Tories desperate to save their fall guys

Iain Dale writes on Lib Dem Voice today an article that attempts to point the way forward for the Lib Dems in the wake of catastrophic election results. Sadly, despite the fact that Iain is actually a rather nice guy, he fails to understand the problem, and his solutions are very much what is best for the Tory Party, not the Lib Dems.

Vince Cable, who has long been on Iain's list of Lib Dems who need bashing, comes in for some tribal abuse from Iain. The fact that Iain then brings up a quote from a campaign manual from more than a decade ago, long since abandoned, but still copied and circulated as a truth by the Tories actually serves to highlight the very point Vince Cable was making about the Tories.

But where Iain really loses is is his view that the Lib Dems need to stick with the coalition. The need to join was to avoid a Greece style meltdown. This has been avoided, so the need for the Lib Dems to remain has gone. Iain says we face the prospect of the Lib Dems losing many MPs if we walk away from the coalition now. What he does not say is that if we go now, we lose. But if we wait four more years, we take all the flak for the Tories, allow them to pick off our council base, degrade our ability to campaign and show our independence, and by the time 2015 comes around, we will be in a worse state, whilst the Tories will be strengthened.

Iain's final analysis that the Lib Dems position would improve by bringing back David Laws his hopelessly at odds with what I found on the doorsteps in March, April and May. Iain likes to quote canvassing in Norfolk. I can assure Iain that bringing back a discredited right wing Lib Dem who has long been suspected within Lib Dem ranks as being on the extreme right wing of the party (admittedly though still to the left of Iain), is not what people want on the doorsteps of Norfolk.

What people told me is that they want those who broke promises to stop lying, apologise and for the Lib Dems to once again develop a back bone, which was so obvious in the Iraq war.

We do need to re focus and decide what we stand for, and what we want to be as a political party because we have abandoned our voters. Tories like this government, and as I warned a year ago, why should anyone who likes the government vote Lib Dem ? If they like this government, which is essentially a Tory one with a little Lib Dem garnish, they just need to vote Tory, You don't order a meal because you like the side salad, and that is what we are.

Nick Clegg is political poison. I turn the TV off when he comes on because he makes me want to shout at him. When he was in Norwich a couple  of weeks ago, I told Lib Dems I would  NOT like an invite to his meeting for fear I would say what I think of him.

The Tories love him, he's their fall guy. The fact that Tories are coming to his defence is reason enough to know we are not doing the right thing.

The problem with one man blogs as highlighted by ...

Blogging is, in general a good thing. It gives people a voice, it bypasses the mainstream media, and in many cases it gets news out in to the open which in other cases would not be heard, for example, after the attempts by Trafigura to muzzle the mainstream press with injunctions or the case of Oligarchs trying to stop criticism of them. But today, the shortcomings of the one man blog was highlighted  for all to see, in my opinion, today.

One advantage that the main stream media has over bloggers is that there are sub-editors, lawyers, and people who stand aloof from a story, who can act as a critical friend or a knowledgeable expert, who can stop things being published.

The one man blogger does not do this. It relies on one person making all the decisions and one person making all the judgement calls. As Iain Dale says on his blog today, rather well in my opinion, what has been published elsewhere today does nobody who blogs about politics any great credit.

Desperate Dale grasping at straws

If  THIS is ths sort of lame attack the Tories are getting their bloggers to attack Nick Clegg about. it really is desperation time for the Tories.

Lord Dale ?

Is it just me or do I detect a "Pick me ! Pick me !" in THIS posting ?

I know Iain is not one of the options, but I guess if you can't get elected and can't get selected, you could always get appointed ?

The problem is that the Lords loses legitimacy if it is filled with placemen who have failed in their attempts to get in to the House of Commons. Personally, I think the Tories have been crazy not to have selected Iain Dale in one of the many vacancies that have appeared in the wake of the expenses scandal, so perhaps this is a way for him to become a parliamentarian. I think Iain would do a good job and David Cameron could (and almost certainly will) do a lot worse.

Are you raising the level of debate Iain ?

Today Iain Dale wrote one of his daily Lib Dem attack stories and sadly (again) totally misses the point.

The story Iain is trying to push is that "Lib Dem MPs are just like the Tories" when it comes to having dodgy MPs. Of course Iain would love this to be true, but with dozens of Tories standing down after expenses allegations involving heli pads, duck houses and numerous other spurious expense claims, Iain somehow wishes to link this to four Lib Dem MPs who took it upon themselves to raise an issue affecting their expenses and claims.

