The Future is Bright...

As

Yapping Yousuf

notes, on first impression, the headline figures for

Westminster voting intention in Scotland

isn't great for the Tories. While it will be fantastic to take back seats like Edinburgh South and Perth and North Perthshire, that we would with these figures, it is hardly the massive Caledonian recovery that many would like to see.

However it is not all bad news. If the figures for just those under 55 - the next generation so to speak, are studied, the tories are in 2nd place behind Labour. There is still the resentment of Thatcher and the last tory government, but it seems to be beginning to fade. It's the Conservatives who will be the opposition to Labour's stranglehold on Scotland in the elections that actually matter - ie Westminster.

Labour cannot be trusted to defend the union, especially given the chaos that they will be in after the election. They are not going to be in any fit state to fight the referendum campaign hand in hand with the tories after they have been wiped out whenever the election is.

The tories must capitalise on this fact and hoover up the pro-union votes of the overwhelming majority of Scots who do not want to destroy the UK.

Ed Miliband Gets Bitchslapped.

At 17:58 28/08/2009, Ed Miliband wrote:

Idris,

I emailed you earlier this week to tell you about my new website EdsPledge.com, well today marks a 100 days left until Copenhagen.

During the week people have been visiting EdsPledge.com to add their support – they realise that we need to show the strength of public feeling to get the ambitious, effective and fair deal we need.

The amount of passion I have seen in the messages of support people have left me in no doubt that we have more chance of getting a deal if we have real voices demanding action.

You may have many friends who aren't members of the Party, and won't receive this email, so I am asking you to forward this email onto them now. Ask them to make our pledge for a deal that's ambitious, effective and fair.

Share EdsPledge.com with your friends

Ambitious means no more than a 2 degree temperature rise, with developed-country emissions to peak in five years and then the whole world peaking within ten.

Effective means keeping countries to their word, and letting money flow to where it will make the most difference.

Fair means supporting the poorest countries to cut their emissions and adapt to climate change.

So please forward this email on now, or EdsPledge.com lets you send an email invitation, post a message to Facebook or Twitter - or simply just forward this email on to few friends right now.

Share EdsPledge.com with your friends

Thanks for your support.

Ed

Ps. If you want to get instant updates on how the campaign is going just follow me on Twitter.

---------------------------------------

Reply to: Ed Miliband :

Mr. Miliband,

It's "Mr. Francis" not "Idris" to you, Mr. Miliband - I have no intention of being on first name terms with you or any of your terminally incompetent colleagues.

At almost 70 years of age I cannot remember a more clueless, a more dishonest, a more devious Government and Cabinet than we now have. That you still, apparently, believe that "global warming" is man-made - when for 10 years the earth has cooled, that for centuries it was warmer than it now is, that the science - more akin to a religion - is pure junk and hocus-pocus - tells us all we need to know.

Time is indeed running out, for ZanuNuLabour, only a few months to go before the lot of you - those who survive the election at all - are consigned to the back benches for a generation.

Good riddance, may it be sooner rather than later. God knows, little did I think when Major headed what was then the worst government in living memory, that he would be succeeded by someone and some Cabinet worse still - or that they in turn would prove to be excellent compared to the debris and swarf of political life that now holds power.

But not for much longer, Mr. Miliband, not for much longer. The endless lies, hypocrisy, false claims, pathetic promises that end up broken, all will soon be at an end.

Like your career in politics, and like your brother's

Sincerely

Idris Francis

Well that should have taught him the error of his harvesting ways.

UPDATE 17.47: It seems this post has caused some stirrings on the left. Tom Harris MP seemed to have missed the fact TB posted this funny exchange due to the stinging rebuke that a Minister received from, shock horror, a actual member of the public and instead spun it as proof the Conservative Party aren't progressive. For the record TB set down his views on the man-made climate myth

here

.

Adam Boulton Calls "Shotgun!" on TV Debate

Sky News political editor Adam Boulton has

added to the calls

for there to be televised debates between the party leaders at the next election, simultaneously placing him in line to be the man to host and chair such an event. It is highly likely that these debates will take place finally and fair play to Boulton for positioning himself early.

Beats Andrew Marr any day...

Given that it's a Bank Holiday it will probably be raining today, so TB had a youtube trawl for some classic US debate moments to keep you all entertained. Enjoy:











Who's got some good put downs for Dave to use?

A week is a long time in...

Ladies and Gentleman, TB would like to introduce a charming lady friend Hermione Hope-Change. Hermione works for an MEP and will be reporting weekly from the European Parliament. Expect gossip, rumour and saucy tales from the dark heart of Europe...

Here we are again, the start of a new term. Was at home for the summer hols so took the opportunity to pop into Smiths for a new highlighter set and some colouring pencils which are neatly installed in my stationery drawer now. Also spent Monday arranging my pictures in the new office. Darling Boris is near the door so that I can look at him but still appear to be attentive when El Boss-man sticks his head around to keep me up to date with what Hannan's been up to.

Speaking of Hannan, sweet Dan, I can't for the life of me understand why they ban Facebook in some offices. I was one of the first people to know, for example, that last month he said something about idolising Enoch Powell. And rightly so – the NHS wastes veritable rivers of blood through maladministration yearly, I'm told. Maybe I should organise a Parliamentary blood drive; show the country we're behind the health system too.

