The look of love.

Oh to be a fly on the wall in the Bagshaw camp today. Can't imagine

this

went down very well, or that there will be many photo ops like this in the near future:

Apologies for the lack of proper blogging today. Dissertation due in less than 48 hours.

Reichstag Government building fire.

The Immigration Commission is on fire:

No doubt Brown will blame the communists, but history will show it to have been an inside job.

Caption Contest:

Nick Clegg is getting his morning update from his Liberal Youth monitor, but what's the news?

Answers below, standard rules apply.

Well that's one way of winning an election...

TB is beginning to wonder when

James Harrison

will get to the stage where he regrets drawing Tory Bear's attention to himself and his ridiculous organisation. It was wee James, a wannabe try hard from Glasgow University, who has bought the full wrath of this bear down on Liberal Youth, and particularly on the candidate he so sycophantically creeps around.

Yep that's right kids, just when you thought that TB had got bored of winding up the Lib Dems, or was too busy, once again the plot takes another comical twist. When you read what has happened, at all times, keep the fact that this is a supposedly liberal bunch of kids we are dealing with in mind. Idealistic, free spirited and above all in favour of a little something called free speech. You can read up on what has been going on thus far in their elections from the various links in this post, but essentially Chairman Elaine Bagshaw is now doing everything she possibly can to get her opponent, a now former executive member, expelled from the Party so that she can be returned to her position of Queen Bee with some wet blanket apparatchiks at her side, gently fanning her with large leaves for another twelve months.

Now TB has his ways and means of getting hold of documents and emails from seemingly watertight places, however no-one has thrown quite such a hissy fit as Elaine did last week when TB was leaked an email that proved what she really thought of her electorate and the organisation she ran. It wasn't good news. TB was accused of illegally hacking the Liberal Youth Forums, where apparently the message had previously been posted, and removed, by the the then Vice-Chairman Sara Scarlett - Bagshaw's opponent in the election. TB was sent that email anonymously and wouldn't even know where to begin hacking something like that. Yet without a shred of evidence Bagshaw has put the ball in motion to see her opponent expelled from the Liberal Youth, leaving her path clear open to re-election. Scarlett, the infamous Heckler of Harrogate, somewhat of a firebrand in the organisation if those who have been briefing TB are to be believed, decided to quit her post as Vice-Chairman before she was booted out by the rest of the executive, the majority of which under the thumb of Bagshaw, everyone with a brain having seemingly left.

However that hasn't been enough for Queen Elaine, she is living up to her true New Labour authoritarian streak. Firstly she is still pushing, despite the clearly bloody obvious conflict of interest, for a vote on whether Scarlett should be thrown out of the organisation, with the obvious electoral implications that brings. Secondly, in ways that would make Brown and Wheelan blush, her campaign is getting dirtier and dirtier. A member of her campaign team is under investigation by Cowley Street for racial abuse, after he allegedly bellowed at Scarlett in front of a packed conference bar in Harrogate a couple of weekends ago. If that wasn't bad enough TB's sources have confirmed that Elaine and her little cronies spent the whole of this weekend, at the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference, badmouthing Scarlett, specifically putting round the rumour, in all seriousness, that she was mentally unstable.



You can take the girl out of New-Labour, but you can't take New Labour out of the girl. Bagshaw won't be content until she has destroyed everyone that stands in the way of her ridiculous quest for power. Never before has Tory Bear seen such an uninspiring public speaker, see above. It is unheard of for a Chairman of any organisation to lose, no less than, seventeen members of their executive through resignations and survive, and although student politics can get bitchy there is no excuse for racial abuse. How no one in Liberal Youth has yet stood up like the boy and the Emperor's new clothes and called this brash buffoon out, leaves TB lost for words. This woman is a laughing stock yet she looks set for re-election and we are set for a whole more year of laughs at Liberal Youth's expense.

If RON doesn't win this election the members of Liberal Youth should be ashamed of themselves.

Leave us alone.

If you haven't already got involved with

Spotify

, TB would urge you to get on it asap. It's basically a free program to download that lets you listen to pretty much any song, ever written, ever, ish. Every twenty minutes or so you get an thirty odd second audio advert with some images. This was all fine when it was bands and albums being advertised but for some reason today guess who has turned up to ruin the party.

That's right, every twenty minutes the government ram their latest shit initiative and ideas down TB's throat. Is there anywhere that we can escape their clutches, will there ever be a sanctuary from this overbearing and constantly infringing state? You can't turn on the TV or radio without thinking you are going to be done for benefit fraud or hit by a train. You can't go for a drink without being told you are going to choke in a pile of your own vomit, or get raped, and even the bloody adverts behind the urinal in TB's local have started talking to you, reminding you not to forget to wash your hands don'tyouknowthankyouverymuch. It's no wonder that the taxpayer is second only to

P&G

in terms of money spent on advertising in Britain.