No credit is given by Iain that these Lib Dem MPs reported themselves to the parliamentary ombudsman to see whether their rent arrangements actual conformed to the rules. Likewise, Iain fails to mention that the actual block of flats where these Lib Dems made claims is infact occupied by Tory and Labour MPs who, it appears from the news, have failed to report their circumstances to the parliamentary authorities.

So the question is Iain, why are Tory MPs not being as honest and open as Lib Dem MPs ?

FX - Tumbleweed passes by with the distant sound of a church bell ringing.

Which party is wrecking election night ?

Of the Norfolk constituencies who say that are still intending to do their general election count on the Thursday night, only two appear to be doing what Iain Dale wants.

So far North Norfolk and Norwich South appear to be the only two that will not be held over until Friday.

Looking at who runs the councils, it really is very interesting.

North Norfolk Count - Conducted by Lib Dem run NNDC.

Norwich South Count - Conducted by Labour run Norwich CC.

Norwich North/Broadland Count - Conducted by Tory run Broadland DC


Mid Norfolk/South West Norfolk - Conducted by Tory run Breckland


N/W Norfolk - Conducted by Tory Run Kings Lynn and West Norfolk BC


Great Yarmouth Count - Conducted by Tory Run Great Yarmouth Borough Council


South Norfolk Count - Conducted by Tory run South Norfolk BC.

So which party is wrecking election night ?

Six stories that won't make Iain Dale's Daily Dozen

1) Iain fails to report the selection of a Lib Dem candidate in Broadland (the seat which comprises part of North Norfolk where Iain has stood and part of Mid Norfolk where is friend Keith Simpson is the Tory MP.)
Iain was very keen to write of Lib Dem chanches here in his EDP column when no Lib Dem MP candidate was selected, but has been strangely silent since the selection of a well knwn local campaigner. Iain claims never to have heard of Dan Roper, which is odd as he really is not that unknown (unless you really are out of touch with Norfolk politics).

2) Southport Tories in meltdown.
Not the "We're going to win and Cameron is great" sort of stuff that Iain usually likes to highlight.

3) Tories below 40% in the polls
Errm, again, not realy good Tory spin.

4) Iain's PPC chances gone ?
Some of the comments are really insightful and explain why he is "being played" and unlikely to ever be selected for a winnable seat (which in my view would be a shame).

5) Another Cameron gaffe ?
Oh no, not again. Once, twice, three times a gaffer ...

6) The not so Rainbow Tories
Tories are all talk but no action on gay issues.

Two Tory views on the #Kerryout online campaign

The supposedly independent #Kerryout campaign to see the Labour MP for Bristol East to lose a the next election has been written about by two Tory bloggers today.

The website, which ludicrously suggests it is an independent campaign (despite being set up and backed by known Tories) is a pretty low piece of work by any standards. To flagrantly bandy the word "independent" around is something the Tories like to do, particularly in local elections, but to claim in any way shape or form that this is an independent campaign stretches the idea of clean politics beyond what most people would call acceptable.

Still, Iain Dale eulogises about the campaign on his blog today, and bizarrely, decides to attack the Lib Dems in to the bargain. Let me explain it in context. The Tories set up an so called "independent" campaign, which they then use to raise money for the Tory candidate, and then from this level of dishonesty they attack the Lib Dems. You couldn't make it up !

Still, for a much more balanced view, and one which will strike a chord with many decent Tories and those who are genuinely independent, another Tory blogger,  Andrew Allison points out that this type of personal negative campaigning using front groups to do the nasty work of the Tories does politics and the Conservative Party absolutely no favours at all.

If Iain Dale thinks this is a success then heaven help political discourse and clean campaigning.

A letter to my 16 year old self

Iain Dale has tagged me to write a letter to my 16 year old self giving myself 3 pieces of advice. So here I go.

Dear Nich,

Here is some advice for you.

Contrary to what you might think now about your future, you will actually go on to learn and be educated and you will realise it is what you were meant to do. I know you loathe school, can't wait to leave, and as a result have no desire to do A levels. But don't be too depressed when after two months at Norwich Union you realsie you have made a terrible mistake and wish you had gone on to further education. You will go to University and there you will meet some of the most amazing people you will ever meet, you will make the very closest of friendships, and you will not regret for one moment that you chose this delayed path in to education.

