Special Ties... and special suits.

David Miliband represents the United Kingdom on the world stage. As he proved yesterday he

meets some

 of the most powerful people in the world, yet TB can't help but wonder if he is the worst dressed Foreign Secretary ever...

While meeting with the Obama administration, a President who is

famed

for his soft spot for very good suits, BananaMan Miliband rocked up in creased and very cheaply cut, dreadfully high lapel shocker. Now Tory Bear knows that the recession is taking it's bite but surely David, as the face of the best dressed nation in the world, can fork out more than £79 for his shiny

Moss Bros number:

He should look like our representative on the world stage rather than a Phones4U salesman...

Quote of the day... or week even.

TB doesn't mean to have a bit of an

Iain Dale

lovin' session this morning but has to highlight this from his interview with the new

CF website

: 

Why should people get involved with organisations like Conservative Future?

For the sex. Pure and simple. What other reason could there possibly be? OK, I can think of one. Because you want to do something to save your country. And by joining CF you will be joining an organization which is going to do its utmost to help candidates in marginal seats beat their opponents on June 4 2010.

The new website is very good and TB hopes the traffic is reflecting that. Well done to Richard Jackson who has been working hard in making this happen.

Worth the wait and beats the other parties youth websites by a mile.

TB warms to JP

John Prescott has fully embraced

blogging

.. he's even got himself a Blackberry. Now TB would have been happy to see the back of JP a couple of weeks ago but his blog is gaining force as his

banter fueled retaliation

to Iain Dale shows:

Classic stuff... Could it be Lord Prescott of the Blogosphere next?

McMenamin crosses the line.

After he set up various tory hate sites and attended the Derek Draper/Number 10 blogging love in, Adrian McMenamin went under the radar as his bosses at the CBI told him to pack the partisan politics in and focus on his job. At first McMenamin was a notable absence but it now seems however that Mr Hate My Tory Dot Com is back and is a fully signed up member of the

LabourList crew

:

What is it going to take before the CBI wake up and realise that one of their

employees

is taking the piss and making a mockery of their impartiality?

Writing for a LABOUR supporting website, having already been warned, must be too far?

For Foulkes sake...

Apologies for the lack of blogging. TB has been snowed under (haha,) with work and debating the Student SNP last night. Edinburgh University

Student Newspaper

have given George Foulkes

two barrels

this morning with a piece about his involvement with the firm Evershed and cash for access corruption. Once again however Foulkes is using his paid staff, who rather than dealing with the concerns of his constituents as an MSP are instead using their paid time to issue retractions to campaign staff to push around campus today

This message was sent in the middle of the day, solid proof of what everyone has known - Foulkes and Labour can't win without having paid staffers run his campaign. Here is what the message said:

If you come across a copy of Student Newspaper today - you'll see the Headline "Foulkes in Cash for Access Controversy." The story is written by one Liz Rawlings.
The basic gist of the story is that an unnamed academic has written a letter of complaint to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner about George's involvement with a law firm called Eversheds.
This unnamed complainant has asked the commissioner to investigate whether George has breached the Members Code of Conduct under section 5.1.6
In April 2008, an SNP activist called Andrew Harlick wrote to the Standards Commissioner on the exact same issue with the exact same complaint. After a 6 week investigation, the Standards Commissioner threw the complaint out entirely.
- There wasn't just insufficient evidence. There was no evidence whatsoever to substantiate the complainants' allegations.
George wants you to know that his work with Eversheds is completely above board and he has never tabled any motions or questions on behalf of a client. Such a practice turns his stomach as much as it does yours.
All this information was given to the Sunday Herald (who originally broke the story) by George. The Sunday Herald – the same paper which Iain MacWhirter writes for – chose not to publish it.
Student, and in particular Liz Rawlings - whose facebook picture sees her side by side with Alex Salmond – lifted the story directly from the Sunday Herald.
George phoned the Standards Commissioner this morning – whose office is yet to receive a letter of complaint about George from anyone.
Read into this set of events what you will – but George was keen for you, as members of the campaign to have the full facts at your disposal. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch.

George is on campus this afternoon continuing to proudly campaign for the rectorship which he cares so much about.

Best wishes,
Kez

There was a rumour afoot after Foulkes failed to show up to a debate last night that he is seriously considering dropping out of the race rather than face the humiliation of a dismal third.

