Dear Claire,
I was going to write about the
third part of what Dave Snooty (© Private Eye) promised in his ‘Contract
between the Conservative party and you’, issued before the 2010 election: ‘We
will change society’. That will wait for another day, because today I’d like to
talk about the disappearing Conservatives!
In the ‘Contract between the Conservative party and you’, Cameron wrote “So this is our contract with you. I want you to read it and – if we win the election – use it to hold us to account. If we don’t deliver our side of the bargain, vote us out in five years’ time.”
Well, it would seem that quite a
few of the electorate WOULD like to hold the Tories to account. The problem is,
the Tories aren’t making themselves available such that they may be held to
account.
First off, Le Grand Fromage
himself ensured that two candidates standing in Witney were excluded from the
only hustings meeting he was able to attend. An independent candidate,
Christopher Tompson, and Dr Clive Peedell of the National Health Action party. Do you think Dr Peedell (a
clinical oncologist) might just know what it’s like at the sharp end of the NHS,
and might be well-placed to tear Cameron apart over his ongoing destruction of
the NHS?
Of
course Cameron’s refusal to debate head-to-head with Miliband set the precedent
for his cowardly avoidance of any situation in which he would be held to
account, as well as being made to look like a complete idiot, who has presided
over so many failed and inhumane policies and undelivered promises.
A
little closer to home, you yourself avoided the Green hustings meeting at
Pewsey, having committed to attending it some six months previously. The
organisers pressed you as to why you refused to attend, and you said you needed
to be ‘elsewhere’ without any further explanation. Could it be that your rough
ride at the Pewsey hustings meeting the week before scared you off? Could it be
that Cameron’s failure to deliver on any green policies (quote to aides, from
Cameron: “Cut the green crap out”) meant you would have been held to account?
Perish the thought!
Heading
north to Merseyside, we find the very lovely Esther McVie ducking out of a
pre-scheduled interview with LBC radio, who visited the area with their mobile
bus/studio on their current round-Britain tour.
It seems that McVie’s agent didn’t even know where she was, and got very
flustered when pressed. I wonder if there was going to be anything vaguely
uncomfortable in the LBC interview, possibly concerning Welfare reforms.
Andrew Marr’s interview
with Cameron on Sunday 19th April, in which the death of a claimant
was raised, appears to have got the Conservative party spooked when it comes to
talking about their record on benefits.
A disdainful Cameron
showed no humanity or remorse when quizzed by Marr about diabetic former
soldier David Clapson, who died after his benefits were sanctioned. Clapson was
unable to keep his insulin at the correct temperature in the fridge and died,
his dead body surrounded by piles of CVs he’d printed off.
Perhaps the experience
may have convinced the Conservatives that this isn’t their strongest subject.
On Tuesday 21st
April, Tory minister for disabled people Mark Harper cancelled an appearance on
Newsnight. He had been due to take part in a three party debate on benefits. Because
Harper dropped out just two hours before the programme was due to be broadcast
live, the BBC cancelled the two other politicians in the interests of
impartiality. As a result the BBC had to draft in non-politicians to talk on
the same subject.
Well,
I’ve saved the best till last today: Yup, it’s Irritating Duncan Syndrome, the
old arse-ache himself.
On
Monday 27th, IBS was supposed to be appearing at a hustings meeting
in his own constituency, Chingford. He dropped
out at the very last minute, claiming that he’d been called to the north of the
country urgently.
Could
it possibly have been because the sister of David Clapson, the soldier
mentioned above, was at the same meeting, and wanted to question IBS about his
Welfare cuts?
Iain Duncan Smith is due
to appear for a debate about benefits on Andrew Neil’s daily politics show at
2pm on Tuesday 5th May. He will be appearing on a panel with Labour’s Rachel
Reeves , Lib Dem Steve Webb, Suzanne Evans of UKIP and Jonathan Bartley for the
Greens.
At least, that’s the
plan. But the Conservatives appear increasingly desperate not to talk about
either their record on benefits or their plans to cut another £12 billion from
social security in just two years.
Could it be that Andrew
Neil and Alison Holt may yet be talking amongst themselves two days before the
election?
The mystery of the disappearing
Tories: the plot thickens!
Kind regards
Polly
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