Kamikaze Conway?
- 31 Jan 08, 11:18 AM
2008 has begun with both parties wracked with uncertainty.
Today the former Home Secretary Charles Clarke has put into print what many in his party feel. Labour, he writes for Prospect * magazine, is suffering from "debilitating" uncertainty about its policy direction under Gordon Brown. The party, he goes on, wasted much of this parliament focusing on the succession struggle and could lose the next election unless it shows greater "clarity, decisiveness and a lucid sense of direction".
Other memorable quotes are:
"Labour has wasted much of the first half of this parliament. With some exceptions, our action to make the necessary changes has been insufficient. And now it seems to me that Labour still remains very unclear about our approach, both in this parliament and the next."
And:
"By now people are entitled to expect Labour to know what works, and not to need short-term reviews and pilots. Now, above all, we need clarity in each policy area. The current uncertainties are widespread, debilitating and give ammunition to our opponents." Ouch.
Lest you think that the Tories have no such worries, think again. David Cameron, I'm told, has been deeply frustrated that he's struggled to make news since the beginning of the year. Hence, his desperation yesterday to seize the credit for the scrapping of the police "stop" form and a .
All this, though, must pale into insignificance compared with his reaction to the with all its reminders of the Tory image Cameron has worked so hard to expunge.
I can't eradicate from my mind a terrible idea. Could Conway - who tried to stop Cameron becoming leader, who dubbed his mates ‘the Notting Hill set’ and condemned their out of touch liberal metropolitan ways – have decided on one final desperate act to destroy the modernisation project albeit whilst destroying himself at the same time? Could he be the modern day political equivalent of a kamikaze pilot?
No, you're right, that's a grotesque idea. How the mind plays tricks...
PS: I hesitated for reasons of taste to dub Derek Conway a political suicide bomber, only to learn that that phrase is already doing the rounds amongst Conservative MPs.
* Apologies for this. Here's .
