Mr Miliband Goes to Brussels?

Jonathan Isaby is plugged in and

he is suggesting

the speculation about Miliband D accepting the job in Europe and thus triggering a South Shields by election in true. Will Mandy attempt a return to the Commons? Well

Karen Allen

might have something to say about that.

This would also kill the Blair for President campaign stone dead.

It's a Love/Hate Thing

TB had a great time at the

@tweetminster

event at Edelman last night. Much hilarity ensured as ever when there are giant twitter feed screens, free booze, and a room full of people on Blackberries.

Something tells the bear that Kerry McCarthy MP, Labour's Twitter Tzar isn't a fan:

Nadine on the other hand was much more friendly:

That's more like it.

TB is off to join Old Holborn and co on a little walk. Armed, (with a video camera.)

Back later!

+Cameron's Europe Speech Live Blog+

Welcome back to Part II of Judgement Day.

DC expected up at 1600.

Apologies for delay - laptop died.

16.12: Never again seems to be the key theme. No referendum on Lisbon. No made up. referendum. But Conservatives will never let this happen again.

16.13 It's Blair and Brown to blame for this. Damn straight.

16.14 European law jurisdiction over British law will be renegotiated. This can't happen unilaterally. Changing rules Britain has signed up.

Negotiation must have agreement of all 27 states. Highly complicated. Hague is on the case.

Success will establish the fact that integration is not a one way street.

16.15: Essential, realistic, and deliverable. Identified areas of concerns that interfere with our democracy.

16.18 "remaining of course as a member of the EU." hmmm.

16.19 EU has mended painful divisions apparently. Would be ironic if the first president is a German no?

16.20: we will never allow Britain to slide into a federal Europe. That's more like it. "The mandate we will seek at the next election." Intriguing

16.21: Could well be enough to buy off the euro sceptics, and placate the euro-extremists. TB is pretty sold. It is clear a substantial renegotiation is about to take place if the Conservatives win. "not going to treat people like fools offering a referendum that will do nothing"

"A policy on Europe that we can believe in"

Newsnight get the first question.

ITV try spin this as a uturn and damaging to trust in Cameron. He smacks down straight away saying his promise was clear but the ratification of the treaty made the ref impossible.

"A clear and frank statement."

16.24: Sky's Glen O'Glaza asks about the threat of UKIP - "Everyone is disappointed, downcast" about a lack of vote. We pushed this issue as hard as we could" "If it hadn't happened we would have named the day."

We have to live for the day not the world we would like. Very Obamaesque.

Realistic, straight forward, deliverable are the buzz words. There every answer. Hitting home the point.

16.30 One of TB's favourite hacks Nick Watt asks Dave for a "cast-iron" promise about the rebate. Cheeky.

DC slams Blair in response saying he gained nothing with his rebate negotiations and essentially pissed money away. (TB's words not his.)

16.35: DC keen to wrap up quickly but conceeded a question from a continental journo "in the spirit of things"

16.40:

Peter Hitchins keeping his hand up while Dave is talking despite being continuely ignored. Wonder why. He looked like a tit though:

That's it folks, DC shut that down pretty quickly claiming it wasn't a press conference but a speech.

Could fooled the bear though.

Verdict?

TB buys it, as will candidates and the ones trapsing the streets for the next few months. There are bigger fish to fry in the short term, the renegotiation promise means Europe can now once again be put on the back burner. The conversation has beein saved for another day, when hopefully the tories will have the power to turn words into action.

What are you doing tomorrow?

It's that time of year again. A message from

Old Holborn

:

I will be w

alking at 12 Noon on Thursday November 5th from Trafalgar Square to Parliament. All are free to join me as I courteously hand a Carson Rose into Downing Street and then gain access to the Public Gallery of the House of Commons, where we can watch our paid representatives engage in lively debate about how to tax us, fleece us and subjugate us to their whims.

I shall be dressed in my usual attire, please feel free to dress however you wish but special invites go out to anyone who wishes to wear a pig costume for the day. It would give me great pleasure to herd a few noisy pigs and Guy Fawkes's into the Public Gallery to face their MPs.

TB will be there filming for

GuyNewsTV

. Come on down.

Full details

here

.

#PMQs

So there have it, the Kelly report is out there. TB was a little annoyed with the constant referral to what the new IPSA quango will be doing but can't complain about the recommendations. Could have gone further but Kelly has essentially been a good egg.

Let's see what the Party leaders and Bercow make of it. TB is busy busy, but will be tweeting away from PMQs.

Follow him on twitter

here

.

+Kelly Report Press Launch Live Blog+

09.28: TB is on his way to the launch.

