In Cornwall on hols

I am down in sunny (so far) Cornwall with my Susie, the boys, my sister in law and her family.

If I am a little less prolific with my posts it is because there is no internet here. I am posting from my Blackberry and the coverage is pretty shocking. Oh and I will be concentrating on my family.

Good old Hain

He just can't help himself.

Even though the leadership contest is completely internal to the Labour party he still manages to use the Conservatives as the bogey man (bad choice of words considering Gordon Brown's commons activities).

Poor bloke.

These "confessions" are not for us

Tony Blair has said:

"I really don't know why the Iranian regime keep doing this. All it does is enhance people's sense of disgust at captured personnel being paraded and manipulated in this way.

"It doesn't fool anyone. And what the Iranians have to realise is if they continue in this way they will face increasing isolation."

He added that it was "perfectly obvious these people were in Iraqi waters under a United Nations mandate".

In the west the statement above is perfectly true, but the video isn't meant for us. It is designed to influence the people of Iran, Iraq, Jordan etc. who may need to be convinced of the case for an escalation of hostilities.

It won't convince us that we are the aggressors and we probably won't convince the Iranian people that it is their government who are.

Home Office split

John Reid wants to split the Home Office in two, it is clearly too big a job for him. This man wants to be PM!!!!!!!!!

Most of the problems that have plagued the Home Office have been caused by poor internal communications. I cannot see how splitting it can help.

Will the Minister for Justice be responsible for locking people away without trial? Or removing trial by jury? Or ending double jeopardy? Or handing prisoners the keys to their cells? It is getting more like 1984's Ministry of Truth every day.

£10,000 propaganda money

This news fills me with anger. Giving incumbent MPs £10,000 a year to create websites to communicate with their constituents is a sham. I think this is more to do with Labour using public money to help stay in office.

If an MP wants to set up a website to communicate they can use one of the free blog platforms or one of the free discussion forums.

I urge all Conservative MPs to refuse this money, if you want a website I will help you set one up for free!

Falklands Quiz

Is it my imagination or does this BBC quiz have an agenda?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6466633.stm

Feel free to let me know if you think so (or not).

What does Ahmadinejad want?

As I said in a recent post, British sailors don't tend to stray into the "wrong waters" and it increasingly looks as if I was right in this case.

The facts as I know them indicate an Iranian insertion into Iraq waters, the kidnapping of British troops and their removal to Tehran with the authority (possibly after the event) from President Ahmadinejad. What the hell was he thinking?

My greatest concern is that an escalation to military action is exactly what he wants, nothing like a good war to quell internal dissent and to distract attention away from domestic problems. He is probably well aware that we a heavily over-committed militarily and that there is little appetite for further conflict in the Psyche of the British public. We have options, but I don't think that Ahmadinejad is going to lose face easily.

The question that we need to ask ourselves is, how far are we willing to go to get our troops back?

Question time in Eltham

I was over the borough border in Eltham at a the Greenwich Conservative Federation's annual Question Time. I was great fun.

The irrepressible Jonathan Isaby was chairman, he is the Deputy Editor of The Daily Telegraph Spy column and one half of the Little and Large blog. I have to confess it wasn't the most politically diverse panel in the world. There was me, Spencer Drury (Leader of the Conservative group on Greenwich Council), David Gold (Eltham's parliamentary candidate) and Jo Elvin (Editor of Glamour magazine).

The questions covered a wide range of topics from street gangs to grammar schools and gay adoption to sending Livingstone into space on a rocket.

I would jump at the chance to do it again.

200 years since the Abolition of Slavery Act

Today is the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery Act. Slavery is far too big a subject to attempt to cover in a blog post, but I did not want to let this day pass without marking the event.

Driven through the House of Commons by Tory MP William Wilberforce, the act was a huge step towards reducing the use and ownership of slaves. It did not, however, succeed in its stated aim of abolishing the international trade in humans, there are many who believe that there are just as many slaves now as at the height of the slave trade in the late 18th century.

I hope that this anniversary will act as a catalyst for a renewed attack on the international slave trade. And that the blissful ignorance and willful blindness that typified the late 1700s will not be allowed to continue today.

This can't be good news

Reading the report of 15 British sailors being held by Iran fills me with foreboding.

While it is possible for navigation to go wrong, I can't believe that our Navy would had just wondered into Iranian waters in the current political climate. The other option is that Iran has moved into Iraqi waters to capture British troops, it all looks too much like the start of a Tom Clancey novel for my liking.