Why do they have to ruin everything fun? Why can't they just leave us alone?

Guest Post - ComPolitics

Continuing with the current series of guest posts Reeves Eggton, from Skegness Conservative Future tells us why computers will never win an election:

Few will have failed to notice the tragic rehabilitation of former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott from seasoned campaigner into Internet whiz kid. There is something fundamentally disturbing about the self-styled ‘working class and proud’ veteran swapping his roots for wires to take the political battle from the walkways to the web.

Already, in the information age political organisations have in many cases wisely made use of social networking applications to get the Party message across to the public and more importantly, younger voters. But the launch of Prezza 2.0 reveals the unhealthy obsession with Compolitics (computer-politics) whereby the doorstep is switched for they keyboard with little consideration for the long-term impact on prospective voters.

When comparing the time it takes to canvass a street to the time it takes to message the exact same number of people over Facebook, it’s easy to see why Compolitics is capturing the agenda for many seasoned campaigners. Thanks to Labour, money is tight, taxes are high and crime is soaring, voters need support and dialogue on the doorstep - and they need it now.

Organisations like Conservative Future avoid providing Second Life avatars for the campaign trail and instead concentrate on providing real activists in real areas of need. By supporting critical campaigns with hardworking volunteers, the team has already made a huge impact on marginal seats across the UK. In the London region this year alone, the organisation has held two major campaign days in target areas, with the next scheduled in Westminster for March 28. With a growing member base and several more events in the pipeline, Conservative Future will be key to winning the next election.

Make no mistake, Compolitics is without doubt an essential tool in any campaign, but it must never be a substitute for activism on the ground. With Labour support crumbling and once loyal activists de-motivated and feeling let down, this is the moment for Conservative Future activists to steal the show.

With an election just around the corner, don’t be fooled by Labour’s desperate attempts to dominate the Internet with online gimmicks. Simply peel back the 2.0 gloss and you’ll see a tired organisation desperate for innovation, but stuck with Gordon Brown.

With the public seeking real change, it’s essential that Conservative Future demonstrates that its activists are committed & dedicated as well as Internet savvy.

Only by convincing voters we are ready for Government both online and in the real world will we seriously be considered to run the country once again.

On that note, to avoid hypocrisy, I’d better get out there now!

If you would like to write something for Tory Bear while he does his dissertation, email your ideas to editor@torybear.com

The letters...

In case you were interested in the formalities of Owen Meredith's resignation from the Conservative Future Executive:

And then there were five...

A man of his word.

Dear CF Members,

I have today written to Michael Rock as Chairman of Conservative Future to tender my resignation from the National Management Executive.

A year after taking office in March 2008, I have reached the end of my elected term, and believe now is the right time to step down.

In leaving the NME today, I want to make clear that I am not leaving CF or retiring to the shadows. I am 100% committed to supporting CF and helping the continued growth and success of the organisation.

I would like to thank CF members for their support and encouragement over the past year. There have been many challenges and difficult decisions, but I have enjoyed my time on the NME immensely and encourage CF members to get involved and stay involved. CF can and indeed must keep going from strength-to-strength, and I look forward to it playing a vital role in removing this disastrous Labour Government from office whenever the General Election is called.

Kindest Regards,

Owen Meredith

Cameron Direct Live at 18.00:

Get the popcorn...

This just pinged up in TB's Google reader:

"FROM ROBBIE GIBB, EDITOR OF THE DAILY POLITICS:

They have had a go at each other online and now two rival bloggers will face each other for the first time in the Daily Politics studio.
The Battle of the Blogs will see

Guido Fawkes

and

Derek Draper

go up against each other on our Thursday 26 March programme.
Draper from the Labour List blog will debate with Paul Staines, aka Guido Fawkes, from the Order-Order blog.
The two bloggers have been highly critical of each other, and others have been

critical about the nature of political blogging

.

And we want your help - what questions would you like us to answer this pair?

Draper threatened to sue after his professional qualifications were called into question by his online rival. And the Labour man has accused Guido of peddling racism and sexism, something that Guido - who rarely appears as himself with his real name - vehemently denied.

We will have the pair in our studio, with

Andrew Neil

and

Jo Coburn

taking on the job of referee.

What questions would you like to see this pair answer?"

Head over to the comments section

here

to leave your suggestions.

Guest Post - BUCF

Tory Bear has a hectic week so he will be throwing in the odd guest post over the next few days. Daniel O'Doherty is the Chairman of Birmingham University CF and talks here about how to regenerate a branch and build better communications with student unions. Always somewhere to cause some amusing mischief...

First of all may I say what a delight and privilege it is to have been invited by TB to write for this fantastic blog. The topic I have been asked to speak on is one that is never far away from a young Conservatives thought: student politics. When I took over as President of Birmingham University Conservative Future our relations with our Guild and the conservative associations in our local area were close to collapse after a series of mistakes and bad fortune. Within just 2 days of taking over I was told we were facing derecognising from the Guild and to add to our woes the incoming committee found that our membership was largely demoralised and inactive which made our task to fight back against this derecognition all the more difficult.