Although frankly I'm not sure I have time to take on another project. These Committees are terribly complicated, and half the time the reports are in French or even Czech. I know it's a dreadful stereotype and one mustn't subscribe to them apparently, but the French secretariat staff are so bloody rude. I swear the only work they ever do utilises an emery board. And it's not just a bias due to jealousy on our part because we don't share their sense of style – one of them actually tutted at me the other day when I pointed out that my French teacher had recently said that my accent was definitely improving.

Am rather looking forward to Prague in two weeks for the European Conservatives and Reformist Study Week trip, and not only to watch Ratty, Kirkhope, Hannan and Helmer spend a week together in the same room (what a shame McMillan-Scott won't be there – the tension between him and Kaminsky would have been electrifying). Rumour has it that Ratty really bawled out Hannan and Helmer over the whole NHS debacle though, so we may yet have some entertainment. By the way, does anyone know the Czech for 'Thank you'? Or, for that matter, 'Glass of wine, please'?

Still no word back from Cosham Conservatives. I suppose they have a whole beauty pageant of applicants to look at by now, even that darned Tamzin Lightwater got in on the act. Still, I thought I was sporting a rather winning smile in that photo. Just the sort of image Cosham needs after duckponds...

Hermione will be back next Saturday.

A taste of things to come?

So the

news has broken

that Fraser Nelson will take over from Matthew D'Ancona as editor of The Spectator. Congratulations are in order to both of them, firstly to Matthew for what has been a fantastic tenure, of which the lasting legacy must be the 75k circulation and the

Coffee House

. TB is massively intrigued to where he is heading next and there has been

much speculation

already this evening. Just look where the last editor ended up. Secondly to Fraser, who is getting ready to fill a prestigious pair of shoes.

Nelson's News of the World column is a must read every week and TB is looking forward to see where he takes the Speccie.

Fib Dems

Owen Meredith

has been doing some digging around the Liberal Youth recruitment materials that have been published online

here

. He writes:

It was

reported last September

that a long-term Liberal Democrat policy would face the axe after Stephen Williams, Lib Dem Shadow Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said free higher education and scrapping of tuition fees was not sustainable.

In a pre-conference interview with the

Times Higher Education

, Williams said that Nick Clegg, had come to the decision the policy was not viable after "long internal discussions".

The Lid Dem team is slowly but surely backing away from promises on free education, free personal care for the elderly and a raft of other unaffordable pledges a third party can make knowing they will never be in power or have to deliver.

It would seem that Elaine didn't get the memo though:

That's right, just recruit students with some lies about what your party stands for. Nice typo at the bottom too. Leaflets have already been sent out.

Savvy.

"You actually like me..."

TB is extremely chuffed to have been voted number eight in the Total Politics right of centre blog listings. When he came thirty fifth last year a friend said to him, that he would have be top ten next year, to which TB replied "Yeah right...". Thank you so much to everyone who voted and congratulations to everyone else. The full list can be seen by clicking through to

Total Politics

but here is the top ten:

1 1

Guido Fawkes

2 2

Iain Dale

3 6

Spectator Coffee House

4 3

Conservative Home

5 4

Dizzy Thinks

6 5

Devil's Kitchen

7 14

Daniel Hannan MEP

8 35 Tory Bear
9 12

Archbishop Cranmer

10 8

John Redwood MP

Thank you again.

"They want to save the world...

...but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad."

TB is getting increasingly pissed off with the news that the gypo encampment on Blackheath common is growing. Sources down wind in Greenwich have reported that the stench of cheap weed and compost loos is already becoming quite unbearable. TB has a solution for dealing with this infestation of hippies, taught to him by a wise sage and great political influence, Dr E. Cartman.

Dr. Cartman designed the perfect hippy disposal device that TB recommends be employed to deal with the infestation of soap-dodgers as soon as possible:

Here is the "Hippie Core Drill Machine" in action:

Failing that some tear gas should do the trick.

Quote of the Day

TB was trying to work out where exactly the Daily Telegraph traffic he is getting this afternoon was coming from when he discovered

this gem

from

Ed West

:

"Enoch Powell was an influential economic thinker, a Thatcherite before Thatcher, something anyone with a modicum of intelligence will know – but unfortunately for a generation raised in the comprehensive system, whose knowledge of history could fill one of their gormless tweets, “Uncle Enoch” is known only for his views on immigration, a bogeyman in our liberal paradise."

Bang on. Ok last word on the subject, promise.

"I am a virus. I am the virus that kills socialists."

Not for the faint hearted or those of a wet disposition, but newbie blogger "Freedom Fighter" has given a

passionate defence

of Daniel Hannan and Enoch Powell. It is well worth a read:

"It's no wonder the left would despise Powell with such zeal; he was, for the most part, right. It's scary that an ideology that prizes economic freedom, individual liberty, and personal-responsibility is constantly under attack while a political ideology among whose ideological influences advocated eugenics, severe restrictions on civil liberties, property redistribution by force, dictatorial government, and at times outright murder is considered 'modern' and 'progressive'. When Parmjit Dhanda, Labour MP for Gloucester, asks 'is it acceptable for a the modern Conservatives Party to attack the NHS and praise Enoch Powell?', I should bloody well hope the answer is yes, else Jonah Goldberg is right and 'we're all fascists now'."

If you like you politics blunt and sound then TB would recommend bookmarking

The Snakebite

.

So he hasn't gone native...

Andy Hartley has got in touch to

retract

the comments he made about Daniel Hannan yesterday.

