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Clegg “would make a very good Tory”, says Tory MP

May 29, 2012 5:45 pm

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The Clegger went to visit a Tory dining club this week, but this quote from a Tory MP, as reported by James Lansdale, probably isn’t the reaction he wanted:

“He wasn’t as instinctively hostile to us as most Lib Dems. He would make a very good Tory.”

Cuthulu

As a reward for his unstinting support in a few years the Tories will pack multi-lingual, multi-faced Clegg off to Belgium as a EU Commissioner, or similar, where he can talk the same old right-wing sh*t, make the same vacuous open-handed gestures, and be wined and dined by the fabulously well-paid Eurostocracy like there was no tomorrow.

You mark my words.

It’s the creep not the meek who shall inherit the earth.
- treborc1
  
  He took his party back to power , but it’s a bit of a cheap shot after 15 years of new labour calling Clegg a Tory, if Clefgg is a Tory what the hell was Blair
  - Cari_esky5
    
    Blair is New Labour.
    - AlanGiles
      
      ”
      Blair is New Labour”
      
      And let’s face it you couldn’t get a sheet of Bronco between Blair and the Conservatives on many issues – the fact that Blair enabled John Hutton to use the services of David Freud (Tory) and yesterday mincing Alan Milburn turned in another vacuous report in his job as a government Zsar tells you all you need to know about Blair’s famous remark about “political cross dressing”.
      
      * weyman Carver (1905-1967)
ThePurpleBooker

I don’t think Nick Clegg is actually a real Tory but I think he is a centre-right European liberal and that is the direction the Liberal Democrats are heading.
- jaime taurosangastre candelas
  
  Only one wing (“Orange Book”) of the Lib Dems. I was not here in the UK to see the merger of the SDP and the Liberals, but I think I will be here in 2015 to see the de-merger.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray
    
    Perhaps. Its going to be particularly difficult if they are reduced to a rump in parliament – thing is there are actually three groups. the social democrats who could easily return to Labour. the right wing liberals who could join the Tories. But also the radical Liberals – who may want to try and keep a Liberal party going?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Homfray/510980099 Mike Homfray
  
  Yes. Indeed, it could be argued that many of our Tories are really European liberals – Tories tend to be more socially conservative and pragmatic rather than obsessively free market orientated. Liberals tend towards social and economic liberalism.
  
  Why some of those liberals ended up in the Labour party is anyone’s guess!
  - treborc1
    
    Could it be that Labour needs them, only a few weeks ago the local labour party asked are you a disillusioned Liberal then labour maybe the place for you, and somebody wrote or perhaps the Tories where most of the labour party are.
Cari_esky5

I think the only reason Clegg went to the Lib Dems was because of the Tory bad attitude towards Europe. I would say Clegg is in the same mould as Heseltine but Heseltine joined the Tories when they were very pro Europe.
Daniel Speight

Clegg “would make a very good Tory”, says Tory MP

As would Luke Bozier and …
- http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone
  
  I had to laugh when a New Labour goon suggested we respond to Bozier’s resignation from Labour by becoming the Party that Bozier would want to join.
  
  You couldn’t make it up…
  - treborc1
    
    Somebody did, but a lot of people think Bozier is a serious loss to labour
    - AlanGiles
      
      I know it will upset the sensibilities of some of the old women of New Labour, but I am going to use a very naughty word: Socialism.
      
      Mr Bozier has joined the party he is most at home with – to some extent I think that is fairly honourable. What bothers me, is the type of person in labour that Daniel refers to (I hope he will forgive me if I am wrong, but I think it was Jon Roberts who made the remark about making the party the one Bozier would wish to join). If I am wrong, Jon I apologize, but anyway the point is, the only way you would make Labour acceptable to Mr B is to make it the Tory party, which Blair and his chums more or less did, but here’s the problem. If you cannot accept Labour for what it is, you would be best advised to get out.
      
      If Mr Bozier or others don’t subscribe to the basic ideas of Labour are they and we not better off that they are honest and leave. What is the point of turning Labour into the third arm of the coalition.
      
