The End of the Tories

Judging by the way that David Cameron is running this government, one begins to wonder if he is doing his best to ensure that the Tories are out of power for a long, long while after the next General Rlection. Almost everything that he or members of the cabinet do seems deliberately designed to reduce the party's standing in the opinion polls.  Why on earth should this be so? He has more Public Relations experts in the cabinet than any previous government yet all they are getting is bad publicity. There was no real reason for any of the recent fiascos, yet they just keep coming. Yesterday, Alex Salmond labelled UK politicians ‘incompetent Lord Snooties’ and it is hard not to agree with him in so far as the top Tories in government are concerned. 

In the Observer today, Lord Tebbit says broadly the same thing:
"This dog of a coalition government has let itself be given a bad name and now anybody can beat it. It has let itself be called a government of unfeeling toffs".
As he points out previous  Tory governments have had far more toffs, but they were real toffs not wannabe ones like the present lot.  He adds: "The abiding sin of the government is not that some ministers are rich, but that it seems unable to manage its affairs competently."
For what it is worth, my view is exactly the same, Whilst they may not actually call people outside their own circle "plebs", as Mitchell is alleged to have called the police, there seems no doubt in my mind that this is what they think.

If the Tories are to regain any standing in the polls, they need to come up with some carefully considered solid policies and put them into effect. Changing planning laws won't affect most of us, won't achieve much for the economy, but will attract a lot of flak from all directions, which is hardly good news. Nor will claims of more severe punishments for criminals, they are available already but rarely implemented. A new law to deal with the illegal supply of guns, it sounds good, but I'm quite certain the existing laws are more than adequate, Proposals to cut benefits for those who are not actively trying to get work again sound good, but will probably be squashed by human rights issues and of course concern about "the children". And as for "gay marriage", well this is hardly a vote winner with traditional Tories!

On Europe we are getting contradictory statements and all that does seem clear is that it is unlikely that we will be offered an IN/OUT referendum. With new terms of membership being discussed, it is more likely that we will be asked whether we accept the new terms or prefer the existing ones. At the same time we have UKIP steadily gaining ground, picking up, as they go, a number of traditional Tory policies which have been abandoned in the scramble for the centre ground. The European elections should give a good indication of things to come and I wouldn't be surprised if the Tories hit an all time low.

I am now convinced that this is the last Tory Government that I will see in my lifetime unless firm competent action is taken within the next few months. And I don't believe that this will happen whilst Cameron is at the helm.

UKIP at Barnsley

UKIP did very well at Barnsley, coming second to Labour whose victory was never in any doubt in spite of the fact that their last MP was sent to prison for fraud.
OK, they were a long way behind, but they got half as many votes again as the Conservatives who came third and three times as many as the Lib Dems who came sixth behind the BNP and an Independent.
Of course UKIP got barely a mention on the BBC who concentrated on the fate of the LibDems, who at the General Election had such broad policies that they were everyone's darlings. Now they've actually been forced to face the need for real decisions,  strangely they're finding people don't like them so much! Its so easy to be in opposition!
There is no doubt that recent European decisions have helped UKIP, so in a way, I'm hoping that the government gives in to the European Court over Votes for Prisoners, as this will strengthen UKIP's hand. And although I'm against AV, I think that UKIP, not the LibDems, will be the main beneficiaries.
The BBC, of course remains a major stumbling block, failing in my view, to give them any coverage other than what is absolutely necessary. One can almost hear their minds working: "LibDems sixth?" - never mind, we'll still interview them; "UKIP second?" - a freak result, not worth bothering about. At least SKY interviewed Nigel Farrage.
Nevertheless this is a very good result.