That's more like it.

Careful she might punch you...

She has a name that sounds like it could have been made up by Private Eye, and now it seems that Grace Fletcher-Hackwood has had her

Twitter profile hijacked

. "Hackbitch" as she is commonly known since she had to resign from her job responsible for welfare on campus after she

hit a student

, is one of Kerry "Twitter Tsar" McCarthy's minions, who along with the likes of "

Bevanite Ellie

" (who is kinda cute incidentally,) have given the tories hours of amusement with their fem-nazi, party line devotion and hysterical partisan rantings. It wasn't going to be long before someone started to mess with them:

Seems the real Hackwood

changed her name

on Twitter (she has a habit of this in real life too,) and someone dived in and claimed the old one. You may laugh at her ridiculous joke bio; "Imagine Harriet Harman on drugs. I'm not on drugs. But if Harriet Harman was, she might be a bit like me." but no, no, she really did say that.

Harriet Harman and this lot could probably do with drugs of some form. Calm the little dears down.

Tip of the Hat to TB's man in North Briton for pointing it out.

Powell, Hannan and going native...

Urrrrgh.

They're at it again

. LabourList have for the first time in a while gone down the

old sensationalist route

that it was founded on and needs to be careful not to recreate the hysterical tone of its previous editor. TB can barely be bothered to humour Labour's latest attempts to smear Dan Hannan. Others have done so in a far more erudite fashion than a sleepy bear can muster:

Guido:

Powell was cited by him in a list of influences which included Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek – all of whom were ideologically opposed to immigration restrictions. The fact is that Hannan and his ideological fan base (such as it is) are more liberal on immigration policy than the official Labour Party position…

Working Class Tory:

Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda has now got involved with the Daniel Hannan "controversy" by making a statement which I don't think could possibly state the opposite of the truth with more precision:
"Last week Daniel Hannan attacked the NHS. Now he's talking up Enoch Powell as a key influence for Cameron's Conservatives."
Why don't you read the damn interview you moron? It quite clearly says "Who are your political influences? I've seen you reference Ron Paul, I believe you have referenced Hayek and Freidman on your blog."

Alex Massie of The Spectator:

If a politician expresses admiration for Winston Churchill do you immediately think that he's a great fan of, among other considerations, casual indifference to the Bengal famine, the use of chemical weapons in Iraq or the pulverisation and total destruction of German cities? Of course you don't. But when a politician says he admires Enoch Powell it's as if he'd decided to fill the Tiber with blood by scurrying around the country and slaughtering the children of every immigrant in the land.

And, just to be clear, if Hannan had bigged-up Powell's views on immigration while he was talking to Reason* the chances are that he'd have been challenged on them. That's because Reason's a libertarian magazine that, you know, is pretty relaxed about the free movement of people and generally disapproves of border supremacists and absolutists.

Anyway, whatever you think of Hannan's views, isn't it unpatriotic - if we must travel down this dreary road - to suggest that he be bullied into silence?

Please, people, let this Summer of Stupidity end soon.

So there we have it, Labour have failed again. Perhaps this would be the perfect time to quote Enoch: "A politician complaining about the media is like a fisherman complaining about the sea." Something Dan has no doubt thought in the last twelve hours.

What did come as a surprise however is the reaction of a particular tory to this pathetic attempt at a smear by Labour.

The World of JR

is the blog of one the UK's few card carrying Conservative student union sabbatical officers.

Andy "JR" Hartley

is a sabb at Manchester Met University and is a member of the Conservatives. He also claims to be a conservative. He posted

this

last night:

OK, now Hannan has had it!
I ask David Cameron to please get rid of this idiot.

This isn't the first time JR has shown

less-than-open-minded

views to other party members and is taking an increasingly authoritarian/NewLabourish stance against Hannan on his blog.

It would be a terrible shame if this former poster boy for all those tories who want to get involved in student politics and take the fight to the NUS has gone native, but it is looking increasingly like that.

Maybe there is a lesson to be learnt there.

News from very Liberal Youth

Change the record TB hears you cry, but one final story about youth wings and party staff. It's been awhile since TB turned his attention to his old friends over at Liberal Youth. Since their member of staff resigned from Cowley Street five months ago,

Elaine Bagshaw

everyone's favourite Labour-hack-turned-yellow, the Chairman of Liberal Youth has mysteriously not managed to find a new staffer.

With jobs to work in a party HQ normally going like hot cakes, especially considering the generous pay package associated with the job, this does seem mighty odd. It comes as no surprise given her track record that the gossip is now doing the rounds that Elaine has been deliberately impeding the selection process, leaving her organisation understaffed and all the while making a big song and dance of how much work she has to do and hard she's working/great she is.

Now the word has reached Tory Bear that Elaine is trying to get an amendment through their conference in November* - making the LY Chairman position a sabbatical one. So TB imagines that also means she wants to install herself as the sabbatical chairman for a third term. This can only be a good thing, given the fact that the hideously incompetent and unelectable Bagshaw will eventually run LY into the ground. There was even the ridiculous suggestion that she wants to move the Liberal Youth office oop north closer to her home.

Now that's just lazy... and as for the rest of the rumours TB has been hearing about what Elaine has been up to? Well apart from her ordering a grands worth of seeds to give out in freshers packs (WTF?) and approving 3k for a website, (TB thinks you might have got done over there guys,) the rest are unprintable, for the time being.