Faced with the prospect of our humiliating forced removal from the Guild I had to take the immediate decision to ‘jump before pushed’ in order to save what remained of the society’s face. I therefore held a referendum of our members which voted for severing all ties with the Guild. However over the summer period I had time and course to reflect on this decision. Having thought long and hard I realised that despite my own distaste for guild/student politics, which incidentally I see as one Scargill short of the NUM, the long term interests of the society would not be advanced by derecognition or distancing from the guild… as much as we might have liked to believe otherwise.

I wholeheartedly sympathise with our young conservative counterparts across the country who are facing similar dilemmas within their own student’s unions and suffer from similar temptations to ‘cut and run’. As most of us will agree these places are more often than not bastions of self seeking, self righteous individuals who use their morally superior twoddle to devalue and demoralise us conservatives. They seem at times to have little if any grasp of the real world and instead prefer to shield themselves between the sheets of their Guardian newspapers. Therefore a conservative would naturally be inclined to ask; why should we want to be part of such a grouping? The truth is we have to be a part of it.

In order to reassert BUCF’s rightful place in the Guild I had to take some often unpleasant and unpopular actions which required a large degree of humility and yes, tongue biting. By far the hardest was having to address Guild Council against a pretty damn hostile backdrop however their anger and hostility toward me only made me more resolute and forceful, yet at the same time humble and reconciliatory, in my arguments. In the end it worked in our favour and we survived our derecognition procedure with a margin of 69% - 30% with 1% abstention.

From then on, our position within the Guild has been strengthened and secured. We created the new role of ‘Guild officer’ on our committee to emphasise our commitment to student politics and I am delighted to announce that one of our members has stood for Guild Council in the Guild Elections that have been taking place all this week. The results are due soon and with a bit of luck we could have our first elected Conservative on Guild Council in a number of years. This marks a massive turn around in our fortunes from last year. The fundamental point of all this is that assuming Timm is elected, the Conservatives could have a real chance to influence change on our Guild that would never have been possible in ‘political exile’.

The second pillar of our move toward reform has been in our local area. Leading figures of the Conservative party in our local area, Edgbaston, have told me over the years how frustrated they have been at some committee’s attitude toward the local area and associations. It was the belief of some BUCF committees that we, as students, had no place getting involved in local politics and our role must be confined to the student body. Utter tosh. Every Conservative Future society has a vital role to play in the future of the part as a whole and this has always been a potent part of my wider agenda for the society. This ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality which I know is practised by many in CF must end. We are all in this for the same purpose and we must remember that.

In this light, having previously had a good personal relationship with members of Edgbaston Conservative Association which incidentally is a crucial swing seat, I made it my mission to reaffirm our links with them and attend more of their socials/campaign days with our members. After a slow start our effort was rewarded when we were enshrined on their committee in a permanent role with voting rights on matters affecting the Edgbaston constituency and association. Furthermore our members now take regular and active involvement of our local associations much to their delight.

All of these reforms which have not always been easy have ensured BUCF remains in a strong position in both our local area and on our campus. It has not always been easy and as ever there is a hell of a lot more to do. However the reforms we have pushed through, which at times have gone against our natural instincts, have ensured the society’s longevity. We have made it our mission to strike that most careful and crucial of balances by remembering that we are both a Conservative and student society. For too long have the two been seen as separate even conflicting entities. The truth is we can achieve more from within than on the periphery.

Instead of retreating from our unions or our local areas or believing we have to prioritise one over the other as we have been so tempted to do in the past, we must embrace both and where we face opposition we must, in the words of Mrs Thatcher, “win the battle of ideas”. Embrace your union, engage with your local area and energise your members with a string of political and, most crucially, social events in tune with the student body. That is how to make a strong society worthy of the Conservative cause.

Dan and co blog regularly at

www.bucf.co.uk

If you would like to write a guest post, send 400-700 words to editor@torybear.com asap.

Totty Watch: Maria Sergeyeva

A bit late to this story, but TB thought he would liven up your Sunday evening with Maria Sergeyeva. Maria is a 24 year old Putin-loyalist Russian lady-blogger and she is creating quite a storm with the press around the world. She was named "The Russian Sarah Palin" by the

American press

, and both the

Times

and

Mail

have profiled her over here. She is a leading light of the Putin's youthful army of devout loyalists and she's not afraid to flaunt her good looks to drive up the traffic to her site. A prize for the first reader to track down the elusive bikini pics that were apparently released not long ago. Maria states that Thatcher is her idol and is causing quite a stir in the Russian political scene...

TB wouldn't recommend a date to Itsu with her though.

Where things stand.

