David Cameron News Round Up: Bitterness, Spite And Envy
DAVID Cameron is the Prime Minister. And Britain rejoices. No not because Dave is in but because Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell are out. And because the news media had not idea about anything during the election – hyping the importance of their TV debates which turned out to be an utter waste of time – let’s see what they have to say about things now:
In Pictures: David Cameron Becomes Prime Minister To Queen’s Delight
In all the debate about who lost the election, let us be reckless and predict who is going to lose the next one: the Liberal Democrats. The absurdity of this party has long been clear to many of us. It is an almost impossible coalition, as a body composed of people of such a particular temper must always be. It split over Ireland in 1886. In 1918, it split between Asquithian and Lloyd George Liberals. It even had a little split in the late 1980s, when a few militant beardies went off and separated themselves from the party that became the Liberal Democrats. We genuine Gladstonians start to despair of it.
Kevin Maguire is bitter:
Once Cameron and his useful idiot Clegg start slashing services, the Brown years will acquire a rosier glow.
Everything from tax credits to rebuilt schools and children’s centres to new hospitals and winter fuel allowances owe something to Brown.
And what Gord giveth, Dave and Nick will taketh away.
The Lib Dems will never be forgiven for missing a chance to forge a consensus with Labour.
Clegg’s a clever bloke so wasn’t duped. The Lib Dem leader’s judgement failed him.
FIGHT: Adam Boulton (Sky News) v Alastair Campbell (Labour)
Nobody can deny that, after 13 years of Labour, all faith in our elected – and unelected – leaders has been shot to pieces.
Not only have we lost trust in our politicians but, after the double dealing of recent days, they have lost trust in each other.
Instead of the Rolls-Royce economy they inherited, Labour have left a colossal mountain of public debt and vast caves of hidden borrowing.
When Tony Blair walked into Number Ten in 1997, he found a bottle of champagne and a handwritten note from John Major wishing him luck.
When Mr Cameron stepped into Downing Street last night, he found the cupboards bare.
Mr Brown’s parting gift will be a decrepit economy, bloated with debt and no money to pay the bills.
It is too early to decide if the wretched Con-Lib coalition is a last act of sabotage.
In Pictures: David Cameron Becomes Prime Minister To Queen’s Delight
Paleocon Simon Heffer thinks the coalition is doomed – because of lefty Liberals and righty conservatives. We’ll see. Given the astonishing pace of events these past few weeks, I remain unwilling to make any predictions at all. But we will see how the decent maturity of Cameron as prime minister and the steely idealism of Clegg as his deputy settle in with middle England. I suspect just fine. For a while.
Above is an interview on GMTV from November 2007. Mark Littlewood (once of this parish) is being cross examined by Steve Richards (of slightly leftie Independent fame). Littlewood nails it on the blue-yellow coalition. He is now Director General of the IEA (Institute of Economic Affairs) , the original free market think tank. Looks like the IEA might again be ahead of the curve!
The Best And Weirdest Election Pictures: A Gallery
Once Labour MPs vowed to derail any plan to force through voting reform without a referendum and once John Reid, David Blunkett and Andy Burnham pointed out the absurdity of a “Loser’s Alliance” that, however constitutionally permissable, would mock the actual, you know, result of the election then even the most sawdust-brained Liberal Democrat MP could appreciate that this bird wouldn’t fly.
That leaves a proper deal with the Tories the only sensible option – an outcome that I suspect was Clegg’s preference all along. But he may now have been able to sell the idea to his party without having to make it a confidence motion in his own leadership or having to issue an ultimatum to his party. That leaves Clegg in a stronger position internally.
Here is the full text of Clegg’s speech.
Tonight the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party and the federal executive of Liberal Democrat party have overwhelmingly accepted my recommendation that we should now enter into a coalition government with the Conservative party.
Before I say anything more about that coalition government I would like to express my thanks and admiration for Gordon Brown. He has been a towering figure for more than a decade in British politics and the manner in which he has acted over the last few days has displayed immense dignity, grace and a profound sense of public duty.
We are now going to form a new government, more importantly we are going to form a new kind of government. I hope this is the start of the new politics I have always believed in: diverse, plural, when politicians of different persuasions come together to overcome their differences in order to deliver a good government for the sake of the whole country.
That was what we were asked to do by the people of Britain at the general election last week, and that is now what we will seek to deliver.
I would like to thank David Cameron for the very positive, constructive and workman like way in which we have been able to reach a basic agreement on how we can come together in this new coalition government over the last few days. We are politicians, clearly of different political parties, but I believe we are now united in wishing to tackle the challenges this country faces and to deliver a fairer better Britain, and I look forward to working with him to do just that.
There will of course be glitches. But I will always do my best to prove that new politcs isn’t just possible, it’s also better.
I would like to say something directly to the nearly 7 million people who supported the Liberal Democrats in the general electoin last week. I am acutely aware that I carry your hopes, your aspirations with me into this coaltion. I can imagine this evening that you will be having many questions, many many doubts about this new government. But I want to assure you that I would not have entered into this agreement if I had not been genuinely convinced that it offers a unique opportunity to deliver the kind of change which you and I would like to see: fairer taxes; a fair start in life for every child in this country; a new start for our discredited banking system and the prospect of new, sustainable growth in our economy; and a new hopeful politics that you can trust once again.
So I hope you will keep faith with us, I hope you will let us prove to you that we can serve you and this country with humility, with fairness at heart of everthing we do, and with total dedication to the interests and livelihoods of everyone in Great Britain. Thank you.
Best of luck…
In Pictures: David Cameron Becomes Prime Minister To Queen’s Delight
Posted: 12th, May 2010 | In: Politicians Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