Sounds like the LY "Activate Weekend" was err... rather active though.

*TB was semi-invited to speak at the Liberal Youth conference later on in the Autumn. Does that offer still stand?

Who was Deep Throat?

When TB first started blogging it was to a handful of Conservative Future activists who wanted to hear libelous gossip about each other. Things have grown a lot since then, but TB still relies on his sources for most of his insidery stuff, be it con, lib or lab. Most people sadly now refrain from talking candidly in front of TB, but that doesn't mean you can't let him know what you know anonymously. For those who are new to the site please find Tory Bear's updated contact details below. TB has let things go a little in the last few months, but he is looking to up his game and devote more time to the blog in the run up to conference...

What do you know?

Email: editor@torybear.com
(drop TB a line if you want to speak on the phone and he will call you back.)

Twitter

@torybear

BlackBerry: 210250F0

Head in the Sand

Paul "Scoop" Waugh at The Standard

has what could potentially come a big headache for Brown:

"Gordon Brown ignored a stark warning that "toxic" bank loans could lead to global financial collapse, a leading US hedge fund chief has revealed.

Jim Chanos said that Mr Brown, while Chancellor of the Exchequer, was given a briefing that predicted banks were in dire danger - more than a year before the crisis hit last year."

Cheers Gordon.

Image via

The Rascal

Banter:

Tip of the hat to

Holyrood Patter

for this one.

Things Can Only Get Better...

Well it wouldn't be hard to beat this:



Clue number one to some conference fun TB has planned...

The Sound of Music

This is awesome:



Via

Trixy

In Out of the Loop

TB has blundered. Apparently CF has recently appointed a full time member of staff, working out of CCHQ. In light of his recent post it seems the time has come when no one ever tells him anything. That's what he gets for going away for weeks on end. His post did however have the interests of the organisation at heart.

Given the great things he is heard and some of the freshers stuff he saw tonight, it sounds like that Kate Fuller is doing a wonderful job. TB has been there and knows how hard the freshers campaign is, and it is particularly heartening to hear that the CF members database is being conquered.

Kate there is a TB bag-for-life in the post. Keep up the good work.

Please can TB have one of those Party for Change t-shirts he understands are going out?

Sister Bear hits the Blogosphere

Sister Bear has started blogging for the Spectator's new

Cappuccino Culture

blog. TB has been trying to get her to start a blog for ages but seems she has gone straight for the big league!

Read her musings

here

.

It stinks...

A few weeks back the Sunday Times nodded to the fact that Mandelson had met with David Geffen in Corfu, and surprise surprise the Government are now proposing draconian changes to how they counter file sharing. Apart from a bit of follow up on some blogs, TB included, the story went pretty much under the radar.

A few people dismissed TB pushing the story hard as idiotic and deluded, tin foil hat nutter etc...

Well finally the Lobby have

started to listen

.

Better late than never boys.

Prison Works?

Scottish Labour blogger, and Holyrood gossiper

Yapping Yousuf

had this little snippet of intrigue yesterday:

"Apparently Megrahis former inmates at Greenock prison are fuming as Gadaffi had previously paid to give Megrahi Sky TV in his room and under the rules of the prison if one inmate receives a facility then they all get it so everyone was enjoying SKY TV until now."

WTF? Excuse TB while he goes a little hang em' and flog em' but who the hell allowed the Libyan President to pay for Scottish murders and rapists to watch endless repeats of Top Gear on UK Gold?

Surely, by the same rules, every single life prisoner in Scotland who gets cancer will be let out?

No? Didn't think so.

Young, Rich and err Green

Given that the Conservative Future executive are currently deliberating over the co-option of three new members in the run up to the election, TB got a thinking...

Apparently the response to the recruitment drive has been top notch with the current Exec having a wealth of candidates to choose from for the three new roles. This is all in spite of it being a completely unpaid position, without provision for as much as a train fare. Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have paid up staffers running their youth operations, but not the Tories...

And now it seems so

do the Greens

:

The Young Greens are recruiting a new Co-ordinator. The post is 7 hours per week to be carried our over 1 full day or 2 half days and is based in North London at Green Party head office plus occasional travel/weekends away in the UK. You will be line managed by Young Greens' Chairs and Green Party Head of Office. Salary pro rata is c.£17,500.

This is ridiculous. The Conservatives cannot simply rely on the momentum behind them in order to run and recruit to its youth movement. Yes of course this helps, but at the end of the day, deep down, everyone knows that Conservative Future could be a much greater machine and aid the main party to a much, much greater extent.

When what is essentially a pressure group with lofty ideas of grandeur can afford to have a paid youth staffer, then surely the party that is set to form the next government, with the most money coming in, must concede that there is some merit to the idea?

Anyone? No...? Anyone...?

More Guardian nonsense...

Dear Peter Jones,

You are a moron of the highest order

. Come the counter revolution you have my written word that you will be the absolute first against the wall.

Lots of love

Tory Bear

Gordon's Alive...

Brown managed to

find time to congratulate

our cricketing heroes but not a squeak about a scandal that could potentially bring down his government.

Quote of the Day

TB was chatting to some people while MacAskill was giving his ridiculous justifications for releasing a mass murderer. A certain silver fox piped up with this absolute gem:

"I can't believe they clap in the Scottish Parliament. It's like a student union."

So true. On so many levels.

Oh no she didn't...

...oh yes

she did

.

Home Sweet Home.

