If this was ‘the end of the beginning’ of Cameron’s ‘compassionate conservatism’ in proving itself credible and fit for the government of an increasingly diverse nation, it may also prove to be ‘the beginning of the end’ of the British Labour movement’s longest stretch in government since it was first established 108 years ago.

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Fraser Nelson has some thoughts on this as well which is worth a read.

The scale of Mr Johnson’s victory has prompted fears at Tory Central Office that his charisma and general likeability could make him appear a better potential Prime Minister than Mr Cameron.

This is not so surprising as Boris, despite what the left might say, has far more of a “common touch” than Cameron. Cameron patronisingly pontificates while Boris speaks to people in a way people like. Cameron fills a room because of his position while Boris fills it with her personality.

Via ConHome

Bruce Anderson adds to Tory Boris bashing with this piece. They aren’t very happy he won are they?

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

DR is reporting that John McDonnell MP is planning to be a stalking horse for Brown. Cabinet ministers are said to be secretly plotting behind his back. Well considering lots of Labour members are openly calling for Gordon’s head this hardly a shock.

However it was bloody close! What a stupid system London has to elect mayor of London.

Hanging out over at ConHome live election chat. At least I am listening to the new Rush live CD for review. And, yes, its bloody good as you would expect from Peart & Co. Musical bliss for a Friday afternoon

Tomorrow we see London go to the polls to elect their new mayor and members of the mostly powerless London assembly. The Conservatives are running one Boris Johnson, a man who is dismissed by his critics as a gormless toff and a joke. However I know the man and have spent many an hour with him. He is the anti-thesis of the arrogant thug that is Ken Livingstone. I am quite sure that Boris will not be supporting Islamists like al Qaradawi and his ilk. I am betting that Boris will not be a source of jobs for ex-Trots, Marxists and whatever far-left dross is about. He also cares a bit more about the business of London and less about using the office to further anti-capitalist/anti-Jew/anti-American/anti-everything else like Ken.

Yes, he may not be the perfect candidate for the office; which candidate ever is in the end? He is by far better than Ken and he is the only one who has a chance to beat him.

Despite my admiration for Ken I don’t actually think Boris’ll pull it off. There are too many people with too much to lose if Ken does not get back in. I suspect there will be voter fraud to make sure Ken remains. The left and his other allies will do everything they possibly can, both legal and illegal, to keep the nasty Tory out of the office. I do hope the Conservatives are going to make sure they keep a close eye on the whole thing. It could get rather messy.

Best of luck Boris; you are going to bloody well need it!

Update: Worsthorne is kicking Boris for same reason as Heffer. Read Oliver Kamm on Ken over at PJM.

He is called Lord LAIDlaw and everyone is shocked he is a sex addict. How could he not be? Think of the pressure on the poor guy. Good to see there are some interesting Tories left and they are not all the po-faced stuff shirts that Cameron seems to want to surround himself with.

The British blogosphere, thanks to Adam Bolton, are abuzz with the news according to Harriet Harman’s blog that she has defected to the Tories. My only big question is why would anyone actually this woman in their party?

It smells of a hoax but its rather amusing nonetheless. If she has defected she might want to keep that stab vest she used round her constituency.

The National Union of Teachers have forced lots of parents all over the country to take time off to look after their children who are out of school thanks to the greedy whingeing teachers who are part of the union. Most of the people hits hardest are those on a far lower income to the teachers. Not that many of them are any good at teaching anyway.

In Scotland, land of Gordon’s birth, we have refinery workers planning to strike for two days hurting the supplies of petrol to both Scotland and Northern England.

Teachers and oil workers holding the country to ransom. More shades of the 70s methinks.

Update: Don’t look now but it seems that other unions are eyeing strikes this summer.

St George’s day parade has been cancelled because it might offend Muslims in Bradford. It seems St Paddy’s day parades are fine but the English are not allowed to celebrate their own patron Saint. English politicians should be up in arms about this, but one expects none of them to have the guts to say anything.

And the establishment wonders why the populist neo-Nazi BNP is gaining electoral ground. The Scots, the Welsh and the Irish are allowed to celebrate their heritage but the English aren’t.

The illustration on this story in the Telegraph is rather confusing. I mean I know some rockers in the Tory Party; including local councillors and at least one Tory MP (John Wittingdale fan of NWOBHM and sound bloke).

The UK music industry is gasping for air. Now they want to tax your iPod because they are losing money. It seems the UK industry is trying to out-stupid the RIAA.

read more | digg story

Not terribly surprising this; however pathetic it may seem. For more on what the UK music biz is thinking why not have a gander at my paper on the subject.

Via: Centre Right

In certain parts of the UK establishment it certain is…uttering the words can be social and political suicide. Some would argue that it was not for what he said but how right he really was if one is honest.

If only he had said “blood on the Tube” he would have probably been alright.

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The sentiments in the comments are mostly positive. I wonder if the fact there are 30 active plots by ROMPA being monitored by the police has anything to do with it. That is 20k+ people and over 200 cells.

Via: DK; who should be congratulated on his new job by all. Rest assured he will still be free to do my graphic requirements.

