There has been a sudden delay in the Political Parties and Elections Bill. Will the right hon. and learned Lady tell the House why that has happened? Given her close personal links with the aristocracy, is she not doubly ashamed by the apparent conduct of her four Labour colleagues in the Lords? May we also have a debate on cash for influence in this House? Does not the House of Lords pale into insignificance, given that, because more than 90% of the Labour party’s battleground funding comes from the trade unions, the party remains a wholly owned subsidiary of an interest group with its own policy agenda?…
The latest forecast from the International Monetary Fund suggests that, contrary to the Government’s mantra that the United Kingdom is well prepared to deal with the downturn, the UK is actually facing the worst recession in the world. Can we therefore at last have a debate in Government time to allow the House to express its lack of confidence in the Government’s handling of the economy, or is the Leader of the House worried that this is yet another issue that would leave the Prime Minister, as reported yesterday, “tearful and dewy-eyed”?
It would appear that the Prime Minister has lost confidence in his own Cabinet and, it would seem, even in himself. He has complained that his Cabinet members are ducking interviews and leaving him to look like the Minister for the recession, yet today, curiously, we have learned that Labour MPs have been instructed by the Whips not to talk about the economy at all. So who is going to win the parliamentary BAFTAs—the “Glumdog in Despair” in Downing street or the Basil Fawltys on the Back Benches shouting, “Don’t mention the recession”? Put simply, when is this country going to get honesty from the Prime Minister about the severity of our plight?
Fighting talk…
That was all on top of his kicking at PMQs. Add to the list as well the interview Jon Cruddas MP gave to the Indy’s Andy Grice where he warns that Gordon is perhaps too emotionally retarded to beat Cameron. Not a great day in the bunker…
Guido has more bad news from yesterday to top it off. This came in from a co-conspirator who saw:
Charles Clarke and Stephen Byers finishing a quiet dinner together at the back of Colosseo on Victoria Street this evening. Whatever they were talking about was clearly so important that the socialist bastards didn’t even leave a tip. Clarke was clearly in charge, though, and Byers looked such a drab little creature.
Clarke and Byers eh? Now which Italian dish is it that is best served cold?
The Tories are doing a live videocast and live-chat right now, with Greg Clark, the Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, and Theresa Villiers, the Shadow Transport Secretary. Guido is mesmerised thinking that Villiers is going for a Sarah Palin look – see for yourself.
This will be the second Standards and Privileges Committee report (due at 11.00). Derek had to repay money given to Freddie, this is in respect of his other son Henry.
Why isn’t he being charged for fraud?
UPDATE 11.00 : Ordered to re-pay another £3,757 paid to his son. A small fine. and ordered to write a written apology. Not really proportionate to the amount that was defrauded, is it?
Labour MPs claim a “tearful and dewy eyed” Prime Minister called the Labour waverers into his Commons office one by one and pleaded with them to back the Government. If we lose this vote it will de-stabilise the Government and de-stabilise the markets,” said the embattled Prime Minister, according to one MP who voted with the Tories despite the emotional appeal.
he is stuck… saying basically the same thing over and over and over again. I have said before that from the country’s point of view it risks becoming disturbing: now it really is.
It can only be that the PM has constructed something inside his head which he passionately believes to be the truth. If he was to admit even the tiniest doubt about one element of it then the entire construct might collapse.
Inside his head we know what he thinks, he is “the saviour of the world” doing the right thing, solving global ills not of his making and unbelievably yesterday Downing Street said Brown was right and the IMF was wrong. At PMQs yesterday Cameron demanded a reality check from Gordon to no avail. He would not admit that, even by his own definition, Britain was bust. If Gordon admitted he had not abolished “boom and bust” he would smash his internal “constructed truth” delusion. Blair was right, Brown is psychologically flawed. It is no longer a personal tragedy, it is at the root of the national political and economic disaster unfolding.
A rumour went round after Monday’s disastrous press briefing that Gordon had wet himself. Guido didn’t report the story because he was unable to substantiate it from the video evidence. That it was even rumoured and given any credence whatsoever shows that people in the Westminster Village think he is a man close to the edge of total breakdown. The humiliating truth is that Gordon Brown is not mentally fit for purpose.