Accept that you cannot be popular with everyone and accept that some of those you count as friends really and truly are selfish arseholes. You know the only child who has everything handed too him on a plate ? You know to whom I refer. He will dump an you and your friends, play you off against each other and in general arse you around. You don't need his friendship or the friendship of his clique he will develop this year (you'll soon see the clique appear). Oh, but stay in touch with Andy. He's a bit misguided sometimes and yes, he will make a couple of monumental errors in his dealings with you over the coming years, but he'll always prove to be a good friend. You'll make many friends because for all your fears about wanting to be liked, people do genuinely like you when you don't try too hard !

Finally, you will really like yourself when you are my age (nearly 39), in fact, from the age of acout 25, you will really and truthfully have grown in to yourself. You will know that you don't have to always be the life and soul of the party, people will trust you implicitly, it's okay to be a little down sometimes, but the grey cloud that is over your head right now (and will be there until the age of 25) will go and be virtually banished accept on bad days. You grow in to yourself and in to your looks and you'll be tremendously happy in your late thirties, and so SO much calmer.

Oh, and to break a rule and offer a fourth and fifth piece of advice, don't get used to Everton winning league titles as this year (1987) will be their last for many many years and you will learn, despite all your hopes, that politics changes nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Cheers

Nich

Vince Cable in Total Politics

Vince Cable has been interviewed by Iain Dale for this month's Total Politics magazine.

The full interview is available to read HERE.

I love his refreshing honesty in dealing with a question from Iain which seemed to imply that he was inconsistent. Vince, unlike most politicians, simply says that he was proved wrong by the extreme financial mess we were in and he changed his mind accordingly.

If only a few more politicians could be less entrenched.

Iain Dale : "In September 2008, you said the government must not compromise the independence of the Bank of England by telling it to slash interest rates. A month later, you urged the Chancellor to write to the Governor of the Bank demanding a large cut in interest rates. "

Vince Cable "Yes, that is true and like a lot of other people, I realised in the autumn of 2008 that we were on the verge of a completely catastrophic failure of the system - a once in a lifetime experience. The whole banking system was in danger of going down and this was a system for which the Bank of England had not been prepared. The mandate of the independent Bank of England, which I supported, was not just concerned with those issues, it was concerned with a broadly stable environment. I had supported the independence of the Bank of England and I still do and I think its role will be increasingly important in future years when we get a lot of inflationary pressure. But that moment in September and October when they had to do something dramatic and where their existing mandate was simply about responding to and anticipating inflation rates, this was not actually the primary concern. And I was certainly the first person out of the traps saying that, although it was a departure from the line I had been giving before. "

Iain Dale endorsement

My wife came home from work today having been told by a number of her work colleagues that someone had written something nice about me in the Eastern Daily Press last Saturday.

Not buying a daily newspaper and usually reading the EDP at work, I don't often see the Saturday edition, so I phoned my parents and was surprised to read that Iain Dale was talking about the ongoing problems the Lib Dems and Tories are having in the Broadland constituency.

The are Lib Dems having to reselect in the wake of April Pond switching to Norwich North during the recent by-election. But the Tories too have potential problems if, as is rumoured, Keith Simpson is "kicked upstairs" to the House of Lords and Cameron tries to insert an A lister from London (as has happened in South West Norfolk), Broadland is a very interesting seat to live in.

The Lib Dems ought to be able to win this seat within two elections and if the right candidate is chosen, perhaps sooner, so it was nice to hear that the "one credible candidate the Lib Dems could choose" is, erm, well, me, or so says Iain in his EDP column.

Thanks Iain for the kind words but no thanks. Politics is a dirty business these days and the thought of spending four days a week away from my family in London is not an option I would look forward to.

Still, I really appreciate the compliment.

What are you saying Mr Dale ?

Iain Dale has printed his Eastern Daily Press column today on his blog and makes a rather astonishing parallel between the Liz Truss situation in South West Norfolk and that of a gay man.

Quoting Iain directly he says

" I wrote on my blog that the social outlook of those Tories who sought to deselect Liz Truss over her past affair with an MP was ‘neanderthal’. It’s the same social outlook which caused a few – and I emphasise, a few – North Norfolk Tories to swallow hard when I, a gay man, was selected as the candidate there in 2003."

Now I find this analogy rather odd and also rather disrespectful.

What Iain is saying is that there is a direct link, an equation, which puts as equal the peoples perceptions of gay people with person who breaks their marriage vows and has a long term affair with another married person. Am I the only person who finds this odd ?

