion in a systematic way. Good stuff.

Doss-vee-dan-ya: Off to Interview the Red Hordes

Wish me and my schoolboy Russian luck. I'm off to interview dozens of Zenit St Petersburg fans before tonight's match with Rangers.

London: Lib Dems Ready for High Court Bid for Re-Run?

It seems that 746 votes for Livingstone and PaddickJohnson were not included in the totals at the declaration. Due to some system failure, human or otherwise. Lib Dem Voice carry the news. They are outraged. Even though it made absolutely no difference at all to Paddick's wipe out.

Perhaps they should now launch a legal challenge and run this to the High Court calling for the whole election to be re-run?

So-Called Compass: Lawson Spinning Directionless

Neal Lawson's mission of self-aggrandisement and weasel words (no offence Neal) have now reached a new low. Having backed Brown to the hilt he now says that (Brown as leader) was so obviously not the way to go.

Brown has made but two mistakes. The election that wasn't. Never a good idea or a necessary one in my view. And the 10p Tax gaffe which would probably have got him a roasting when he took over - but for the prospect of an early mandate-seeking election.

The tax error has now been not only fixed but also bundled with another £120 hand out to the suffering £18-£40,000 brigade. Not so long after the other up to £440 hand out provided as an upside corrollary to the 10p Tax Gaffe.


It is Lawson that should be slinking off in shame. He and his chums backed Brown, failed to provide an alternative themselves, failed to back the alternatives offered by the left to ensure a contest, and yet are now saying all this state we accidentally find ourselves in was inevitable. Pathetic.

The electorate have probably over-reacted to the two mistakes. Or sent a protest message. But when Cameron starts positioning himself as Change with Continuity the electorate may realise that they have that already with Gordon.

Some kind of think tank / ginger group that is! Compass my arse. Just an ever changing, directionless, personality cult (no offence Neal).

IMAGE: Originally appeared at the now semi-somnulent "the-spine".

Devil's Kitchen: Says Mad Nad MP is a Corrupt Liar

It's too tough to explain how I happened to be over there, but I was. Devil's Kitchen - extreme Libertarian Swear Blogger (PG) - proves that that Nadine Dorries MP is a corrupt pro-misery fibber.

What's more (EXCLUSIVE) she did not live in a Council flat or wear cor blimey trousers from birth.

She's a lying reverse snob on that one. Council house?, came later Nads. And her deep humanity and care for family? Well, that, sadly, is bollocks too.

UPDATE Wed 12:00: Nadine reports of the personal harrassment she is receiving. That is as unacceptable as the harrassment received by her opponents FROM her allies. If that is it is even true.

The one in a million "story" of Samuel who is a healthy five-year-old after delivery at a nominal 21 weeks is rehearsed. That is NOT an argument for closing off legal abortions between 20 and 24 weeks for those - very few in number - who need or choose this. Especially not when it's a complete hoax.

UPDATES: More links to Dorries Debunking here and here.

Lib Dem Voice: Hypocrisy on Parliamentary Expenses

Considering the shenanigans of the likes of John Leech MP the chaps at Lib Dem Voice are laying it on a bit thick over a Tory using a tax-payer funded website to back ET in Crewe and Nantwich. A mistake yes. But hardly showing the ongoing disregard for the separation of party politics and state funding of the boy Leech.

Leech's shenanigans include:

* Clearly overspending on the 2005 General Election, from the obvious underdeclaration of "£17" for total campaign 'phone use to who knows what in his rotten under belly;
* Producing a 2006 "Parliamentary Report" when he'd scarcely been MP for six months, promoting local candidates. AND distributed outside his constituency;
* Producing a 2007 "Parliamentary Report" featuring his key local candidate on the cover, with party political material AND virtually indistinguishable from party political material;
* Producing a variety of 2008 "Parliamentary Reports" most saying they are "part-funded" rather than fully funded by the tax paper and promoting candidates in each ward separately;
* Using a shield P&P on four colour printing that is suspected to have not been produced by the printer specified. This presumably to obscure the true printers who may be 100s or 1000s of miles away AND/OR to compromise the audit trail;

And last, for now, but not least:

* Disappearing some £40,000 of public funds paid to him as Councillor expenses and which he promised to give to Lib Dem funds, which must surely be immoral if not illegal, and which HE HAS NOT IN ANY CASE DONATED. Or at least which have not been recorded as donations.

Ten Pence Tax Gaffe: £120 Windfall to Standard Raters

The compensation package announced today looks like the least worst of the various possibilities giving us all an extra £600 tax allowance, fully compensating 80% of those that lost out, and the remaining 20% by between half and all their losses.

Downside is that while this assuages most of the pain it also gives an untargeted windfall of £120 to those who had already won. The pre-budget report in the autumn should see the results of a proper review of the tax credits system.

George Osborne's reaction was simultaneously cocky and pathetic ... though he did have to write it on the spot. Frank Field has apologised for letting things get personal and he has welcomed the package. Could Gordon even bury the hatchet and reach out to him in a reshuffle?

