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The Conservative party leadership election

11:43 / 18.06.01

This is looking increasingly like another election that the tories Cannot win.

News that Ann Widdecombe will not stand is kind of like Professor Stephen Hawking announcing he will not Run the Lundon Marathon. Meanwhile the right wing candidate, Iain Duncan Smith states
quote: Clearly it is likely that my intention will be to stand.

Hmmm Another politician who doesn't know A) his own mind, B) How to answer a Yes/No question C) How to make sense. Just what the party and the country need.

It doesn't get any better when Mr Duncan Smith comes to identifying what his party needs to do to become electable again

quote: What the Conservative party needs is to make sure there is continuity and change. They need somebody to lead them who wants to do the job and can harness both those aspects.

Is it just me or is continuity kind of the antithesis of change...

None of this bodes well for any kind of effective opposition.

So, the questions:

Do we need the Tories?

Can they be forced to change into a more effective opposition?

12:49 / 18.06.01

Weeeelll... people with right-wing views have as much right to have them represented as people with left-wing views; so there is a need for a right-wing party of some sort, though whether the Tory party as it currently exists is capable of representing all the shades of conservative opinion without combusting is another matter. If the new Tory leader manages to find a broad enough platform (probably combining economic liberalism with some social liberalism and a more moderately anti-EU stance) the party could well survive. However, given the success of the Labour whip, it seems that any opposition will need to have a similarly stringent policy to ensure coherent opposition - and I think there are too many stubborn Tory MPs for a Tory whip to manage that.

If only we had PR, this leadership election could have some really interesting outcomes - a split between the hard right and the more liberal conservatives; the Tory europhiles forming their own group which might chime in with some of the Lib Dem thinking on this question... collaboration rather than confrontation.

Ganesh

16:14 / 18.06.01

You've gotta love Norman Tebbit's totally-in-touch-with-the-zeitgeist comment about them needing a 'normal' candidate, defining this as having a wife and children...

16:25 / 18.06.01

Archer should lead them. He's got a wife, and several other people's. he could lead the first pro-sleaze political party:

'The Conservative Party: Sleazy, but you love it...'

11:41 / 19.06.01

That is such a good idea.

'Fed up with all those namby-pamby whiter than white New Labour politicians? Vote Conservative, for real old-fashioned sleaze and bigotry'.

Landslide.

14:56 / 20.06.01

Of course we need the Tories - A; to give a wider range of voices to parliament and act as a brake on New Labour;
and B; We still need someone to hate. It's been so bloody hard the last few years trying to summon up the anger I had against Thatcher - writing letters to her when I wasd 8 about nuclear disarmament, etc etc.
This is not to say I love Blair - he has buggered the country as much as anyone - but that I have that crushing feeling that, as Kylie once said, Better the Devil You Know and all that...

But what we really need, more than ever, is a new political party (not a movement, an actual party) to start kicking back against the pricks. Single-issue politics, such as GM, globalisation et cetera, are fine but they split a unified vision.
(Cue loads of "it's us" comments from SWP, Greens, Socialist Alliance etc. I said a NEW party)

Our Lady of The Two Towers

08:55 / 22.06.01

quote:Originally posted by JB:
Of course we need the Tories - A; to give a wider range of voices to parliament and act as a brake on New Labour.

And why do we need the Tories for that? Seems to be a job that could be done equally well by a Lib Dem opposition, a Green opposition or any other party opposition.