Conservative Party – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

DUP and Tories playing footsie in Birmingham over a Parliamentary pact?

Mick Fealty on October 5, 2016, 7:34 am

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Interesting blog from Gary Gibbon who’s been in Birmingham, which speculates that there’s a deal in the offing between the Conservative party and the DUP to ensure that the party has an extra bit of insurance in Parliament for the times ahead. It’s not the first time a UK government has come calling, and it won’t be the last. Fragmentation in party representation puts an essentially pragmatist, pro-Union party like the DUP in a usefully powerful position until at least 2020 …

If Brexit means Brexit, the UK Can’t Block an EU Army

Gerry Lynch on September 18, 2016, 8:08 am

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“This is not going to happen. We are full members of the EU and we will go on resisting any attempt to set up a rival to NATO.” Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon’s response to proposals for an EU army discussed at the Bratislava summit ‘informal gathering’ of EU Heads of Government (minus Theresa May), reported in The Times yesterday cannot be, if Brexit means Brexit, anything other than a denial of reality. If government statements are honest, then the …

If Article 50 is the starting gun, how does the UK get there?

Mick Fealty on June 27, 2016, 6:33 pm

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Well, helpfully for the Tories, Labour is having a meltdown over their own lame duck leader and so (barring an uncanny and uncharacteristic lucky turn in fortunes) may be discounted as providing any serious drag on defining how the Article 50 process for leaving the EU might process. There’s a deal of scepticism as to whether Brexit will ever happen. That’s partly to do with the way it was sold (with everyone offering their own maximal vision of what could …

It’s about democracy stupid. No, more like a terrible mistake

Brian Walker on June 16, 2016, 12:42 am

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As the polls lengthen in favour of Brexit, Vote Leave’s morale is on the up. The Brexit phenomenon is not reactionary, a delayed reaction to the loss of Empire or narrow English nationalism but it marks a revival of British self confidence. This I rate as a discovery to be taken with a pinch of salt. But so says Steve Hilton the one-off, wonderfully paradoxical engaging Tory radical who as Cameron’s guru used to pad about Downing St in tee …

Tory Uncivil War based on Europe but continued on everything else?

Turgon on March 28, 2016, 5:33 pm

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The dust has begun to settle on the budget and Ian Duncan Smith’s dramatic resignation: not enough that said to know what is going to happen in the medium term. The episode was, however, much worse than the Omnishambles of the 2012 budget. It revealed a series of fault lines within the Conservative Party that do not simply relate to Europe but the coverings over which are cracking under the weight of that juggernaut. The Conservative Party like any political …

Amazing occurrences: Sun rises in East and Boris backs Brexit

Turgon on February 21, 2016, 5:35 pm

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In the most surprising news since the revelation that the sun came up in the east this morning, Boris Johnson has announced that he will support Brexit. The fact that Teresa May has stayed with Cameron means that none of the serious leadership contenders would have supported Brexit had Johnson stayed with Remain. This move will no doubt make him the grass roots darling for the meantime.

All the right votes in all the right places – how the Tory electoral strategy triumphed

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on May 9, 2015, 8:39 pm

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The General Election of 2015 has been the worst for opinion pollsters since their calamitous evening in 1992. Whilst almost all pollsters and commentators had expected a hung parliament, with weeks of constitutional crisis, deadlock, and possible three party coalitions, in the event the Conservative Party won an absolute majority. As was widely predicted, Labour were all but wiped from the electoral map in Scotland. But this eventuality had already been baked in to the forecasts; the real shock was …

Jim Wells: Has he damaged the DUP? UPDATED

The Firemen on April 24, 2015, 9:47 pm

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Any hopes that the DUP had that last night’s ill-judged comments by Health Minister Jim Wells would be quickly forgotten appear to be fast receding. If anything the ‘apology’ by Mr. Wells betrays ignorance on the part of the Health Minister more than anything else. Sadly the PSNI have now confirmed that they are now investigating comments made by Mr. Wells’ – perhaps the new laws suggested by the Ulster Fry would be more appropriate. UPDATE: Tonight (Sunday April 26th, 2015) …

Mr Cameron, The Tories & ‘compassionate’ conservatism: compelled to justify neoliberal politics at #ge2015?

Chaminda Weerawardhana on April 22, 2015, 9:26 pm

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As the 2015 British general election campaign gathers momentum, the prospect of a hung parliament looms large. Concerning Scotland, the 2014 Scottish Referendum may have produced a result that was to the satisfaction of supporters of the ‘no’ campaign, but the Scottish National Party’s subsequent rise as an extremely decisive contender in national-level politics could be described as the seminal consequence of #Indyref. Irrespective of the ultimate election result, the SNP, led by the articulate Nicola Sturgeon, is definitely set …

LGBT issues: Northern Ireland party views – UPDATED

The Firemen on April 22, 2015, 8:23 pm

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(Updated to include responses from the Ulster Unionist Party and People Before Profit) Research conducted by Ruth McCarthy highlights some stark differences between the parties contesting this years Westminster elections in Northern Ireland on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues. A series of questions were asked: 1a Does your party visibly support LGBTQ equality issues in your party manifesto, on your website and in election campaigning materials? If YES, please give examples. If NO, please state why. 1b Please give …

A loss of Respect for Amjad Bashir?

