Crewe goes blue - amazing result

Last night's Tory victory in Crewe and Nantwich was amazing - 26yrs since the last Tory by-election victory & with a 17% swing!!

That would leave a Conservative majority after the next election of over 300!!! Everyone seems very quick to write off Labour & say that Gay Gordo is a dead duck. Maybe. I truly hope so.

But - Thatcher got slaughtered in by-elections & then stormed to victory in '83 after the Falklands ('"events dear boy, events"). Major routinely got battered in by-elections but scrapped a win in '92.

The best thing that can happen is that Brown hangs on to the Labour leadership & stays PM. He then goes down to an almighty defeat at the next general election. The Labour movement will then lurch to the left under some barmy Michael Foot/IDS style disaster & stay out of government for at least a decade.

Hopefully cue Cameron reeking creative destruction on the bloated debt laden state & public sector.

If I were Cameron I'd be courting the New Labourite MPs. They have very little in common with the Labour Left. Splitting the Labour party & having MPs cross the floor would be the best way to ensure the Conservatives dominate 21st Century politics as the party did for the 20th.

We just need a big issue to get them to walk after the next GE - think the Liberal Unionists of the 1880s.

Shadow Cabinet reshuffles

It is looking likely that there is going to be some form of Shadow Cabinet reshuffle over the summer. Cameron needs to ensure that he surrounds himself with individuals capable of effecting real change as government ministers. Otherwise the first year of a Cameron government will be wasted (just like Blair's first term!).

As ever my concern is the lack of real quality at the top level of our political parties. When Cameron surveys his team he will see lots of people just like him - i.e. with little experience of the business world or the world outside Westminster. Just like old Daveo himself.

I can think of a handful of up and coming Tory MPs with real experience outside of politics. Shadow ministers like Justine Greening have real world & business experience and will be excellent in government. Others are ad men, lightweights, and the usual collection of political nerds who have gone from university, to working for the party, to parliament.

Please Mr C, lets have substance in your appointments and not a bunch of camera loving lightweights.

Breaking up the Beeb

So the Tories are suggesting that the TV licence fee should be split between the BBC, ITV & C4. This is either a half-baked idea, or the starting point for a real shake up of how we run public sector broadcasting.


If this is the only suggestion from the Cameroons, then it ain't very good. Michael Grade said that ITV didn't want a share of the licence fee (too much hassle with extra govt targets). And this ignores the real problem - which is the dominance of the BBC in communications.


Just take regional news. The BBC website pretty much precludes any local sites being set up to service local news needs. A local business just couldn't compete with the bbc web site.


Similarly children's TV - few independent producers can compete or even try to nowadays.


What we need is the BBC slimming down to its core remit, with the add-ons being sold off. They get £1bn a year from the public in a compulsory tax (i.e. licence fee). In the digital age with multi-channel platforms, this is an anachronism.


Wow - I've written about the Beeb without once mentioning that they are also a bunch of leftie bollinger Bolsheviks.