Despite what you might hear from the left and the soft-Tory left Lady T is still much admired in these isles. In fact in a recent poll predicted she would win a general election is she were to run again. Philip Johnson why the UK needs more Thatcherism not for more if it to be turned back. The Tory Party certainly needs a leader with some cohones and the country desperately needs one too.

Give it time and then head back to the piece for some of the hatred that will come from those who still hate her. Its always funny to watch them froth most of the time despite knowing the facts of what a state the UK found itself in the 70s.

Then again the way Brown is doing we may soon see the same sort of thing repeated.

Its in beta still but it does look slick and loads well so far. Now all they have to do is get the UK politicians to stop talking rubbish and say things of real substance.

The huge cost of “defending” the Olympic Torch from protests against the Chinese treatment of Tibet. Any of the idiots who have run with the thing should be treated as pariahs and shills for China. Its absolutely irrelevant that the people running are jocks. Just because the do sport does not mean they can expect a bye when doing something this wrong. Watching the whingeing athletes and celebrities complaining about the protests is most pathetic. What the hell did they expect to happen?

Why did anyone think this whole “run” was a good idea?

Now its Olympic protests Europe Part Deux…French style. The French have given up, put the thing out and taken it on a bus.

Kate Hoey MP makes sense of the whole thing. She is one of the most sensible and reasonable politicians in the UK. Comparable to Joe Lieberman in the US methinks.

More info on the Chinese thugs accompanying the Torch.

Charles Moore has a good piece on the Olympic furore linking it to the London version in 4 years.

Big “progressive” (aka new name for socialism) shindig in London today. Some of the highlights are a logo with a swastika hidden inside it and their laughing at the sub-prime loan crisis. These people claim to be carrying & sharing but seem to enjoy the suffering of anyone who owns a home. Oh yes and they are staying a posh hotel natch.

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Guido explains the extent of the callousness of this bunch of socialist scum.

Unbelievably delegates at the conference’s plush Grove Hotel just laughed and clapped as the Chilean finance minister talked about the “poetic justice” of the subprime crisis. What planet are these people on? Millions of people around the world are losing their homes and they laugh?

Guido informs us that we bloggers have made them notice the swastika…it has now been changed.

Via Portcullis

We can reveal who signed off the logo for Labour’s progressive governance conference this weekend which had to be hastily ditched because it bore an unfortunate resemblance to a swastika.

Step forward one Stephen Carter, Gordon Brown’s much-derided chief of staff.

That should do wonders for his popularity at Number 10.

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

I have just watched the excellent Alex Singleton on the London News, speaking on behalf of the Adam Smith Institute in a head to head on the subject of Fair Trade. It seems that London Boroughs are being encouraged to promote FairTrade™ products to their residents. As Alex pointed out, there are some problems with the FairTrade™ model that mean it may do more harm than good. For example, farmers are encouraged to form co-operatives and so individual owner occupation of farms is discouraged.

While I fully accept the economic and moral argument that free trade is superior to “Fair trade” and Alex did well to avoid being painted as some sort of nasty Tory, I can’t help thinking that there may be a better way to play this than simply attacking “Fair Trade”.

True, they are wrong, misguided and damaging in aspects of their implementation. However, I think we free-marketeers should start any debate on this subject by welcoming the fact that both we and the FairTrade movement share a passion for the unequalled potential of international trade to lift poor people out of poverty and improve living standards all round. Adam Smith wrote of the “invisible hand” raising the general welfare of people but perhaps now his message is so well spread that the hand is no longer invisible. We know that doing business does good – the thing that is exciting about this is that now some people are trying to do good by doing business.

OK, so these people don’t have a high regard for the scruples of regular businessmen but there are a hell of a lot of far worse things they could be doing than promoting trade with the Third World – opposing trade, for one. The point we should be making is that the Fair Trade supporters have their hearts in the right place but the way the movement works needs fixing.

In going beyond good honest trade with poor farmers, the FairTrade(m) movement is using their purchasing power as rich Westerners to pursue their own agendas. It is a sort of cultural imperialism. Western lefties might think poor farmers need to be guided down the route of collective farming and using the extra money they get from FairTrade™ for building “schoolsnhospitalz.” The farmers might have other priorities and who are we to say otherwise.

It is free trade and not the fair Trade movement that really respects the dignity and autonomy of the poor of the world.

Sir – Francis Maude’s interview (March 22) should strike fear into anyone seeking a more prosperous and fairer Britain. His only concern appears to be the election of a Conservative government, with little care as to what it might do when there.

His concern about taxes is driven by electability, not whether the economy would benefit from fewer resources being transferred from the productive sector into the hands of bureaucrats.

He sees policies such as health and education as pawns with which the public can be assuaged by platitudes about safety, yet we see no concern for the many thousands suffering due to inadequate care at the hands of the NHS. Nor does the privately educated Mr Maude seem to aspire to any real improvement in the state school system.

Since his removal as party chairman, its fortunes have recovered, following promises to cut inheritance tax. And George Osborne repeatedly professes his deSire for tax cuts when possible, along with a deSire to share the “proceeds of growth”. Ambitious positions on education also bode well – although this is sadly lacking in health.