Having slept on it, it is clear to see just how damaging this election will be to Liberal Youth. The briefing and counter briefing, leaks and bitchiness has not only been directed at the candidates but at the Liberal Democrat party in general. The party machine at Cowley Street has taken a particularly brutal kicking. Both candidates have called for the organisation to be closed down, either publically or privately, and Tory Bear wouldn't be surprised if the re-open nominations box has got a lot of ticks once the votes have been counted.

The Downfall video that appeared anonymously, and then disappeared, caused a fair amount of controversy. Sadly due to one libellous line the argument moved away from the organisational tactics and people skills of the current Chairman Elaine Bagshaw, and instead focussed on the laughable suggestion she might be the Lib Dems Lewinsky. Tory Bear understands Bagshaw has been summonded to Cleggs office for a bollocking first thing Monday morning.

Well luckily TB has got hold of a copy of the video, and with some slight editing, has brought it back for your viewing pleasure:



If there is one person who knows their stuff on youth elections, it's the strange yet distinctly fascinating John Moorcraft. He has been keeping an eye on this election and offers comment over at the

Liberal Youth Forums

about where it ranks in relation to past bitter youth battles. He is a bit of an expert on this sort of thing, and TB couldn't have put it better himself:

"Having given your post some considerable thought.....It is my pleasure (I think...) to inform you that this most recent interesting and explosive outburst has propelled you [Liberal Youth] well inside the top 10 (not quite podium yet though I'm afraid). This is one of the most explicit calls by a candidate for an overhaul of a youth organisation officially affiliated to a mainstream political party ever. (I have investigated most youth “elections” since 1906...) Rarely has the issue of organisational reform been associated with all main chairperson candidates. Referring to Central Command (in this case Cowley Street) in such disparaging terms (“sheer corporate incompetence”) is not unique, but it does up the ante further. Apologising for apologising (over heckling) is my personal favourite bit and quite remarkable and extremely novel. Only on a handful of occasions has this happened (usually people stick to a decision they have made in youth elections). Another leak to Tory Bear (the resignation letter) is good stuff – it shows a conservative blogger is still considered the wrestling ring of choice (I'm with Stronty and echo calls for mud wrestling).
In a nutshell, you're moving up the ladder of shame fast. Given the stiff competition, this is quite some achievement!! This election has been extremely controversial, very bitchy, mega personal, an utter disgrace, totally ridiculous and a complete embarrassment. I hope ordinary members condemn all involved as openly and vociferously as the rival camps have each other. In all seriousness, RON must now be the only option.

Leaving seriousness aside and getting back to taking the p**s...To be challenging the big boys at the top of the leaderboard (some of the old Young Labour elections...FCS in the 1980's, YC late 80's and the odd CF election) we need some of the following...

More leaks to Tory Bear.
More leaks to me
More leaks to any other non-Lib Dem
Lots more Facebook bitching
Mass party resignations in protest
RON to win
For the election to be so bad the party decides to reform or abolish you
For the election to be so bad the party launches an internal investigation into what went wrong
For mediators to be called into the first exec meeting (Edit – i see this may happen!)
Allegations of email, blog and website hacking from the rival camp
Fake websites appearing declaring the other candidate to be evil/Thatcher in disguise/a liar
Suggestions Cowley Street are fixing he election
Proof to emerge that Cowley Street are fixing the electon
A punch up between rival camps (this would put you right up there)
Catchy, but really personal, election slogans
Another youtube video to reappear slamming one of the candidates
Videoblogs showing one candidate personally bagging the other
Claims to emerge that one of the candodates has thrown the towell in
Claims to emerge about the other ones sex life (preferable suggestions they have been doinking Tory Bear). In fact, can I start this one now and say I heard a rumour that TB has been caught in a compromising position with RON)
The exec to refuse to serve under the new chairman
A candidate to be expelled from the party
For the election to attract condemnation from a Lib Dem politician
For the mainstream media to cover it
For a big boy blogger to cover it (Guido must be considering it...)

That list should get you started. If you are really committed to holding the worst youth election ever, you better get cracking!!!"

There are still two weeks of voting to go so who know what else is going to happen.

Gone for ten pieces this week, due to a particularly strong edition of the Sunday Times, and some juicy bits elsewhere...

• Ever wanted to know why Boris was called Boris? Stanley Johnson previews his autobiography in the Times.

• The Times follows 14,ooo blogs and cottons on to Spotify, something that TB can't get enough of.

• Rod Liddle talks some sense for once over the Luton "nutters".

• Stop press. Jeremy Clarkson chooses the French over the Americans.

• The Mail reports that Labour head honcho Ray Collins is a little bit racist. Bit steep.

• Matthew d'Ancona in the Telegraph captures the significance of Cameron taking the gloves off this week.

• Simon Heffer rages against the waste of time and money that is the G20, again in the Telegraph

• David Mitchell goes to war with his online foes in his Guardian column.

