The thieving David Laws is back.
Sayeeda Warsi has a more significant position than she had before.
Jeremy Hunt has been promoted, meaning that we now have a Health Secretary with an enthusiasm for homeopathy. Given Andrew Lansley's pursuit of an electorally unmandated policy to further his own foreign-based business interests, this would be a matter of a crank replacing a crook. Except that we are talking about Jeremy Hunt, as crooked as he is cranky.
And George Osborne, booed by the public whereas it cheers Gordon Brown, is now under the watching brief of Ken Clarke, who was first made a Minister before Osborne was born. It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.
The only difference between Clarke and Brown is that Brown is far more Eurosceptical, so that the 1997 Election kept Britain out of the euro by making him Chancellor in place of Clarke. Hence, presumably, the appointment of Clarke rather than Brown to run the economy while Osborne is still permitted to live in 11 Downing Street for the sake of the Bullingdon Club.
The only difference between Clarke and Brown is that Brown is far more Eurosceptical, so that the 1997 Election kept Britain out of the euro by making him Chancellor in place of Clarke. Hence, presumably, the appointment of Clarke rather than Brown to run the economy while Osborne is still permitted to live in 11 Downing Street for the sake of the Bullingdon Club.
Clarke was first made a minister in 1972, after Osborne was born. If you read the letter Hunt sent his constituent after they complained about him signing an EDM about homeopathy, you'll notice he doesn't say it works, just that homeopathic hospitals do a lot of good (which I'm sure they do - the doctors give more time to their patients than doctors who don't practice quackary do).
ReplyDeleteAs for Brown getting cheered, well, the crowds at the Paralympics have been cheering both physically and mentally disabled people, haven't they?
Good to see that the raw nerves have been so very successfully touched.
ReplyDeleteNow, any thoughts on the appointment of an Agriculture and Rural Affairs Secretary who sits for Putneyshire? Both Coalition parties would claim to be the voice of the countryside. But while between them they have finally managed to find one MP from Wales to be Secretary of State, they cannot find so much as one from rural England.
Labour has plenty of them, far more than is assumed by the county set's Fleet Street offspring. Bring one of them in. In fact, bring any of them in. As was long the case in relation to Wales, any rural MP at all would be an obviously superior voice of the countryside than the MP for part of the London Borough of Wandsworth.
Clarke's Wikipedia entry has been altered today to say that he was first made a minister in 72. He wasn't, it was 71 and before Gideon's birth in May of that year.
ReplyDeleteI am not one to rely on Wikipedia. But it hardly matters: they cannot pretend that Clarke did not become an MP in 1970, which is really just as bad for Osborne.
ReplyDeletePlus they ended up giving Defra to Patterson because even Cameron managed to understand how bad a London MP would look. You will hate me for this, but maybe you should listen to the BBC in case there are changes of plan between the last email or phone call from one of your mates and the public announcement? Only happens occasionally, but this is one of them.
ReplyDeleteYou main point stands, though, Cameron saw the countryside as somewhere to park someone he wanted to get rid of. But he has given her international development instead. He sees the developing world in the same way. Including the British overseas territories like the one you were born in.