Showing posts with label Tory Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tory Party. Show all posts
Saturday, September 25, 2021
John Major on Afghanistan, 'Global Britain', and the Tory Party | FT
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Tory MPs Vow to Quit Party If Boris Johnson Becomes Leader
Conservative MPs are orchestrating against a potential leadership campaign by Boris Johnson, with several talking of resigning the whip if he were to become party leader.
With Tories convinced that Theresa May’s days in No 10 are numbered, MPs are feverishly discussing who will seek to replace her, how organised the teams are and whether a general election would be necessary.
Johnson is the current favourite of Brexit-backing Tory activists, who will pick the leader out of a final two candidates. However, the former London mayor would first have to clear the hurdle of convincing Conservative MPs to put him on the final list of two.
One minister said she would leave the party if Johnson and his supporters, such as Jacob Rees-Mogg, took over the Conservatives. » | Rowena Mason, Deputy political editor | Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Islamist Leader of Mega Mosque Bid and Ally of George Galloway Picked as Tory Candidate!
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| Vetted? London Tories concerned at how George Galloway's ally Mufti Shah Sadruddin picked by party. |
Mufti Shah Sadruddin, who believes in the notion of Islamic states, has no known previous links to the Tories, and has been an enthusiastic supporter of Respect MP George Galloway.
The Conservative party in the east London borough has also selected two other candidates who have previously stood for socialist Respect.
London Mayor Boris Johnson has been briefed on the situation and is understood to be concerned the party is being exploited as a vehicle of convenience.
Mr Sadruddin has been using his Facebook page to urge all Muslims to vote for any party that stands the best chance of ousting the borough’s incumbent directly elected mayor, Labour’s Sir Robin Wales.
Anonymous leafelts have been circulating in the borough listing the Muslim candidates people should vote for, regardless of party.
A central theme of Mr Sadruddin’s campaign is his desire to punish Sir Robin for his opposition to the Mega Mosque project, which is also known as the London Markaz.
Sir Robin was opposed to the construction of the Markaz, believing it to be too large. Read on and comment » | Ted Jeory | Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Thursday, July 26, 2012
In doing so, he would destroy forever the Tories’ reputation as the ‘nasty party’ as these new ‘inclusive’ members joined the 300,000 activists whose average age was 64[.]
‘I was elected Leader of the Conservative Party on a mandate to change and modernise the party,’ he said. ‘I want to increase membership. I want to see a broader base. I want to see a significant increase in the number of members from all communities.’
He hugged hoodies, embraced huskies in the Arctic circle and placed a daft wind turbine on the roof of his Notting Hill home in an attempt to woo new Tories.
But the bitter and ineluctable truth is that, far from increasing numbers, Mr Cameron has presided over the sharpest decline in membership in the Conservative party’s history.
Today, I can reveal that the number of Tory party members has fallen below 130,000, a drop of around 60 per cent since he took over in 2005.
The party’s U-turns over a referendum on Europe, its failure to reform the loathed Human Rights Act and the Tories’ infuriating tendency to give ever more ground to the wretched Lib Dems have contributed to the decline. Read on and comment » | Andrew Pierce | Thursday, July 26, 2012
Sunday, April 01, 2012
THE INDEPENDENT – AN EXTRACT: We're governed by the political wing of the wealthy. That's not the view of a Socialist Worker headline writer: it's mainstream public opinion. According to a poll for The Independent earlier this week, two out of three voters think the Tories are "the party of the rich". Inevitably, that's partly because the majority of the Cabinet are privately-educated millionaires who would not look out of place in a 19th-century government. That's why George Osborne (the St Paul's-educated heir to a 17th-century baronetcy) slapping a tax on pasties – popular cheap nosh – strikes such a nerve. "It may sound trivial – but it is becoming symbolic of a divide between working people and a rich elite" – again, not the Socialist Worker, but the otherwise loyal Tory rag, The Sun.
