Janet Daley has caused a bit of a stir this afternoon after she has declared that lots of Tories are rude to her:

“Time to tell the truth about the “nasty” party: as someone who has defended the Conservatives (or at least defended their arguments) for so many years, it is time to come clean. Tories can be bloody difficult to like. The Andrew Mitchell Debacle is not an uncharacteristic, deranged and inexplicable lapse. It is just an extreme example of the kind of attitude with which many people who circulate in this world are familiar.

…it is the Tory modernisers – perhaps because they are more likely to be “toffs” than striving achievers from ordinary backgrounds – who are the worst. It is not the Thatcherite, aspirational, state school-educated Tories who look over your shoulder when they are talking to you: it is the snotty, condescending “one nation” paternalists for whom you are only of interest so long as you are being “supportive” (ie as faithful as a Labrador). No names, no pack drill, but you know who you are.”

Guido is not sure he agrees completely with her analysis. He tends to find that if you ask a politician of any persuasion a question they don’t want to hear, and they can very quickly turn into a Mitchell of the highest order.

Yes there are some spectacularly rude Tory politicians, but then there were equally poisonous elements of the last government. Instead of being forced out of politics, many of these thugs have been given key positions on the Labour benches and in the highest echelons Ed’s team. The main difference being that at least under this government hacks and commentators – like Daley – are speaking out about what they see, rather than being complicit in a pact of silence that allowed a lunatic to become our Prime Minister. Arrogance and rudeness is sadly often part and parcel with the personality required to want to go anywhere near the green benches, you don’t have to scratch very far below the surface to find it on all sides of the House…