DavidJonesLock2

DavidJonesLock2

21p

17 comments posted · 0 followers · following 0

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Frost's appointment ch... · 3 replies · +1 points

A less sanguine interpretation would be that Frost is going to have to clean up the issues that he agreed to in the TCA.

He understands the issues and shares the PM’s transatlantic vision.

But if it all goes bottoms up, he will be positioned to carry the can. As a minister, he will be personally and politically responsible in a way he wasn’t as an appointee.

And Scotland and NI are clearly the main obstacles to successfully delivering Brexit. If things deteriorate in either, Raab’s appeals for the electorate to take a long-term perspective on Brexit are unlikely to be successful.

We BADLY need some good news on economic benefits from CPTPP accession.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Oborne condemns Johnso... · 0 replies · +1 points

Oborne is probably right about Boris. Was there any way for the pro-Brexit majority to overcome the anti-Brexit minority except by finessing the differences between Truss and Raab’s Britannia Unchained vision and the backward looking version that appealed to UKIP?

But the question is not about expediency and Brexit.

It’s about how we bring the country back together with large numbers of Brexit losers likely to blame us at the next election.

There is still a large minority unhappy about Brexit and we’ll need to craft a message to peel off soft Remainers from the bitter-end rump.

The Union needs defence in both NI and Scotland.

Is Boris the man to reach the Never-Tory voters? With Covid and the upcoming recession, he might not be the answer. But none of the alternatives have charisma for swing voters. There isn’t one Labour or Lib Dem voter who’d be more likely to back us under Truss or Raab than Johnson. Hmm.

So Gimson’s piece looks like a one-eyed defence of an electoral asset. What do we do if the shine starts to come off?

To misquote Bob Monkhouse, the key to politics is sincerity. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Invictus: Is it time t... · 3 replies · +1 points

Bizarre post. Establishing a working group is exactly the right thing to do until current passions abate. (The ubiquitous BLM salute before Football League matches is doing the same thing in another context).

Do we really want to choose the defence of statues of slave owners as the hill to die on?

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - WATCH: "There are huge... · 3 replies · +1 points

I think the CPTPP application is excellent news.

The New Zealand government published a very good summary document identifying the overall estimated benefits for the NZ economy - and sector by sector advantages.

NZ agribusiness export opportunities to Japan, sort of thing.

Couldn’t we do the same here in the UK? It looks like quite a few sectors are going through short-term pain in the UK.

It might be good to offer some good news to UK exporters at the moment.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Henry Hill: 'Stronger ... · 1 reply · +1 points

To paraphrase Colonel Blimp - or Major-General Clive Wynne-Candy in the Life and the Death of Colonel Blimp - when they prevent him from giving a talk at the BBC in 1941

“Because when today’s Brexiteers were at university, I was a Conservative. And when they were at school, I was a Conservative. And when they were babes in arms, I was a Conservative”

It was my party when we saw off the racist sympathisers with Apartheid South Africa and Ian Smith, and when we saw off the BNP and their entryists. And before them the anti-semites and racists with their coded Good Old Enoch references.

And we did that while seeing off the Trots and fellow travellers of Labour.

The country and the party is the thing. Trust in the common sense of the members.

This too will pass. The Republicans are getting their party back and we will too - you’ll see.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Henry Hill: 'Stronger ... · 3 replies · +1 points

I am also a former Remainer. Like a lot of members, I’ve watched the ascendancy of UKIP and Vote Leave with despair. Too many disliked centrist southern Tories. I’m still not sure there is a place in the party for people like me.

But your comments - and your willingness to countenance the break up of the Union epitomises cutting your nose off to spite your face.

You need to pull yourself together - the fate of the Union is at stake.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Henry Hill: 'Stronger ... · 6 replies · +1 points

Two points come to mind from this article:

Firstly - Boris Johnson (in Scotland) has now reached the point that Miliband reached after the Edstone, and Corbin reached in 2019. Voters won’t listen to him.

Number 10 has not welcomed dissenting voices. But someone else will have to make the argument for the Union.

Secondly - following on from the first point, we need people to make the emotional argument for the Union. Where are the cool young people who favour remaining in the Union? And among older Labour-leaning voters, Gordon Brown retains a certain credibility.

Frankly - it’s like Ireland in 1880. There is still time for us to avoid independence - but internecine arguments among Unionists are weakening our cause.

Hill carrying on a one-sided spat with Brown benefits us not at all.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Britain's relationship... · 0 replies · +1 points

Nigel Sheinwald or Sir John Kerr had different perspectives, I believe.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - No Deal. The spectre o... · 0 replies · +1 points

Of course, Paul Goodman is being disingenuous.

The most recent example was Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq as part of the Coalition of the Willing.

It created a similar division between metropolitan liberals and the towns and countryside.

Another similarity was the way that a necessary decision taken for geo strategic reasons was presented in emotional terms.

Opponents of the policy warned about dire destabilising regional consequences. When the occupation of Iraq went sour, it split the Labour Party and let in the Trots.

A lot depends on the government making a success out of Brexit - you have a large minority of the population waiting to see what happens, and a smaller minority remains implacably opposed.

Any misjudgement may well lead to the breakup of the UK. Scotland and Northern Ireland may both leave in the next 5-10 years if they suffer because of a Brexit both opposed.

I’m not sure we have the luxury of taking a long term point of view.

All this triangulation to pin the blame on Starmer is very clever, but the best influencers in the world failed to change peoples minds about Iraq.

It would be far better to cut our losses, close Brexit down as an issue and focus on reuniting the country. The country’s mood is febrile, and the best Brexit psephologists are studying the wrong communities.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Our survey. Almost thr... · 0 replies · +1 points

Success in politics comes to those most skilled in finding ways of working together

You said it. You mean Johnson - but the bigger problem is that Cummings was becoming electoral Marmite.

And the big challenge facing Johnson will be crafting a message that will bring the country (and Cameron era Conservatives) back together.

Cummings’ approach of raising the heat, mobilising supporters and suppressing opponents messages was and is effective. But the EU/Brexit issue needs to be put to bed before economic losses become indelibly linked with it.

It’s good he’s gone. Johnson is the only front line Conservative who can cut through to Labour and LibDem voters.

None of the other pretenders have the charisma to connect with voters - not Raab, not Sunak, not Patel, nor Gove.

People need to get behind Johnson and stop rocking the boat.