But it goes a lot deeper than the distance between the well-bred kitchen-supper eating Conservatives and the pasty-eating masses. It's the fact that the "Cash for Cameron" scandal has exposed the internal mechanics of how Toryism provides political representation for the upper crust of society, because "the people who remain quietly behind the scenes" have been thrust into the spotlight. Peter Cruddas is now persona non grata as far as Cameron's circle is concerned, but his pledge to "feed all feedback" of wealthy donors "to the policy committee" gives the rest of us an insight into how power works in Cameron's Britain. Read the whole article here » | Owen Jones | Friday, March 30, 2012
Monday, March 26, 2012
Wie viel kostet es, mit David Cameron im privaten Rahmen zu Abend zu essen? Wer mindestens 200.000 Pfund ausgibt, der bekommt "Premier-League-Zugang" zum britischen Premierminister. So hat es Peter Cruddas, Schatzmeister der britischen Konservativen, ausgedrückt. Dummerweise wurde er dabei von Undercover-Reportern gefilmt - und musste am Sonntag sogleich zurücktreten.
Die aufschlussreiche Video-Aufzeichnung, die die "Sunday Times" am Wochenende veröffentlichte, bringt den britischen Premierminister in Erklärungsnot. Der Tory, der einst als Saubermann der britischen Politik angetreten war, hat nun seinen eigenen Parteispendenskandal am Hals. Schon fragen die britischen Medien, wen Cameron getroffen hat - und was die Spender im Gegenzug erhalten haben.
Als großzügiger Geldgeber treffe man nicht den Premierminister, sondern die Person David Cameron und seine Frau Samantha in ihrer privaten Wohnung in der Downing Street, hatte Cruddas den Undercover-Reportern erklärt, die als potentielle Spender aufgetreten waren. Und er versprach für das Geld eine echte Gegenleistung: "Wenn Sie unglücklich sind, hören wir Ihnen zu und geben es an die Politik-Abteilung in der Downing Street weiter."
Alles gelogen, sagt nun das Büro des Premierministers. Cruddas habe dick aufgetragen und seinen Einfluss maßlos übertrieben. So laufe es in Wirklichkeit gar nicht. Cameron selbst erklärte am Montag in einer Rede, weder er noch sein Team hätten Spender auf Cruddas' Vermittlung hin getroffen. Keine einzige politische Entscheidung sei verändert worden. » | Carsten Volkery | London | Montag, 26. März 2012
Verwandt »
Related »
My comment:
I despair of this country's so-called 'democracy'. The word plutocracy comes to mind even as I write this. The strategy seems to be: Talk a good line in democracy so that the little people think they are living in a democracy, but all the while the levers of power are being pulled by the über-rich. – © Mark
This comment also appears here
Related »
BBC: Hell hath no fury like a media mogul scorned.
Witness Rupert Murdoch's tweet: "@rupertmurdoch: Of course there must be a full independent inquiry on both sides. In great detail, and with consequences. Trust must be established."
And the Sun's editorial which says: "Millions will wonder if Osborne scrapped the 50p rate after a few cosy lunches with millionaire backers."
Could it be that Rupert Murdoch wishes to see the man who set up the Leveson Inquiry go through the same agonisingly painful scrutiny as he has?
And why not, many will ask, after the extraordinary video of the Tory co-treasurer offering to sell access to the prime minister's private dinner table and his policy unit. Shouldn't we be told which donors the PM has meetings and dinners with?
Number 10 are for now sticking to the line that what happens in David Cameron's private flat is, well, private. However, they must know that it is very hard to explain the distinction between what happens downstairs on official business and upstairs on private business. So, the pressure will mount, particularly as Mr Cameron himself has said that transparency "is the best disinfectant".
We are already told who gives money to political parties, but what access they get in return is not published. On the Today programme this morning Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude confirmed what the Conservative website advertises - that you can pay to have dinner with the PM by spending £50,000 to join the Leader's Group. » | Nick Robinson | Political Editor | BBC | Monday, March 26, 2012
Related »
A billionaire with a private jet and homes in London, Hertfordshire, the South of France and Monaco, he was – at least at first glance – an inspired choice by David Cameron to be the Tories’ new joint treasurer.
But many senior Tories warned when he was appointed last June that it would end in tears.
There is no doubt he has the Midas touch, having transformed his internet-based financial services company CMC Markets, which he launched in 1989 with only £10,000, into an international success story. It employs hundreds of people as far afield as Australia, Canada and China.
But the no-nonsense, straight-talking style of Mr Cruddas, 58, is not for the faint-hearted. He prides himself on his Del Boy-style ‘cockney geezer’ background. His favourite catchphrase is: ‘I am just a plain meat-two-veg-and-gravy sort of man.’
His lifestyle, however, is far from plain. He wears designer suits, buys identical pairs of fine Italian shoes so that he can put them in all his houses, and always wears a £250,000 limited edition platinum Zenith watch – just one of 15 similar watches that he boasts he owns.
