Rumours abound in Westminster that Miliband the Elder (David Miliband for the uninitiated) may very well get that EU foreign policy role that the Lisbon Treaty establishes, thereby triggering a by-election in his South Shields constituency.
Could this be the opportunity Lord Mandelson has been waiting for to make his glorious return to the House of Commons? Time will tell…
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
On this day in 1605 MPs and Peers of the Realm had gathered in the House of Lords to hear the Speech from the Throne by King James I. Unbeknownst to them Catholic terrorist Guido Fawkes was in the cellars, beneath the Houses of Parliament, with barrels of gunpowder ready to blow up the building and all those within it. Fortunately he was caught just in time. If he had succeeded it would have been Britain’s worst terrorist atrocity, centuries before Lockerbie, 9/11 or 7/7.
Guido Fawkes was tortured for the names of his co-conspirators, tried and executed for high treason. Interestingly, upon the discovery of the plot their leader Robert Catesby hid in his house at Uxbridge before fleeing to the Midlands.
Earlier today David Cameron held a press conference explaining what the Conservatives position on Europe was now that all the 27 member states have ratified the Lisbon Treaty.
promising use the slogan “never again” when campaigning for the General Election, DC laid out plans for a British Sovereignty Act designed to ensure the supremacy of UK law over EU law whereby future governments would be forced to consult the British people in a referendum before handing away any future powers to the European Union. He also pledged to repatriate powers already lost to the EU in three key areas: the Charter of Fundamental Rights, employment and criminal justice.
It went well, DC trod a sensible eurosceptic line. But while it seems to have pleased Tory MPs, most Conservative commentators, plenty of activists and voters I get the feeling it didn’t please the core eurosceptics. You know. The ones who flirt with UKIP far too much. I honestly don’t know what DC could have done to please them short of declaring his intention to take Britain out of the European Union entirely.
Sadly, it didn’t seem to please Daniel Hannan who has resigned from his frontbench Euro legal affairs brief.
Recently fellow blogger extraordinaire Benny Austwick announced to the world that he has decided to leave the Conservative Party and shift his blog to an independent political stance.
This follows an incident involving the word “pikey”, twitter, a complaint to David Cameron and a phone call from the top ranks of the Tory Party. Suffice it to say his treatment by the party leadership has led him to see no other alternative than to leave the Conservatives, effectively for their own good. He hasn’t left because of major political disagreements (he still broadly supports the Conservatives) but because he no longer felt he could say what he pleased. Rather worrying for a party so dedicated to freedom and civil liberties. What has it come to when individuals such as Benny feels he has to resign his membership? Due to one person’s complaint the party has lost a bright, talented individual with one of the most popular blogs in Wales. Shame.
The episode has highlighted a serious difficulty with being involved in party politics. Members in party positions unfortunately always have to be on guard in case something seemingly harmless they say is twisted by the PC brigade. As a result people whose job it is to have opinions can’t feel they can say what they really think in case it is somehow used to damage the party and its electoral chances. The current state of affairs is damaging for democracy, it is wrong and British politics is worse for it. A few months ago my local councillor was informed he would be de-selected because of a quiz he took on Facebook. A bloody quiz!
The so-called mavericks of British politics are just people who are more independently minded and we need more of them! Boris Johnson, Daniel Hannan, Benny Austwick… these people are the future!
News has broken that Stephen Fry is considering leaving twitter.
According to his tweets he at a low ebb at the moment and some unfortunate choice of words by @brumplum has brought him to the brink. I’m sure that was not his intention, in fact he has said as much in subsequent tweets.
But there are those out there who are genuinely mean. These people are bullies and I don’t like it that a man has been brought to a place where he is seriously considering leaving twitter, something he obviously is very keen on as he has publicly stated many times before. Of course, Mr Fry is a delicate flower. But that’s not his fault. It’s just they way he is.
I don’t really care if people find him boring or not, and nor should Stephen really. 900,000 people think he’s interesting enough to subscribe to his tweets. That should be enough to convince him to stay on. I for one hope he changes his mind.
UPDATE: It appears that Stephen has reconsidered, made peace with @brumplum and is now back merrily twittering away. Thank heavens.
The Thick of It starts tonight at 10:10pm on BBC2.
