Quite unbelievably the error strewn Against the Odds video is err still error strewn, inaccurate and stomach churning, ready for its TV debut tonight. See TB's earlier post.
Millionaire Labour donor JK Rowling plug gone though, unsurprisingly.
UPDATE: A brilliant spot by the
Labour know that none of these Bills will pass, and thus makes the whole thing even more political. As TB's buddy Strathclyde said, there are only thirty odd legislative days left in the upper house and it would be a failure on the part of the Lords if they did not conduct proper scrutiny. The ever plugged in Kevin Maguire just let slip the entire Labour strategy on Sky moments ago. There won't be time to get these through, but it sows the seeds for the election campaign, which started officially about two hours ago it seem at Mandy's Victoria Street briefing. Kevin clearly stated that these Bills will be put to Cameron to accept in the campaign. Labour are fighting like an desperate opposition, the government is trying to make the opposition dance to their tune, a sign of how far they have sunk. They know the game is up. They are exhausted, they have no real new ideas.
OK so not really, but the day has arrived commie friends. This is the moment we have been waiting for proles and dolls. When we fight, we win!
That's right, today is the the day the inaccurate socialist lies will be peddled on national television. After the
"“They said that working people were not fit to govern - so we formed the Labour Party”TB's favourite comment so far has to be one of the ones left on youtube:
A party where the intellect, stimulus and money was supplied by the decidedly middle-class Fabians and their friends.
“They said that women didn’t deserve the vote”
This glosses carefully over the fact that Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the main suffragette movement, WSPU, was refused membership of the Independent Labour Party after she was encouraged to do so by her friend Keir Hardie. The refusal was on account of her gender. Several years before her death, Emmaline became concerned by socialism and joined the Conservative Party. We are of course still waiting for a woman to be elected leader of the Labour party, let alone become a Labour Prime Minister. The legislation to extend an equal franchise to women was brought in by Baldwin’s Conservative government in 1928."
Etc.
"After toppling apartheid, building the NHS, bringing peace to Northern Ireland and winning the second world war.. isn't it hard to stifle a giggle when Gordon Brown suddenly pops up @1.24 with... (drum roll)... Sure Start :-)The
But I mock, GB is clearly a great man - just look! he walks with Barack Obama, at 2:12."
Meanwhile, the Labour Party’s strategists had noted the campaign. It’s clear the video appeals to Labour supporters, but then they tested it in focus groups of swing voters and it was going down well. And so the decision to update it and run it as the Queen’s Speech PPB was taken.Ugh, pass the trough. The left are rattled and they are shoring up their core base, simple as. This isn't about engagement online this is about clocking that some over excited kiddies gurgled and clapped their hands a lot when they saw something they liked. We are still months from an election and already Labour are being made to dance a merry tune by their out of touch and amateur membership, in a desperate bid to shore up votes. Role on 17.55 BBC 2.
This decision is a victory for Labour’s thriving online community. It’s a victory for everyone who understands the power that new forms of communication are now giving us. And it’s a victory for the Labour Party who should be congratulated for acting so quickly to embrace the opportunity here.
Criticism of Brown's leadership will anger No 10 as it seeks to build on small progress in the opinion polls and a strong byelection performance in Glasgow North East. It insists that the 4,000-strong Compass has little traction in the parliamentary party.A shift to the left would be the final nail in the coffin, and while might firm up some of the Labour core, it would seal the deal for Cameron as the sensible floating voters come to the blue camp in terrified droves. Why did Labour change in the first place?
Senior figures in Compass, however, point to a database of 30,000 supporters. They think they could back the home secretary in return for a pledge from him that a referendum on electoral reform would be held, possibly on the day of the general election, or the foreign secretary in exchange for movement on measures to tackle inequality.
TB has a full on day but will be back later. He also had a rather sore head thanks to those nice people at ComRes. Their charity awards bash was great fun though sadly Ed Balls did a runner before TB could get a photo. No doubt he clocked his opponent Antony Calvert in the audience.
Quote the evening had to come from Nick Hurd while presenting an award:
"Such a pleasure to be here presenting Campaigner of the Year, and following on from Ken Livingstone, who clearly wasn't."TB laughed a little too loudly as the rest of the room had a sharp intake of breath.
TB lost a drunken bet with Kerry McCarthy last night that the Against the Odds vid would never get an airing on TV. Ironically Sister Bear has a
Late-night or ill-thought-out tweets are the cyber equivalent of drunken dialling.Campaign to get SB on Twitter progressing nicely.
Despite the inherent risk, the Labour party now has a "twitter tsar", Kerry McCarthy MP.
Her tag denotes the seriousness with which politicians have embraced Twitter's 24/7 opportunity to listen the sound of their own tweets and engage with voters.
Over at the Tory party, The Spectator's diary of a Notting Hill nobody, the satirical diary of a Conservative minion, reports that all MPs are supposed to spend three hours a day on Facebook and a further three on Twitter.