Will Kelly disappoint or will he offer a bold and radical transformation of Parliament?

Read all about it here first.

10.05 clearly waiting for the headlines to be over on sky etc before starting. Flicking through the report. Good to see receipts for everything and no more mortage claims. Here we go....

10.08 Kelly opening gambit, the leaders agreed then, briefed them. Having a go at leaders for leaking. "The media briefings did not come from me". "Extremely irritating, frustrating for committee and those affected by recommendations that have not been altered at all."

Grumpy!

10.10 Fair and reasonable, not draconian, hmmmm.

10.12 -these measures will not make parliament only accessible to the rich. So don't even try that line Harman, Brown etc.

10.14 - central pay bank for rent and hotels. Cheaper and more effective, MPs can pay the difference if they want somewhere bigger if it meets criteria. Not quite the Olympic village but vast improvement.

10.15- LCA reduced. Sorry Mr McNulty.

10.18 - Kelly puts Harman in her place. Claims she supported the idea of family members not being employed during oral evidence in the summer but not this week.. silly wench.

10.20 Goodbye communication allowance, thank goodness for that. Costs should come out of office budget where it has to compete with other needs. PS MPs must meet the cost of travel home.

Kelly warning leaders not to renege on their promise to implement the recommendations. "leadership and determination" needed "however uncomfortable that may be"

Wants it in place by next parliament. - "if the will and the determination are there" it can be done"

"This committee will be watching."

C4 news get the first question- Kelly bats away issue of pay, fair as it's not in his purview.

Cathy Newman: Rental is more expensive in central London no? Is there a limit on hotel expenses?

Kelly: £120 per night for hotels. Has a dig at Dolphin Sq. City Inn rubbing hands together no doubt.

Nick Robinson is getting highly distressed that he hasn't been allowed to ask a question yet. Kelly clearly very grumpy with BBC leaks. Nothing for Sky yet either... Figures seeing as they both went to town on the report last week.

The Sun got a question, Nick Robinson checking watch.

Kelly says there is a considerable desire to get the expenses scandal behind us, in order to do that, MPs must accept the report as a whole and simply "get on with it".

Michael White praises the Fees Office. Predictably. Now bashing bankers. Seems lost and bewildered, slipped into Russian. Rambling. Drunk? Kelly "Thank you for that."

10.44: Nick Robinson checking his watch continually, still no question, getting grumpy:

10:45 if the HofC wants to bring itself into modern world families can't be employed. They don't do that "Even in Europe" - great line.

10.46: Sky get the question before BBC. Nick Robinson, steaming.

10.48: Michael White is now heckling from the back, defending MPs. Heavy night?

10.49: HAHAHA

Sunlight Centre

get a question before the BBC. Probably something to do with the

Shadow Kelly

report they published.

Ok Robinson nearly there, he's got the microphone in his hand.... is he going to get the last question as a thanks-for-coming-prize? Shame the TV news channels have already cut away. Very embarrassing for BBC.

10.58: Oh it just gets worse. Kelly handed a piece of paper saying ASK NICK ROBINSON A QUESTION. "I'm told you're looking gumpy Nick". Big bluster all very cringe.

Spot the Bear. It's a wrap folks.

The Big Day

Big day. Very big day. First up we have Sir Christopher Kelly reporting his recommendations for reforming Parliament. This is it boys, this is war. There will be tears, there will be tantrums but you can almost guarantee nearly all of what he recommends will come into force eventually. Many hacks are referring to today as the end of the expenses scandal. This is an extremely naive view though in TB's opinion.

Guido

has already reported a glimpse of what we are about to see once the local press get their teeth stuck in to their MPs in the run up to the election. This isn't the end but it will certainly be a landmark. Things in Westminster will never be the same, and for the better TB hopes.

The bear will be live blogging from the press conference so head this way for about 9.45.

Normally the high point of the political week, PMQs will pale in significance today. Will no doubt be a good one though...

Staying in Westminster TB will also be tapping away live at Cameron's speech about Europe that is at 4pm. Kelly will no doubt dominate the news agenda throughout the day and TB would be extremely surprised if DC pushes the story from the top of the bulletins at 10, maybe at 6. What can we expect from Dave then? Well if glimpses can be seen from Hague and Hannan who did the rounds of political slots last night, we might just get some form of referendum one day. There was much talk of renegotiating the UK's relationship with the EU - fantastic news - TB is willing to put money on the fruits of those labours being put to the country. Or at least promised to be by Cameron today.

Brown will get an earful and rightly so. He is the one that got us into this mess in the first place, and for the likes of Campbell, Bradshaw and Miliband to have a cheap shot about u-turns on referendums they can jog right on. Desperation is an understatement.