After a fairly mammoth drive from the south of France, TB came out of the tunnel to the last half hour of the cricket. He has just got home for the first time in five weeks and was greeted to these two great images when he sat down to check his email.

Brown is in deep shit

, well done to

Drudge

for highlighting this to his millions and millions of American readers. After three fantastic weeks in the US, where conservative politics is done properly and two blissful weeks in the south of France, as well as the pending real world TB has to face, coming back to the UK was quite hard work, but what great news to come back to. Brown is on the rack again, the SNP have destroyed any semblance of credibility they once had (no confidence vote in Holyrood anyone?) and England have won the Ashes.

It's time for the Conservatives to seal the deal, it's nearly conference season. Labour's will be a bloodbath but the Tories cannot just sit back and watch. Apologies for the quiet blogging of the last few weeks, but panic not...

Things are going to get very interesting again, very quickly.

Something for the weekend...

TB is going to be in transit for most of the weekend driving back from France, so he will be rather quiet. In the meantime here are some of the long awaited pictures from the

Young America's Foundation

conference in DC a few weeks back. Seems Tory Bear has a whole legion of new fans, including Kate Obenshain of Fox News fame...

American girlies, if you fancy coming to the

Young Britons' Foundation

conference in October then you should probably take a look at

this

.

Get writing those essays if you want to see see the bear again...

Brown and Out

When it comes to this...

Dear Prime Minister,

The decision by the Scottish Justice Secretary to release Mr al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds has been widely condemned, including by President Obama.

As I said yesterday, I believe that the decision to release Megrahi was wrong. He was convicted of murdering 270 people, and I do not believe he deserved to be released on compassionate grounds, or returned to Libya.

The scenes of him receiving a rapturous welcome at Tripoli airport on his return will have distressed many people. I note that Colonel Gaddafi’s son has now publicly thanked not just the Scottish authorities but the British Government for its stance, raising questions about the British Government’s role

You have not commented on the decision since it was announced yesterday. This morning your Foreign Secretary refused several requests to say what he thought of the Scottish Justice Secretary’s decision.

The fact that the decision to release was taken by the Scottish Justice Secretary does not preclude you, as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from now expressing your opinion on a subject that is of great public concern, and which affects Britain’s international reputation and our relations with our allies.

It is curious that while others have commented, Britain’s own Prime Minister has not.

I hope you will now take the opportunity to do so.

We are entitled to know what you and your Ministers have said to the Libyan authorities on this matter, and to the Scottish Justice Secretary.

Above all, I believe that the public are entitled to know what you think of the decision to release Megrahi, and whether you consider it was right or wrong.

I hope you will now take the opportunity to make your own view clear.

David Cameron

..you know the Prime Minister is a disgrace.

The grumbling is starting again...

This Observer isn't very happy

with Conservative Future and has some interesting words of encouragement that could be paraphrased with "kick" "up" and "backside":

"Since I joined the party in February, I have had precisely nil contact from Conservative Future. Indeed, had I not been an avid reader of political blogs I would not even have known that the organisation exists.

If the party genuinely wants to engage young people with politics. If it goes to all the bother (and presumably expense) of setting up a youth organisation to achieve just that, then it really should be making sure that everyone can get involved.

Doing that wouldn't be hard. All it means is regular e-mail updates to eligible CF members. It wouldn't cost much and the extra numbers of campaigning young people that might end up on the streets as a result could be huge."

Looking forward to hearing who the new co-options onto the National Exec for the election campaign are. They need to hit the ground running and instill some much needed energy into a exec that has been going close to 18 months now.

Nominations have closed and the selection process is apparently underway. TB has been assured it is completely independent of CCHQ, which fingers crossed means we might get some sound people.

You'll know when he knows.

It's not the doctors that are evil...

Seems

Comrade Blaney

has been taking photoshop tutorials.

Totty Watch: Lady Kitty Spencer Editon

After the rage of the last couple of posts, it's definitely time for some light relief.

Mandrake

reports today that top totty Lady Kitty Spencer, niece of Diana, wants "to write - I was actually thinking about doing political journalism before. I like the idea of being like a Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City, but who writes about serious things."

It's an open secret that TB is a Sex in the City fan, (yes he's seen every episode, whatya gonna do about it!?) There is a serious lack of political lady-bloggers. Where is the blogosphere's political Carrie? Maybe Kitty should fill the gap...

TB would be happy to show her the ropes.

Nationalist Scum.

Fraser Nelson wrote in

today's Speccie

about the growing closeness between the tories and their anti-labour "mercenaries" - the SNP in North Briton. It's a must read, but

developments today

might put a little strain on that relationship. As nice as some of them are for a pint or a bit of banter, the Lockerbie decision reminds us all of what dangerous and deluded fools the Scottish nationalists really are.

What do you expect when you elect what should be no more than a lunatic-fringe pressure group to run a region. The Scottish Executive have embarrassed themselves today. The UK as a whole has been shamed by a jumped up county council. The scumbag terrorist should have been left to rot in pieces, thinking about the hundreds of innocent lives he ended and families he destroyed. Compassion isn't a word he ever used. The shameful political opportunism - honed down to the very last second, with MacAskill timing his speech, just a couple of minutes past the hour in order to guarantee American television coverage, was just so blatent. This wasn't about compassion, it was a cold and cynical calculated political move. The last refuge of the scoundrel indeed.

