The downside to the gradual implosion of the Cameron project is that downright scary individuals like these are waiting in the wings to seize control of the party. Now obviously you'd hope a Tory party featuring these kind of ideas would never get elected but, well, we said that about George Bush once...

The Tory right seems to be drifting further and further into Tea Party market fundamentalist territory. There isn't really anything small-c conservative about them - they exist to serve the interests of a transnational corporate elite and everyone else can get fucked. Whatever happened to the sensible One Nation types of yesteryear? Part of me thinks this sort of shit is a large part of the reason they haven't won a parliamentary majority for 20 years and will go down like a lead balloon with floating voters - but unfortunately you can never quite write the cunts off altogether.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

I know one of the remaining one-nation types. His views wouldn't stand far outside the 60s Labour Party. He despises the neo-cons and the parachuted A-Listers.
Bring back Butskellism, say I.

That piece has a pic of Priti Patel captioned "a future leader?"

Gawd 'elp us.

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Not sure how many on here are aware of this, but Liz Truss' dad appears to find her politics repulsive. Fair play to the lad.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Truss

I can't even begin to imagine how gutted I'd be if I ended up raising a Tory MP.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

You'd be constantly asking "Where did I go wrong????"

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I'm a nasty, violent lefty. You cunt.

Have they all been botoxed into "Perpetually smug"?

I'm fairly sure there must be legitimate grounds for having these people sectioned, for their own good as well as ours.

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

Raab's predecessor in Esher and Walton, Ian Taylor, was a moderate. I think he had expenses problems though.

Remaining moderates? Stephen Dorrell?

It's all a question of perspective and context, surely. Kenneth Clarke? Francis Maude?

The Economist offered an interesting observation or two earlier this year. http://www.economist.com/node/17905847

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Brigate di Transizione

There's a good blog post from Chris Dillow exposing the rantings of Raab and his mates as a load of old pony.

http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com ... -fear.html

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Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.

Avoid anal sex at all costs then, that's how Tory MPs are conceived.



As it's warm today I didn't bother with a coat.

Excellent read, and it does encapsulate my fears about this demonisation of ordinary workers (to go with the existing demonisation of non-workers). Having worked for a small business in the past that routinely bullied its staff (not me particularly so I'm coming at this from a neutral perspective) and forced out those who they took against, I know that protection is already inadequate and yet these people want to give managers an even freer rein. And yes, if all companies were well and fairly run, employment law wouldn't be needed but, like all regulations, it is needed to protect us from those who would abuse the system even more than they do already.

I don't really like that article. It cites Nick Boles as being on the left of the party. He founded Policy Exchange, for god's sake. He might be a bit more creative than Dorries, but he's a rightwinger just the same.

And it's unfair on the old Wets. It basically says Gilmour and all just lapped up the establishment view in some lazy sort of way. See his books for ample evidence to the contrary. What he doesn't have is ideology, he's full of thought. And I think his view that Thatcherism would wreck the social fabric has worn rather well.

My prediction with Raab is that he'll crash and burn in a Michael Portaloo style, the runners and riders being:

1. Using a high-profile platform to say something so gob-smackingly stupid it torpedos his career in one fell swoop.
2. Money (quite a likely one, given the arrogance of those on the extreme right)
3. Sex (something linked to hypocracy - not a great leap of imagination for right-wing tossers with no social conscience).
4. Goes off in a huff when he discovers that he won't become party leader in the next six months.

Once he sidles out of British public life he'll piss off to America and make a fortune talking shit in a posh voice to easily-impressed Tea Party morons.

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"To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth."
Voltaire