So it will be a busy day, but the bear is armed with his laptop, blackberry and a mocha-frappachino.

Let the games begin

Brave Sir Boris

TB is late to

this one,

but couldn't pass without comment:

"Boris Johnson has been hailed as a "knight on a shining bicycle" after he rescued a woman being attacked by a group of young girls."

What a legend.

Weep

Labour have done it

again

.

Graph from BOM.

Even the Loon-roots Think Miliband Is Wrong

If you ever want to see the fruitier side of extremism and left-wingery online in the UK just head over to

Liberal Conspiracy

for approximately fourteen seconds. TB couldn't help but notice that even the delectable

Soho-Politico

was scathing about the disgusting smear tactics that Labour and the left, especially those at Lib Con, have used against the Conservative Party and their allies:

Now, MacShane’s attacks on the Tories’ European alliance have not, in my view, been at all effective, and the emailed list of questions is also fundamentally wrong-headed. The questions are intemperate, and each take a ‘When did you stop beating your wife?’ type format, for instance:

4. Does he [Hague] support kaminski’s homophobic language?

6. Will hague be joining his new friends in Latvia when they commemorate the Waffen SS?

10. Does he agree with the Economist that he has created a “shoddy, shameful alliance” with Kaminski and Vile?

This type of non-serious questioning is counter-productive: it only aids the Tory counter-claim that Kaminski and others are the victims of a baseless smear campaign. If interest in the details of the Conservatives’ Euro alliance dies a premature death, or the public and media swing decisively behind the Tories’ narrative, it will be because of misjudged attacks like this.

The rest of the post descends into mindless drivel, a return to normality for it's platform, however it is interesting to note that Labour and Miliband's tactics are being universally derided from the right and the hard left.

At this rate it's just going to be James Macintyre and Miliband D left looking like fools. Shame.

Why I Left the Conservative Party...

No not the Bear, but fellow blogger Benny Austwick of

Cardiff Blogger

fame. Ben was the Chairman of the Conservatives at the University of Wales in Cardiff and has fallen victim of the PC brigade for the use of the apparently "racist term" pikey. So disillusioned with the reaction from the Party, it seems Ben told them where to go.

You can read exactly what happened

here

, but TB caught up with Ben last night and he had this to say: "The Party needs to stop presenting itself as 'squeaky clean'. Nobody believes it and is one reason people still don't trust David Cameron. I have every faith that he'll make a great Prime Minister but making out that he's the second coming of Christ like the press did with Obama is not something voters believe."

TB wishes Ben the very best of luck with his now very much independent blog.

Governor Obama

Didn't know Obama was standing for Governor of New Jersey:

Come on Jersey boys and girls give him a kicking.

Boot out the corrupt Corzine and give Obama one that will hurt.

It Wasn't Me!

Lord Gorbals of Mick in the county of Trough has shamelessly tried to put his hands in the air and

blame the Serjeant at Arms

for allowing the police, without a warrant, to enter Parliament and detain a Member.

"The Metropolitan Police has "strongly refuted" a suggestion that a senior officer tricked a Commons official over the search of a Tory MP's office.

Lord Martin told the committee on policing and Parliament he had been "let down" by Serjeant at Arms Jill Pay who failed to require a warrant for the search.

But he said when he asked her to explain her conduct, her boss Malcolm Jack, the Commons Clerk and chief executive, had stepped in and suggested she had been influenced by the police.

Lord Martin said: "The Clerk of the House intervened to say that Chief Superintendent Bateman had bamboozled the Serjeant and tricked her into keeping the matter from her immediate superiors."

A spokesman for the Met said it was "surprised" by the suggestion"

TB would expect this sort of cowardice from Martin's bestest friend Fatty Foulkes, but once again the man has sunk to new lows in his constant desire to prove to the world his total and utter lack of dignity, intelligence, respect, or grasp of reality. You can just imagine Speaker Lenthall trying the same line:

"May it please Your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak in this place, but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here, and I humbly beg Your Majesty's pardon that I cannot give any other answer than this to what Your Majesty is pleased to demand of me... Try the Serjeant at Arms though. She's a soft touch."

The man is a disgrace, and enough of a reason to see the House of Lords reformed now.

Quote of the Day

'They make out we're stupid, saying details of her affair were on Google, but no one in Norfolk knows how to use Google.'

- John Mortimer, 62, a member of the Swaffham Conservative Club

talking to the Mail

Sort of vindicates what TB said the other day.

Rocking the Boat

TB wants David Cameron to be Prime Minister. TB wants a Conservative government. A Conservative Party in power because they have earned it, not because they are the lesser of two evils. A Tory government must open up clear blue divides between them and Labour. What is the bloody point of being just as authoritarian, backward looking and untrustworthy as the current thugs? Today has not been a good day for a party that is building an image of change and renewal of hope.

