Coalition Buddies

What was that about no electoral pact at the next election?

It seems the University of Nottingham freshers didn't get the memo...

CF Elects - TB's Endorsements

With just seven days to go, the only contest to be less exciting than the Labour leadership battle will finally draw to a close. Though it turns out TB is no longer a member of the Tories and thus illegible to vote (news to him but hey) he thought he would endorse a couple of candidates in the Conservative Future election. A bit like Sarah Palin without the money or the Jesus lovin'.

Firstly for Appointed Officer 

Patrick Sullivan

is easily the most qualified candidate. TB has known Patrick for years and he really does have the best interests of the Party at heart. A formidable presence on the CF scene, there are few out there who have given up more time and personal contributions to various by-election and local campaigns. This video also tickled TB:



Secondly CF Wales isn't the most exciting of organisations but it is under threat of being taken over by a Tory Reform Group loon who

advocates

an increase in public spending and describes those attempting to save public money as "dicks". The sooner Zahid Raja wakes up and realises he is in the wrong party the better. These quasi-socialist NUS NIMBYs need to be kept as far away from the Tory greasy poll as possible.

Grant Tucker

is your man for Wales. TB met him down at Spring Forum and he's a good guy. Unlike his opponent who has more in common with Ed Balls than any Tory...

Deputy Chairman (Political) is an easy one. Loyal readers will know TB has always had a soft spot for

Alexandra Swann

and who wouldn't want her leading a protest...

As for DC (Membership) TB is somewhat torn. Hampsheir is a top lad, 

Oliver Cooper

is a sound man, very sound, but then

Clare Hilley

has been a member of CF for the best part of a decade and proved time and again her ability at organising London based campaigns. TB doesn't understand why the libertarian ideologue Cooper isn't standing for the Political role which would suit him much better and he would easily win. Clare and TB have had their differences over the last year or so, but there is no doubting she is the best candidate for this particular job, and that slogan was always going to come in useful one day... Don't be silly, vote for Hilley.

And as for Chairman.. well you'll have to wait and see about that one.


A full list of candidates standing can be found

here

.

Movement for Strange

Undercover at David Miliband’s eve of voting rally.

I never like answering my phone in my sleep and especially not to a shrill and excited voice, unfathomable for the early hour of a bank holiday Monday. Yes I was definitely coming, yes I knew where it was, and no I didn’t need any help getting there.

This was the third time someone from David Miliband’s hyperbolic Movement for Change had been in touch that weekend. Despite answering with my real name, they would ask to speak to “Alex” every time, but I’d long given up putting the phone on the desk for thirty seconds while I went to “find him”.

The event was meant to be a culmination of training “future leaders”, a “wonk school” if you will. Out of mere curiosity at what the enemy were up to, I signed up on the website with my legal name Alexander for more information back in July. I was now being pestered at alarming rate. The sense of desperation at getting as many people as possible to Miliband’s rally was starting to show. The event was meant to be a congregation of all the activists the campaign have trained over the summer - allegedly over a thousand, but I for one had certainly not achieved my level one community organiser’s badge.

Most normal people wouldn’t choose to give up hours of their bank-holiday weekend to go mingle with Milband’s new model army, but with ten days of stubble and a Che Guevara t-shirt to mask me, what was the worst that could happen?

My mind was made up by a final reminder text, to which I replied “do I need to bring anything?” The reply of “just enthusiasm” made me cringe and yet somehow feel hopeful at the same time. “Enthusiasm” and the Labour leadership race have rarely been seen in a sentence together. I printed out my ticket and was asked to write my own unique ticket number, 505, on it, but a frantic follow up email asked me to change that to 1005. What a masterful piece of spin, curiously first used by another movement for change, the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (the German Workers' Party who would soon become the Nazis).

Despite being an obvious right-winger, hanging around Westminster enough, you end up meeting hacks and pole-climbers of all parties, so with a last check of my new side-parting, I put my flatmate’s glasses and entered Westminster’s grand Emmanuel Centre and approached the desk. Of course there was no record of ticket 1005. Given I knew the coordinator at one of the desks further down, having to spell out my surname wasn’t particularly helpful. Eventually I was found and ticked and given a little green sticker. No one would give me an answer to what the orange ones were for, but the micro-managing had begun.

