On Wednesday's final edition of The Daily Politics before the summer recess, Tim Montgomerie of ConHome fame provided a telling glimpse of the unreconstructed nature of the Tory grassroots when he earnestly informed us that the public want the government and the media to move away from the Murdoch scandal and back on to the things that really concern ordinary people, like "the euro, immigration and crime". Now, no-one would deny for a moment the gravity of the euro crisis, and both crime and immigration are of course perennial concerns for voters. But if you conducted a poll of the electorate's priorities, would those really come out as the top three? Hmmm, I doubt it somehow. It's that old Tory syndrome - hold up a mirror to yourself and think you see the British people staring back at you approvingly.
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I had to rub my eyes in disbelief the other night when I saw a TV ad for Soda Stream that ended with the slogan "get busy with the fizzy". It'll be the return of the pterodactyls next.
Ah yes. The Tories have this incredibly strange view of what us ordinary people are like.
ReplyDeleteI remember an occasion, just weeks into his premiership, when Cameron was making one of his pseudo-statesmanlike, stirring speeches (on what subject, I cannot remember) but he included the line (which I WILL remember forever) "I know the British people". (Note: not the British peopleS. I assume he meant the English.)
Well, laugh? I thought I'd never stop.
Bit I suppose it's true. He knows the British people because he's met them; he passes time with them, mixes with them in all sorts of places. There were all the British people he mixed with at Eton, at Oxford, at Glyndebourne, Goodwood, Lords, Wimbledon, Henley, the Bullingdon, the National, Buckingham Palace. The list of places is, well, almost endless. I mean, he could have met British people in the departure lounge for the Easy Jet 4.35 am flight to Majorca, or whatever it was that he did for a photocall to prove that the cuts were hurting him too. I say 'could have' because, strangely, there weren't any other people there. Fancy!
For all I know, at sometime in his life he may even have met a few Scots on the grouse moors. Heaven only knows when he's met any Cornish, Welsh or Irish.
What fools they make of themselves when they try to pretend they are "one of us".
He reminds me of prince Charles, who once announced in a speech welcoming immigrants who had passed Blunket's 'fitness for citizenship' test: "I've always thought it a great privilege to have been born British"!!!!!
Hmmmm...
...See ya later alligator!
PS: (if I may). Note to Tim, who probably does read this excellent blog.
ReplyDeleteWe "ordinary" people are probably not overly concerned about the fact that some "C" list celebs had their phones hacked and we don't much care that it happened to some flunkies at the palace, but we are more than a little concerned about what is behind all this.
It worries us that so many people in top positions had such incredibly poor judgement as to involve themselves inappropriately with people whom they were investigating in one way or another.
In the case of politicians, notably Cameron, Osborne, Hunt and Gove, we are worried about the connections they had with the Murdoch empire, especially when there was such a sensitive deal involving that organisation in the offing.
We are worried that police appear to have been on the take. We are worried that politicians have been cowed by what the Murdoch organisation may know about their private (or public) business.
We are concerned that Murdoch junior has lied to parliament about his involvement in buying people off. We are, at the very least, intrigued by the fact that all this criminal activity was going on and not one, not a single one, of the management was even suspicious, despite signing off money for bribery and receiving stories, week after week, the origin of which couldn’t be explained.
We are worried that the person who started the whole thing has been found dead; that the police announced immediately that there were “no suspicious circumstances”, which in itself was suspicious. We are worried that we cannot trust the police.
We are worried about the prime minister’s reasons for employing, at the heart of UK government and with access to confidential information of the most sensitive nature, a man who is now under arrest for bribery and illegal phone tapping, and who was a senior employee of the Murdoch organisation.
And we're concerned because the corruption of the police and politicians by a foreign newspaper seller is important in a so called democracy.
There are any number of things we're worried about Tim.
So, we’re not buying the “move along now, nothing more to see here” advice. Because you see, what we are most worried about, is what we don’t yet know that we should be worried about (adptn: Donald Rumsfeld.)
Didn’t Rebekah say, in one of her many unguarded moments when he mouth ran away with her, that the fallout from this would continue for 2 years?
Maybe people should be worried about the Euro crisis, but I’ve not met any who are. You Tory guys forget that in some parts of the UK immigration is not a problem; rather shortage of skilled workers is. And of course, although you probably wouldn’t know this, Tim, in Scotland crime is on its way down because of good governance and the proper management of budgets, and so, for the average Scot, is less and less of a worry.
So, don’t try to tell us what to worry about, Tim. We’re bright enough to figure it out ourselves.
"He reminds me of prince Charles, who once announced in a speech welcoming immigrants who had passed Blunket's 'fitness for citizenship' test: "I've always thought it a great privilege to have been born British"!!!!!"
ReplyDeleteThat must have thrilled his millions of future subjects in Canada, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Jamaica!