      We already have such similar policies it is no wonder nobody could win an overall majority – a situation that will continue until the public are offered a sensible alternative.
      
      In a way Labour is a bit like jazz these days: to make jazz more “accessible” the producers of radio and media including the record industry have invented several sub-categories of jazz: Smooth jazz, latin Jazz, even “Dinner Jazz” God help us (which sounds just like an Islington dinner party at the Blairs circa 1995). There are also numerous “top” musicians (especially in the UK), who try to be somebody more famous (for the people who know about these things can I mention the names Alan Barnes and Simon Spillett), and they trot up and down the country with “tribute bands” The problem is, none of these sub-divisions have a very large market share, because the music is too “jazzy” for Mr Middle Of the Road, and too cliched and tame for the true jazz lover. It falls between two stools, and nobody is very interested. Isn’t this what we have with Labour now – Blue Labour, Black labour, Purple Labour. And the “tribute” politicians, like David Miliband who sees himself as a younger Tony.
      
      Politics, like jazz cannot be diluted, to mollify an uninterested audience: the music or the words either communicate or they don’t, no clever rebranding will make true Conservatives vote Labour, any more than the ridiculous “we’re all in this together” rubbish from Cameron will make Labour supporters become Conservative.
      
      These facts have to be faced.
      - treborc1
        
        We know the people who write on here who sell them selves to whom ever the leaders are, they are New labour, but will play the political games in the hope they can get Progress types elected like David or get Blair back in some roll.
        
        If Blair makes it back into politics then Ed had better have a guard put in place for his back
      - AlanGiles
        
        It will be a real worry if Blair does crawl his way back in by the back door – not for me, because I will be off once and for all – but for the Labour party and the ordinary people of this country.
        
        Vulnerable people will not be helped much by Blair toadying to the rich and powerful, and just imagine some of the ghastly old waxworks that will creep out of the crypt: Purnell , David Miliband, Holy Blunkett, Mary-Anne Milburn – perhaps even the taxi for hire, and even Ruth Kelly might get her jockstrap out of mothballs again….
      - jaime taurosangastre candelas
        
        Your problem Alan (I don’t say that to be offensive, merely that it is an issue for you but not for me) is that the majority of the public seem to quite like the middle of the road politics. Elsewhere I seem to recall either yourself or someone of like spirit saying that New Labour was pretty much the tory party, and if that is true, it then follows that we’ve had tory governments since at least 1979, and depending on your perspective, maybe for another 15 years beforehand.
        
        So, at least 33 years of tories, even if some wore a red rosette. Does that not tell you something of the popularity and electability of socialism?
      - AlanGiles
        
        Jaime, If you stand in the middle of the road for long enough you get knocked over.
        
        I can assure you the Labour party of Harold Wilson (1964-1976) was nothing like the Blair administration in any way, shape or form – Harold didn’t believe in going to war at America’s behest, for one example.
        
        I don’t expect you as a non labour supporter Jaime to agree with me, what really gets my goat is the sight of so-called “Labour” supporters who say virtually nothing when an individual like Purnell punishes the disabled and sick via Freud, becauser he was (notionally) “Labour” then get their knickers in a twist when the Coalition merely carries on the schemes Purnell started.
        
        They are outraged at Grayling and Duncan-Smith, but remain mute on the position of Byrne and Field – in my book, if one is wrong they are all wrong.
        
        Some of the New Labour shower are rfeally saying “we arfe like the Tories only nicer. our cuts would be just as deep but slower”. Total bogosity.
      - John Dore
        
        Love Purnell,
        Byrne and Field great men. You’re not Labour Alan, you’re a dinosaur, stuck on a keyboard all day.
      - treborc1
        
        What the F*ck are you…..
      - AlanGiles
        
        I would say at a guess, he is either a kid, a joker or a delusional fool. Or all 3!
      - AlanGiles
        
        “Mr Dore” You are stuck on a keyboard all day yourself. I am retired what is your excuse – gardening leave?
        