I was quickly sent upstairs, guided past a silent brass band, and as a proud member of Lambeth Constituency Labour Party herded into the South London section of the audience. Strangely my constituency comrades hadn’t seen me around before, but that wasn’t to stop a friendly chit-chat ensuing. I was new to the constituency of course, but my neighbour on the left didn’t seem particularly involved either. He hadn’t had any Community Organiser training either, nor had the person next to him, or his mum, or in fact anyone sitting around me.

Scanning around the room there was undoubtedly an impressive turn out, but as even Miliband supporters noted there was a distinct lack of young people. The room was full of “Future Leaders” most of whom were much older than their hopeful messiah. The surroundings could not be more appropriate. For someone trying to escape the title of being heir to “St Tony”, the home to the Emmanuel Evangelical Church, was a interesting choice of venue. Everywhere the eye looked was a combination of Miliband’s elongated slogans and overt new-age Christianity. Bringing Labour together, Leading Labour to... redemption?

The atmosphere had the feel of a church congregation full of anticipation. Jim Murphy gave a panto style warm up, the audience fully embracing the “Are you ready... I can’t hear you” banter while stylish female spinners and handlers looked on from the corner of the stage with awkward, embarrassed smiles.

As the pre-game warm up continued the brass band played, the rainbow flags were waved and various handpicked Miliband supporters were paraded across the stage to cheers. A dire duet by MPs Willie Bain and Stella Creasy who narrated the story of the Labour Party like teachers at a school play was not enough to dampen spirits. The fervour amongst the audience was growing, with a rapturous response every time the word “ConDem” was mentioned. I was beginning to think this could turn into a Mid-West evangelical roof raiser, with people having visions and speaking in tongues, running up and down the aisles at any moment. And then it did.

One man stood up singing, shouting, screaming and began to run toward the stage, suddenly whole rows of black women were singing and clapping and screaming “we want David”. It was a practiced routine and a whole block of the audience knew the words to their song. Suddenly I realised what the orange stickers meant. It seems the Movement for Change has been working rather closely with London Citizens, a grassroots community group that have come under attack from being left-wing extremists but also have had praise heaped upon them by no less than David Cameron and Steve Hilton.

Suddenly the “grassroots” effect began to tarnish, clearly Miliband was taking a leaf out of the Obama book, this was a “movement” not a rally, this was about ordinary people not him, yet he needed the help of a well-funded and well organised group to flood his “movement” with room-meat. The facade had slipped and given the speed at which a glamorous blonde staffer was running around, the team knew this. She ran so fast to the back of the room to work out what to do, that her DM4Leader badges were peeling off her silk dress.

Order was restored and suddenly there was piano playing a ConDem ballard. Sob stories by Assistant Regional Inclusion Managers for unions were told over what sounded uncannily like the “Lonely Man” theme from the end of The Incredible Hulk. One man actually said the ConDem cuts were going to kill him.

And then suddenly there he was, David, the golden child. He actually kissed a baby as he walked in less than three feet from where I was standing. He had the pointing-at-people-you-pretend-to-know-in-the-audience trick down to a tee and I even got to touch the chosen one’s hand. No religious experience for me, though I did feel a little breathless from the unending standing ovations and cheering and wooing during the speech. When in Rome.

We were treated to Miliband’s vision, a vision of the “Good Society” where people, not politicians were in control. Communities were going to be empowered, localism rules the day, but this was not the Big Society. Don’t you dare even think this could possibly be an overlap with the evil ConDems. No this was different, this was Miliband’s Jerry Maguire “help me help you” moment. It was as if Cameron had talked about the Big Society in 2005 when he was standing for leader rather than deploying it as a last minute election grenade that he forgot to pull the pin on.