The SNP may think they have scored a victory here, no doubt Salmond will be troughing a celebratory curry tonight, but in the long run this will come back to bite them in the arse. They have shown to the whole world that they are amateurs, way out of their depth, proving what we had all long suspected. They have set the agenda back years, we have solid proof now that they should not be in a position of power.

Every cloud eh?

Guest Post - Chris Galley

Chris Galley, the Home Office mole arrested along side Damian Green isn't likely to get his DNA off the system anytime soon. Chris was arrested and interrogated like a terror suspect and was held at an RAF base. He is still waiting to get his ipod back...

Shadow Immigration Minister Damian MP last night won his battle to have DNA taken off the Stasi's national database. Mr Green said:

'This is a small but significant victory for freedom, but it is only a first step'

Some of you may know me as the former civil servant who helped Damian Green expose the endemic failings in the immigration system for which I had my DNA taken and incredibly my footprints taken as well. I can honestly say that that although the weft of the Home Office carpet was comfortable I was never tempted to walk around barefoot!

Both our DNA samples and a large amount of our personal property have been stored since last November until the case was thankfully thrown out in April. In a rare victory the police have told Mr Green that he meets the 'exceptional' circumstances whereby a DNA sample can be destroyed. This normally amounts to 500 samples a year out of 850,000 innocent people on the DNA database including many juveniles. According to the Daily Mail the Metropolitan police has only destroyed 31 DNA samples in the last year. Having contacted Helen Wallace of

Genewatch UK

this morning regarding destroying my own DNA sample I was told the chances were basically nil. The only real action I can take is a letter writing campaign against Sir Paul Stephenson's office or go down the legal route which would probably lead to bankruptcy. I would like to know what an exceptional circumstance is so that I can be released from the database along with the other 850,000 people.

I have written to the Metropolitan Police today asking for my DNA to be removed and I don't expect to be treated as an exceptional circumstance neither did Mr Green. He had to endure another lengthy legal fight to remove himself from the tentacles of Big Brother to prove that it is possible. For the disgraced hierarchy at the Metropolitan Police removing Mr Green DNA from the database seems to be an olive branch to him for targeting an innocent man for doing his job and possibly someone who could be their boss come the next election.

I can just imagine the draft being prepared already by one of the police officers who is even too unfit to stand outside parliament: Dear Mr Galley, Due to orders from the former Home Secretary Jackboots you are to be transported to Siberia henceforth....via RAF Uxbridge.

Chris Galley is now the Research Director of the

Sunlight Centre for Open Politics

. You can donate to their private prosecution of Jacqui Smith

here

.

Don't do it Dave...

So

The Sun

is reporting that Dave went out for a night with Hull police and is considering trebling the tax on some drinks in order to curb boozing. Sounds like something straight out of the New Labour paternalistic playbook. He attacked the ‘unbelievably low prices of some alcohol’.

Hmmm. What happened to personal responsibility, that little concept

you spoke of just over a year ago

. It wasn't all nanny state and dictating to people what they should drink then:

"David Cameron declared yesterday that some people who are poor, fat or addicted to alcohol or drugs have only themselves to blame.

He said that society had been too sensitive in failing to judge the behaviour of others as good or bad, right or wrong, and that it was time for him to speak out against “moral neutrality”."

Please continue...

“Of course, circumstances — where you are born, your neighbourhood, your school and the choices your parents make — have a huge impact. But social problems are often the consequence of the choices people make.”

Damn straight.

+++Damian Green DNA Victory+++

The beeb

is reporting that the police have destroyed Damian Green's DNA after his arrest last year. Green said:

"The police have now agreed that they will delete my DNA fingerprint and my police national computer record as I have been requesting ever since I was cleared." and that it was a "small but significant victory for freedom".



Tory MP one, Labour's brave new police state zero.

#freegrantshapps

Apparently Grant Shapps's Twitter account was suspended for "for publicising his own website so much that they thought he was spamming" according to his Chief of Staff. (Grant Shapps has a CoS!?)

Panic not sports fans, apparently he has been in touch with the twowers that be and will be back spamming within the week...

Now this should be amusing...

Mark Oaten's kiss and tell is

out in time

for conference:

Shit title.

TB in Blades of Glory?

A loyal reader

has busted TB's secret Hollywood career. The screenshots never lie - there indeed is Tory Bear with Will Ferrell and friends 43 minutes into Blades of Glory...

Anyone spotted the bear elsewhere?

John Lamont MSP MP?

Long term friend of the bear and general legend John Lamont MSP has

been selected

to fight the highly winnable Borders Westminster seat. John will be a great MP and the 6.5% swing he needs from the Lib Dems is considerably less than the 9.4% he achieved at the last Holyrood elections.

The tory benches need more people like John - best of luck to him.

Every single day...

TB is forced to add another name to the list of people that piss him off. Today it is

John Harris

who spouts shite writes for the Guardian website about music and politics, poorly. This is John Harris:

TB can't quite put his finger on quite why there is such loathing or quite how annoying this chump is, but he has yet to get to an end of one of his pieces without wanting to chew his right paw off, or throw his laptop at the wall. He is a nauseating lefty who is so overwhelmingly self-satisfied that you can actually tell he is sitting there smiling smugly at his choice of words. Take these irritating and sickening Guardian pieces for example:

Interview with George Osborne

- sarcastic and patronising.

