The Tories are too busy playing amongst themselves to have noticed, but Brown made some Euro-bashing noises this morning. He boasted that the UK had grown and grown while France, inter alia, had had a recession. Brown’s comments were technically correct (he cited 52 quarters of UK growth, which takes you back to 1992. But France too has had 47 quarters of consecutive growth since 1993. Not really much to crow about in that comparison.

Of course some twenty quarters of the British growth, of which Brown now boasts, were Tory and when Ken Clarke was in No. 11…

Small amusing dilemma for David Davis, should he max out his invitation to Maggie’s Birthday party for propaganda purposes, or should he avoid posing for pictures with her and publicly accepting her endorsement? Risky…

The New Labour spin-line is that France, according to a paper put in the Commons’ library by the FCO, locks up terrorists for up to four years without charge. David Davis seems to accept it as fact, but just stop yourself for a second – do you really think that in France, the home of droits de l’homme, you can detain suspects without charge for four years?

The truth is that, even in the case of terrorist suspects, you can only be detained by the police without charge for 4 days. There is currently a huge running controversy in France due to the fact that Sarkozy wants to extend it to 6 days. Sarkozy was indeed justifying his proposals last Monday by saying “look in the UK, they have 14 days!” The rule of law applies even in France if not Guantanamo, or Britain – if Blair gets his way.

UPDATE: Why was Sarkozy’s trip to Downing Street private? According to my man at the Elysée, the Sarkozy camp had briefed French journalists based in London about the meeting more than a week ago, saying it was 100% sure. The Elysée was unamused by the young pretender meeting the perfidious Blair, hence the bizarre fig-leaf claim by Tom Kelly (PMOS) that it was a “private meeting”. Which is an improvement on the FCO’s Downing Street spin liason’s claim to lobby journalists that there was no meeting. The FCO, as is traditional, ever-sensitive to the dignity of France. The Elysée is putting it about that the meeting was cancelled. Guido would appreciate any insights to the usual places.

UPDATE II: There is another version of the Sarkozy story rolling around; the meeting with Sarkozy was confirmed several weeks ago with Blair. But suddenly, Blair decided to meet Chirac (last Friday) in Paris. It was the first slap for Sarkozy (his staff were furious). Then the public meeting was cancelled. In a very uncomfortable situation (regarding the European presidency) Blair needs France’s help. He would like to avoid repeating the dispute of last June, and chose to cancel the Sarkozy meeting by himself – without any order coming from the Elysée. According to this version, Sarkozy is a liar.

Of course, that version is not true. Blair actually rang Sarkozy on Saturday, to explain to him that he had to cancel the appointment, Sarkozy’s staff spent two frantic days to get, at the last minute, a private meeting. On Monday morning the French media in London were not even sure that the appointment would take place. So that’s why the lobby were wrong footed by Downing Street.

Tim Worstall, prolific chronicler of the Blogosphere and member of the nominating committee for the Press Plagiarist of the Year Award, nominates a late but strong new entry for the for the award from the Mail on Sunday. Across two pages they have lifted article after article from the The Policeman’s Blog. Its a repeat offence as well. When Guido saw it in the paper he thought it must be a paid for feature, not plagiarism.

Absolutely disgraceful. Puts the odd bit of joke nicking by lazy Guardian Diarists in the shade.

Nominations close November 4th! Keep ‘em coming.

Previous entries: Awards

The Tory leadership nominations close tomorrow midday. One man has made a lot of noise during the run-up – Edward Leigh of the paleo-Conservative Cornerstone Group. Mocked by many as the Tombstone Group, the Tory Taliban, or just as “headbangers“, they are the sworn enemies of unChristian liberals.

In September they sent out a press release accompanying their group manifesto Reviving Tory Britain where they claimed they were “likely to put up a candidate for the leadership”.

The manifesto followed on from The Strange Desertion of Tory England by Edward Leigh. He is the leading light of the Cornerstone Group and a former correspondence secretary* for Margaret Thatcher, so he knows about real power. Leigh urged “faith, flag and family” upon the Tories, rejecting faggots fainthearts and calling for a Conservative Christian crusade.

Guido has himself had some involvement in mixing politics and religion, so I know where my fellow Catholic is coming from and what motivates him. So could Leigh be the man to continue the job I tried to start in 1605? Could he make England Catholic once again?

Edward, its your duty, your country needs you, your party needs you. God wants you to run! What God did for George Dubya politically, he can do for you too. Don’t endorse Fox, he is a fornicating, faux traditionalist and a fallen Catholic** to boot. You will have the unwavering support of this blog and what is more, it will give me much material. Fear not the fainthearts who try to make you out to be some swivel-eyed loon, your destiny is tomorrow at noon!

Propeller-Head Wonk Watch: Guido this morning received an email from Chris Tame reporting the sad news that Arthur Seldon has died. Chris Tame writes that “Arthur was the Founder and Director – the real intellectual fountainhead, creator and inspiration – of the Institute of Economic Affairs, which laid the intellectual and political foundations of the Thatcherite revolution in the UK. Whilst he received a CBE rather than a Lordship in recognition for his work with the Institute the true stature of his contribution was known to those close to him and to the Institute.”

Seldon was the forerunner of the wonks we see today, he popularised policies in a readable way. Policies that now seem mainstream, but where at the time incredible, came into being through his efforts. Obituaries will no doubt be published soon, but a bio is available here.

So the Tory leadership left/right spectrum simplifies itself. Reading from left to right its KC, DC, DD, LF.

Guido doubts Rifkind’s backers will all swing to KC. But the first round becomes much more dangerous. Whichever candidate goes out first from either the left or the right could see their supporters back the weakest candidate from the other end of the spectrum.

If Fox goes out first, his people might back KC to go forward and lose against DD, or conversely if KC goes out his supporters might back err, urrrm..

Who now really is the weakest candidate of the right in the eye’s of the party members? All the younger right-wingers Guido knows seem to prefer Fox and Basher will be unlikely to wow the membership on the soap-box during hustings, will he?

Rifkind does the inevitable and quits the race urging people to back Clarke. It will be a small disappointment for Cameron, but no surprise and possibly better for him it happens now than in the next round.

Guido says I told you so.

Guido paraphrases, but under the headline “Rhetoric isn’t that important: the right values are“ Basher tells the Torygraph that its to be class war. Fans of Churchill might disagree and argue that rhetoric was all Britain had in 1941-42 .

As a schoolboy Guido used to tell girls it didn’t matter that the boy rival for her affection had a car and was older, I was smarter and funnier. They still drove off without me. Basher is in a similar position to the young Guido. He isn’t fresher, more personable, more charismatic or good at public speaking in comparison to Cameron. But he is, like most people, less posh – “I was born into Britain’s largest class”. So he is going to try to make a virtue of his back-story. The party may still go off without him. He says -

One of the things that continue to hurt Tories is the false perception that we are a party for the rich. The party needs the credibility to reach out to the cities and the suburbs where the Tory vote has shrunk in recent years and convince people that our solutions will help them. Unless the party offers hope to the hard-working urban majority, it won’t deserve to win power.

Davis has made good in an admirable way, he has shown determination and overcome his background to become successful. Cameron by comparison had every advantage in life and an easier trajectory. Davis will make this an issue, because its one of his stongest cards, but it reflects an overall weakness in him “look where I have come from” is not as good as “look where I will take you”. Cameron is stronger on the latter. We haven’t seen internecine Tory class war since the early Thatcher days. This could be fun to watch.