Nuke Labour

Shadow Home Office Minister Arrested!

It used to only be in Putin's Russia that Police would burst into opposition politicians offices and arrest them for imaginary wrongdoings. But that has changed with the arrest of Shadow Home Office Minister Damien Green MP.

This arrest is outrageous. No doubt the police will claim they have a duty to investigate the leaking of sensitive Government information. Of course, they're right..

I can only presume that as soon as they've finished with Damien Green, they'll be racing round to 11 Downing Street to raid Alistair Darling's home, as part of their investigation into how sensitive Government information, the key measures from the Pre-Budget Report, leaked.

While they have Alistair Darling in custody, perhaps they can ask him who blabbed price-sensitive information concerning Northern Rock, The Lloyds/HBOS merger and the Bank Recapitalisations to the BBC's Robert Preston.

But they won't arrest Darling.

Leaks that are useful to the Labour Government will be ignored.

Leaks that embarrass the Labour Government will be investigated with the full force of the law. A shameful double standard.

'Catcher In The Rye' Cameron: Brown is a "phoney"

So an observant private-school educated cynic, who got in trouble at school, is branding people phoney. Where have I come across that before?

Newsnight Uses Republican Weasel-Words Specialist. Fails To Disclose, Again.

You may remember David Davis was doing quite well, until shortly after Newsnight hired American focus-group master Frank Luntz to conduct research on voter reactions to the Conservative leadership candidates.

Mike Smithson, an authority on UK political betting wrote...

...the most important Tory leadership factor this week was not anything that happened in the conference hall, but a feature on Newsnight showing the leading US pollster, Frank Luntz, conducting a focus group.

If you have not seen this yet then this is must and you can still download a video from the the programme’s website. It’s the most compelling and influential piece of political television in a long time and had a huge impact on the leadership betting markets.

Those being surveyed watched videos of the five contenders with meters in their hand where they could react instantly to what they were seeing on the screen.

What was being presented suggests that Cameron appears to resonate with people of all ages and political persuasions in a way that no other UK politician has done since the emergence of Tony Blair.

As Wat Tyler pointed out at the time, Luntz isn't just an American polling expert. He's a Republican pollster, known for advising the party on its choice of language. You no longer increase the amount of Arsenic you allow in drinking water. Instead you "update" the environmental act, based on "sound science". Words such as 'government' and 'privatization' are to be avoided. Avoid the policy, go for fluffy apple-pie sentiments.

Well, it appears that BBC Newsnight, not content with attempting to sway the Conservative Party's leadership election away from David Davis towards someone more to their tastes, are now trying to push Blair to go.

They hired Luntz again, to conduct a focus group on the party leaders and Gordon Brown. The result? People like Cameron and they want Blair to go.

I'm sure they do. But Luntz's connection to the centre-right and his like of fluffy language that Cameron excels at using, is clearly relevant. It should have been disclosed. It was not.

You can read more about Luntz's views on how political parties should present their case by reading his guide for Republicans seeking re-election in 2006, uncovered by Daily Kos.

Update: In segment five of a PBS documentary, The Persuaders, Luntz shows a journalist around his home, showing him momentos  from his campaign work for Silvio Berlusconi, John Mccain and Rudolf Giuliani..
[Hat-tip: A resurgent Liberal]

It's Dave Cameron The Chameleon

 

• My initial reaction: That's great. It combines a political message, humour, and cute animals!
• Second laters: Look a Chameleon on a bike! That's creative, plus added authenticity...
• 10 seconds later: Following the scandal over Labour's hidden loans, cleaners on the minimum wage may shortly be paying their taxes to fund such childish (if amusing) campaigns. I don't think that's right.
• Final thought: Labour have a bit of a cheek complaining about an unpopular party choosing a leader who says whatever he thinks his audience want to hear. Someone else has clearly had the same thought, and has registered TonyTheChameleon.com

You may recall that I commented in Labour's Reaction: The Dog That Didn't Bark, that...

Labour really hasn't got a clue how to handle Cameron's election.

The Dave The Chameleon campaign means Labour have finally decided how to handle Cameron. They're taking the line 'Cameron's faking, he's really a Tory Toff'. That's a high-risk strategy. It draws attention to the Conservative changes, and will lose credibility as Cameron maintains his present course.

Tags: David Cameron, Conservative Party, Labour Party, Humour

[Hat-tip: Iain Dale]

The New Libdem Leader

You know it makes sense.

[Photocredit: Libdems4Cameron.co.uk ]

Tags: David Cameron Conservative Party Libdems Liberal Democrats

Labour's Reaction: The Dog That Didn't Bark

The most interesting thing about the election result wasn't Cameron's win.

It was Labour's silence.

The entire cabinet were ordered not to give interviews.

Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandleson were called back to the front line for an emergency strategy session with Blair. The result? The media were told that Fraser Kemp would be available for interviews.

"Who's Fraser Kemp?", I hear you ask.

Precisely. Labour really hasn't got a clue how to handle Cameron's election.

It was also interesting to see Simon Hughes doing the rounds, agreeing that a change of leader might help the party. In theory, he was talking about the Conservative Party, but I got the distinct impression he had another party in mind.