• The NOTW reports that the tin-hat brigade are pushing their 9/11 documentary to television from the net.

• And finally the Times reports on the friendly council "re-education" plans

Good morning Liberal Democrats.

Just as it looked like things were calming down, there has been a Saturday night twist in the Liberal Youth election. Sara Scarlett, one of the candidates for Chairman has gone nuclear on not just her opponent, but on the whole organisation too. In a message to supporters she lambastes Elaine Bagshaw, her opponent and the current Chairman, and she goes onto call for Liberal Youth to be completely overhauled. Both the candidates for the Chairman of the organisation have now, either publically or privately, called for it to be scrapped. Are you listening yet Cowley Street?

Dear Friends,

As a matter of conscience I feel like I can no longer stand by the apology I made five days ago.
The words were not my own and they do not reflect how I actually feel. I am not sorry for heckling Elaine but I felt as though I owed a contrition to the many who put in effort into my campaign. Although I do thank them profoundly: I must retract my apology.

The fact remains that the reason Liberal Youth is allowed to continue in it’s current state is due to sheer corporate incompetence on the part of Cowley Street. To place the sole responsibility of all recruitment, campaign literature and political strategy, for members of the party under the age of 26, on the shoulders of unqualified individuals with no relevant experience is insanity. Had I known then what I know now I would never have put myself forward for this role. The organisation is essentially set up to fail and those who attempt to make something productive of it are tarred with the same brush.

The heckle was the consequence of a lot of nervous energy and anxiety I have gained from the frustration surrounding this election and this organisation as a whole. There’s no denying that this election was semi-personal.
Elaine has been an atrocious person to work with. The sycophancy she indulges in and the sycophants she surrounds herself with amidst a non-existent ideological cadre is a caricature of bad politics. Her leadership instincts are essentially New Labour. If this were a professional organisation someone with such poor interpersonal skills would never have made it through a human resource filter to the detriment of Liberalism's soul. This is something I’ve told her to her face.
A lot of the negative campaigning from my camp came from individuals who choose to support me due to their personal dislike of Elaine’s leadership style rather than a belief in my own. My personal animosity towards her amplified the schadenfreude which occurs naturally in elections. I hate that I took so much pleasure at the expense of others for what I realise now is an insignificant prize and I hope that the relationships that have broken down during this election are not damaged beyond repair.

Joining the LibDems was and still is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. The people I have met have been some of the most exceptional and courageous people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. And some of those I have met have been the extreme opposite...

However, my allegiance is to Liberalism first and to the Liberal Democrats second. I think the LibDems are failing the many young people in this country who self-define as liberals. After the next General Election I will be writing a letter to the Chief Executive of the Liberal Democrats which will include my recommendations for an alternative to Liberal Youth.
In the words of a man significantly wiser than myself: “Elections are like thunderstorms; sometimes a lightning strike is fatal, sometimes they clear the air...”

Here's hoping for a bit of both.

Regards,
Sara Scarlett

Later on she resigned her position as a Vice Chairman of the organisation:

This is definitely game-changing but TB can't quite work out how yet. Either it will lead Sara to pick up even more support against Bagshaw, or it will make a Bagshaw victory distinctly pyrrhic.

Haha whatever next.

Freeeedom.

The

Young Conservative

blog gives an excellent round up of Wednesday's YBF Freedom rally at Westminster, which TB sadly missed:

The Rally began with Douglas Carswell MP, one of the finest Parliamentarians of his generation and co-author of

The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain

, lamenting the unrelenting decline in liberty on these shores.“The failure of the revolution of 1776 was that it took place on the wrong side of the Atlantic.”

You can read the full account

here

.

The final word.

The Downfall video might be gone but if you still fancy a laugh at Liberal Youth check out this promo:



Cringe is an understatement.

Conservative Future Update.

So the Downfall video was removed and the Liberal Youth executive are standing on the street corner whistling... move along people... nothing to see here. While it's been fun and games laying into to the Liberals, TB thought he better update what's going on with CF at the moment. A while back NME member Owen Meredith said he would be stepping down once the year long term he was elected on had past. It passed this week, but no word yet from Mr Meredith. The last week saw ABB resign yet again, and as far as TB can tell from new facebook group he has been invited to, Adele Douglas has taken over the social action side of things. Patrick Sullivan has been awarded the non stop fun task or coordinating this years freshers campaign, and will be focusing completely on his Student Life portfolio. In an intriguing snippet of news, it seems that Ed Hallam moves up a notch to take of as National Campaigns Director. All in all it seems that things have gone a bit quiet in the last few months and TB is wondering how the planning is going for the biggest of all battles coming up.

May 2010 is rapidly approaching. CF has to be ready.

