Saturday 24 July 2010

"BROKEBACK COALITION", Chortles The Leader Of The Tory Awkward Squad!


Oh dear, the Tory/Lib Dem coalition has only taken ten weeks to get to where John Major was during the "Bastardgate" affair.

Yesterday, in unguarded comments, David Davis (the man Cameron defeated in the 2005 Tory leadership campaign and self appointed leader of the Tory awkward squad) is reported to have approvingly repeated a description of the partnership between Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as "Brokeback Coalition", which he attributed to another senior Tory.

Davis made his remarks during a boozy private lunch with former colleagues from Tate & Lyle at the Boot & Flogger wine bar in Southwark on Thursday. Sounds like just the sort of place you would find Tories!

The MP was reportedly overheard saying that Lord Ashcroft, the ex-Conservative party deputy chairman, had referred to the government as "Brokeback Coalition" – a reference to the Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain, about a gay relationship between two cowboys. Davis, whose remarks are disclosed in today's Financial Times, said he had been "misheard".

Lord Ashcroft, (the Tories billionaire donor and non-dom parliamentarian who duped wee Willie Hague into giving him a peerage) has been privately scathing about Cameron's general election campaign. He believes the Tory leader made a grave error in agreeing to take part in the television debates. He also shared the concerns of many frontbenchers that the main theme of the Tory election campaign – the "big society" – was too vague and was difficult to sell on the doorstep. Maybe that’s because it is such a load of old rubbish.

The FT went on to say that Davis, a former Europe minister, who recently led a successful rebellion against plans to make it more difficult for MPs to remove an unpopular government, was dismissive of Cameron's "big society". He reportedly called it "a Blairite dressing" for plans by the coalition to trim the state. But that’s what everybody else thinks as well isn’t it? Because that's what it is.

"The corollary of the big society is the smaller state. If you talk about the small state, people think you're Attila the Hun. If you talk about the big society, people think you're Mother Teresa."

Davis, who resigned from Cameron's shadow cabinet to lead a campaign against Labour plans for the detention of terror suspects without charge, told his audience he was enjoying his freedom on the backbenches.

George Osborne, the chancellor, was given faint praise. Davis said that a newspaper headline that read "Osborne delivers" should have said "Osborne promises" on the grounds that he has not delivered anything yet.

So it's not just the opposition parties that have the knives out for the coalition. Ex-grandees and erstwhile funders, it seems, also have it in for them.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

11 comments:

  1. "Davis made his remarks during a boozy private lunch with former colleagues from Tate & Lyle at the Boot & Flogger wine bar in Southwark on Thursday. Sounds like just the sort of place you would find Tories!"

    Never heard of champagne socialists then have you?

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  2. Dean, your term "champagne socialists" brought to mind a term used here in the states to describe wealthy Democrats. Famously of course we had the Roosevelts and the Kennedys. And John Kerry and the misses have a few billion. The Al Gore estate in Tennessee is a sight to see. Not to mention the film stars of Beverly Hills who are mostly Democrats. Today, these people ride in limousines and private jets while they tell us lesser folk that we should take public transport in the interest of saving energy and the environment.

    Thus the term "limousine liberals."

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  3. Dean: that was intended as a bit of levity. Don't be so easily offended.

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  4. Danny; I'm afraid that Al Gore is pretty sickening. As far as he is concerned the best thing he ever did seems to have been NOT becoming President. As he has made a career out of being a professional liberal.

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  5. Munguin....I don't care for Al Gore either. (As a Democrat, he should definitely not be mentioned in the same breath with FDR and JFK.) But by NOT having President Gore, we got President DubYa.....what a choice!! And it took some considerable political ineptitude on Gore's part to make it happen as it did. He managed to lose his home state! The Tennessee electoral votes would have swung the election to Gore, however the debacle in florida came out.

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  6. Surely you mean coke socialists Dean?

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  7. what does misheard mean and did some or all of it get misheard.Reminds me of a manager who when asked about some commitment he made or agreed to would reply he "Couldn't recall the conversation"

    he was a liar just like David Davis.

    Cleggy and Cameron having a skinny dip..Oooer! i say...nice bods though

    http://www.ohlalaparis.com/photos/uncategorized/brokeback_mountain_01.jpg

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  8. Danny: its a lose lose situation indeed.

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  9. Niko: yes its something to say when you get caught. That that Davis has much to lose be being honest.

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