Boris: the vanguard of a Tory revolution?

Faceless Bureaucrat

To pick-up on thoughts curently wafting around the Blogosphere, is there anything in the rule book that says Boris actually HAS to resign his seat in Parliament? The thinking elsewhere points out that since Gordon Brown runs the UK and remains MP for Kircaldy, isn't running London and Henley not technically the same?...

Paul B

DC and friends do appear shifty & uncomfortable when questioned on what they would do re the 10pc tax rate if they were in power i.e.; would they re-introduce it. Presently they take the line it’s the job of opposition to oppose/we need to see the books etc. Which is fine as far as it goes but is not a positive reason to vote Conservative.

My own belief is that they an alternative approach. They should state that low earners pay far too much tax and the entry level (to income tax paying) is way to low at present. Consequently on entering office their priority would be to increase the personal allowance to the following level. Minimum wage hourly rate, multiplied by 40 (working week give or take) multiplied by 52. I’m not sure what the minimum wage is exactly but I imagine he figure above would be about in the region of 11 grand. To my mind everyone could see how fair the policy would be, it will benefit everyone (who works) and has the benefit of fairness and simplicity, rather than the Brown devised tax credits. It could be (partially?) funded by abolishing tax credits and the bureaucracy that goes with them. A massive vote winner imo. Feel free to rubbish it.

Rathga

Completely agree with the post and the above comments. The strategic way forward with a popular tax-cutting agenda is to focus this firstly on low income earners. Raising the personal allowance and simplifying and partially rolling back the tax credit system is the way to start. Winning over Labour's client voters would pave the way for a national consensus toward the benefits of tax cuts, and would build pubic support for rolling back other distortionary taxes on positive activity (inheritance tax, stamp duty on houses and shares, etc.).

Nicholas

Lower the tax burden not just for the low paid but other vulnerable groups such as low income pensioners, war veterans, etc. Scrap the complex and devious Brown tax regime and create cost savings by pruning big government and dismantling the vast bureaucratic machinery built alongside New Labour's top heavy and turgid administration.

Evident fairness, simplicity and transparency are the new politics. Lead the way please Mr Cameron. Gordon Brown's soviet-style, 1968, socialist, stealth, class-war dog's breakfast of a policy jungle with its dangerously destructive social engineering experimentation is as dead as a dodo. Are you reading this Common Purpose???

Tiberius

I thought his acceptance speech was superb. After the literal trip up at the start, he went on to list all the points the BBC are reporting, plus the best about the dog-in-a-manger; look you Lefties, I've won the election, and you're welcome to embrace and take part in good ideas: but if you don't shed your ideological clothes, you'll be "humanely euthanased". A great hook for project Cameron all-round in the battle to deal with entrenched self-interests.

DBX

Technically no need for him to resign from Henley; in the UK you can hold multiple offices, as Ken Livingstone did in the 1970s with Lambeth and the GLC. But in this case you're dealing with two separate geographies; Boris is smart enough to know it isn't appropriate for the Mayor of London to be running up to Henley every Friday for surgery. If he was a London MP, it might be different, but it would still be a waste of his time.

By the way, I think "NuLaborŪ class war" is an oxymoron. If they're waging any class war at all, it's the sort of class war they used to accuse the Tories of -- against poor people. Hoskin is absolutely right about the 10p tax rate; if the Tories focus their tax-cutting energy on that, rather than at the top end of the tax code, they'll have the strong loyalty of a huge group of new voters. It would be a tax cut for everybody, not just a privileged few. That's what the new Tory project ought to be about; bringing more people into the opportunity society where they can afford to pay for something at the point of service. It would show everything that is wrong about NuLaborŪ today, where their attitude is you have to jump through a bunch of hoops in order to get a strings-attached benefit cheque from the government on the basis of membership in some specific demographic group.

John

But Nicholas! I am surprised at you! Don't you know that under our illustrious leader McBean, tractor production has increased year-on-year in every one of the last Five Year Plans? How can you rubbish such a great and humane leader!!!

Perry

Simplify, . . Simplify . . . SIMPLIFY.

This should be a (the) Tory watchword or mantra.

It is the counter formulation to anything McBroon could ever
contemplate or do, and by definition, impossible for socialistas to
emulate.

It covers anything and everything - particularly tax - exposes
fraudulent exchequer issues, makes life easier to understand, and
defies endless government meddling.

There is much to do, and, in present times, limitless opportunity to
do it.

In short, winding back the state.

It is perhaps tiresome to quote, but I will . . . K.I.S.S!

I’m sure Boris will show us the way.