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Conway's snout

Tuesday, 29th January 2008

Quite right, too. Wihdrawal of the whip should have been immediate, but today is just soon enough for Cameron still to look in control rather than being blown around by the media.

Cameron had no real choice, if he was to avoid the notion that the Conservatives are as bad as Labour. Indeed in some ways the Conway case is worse than Hain's. Hain might be incompetent, he might be arrogant, he might think obeying the law is not something he needs to worry about. But no one suggests that he personally was trousering the money his campaign omitted to declare.

That however is exactly what Conway seems to have done - grabbing 'office costs' from the taxpayer and chanelling them into his son's (or even now, it seems, sons') bank account.

It seems to me that this is not merely a breach of the Commons' rules. It appears to a layman such as me to be tantamount to fraud. If Cameron had simply said he was a naughty boy, slapped wrist, let's move on, he would have confirmed every idea about the Conservatives snouts in the trough.

As it is, he can now say that there is no place in the Conservative Party for people such as Conway, and can point to the difference between his and Brown's behaviour. Brown clung on to his man until someone else forced his hand, Cameron took (almost) immediate action of his own volition.

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Martin

January 29th, 2008 4:39pm

'Cameron took (almost) immediate action of his own volition' No he didn't, he did it after Tory spokesman told the BBC he wouldn't and only after the media commented on his failure to step in.

Nicholas Millman

January 30th, 2008 7:44am

Martin: Maybe, but at least he did act, Brown didn't. No amount of lefty/Labour posturing on this is going to smokescreen the contrast in leadership.

And whilst "Brown clung on to his man until someone else forced his hand" he still clings on to his women - Harriet Harmon and Wendy Alexander. Both should go.