There are Bentleys and Porsche Cayenne turbos on his various driveways. His main home, a £10million apartment on Monaco’s Avenue de Spélugues, enjoys one of Monte Carlo’s swankiest addresses close to the legendary casino. Read on and comment » | Andrew Pierce | Sunday, March 25, 2012
WIKI: Peter Cruddas »
Related »
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: The most unlikely defendant in the crowded dock at Woolwich Crown Court was Donald Douglas Stewart-Whyte, son of a former Conservative Party election agent, half-brother of a fashion model and a Muslim for less than five months before his arrest.
Mr Stewart-Whyte, 23, an art student, admitted in the witness box to dealing cannabis and having possession of a Baikal 9mm handgun with ammunition but denied that he was part of any terrorist mass murder plot.
The prosecution alleged that he was a “footsoldier” who had signalled his willingness to take part in a mid-air suicide mission, but he claimed that he knew nothing of the airline plot and had turned to Islam as a route away from anxiety attacks, mental health problems and drug use. Soon after his conversion in March 2006, he wrote and published a leaflet entitled Look at Islam, Not Muslims, in which he argued that Islam and terrorism were not synonymous.
Mr Stewart-Whyte, who lived with his mother, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was suffering from panic attacks that kept him away from Amersham and Wycombe College, where he was studying fine art before his arrest. The Crown alleged that his religious mentor was another of the defendants, Umar Islam, also a convert to the Muslim faith. >>> Sean O’Neill | Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: The Tory blue tree logo has been turned rainbow for the party’s first gay pride disco at this year’s Conservative conference.
Around 700 guests are expected at the event, which is being held in Canal Street, in the gay area of Manchester where the conference is being held, on October 6.
There will be a speech by Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, and a performance from the singer Angie Brown.
Surprise guests will attend, including a mystery “senior shadow cabinet member,” who will deliver a speech.
A party spokesman said: “The logo is being rebranded in rainbow colours for this event, to reflect the nature of the night.
“We have all sorts of rebranding for all sorts of different events.”
Andrew Brierly, 29, a party activist from Clapham, south London, said the event is sign the party is modernising its image to appeal to new voters.
He said: "By hosting events like this it is hoped that voters will recognise that the Conservative party is at the forefront of agenda-setting politics. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
THE GUARDIAN: Learning how to down pints at a young age appears to be a vital skill for anyone hoping to be leader of the Conservative party.
In his days as Tory leader, William Hague famously boasted that he drank up to 14 pints a day as a teenager. Now, David Cameron has admitted that he drank "too much" as a teenager at Eton. To show his human side, Cameron tells Grazia magazine that he was a troublesome teenager.
"When I was 14, 15, 16, I was doing things that teenagers do in terms of drinking too much, being caught having the odd fag, things like that," he says.
The Tory leader does not go into detail about how much he drank and what precisely he smoked. Hague famously ran into trouble in 2000 when he tried to shed his image as a teenage political geek by recalling how he drank up to 14 pints a day while delivering beer and soft drinks around South Yorkshire during his holidays.
Cameron never drank that much and says he managed to turn himself round, winning a place at Oxford, where he achieved a first-class degree. "I didn't do particularly well in my O-levels, but I was fortunate enough that 16 was a turning point for me. I was, in some ways, heading in the wrong direction and I pulled myself up and headed in the right one." >>> Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent | Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Grazia >>>
Saturday, May 30, 2009
MAIL Online: David Cameron has now been dragged personally into the expenses row as it was revealed that he paid off a loan on his London home shortly after taking out a £350,000 taxpayer-funded mortgage on his constituency house.
The disclosure followed a powerful call by the Tory leader for the 'full force of the law' to be deployed against MPs who have abused allowances.
Following a Mail on Sunday investigation Mr Cameron could now face searching questions about his own expense claims.
He took out the £350,000 mortgage - close to the maximum amount that can be claimed for - to buy a large house in Oxfordshire in August 2001, two months after winning his Witney seat in the General Election.
By nominating it as his second home, he was able to claim for the mortgage interest payments under the now-infamous Commons' Additional Costs Allowance (ACA). David Cameron Took Out Maximum Taxpayer-funded Mortgage - Then Paid Off Own £75k Loan Four Months Later >>> Glen Owen | Saturday, May 30, 2009
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