It was a competent speech, polished, no notes and even attempted a little self-deprecation about the justified mocking he had received for his “how to organise a drinks party” briefing. The joke was on David though, through his desperation to not be seen as a micro-manager and instead an empowerer, he managed to show just what a micro-manager he is.

Impressive at first, the whole Movement for Change is a fraud, a room full of community organisers who weren’t just there because Miliband had empowered them; they were Community Organisers and charity workers while he was still carrying bags for Tony Blair. Where were these thousands personally trained by the Movement for Change? It was telling that he ended his speech begging the audience to join Labour.

It was clear he wanted it to be an Obama style event, swaths of the audience were waiting for an Obama style event but, cometh the hour, the man was nowhere to be seen. In the end it was nothing more than a tacit endorsement for David Cameron’s Big Society which his speechwriters have clearly had a selective browse. The Good Society, the Big Society, whatever you want to call it, if Miliband wins, there is hope that common ground can be found on the reining in of the state. This all could have been said without the charade though.

A hack I knew, had started to make intrigued eye contact, I began to think my game was up, and besides the show was drawing to a close. I made a dash for the exit. As I stood outside reading the confirmation I had been rumbled on Twitter, a man clocked my Che t-shirt. “You don’t see many of those anymore, we’ve all got them though.” A Chinese man next to him, with a green sticker on, said “the best thing my father ever did was sign me up to the Labour Party and the Chinese Communist Party on my 16th Birthday.”

It was no surprise that these old-timers felt more comfortable outside smoking than with the stage-managed intensity inside and conversation quickly turned to great left-wing leaders. It was a deeply surreal experience for me to hear Chairman Mao praised in such lavish term, Castro had to be expected though. Thankfully there wasn’t much expectation that David Miliband would join these greats, a mere shrug when I asked. He could give the Chinese Communist party a run for their money on the organisational front though.

PMQs Thoughts - Clegg Getting Good

After his dreadful first outing at PMQs, Clegg has grown into the role. It wasn't as if his opponent was up to scratch though. Straw was slow and sluggish and wasted six questions on one vague accusation from drug addled, booze soaked, hack with an axe to grind.

Though clearly wanting nothing to do with the Coulson stuff, fate interceded and Clegg found himself slamming the party of "the dodgy dossier, cash for honours and Damian McBride" It was a cutting and well delivered put down. One line that was clearly being saved for Dave was the fact that Brown had called Coulson the day he resigned from the News of the World to tell him he had done the honorable thing and had told him he would go on to great things. The Labour front bench were suddenly quiet and could do nothing but shrug. Funny how quickly their opportunist fit has unravelled.

Nice to have PMQs back and as entertaining as the ding dong was, we learnt nothing. Labour wasted their one chance this week to hold No10 to account, instead deciding to waste it on political point scoring and hysterical rants. Some have said Labour have realised they are in opposition this week and they better get used to it. With a performance like that they are going to be there for a very long time.

Clegg 5 Straw 1

CCHQ's Fax Pas

There was some confusion last night about Oliver Cooper. Well more than ususal levels at least. Rumour spread that he had nominated himself for Chairman of Conservative Future at the eleventh hour and this true gossip quickly spread. However when the nominations were published last night it seems he missed the deadline. As thought CCHQ...

Though after a mild fuss and documentary evidence that the papers had been faxed well before the cut off of noon yesterday was presented, it seems there was a change of heart and the nomination was accepted.

And what was the cause of the problem?

Well it seems someone at the slick, well oiled, election winning operation, had forgotten to put any paper in the fax machine... 

The election results will be announced on the 27th September once a suitable brewery has been found for the celebrations.

Hilley Running for Deputy

TBG

got to scoop.

Full list published at 5pm apparently.

Cooper Seeks Keys to Office

Currently going for deputy

but sees an opening. He will split the rights vote if he continues his key message that he is sound. Good news for Cameroon Howlett.

Cox Statement

TB seems to have kicked things into action. These statements were meant to be coming out tomorrow morning apparently:

Today it has been announced that my former opponent, Simon Cavalier Jones, has pulled out of the race to be the next CF Chairman. In addition, it gives me great pleasure to note that he is throwing the whole weight of his campaign team behind Cox2010.

