Bob Piper has been a Labour Councillor for the Abbey
Ward in Sandwell, West Midlands, for 10 years. He is a lifelong supporter of Aston Villa Football Club and a follower of Yorkshire County Cricket Club.
The views expressed here are mine in a personal capacity, not those of the Labour Party, Sandwell MBC, Aston Villa or Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Get it! Mine... just mine!
Promoted by Bob Piper of 115 Barclay Rd, B67 5JZ on behalf of the Labour Party, care of 39 Victoria Street London, SW1H 0HA . Hosted (printed) by Swaithe Internet Solutions who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts.
Please note however, that The Labour Party is not responsible for the content of this website or individual posts as, unless specifically stated, I am writing solely in a personal and individual capacity.
Promoted by Bob Piper of 115 Barclay Rd, B67 5JZ on behalf of the Labour Party, care of 39 Victoria Street London, SW1H 0HA . Hosted (printed) by Swaithe Internet Solutions who are not responsible for any of the contents of these posts.
Please note however, that The Labour Party is not responsible for the content of this website or individual posts as, unless specifically stated, I am writing solely in a personal and individual capacity.
Newmania commented here yesterday that the Tories have always washed their dirty linen in public, and they are healthier for doing so. Actually, Labour has always done the same, although Blair and Campbell succeeded in keeping levels of dissent to a minimum. Discipline was the buzz word. You can't win elections by looking like a divided rabble, and although most of the time it was a really case of the Party leadership saying "do as you are told, fall in line" and stifling debate, there was little doubt that it worked. And whilst elections were being won, dissent was effectively sidelined.
So, in a sense, newmania was absolutely correct. The worrying thing for David Cameron is that although the opinion polls seem to indicate his authority is not only intact, but growing, signs of cracks are appearing already.
I don't just mean the old guard of South West Norfolk. I think they were cynically manipulated by Party HQ and their puppets in the media and on blogs to enable Team Cameron to look as if they were 'progressive' and taking on the 'Old Guard' in the Party. But the EU is a diffent scale of problem, and one that had dogged the Tories for over 30 years.
Although, as was pointed out by Tom Harris last week, there are no significant pro-EU Tory blogs, I suspect there is a much greater following for the Ken Clarke tendency in the Conservative Party than people suspect. Cameron himself has used Eurosceptisism as a way of trying to show his right-wing credentials to the wider party, but he was also cute enough to keep Clarke in the tent.
But as this report by Paul Waugh in The Evening Standard, the tensions on Europe are by no means resolved. As newmania said yesterday... "the message is that Conservatives are not instinctive protectors of the rich but they do worry about business."
Blair wasn't just able to control his party by winning elections, but by winning them handsomely. Large majorities may not always produce successful governments (as Francis Pym warned whilst cowering beneath the She-Cow) but they do mean Prime Ministers don't have to be over attentive to troublesome backbenchers. Should the Tories win by a relatively small majority, (or even Labour, for that matter) 2010 could be like 1974, and we may have to be ready for another election very soon afterwards.
Sorry Bob but i think you are letting your paranoia get the better of you. I have never met a pro-EU tory....not one....ever. They are not hidden they just don't exist. I suspect 90% of Tory membership in now eurospectic, the other 10% are just agnostic.
That's what they WANT you to think John. But how do you think we got into the Common Market, and signed the SEA, and signed Maastricht?
The likes of John Redwood bloody well voted for it, that's how. David sodding Davis whipped him through the lobbies whilst they poured scorn and vitriol on those Tories who said 'no'.
newmania said:
November 17, 2009 11:34 PM | permalink
I went out there a chorus girl and came back a star . You over emphasise the division in Conservative ranks over Europe .We have been in for decades now . My own job depends on the Single Market for Services and the sheer disruption of leaving is not something any true Conservative could happily support .We are always alive to the possibility that change however nobly intended ended often makes things even worse .
Another related reason is that if you held an in or out election the ‘outs’ would lose it .This is precisely the position the elites wanted if course and it has been reached by lies and outright rejection of fundamental democratic principles but we must always start from where we are . Slow incremental pressure then is not only reasonable compromise but the only way forward. No there will be no back bench rebellion although I take your point .
Gypsy Rose sees other rather intriguing possibilities in her crystal ball . She sees Brown pulling it off . The system is currently loaded heavily against Conservatives and the Conservative Party could get by far the largest popular vote in the UK ,a landslide in England ,but lose . Cross her palm with silver and she will tell of Brown a wounded feeble old bear beset with fierce dogs .Public sector cuts tax rises, interest rate hikes strikes, England close to ungovernable , the IMF in, and if not the plug pulled on our borrowing . The administration forced to seek a mandate and losing , ..much trouble she sees even if Labour win.
November 17, 2009 3:48 PM | permalink
Sorry Bob but i think you are letting your paranoia get the better of you. I have never met a pro-EU tory....not one....ever. They are not hidden they just don't exist. I suspect 90% of Tory membership in now eurospectic, the other 10% are just agnostic.