Result of the Night?: Lufthur Rahman Longsight's My Pick

Salford Tory Iain Lindley has started a thread on the best result of May 1. Clearly his own pick and that of his sole commentator to date are Tory successes.

But here in Manchester where Tories remain thin on the ground I'm picking the Longsight Landslide.

Lufthur Rahman and the Manchester Labour team turned a huge Labour loss to the then Lib Dem Abid Latif Chohan in 2007 on its head and kicked out the imposter Liaqat Ali in Longsight.

An even bigger majority and turnover than Maryam Khan had two years ago. Chohan of course came home to Labour earlier this year but was the Lib Dem Councillor Grant 1234 Shapps and his Tory co-conspirators chose to urge Lib Dems to back Tony Lit in one of the clumsiest pieces of personation in the history of the internet.

Chohan is from the same home area of valleys and villages round Jhelim in the North of the Punjab as Cllr Faraz "Buzz" Bhatti and Sajjad Karim MEP the high profile defectors to Manchester Tories.

Their Whalley Range candidate Fawad Hussein who scored almost 1000 votes with a nasty, communalist and strong arm campaign is also from that area. And his hothead assistants were posting material from Hizb_ut-Tahrir alongside bland Tory nonsense. This surely makes the digusting "foreigners" line in Labour attack material in Crewe pale into insignificance.

I saw Chohan when I was out and about in longsight last weekend. He said categorically that Faraz is finished as a candidate for any party. This is because he left his wife and kids for his girlfriend, turning his wife into a single parent, and scandalising his community by being caught at a notorious dogging spot near Manchester Airport and having a set to with the police.

The gift that keeps on giving as I've said before.

CAPTION: Labour councillors welcome back prodigal ......(Left to right) Naeem Ul Hassan, Lufthur Rahman, Abid Chohan, Afzal Khan, Maryam Khan, Sir Richard Leese.

UPDATE Wed 11:35: Strangely Cllr iain Lindley has yet tp post my pick of the night. Similar the the above post. Could it be because there are too many home truths here about Tory tricks and unpleasant bed fellows?

Quaequam Blog: Brian Coleman Johnson's Master Now

The "Blinging Idiot" Brian Colman that is. The one who accused Nicky Gavron of having "hands dripping in blood" in a bizarre inauguration speech. Had he been on the sauce?

Caught Coleman getting things wrong a few times myself. He'll probably run his taxi meter well beyond the £10,000 mark this year.

Whether Bozo lets CCHQ keep him in check or not there's another Tory Timebomb ticking in City Hall.

Hopi Sen: Above All Try Something, Graphs Perhaps?

Hopi Sen is onto something here. Just get on with it Gordon. Be Labour. Be Bold too if you must. But forget Cameron and his ugly ad hominem politics. Follow Harry Truman and Hopi Sen and Above All Try Something(s) until the opposition are back on the ropes where they belong.

Fun and Games: Defective Slough, Doncaster, Liverpool

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough/ It isn't fit for humans now as Labour defectors give power back to the Tories that local people have just given the bum's rush. It ain't right! Meanwhile Lib Dem Voice make a storm in a nice teacup of Yorkshire Tea as a Mayor plots to cling to power.

The one ot watch of course is Liverpool where a defection slipped the once great city back from "No Overall Control" for thirty minutes No Overall Control BY Lib Dems. The defection saving Fireman Bradley's part time scalp at the helm as he won back the leadership 26-13-7. Couldn't even manage to make it a two-horse race, the chumps. Liverpool Lib Dem Turkeys vote for Christmas.

Will Cllr Simon Ashley survive another year in Manchester?

Same Old Tories: Lansley Attacks Lesbian Families

Here's a wide ranging Guardian science sketch headlined by Tory stupidity over enforcing a requirement for a "father figure" and "male role model" in the case of IVF treatment for Lesbian couples.

Does a "father figure" have to be a man? Is there any science showing a problem? Or is a just a gut feeling that it "ain't right"? Will gay men adopting and fostering have to guarantee a "mother figure"? Will that have to be a woman? Explain Lansley, pray do explain!

CAPTION: Andrew Lansley furrows his brow as he looks in vain for a father figure. Broody Fiona Hodgson and Liz St Clair look bemused. Picture from Martine Martin.

Boris Johnson: Runs Six Red Lights in One Return Trip

The London Evening Standard catch Boris johnson running six red lights, menacing pavements and almost running down a pedestrian on a zebra crossing. But they catch him ever so nicely. Imagine if it had been Ken. Hat tip: Conservative Home.

Crewe and Nantwich: Non-Aligned on Frontline

Jules Hornbrook who blogs at Crewe.tv is also popping some thoughts on the Guardian Politics Blog.

Having spent a good amount of time with each of the three candidates he is finding that (a) Lib Dem Elizabeth should not be underestimated, (b) Tory ET is finding it hard to find anyone to talk with, and (c) Tamsin is a chip off the old block. He therefore disagrees with ICM for the moment.