Firstly, I would like to thank Simon for really contributing to the debate about CF's future. He has shown himself to be truly committed to the future of our party and the election campaign so far has been a testament to this. Work for anyone in the current climate must be a priority and I think, though being a difficult decision, Simon has shown great maturity in coming to his conclusion and I wish him the best of luck in his new job.

The fact that Simon has chosen to support me means that one thing is absolutely clear: Cox2010 is the best choice for CF. It has the right values in which to shape CF, it has the determination to succeed, and it has the support to match to act as.

CF is no longer purely in the mindset of winning elections. The Conservative Party is now in government. As a result, as I have said all along, we need to act as an effective pressure group within the party to make sure that we are listened to seriously. That means taking a firm line in opposing the AV referendum, avoiding at all costs the introduction of a grad tax, supporting young people starting up businesses, and making sure CF is a force to be reckoned with.

We must not forget that CF is also a body that needs to foster a sense of fun, and we must be clear that we are all young people. Although politics is important, we must always remember that CF is a place to meet new people, make new friends and have some decent banter. Cox2010 has always encouraged this mindset, and, tempered with my experiences at Nottingham, CF will continue to offer the best there is.

Simon Cavalier Jones has now supported my campaign to become the next Chairman of CF. He, and his campaign team, are now fully on board and helping Cox2010 in anyway they can. I urge you all to follow Simon's lead and support the only campaign that has the experience, dedication and values to make CF an even better organisation. That campaign is Cox2010.

It will be interesting to see how Howlett plays this. He can't ignore it and the SCJ backing brings a northern team and infrastructure to the London based Cox campaign. If Cox wants to take advantage of it, this could be just the shot in the arm that his campaign, and this race, so desperately needed. And that's meant with no offence to Simon. TB wishes him well in the new job. Oh and thanks for lunch.

SCJ Statement: Slams Howlett

In short.. "New job, no time, Ben played dirty, I like Cox"

Long version:

"Over the past few weeks I have been contemplating withdrawing from the race for CF Chairman. Sadly this is not due to any scandal or interesting revelations in my private life, but due to my starting a new job with a Hedge Fund. Unfortunately this role will mean I have less time available to be involved in political activity. As such I feel the only appropriate thing for me to do is withdraw from the race.

I would like to thank all the people who have helped with my campaign and supporter's, who have shown that CF is in rude health and with the right leadership can only prosper. My sole aim in running was to continue the good work of Michael Rock and see CF develop into a proper organisation, one with unity, purpose and above all a sense of fun.

I will not be seeking any role with the new administration, but I like all true Conservatives do care about the Party and its future. For that reason alone I am backing the only candidate in this race who has proven he has the skills, maturity and strength of character to assume the mantle. That candidate is Craig Cox.

We need a Chairman with the right values, the right sense of direction and somebody with a sense of fun. CF is a Volunteer organisation, it depend's on hard working individuals on the ground not just a central executive. The executive should exist to focus on national issues such as funding, proper communications, training and national events. We can not afford to pander to the pointless bureaucracy advocated by the Howlett camp. CF needs focus and this can only be delivered by Craig Cox.

One of the biggest factor's in my support of Craig is his strength of character. During this campaign, Craig has behaved like a true gent, he has been honest and respectful to all comers. I will not say too much about the other candidate, but I do not believe he has the strength of character or integrity to lead.

I am proud to say that East Midlands and Yorkshire CF are moving across to back Craig, and I urge anybody who was supporting me to do the same."

All to play for...

Simon Cavalier Jones Out of CF Race, Backs Cox

Expect a statement from Downing Street imminently, great distraction from the old Coulson nonsense.

Unite Against Fashionistas!

Don't Panic on the English Defence League:



Brilliant. And brave!

Labour Lackies Leap to Lines

Yes TB is meant to be on holiday but while having a cursory look over Google Reader he did have to chuckle when he read the same story on two of Labour's leading blogs published just minutes apart.

