Well, Tony Blair. You've really bollocksed things up for New Labour, haven't you?

[marmar]

from the Independent UK:



Tories ready to rule, say voters

By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
Monday, 28 July 2008



The public believe David Cameron and the Conservative Party are ready to govern the country but are still not sure what they stand for, according to a poll carried out by ComRes for The Independent.

A majority of people (53 per cent) think the Tories are ready to govern after the next election, while 37 per cent disagree. Almost one in four Labour voters (23 per cent) agrees. The findings increase the pressure on Gordon Brown as he tries to head off moves by his own party to force him to stand down.

Although senior Labour figures rallied behind the beleaguered Prime Minister yesterday, his critics warned that they would move against him in early September in an attempt to deny him the chance to fight back at the party's annual conference starting on 20 September.

One said: "This poll reinforces what a lot of Labour MPs think – that Tory support is soft and we could fight back and win under another leader.

"Gordon does not have the public's permission to expose the Tories on policy because people have given up on him."

ComRes found that 46 per cent of people agree that "David Cameron is ready to be Prime Minister", while 42 per cent disagree. But 49 per cent agree with the statement "I don't really know what David Cameron stands for", with 44 per cent disagreeing.

By 56 per cent to 37 per cent, people reject the idea that the Tories lack the necessary experience to be trusted to run the country. But 48 per cent of people (and 25 per cent of Tory supporters) agree that they "don't have enough clear policies for me to understand what they stand for", with 44 per cent disagreeing. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-ready-to-rule-say-voters-878686.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Oh I don't know...

Gordo has that air about him that he could fuck up an air sandwich, all on his own.

[TheMightyFavog]

4. That manky Scots git.

I knew he was going to be a fuckup from day one.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. "That manky Scots git"

Poetry. Pure poetry worthy of The Bard. Clear and concise in it's estimation. Nothing else so well describes him that would be Poodle-Lite or Poodle Nouveau.

[TheMightyFavog]

10. Well, it was worthy of Monty Python.

The first thing that popped into my mind when I first heard him speak was that bit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[AndyTiedye]

2. So The UK Responds to the Neocon Fuckups by Lurching TO THE RIGHT!???!!??

:wtf:

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. I heard this morning on the news that the Tories are moving to the left

on a few issues, such as the environment and gay marriage. Whether that's true or not, I don't know as I don't follow politics over there.

[Odin2005]

6. They are becoming more libertarian IIRC...

...as a result of Labor becoming so authoritarian and paternalistic. Seems like a political re-alignment may be happening over in the UK, with the Tories becoming a party of center-left and libertarian folks, Labor becoming authoritarians, and the Liberal Democrats becoming the social democrats Labor used to be.

[Odin2005]

7. The Tories are in the process of dumping Thatcherism and shifting to the Left IIRC.

n/t

[LeftishBrit]

8. Their current leader is moderate by Tory standards,

However, there are lots of Thatcherites still in the party and I wouldn't put it past them to seize control if the Tories get back into power.

[redqueen]

13. We did the same thing after Clinton, did we not?

[wvbygod]

9. Blair is not there to kick around anymore

Eventually the ones in the helm must own up to current conditions. If they don't,
their ship will be adrift and open for takeover.

[Selatius]

11. Tony Benn, former Labour MP, had to say this about his time in Parliament:

"As a minister, I experienced the power of industrialists and bankers to get their way by use of the crudest form of economic pressure, even blackmail, against a Labour Government. Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes is minuscule. This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the IMF secured cuts in our public expenditure. These lessons led me to the conclusion that the UK is only superficially governed by MPs and the voters who elect them. Parliamentary democracy is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact. If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is, and some new Chartist agitation might be born and might quickly gather momentum."

It sounds like the Labour Party has been hollowed out of its traditional left wing positions.

[MisterP]

12. well, it's not like "Thatcherism in a Red bow" had anything going for it

it just took credit for the public sickness with the Other Queen and Earl Grey to push privatization, tabloid-based lawmaking, and Orwellianism

[redqueen]

14. That's what neo-liberals do. (nt)