Brogan Blog: White Slaver Pickles' Love Bomb

BroganBlog have :

1. Eric Pickles - the thinking Tory's John Prescott - camping it around Crewe and Nantwich in a safari/white slaver/Man from Del Monte suit;

2. Dave Cameron - the thinking Tory's Peter Mandelsohn - requiring "three Crewe visits" from his shadowy henchpeople crew;

and 3. Love Bombing planned for Labour voters - Ooooh go on, go on. Vote Toff. The sky won't fall on your head if you do. Not right away.

English Democrats: Playing the Nation For Laughs?

Hilarious English Democrats video for Crewe and Nantwich.

Set to the lilting Scots Nationalism of the Proclaimers' Cap in Hand, and featuring Norman/French Knight Simon De Montfort as the grand daddy of English Democracy. Belated hat tip: Conservative Home.

Lib Dem Am Dram: Vicious "Attack" on Johnson

Here's a throwback to a couple of weeks back. Lib Dems joined forces with the production crew of Midsomer Murders, or Morse on a bad day, to make the above Am Dram video. Meanwhile Mr Paddick's MoS diary, as misrepresented by Mr Dale did have one hilarious moment in it.

Dear Brian only thinks it was good to have got about a third of a million second preferences - had the two leading candidates been knocked out. Which is less than one in six voters thinking him even second best.

That Rotten Lord Michael Levy: An Appreciation

What a rotten weasely man that Lord Levy is.

Guido was right. Double take. Guido was right.

A couple of weeks ago Levy was stating categorically that he knew for certain that Gordon Brown "knew all about" the 2005 loans. Now, while he is still insisting that it is "inconceivable" that Brown did not know"; it becomes apparent that his earlier charges and even his climb down have no evidential basis whatsoever.

Clearly Gordon must have known that resources were available for the election campaign he was running.

But why would he have known that a portion of these were in the form of loans from X, Y and Z? Or that these were loans to avoid reporting.

Levy is a rat. And a weasel. And a snake. And wrong. But trying to sell his memoirs. So that's alright then. He must feed his family.

CAPTION: Although John Lydon (right) and Michael Levy (left) were active in the music industry in the 70s and 80s they were never seen in the same room.

Lib Dem Campaigns: Iain Dale Writes Crap Shock

The blogging expert Iain Dale claims Brian Paddick had had it up to here with the Lib Dems in this fanciful story. So where in the world was Brian Paddick as the Mail on Sunday story was filed? Why, he was in Crewe and Nantwich repaying Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems for London support. Picture from Crewe.TV.

UPDATE 22:53: A couple of comments from sense-of-humour-less Iain Dale sock puppets, or perhaps the man himself in cognito. I've read the Mail on Sunday piece. Iain has misrepresented it, Paddick, Clogg, and the Lib Dems too.

Lucky Break: No John "Hospital Hoax" Leech MP

Can't say that Cllr Kerron Cross was actually fortunate to mash his hand with breaks and dislocation as he kept goal for five minutes against some visiting Ugandan relations. However at least we can take comfort that John "Hospital Hoax" Leech MP was not on the team.

He would most likely have told Kerron that the NHS was going to hell in a handcart and that any hospital he considered attending was slated for closure. Medical and especially cancer hoaxes should lead to resignation John. Even junior Tory Boys know that much. Get the letter in the post now.

UPDATE 22:55: Getting increasingly pissy emails from Leech over the print business and latterly other random unparliamentary nonsense.

Crewe and Nantwich: Candidates and Links

Crewe and Nantwich links. Labour say Don't be conned by Tory Boy and again on their blog with a bit of a start to a You Tube presence.

The Tories want you to Send a Message to Gordon Brown and sadly the Lib Dems don't have much traction though UKIP's Nattrass may surprise, especially as there is no branded candidate from the far right. Gemma Garrett could be one of several deposit losers. The Greens are fielding a Transport Expert, though not quite from the same cloth as Gwyneth.

The usual independently minded by-elections blog coverage doesn't seem to have recovered from the Ealing Southall/Sedgefield double whammy back in the good old days when Tories were always third.

The by-election wiki lists all eleven runners and riders (above). And the Crewe.tv blog is a splendid local view of ... things. Including the by-election.

Edward Timpson: Shoe Box in Middle of the Road

In fact my Monty Python memory was a little awry. It was a shoe box in the middle of the road and a rolled up newspaper in a cess pit where the four self-made yorkshiremen claimed to reside. Above is the sketch in all its inverse snobbery grandeur. And in the midst of this Channel 4 News item you'll find Timspn playing the 'poor orphan' card; and here's the script and here's the Oxbridge Guardianista arguing the toss about toffs.

It is the "we had it tough" line that needs attacking. And the idea that Edward himself is "successful" because his family are filthy rich. He may have a halo, and he may have avoided the worst of the Bullingdon excess at Uppingham and Durham, but he's a bit dim to try this on.