During the election, the left made a huge hoo haa about coordinated attacks from the right and suggested that just because Tory bloggers had a beer together meant that it was all a big right-wing inside conspiracy and we all took orders from CCHQ. Which is bollocks, and why half of them don't return TB's calls anymore.

Over the last few weeks its becoming increasingly clear that the left are guilty of the very thing the riled against. Look at what

Political Scrapbook

had to say a moment ago, quickly followed by

Tom Harris

, (a man TB thought above following zee orders):

Coincidence? Perhaps, but given it happens so often, TB would be intrigued to see that email (with the link to the

PR Week story

they have both cribbed) that inevitably floated around the lefties... Any minute now Left Foot Forward will claim the scoop.

Staycation

If you hadn't guessed already by the silence TB is on his holidays...Still

tweeting

though.

AWOL

Lots of stuff to catch up with when TB has a moment, but in the mean time you can read an interview with him by the charming Jess Freeman from Total Politics

here

.

Errrr

Hi, My name is Martha and I'm one of torybear.com readers.

I'd like to thank you for the excellent information I've found
on torybear.com, it's one of my favorite readings on the web.

I live in Globe, Arizona where I have the passion to share
with family and friends some tips to increase awareness on
healthy eating and its impact on the environment.

I figured you might be interested in including a guest article
for torybear.com about a new research from the United Nations (UN) that
suggests a correlation between climate change and meat consumption.

Article in form of a little guide with a sample vegetarian recipe
to help your readers experiencing with this topic and perhaps
discuss the topic at hand.

Please, take a minute to consider this; it would be a pleasure
and honor to contribute!

With your support we can educate the public about the dangers of
excessive meat consumption and hopefully contribute save our environment.

Either way, thanks for reading and keep posting your excellent
information on torybear.com.

Hope you a good week.
Sincerely
Martha Volz

FFS.

Something For the Weekend

TB is off to deepest darkest Hackney, well Victoria Park rather to see Tiesto tonight... something he has wanted to do for a long time, not least of all because of this little video:



Will try ask the man himself what he thinks...

A Day at the Races

After a week of side swipes and bitching it's nice to see at least two of the candidates coming out today with some policy ideas.

First this morning we had Craig Cox flexing his sound muscles with

a call

for young members to back Gove's school reforms and push for the bill to allow Free Schools to make a profit:

"If a restaurant knew for sure that no matter what it did, it would always get 100 customers a day and make enough money to pay its overheads, what incentive would it ever have to make a nicer soup or update the furniture? None. And it's exactly the same with schools."

This afternoon has also seen Ben Howlett release the first batch of his manifesto commitments:



It's heavy on campaigning and pledges to fight AV. The first of ten such documents apparently. Intriguingly a lot of what was discussed by all the candidates at the hustings has made its way into the document, but fair play if you are first out of the block with getting it on paper. The downside is you give your opponents the ammo with which to pelt you with. Hopefully the fight will remain on these issues rather than getting bogged down in bitching as last week did.

A rumour hit TB's phone earlier. A good point raised - nominations haven't even opened yet. Have we seen all the declared candidates...?

Left Hand, Right Hand

Eric Pickles

writes

today:

"I’ve set about abolishing all the Rs. Regional Spatial Strategies, regional housing targets, Regional Assemblies, Government Offices for the Regions and Regional Development Agencies. We’ve said our goodbyes. The arbitrary regional tier of government administration and bureaucracy was unpopular, ineffective and inefficient. So it’s the end of regional government: we need a new era of localism. Nowhere is that more important than in the economy."

In other news, the Conservative Party youth wing has locked in a complete regional restructuring in their new constitution. Regional tiers of bureaucracy.

New CF Consitution Sprung on Members- NME stripped to 4

Just in time for the election a new CF constitution. TB hasn't read it as he has better things to do, but he imagines someone out there will want to:



Let him know if there is anything interesting in it.

CF - News in Briefs

See The Blue Guerilla's

"Where is the Love?"