+++Liberal Youth put a bit of stick about+++

TB just had the privilege of having a little chat with Liberal Youth Chairman Elaine Bagshaw to try get her to go on the record about the email leak and the ensuing depiction of her downfall. While she was remaining tight lipped, she did confirm what TB had been hearing in the last few days. Apparently they are taking this very seriously and a thorougher internal investigation is underway to find the source of the leak, (and no doubt to find the creator of the video!) Sources have confirmed that the members of the executive have been ordered by Elaine not to speak publicly, or comment, on the video.

Elaine referred TB to the

Liberal Youth constitution

to find out exactly what this investigation will entail. A riveting read it may be, it does however fail to include any specific details of how the witch-hunt is being run. Lucky then dear readers, that Tory Bear has eyes and ears everywhere. Elaine and her close allies on the exec are the ones leading the investigation, arguably opening up all sorts of conflicts of interests, given that she is currently a candidate in the on going elections. The Cowley Street IT unit has apparently been on the case too. TB is awaiting the developments to come to a head, but they seem to be heading that way with the Executive, on Elaine's prompting, today apparently voting on whether to suspend one of their own.

TB is working on finding out who it is, but you'll read it here first.

The circus continues...

+++developing+++

Do some work.

The Labour

twittering classes

, led by the normally funny

Tom Harris MP

are having a field day with the little tool they found online that allows them to make oh so witty and imaginative Conservative branded slogans.

So there's one for Tom, who is currently pissing your money up the wall while he sits on his laptop, twittering and blogging this nonsense instead of representing the people who sent him to Westminster.

‘Severely utilitarian and philistine’

Apparently "This is a very large painting that was painted about 100 years ago":

Sister Bear curses what New Labour have done to the cultural education of British youth for The Spectator this week.

Read it

here

.

Liberal Youth's Downfall

It seems to be a modern day benchmark of failure. When someone or something goes titsup, the shit hasn't really hit the fan until someone makes a Downfall spoof of you.

Well Elaine Bagshaw, Chairman of Liberal Youth, your day has come:



Thank you to the anonymous 3am VforVendetta256, obviously someone very much on the inside.

If you don't like the West Wing, look away now.

As many have pointed out, there is only one profession with a lower public opinion rating than politicians, and that's journos. A vicious pack of hacks are a formidable bunch and no one will know that more than the White House press spokesmen. For West Wing fans, CJ's sometimes effortless put downs to this feral bunch were some of the best moments of the whole show. But now that the West Wing is gone, TB has to fill his days with watching the actual White House in action.

There is a fascinating insight

here

into how the seats in Obama's press briefing room have been allocated and exactly what this pecking order means. Here is the layout from February:

And here is March:

Interesting to note the creeping rise of

Politico

from sixth row to fourth. The further forward you are, the more likely Press Spokesman Robert Gibbs will answer your question. Politico, though it does have a small print edition, is seemingly leading the blogging revolution right to the heart of the White House. Not even the Obama worshipping lefty love-in the

Huffington Post

gets a seat.

In just three months of this administration, a blogging news service is almost at the front of the press pack, how will things look in a year?

Gordon has a friend!

LabourList is orgasmically proclaiming an apparently fantastic

endorsement

from an international statesman. Yes the man who lost the Cold War is now endorsing an equally successful lefty. TB wouldn't be too proud of this proclamation if the ball was in the other court:

Speaking during a visit to the Evening Standard Newspaper, Mr Gorbachev - the former Soviet leader whose Glasnost policies brought new freedom to Europe and helped end the Cold War, said he felt the Tory leader is too wedded to the policies of the Eighties:

"To me, the Conservative Party is not ready to give up the policies of the Reaganomics era. Maybe they would like to take the initiative but they are not ready for that yet."

Speaking of Gordon Brown, however, Mr Gorbachev said "I think he has made several really wise decisions that have been taken up by his partners in other countries."

David Cameron is clearly on the right track if failed former communists don't want him to be the Prime Minister.

The Royal Bank of the Glorious Democratic People's Republic of Scotland

RBS and the FSA have some serious explaining to do after Fraser Nelson's breathtaking expose, the details of which can be found

here

. You can quite clearly hear the state owned Royal Bank of Scotland employee ask Nelson, before he can open an account with them, whether he is a member of a political party:



Do you hear the people sing?

Revolution used to be cool.

TB is quite proud of the fact that despite working on this sodding dissertation for a fair few months now, he has only today, for the first time typed his subject matter into Wikipedia. What a treat greeted him when he did - once again proving what a reliable and steadfast source Wikipedia is, this 1982 song by The Kinks is stated as a historical source:



And rightly so.

Classic.

Dolly is getting a lot stick from the

Twitter

masses today. Firstly he denied that his account was suspended, then he claimed that it hasn't had any contact from Twitter, then he claimed if he was suspended, he was restored because he did nothing wrong.. blah blah blah. Classic bit of old school NuLab spin.

Hence why TB nearly choked on his jaffa cakes when this popped up on his twitter feed.

Oh dear...