Rant about privatisation

-

"Here, anyway, is what increasingly seems to be the future: slick corporate logos flashing from prisons, hospitals, schools, detention centres, defence facilities, police stations and more, and a cut-price society pitched somewhere between Margaret Thatcher and Philip K Dick. Real-life dystopias, let us not forget, tend to arrive by stealth; whatever the political fashion, we need to start talking about all this again – and fast."

-completely deluded and out of his depth, it's dangerous to have such naive people in positions of influence.

Oh and where John shines, and TB means really shines, is

his shite arguments

against giving people the vote and decision making abilities, well that is a little harsh, against open primaries:

"The Totnes model, we hear, is grassroots democracy in action – a cover, surely, for the fact that no national politicians have any convincing plans for the revival of local government. In Westminster, strangulated parliamentary discipline will remain, meaning that even if local mavericks do make the grade, they will still be endlessly cattle-prodded through the lobbies."

They will hardly be the odd "local maverick" if they are all eventually elected this way, and are all subject to primaries every election. My lord John, can you imagine! MPs serving the interests of their constituents, the horror, the horror.

Dear reader, be warned, don't make the mistakes that TB has made in the past. If you see the name John Harris in print, or online, just don't bother reading it, go do something else with your time. You will only end up in a fit of rage that is made even worse by just how punchable this chap looks.

Though what do you expect from someone who clearly thinks Jimmy Osmond is still a fashion icon:

Ugh.

Go Clinton.

TB never thought the day would come when he would say that. However, Mrs Clinton has got one over on the Lord of Darkness today, and that has to be commended.

Liberal Vision's Angela Harbett reports

;

Last year it was dodgy Russians on yachts. This year it has been revealed that the Lord, between sunbathing and posh dinners at chez Rothschilds, did indeed meet with the son of the Libyan leader Colnel Gaddafi, (Saif al-Islam Gaddafi). Just days later meeting, hey presto, reports appear that the Libyan bomber may be released.
A link ? Noooo! Lord Mandelson’s spokesman said that whilst a meeting did take place subsequent reports of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s possible release from jail were “entirely coincidental“.

Just HOW stupid do they thing we are (er well pretty stupid now you ask! he’s shown that time and again).

But wait. Lord Mandelson may have met his match. Following the announcement of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi’s possible release, I have been told, and indeed it has been reported that, Hilary Clinton waded in. I do not know what precisely was said unfortnunately, but “over” and “our dead body” was almost certainly the sentiment, if not the actual words used.

So whilst Mr Mandelson may indeed be a highly effective dick-swinger, it would appear that Mrs Clinton has an even larger and more influential one - and with considerable longer reach. Who would have thought that anyone would have ever written a post about MRS Clintons dick-swinging?

Too true, seems Mrs Clinton is far more careful where she swings. Liberal Vision fails to pick up on the other Corfu dinner partner who has got what he wanted though. As TB reported the other day, it's not what you know with Mandy, it's who you know.

The stench of corruption is never far from Foy.

#LabourNotUsingNHS

Tory Politico

got in touch with TB the other day to ask him for a quote for his new blog banner, to which he replied - "Shrewd and to the point, TB is often tempted to nick most of Politico's stories."

Here

is the perfect example:

Good find.

Tim Montgomerie

has been starting the

#LabourNotUsingNHS

hashtag today on the back of Brown's hundreds of pounds of private dental care. We can add hypocrite as well as trougher to the words to describe Ann Keen

TB can think of worse.

She's no Derek Draper...

...but this could still be amusing.

In what is looking more and more likely to be her last few months in Parliament, Kerry McCarthy the MP for Bristol East has been given the poisoned chalice of

coordinating the Labour Party's online

and new media efforts. Doesn't this all sound a little too familiar? Haven't Labour learnt that these sort of things backfire when too much central control is put on them.

The most hysterical line that McCarthy has come out with so far was her

first shot

at the right-wing blogosphere:

"I think this is a real contrast with what the Tories are doing in the area of new media – they seem to be doing everything centrally..."

Is she mental? Here we have a senior Party member - a whip FFS, appointed by the General Election coordinator, announcing her role on a website set up at the behest of Labour HQ, paid for by the Party's biggest donor Unite, and she has the blatant audacity to suggest that the Tories are doing things from the centre?

It took years for bloggers to even get a press release out of CCHQ and yet Labour bloggers are invited for breakfast at Victoria Street and McCarthy bleats on about how she is going to bring the young bloggers on board - make sure they walk the bloody line more like.

Draper was an idiot for very different reasons, but McCarthy's Conservative opponent in Bristol

Adeela Shafi

must surely be laughing at this news today.

It's not like Labour have the best track record when it comes to these things now is it.

Alex Salmond on Braveheart...

Since moving from Edinburgh TB still likes to keep an eye on the north, especially its growing blogosphere. This post from the ever wonderful

Scottish Unionist

made TB chuckle:

Guardian

: “Braveheart gave full rein to a toxic Anglophobia”

American Spectator

: “an anti-English diatribe from its opening”

Independent

: “has been linked to a rise in anti-English prejudice”

Economist

: “xenophobic and historically preposterous”

Guardian

: “seemingly intended as a piece of anti-English propaganda”

Sunday Times

: “The political effects are truly pernicious. It’s a xenophobic film.”

Alex Salmond

: “That film had a profound effect. Things politically were already on the move, but it certainly accelerated change. There aren’t many films which are truly important, but this is one.”

Come on then ye "cybernats" defend that one.

Anti-grass roots.