The Firemen on January 25, 2015, 6:33 pm

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UPDATED The defection of MEP Amjad Bashir from UKIP to the Conservative Party took an amazing new twist this afternoon when George Galloway’s Respect Party claimed on their website that Bashir was selected as the Respect candidate in Bradford Moor for the May 2012 council elections but was deselected “after local residents raised serious concerns about his fitness to stand.” He subsequently left Respect, joined UKIP and was placed second on the UKIP list of candidates for the Yorkshire and …

Labour Party: “Making no progress on welfare has financial implications. It is not a cost-free choice…”

Pete Baker on September 25, 2014, 2:31 pm

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As Mick mentioned, the repeated attempts to blame the fallout from the Northern Ireland Executive’s deadlock on Welfare Reform on “the right wing Tory/DUP austerity agenda“, or “the British Tory Government“, or, more frequently, “a cabinet of Tory millionaires“, have been dealt a blow by clarification of the Labour Party’s position by the Shadow NI Secretary of State at the party’s conference. From the Irish Times report (23 Sept) The disagreement, said [Labour’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary Ivan Lewis], is “a denial” …

Sinn Fein Connolly House Masterplan – Tory cuts on steroids

Lee Reynolds on September 21, 2014, 6:37 pm

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Devolution in Northern Ireland is in the political equivalent of a hospital high dependency unit with a serious discussion about whether or not it is should head rapidly to intensive care. This deterioration in its health is as a result of the insistence by Sinn Fein to block the next steps of Welfare Reform. This will set out how this approach is a meeting of voodoo economics and crappy politics. 1) It doesn’t stop any cuts The premise of Sinn …

Social media celebrity encouraging Tory activists to compare the leadership market…

Mick Fealty on August 16, 2014, 9:09 am

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Tim Bale in the Telegraph has been considering the deselection of two Tory MPs much favoured by the party’s leadership, and comes up with some genuinely interesting thoughts on what’s happening the centre right undergrowth… Had David Davis somehow managed to beat Cameron to the top job in 2005, he could (assuming he had left gay marriage well alone) almost certainly have pursued a less stridently right-wing agenda (assuming, for the sake of argument, that he had wanted to) and …

2013 elections: the alienation of Freelander man

Turgon on May 4, 2013, 4:20 pm

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The local election results in England and Wales (mainly rural England in actual fact) are now in. They are somewhere between a protest vote with little relevance to the next Westminster elections and a complete sea change in British politics. As ever the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. It does, however, illustrate an interesting disconnect between the main parties and significant portions of the electorate. The first thing to remember is that these elections are not national elections. …

13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013

Brian Spencer on April 8, 2013, 11:43 pm

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Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

Budget 2013: A missed opportunity

Aaron&Brian on March 24, 2013, 8:02 pm

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George Osborne for the first time appeared nervous. No Chancellor in recent memory, apart from perhaps Gordon Brown, in the early years of New Labour appeared so cocksure. For three years Osborne has had to dress up bad news as good news. He cherry picked the statistics that suited him best, of course all Chancellors do this but this was something that Osborne attacked his predecessors for. Yes, the Coalition came into tough times economically but they are now three …

“This vote now draws a line under this issue…”

Pete Baker on January 29, 2013, 5:30 pm

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Or not, as the case may be. ANYhoo… A Conservative Party backed proposal to redraw UK parliamentary constituency boundaries has been defeated in the House of Commons. As the BBC reports MPs voted by 334 to 292 to accept changes made by peers, meaning the planned constituency shake-up will be postponed until 2018 at the earliest. It was the first time Lib Dem ministers have voted against their Conservative coalition colleagues in the Commons. The two parties have been in …

The Andrew Mitchell feeding frenzy is worse than the offence

Brian Walker on September 22, 2012, 11:33 am

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The Andrew Mitchell affair is the latest example of the wide gap between media chatter and the complexities and confusion of that other planet we call real life. A politician’s career is threatened by an episode of poor behaviour. He’s being held to account for it by the cynical and opportunist who hypocritically set impossibly high standards of behaviour. The public school image it conjures up for this old Rugbeian is poor Tom Brown, held to the fire by the bully Flashsman. . …

Can Cameron get beyond “jejune policy and serial incoherence”?

Mick Fealty on May 8, 2012, 10:18 am

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I offer this as an addendum to Turgon’s piece… First, Matthew Parris in the Times on Saturday… To Mr Cameron’s critics first. Spare us, please, every sentence with the words, “bedrock”, “core”, and “traditional supporters”, abiding values or “traditional conservatism” in it. What do these words mean – what in terms of doable legislation that this government is not already enacting or committed to? Many of the opinions or attitudes we are won’t to attribute to “core Tory supporters” are …