MORI reckons Cameron’s approval rating — the difference between those satisfied and those dissatisfied with his performance — is at 15%

Grumpy Gordon is on 11% and Blair is on -29%. Guido has put money on Blair standing down in September (on the advice of Recess Monkey).

Guido attended his first LibDem hustings tonight. The highlight of an otherwise boring meeting was the trio of Southwark urban activists shouting for 5 minutes at Simon Hughes that he was “a racist” and ranting about Nick Stanton – LibDem leader of Southwark council. Now this was awkward, obviously they were going to have to go, but the virtually all-white, hand-wringing liberal audience didn’t want to appear heavy handed.

So for a few minutes the situation was tense (although Nick Robinson was laughing with George Pascoe-Watson from The Sun in the front row at the dilemma). Eventually an African LibDem intervened so no white-on-black pictures would appear.

No surprises, Ming and Huhne were about equal on the clap-o-meter, maybe Ming had the edge with his better sense of humour. Hughes was all earnest and vicar-like, he rambled but the audience was not his, Huhne didn’t inspire but he was competent.

Funniest question from the floor was from someone who looked like a Tory in a yellow tie asking “when would they withdraw from the EU – AS THE PEOPLE WANT?”

Guido was handed a leaflet by a Green beardie-weirdie type which was going to go straight in the bin, except it does have an interesting allegation about carbon-neutral Huhne. He apparently owns substantial shareholdings in two gold mining companies. Gold which has to be smelted, a process which is responsible for 13% of global carbon emmissions. To be honest, Huhne’s conversion from BMW driving city tycoon to Green, electric-car-driving political visionary, does strike Guido as politically convenient.

Spin merchants Political Intelligence are already under investigation for providing undisclosed support to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mobile Communications (APPGM). A Guido co-conspirator emails to suggest a closer look at the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group chaired by Derek Wyatt MP (who is also on the APPGM).

So Guido investigated the websites apmobile.org.uk and apig.org.uk. The websites are very informative about their activities apart from who provides support. The first was registered by Nicholas Lansman MD of Political Intelligence, the second was a bit more covert, but the address was a bit of a giveaway, it is the office of, you guessed it, Political Intelligence. Is Guido the only person disturbed that MPs are going on junkets under the banner of cross party groups that are organised by lobbyists who keep their industry clients secret and hide their involvement? Legislation regulating these industries makes and breaks their profits.

MPs will protest that it is all above board and within the rules (although in this instance Guido suspects that the disclosure rules have not been followed). Until the last General Election, the Blunkett-lookalike now ex-MP Brian White served on these groups and even enjoyed a free trip to Germany out of it in 2002.

When the wise voters of Milton Keynes booted him out within months he was employed as a consultant by Political Intelligence. Although of course there is absolutely no suggestion any rules have been broken, when it comes to answering ‘what is in it for the MPs who serve on APPGs’ (besides junkets) this provides an uncomfortable direction of thought.

George Osborne must have read my piece last week about the merits of Free Ireland. Because this morning he is in Dublin. Guido said:

“..let me recommend the benefits of Free Ireland to you over-taxed and downtrodden subjects: lower taxes, higher per capita income, higher GDP growth, a fully functioning education system, no I.D. cards, no kow-towing to inbred-German-toffs, a friendlier people and a better lifestyle.”

What has caused this Irish miracle, and how can we in Britain emulate it? Three lessons stand out.

• First, Ireland’s education system is world-class….
  
• Secondly, the Irish understand that staying ahead in innovation requires world class research and development….No tax is paid on revenue from intellectual property where the underlying R&D work was carried out in Ireland…
• Thirdly, in a world where cheap, rapid communication means that investment decisions are made on a global basis, capital will go wherever investment is most attractive. Ireland’s business tax rates are only 12.5%, while Britain’s are becoming among the highest in the developed world.
  

The new global economy poses real long-term challenges to Britain, but also real opportunities for us to prosper and succeed. In Ireland they understand this… They have freed their markets, developed the skills of their workforce, encouraged enterprise and innovation and created a dynamic economy. They have much to teach us, if only we are willing to learn.

