The coalition gets political
James Forsyth 12:32pm
The joint Tory Lib Dem press conference to attack Labour’s legacy was a sign of
how comfortable the two parties are becoming together. Chris Huhne and Sayeeda Warsi’s message was that the ‘unavoidable cuts that are coming are Labour’s cuts’ and that
Labour is ‘irrelevant’ until it admits its responsibility for the deficit. The message was essentially the one that Chris Huhne and Michael Gove set out at the political Cabinet at
Chequers last month.
In a move that is bound to generate some headlines, Warsi has written to those Labour leadership contenders who were ministers asking them to forfeit their severance pay and to ask the ex-ministers supporting them to do the same. The move is a gimmick but in this anti-politics age it’ll go down well with the public.
One other thing worth noting was that when asked, Waarsi, who is the chairman of the Conservative party, refused to commit the Tories to trying to win Huhne’s marginal seat at the next election. Huhne won last time thanks to Labour supporters lending him their votes something that won’t happen next time. If Huhne, who has also been damaged by stories about his personal life, is to hold on in 2015, he’ll almost certainly need some help from his coalition partners. This help could range from the Tories simply not putting resources into the seat - as one Minister told me recently, ‘if the Coalition is a success, a future Lord Ashcroft won’t be pouring millions into trying to unseat Chris Huhne [the Energy Secretary] in Eastleigh’ — to the full coalition monty of them standing down their candidate.
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charles hercock
August 11th, 2010 12:50pm Report this commentListen up.Forget coaltion politics.The Tories should go hell for leather to get the philandering snake Huhne out in 2015(if not before)
JK
August 11th, 2010 12:52pm Report this commentSurely then the Tories also need to take responsibility for the deficit, since they supported Labour's spending plans until 2008. They also supported financial deregulation which led to the crisis.
TGF UKIP
August 11th, 2010 2:04pm Report this comment"Huhne, who has also been damaged by stories about his personal life" well, dunno about that. Turning a lesbo is not to be sniffed at and may well draw applause and appreciation from some circles.
Simon Stephenson
August 11th, 2010 2:21pm Report this commentJK : 12.52pm
"Surely then the Tories also need to take responsibility for the deficit, since they supported Labour's spending plans until 2008. They also supported financial deregulation which led to the crisis."
Good point. At the very least the Conservatives should admit that through the early years of this century they were following opinion, not leading it, and also they should make a determined effort to persuade people why what they are offering now is objectively correct policy, and not just the inhabiting of a bandwagon of disenchantment that resulted from Labour's mismanagement.
Verity
August 11th, 2010 2:41pm Report this commentWell written post, John Richardson.
General Zod
August 11th, 2010 3:04pm Report this commentuntil 2008, the Tories were saying they would keep to Labour's spending plans, based upon cooked figures being published by Labour.
Verity
August 11th, 2010 3:22pm Report this commentHuh?
Did my comment get posted on the wrong thread?
Alex
August 11th, 2010 3:51pm Report this commentPresumably the Baroness is also writing to Gordon Brown and his cronies as well.
At some stage someone needs to tell Gordon his royalties should go to HM Treasury rather than some pet Brown charities.
Charles
August 11th, 2010 5:24pm Report this commentYes, let the Conservative Party stand down in Huhne's favour in Eastleigh. Then Tories in that constituency can vote UKIP (massively, I hope) with a clear conscience.
Cuffleyburgers
August 11th, 2010 5:57pm Report this commentRegardless of Huhne's infidelities (rather poor show), his credibility is hopelessly shot as a result of his insane policies on windmills, and the forthcoming blackout.
The man is an utter Utter Idiot, and the coalition should get him and Cable out, ASAP.
Chuck Unsworth
August 11th, 2010 6:16pm Report this commentI don't care who or what Huhne fornicates with. Is he any good at his job? If not, sack him - and let him take his chances at the ballot box.
TomTom
August 11th, 2010 7:47pm Report this commentWhy does Warsi come over as a petulant schoolgirl ? She certainly did not come over with any weight or forcefulness
David Gould
August 12th, 2010 12:29am Report this commentI'm pretty sure the Tories only backed Labour's expenditure on the NHS. Either way, such a position was forced upon them by the left-wing media and public who would have made a song and dance about Tory cuts even if we weren't broke.
Everyone wants to put the blame on someone else. When is someone going to take responsibility for their own part in the recession?
Simon Stephenson
August 12th, 2010 10:24am Report this commentDavid Gould : 12.29am
"Everyone wants to put the blame on someone else. When is someone going to take responsibility for their own part in the recession?"
Not before it is recognised that pre-programmed support for the orthodox and the mainstream does not convey immunity from responsibility when the force of the mainstream leads to ill-conceived and destructive policy from being pursued.
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