Brown is a Dead Man Walking! He's a Has-Bean!

In a week when Polly Toynbee, that erstwhile arch-cheer leader for Labour, has written his political obituary there has been much musing about Gordon Brown's ability to cling onto power. She is unequivocal: "For political vacuity and ineptitude, Labour has really excelled this week". With friends like this.......etc, etc.

Of course, she was more concerned about the perception and the spin that Labour had managed to put on its difficulties.

In contrast, Fraser Nelson in the Spectator here demonstrates how Brown is now being found out for his woeful performance over the last 11 years. The Tories must ensure that this is at the forefront of their attacks on Brown's incompetent, corrupt and hopeless government.

Update: Now Matthew Parris at the Times has hammered in another nail to Brown's coffin.

The Land of the Long White Cloud

Those of you who know New Zealand will recognise Rangitoto, the volcanic island that was formed some 500 years ago, which is visible from almost everywhere on the North Shore of Auckland.

Five years ago I managed the two hour walk to the summit - with a few little stops on the way! In a few days our family are returning to the Land of the Long White Cloud to our old base in Takapuna before exploring further afield in the South Island.

We will be away for just over a month and I don't intend to keep in touch with the news in the UK unless I stumble across it. I just hope that when I get back the political landscape shows an even more strong upsurge in the fortunes of the Conservatives and that Brown's Bunglers have been relegated permanently to the status of the corrupt, inept and incompetent charade of a Government that it is.

In the meantime may I wish my reader (sic) a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.

Conservatives should be further ahead in the polls

I gather from the Ben Brogan blog that David Cameron and Andy Coulson have "unleashed the attack dogs" on NuLabour - presumably to counter Brown's "new" offensive against them - look out for a lot of "evil Ashcroft-bashing" and personal accusations of Cameron being a "snob" - see the Coffee House blog - over the next few weeks.

A few days ago I posted this comment on one of the political blogs:

"....it's a bit concerning that David Cameron's team isn't going up in the polls. He should be in the mid-40s by now. I can't believe the little sideshow of Clegg and Huhne giving each other Chinese burns behind the bike sheds at Westminster have caused the LibDems to leap up the polls to over 20%........Andy Coulson and Co must push for a much higher profile of all the Conservative policy proposals....Unless of course they know of some even worse sleaze-related or other incompetent events for Brown and his woeful crew on the horizon?"

Despite the almost daily revelations about the increasing sleaze mountain that Labour has built for itself, my point still stands - the Conservatives should be going up in the polls in their own right.

They have to spear Labour in its heart on two or three big issues now to ensure that Brown and his incompetents just whither on the vine. We can't just rely on them scoring own goals which they will blame anyway on a junior member of staff and cite the resignations of a couple of incompetent officials in the Civil Service or their party machine as having solved their problems.

It appears this might be about to happen. Let's hope so!

Harman Skewered?

Fitaloon has a nice take on the latest twists and turns in the story of Brown and Co disintegrating before our eyes.

Read my comment on his blog here. Are Harriet and Jack about to have one of their houses repossessed? Sound familiar? Middle class couples over-extending themselves by using the equity in their home to live a life-style beyond their means just at the start of a recession when their job prospects are at their worst?

But at least Mrs Dromey has been given a ringing vote of confidence from her current boss. It'll look good on her CV. (Thanks Dizzy)

Gordon Brown - Crisis? What Crisis?

This man knows!

And he has explained why here.

This is going to run and run.

"The Second Highest Defence Budget in the World"

Des Browne - or Swiss Toni, as he is now known - has made some outrageous statements in his time but this might be the best - or worst - ever!

The Spectator's Coffee House blog here has some interesting observations about his latest claim that make him look even more like a second-hand car salesman.

"Statistics are like a beautiful woman - they have to be massaged frequently so they give the right message to people."

Darling DISCovers Charity Starts in Nigeria!

The Daily Mash (via Comment Central) has a nice (and very plausible!) story about Alistair Darling's soft side.

Can't check the sources on this story but I did notice that Iain Hislop was brandishing a CD on tonight's Have I Got News for You. The next edition of Private Eye is bound to be a corker.

(PS: Wasn't Ann Widdecombe brilliant as the host of HIGNFY?)

Defence Matters - doesn't it?

Des Browne was very unconvincing on the Today programme this morning when he tried to rebut the criticisms of the five ex-Chiefs of the Defence Staff.

The fact is that this Labour government has not devoted sufficient funding to the military given that we are heavily involved in two major conflicts. The Treasury has not made the necessary adjustments between departments to take this fact into account.

Another example of its incompetence? The Department of Health forecasts an underspend on its budget for 2007-8 of £1.8 billion. That's a lot of money that could have been spent on the armed services.

Boom and bust, Mr Brown? Tell us about it......

The Wisdom of John Redwood

I know John Redwood has never been the most popular of politicians and on occasions has been controversial to the point where he has become vilified by both friend and foe.

But I do commend you to read his very prolific blog output as it often contains many nuggets of wisdom that should not be ignored by anyone interested in politics.

As an example, read this about the black holes in Labour's economic policies. Frightening stuff from the "Martian"!

"Is this Labour's Winter of DISContent - 2007 style?"

Somebody on the Today programme this morning came up with this question.

It seems that the latest opinion polls might agree - see the details at UK Polling Report and Political Betting.

Of course, this does not mean that the Conservatives are soaring in popularity but it does show that Brown's Labour is at last being seen for what it is - an incompetent bunch of spinners and tax grabbers with its head up it arse!