The normally top notch Tory media machine has lost control of the news agenda, and it’s only Monday. Today’s speech on healthcare has gone completely under the radar, and rightly so. There are bigger issues out there that need to be debated and thrashed out right now. When he first read the alleged news that Cameron would be abandoning the promise of a referendum on the Lisbon treaty, TB was raging. Although it is yet to be confirmed, (Cameron charmed his way out of answering

Paul Waugh

’s question on the matter) deep down it didn’t come as a surprise in the current climate and direction David Cameron is taking the Conservative Party.

Now is not the time to be wet, now is the time to be bold and radical and for once can a politician please just keep their bloody word? Clichéd? Yes, but surely the words "cast-iron" are not to be taken lightly? Yes, it seems silly to hold a referendum if the Treaty is already in play, but a referendum was promised. A conversation with the nation about Europe was promised. The news is trickling out that there will after all be a negotiation about Britain’s role within the EU. If this is a manifesto promise, it is a risky one - but then that is just what the Conservative Party should be doing. Taking risks.

So TB managed to refrain tearing up the membership card there and then and getting on the phone to UKIP, but that’s not to say the thought didn’t cross his mind. He calmed down and realised how silly that idea sounds. Things only got worse though.

TB hated the fact that the only person he found himself agreeing with in the emergency question debate between Johnson and Grayling, was Chris Huhne. For most of the vile socialist nonsense the Lib Dems pump out, it was refreshing to hear a genuine streak of liberalism echoing around the hostile and close minded chamber. It is an embarrassment that a party that should represent freedom and true, not spun lies, but true right-wing values of freedom and personal choice can be so authoritarian. It was painful to watch the party he loves look so ignorant and disgustingly stubborn. Even David Davis, previously of "For Freedom" fame, backed the sacking of Nutting.

The

polling today from PoliticsHome

makes for painful reading for any libertarian within the Conservative Party. This is not the time to skulk along hoping to avoid potholes in the road to power, this is not the time to condone the dictatorial, book burning, flat-earther Johnson. This is the time to be radical, to be rational, to be mature and have a long hard look at the thirty year old legislation that dictates our nation’s attitudes towards drugs.

The next generation of the Conservative Party is certainly more libertarian than the current lot and many, many people that TB has spoken to have been equally dismayed and furious, but there has been a casual air of acceptance that TB could just not abide by. As

Ben Brogan argues

, perhaps in the path to power a certain amount of “la la la we can’t hear you” is required from the leadership toward its grass-roots. It may reek of Blairism, but as Brogan says, a seventeen point poll lead can work wonders on party unity. However Cameron must not forget who it is that will run his election machine, who it is that will deliver him to No10, who it is that will be there in the good times and the bad. Cameron must not be afraid to stand up and extol the virtues of individual responsibility, liberty, free choices and fair consequences.

Today was a bad day for the Conservative Party, can some lessons please be learnt from it.

Gordon Brown Be My Angel

Bit late for Halloween, but TB has watched this twice now and is still in a state of shock:



Do not watch this if you are eating or have coffee anywhere near you.

I'm Harriet Harman!

This one

is hotting up...

Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman has been questioned by police for allegedly leaving the scene of a traffic accident and driving while using her mobile phone.
The MP attended a pre-arranged appointment with officers, believed to have taken place in the past fortnight.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman confirmed that lawyers were in discussions with police regarding the case and that they had offered ‘preliminary advice’ – but were awaiting further evidence.

A full police file is expected to be sent to the CPS next month, when a decision will be taken on whether to prosecute Ms Harman.

While it's no Chappaquiddick the killer quote allegation has to be "I’m Harriet Harman... you know where you can get hold of me." If true it's a resigning issue. Or should be, but then what exactly does a Labour woman have to do before she resigns?

No doubt Jacqui and Patricia will advise.

Cough...

TB sees the logic on not having a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty per say if it has already been ratified. Guess it will have to be a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU straight up right? There is going to be the promised referendum still right?

Right...?

Cartoon - Klaus Edition

Vote Blue, Go Green

Why have the Conservatives been so quiet on Alan Johnson's declaration of war on science? For a party that claims to believe in freedom and a desire to defeat the deficit, shouldn't ending prohibition be something actively considered?

Who cares if Cameron smoked up a few years ago, if anything it gives him more authority to discuss these matters than someone who hasn't. Brown's desperate attempts to reach the ARGH "skunk weed" middle England crowd should not be emulated.

Legalise and tax it.