Well it's

not quite happily ever

after now is it - The news has emerged that Bristol, the wild child daughter of Sarah Palin has split up with the father of her child, and forced fiance Levi Johnston.

TB is really shocked, he really thought those kids actually wanted to get married.

The fall out continues...

TB has a eyes and ears everywhere but he doesn't envy his little friend in Lib Dem HQ today though. Apparently the whole email leak has gone down like a cup of sick with the Returning Officer of the Liberal Youth elections. A full scale witch-hunt is now under way to determine who the source was. Well Elaine certainly knows how to "wind up" the organisation in every sense of the word.

The party's press office had very little to say on the subject. TB put some questions to them earlier and they finally got round to replying:

Q. Is it true that the Cowley Street IT department are attempting to find the source of the leak?
A. "This won't be something we will be commenting on."

Q.What would the consequences for any person found guilty of this?
A. "This won't be something we will be commenting on."

Q.Do the Liberal Democrats officially condone the repression of free speech and the right to a free press by banning journalists from their youth forums, with false accusations?
A. "This won't be something we will be commenting on."

We'll take that as yes then.

An unbelievably helpful bunch! It's almost as if they are seriously contemplating taking up Elaine's helpful suggestion of scrapping the whole organisation.

Something tells TB that this whole saga isn't quite over yet... watch this space.

Totty Watch: Behind every great man...

As the dust settles from the ground breaking news that

Cities of London and Westminster CF

Chairman Ed Hallam had finally cut his hair, the reasons behind the chop have become clear. Regardless of the wrongs and rights, it has to be accepted that in these modern times, politics is increasingly focused on image. Political leaders go through makeovers, some work and some don't, (Nick Clegg looks about six years old now!) However newly appointed campaigns director of CLWCF, one Lucy Roblin, is shaking things up...

Tory Bear understands that Miss Roblin stood over the personal stylist bought in for the makeover, clipboard and blackberry in hand, giving orders. It has also been confirmed by sources that Ed is now the proud owner of a pair of hair straighteners, and uses a range of products to keep his hair smooth and smart, all on the recommendation of his new PR guru.


Is Mr Hallam building his team, and image, for that long expected leadership bid?

+++Nottingham President feels the heat+++

After it was exposed that Nottingham Student Union President Nsikan Edung had abused his taxpayer funded trip to China, TB's sources have confirmed that he was last night officially censured by the student council.

A motion of censure was put forward and 28 voted in favour, 3 against and 1 abstention. The matter has now been referred to the Union executive for investigation.

+++Developing - more later+++

Not so Liberal now are you!?

So just as Tory Bear was getting into a good ol'chat about the whole email leak thing on the

Liberal Youth Forum

, this charming message popped up:

It seems that Elaine has got her little ferrets to block TB and attempt to silence him in light of his last post. A ridiculous course of action given that TB was merely discussing the issues with him. This is a pathetic attempt to silence him and if anything is only going to make him even more likely to target Liberal Youth. Who know's what else there is to fall out of the tree, now that TB has shaken the branch.

Grow up. Don't try bury this story, respond to it!

Yeah but no but. Oh dear.

Just when he thought that the Liberal Youth elections couldn't get any more farcical, TB is laughing on so many levels at this leaked email. Once the initial surprise passed that a member of the Liberal Democrats actually has an opinion on something, just how damaging this email is, began to sink in:

It cracks TB up on so many levels. It's hilarious that in the same email that someone states they believe that leaders who fail should fall on their swords, they go on to admit that the organisation they run is a failure. Here we have

Elaine Bagshaw

, the current chairman of

Liberal Youth

, who is seeking re-election, put in writing that she believes the organisation she is seeking to continue running should be shut down. Having had to work hard for respect amongst her liberal buddies, after she defected from the Labour Party, it's hard to see how she can come back from this.

PR disaster.

Owned.

Derek Draper has been

removed from

Twitter:

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!

It's official...

Rumours were flying, speculation was mounting, but now TB can confirm that Ed Hallam, of

TYC

fame, has cut his hair:

Apparently the first hair cut since the millennium.

Daily Show on Brown

This is well worth a watch if you have five minutes:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Brown in the USA

Daily Show Full Episodes

Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor

Economic Crisis

Rinses them both.

The mud slinging continues

This open letter just caught TB's eye on Facebook. Is it a precondition of being a Liberal Democrat to have faux piety pour from your mouth at the drop of hat? What's with the whole holier than thou bullshit coming from the Bagshaw campaign? Both camps are as bad as each other.