There are a couple of interesting polls on PoliticsHome today. Firstly it seems that the people agree with George Osborne that Labour are

not a progressive party

and it's them who are desperately clinging to a broken past, and secondly an interesting poll about

legalising drugs

:

TB is slightly disheartened to see that the old fuddy-duddy authoritarian Mail-esque tories have dragged the budding libertarian wing of the party down. TB finds it hard to believe that there are proportionally more Labour voters who want to relax Britain's extreme drug laws, but then again it shows just how out of touch the Labour leadership is with their members. Frankly TB doesn't give a flying fuck what you smoke, inject, snort or drink, it's your choice and your responsibility to pick up the pieces. He has some hope that the next generation coming up the party ranks are noticeably more libertarian - those currently in charge of Conservative Future certainly are, but then again the age old saying will probably come in to play.

A conservative is a libertarian with daughters.

Sounds like a plan...

TB woke up this morning convinced he had that swiiine... a swim and a couple of bellinis later and it turns out it was just a mild case of wine flu.

TB thinks this is how everyone should spend their Sunday afternoon.

It's not what you know...

Matthew d'Ancona has used his

Telegraph column

to nod to the PM4PM bandwagon and even damns Labour with faint praise:

"Labour doesn't want him as its leader, and it won't happen. But the party is working hard to suppress a smile after the brief reign of King Peter, for a simple reason that may serve them all well in the future if they have the wit to remember. In this dark hour, Mandy has reminded them what it feels like not to be scared."

d'Ancona also reminds us that:

"Mandelson, twice forced to resign from the Cabinet, has a record as long as your arm, and can't see a scandal passing in the street without shouting: "Hey, wait for me!" He may have a safe pair of hands when it comes to minding the shop in Gordon's absence, but he is otherwise (or at least has been) politically radioactive."

Funny he should mention that given it was the Sunday Time's

obligatory story about Mandy

that caught TB's attention next, or perhaps he should rephrase that, the distinct whiff of corruption about it perked him up:

"Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, ordered officials to draw up draconian regulations on internet piracy just days after he had a private dinner with a Hollywood mogul who is a critic of illegal file-sharing.
Mandelson is understood to have demanded that internet service providers be given new powers to cut off the accounts of British web users who persistently download music and films for nothing.
The business secretary’s intervention comes after a meeting last weekend with David Geffen, the billionaire producer who co-founded the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg.
Mandelson and Geffen dined on August 7 with members of the Rothschild banking dynasty at the family’s holiday villa on the Greek island of Corfu."

Talk your way out of that one oh great master!

The Digital Britain bill due to be debated next year is becoming farcical. They want to have the power to cut off or reduce the broadband connections of people who download films and music. They will also be setting up a big list of repeat offenders. Too many problems of government and states infringing on the rights and freedoms of its people start with big lists. Just stop it. History has taught us that lists drawn up by governments never end well.

Seriously though, this is a textbook bit of cash for access, it might not be crumpled fivers in brown envelopes but... "have you seen my yacht/villa... oh you came here last year too? Of course you did." First there was Lord Taylor of Blackburn, Lord Truscott, Lord Snape and Lord Moonie, should we be adding Lord Mandleson of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the County of Durham to that list?

It stinks.

Taxi for John Edwards

After lying about it for eighteen months, it seems slimeball and Kerry Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards has

finally admitted

that yes, he did indeed knock up his mistress. Like so many great sex scandals he probably could have got away with it had it if he hadn't lied and lied and lied. The fact his wife is dying of cancer didn't help either nor can the investigation to see whether he used thousands of dollars of his campaign funds to try buy his bit-of-skirt-slash-former-aide's silence. The DNA test never lies and it looks like this nauseating scumbag is finally toast.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

We Are Watching You

After Alan Duncan's ridiculous indiscretion and the work of

10,000

Labour supporters on Twitter in the last few days, the reality of quite how the internet will dominate the next election is finally dawning on the old school media. Every citizen is armed, they just don't know it. With camera phones, twitter, blogs and online video we are all the journos, the judge and the jury now.

Howard Flight

in reality was the first victim of this idea back in 2005, but given that lazy hacks are spending their August regurgitating blogs, TB thought he would do some recycling himself. Alan Duncan was rightfully caught out, but this is just the beginning. How the upcoming election will be reported will change journalism in the UK forever. Remember this one:



We are all journos now and TB has been saying it since his blog began.

TB in St. Trop...

Tory Bear is taking it rather easy in the shade today after a marathon twelve hour rosé session in St Tropez yesterday. Luckily, especially for

LabourList

editor Alex Smith, who TB understands is a particular fan of his wardrobe, someone had a camera...

Blogging will probably be light today as TB's head hurts. There is some more NHS/Twitter rage brewing, but it seems Dizzy has hit the nail on the head with

this cracking post though

. Wondered how long it would take for

this

to happen too.

Back to sun instead. Shame.

Hannan4Westminster

Blogs editor Damian Thompson has a must read piece

over at the Telegraph

:

"So Daniel Hannan attacks socialised medicine on American television, and immediately Dave slaps him down. Is it because of his criticism of the National Health Service, or because of the way he criticised it - that is, with an eloquence and forensic command of detail that makes most members of the shadow cabinet sound like jargon-spouting middle managers?

If Dan was an MP, the Conservatives would be forced to engage in the very thing that frightens them most: ideological debate."

The truth hurts.