I hope that this is nothing more than a simple "misunderstanding". I dread to think of what might happen if it is not!

Poor old Gordon

He wanted to leave the Treasury with a bang! The two pence cut from income tax was meant to wow the crowds, the papers were meant to hail him a hero.

Instead the tax "cut" has been exposed as a big con! People on low income now have to pay MORE tax, not less. The papers were at best mixed in their coverage.

And, to cap it all, the most iconic image of his final budget days a Chancellor will be the one of him picking his nose!



I think that David Miliband was right when he said that "once we've seen Gordon as Prime Minister we will want Tony back".

Video hat tip to Guido.

Oh what a night

Late last night (early this morning) I tempted you with a bit of news! I have to confess that it was not the most cryptic piece of written work and the ever well informed Iain Dale was quicker off the mark than me.

For anyone still in the dark the news is that I was selected as the GLA candidate for the Bexley and Bromley constituency.

The final selection was a very close run thing and I think this is a reflection of both the quality of the finalists and how seriously London government is taken now that people have seen what Ken Livingstone is really like.

Matthew Scott of Bexley Conservative Future videoed the evening:

A huge "thank you" to Bexley and Bromley

It is very late, so I will explain everything in the morning.

11th budget, 99 tax rises

Some one walking past the Houses of Parliament this morning would have had a bit of a shock. 99 Joseph Stalins, oops I mean Gordon Browns, it's enough to put you off your breakfast!

Bobbies on busses in Bexley

Let's just look through the chain of events shall we?

1. Livingstone gives free trips on buses to teenagers, not a traditionally well behaved demographic. This costs money.
2. Some teenagers cause havoc and damage on those very same buses, causing distress and costing more money.
3. Livingstone decides to put community support officers on the buses, costing more money and probably not solving the problem.

Now, had Livingstone just left things as they were we wouldn't have had half the trouble or anything like the cost. SNAFU

Mrs (supermodel) Mop

It would take a hard heart not to laugh!

Poor Naomi Campbell, hit her maid on the head with a phone, now has to clean the streets for a week. It would have been better if she had had to do the work in public but you can't have everything.

Blogging from the green room

I'm sitting in the green room at 18 Doughty Street and very nice it is too. It is in fact green, a very subtle light green in fact, and comfortable, and as you would expect it has a computer in it.

I will be live from 9.00 pm tonight if you're interested.

Never thought you would see this?

Conservative party leader cheered by NHS doctors!

New profile pic?

With thanks to Theo Spark

I can now see why the Labour party is screwed

I am watching Alistair Campbell negotiate with Karren Brady on the Red Nose Apprentice. He has done her up like a kipper and she is no novice when it comes to getting her own way.

Since Campbell left Labour have been all over the place, I can now see who was running the country!

Blair responsible for slavery?

Tony Blair said he was sorry for the slave trade. Does this mean that he is accepting responsibility for the slave trade?

I can't understand how he could apologise with any degree of sincerity if he didn't feel that he was in some way responsible. My roots are a mixture of Sierra Leone and the Westcountry, both areas were heavily involved in the slave trade, I would not be surprised if some of my antecedents were involved in slavery in some way.

However I feel absolutely no personal responsibility for what happened, therefore I will not be apologising to anyone. I am hugely proud that a Tory, William Wilberforce, played an important role in ending British involvement in slavery. I cannot, however, claim any credit for his actions.

Saying sorry is easy and often meaningless.

If we are going to go down this route will we be asking the Italian government to apologise for the British slaves taken during the Roman occupation?

Local news

A little while ago Cllr Mark Morris (the current leader of the Lib Dems on Lewisham council) criticised me for not covering enough local news.

Was this the kind of thing you were thinking about Mark?

National news

There have been a number of commentators and politicos trying to paint last night's Trident vote as Conservatives propping a Labour government's vote.

Just to make things clear last night the Labour government voted on a position that the Conservatives have been consistent on for decades. It was Tony Blair that stood on a unilateral nuclear disarmament ticket in the 1983 General Election.

Faith schools

I read this story on the Archbishop Cranmmer blog and it really made me smile. I recommend you read it.

If you're not networking you're not working

Lee Rotherham clearly believes that cultivating a network of influential contacts is important. He's right.

Ken Livingston, Labour's Mayor of London, has been busy cultivating a network of international contacts. Lee thinks it is time he called in a few favours to help staunch the flow of drugs into London. You can read his open letter to the Mayor here.

Ohhhh I was going to buy Aston Martin

I saw that Aston Martin was up for sale and decided that I would get a consortium together to buy the company. As at this morning I had got one other person and between us we had raised about £250.

