Thursday 7 July 2011

IS THIS THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR CAMERON?

David Cameron has made some errors of judgement since coming to power just over a year ago.

A coalition of his right of centre party with a left of centre party may have been the first, for, although it seems not to have hurt him in the country, he has made some dangerous enemies inside his party. From there on in he has U-turned himself into something resembling a corkscrew on health, welfare, law and order, crime and punishment, the environment, finance, the EU, the “respect” agenda, and on and on... so much so that whilst those of us who are of a different political colour have not known whether to laugh or cry, followers have found themselves with an easier choice and a bill for Kleenex!

I’ve always said that Cameron had no substance; that he owed his success to a mixture of wealth (and the clout that that brings), a distant familial relationship with royals (and the clout that that brings) and his natural ability as a PR man. He lacks depth and intellectual vigour and his upbringing has left him with as much idea of what goes on in the head of Monsieur Tout le Monde as I have of the passing thoughts of the Sultan of Brunei.

But perhaps the most important example of his lack of judgement has be
en in his choice of friends.

Every prime minister, it appears, has to make some sort of respectful concession to one of the country’s most powerful men, News International’s (NI) Rupert (I have a file on everyone) Murdoch, but David, because he could, decided to go farther.

Not only did he court friendship with Rebekah Wade-Brookes, inviting her to dinner, and dining at her home while her organisation was in the midst of negotiations to acquire BSkyB, over which the business and later culture secretary had the final say, but he insisted on employing, as press secretary, her disgraced colleague, Andy Coulson, who had resigned from NI over the scandal of phone hacking minor royals. “I believe”, he said, “in giving people a second chance”.

I wouldn’t have touched him with a tarry pole. He was damaged goods, and either he lied through his teeth to get the job, or Cameron believed that with the police in the pockets of NI, all would be well. The people at the top would look after each other, as they always had.

But bit by bit the stitching came apart. More and more people reported their phones had been tapped. This time “celebrities”, then politicians...then Coulson resigned, leaving
us to suppose that the worst was yet to come.
As come it has. Victims of crime have been hacked; police inquiries into murder have been hampered; police have been in the pay of NI, and the person who signed the cheques was Cameron’s boy Andy (Second Chance) Coulson.

The last I read was that phones of soldiers killed in action may have been hacked. Just how much lower is there to go?

Mr Cameron is associated closely with the people at the top of an organisation which knew these things were going on no matter how hard they try to act as if they didn’t, despite everyone expressing “shock and horror”; Rebekah, David and even Rupert.

So, were all these people naive, gullible fools who just sometimes wondered where all these fabulous stories were coming from? Or are they hard hitting million/billionaires, who knew but didn’t care?

And are David Cameron and his premiership forever tainted by association with them? Indeed is it time to look for a prime minister with a little substance?

30 comments:

  1. And are David Cameron and his premiership forever tainted by association with them? Indeed is it time to look for a prime minister with a little substance?

    ------------------------------
    To both questions the answer is yes. However the dearth of the latter makes the implementation very difficult.

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  2. Point taken OR.

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  3. Sadly , as with the expenses scandal, people will have forgotten all about it by the next election and vote the cockroaches back into power.
    It's galling to see Labour and the BBC all over the story despite their own history of lying over Iraq resulting in the death of millions of innocent people. The phone hacking is bad but it doesn't blow your legs off or vapourise you from 30,000 feet.

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  4. The coalition isn't 'tainted through association', indeed that is an absurd charge to make.

    This coalition is hardly 'in bed' with the Murdoch papers.

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  5. Cast Iron brought Coulson into his govt despite Coulson admitting bunging police offices readies in that televised inquiry into Murdoch phone hacking in 2003. That tells you all you need to know about Cast Iron.
    Among the first visitors to No10 when cast iron got elected was the Murdochs. Cast Iron socialises with Murdoch's editor Ms Wade at their Chipping Norton set.

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  6. Get real Dean.
    When Cameron went horse riding with Brooks

    Cameron must have known - that's the bigger scandal. He had to jump into bed with Murdoch as everyone had, starting with Thatcher in the Seventies . . . Tony Blair . . . [tape is hard to hear here] Maggie openly courted Murdoch, saying, you know, "Please support me." So when Cameron, when it came his turn to go to Murdoch via Rebekah Wade . . . Cameron went horse riding regularly with Rebekah.

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  7. 'Cameron must have known'


    ...why? Just because that is the conclusions etched into your fevered imagination?

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  8. Monty: I Hope that there will be enough of a change brought about by this, that Murdoch will have a lot less influence by the next elections.

    (And I say that aware of the fact that he supported the SNP, because he hates Labour even more than he hates independence.)

    Surely the fact that the prime minister is tarred by association with their ghastly people must reflect badly on him.

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  9. Dean:

    Even the Telegraph appears to think that he is tainted by his association with these people.

    http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100095686/david-cameron-is-in-the-sewer-because-of-his-news-international-friends/

    I see that the NoTW has been closed down, but you have to wonder why the people in charge are not going!

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  10. Kipper:

    That was the daftest thing he did. He should never have employed that man at the level he did.

    Either he knew and was unworried by him bribing police, or he was too naive to wonder how all this information was got.

    Rebekah did admit that they bribed police, but Andy tried to cover it. That should have sent messages.

    This is Cameron's Iraq; his Black Wednesday.