Yet another Pyongyang style retraction from an increasingly desperate campaign.

Rock makes a splash...

Seems CF Chairman Michael Rock's return to

political blogging

has caused quite a sensation. Iain Dale has the

story

, but it seems the left don't like a taste of their own medicine. 

The Ministry of Sound

Fancy going to be trained by some of the top right leaning organisations in the USA this summer? 

Further details are

here

and registration is now open...

Vowel, another vowel and err a conservative...

Carol Vorderman is

set to lead

DC's new initiative to improve maths teaching across the country. Is the tide of "celebrity" support heading towards the Tories?

TB wonders who will be next to be seen at Dave's party...

Exclusive: Let the games begin.

TB has often said that Conservative Future needs to become more political. 15,000 members is a big chunk of the party and yet internal political debate is virtually non-existent at the moment. Moves such as CF backing No2ID were a good start and now TB understands that the new CF website will play a big part in trying to spark some debate amongst the membership.

As far as TB can tell, an article will be run tomorrow from Chairman Michael Rock that attacks the BNP as a left-wing statist organisation and not right wing as they are incorrectly labelled. Far from the right-wing libertarian streak that currently dominates the ruling factions of the organisation. 

TB is not suggesting we head back to the pitched battles of the FCS but a little more political debate can only be a good thing.

Bored...

TB was bored enough to take one of those political compass quizzes: 

My Political Views
TB is  a far-right social libertarian
Right: 8.69, Libertarian: 6.65

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: 2.04

My Culture War Stance
Score: -1.72

Have a go yourself

here

.

Where it all began...

Tory Bear is having a lovely afternoon watching the Railway Children and exploring some

blogs

from across the pond. He just came across this obscure video from 1981 explaining the strange and new phenomena of reading newspapers on the internet!

TB's favourite line is the bit about not making any money out of this.. Funny given that the mainstream media now depends on their online content and advertising to stay afloat. 

Wonder where things will be in another 30 odd years...

So long Winston...

Barry and Michelle have been decorating their new gaff and it seems they have been throwing a few things out... 

One that caught TB's eye was the bronze bust of Winston Churchill that Blair arranged for Bush to have on display in the West Wing. President Obama has purged the White House of all things Bush related in has arranged for the bust to be sent home. 

Predictably replaced it with Lincoln...

Fancy a flutter?

Tory Bear trusts the

betting markets

far more than the polls...

Sorry Gordon looks like you won't see another Christmas in Downing St...

Bercow4Speaker

TB spotted this one late but it seems John Bercow is continuing his one man crusade to butter up the left in order to launch a bid to become the next Speaker.

This time

he is praising Harman and calling for positive discrimination. TB can't help bit think for every single vote he picks up on the Labour benches he will be losing one on the tory side...

And let's not forget the voters of Buckingham...

Damage Limitation

So the Labour Student shit has hit the metaphorical fan tonight. Tory Bear's last story has caused a flurry of activity in the normally charming and placid, calm and composed world of student politics at Edinburgh University tonight. As far as Tory Bear can tell there has been outrage in Labour Students and a botched witchhunt was undertaken earlier tonight. There has been outrage elsewhere that this election is defiantly not about Labour, but before anyone forgets - about the staff and students of Edinburgh. 

TB first got wind of the story published earlier tonight from an anonymous tip-off and now it seems after an evening of furious activity aimed at one particular member of the university Labour club, the following statement just pinged into TB's inbox. Deep Throat revealed so to speak:

"I would like to apologise unreservedly to both Labour Students and George Foulkes for comments I made to Tory Bear. I spoke out of line, out of context, and inaccurately represented a friendly conversation I had with a Labour student. I can only apologise if I suggested that the member was put under any pressure, and I further apologise for suggesting any lack of support for George Foulkes within Labour students. It was inaccurate to suggest that any individual put pressure on them. What I should in fact have said was that there was inherent pressure for any labour supporter or student to support the Labour candidate. "

Euan Oliphant 

Edinburgh University 

You can all be the judge on this one.

Owned.

He walks right into the trap... classic stuff!

So which Lord is

next

?

