On reflection...

There will no doubt be lots of comment on the news tonight and in tomorrow’s papers about Tony Blair’s re-emergence on the campaign trail.

But so far, one quote from former Labour Minister Peter Kilfoyle - who ran Tony Blair’s Labour leadership campaign in 1994 - sticks out:

"I think he epitomises all that people see as wrong about New Labour. I do know that he's a great turn-off to a great deal of people."

Indeed, and yet he’s still more popular in polls than the current Prime Minister whose inspirational leadership has led Mr Kilfoyle to admit that he was “never a fan or supporter of Brown” and to describe the current Cabinet as “the least politically able” of his lifetime.

Mr Kilfoyle is due to stand down as a Labour MP once the General Election is called.

I hope, after May 6th, both he and Gordon Brown have very long and happy retirements.

Gordon Brown: In office, but not in power

Over the weekend, Alistair Darling confirmed he had threatened to resign from the Labour Government if Gordon Brown moved him from the Treasury in the last Cabinet reshuffle.

And, on the back of these comments, the Prime Minister was forced to offer a public assurance that the Chancellor would remain in post if Labour manages to cling to power after the General Election.

Back in 1993, former Tory Chancellor Norman Lamont famously accused the then Prime Minister John Major of being “in office, not in power.”

But at least Mr Major had the personal courage and political strength to sack his next door neighbour first, thus prompting Mr Lamont’s immortal and bitter line.

A cynical Budget from a cynical Labour Government

Today’s Budget – delivered by Alistair Darling but with Gordon Brown’s finger prints all over it – was a cobbled-together mess of cheap political gimmicks, stolen Conservative ideas and fanciful statements.

Meanwhile, our country remains saddled with a £167 billion budget deficit this year with no hint of a plan from this clapped out Labour Government for how to deal with it.

Thank goodness the General Election is now only a few weeks away – and counting…

It’s official - Brown DID mislead to Iraq inquiry

Yesterday finally Gordon Brown admitted he had misled when he told the Chilcot inquiry that defence spending had increased every year under Labour.

But, true to form, his “clarification” contained yet another untruth.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Gordon Brown said that defence spending had fallen "in real terms" in "one or two years".

But the truth is that, under his watch, defence spending fell in real terms in FOUR years including during the height of the Iraq War. This has been confirmed by the House of Commons Library.

Sadly, nothing should surprise us about Gordon Brown any more – and yet it should.

Our country and, in particular, our servicemen and women deserve so much better.

Labour's union paymasters

On the day that super-union Unite moved a day closer to disrupting the travel plans of thousands of British Airways customers this coming weekend, it was timely of Conservative Chairman Eric Pickles and Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove to publish a document outlining just how dependent the Labour Party’s General Election campaign is on Britain’s biggest union.

The dossier sets out in detail the fact that, in the three years since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Unite has spent more than £11 million of its members’ money on buying influence within the Labour Party.

This extends from placing a key union operative inside 10 Downing Street, to taking effective control of many cash-strapped constituency Labour parties and installing Unite activists and officials as Parliamentary candidates.

At the head of Unite’s operations is its Political Director Charlie Whelan best known for being sacked as Gordon Brown’s poisonous spin doctor when the new Prime Minister was in the Treasury.

Whelan’s influence over the now Prime Minister is, once again, all-enveloping and certainly not in the best interests of this country.

Have a look at the document published earlier if you need any further convincing:

http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2010/03/~/media/Files/Downloadable%20Files/newmilitanttendency.ashx