Cameron Reshuffle latest

Government of all the talents?

Pasty Rap

We all know Cameron is a hot dog fan. Nom nom nom

Chicken Run

Bin a bad day!

It seems like that baffling behaviour is not just the preserve of some of our current and former local Conservative Councillors.

Oliver Letwin MP - of blue-sky thinking fame - was spotted dropping his constituent communications into St James Park bin. Not only is this ethically questionable given its constituency work but there were apparently sensitive documents included.

Apparently he wasnt the only one!

Luckily for Letwin it did not include the Coalition Agreement document... he may have won a few pundits for that on the right

It was all so much easier back in Roman times a Letbin...

Peel Away!

Talking about un'appealing' press releases it is most unfortunate that residents from Medway have to observe a 51 year old lady quite literally shedding skin on the Rochester & Strood Conservative website.

We all know the local Tories are beholden to corporate and vested interests, unless of course its based anywhere near Europe, but anti-ageing companies based in North America could, you would think, be going a bit far.

It is particularly interesting to note the product being advertised, somewhat ironically given the age profile of the Tory group (who presumably dont use the product), is actually subject to a number of user concerns.

The advert is a link to a fake newspaper screen (try linking to the other topics in the main news section) and is actually a shameless plug for two particular products BellaPlex and Hydroxatone, produced by a US company called Bellezza Products, LLC.

One google of this company and you are quickly drawn to the conclusion that this company is not all that is appears to be. There are huge numbers of complaints about whether this product actually works and/or the difficulty in getting out of any purchase agreement once signed into.

I, of course, would never seek to make a comment on its relative merit, but given the number and nature of complaints there should be concern from local Conservatives about who and how they are advertising.

We all know Cameron likes the air-brush but could it be that like the Tories its promises are just too good to be true or are we about to see some miraculous results from our blue-rinse brigade of Councillor's?

I don't know any Tories that shed skin like that in the advert, but I have been known to be wrong. I wait with earnest the next Council meeting.

David Starkey Rap

Very amusing rap of David Starkey's Newsnight rant on Friday.

With cameo appearance from Owen Jones who is the author of Chav's and a rising interest on the left.

Keeping up Appearances

Spot the difference, what what...?

It is speculated that David “man of the people” Cameron is a descendant of King William IV and his mistress Dorothea Jordan.

We all know Dave went to Eton and Oxford and it is suggested from more than one source he had a Royal Equerry give Conservative HQ a call to get his first job as a spinner in Tory HQ.

Judging from the image above, have the rosy cheeks, small mouth and jutting chin made their way down the illegitimate bloodline?

Who says blue blood is not running through the veins of our current Political elite.

Slip of the tongue?

Seems like a slip of the forked tongue by David Cameron. Or was he really endorsing the Liberal Democrat?

Reminds this blogger of when Eric Pickles got the name of Luton & Wayfield wrong after Tashi Bhutia won the by-election in 2009.

See if you can spot the error...

This blogger will admit that it is a rubbish speller, but then it is not a national press spokesperson for the Conservative Party. It has a proper job...

Oh well

Unexpected support...

Right Friendly Fisk

It seems that my blog piece on the Conservative Party membership has sparked some controversy with a local right wing blogger, the aptly named, anonymous Right Friendly who has sourced his piece from John Ward.

Just when this blogger was mourning the loss of the jedi master of the right in Medway. He reappears like Obi-Wan's ghost.

This blogger does enjoy a good fisk especially when the right usually fail to undertake basic online research. In this case on the piece entitled 'Party Membership' which has got past two right wingers!

Their piece contends that the Musings from Medway piece on the Conservatives is unjustified and has produced an authoritative graph to prove the point (though it stops in 2008). The blogger contends that the Labour Party membership was 60,000 in May 2010.

This blogger knows that number is not correct so decided to find out where Right Friendly and John Ward had pinched it from. It appears, rather amusingly, that it has sourced his information from the bible of the left, a Guardian piece entitled, yes, 'Labour Party sees record surge in membership.'

The Guardian piece has alas missed the '1' which is quite common for the Grauniad.

According to the Labour Party the membership in May 2010 was 155,000.

On May 17th the Labour Party reported that 13,000 had joined the party with a membership of 167,000

On September 30th, Harriet Harman reported to conference that 35,000 people had joined the party since May, that would create a membership of 190,000 or even 202,000 (if you take the 167,000).

Either way, the blog post 'Tory Party are dying' serves to highlight the fact that with the Conservative membership standing at 177,000 the Labour Party has now overtaken the Conservative Party in terms of membership. Perhaps that is the reason why Sayeeda Warsi felt uncomfortable discussing the topic.

Perhaps Right Friendly could update the authoritative graph which ignores the massive decline in Conservative membership and the increase in Labour membership.

The Conservative grassroot website ConservativeHome is already pondering the reasons why members have left in there droves. Indeed, comments show that they are worried that the party has lost members in a period where the incumbent government has been almost consistently behind in the polls. The website suggests it could be due to the fact that the membership subscription is too high and/or because those who were members have signed up to be 'friends' of the Conservative Party, which apparently stands at an all time high of 500,000.

If Labour has already overtaken the Conservative Party after only 5 months, it should send shivers down the spine of a party that is quite literally dying.

Locally Labour are the only party which has pledged to put a full slate of candidates under 35 at the next election. Already we have picked young candidates for the majority of marginal wards. The next generation is our generation.

Labour is quite literally the future for Britain.

Want to privatise the BBC?

For all those who believe in the privatisation of the BBC. Look what happens when you get media moguls running the mainstream media. Fox is watched by millions in America.

'Sorry Mr Chairman, Sir, Sorry... Cant possibly discuss that... Sorry.'

The right wing are totally wrong. Changing a publicly accountable organisation into a mouthpiece for billionaires is not only amoral it is also politically dangerous.

Public ownership of the BBC is very much the desire of the moderate mainstream.

The above tells you why one man has too much power.

Yes Mr Chairman, I will ask you the question...

Custard Pie Anyone?

It was with much amusement that baffled Strood voters were posted the latest September edition of the In-Touch from Strood North Conservatives.

Page two is particularly interesting. Perhaps they are a bit out of touch with developments...

It seems that the news of the Cllr Craggs resignation has not quite reached the inner-sanctum of the Strood Conservatives. Indeed there appears to be many smiles all round on this happy snap.

Labour activists do need to get their act together to take the Strood seats in May 2011, but a few stories like this clanger wont do the local Conservatives any favours.

Perhaps we could see a retraction on the oft read Strood Conservative website, which is of course updated on a regular basis