Exclusive: "This isn't about George, or you, it's about the Labour Party"

Tory Bear has said it before and will say it again - the Labour Party from the very top, to the grassroots is in a pretty desperate state of affairs. Now you may have noticed that TB has been focusing somewhat on the Rectorial election at Edinburgh in the last few weeks and though some have suggested this isn't exactly high profile news, one campaign in particular has flagged up some fascinating insight into the inner workings of the Scottish Labour Party. Party elder Lord Foulkes has had a colourful career and is now looking to settle into a cosy retirement as a member of the Edinburgh establishment. However things aren't going exactly to plan. Despite being the first candidate to declare, his campaign has got off to a rocky start and has only began clawing back, in terms of impact, in the last couple of days. The campaign team is dominated by members, past and present, of Labour Students but it seems that not all of them have been fully on board from the beginning. TB's sources tell him that it has taken some serious heavy handed techniques from the highest echelons of the party to whip Foulkes's team into shape. It has come to Tory Bear's attention from sources close to the top of the Foulkes campaign that a particular member of the Labour Students was taken aside in the Scottish Parliament and threatened not only by Foulkes but by Iain Gray, the chaotic leader of the Labour Party in Scotland.

TB understands that the individual in question, though a very active member of Labour Students was not happy to support Foulkes as he did not agree with his voting record or outlook on key issues. However Mr Gray can be quiet persuasive it seems: "It'd be a shame if you're career ended here" he apparently said, adding "George is very important in Scotland, and he has a long memory..." The individual in question, for the sake of their career, has now bitten the bullet and is signed up to the campaign under sufferance. No doubt "This isn't about George, or you, it's about the Labour Party" can be a forceful message when whispered in your ear by the Leader of the Party.

As one would expect Gray's not so charming gate keeper denied the story as "nonsense" but there was a slightly more chaotic and nervous reaction from Foulkes's office when TB put this story to them earlier today. (This is what happens when you employ students to run your office, as is seemingly the case with Foulkes's continued employment of Matt McPherson, his campaign manager. If that isn't the case then TB wonders what Mr McPherson is doing answering the phones in an MSPs office.) However both Gray's office and Foulke's henchmen refused go as far as to call TB's source a liar. McPherson stated "I can categorically assure you that no one from within George's Rectorial campaign team has ever issued a threat to anyone." but gave no comment on whether anyone above the level of student team, someone such as Mr Gray had been involved...

Foulkes expected to walk this election for Rector and now that things are not going his way he is calling in favours from his high powered colleagues. The quotes may be dismissed because they are anonymous but Tory Bear is protecting someone who, having been threatened before, isn't too keen on rocking the boat too much. TB is however willing to vouch for the authenticity of the source and has spent the last 24 hours checking out the story. For the leader of the Scottish Labour Party to be putting a bit of stick about, to be bullying members half his age and twice his integrity shows once again just how stale and tired and nasty the Labour Party has become.

He told the BBC that he and his wife were "living the grime scene"

It seems Iain Dale's old North Norfolk rival, Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb is down with the kids. His son is a

music producer

and Lamb has

mortgaged his house

to help out the blossoming career of grime artist "Tinchy Styder"

The scene that is more associated with crack and the odd pistol, rather than MPs turning up to gigs in suits, has been a bit of an eye opener for Norman. Dismissing the criticism of the grime scene he said "Inevitably there's a diversity within grime or urban music. There's stuff that is accessible and there's stuff that's not. Sometimes the lyrics in urban music are quite challenging, but there's other stuff that's really good and clever."

Well that settles it then. Brup.

L is for Labour...

Further to TB's story earlier about Labour spinning the campus newspaper's polling it seems that their cyber team have been

hard at work

:

20 votes in one hour... who are you kidding Kez?

It's funny that the Labour campaign has been picking up today given what Tory Bear has heard about some strong arming going on from the most intriguing of places...

Here's a political hot potato... catch!

Tory Bear has had a busy couple of days, including fun and games yesterday with the Young Britons' Foundation heading up north. As part of their nationwide tour training activists up and down the country, YBF took the Scottish Parliament by storm yesterday afternoon...

With intensive media training, a very sound chat with Murdo Fraser (mid budget negotiations,) and the best dressed activists in the country the day was a great success.

The drinks flowed late into the night and Edinburgh University's Tories are now fully prepared to face the big wide media world. If you would like YBF to come to your campus then TB recommends you get in touch with

YBF

asap.