To win the next election, the Tories must demonstrate clear differences between it and Labour, which is something Mr Maude seems incapable of.

Shane Frith, Director, Progressive Vision, London SW1

Now Philip Hammond, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, has emphasised that the Conservatives will not do so either. They will fight the next election not merely on the promise to maintain Labour’s level of spending on public services – and therefore presumably its policies of wealth redistribution – but also on the pledge that they will not attempt to reduce personal or any other form of taxation in their first term in office. It means that voters will have to wait at least six years before they have any real chance of seeing their tax bills reduced.

Source: Sunday Telegraph

Cameron’s interview on BBC’s Politics Show demonstrates clearly he is not really that good with economics. He can’t even pronounce the word “fiscal” saying “physical” instead for the type of Conservative he claims to be. Oh god no…he is now ranting about “the Chocolate gauntlet” in supermarkets. What a complete arse…he is now talking about “corporate responsability” no mention of parental responsability naturally. Now he wants to censor music, movies and television. And he is now pinching Obama’s rhetoric going on about change etc. Cameron is a liberal fascist.

This interview should cost Cameron the leadership. Here is the transcript of his blitherings. The Telegraph rounds on Cameron & Co for their tax idiocies.

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

New ways of screwing the drinker…6% above inflation. UK now has the highest rates of tax on booze in Europe. Will help drunken idiots in the city centres? Nope, no chance, partly because the cretins doing it steal their booze anyway. The dour Scot Christian socialist at the helm wants to take any fun out of the UK possible.

Of course, it was live-blogged.

Update: Drivers who drive anything that is safe or fun get stuffed as well.

The Telegraph is not very impressed with the new budget.

Congratulations are in order for Alan Duncan MP as he is getting married to his “domestic partner” out of being polite. But surely there are matters that the Conservative Party should be highlighting over this bit of MP news. In fact I am not sure why anyone should care if Alan Duncan is getting married. I have to agree with DK’s views on the matter.

That said I wish Duncan the best with his upcoming nuptials.

John Bercow MP has been taking a journey from beloved of the Conservative Way Forward and welcoming of their aid to full fledged EU suck-up. His latest bit of treachery to the right is opposing a referendum on the EU Constitution Lisbon Treaty. Rumours seem to suggest this oik wants to be speaker of the House of Commons. Lets hope he gets no where near that chair.

Sir – Robert Winnett’s report “Brain drain from UK hits record levels” (February 21) reveals some startling trends.

It costs a business 7,000 each time a staff member leaves. The Office for National Statistics has revealed that 600 people emigrated each day during 2007. This means British business footed a bill of more than 1?billion a year to counter the effects of that outbound flow. This is likely to rise at least 15 per cent in 2008.

As a removals company, we see first-hand that these numbers are increasing. In the second quarter of 2007, our overseas moves were up 24 per cent over the first quarter, and bookings for July to September were more than 75 per cent higher than the previous six months.

The ONS statistics quoted underline our own findings: that a combination of poor weather, fears about economic instability and personal security are driving more and more people from Britain. There needs to be a change in how companies can retain their people and block the brain drain.

Grant Bishop, Chessington, Surrey

From today’s DT letters page.

Nigel Farendale has written a truly daft piece in the Sunday Telegraph tell us all to shut up, pay our taxes and be happy. Its a foolish piece of fluff and shows the author is bereft of ideas this week.

Tax is organised theft. It might be a necessary evil but people don’t have to be happy about paying it.

One of the reasons for the malaise in the UK right now is the extortionate taxes they are paying both locally and nationally. Taxes are rising faster than inflation and many are snuck in via the back door. People should not be happy about getting screwed over by the state but angry and demanding change.

Sycophantic twaddle from the MSM will not help the plight of the hard pressed British taxpayer.

I have a piece over at Pajamas Media on the whole non-dom saga in the UK.

I have to say I agree with both Iain Dale and Guido (complete with cool graphic) about the whole Northern Rock debacle. The nationalisation of the bank is a further sign of Labour’s slide back to the 70s. When you add it to the daft non-dom laws that are to be introduced this government seems to have revived the playbook from the bad ole’ days of Labour. As a wag put it to me recently; I wonder if Labour would make so much fuss over a bank called Suffolk Banking?

An wobbly looking economy and the government wasting money bailing a bank out. What a foolish thing to do.

ConservativeHome has a good round-up of the Old Labour economics coming undone.

Will it surprise any of you, our clever readers, that London’s congestion charge has been a costly failure? I wonder if those that were so harsh on those of who thought it was a daft useless idea back before it was implemented?

Some young idiots can’t handle their booze we all know this. The solution is to arrest these oiks and chuck the book at them. The solution is not to screw over all the reasonable drinkers by raising the price of booze even more (like most of it isn’t tax already) as Gordon Browns sees to be planning. Collective punishment is immoral and against natural justice.

Speaking of this sort of thing Martin McGuinness has criticised Eastenders and Coronation Street not for being badly written bilge but for the fact they are set in pubs. Rather ironic this coming from an Irishman don’t you think? Granted his IRA buddies (or former buddies) seemed to like blowing them up so it probably should come as no shock.