My own views on gay people is not any different from my opinions towards heterosexual people. I have many gay friends, indeed my very best friend has recently announced his intention to marry (and I mean marry because they are going to Canada to do it) his male partner next year. Yet Iain Dale seems to be saying that the social outlook that people have towards a person who cares not one jot about her marriage vows, her promise to her partner and the vows her lover made to his wife is equal to the social values of someone who dislikes gay people. I disagree.

I am not a great fan of those people who think that marriage vows are something that can be ignored. It is a solemn promise to act in a way that is wholly loyal to your partner. It is not to be taken lightly. People are perfectly entitled to view people who break these vows with suspicion, as someone who may not keep to their word, and as someone who puts themselves selfishly above others. However, if you view someone who is gay with the same suspicion simply because they are gay, then this is wholly wrong.

For Iain Dale to equate the two is absolutely wrong. He may feel as a gay man he can get away with it. But I know many people who feel that the equation between a gay man and a marriage cheat is unfair.

Someone being gay is not an issue and should never be. Someone who breaks vows and solemn promises is, for many a real and justified position to take. When the issue of trsut is so important at the moment when talking about politicians, anything that causes people to lose trust is a justified position.

Iain Dale gets his facts completely wrong - Slight "Googling" hypocrisy ?

Iain Dale appears to have some egg on his face for reporting a story from The Metro without bothering to do a Google search and checking if the facts are correct.

This seems odd because Iain and other Tory bloggers were suggesting the other day that South West Norfolk Tories should have done a Google search about her sexual misdemeanours before selecting her. It's a shame therefore that Iain didn't bother to do a Google search before implying things about the Lib Dems that are not true.

Then again, this appears to be the Tory policy these days !

Sorry Iain

Just a quick note to say how sorry I am that my old political foe Iain Dale was not selected for Bracknell. You can read more about it HERE.

I ran myself in to the ground four years ago ensuring Norman Lamb beat Iain Dale in North Norfolk, but since then I have built up a great respect for Iain and I was happy to say that if I lived in Bracknell I would support Iain if i were able to vote at a Conservative selection meeting.

I read that Iain is now off to a family party for his father's 80th birthday. He's probably feeling very down, but I think a chance to be amongst loved ones is the ideal tonic for a disappointment.

Iain Dale on Bracknell shortlist ?

Rumours and comments on ConHome suggest Iain Dale is one of the six shortlisted Tories to replace Andrew Mackay in Bracknell.

Only a rumour as yet.

Update : In further support of this, Iain says on Twitter that he is canvassing for a local council election this morning. I note on the Bracknell Council website that they have a by-election in October.

What unites Iain Dale and Roger Helmer MEP ?

Iain Dale writes today in support of the rantings of Roger Helmer, the most unpleasant of Tory MEPs in my opinion, with the title "What Unites Roger Helmer and me".

Come on Iain, we know what unites you. It's pictured below. It's a shame you can't see past it sometimes.

Can I draw your attention to the clock ?

Iain Dale's top ten blogs has just 48 hours until the polls close.

If you want to vote, Click HERE to link to Iain's site and from there you can find the link to vote.

Vote for your top ten blogs

It's that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2009-10, which will be published in September. This year the poll is being promoted/sponsored by LabourList and LibDemVoice as well as Iain Dale's blog.

The rules are simple.

1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include ten blogs. If you include fewer than ten your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name

8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2009. Any votes received after that date will not count.

Radio Five Live - Iain Dale and Myself

I was on Radio Five Live a couple of days ago talking with Iain Dale and host Anita Anand about the Norwich North by-election.

I am grateful to www.by-elections.co.uk for putting the clip on their website.

You can listen to it HERE.

Iain Dale boosts Lib Dem hopes in Norwich North

Lib Dems in Norwich North were given a welcome boost today after hearing that former North Norfolk Tory candidate and political blogger Iain Dale was back campaigning in Norfolk after his humiliating defeat in North Norfolk in 2005.

Iain said "I hope to bring to Norwich North everything that I brought to North Norfolk." Lib Dem commentator and former North Norfolk Councillor Nich Starling said "Iain contacted me to say he was in my area of Norwich North canvassing this morning. Last time Iain campaigned in the area I live in he managed to increased the number of Lib Dem vote by several thousand so I am hopeful he will be able to repeat again".

(Note - Iain and the Tory team were canvassing in Taverham today - I was going to meet up with Iain to say hello but family commitments come first. I am sure Iain will see the joke, especially after his anti Lib Dem rant in his EDP column today, which further shows how Tory biased the EDP has become that they should allow this sort of thing during an election campaign).