The cold hand of Labour

I have long been a bit wary of the sainted Nadine Dorries as she bears an uncanny resemblance - both physically and in the way she speaks - to a previous work colleague who always seemed to attract controversy. (I know it's totally irrational. It must be my feminine side coming out!)

But tonight I had a flip through her recent postings and when I saw THIS I felt quite sorry for her.

Ignore the first bit about the mixing up of expense receipts - more of that will emerge in due course. No, the bit that got me was what she alleges a Labour Minister said to her round the back of the Speaker's chair.

"Watch yourself love", he said. "You are public enemy No 1. You inflicted a lot of damage on No10 and they are out for revenge. Watch out for the Sunday Mirror, don't talk to them." He then squeezed my hand and left.

The worst thing about this is that this sort of thing is so typical of the Labour spin machine.

Yvette admits she had help cooking the books

"So what? It was the right thing to do!"

Gordon - you can fool some of the people....

This is so blatant an attempt by Brown to seize a political advantage over the Conservative Party as to be risible. The fact it was originally announced on YouTube without any consultation was bad enough. But the subsequent so-called discussions with David Cameron and Nick Clegg were so acrimonious that no consensus was possible. And now we have assorted Labour politicians who have denounced Brown as a bully.

But the way it is being rushed through Parliament in such a botched manner is an outrage. As Mrs Ted - not a lover of the Great Leader on a good day - said to me at teatime today: "Has he gone completely barmy now? Does he take us all for fools?"

To which my answer, of course, was yes.

Brown must be as sick as a Mexican pig!

There's a lot of talk of Brown facing a leadership challenge at some point this year - possibly after a meltdown in the June local and European elections or at, or before, the Labour Party conference. I think it's all wishful thinking as there is no obvious alternative candidate who would have sufficient backing from the comrades or the ability to make a credible fist (clunking or otherwise!) of it.

No, it is more likely that the Labour ship, although holed below the water line, will limp on until it hits the rocks in the spring of 2010. A small band of survivors have already donned their life jackets and manoeuvred themselves close to the lifeboats. They will not go down with the ship and will live to fight another day.

Dan, Dan - the democracy man!

I must admit that I find Daniel Hannan a little too good to be true at times. His speeches are so brilliantly delivered and the contents so well thought through that it's hard to find any flaws in his arguments.


Watch Daniel Hannan Speech in News  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


PS: I meant to post this yesterday but couldn't find the code!

John Prescott goes forth and unmasks the evil Tories

Just for fun I want to see if this latest little ruse by that old Labour bruiser, John Prescott actually works if you download it from his Go Fourth site.

Update: Apparently it doesn't!

When Irish eyes are smiling - not!

This could be the sign of things to come in the UK if this rather over-long cameraphone video of the queue for jobs at a Londis supermarket in Dublin is anything to go by. (I haven't been to that lovely gem of a city for about fifteen years and it seems a lot more cosmopolitan than I remember.)

Don't watch it to the end if you're easily bored!



More pertinently, I wonder whether Libertas can reproduce the original Irish 'no' vote against the Lisbon Treaty (aka The European Constitution) in the next ballot in October? Or has the economic landscape changed so much that a majority of the electorate will be persuaded to put their faith in ever closer union with the EU and all that will entail?

I'm worried they will do the wrong thing for the wrong reasons and, consequently, drag the UK into a spiralling fall into the abyss of a United States of Europe.

The PM's secret weapon?

Another good spot by Subrosa in which she speculates that Mrs Brown will be taking a higher profile in Labour's election plans.

Particularly liked this: Who was it who said, "I would never use my family for political purposes," again?

Iain Dales's downfall - hilarious!

Another one for posteriority!

Beam me up Scottie

"It's space (between the Conservatives) Gordon, but not as we wanted it. We are now so far away from reality that we will never be able to get back to Earth!"