UPDATE: With regards to the email bitch-fight between Muheed Jeeran and Alexandra Swann that is referenced in

tBg's story

, Cavalier Jones writes:

"I would like to make it very clear that the only people authorised speak on behalf of my team are, myself and the joint campaign directors: Hamish Stewart and Philip Smith. No other individual has the authority to speak on behalf of the team."

That should end this email nonsense.

Cox says Hiya

Following the

news

that general legend Andy Stephenson MP has been made Vice Chairman of the Party, one candidate has been quick off the mark:



Maybe Stephenson should swing by a hustings if he is looking for inspiration about what needs to be done...

CF News In Briefs

Compare and Contrast

"I have come to your country in a spirit of humility. I know that Britain cannot rely on sentiment and shared history for a place in India's future. Your country has the whole world beating a path to its door. But I believe Britain should be India's partner of choice in the years ahead. Starting this week, that is what we are determined to deliver." - David Cameron in

The Hindu

today

V

"David Miliband was beginning to look as accident-prone as Mr Bean last night after yet another adventure backfired. After ruining his chance of the Labour leadership by gurning at the cameras while brandishing a banana, the Foreign Secretary's visit to India last week was labelled a "disaster" by the country's leading politicians." - 

The Indy

Jan 2009

IPSA Rage

TB's bag-carrying amigo is raging. The £6.5m omnishambles that is the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has been forced to extend the deadline for MP’s first claims. Initially the organisation had insisted all claims had to be submitted within 90 days, but MP’s are so bemused by the system that most of them are yet to make a claim.

So far just 279 out of 650 MPs have claimed expenses, whereas the rest have funded office equipment, travel and hotels out of their own pockets. The deadline for their claims would be 7th August onwards but IPSA has rushed out a note to say that MP’s will have until 1st October for these first claims.

While TB has little sympathy with many Members, the fact that they can't even run an office is a joke. There is a difference between lining their pockets and actually doing their job. The staffer told him earlier; “We all agree with the new expenses rules, but IPSA itself is an expensive shambles. Anyone wanting to go into parliament today would need at least £10,000 in cash to cover IPSA’s inadequacies. The fact is that the system is confusing and bureaucratic. They need to abolish IPSA asap.”

Sounds like a plan. They should just give them all debit cards from Parliament bank account. Statement published monthly. Simples. 

CF News in Briefs

Howzat?

Ben Howlett launched his website this morning:

He's also managed to pick up backing of CF stalwart and once blogger

Caroline Hunt

. Check out his site

here

.

CF News In Briefs

Mandatory Self-Promoting Post

Given TB has dropped from sixth to the twenties on Wikio in the last few months he isn't expecting great things from this year's Total Politics poll. Traffic peaked in the run up to the election with well over a 100,000 pages views every month but obviously the traffic has dropped off with the rate of posting. Either way if you have enjoyed swinging by here then please do vote for TB in the poll... rules below!

Cheers!

It's that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. This is the fifth year of the poll. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2010-11, which will be published in September. For the second year running, the poll is being promoted/sponsored by LabourList and LibDemVoice as well as this blog, and that of our publisher, Iain Dale.

The rules are simple.

1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include at least FIVE blogs in your list, but please list ten if you can. If you include fewer than five, your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to

toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com

5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible. No blog will be excluded from voting.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2010. Any votes received after that date will not count.

A Comment on Comments

TB knows that lots of campaigners are all very excited about the CF elections, but such a battle will not be won by bitching about each other in the comments of this site.

Over the weekend one IP address attempted to post 30 comments in favour of one candidate and presented  some pretty spurious and libelous allegations. You know who are. If you want to end up in the High Court, go get your own blog.

Moderation is going to be a lot tighter now and repeated offenders will be blocked. TB is all up for hosting a forum for debate, but when it descends into smearing from one camp pretending to be another, save your breath, the comments won't get though.

Here endeth the bollocking. Sorry to get all Tim Ireland on your for a moment.