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  11. Dean David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Co flock to pay homage at Rupert Murdoch's summer party

    When one associates with the devil then one is guilty by association.

    Wonder who wrote this?

    Membership to the gangs isn't like your sexual orientation; you aren't just born with a gangland membership tattoo stamped on your backside. There is a conscious choice to participate.

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  12. Yes CH:

    If he didn't know that these were dodgy people to be close too he should have.

    His judgement is faulty. If it is on this, then it is likely to be on other things... as if we didn't already know that!

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  13. tris

    I disagree with 'His judgement is faulty' Nah! Cameron is totally corrupt and amoral thats why he made his judgment the way he did

    Ole Becky(cameron besty mate) goes into room flanked by security guards to tell all the innocent(and no doubt a few guilty) they are all fired..

    For all the rotten disgusting things they dun under her management(hacking a poor young girls phone) and at her instigation they all goes into lynch mob mode (and why not)
    Becks exits room post haste.

    What a amoral slag and she has got one big enormous fat arse(i seed on the telly)

    At the end of it she is dead in the water its just a matter of time.

    Deano

    defends the indefensible again I award him

    'The Champion of Lost Causes Diploma with distinction'

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  14. The BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Gruinad etc are determined to maintain their left wing luvvy bias stranglehold on the population. ( fake global warming, pro EU, anti Tory, anti Independence for Scotland, pro multiculturalism etc). The thought of a Fox news type right wing media operation with an alternative viewpoint getting a foothold must be terrifying for them. They won't let the Murdoch takeover of Sky News go through without a relentless and bitter fight.

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  15. Didn't take the Tories long to sink back into the sleaze pit, did it?

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  16. No surprise about the Tories on this one but surely there’s a lot of dirt still to be dug up here over New Labour’s prolonged love-in with News Corp – those library photos of Blair planting grateful kisses on the cheeks of Rebecca Wade for (political) services rendered betrayed a multitude of sins. Hard to believe that this story won’t feed in to the dark arts of Mandelson, Campbell et al at some point.

    So, the sub-editors at the Sun have downed tools in solidarity with the sacked News of the World workers. Am I the only old leftie who can see the irony here, who’s currently savouring the taste of a certain post-Wapping vintage schadenfreude? Scabs coming out in ‘solidarity’ with other scabs and the Dirty Digger blowing a gasket. Aahhh, tastes sweet.

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  17. Cynical,

    What is your beef with my recent blog? I rather stand by my comments when I typed

    "Membership to the gangs isn't like your sexual orientation; you aren't just born with a gangland membership tattoo stamped on your backside. There is a conscious choice to participate."

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  18. Dean I have no beef only your ref to gangs as hoodlums which in the same way can be classed as clubs, no difference except by the social class of members.

    Gang vs. club

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  19. I think, Niko, that he is saving Rebekah because when the REALLY bad stuff comes out, and I think there is still worse to come, someone has to take the blame.

    She admitted giving police money. Why is she not in jail?

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  20. P_S Niko. Thanks for the info on her ass. I never noticed.

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  21. Kipper. The news section of it isn't part of the deal. It would have to remain separate, according to what I've heard
    .

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  22. Richard. Hi, and welcome to Munguin's Republic.

    Yep, you're bang on there. The Tories don't waste time, bless them. But this time it's at the top!

    At least Thatch and Minor appeared to keep their own noses clean (or so we thought, but John-boy was a bit of a dark horse, even if he tucked his shirt into his underpants).

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  23. Ha ha Anon. That's brilliant. After all the names that these journos called the strikers last week, when it's their asses on the line... out they come.

    Still, it's Wade who should be taking the hit and it's the shop floor that gets the bullet.

    You're bang on with the Mandelson/Blair et al relationship with the Evil One. Labour has no room for complacency. I'd not be surprised to hear something unsavoury about some of them.

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  24. Tris.

    I said not so long ago on this subject on Munguins that I thought Cameron was the sort of guy who's head would always be above any sort of scandal and he probably never knew of Coulsons background. Well how wrong I was.

    Cameron was told about Coulson yet he still let this criminal right into the heart of government. Cameron has to mind that he doesn't own the government, he's mealy a custodians for it and what right has he to let people like Coulson into the heart of government?

    I thought all this phone hacking stuff was rather amusing until very decent people had their phones hacked and you touched upon some of them. What right do papers have to hack into the phones of murder victims and those who have been killed in action? I hope they bring the curtain down on those daft wee tabloid papers.

    One down many to go.

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  25. Sorry I should also add.

    If the Libs are looking for an exit from government then now is their chance. Nick should walk away from all of this sleaze..shame I thought Cameron was better than this even though I don't always agree with the toff!

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  26. Cynical,

    Absurd. You are being absurd.

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  27. Allan:

    I always said Cameron was an empty vessel. He has no business being prime minister, He's not bright enough. I'm not sure why he thought he could get away with employing Coulson and being mates with Brookes. He probably just thought he could do what he wants because he's prime minister and answers to no one.

    You're bang on about the Liberals. Nick should pick up his things and go. Otherwise he will be tarred with the same incompetent or illegal brush.

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  28. Tris.

    Agreed on all points. Hope Nick and his wee party don't end up like the NoW lol.

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  29. Allan:

    It would probably be to our disadvantage to have only two parties again in Westminster. Minor parties serve a very useful purpose, but only if they have an effective number of members.

    The ten that they are likely tog et next time just isn't effective. They have already become an also ran lot in our parliament.

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