        If you think Purnell, Field and Byrne are “great men” you obviously don’t know what greatness is.
        
        And of course Byrne and Purnell got caught fiddling their exp;enses so they are hypocrites as well
      - jaime taurosangastre candelas
        
        Alan,
        
        I’m not sure I agree that the analogy of a road is the right one, but it does not really matter.
        
        I see your point about Harold Wilson (only from reading – I think you are old enough to have practical adult experience of those times), but from what I have read, in terms of socialism Harold Wilson led a party and Government that had socialism written down and in the policies, but in reality he did very little to implement it – the suggestion of the biographer was that he had to “manage” his party and also he knew how far the general public would go, and the two were not the same.
        
        By the way, I saw a comment of yours that had “Dizzy Gillespie” in your authentication signature. I have actually heard of Dizzy Gillespie, so I think you must be running out of Jazz musicians that no one has ever heard of apart from fanatics. How about the titles of really obscure Jazz tracks, or maybe a You Tube link? I enjoy music, even if my guitar playing is not very good.
      - AlanGiles
        
        Hi Jaime, I used Dizzy as one of a number of players who had worked with Charlie Parker (1920-1955). Yes Dizzy thank goodness IS famous, but if you looked at the toher clues there were some fairly obscure names there.
        
        I am proud to say that I was an adult when Harold was PM, the great difference about him was that – unlike Blair – he was not so insecure within himself he had to surround himself with toadies in his cabinets like Blair did (and Brown to a lesser extent). You had real left wingers like Tony Benn rubbing shoulders with Richard Crossman and Roy Jenkins (pre SDP days): it really was the days of cabinets of all the talents and not from just one narrow wing of the party.
        
        He also had a decent press secretary in Joe Haines, who didn’t go around bullying people, or fawning to Murdoch.
        
        HW is downplayed by a lot of the Blair sycophants, but can I put this question to you (and anyone else who cares to answer):
        
        What would you rather be remembered for: Creating the Open University (1969 and still going strong) and not sending our young men to Vietnam or toadying to George Bush and involving this country in an unwinnable (and arguably illegal) war?, the “evidence” for which was cooked up by a drunken ex-porn writer (based losley on a 12 year old PHd dissertation). I know what I would prefer my ephitaph to be. When the time comes Blair’s obituaries will be plastered with the word “Iraq”, to which I would add vain, greedy liar. But he was a great actor.
      - jaime taurosangastre candelas
        
        Hello Alan,
        
        I’m going to agree with you on Harold Wilson. I’m sure there are several faults that he had or things he did not do that he could have done, but I have only my father’s view and that of a sympathetic biographer. My father from a distance of 9000 miles thought that Wilson was pretty good, but not up to the standard of Clem Attlee. As I was only a very young child at the time and living in Chile, and it is all so long ago, that will do for me.
        
        Where I will probably cause you to choke is on Tony Blair and Iraq. Let me not try to convince you – that I cannot convince myself – that there was real and hard evidence of weapons of mass destruction, or that suspicion was not spun into certainty by the government spinners. However, if you can allow yourself to take one more step backwards to see a broader context, I am slightly sympathetic to the moral position that Blair found himself in. This was in the recently post 9/11 world, and soon after the St Petersburg agreement that had all of the leaders of the G20 commit their countries to a more internationalist and interventionist policy in terms of human rights. Iraq was a country of brutal repression and torture and extra-judicial murders, as are many other countries, but for other reasons found itself in the western spotlight.
        
        I do honestly believe that Blair is not some form of human devil, or that he willingly committed British soldiers to fight a war just for fun, or because he might make a million pounds in his memories. I think that he genuinely thought that removing Saddam Hussein would be good for the people of Iraq and of the region, that there was British interest in having a stable middle east***, that there was enough circumstantial evidence that if Hussein was left in place then many many more would die, both in Iraq and in the neighbouring countries, that Hussein had a demonstrable track record of killing people both institutionally and through acts of policy. I also further believe that once the Prime Minister outlined his belief that Hussein was bad, a sort of “group think” was set up in the civil and intelligence services that over time, became a way of presentation of evidence, glossing over inconvenient truths, and eventually complete spin. Now, you may believe that I am too forgiving of Blair, but that is what I think.
        
