A Shrewd Move by Red Ed

So! A shocker was revealed today! Rather than Ed Balls or his wife being given the top job of Shadow Chancellor it was instead given to the former Postman Alan Johnson. I thought he'd be given something senior, such as Shadow Foreign Secretary, but certainly not Shadow Chancellor.
Now, this can be viewed in a couple of ways. The first way is that Ed la Rouge is simply trying to stop a repeat of the public soap opera which was a two members of a family fighting it out to one job, as the leadership was. Trying to prevent a public split such as when his brother flounced off in a huff. The second way, the one which I follow, is that he is putting up the genuinely likable and self made Alan Johnson against the (or so they will try and show him to be) cold and aristocratic George Osborne. It will present this seemingly normal chap against a seemingly aloof Osbourn as the cuts hit. I believe this is what Labour is trying to do. Now, there is a third reason also. Ed Balls and his wife are both quite independently minded (especially the former). Placing the economically illiterate Alan Johnson as the Treasury could mean that Miliband, being a trained economist, has a full grip over it and won't let the Brown/Blair sagas repeat. It could, of course, be all three mixed together.

Balls at the Home Office makes sense. He's Labour's best attack dog and T. May is the coalition's most senior weak link. His wife as Foreign Sec. was a surprise but also makes sense; a senior role, just not the role of Chancellor. Jim Murphy at defence shows that Labour doesn't take defence seriously. I would have been tempted to put an attack dog in here to try and force cracks in the coalition, Liam Fox being the favourite to resign. But, as a Tory, who am I to tell the Labour leader how to do his job! Bringing back Peter Hain, despite the fact he lost on the vote, was just silly. I expect it's some sort of empty gesture to show they still represent Labour's heartland (Wales).

The rest are a bit dull. A pretty much unknown cabinet for an unknown leader.

No Pressure - the Debrief

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen. God bless the Internet, eh. Some clever spark has gone and created a downfall parody for that Richard Curtis 'No Pressure' video in which we saw the green movements desire to eliminate those who don't agree with them. Indeed I heard that not long back, when he was Sec. of State for Ecological Correctness, Ed Miliband called those who didn't agree with the green movement "saboteurs"; a lexical choice loved by histories greatest tyrant, Stalin. Food for thought there.

No Pressure, say the eco - fascists.

The '10:10' Campaign whose mission statement is to cut carbon "10% at a time" has released (and then pulled back) a rather shocking video in which their message is that if you don't cut your carbon; you're dead.

Take a look for yourself.



Pretty shocking stuff, eh? It's clear that the eco - fascists know no bounds in their campaign to dominate everyday peoples' lives. Make up your own mind.

Recognition For True Blue Tory Boy

Good news everyone. This blog has been named as the 71st best Conservative Blog in the UK by Total Politics Magazine. I admit this came of something of a suprise seeing as my blogging has been a little try as of late. But never fear, normal service will resume!

44 Tory MPs Opposed to the Coalition Timetabling of the AV Vote

Bernard Jenkins has issued an Early Day Motion (EDM) calling for the date of the vote of the AV referendum to be de-coupled from the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament elections. Despite the efforts of the whips, 44 Tories have signed the EDM and I expect the number will grow. The full list of names (at time of publishing) is:

1.David Amess
2.Richard Bacon
3.Brian Binley
4.Peter Bone
5.Andrew Bridgen
6.Douglass Carswell
7.James Clappison
8.Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
9.Therese Coffey
10.Tracey Crouch
11.Glyn Davies
12.David Davis
13.Nadine Dorries
14.Michael Fallon
15.Mark Field
16.James Gray
17.Adam Holloway
18.Bernard Jenkin
19.Dan Kawczynski
20.Greg Knight
21.Eleanor Laing
22.Edward Leigh
23.Julian Lewis
24.Peter Lilley
25.Ian Liddell-Grainger
26.Jack Lopresti
27.Stephen McPartland
28.Mark Menzies
29.Patrick Mercer
30.Simon Mosely
31.David Nuttall
32.Richard Ottaway
33.Andrew Percy
34.Mark Reckless
35.John Redwood
36.Jacob Rees Mogg
37.Sir Malcolm Rifkind
38.Laurence Robertson
39.Andrew Rossindell
40.Richard Shephard
41.Bob Stewart
42.Graham Stuart
43.Robin Walker
44.John Whittingdale

Best of luck to Mr. Jenkins I say! Everyone knows that the Electoral Commission has recommended that referendums shouldn't be held on the same days as elections.

The full text of the EDM is:

DATE OF PROPOSED REFERENDUM ON AN ALTERNATIVE VOTING SYSTEM

That this House notes that in 2002 the Electoral Commission, following consultations on the holding of a possible referendum on the Euro on the same day as other elections on 1 May 2003, issued a statement making clear that referendums on fundamental issues of national importance should be considered in isolation and that they should not be held at the same time as devolved assembly or local government elections; further notes that in a recent report the House of Lords Constitution Committee recommended that there should be a presumption against holding referendums on the same day as elections; recognises that this advice is in accordance with best constitutional practice in countries such as Switzerland, where referendums are more regularly held; believes that this constitutional practice should be observed unless there are very exceptional reasons for it to be set aside; is concerned at the proposal to hold the referendum on whether to change the voting system on 5 May 2011, which is the same day as elections to the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and to local authorities in Northern Ireland, but only in parts of England; further believes that this proposal would allow other issues to cloud the referendum debate before the vote, would artificially inflate turnout in some parts of the country but not others, and that it may accordingly advantage one campaign at the expense of the other; proposes that any referendum on this issue should therefore be held on a different date; and looks forward to advice from the Electoral Commission on this matter which is consistent with its previous statements.

The TPA's Assessment of the Welfare State

The Tax Payers' Alliance has done an excellent survey of the welfare state and how it is discouraging people from working and punishing those who are married. I suggest that you watch this video and that the government takes it in to account so they can cut the deficit and get this country back to work and open for business again.

Let's Take a Moment to Think of She Who Took the Biggest Pay Cut in Today's Budget.

"Who, who?" You cry. I am of course talking about Her Majesty the Queen. In a public spirited fashion HM has agreed with the chancellor that the Civil List should be frozen at £7.9 million. Because this tiny figure has been frozen for the past 20 years it means that the £7.9 million is now worth 25% of what it once was. The Queen therefore has taken a 75% pay cut; partially implemented when we were in the good years when Labour felt the need to throw money into black holes. But, overall this figure reminds us of what a marvellous head of state that HM is, shown by the fact that she has identified the need for everyone to tighten their belts. This is of course despite the fact that Buckingham Palace is in need of some major repairs.

Something else announced by Mr. Osbourn was the fact that alternate ways of funding the monarch, such as out of the Crown Estate, were being considered. This is a good move that should hopefully fund our head of state properly and help the benefits we reap from it to continue for years to come.

So let's take a moment to say thanks to the Queen for taking the biggest pay cut of all and say God Save the Queen!