Politics – The Tory Party at War
The Tory Party may not be at war but tensions are running high!
The race to be Cameron’s successor seems to be ramping up inside the Tory Party. We all know that Boris (the public buffoon who is really calculating and determined) is in the race. So is The Chancellor George Osborne (formally Gideon Oliver Osborne – the Gideon did not have the common touch. Frankly George, it would take more than a name change). Now, Theresa May is also beginning to make waves, quite big ones actually.
She has been told to get a grip of her aides who are beginning to resemble the packs of aides that surrounded Blair and Brown. Two of them refused to canvass during the campaign for Rochester and Strood. For that Nick Timothy and Stephen Parkinson were suspended from the list of approved Tory Party parliamentary candidates. They said that they could not campaign as it was against the rules for aides to undertake party political work. Both Grant Shapps, the Tory Party chairman and Cameron himself disagreed. May went to bat for her underlings, but to no avail.
Rumour has it that some members of the Tory Parliamentary Party are accusing her of not being a team player. Not the sharpest knives in the drawer are they? She never has been. The question of Timothy and Parkinson rumbles on, they will be admitted back into the Tory Party fold if they agree to campaign, so far they have not done so. Obviously they still have her support.
The Sunday Times (21/12/14) talked of May starting a war against other ministers when she announced that Universities would have to ensure that foreign students would have to leave the country once their studies have finished. That sort of thing always plays well with the rabid right of the Tory Party, or the nasty party as May called it some years ago.
The problem about students over staying has been dealt with. The bogus colleges that was a one way ticket into this country have been closed. The bogus student problem is over. What May is talking about here are those students that been to real universities and colleges, the sort of people who would help this country by using their qualifications here, not abroad.
Not surprisingly her plan will be opposed by The Treasury and The department for Business, Innovation and Skills. They believe that Britain could only benefit if highly skilled overseas graduates are allowed to enter the UK job market after completing their degrees.
Addendum.
An interesting comment from the Daily Mail Online about the war in the Tory Party.
Number Ten is said to be fed up of criticism of what they see as incompetence in David Cameron’s political operation from May’s camp
Chancellor George Osborne is said to have been concerned by a surge in support for Mrs May among party activists, among whom she is now the clear favourite to succeed Mr Cameron, though sources insisted he had played no role in the suspension of Mr Timothy and Mr Parkinson.
One of the Home Secretary’s supporters was yesterday quoted as saying: ‘Osborne is obsessed with having spies everywhere so he can either succeed Cameron or be kingmaker. Theresa has every right to protect her own interests.
‘That is not disloyalty and she will not be intimidated by anyone in Downing Street.’
Tory Party backbencher Nadine Dorries said: ‘The man pulling the strings is Osborne, not Cameron.
‘Osborne is desperate to ensure he has enough Tory Party MPs in place to vote him on to the shortlist of two, which is put before members to choose the next leader, should there be a contest in 2015. Those two are likely to be Boris Johnson and Theresa May.’
She added: ‘If Nick and Stephen become MPs that is two more votes for Theresa and two fewer for George. Theresa has had a lot to put up with. The more popular she is among party members, the nastier it becomes in Westminster.’
Mrs May has repeatedly stressed her loyalty to Mr Cameron and personal relations between the two remain reasonable, though she has never been part of his inner circle.
However, the Home Secretary, dubbed ‘Britain’s Angela Merkel’ by allies, is thought to regard Mr Johnson as a ‘faintly ridiculous’ figure and would run against him if the Tory Party loses in May and Mr Cameron is forced to quit.
So she thinks that the Tory Party might lose in May?
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
