Hardly surprising, now that he's London-based and constituency-free, and considering his involvement with The Henry Jackson Society (when are the Labour MPs signed up to that going to defect?). But I never understood why he took a peerage. He could have just waited for some aged Knight of the Shires to die, sent his CV to the local Conservative Association, and breezed in, assuming that no one else with a Nobel Peace Prize had applied.
He would then have become Leader of the Conservative Party, and the much-trumpeted, but actually non-existent, Tory Revival might actually be happening in the electorally key areas of Scotland, Wales, the North, the Midlands and the West Country. For that matter, merger with the UUP would also have forced Labour and the Lib Dems to contest seats in Northern Ireland, all of which Trimble has long come close to advocating publicly.
Ah, well, it was not to be. So it looks as if he'd be Leader of the Lords in a Tory Cabinet instead.
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Well Cameron could always make him Foreign Secretary - a post which would suit him very well - and which has a relatively recent precedent in Lord Carrington, under The Lady.
ReplyDeleteYes, that's clearly what Trimble wants. But whether or not the old war horse will get it is altogether another matter. I'd still bet on Leader of the Lords as a consolation prize.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the Tories would have to win first.