Open Letter in response to events in Harrogate

During the opening rally at the Lib Dem Conference at the weekend Liberal Youth Chairperson, Elaine Bagshaw, made a speech. Her adversary in the current Chairperson election, Sara Scarlett, decided to heckle her. This is the response from Leeds Liberal Youth:

Dear Sara,
Given the events of the rally in Harrogate on Friday we, Leeds Liberal Youth, feel we should share our viewson your behaviour.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms your decision to heckle Elaine Bagshaw during her speech. Not only was your outburst rude but it drew the reputation of Liberal Youth into disrepute in front of the rest of the party. We do not know the history of your and Elaine's relationship, which has clearly deteriorated and we are not interested in knowing it. Our protest is against the heckling incident.
Firstly you completely misjudged the situation in which your interruption took place. The rally was an upbeat occasion with powerful and inspirational speeches from all sides of the party. It was, with your exception, a great way to celebrate the 21st birthday of the Liberal Democrats and kick off Conference. Your heckle was the one thing that dampened the occasion.
Secondly Elaine was not making a speech to promote her Liberal Youth Presidential campaign. It was about the achievements of Liberal Youth throughout the year and she was not boastful about her contribution in any way. While you are entitled to your view, the achievements she mentioned are true and she has done a great deal of consultation on the education policy papers from this Conference. Nevertheless this was not the right occasion to debate these issues. Given this, it is a shame you didn’t turn up to the Liberal Youth fringe event where you could’ve discussed your concerns, nor the student campaign meeting, organised by the campaigns department and Greg Mulholland MP.
Finally we do not believe your behaviour could be considered ‘Presidential’. If elected President you will have to represent Liberal Youth in front of the rest of the party and the public. Behaviour like this cannot be tolerated under these circumstances. One of our members sat near you during the rally and reported that you were giggling afterwards. We hope, given the condemnation you have received since the event, that you now consider your actions to be less funny.
Given these concerns we feel it would appropriate for you to offer an unreserved and public apology to Elaine. If you are unwilling to do this perhaps you will consider stepping down from the election to save any future embarrassments to Liberal Youth.
Yours,
Liberal Youth Leeds & Leeds University Union Liberal Democrats

Word on the street is Elaine yeah-but-no-but Bagshaw is a bit of an elephant. As in she doesn't forget things, and if you cross her, boy do you pay.

What did you think TB meant?

Exclusive: Disgraced student President faces revolt after fact-finding trip rampage.

TB understands that those

YBF

boys have been rather busy today, doing what they do best. It seems that their army of campus spies is really growing. Student unions around the country have a seemingly insatiable desire to waste money, but it's always nice when you can nail them for doing so with hard proof and that's where this YBF investigation comes in...

The President of one of the UK’s largest student unions has admitted to “getting smashed” and “wrecking the landscape” on an official trip to China. Nsikan Edung wrote on a friend’s Facebook wall that he was having a “totally inappropriate time” on a trip in his official capacity as the President of Nottingham University Student Union. He had flown to China as part of a project to establish cultural ties. In his manifesto aims Edung stated that building up a relationship with Nottingham University's China campus was at the

top of his priorities

. It seems to TB that no one bothered to ask him quite how he was going to do it though.

The outrage felt on campus has spread to those outside the university who hate to see money wasted in such a ridiculous fashion. Tim Aker, Grassroots Coordinator of the TaxPayers’ Alliance and Nottingham Graduate, said: “This is a ridiculous use of the University’s funds. With his union’s members struggling to pay their bills, it’s wrong that this supposed student leader is partying on the other side of the world at taxpayers’ expense. Students are being forced to pay costly fees to go to university, but it seems some academic institutions are happy to throw money away on free jollies.”

CF and YBF's Christian May, slammed Edung’s jaunt as a complete waste of money. “Did this trip, paid for by the university, add any value to the education of ordinary Nottingham students? I very much doubt it. These are the kind of publicly funded jollies that must be stamped out during a recession. People are very loose with money when it isn’t their own. Just look at Derek Simpson of the Unite Union – living in luxury whist his members lose their jobs.”

Edung went on to boast that he planned to “check out some house parties, ruin diplomatic relations and spend a night in a Chinese cell.” A source close to Nottingham University Student Union claims that plans are underway to hold Edung accountable for his “inappropriate boasts” and to press university authorities to take further action. The source added, “this is what happens when union officials get too big for their boots.”

TB has been trying to get a straight answer out of the university all day. Firstly the President is not taking calls or returning emails. The university press office refused to comment on whether they paid for the trip and referred to it as a union matter. The union press officer was equally unhelpful. She stated firstly that she would look into it, then that she couldn't find out who had paid for the trip, or what it's purpose was. Finally she admitted she wasn't going to give out the information.

TB reckons they know they have cocked up here. His sources have confirmed that the trip was paid for by the University, so out of essentially public money. They seem to be determined to brush it all under the carpet.

You've got some explaining to do Mr President...

Pyongyang style retraction #23

It seems that Sara Scarlett, the heckler of Harrogate, has been getting some flack for her very public outburst against her opponent for Chairman of Liberal Youth:

TB would have stood by his words. Over to you Elaine.

Slipping banter past the sub-editor.

It seems that

The Times

has a headline writer with a sense of humour...

Especially given the photo!