Peter Oborne writes:
The least attractive feature of David Cameron’s overpraised speech at Conservative Party conference was its cynical and calculated dishonesty.
The Prime Minister told delegates that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn ‘thinks that the death of Osama Bin Laden was a tragedy’.
Mr Cameron was quoting Jeremy Corbyn out of context, and thereby distorting what the Labour leader actually said.
The full text of Corbyn’s remarks is as follows:
‘This was an assassination attempt, and is yet another tragedy upon a tragedy upon a tragedy.
I cannot find much fault in Corbyn’s remarks.
Rather than kill Osama Bin Laden in cold blood, it would have been much better if American Special Forces could have captured him alive and then taken him back to New York to face a fair trial.
Doing this would have demonstrated to the world the gaping difference in values and morality between America and its allies, and terrorists who take life without compunction.
There are some sound reasons to mock Jeremy Corbyn.
And:
It is almost 12 months since Douglas Carswell dramatically quit the Tory Party to join Ukip. It is now obvious that Carswell — Ukip’s only MP in the House of Commons — made a terrible mistake.
He has little in common with his new party, and is not even on speaking terms with his leader, Nigel Farage. He has a deep objection to Ukip’s anti-immigration policy.
Yesterday, he further dismayed his colleagues by swinging his weight behind the (largely Tory) Vote Leave campaign, which seeks to take us out of the EU.
How long can it be before he defects again — back to the Tories?
This year's Party Conferences have made it clear. The two competing forces in British politics are Corbyn and Cameron, Bennism and Blairism.
Blairism, which Cameron has now led for a decade, is not centrist at all. It is very right-wing indeed, with a heavy emphasis on spitefully punishing the poor, on serving the interests of transnational capital, on eroding civil liberties, and on the waging of wars of choice.
One does encounter people on the Internet, and very occasionally in real life, who are to the left of Corbyn. But so what? And one does encounter people on the Internet, and very occasionally in real life, who are to the right of Cameron. But so what?
UKIP, and quite possibly Peter Hitchens's column tomorrow, are trying to organise something that, as an organisable force, simply does not exist.
The least attractive feature of David Cameron’s overpraised speech at Conservative Party conference was its cynical and calculated dishonesty.
The Prime Minister told delegates that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn ‘thinks that the death of Osama Bin Laden was a tragedy’.
Mr Cameron was quoting Jeremy Corbyn out of context, and thereby distorting what the Labour leader actually said.
The full text of Corbyn’s remarks is as follows:
‘This was an assassination attempt, and is yet another tragedy upon a tragedy upon a tragedy.
I cannot find much fault in Corbyn’s remarks.
Rather than kill Osama Bin Laden in cold blood, it would have been much better if American Special Forces could have captured him alive and then taken him back to New York to face a fair trial.
Doing this would have demonstrated to the world the gaping difference in values and morality between America and its allies, and terrorists who take life without compunction.
There are some sound reasons to mock Jeremy Corbyn.
And:
It is almost 12 months since Douglas Carswell dramatically quit the Tory Party to join Ukip. It is now obvious that Carswell — Ukip’s only MP in the House of Commons — made a terrible mistake.
He has little in common with his new party, and is not even on speaking terms with his leader, Nigel Farage. He has a deep objection to Ukip’s anti-immigration policy.
Yesterday, he further dismayed his colleagues by swinging his weight behind the (largely Tory) Vote Leave campaign, which seeks to take us out of the EU.
How long can it be before he defects again — back to the Tories?
This year's Party Conferences have made it clear. The two competing forces in British politics are Corbyn and Cameron, Bennism and Blairism.
Blairism, which Cameron has now led for a decade, is not centrist at all. It is very right-wing indeed, with a heavy emphasis on spitefully punishing the poor, on serving the interests of transnational capital, on eroding civil liberties, and on the waging of wars of choice.
One does encounter people on the Internet, and very occasionally in real life, who are to the left of Corbyn. But so what? And one does encounter people on the Internet, and very occasionally in real life, who are to the right of Cameron. But so what?
UKIP, and quite possibly Peter Hitchens's column tomorrow, are trying to organise something that, as an organisable force, simply does not exist.
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