If Ford had just been a bit more patient we could have beaten the other offer of £480 million.

Never mind I will keep my eye out for other investment opportunities.

Air taxes

This is going to take some careful political and practical planning.

Air fight is very damaging to the environment, that is not in dispute. Air flight also provides a lot of people with the chance to relax, do business, see family, experience other cultures etc.

I think we are all taxed far too much but I do also believe that tax can be a good way to influence behaviour, increasing taxes on behaviour that you want to reduce matched by decreasing taxes on behaviour you want to encourage. If this plan works and "damaging" behaviour reduces then so does the tax take. This is a good way to reduce the overall tax burden, increase green behaviour and cut the tax burden. Green and Conservative.

Convincing the British people of this, however, will not be easy. I am confident that these plans will form part of a changing of taxes rather than an increase in overall taxation rates but it will be a minefield none the less.

We used to have military hospitals

They would have cared for or wounded soldiers properly.

The forces will blame the NHS for the poor care of injured troops, the NHS will blame the forces. Whomever is at fault this situation needs to be rectified, wounded service people deserve the very highest duty of care.

I have gone into A&E wards with rugby injuries on Saturday afternoons, only to be greeted with an "if you will play silly games" attitude from the triage nurse. I hope and prey that the "lapses" in the quality of care the these soldiers experienced is in no way influenced by the attitudes to war held be members of the medical staff.

Improved Ladywell

Susie and I took the boys swimming on Saturday, I haven't had the chance to go with them for a while and one of the first things I noticed was how much cleaner and well kept Ladywell is compared to this time last year.

There was a lot of speculation that Ladywell was intentionally being run into the ground so that its users would be more receptive to the closure plans. Clearly I have no way of knowing if this was really the case but whatever the state of affairs then the pool is better now.

And very well used.

Patrick Mercer's resignation

Frank Luntz, the American pollster, has written a book about political communication called "Words that Work", however it is the subtitle that is of most interest to me, "It's Not What You Say, it's What People Hear".

Patrick Mercer made a number of remarks about life in the army. Reading through them I couldn't find any that I knew to be factually inaccurate, Patrick painted a picture of the Army warts and all.

When I first heard about this situation I felt that it was deeply unfair that Patrick had to stand down for simply describing the rough, brash, rude and often insulting way that all soldiers habitually interact. The level of swearing, name calling and shouting does not increase nor decrease in relation to the colour of the deliverer or recipient's skin, all soldiers are rude to all other soldiers all the time.

Then I thought about the subheading of Frank Luntz's book, "It's Not What You Say, it's What People Hear". Patrick Mercer will probably be familiar with a fundamental rule in military communications, the responsibility for ensuring the correct and complete receipt of a message lies with the sender not the recipient.

Whatever Patrick meant to say was overshadowed by what people thought he said, and that is his fault! What he said has given ammunition to a lot of Tory hating MPs and media commentators who were desperate to cry out "same old racist Tories", as unfair and untrue as that line is, it will stick and undo much of the good work that the party has done.

In a country which increasingly swayed by just the headline of a story lines like "Cameron sacks Tory front-bencher over 'black bastards' gibe", "Top Tory axed over Army race row", "Nasty Party" etc. do a great deal of damage.

I don't believe for a second that Patrick Mercer is a racist or is an apologist for racism, but after today there may be a number of people who do. That is why it was right that he stood down from the front bench.

Two Thousand Blogger

I'm one of 2,000 bloggers who have their faces (and in some cases other body parts) as part of huge photo montage. It is another fun way of exploring the bloggersphere, see a face, click on it, read a new blog, simple!

Hard as nails

Wow,

That Gordon Brown is hard isn't he! I suspect it's the Irn Brew.

How can we not want a PM who is so tough that he can get his tooth drilled without anesthetic, that can bend tungsten bars, leap tall buildings in a single bound etc. etc. etc.

He probably had the Arctic Monkeys playing in the background to calm him down.

What a man.

Night out in New Cross

I was at the AGM of the Lewisham Deptford Conservatives last night.

They don't believe in boring stuffy old committee meetings so the evening's business was conducted upstairs at the Goldsmiths Tavern. It was good to see a real mix of ages at the meeting and there was a healthy chat and a drink afterwards.

The association eleceted a new Chairman, Becky Stevens, who is a personal friend and I know she will do a great job, she has already launched a new constituency website. I'm sure they will continue to attract new members.

More fatalities in Afghanistan

Every time I read about losses in Afghanistan I remember John Reid's belief that the mission could be completed without a shot being fired.