Parties might want us to see their tweeting members as spontaneous and modern, but the freedom allowed by constant tweeting can be disastrous.
McCarthy reacted to news that the Sun would be supporting Cameron with the following tweet: "Labour doesn't need The Sun. We've got Twitter ..." only to backtrack furiously.
The most regretted tweet of all made a front-page political row. Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw gave a kneejerk twitter response to David Cameron's conference speech.
Within minutes he tweeted about his attack on "big government", seeming to imply that Cameron and his family had big government to thank for the care their late son Ivan received in the hands of the NHS.
The times of Bradshaw's tweets, too (a veritable dawn chorus), are extraordinary. He regularly tweets at midnight, one, two and five, from his mobile.
So the chat this morning in geekdom has been about the apparently successful campaign by one Ellie Gellard, or
"But no-one told Nye Bevan
When did they say that? They didn't, because it obviously wasn't true. Miners had been ministers in several Labour governments before Attlee's. The Labour Secretary for Scotland, William Adamson, was an ACTUAL MINER, not just the son of one. So Nye Bevan is completely irrelevant in this."
True to form, Gordon Brown announced last week that he would be attending the Copenhagen Climate Change summit. The curse kicked in, and this collective hysterical waste of time has accepted it is
"The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December has been billed as the world’s last chance to stop global warming.Ever a fan of swanning around the world stage rather than trying to sort out the messes he has created at home, in light of the fact Copenhagen has now failed, why does Brown still have to go? The whole thing was a waste of time to begin with, now that has been accepted will the Prime Minister please not piss away taxpayers money on this junket.
But negotiations soon broke down because the US refused to sign up to targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The deadlock has forced world leaders at a summit in Singapore to step in and admit that any deal this year will be little more than a “political agreement”."
...then don't read
Indeed, according to John Maloney of Exeter University, the Tories must secure a 10 per cent lead over Labour to win an overall majority of just one seat at the next election. In other words David Cameron faces a very high mountain to climb. The most astute Conservative strategists are keenly aware of this problem, as is Cameron himself.Oh dear.
An internal Tory Party document sets out the scale of the problem, stating baldly: 'The Conservatives have never won a General Election from a starting point as weak as they face now.'
The paper calculates that to win a majority, the Conservatives must hold every seat they won in 2005, plus an additional 117 constituencies. To put that in perspective, Margaret Thatcher notched up an additional 63 seats in 1979 for the Tories, while Edward Heath made 69 gains in 1970.
The Tory briefing note sums up the problem as follows: 'To become Prime Minister, David Cameron must surpass the electoral achievements of both Margaret Thatcher and Winston Churchill.'
Only once before have Conservatives made gains of the scale that Cameron requires to obtain an overall majority after the election. But that was in the exceptional circumstances of the National Government of 1931, when the Labour Party had split in two.
But most crucially, Cameron is well aware that a simple overall majority would not be enough for him to govern effectively. Instead, he needs a working majority of at least 30 seats (which means a majority of 15 per cent over Labour on election day).
“Thank you Fraser.TB hates him, but damn it, you got to respect him.
It is a great honour to be the first winner of this prestigious award to come from outside the ranks of the Bullingdon Club since 2006.
I am not sure what the collective noun for Bullingdon Club members is – I am looking for the word. I know its not chumps.
Anyway, I am sure it will come to me. On which subject, I am pleased to be following in the footsteps of last year’s winner, the Mayor of London.
Winning this award is another thing to add to the list of things I have in common with Boris.
Both of us have spent happy years working in Brussels. Both of us have come back from very public resignations. And, of course, both of us share a driving ambition to do all we can to undermine David Cameron.
And while we are on the Bullingdon Club theme, I must say it does feel odd being up here this year without George. I missed him on holiday this year as well. Was it something I did?
I have reason to be doubly grateful to The Spectator after they so kindly welcomed me back last year with the Newcomer of the Year Award.
And who would have thought a year on – I would still be in the Cabinet?
So it is with as much relief as pride that I receive the Politician of the Year award today.
I haven’t actually accumulated a new title for at least a few weeks so this is particularly welcome.
Of course, you know me. I am happy to serve in whatever capacity I can be of most use – as I was saying when I just happened to be in Brussels last Friday.
A long planned engagement.
Before I go I want to pay tribute to Matthew D’Ancona for his transformation of The Spectator. And he has a ferociously intelligent – not to say increasingly ubiquitous – successor in Fraser Nelson who I have no doubt will keep all of us on our reforming toes.
Boris and I are testament to the fact that political comebacks are possible.
Which is why I look forward to handing this award over to Gordon Brown next year rather than handing it over to yet another member of the Bullingdon Club.
Once again, many thanks. It is always good to be recognised by my friends on the centre right.”
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