If you want to come over for a weekend and go hunting, that’s still legal in Ireland…

Hat-tip : Conservative Home

David Mills lunched Don Berlusconi at the Garrick some years ago. Anyone who has had lunch at the Garrick will understand now why Berlusconi agrees with Chirac on English food. Isn’t it fascinating that Tessa Jowell’s husband advises foreign tycoons how to dodge taxes and gets $600,000 bunged into a hedge fund as a thank you. Now he is under investigation by the Italian police, and the bastards Inland Revenue. Nice that they can still laugh about it.

Captions in the comments please…

UPDATE: According to the Guardian Diary, Mills actually met Don Bernasconi, an under-boss in the Don Berlusconi mob, rather than the godfather himself.

The Times took a look at the All-Party Group on Mobile Communications, which is a front for the clients of lobbyists Political Intelligence.

Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, is on the case. Derek Wyatt MP, the vice-chairman of the group, admits the lobbyists’ clients included the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association and the European Internet Services Providers Association, whose profits are obvioulsy subject to regulatory risk.

Luckily for the providers of internet telephony, the group always seems willing to have-a-go at mobile companies for overcharging consumers, building mobile phone masts and marketing mobile phones to kids. Derek Wyatt reckons Political Intelligence would be straight out the door if they tried to influence things. It makes you wonder what Political Intelligence’s clients are paying them for if not pay-as-you-go policies from this group?

Obviously somebody in Victoria Street reads Guido and has a sense of humour. Key in Chris Huhne and look what you get:

Please no more Google Ads. Please.

UPDATE : Cameron’s advert has gone, possibly something to do with an organised ker-ching click-fest by LibDems.

UPDATE : A co-conspirator tells Guido that Google Ads keywords per click for Huhne cost 2p, for Ming 3p and Hughes 6p. Something to do with the Torygraph.

Ming’s campaign has a video interview on his blog where he talks about the women in his life. His mum, his wife, his junior school teacher and.. err, that’s it. Strange, no mention of any other woman.

New Labour believes that they have to define the opponent in the public mind and frame the terms of the debate to destroy him. Hague, IDS and Howard got the treatment. With Cameron they have hesitated, apparently at Blair’s behest and to the dismay of Brown. Now we are led to believe they have agreed an attack and they intend to define Cameron as an unreliable policy chameleon – a flip-flopper. The on message, loyalist Labour whip, Tom Watson MP, blogs this spin (with a very colourful graphic). Whomever wrote Prescott’s recent speech to the Labour Party Centenary Conference summarised the line neatly:

He’s like a rainbow. The Yellow Cameron. The Red Cameron. The Green Cameron. The Blue Cameron. What we’ve got, is Cameron the Chameleon. He can change the colour of his skin at will but the political animal underneath is Conservative to the core.

As much as Tom Watson and the activist core loves this line of attack, they should be self aware enough to know that Labour performed a total policy flip-flop from the pre-1996 policies advocated by Messrs Blair and Brown to reach their 2006 policies. They flipped and are still flopping.

All Cameron has to do is say “yes, it’s true, we have changed” and this line of attack is neutralised. That is after all what the voters wanted. Change. Calling Cameron a flip-flopper clearly highlights and confirms the change for him. Advertisers always like to keep the message simple – the New Tory message is “we have changed”. The details are irrelevant to most voters. Daz does not advertise Persil’s new formula, why is New Labour advertising New Tory policy changes?

The Kerry precedent is not directly comparable – Kerry flipped, flopped and flipped again and again. The man was a policy oscillator. If Cameron retreats on a future policy change Labour may have a valid charge. But he hasn’t so far, and unless he does, this line of attack won’t work.

James F an eagle-eyed co-conspirator of Guido’s, points out that the story about Huhne buying adverts on Google for search results for his rival’s names, obviously upset the Mingers. Look what they have done:

Search for Chris Huhne and you find Ming above him! They will have had to pay more than the Huhney Monster for the privilege.

Ming bidding here…

UPDATE : Mingers seem determined to boost Google’s profits. Guess what you get when you search for “David Cameron“?