A good friend of mine serves with 148 Battery Royal Artillery, the unit which lost two of its soldiers yesterday, it is a small elite unit which has around 60 men at any one time. He reminded me that 148 have now lost five soldiers over the last few years, just one example of how much the armed forces are sacrificing.

My thoughts go to the family, friends and colleagues of these brave boys.

Lib Lab pact

Ming clearly thinks that the handover to Brown will be soon and a General Election not long after. Setting out the terms for a coalition so explicitly is a gutsy move, it will alienate a lot of voters and choosing to prop up an increasing discredited party can only be described as foolish.

Nailing your colours to the mast of a ship sinking below the waves is an interesting strategy. Not what I would have gone for, but there you go.

Route of least resistance

The very well informed author of the St Crispin's Day blog has made a good point about the potential effect of troop changes in Iraq.

To recap, the USA are increasing their number dramatically and we are reducing ours. The US controlled north of the country will be a much tougher place for terrorists and insurgents to operate. The south of the country will be become a much more benign environment for them.

Chances are the insurgents will just move south. I have said before that our troop withdrawals should be done for the right reasons, political advantage shouldn't be one of them.

Again as pointed out by St Crispin, the end result will move from the original situation of having just enough troops in Iraq and not enough in Afghanistan to one where we don't have enough troops in either theatre.

Jumping on the bandwagon

I see that Lewisham's Lib Dems have finally woken up to Brown's NHS cuts, good to have you on board at last, I take it you will be signing our petition here.

James Cartlidge, Evette McEnuff and I first highlighted these cuts almost two years ago and the Conservatives have been battling against NHS cuts at both national and local level since.

You can read about my opposition to these cuts and concern for Lewisham Hospital here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

I had a quick look at the Lewisham Lib Dems website and found one reference to the cuts at Lewisham Hospital and that was last winter. Well better later than never I suppose.

Cycling stuff

The Guardian (naturally) has a really good round up of bicycle related stuff. Well worth a read if you ride regularly or a re thinking of doing so.

By the way, I recently got one of TFL's cycle route maps of London. I traced my route to work, starting at Lewisham, through Brockley, New Cross, Peckham, Camberwell, Vauxhall, Nine Elms Lane, Chelsea Bridge finishing on the Kings Road. I manage to miss designated cycle routes the whole way.

Ah well you can't win the all!

And the prize for. . . . . .

Least surprising headline of the week goes to:

"Pay as you drive' schemes are in disarray"

School choice

There are some simple rules of life which just cannot be ignored.

If you want choice you have to have a surplus of provision. If there are only just enough places or products the last on the list or the last in the queue doesn't get a choice. In areas where there is a shortfall of school places (like here in Lewisham) lots of families are denied choice.

The answer is to ensure that there is a surplus of places. The problem is that a surplus is inherently wasteful and it would wrong to intentionally build waste into a state run service, there is more than enough government waste by accident.

So to create a surplus without putting undue strain on the public purse we have to look at the private and the voluntary sectors. This, funnily enough, is the Conservative view of education provision.

Of course there is another option. no parental choice. It would be very interesting to see the response to a "we'll tell you where to send your children" style education policy. All political parties talk of choice but how many have been willing to look realistically at the means to create that choice.

To recap:
If you want choice you have to have a surplus, the state cannot reasonably create that surplus so private and charity/community schools need to exist. The left have systematically attacked the non-state education sector, the Conservatives have supported diversity.

Embarrassing photo of party leader with his posh uni mates

Big hat tip to Guido.

Public sector pay awards

Nurses are getting a fairly modest pay award this year and they are not happy about it. As far as I can see the low pay award is based on two fairly simple factors, first the Government is running out of money. They have squandered so much public money they are now having to look at cost savings across the board.

Secondly the duel effects of supply and demand are at work. There is currently a surplus of nurses. I find it hard to believe but there are too many nurses chasing too few jobs, the recent ward closures and redundancies have made the situation worse.

The Labour spin machine talks about the role of pay restraint in fighting inflation but this is rather blown out of the water when you see the 8% -10% pay raises for junior members of the armed forces.

Clearly I am immensely happy to see junior ranks getting a decent pay award but be under no illusion, this isn't a thank you, it is just a means to stop the dramatic outflowing of young soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen.

Both nurses and service people do an important job and placing a financial figure against the importance of their jobs is hard. Labour have chosen not to and have decided to let market forces set the level, fair enough. But I wish that they had the balls to be honest about it.