From Boris to Bloomberg
James Forsyth 4:59pm
Boris has just brought the house down with a speech attacking Ken Livingstone and setting out the Tory agenda for London. One senses that Boris will have no problem in motivating the party activists to hit the streets for him.
Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, was witty and self-deprecating and generally far better than I expected. Yet, I’m still sceptical of the decision to invite him. Bloomberg’s recent decision to quit the Republican Party and his flirtation with an independent run for the presidency has made him persona non grata with various sections of the Republican Party and his relationship with his predecessor and the Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani is far from good. I can’t see that the upside of his speech is worth the downside of further straining ties between the Tories and the Republicans.
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Comments
Hoi Polloi
September 30th, 2007 6:15pmGiven the deliberate, opportunistic and unprincipled nose holding detachment of the Tory Party from their US sister party, it's hard to believe that ties could be strained any further. Liam Fox alone appears willing to breathe any life into the relationship and when the Speccie starts publishing exhortations for the Tories to link themselves to the Hillary Democrats it's easy to see which way the Cameroon wind is blowing. It all makes it much easier for Brown to dismantle the Transatlantic relationship when the Tories, with their shallow opportunism over Iraq, put themselves in no position to oppose him. Yet another good reason why no good conservative should vote for the Cameron Tories.
Ted
September 30th, 2007 8:35pmThe US Republicans in form of George Bush decided that Blair and then Brown were their buddies. Sister party unless they don't need you.
ChrisD
September 30th, 2007 11:01pmThe Republican Party during the Bush administration has treated the Conservatives in a very shoddy and at times downright rude manner.
Good speech from Bloomberg and a very powerful endorsement for Cameron, further aided by the fact he is no longer a Republican.
Was also very subtle in its criticism of Gordon Brown too!
Having said all that, Arnie's speech via a video link proves that the relationship has not completely broken down between the all Republicans and the Conservatives.
At the end of the day the Republicans are not going to have as good a relationship with Labour now Blair has gone and Brown now rules Britannia. Will they stop talking to Brown who seems to have much more obvious links to the Democrat party?
Geoff M
October 1st, 2007 2:14amThe Cons here must not be too cosy with the Dems there.
Dave Bartlett
October 1st, 2007 6:18pmI don't know anything about Mr Bloomberg's relationship with the Republican party, but he gave a humdinger of a speech :-)
Dave Bartlett
October 1st, 2007 6:23pmI don't know anything about Mr Bloomberg's relationship with the Republican party, but he gave a humdinger of a speech :-)
John
October 1st, 2007 7:45pmAs a Londoner, the Thames will freeze over before I vote for Boris. Sorry, he's Just Not Up To It, no matter who his new best friends are. Most Londoners I know feel the same, even though we all know that Ken is a phony. Sometimes, it really is better to stick with the devil you know.