        I am also not convinced by some of the wilder claims of a million deaths in Iraq (it does not really matter what I think, the UN which has monitors in place also does not think so). I believe that there was a failure in Government to think through what “might” happen after Saddam was deposed. However, the history is what it is. What should now be focussed upon is the future of Iraq. Actually, Iraq has pretty much disappeared from the news, which to me indicates that the country is perhaps returning to some stability, and at least there are democratic institutions in place. I’m sure there is still corruption and vote rigging, but it cannot be as bad as in the Hussein regime days.
        
        *** It is not about oil, at least for the UK. We in the UK hardly register in terms of middle east oil exports. We get most of our oil from Norway.
        
        Finally, let me offer you this. This is one of my father’s favourite bands. He watches them on You Tube. I think the band has been established since the first world war, and is still going. I do not know if they are held in affection by the real pure Jazz fans, but they seem quite good to me.
        
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PCse3O47nc
      - AlanGiles
        
        Hi Jaime, Probably Harold’s biggest mistake was “The Lavender List” (his resignation honours list) but as Lady Wilson is still alive and the other individual alive and litigous, it is best to draw a veil over that. And at least nobody was killed!.
        
        He was a very decent and fair-minded man (I met him briefly just before the 1970 election when he came to where I was working, but that’s another story, and his management of the party was excellent in that everyone was listened to – not just the “specials”.
        
        I wouldn’t say Blair was a devil or evil (very few are in reality) but the man has always had his sights set on personal wealth, greed, avarice and cupidity: the notorious sponging for free holidays, (Cliff Richards reward was that Blair became a keen propenent of altering the Sound Recording Copyright Law from 50 to 70 years (which should allow the Peter Pan of pop to pop his clogs in royalties).
        
        I just think he is a deeply untrustworthy individual. His “performances” are really theatre: was anyone taken in by his nonsense at the Levenson enquiry? (the only politician who I have believed in that sordid affair has been Vince Cable, who I think told the truth. I think the reliabity of Blair’s evidence is on a par of that of Hunt’s.
        
        Above all else, Blair made the party far too right wing – which has made the coalitions work that much easier for him.
        
        But in the end it is a matter of trust: I don’t trust a word that comes out of Blair’s mouth. If he told me it was Friday, I would check just to make sure.
      - Luther
        
        Bozier joining the Tories is the only example I can think of when a rat JOINED a sinking ship. Which is kind of interesting as far as oddness goes I suppose.
Daniel Speight

Talking about making good Tories, do we know if Ed Miliband was informed of Adonis’s recent visits to Number 10 before he made them?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Graeme-Hancocks/1156294498 Graeme Hancocks

Quite.
- AlanGiles
  
  Let’s not stop at Clegg though: there are several MPs who should join the Tories. David Laws from the LibDems for one, and the obvious “Labour” examples, Byrne, Field and Flint, the woman who thought unemployed people should be precluded from joining the waiting list for council housing.
  
  Most MPs are in the party they are in these days for expediency: only in places where Labour votes are weighed rather than counted, like Birkenhead, for example, would Mad Frankie be able to say what he does and suck up to Duncan-Smith – his fancy ways would soon get him kicked out of a more marginal constituency. Ditto Blears.
Luther

Clegg is already a fantastic Tory. After numerous decades of the Conservatives trying to destroy the Liberal and latterly the Liberal Democrat Party, in less than two years Clegg has managed to cripple and hobble the Lib Dems for a generation and place their actual existence in jeopardy. What a Conservative, eh? What a guy!
http://twitter.com/doxievee Richard Nicholl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qzgJPaZ_GQ - this is all I can think of.

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