CF - News in Briefs

CF - News in Briefs

As you may have guest TB doesn't quite have the time to blog here like he used to. However in loyalty to those who have been readers from the beginning he is keeping an eye on the growing Tory-bun fight that is brewing over the internal Conservative Future elections. Without time to write vast analysis he will be trying each day to do a News in Briefs about the campaign. If you have any ideas for a good quick forty word hit, then do ping him an email.

Had to start somewhere...

"Would You Like A Chicken Supper Benny H?"

And so to Mahiki last night for the first of the Conservative Future chairman hustings that was piggy-backing on the Young Britons' Foundation Summer Party. Cocktails were flowing, though compared to years passed it was a relatively sober bout.

That wasn't to stop a howler though...

Questions began with an in-depth discussion on Europe. The floor probed the candidates far deeper than David Cameron was on the issue on the election campaign. Answers ranged from "No" to "Maybe" to "sort of in and out?" Other questions on reform were all rather dull and the usual lines about communications were pushed out.

It wasn't until a cheeky grenade was lobbed in that there was the night's only shocking incident. Candidates were asked "Which politician do you most relate to and respect... in Northern Ireland?"

Given that he was speaking in a room of Thatcherite right-wingers, Ben Howlett's attempt at getting the Fenian vote look spectacularly inappropriate. He cited Gerry Adams as "a conviction politician". Some were left speechless that Howlett, who had used a photo opportunity just 48 hours previously with Lady Thatcher to promote his campaign, endorsed the man who chaired the IRA Army Council that sanctioned the assassination attempt on her at the 1984 Conservative Party Conference in Brighton that left senior Tories dead and disabled for life.

After that the rest of the hustings seemed a little subdued and low-key. TB liked Cox's "Policy not Petrol" sound-bite and Cavalier-Jones did well to hold his own outside of his northern comfort zone and bloc.

Howlett has the chance to try to redeem himself tonight as the candidates will come together again for 

another hustings

at the Barley Mow on the Horseferry Road at 7pm. The event is in aid of Help the Heroes. Once again questions in the comments if you can't make it.  

Memo to Howlett - tread carefully. 

PMQs Thoughts - Amateur Hour

Well that was slow, messy, and amateur. Interruptions meant it never really got going but there wasn't exactly much to work with in the first place. It makes you realise just how far Dave has moulded PMQs to his own style and uses it to bash with ease. Clegg's opening joke was cheap and crashed. Not sure about the dissertation line either...

Straw isn't exactly suited to the combat style of PMQs and its pretty embarrassing when you make Harman look good at this. He started too quietly and by the end of his questions he was bellowing and came across rather dreadfully and gruff. Bit jumbled on the substance as well. Think Clegg would benefit from a bit of "practice" at this too despite his scathing put down.

Clegg warmed up once the questions were thrown open to the Backbenches, but the duel is really what mattered. His defence of the coalition at the end was very good, hit the Labour record hard too despite the best efforts of the Speaker.

Once again another piss poor performance from Bercow. Funny he never interrupted Gordon when he went on with reams of tractor stats and obscure defences of Labour's record. Who knows what point Clegg was going to make? He then completely cocked up the fact that Straw had only had five questions, it looked like it was his first time too. And once again he went with the "shut-up because people are watching" line. The public don't hate PMQs battles. Maybe Bercow could explain why it's the only Commons session that people watch? Every week. And enjoy?

CLEGG 3 BERCOW 0 STRAW 2

VERDICT: Dull, amateur, pretty much a draw.

Cox out the Blocks

Craig Cox

has launched this video this morning outlining his supporters and ideas:



"Sound ideology" is quite the dog whistle and intriguing to see a candidate pledging to go up against the government.

While Cox is a late starter, Ben Howlett is still on his nationwide tour, last seen somewhere outside of Scunthorpe "listening". Just kidding, but it looks like he did have an intriguing chat

last night

.  

Simon Cavalier Jones

is picking up endorsments of branches, but whether they will all fall into line outside of his northern heartland block remains to be seen. Cox's entry has raised the bar for the rest and they need to get their web and media stuff up to scratch quickly, especially Howlett.

There is a hustings tomorrrow. If you can't make it leave your questions in the comments below and TB will see what he can do.