random thoughts at the new dawn

ITEM: I’m not all angsty about voting for the Lib Dems. A lot of people are weeping and wailing about helping vote in an essentially Tory government precisely because they were only voting for them to avoid this outcome. But that means they weren’t invested in or loyal to the Lib Dems as such – they and I just wanted to vote for a party that wasn’t the Tories and couldn’t stomach New Labour’s brand of authoritarian corporatism. If we’d had a left party we actually liked – or if by some miracle the Lib Dems managed to get proportional representation - we’d have abandoned them without a second thought. As things went, Cleggy boy got in his double cross first. So what? It’s just business. Am I going to vote for them next time? Absolutely not. Also, just business. 

And we’re not getting ID cards – though obviously it’s the architecture behind them that needs an eye keeping on it. So if you voted Lib Dem on civil liberty grounds, as I did, then you got a bit of what you voted for, which a lot of people who voted this time round can’t say. 

ITEM: I’m missing Mandelson already. Who among the new breed has the stature to be Dr Evil? When I think of such luminaries as Gove and Osborne, the only phrase that comes to mind is “spiteful man-child.” 

ITEM: From a professional point of view, The Guardian made absolutely the right call on this election. There seems to be a general view abroad that the Groan should have lashed itself to the sinking ship and committed itself to writing hundreds of articles over the next however many years starting with the words “Labour MPs are to protest…” 

I suspect that from the point of view of the Groan’s senior execs and editorial team there was a choice of two sides: inside and outside. Not wanting to commit themselves to “outside” they bet on a hung parliament and the party that would inevitably form part of whatever government took shape afterwards. And sure enough, there they are on the inside, ready to take up their old stock in trade as professional conscience, eager to make mischief when everything starts getting strained and leaky. And culturally, the new administration is a much better fit with the Guardian than the Telegraph. A successful bit of turf raiding there and a very good bit of business all round. 

ITEM: We are now run by a coalition of well heeled, personally tolerant but fundamentally orthodox men of ambition from the Home Counties, ready to re-order the country so that men such as themselves – and the kind of women they marry and mix with in professional situations – can rise with a minimum of effort and inconvenience. Blairism has reached its final fulfilment; it is replete. 

ITEM: Where is Philip Blond? I can’t believe that no-one is paying any attention to his thoughts on the new dispensation. I’m sure he must have many of them, all polished into quotes. I can see him sitting by his phone right now. He’s been sitting there since four o clock yesterday afternoon. Still, he sits. But the phone, it fails to ring. Now why can that be?

Comments

[Alex]

Major difference is the accent on the men, surely. No blacks or ex-postmen round here either.

[redpesto]

Eric Pickles would probably fancy being the Sidney Greenstreet of the Tory party (even he ends up being either a Sontaran or Jabba the Hutt).

[ejh]

Did I misunderstand? I thought you voted Labour.

[jamie]

For councillor (he won by the way). Lib Dem nationally.

[john b]

The construction of the ID database being impossible (for "within the political and economic parameters required" values of impossible), I'm not particularly impressed at that magnificent concession to liberty - especially as the Tories opposed the scheme without LD intervention.

Otherwise, the LDs have won a giant bag of nothing and killed their party. w00t.

[dsquared]

A sighting of Blond! On Newsnight last night, talking about the "Great Society" and clearly wounded by press comments quoting a senior Tory saying "we might have won if we didn't have to waste our time trying to explain that total shit".

[Phil]

I don't suppose there's any chance that's a verbatim quote?

[dsquared]

Not verbatim but nearly

"I do not buy the argument that we have done well by adding more than 90 seats. We were starting from such a low base. A muppet could have put 4% on Michael Howard's share of the vote. We have all been so disciplined. They have been all over the place on the economy. We kept quiet because they said we know how to win.

They said the California-isation of the party and the modernisation of the party is the way to win. It's all complete crap. What wins is being Conservative. It should not have been the Big Society. It should be about choice. We picked up some good wins after talking about Europe and immigration in the last few days."

I feel that Philip Blond may be buying his own drinks this conference season.

[dsquared]

Also

"The 'big society' message favoured by Tory head of strategy Steve Hilton was unforgivably never poll-tested and either failed to cut through with most voters and even frightened some,"

Taxi for Blond!

I see that Tim is a "leading conservative thinker" these days, egads. I remember him as being a nice guy when we were civil servants together.

[jamie]

Blond really muffed it for them. A lot of big law firms, consultancies etc like their people to go off and do a bit of pro-bono charity work for a day or so a month. All Blond needed to do was put that in a more general context via some whizzy bit of instant snack thought and instead he comes up with this big wodge of half baked Chestertonian cack. He's going to be on the street soon with a tin cup and a sign round his neck: "will provide rhetorical justifications for food."

[Matthew]

"A muppet could have put 4% on Michael Howard's share of the vote. ...We picked up some good wins after talking about Europe and immigration in the last few days."

Michael Howard's 2005 campaign was only about Europe and immigration, so I'm not sure just repeating that would obviously increase the 2005 vote.

[dsquared]

yes, the person in the interview doesn't give many indications of being a clear thinker. But given that he was running against Brown rather than Blair and in a recession rather than a boom, I would have thought that at least a couple of per cent gain on a recycled campaign would have been doable.