11 January, 2010
What a week
The first week of the new year in Parliament began with a General Election Campaign launch (Tory’s); another coup attempt to politically assassinate the PM by former cabinet malcontents (Hoon & Hewitt); arctic storms engulfing the whole country and ended with a saucy scandal in Northern Ireland that made the gossip columnists blush.
I travelled to London Tuesday and it took me longer to dig my car out of my drive than to fly from Edinburgh to Heathrow. The Cameron campaign launch bombed when he dropped his commitment to give tax cuts to married couples, within minutes he backtracked saying he didn’t mean to drop it but within hours got into a muddle and changed his tax cut promise to an aspiration. The PM gutted him in Prime Ministers Questions and it looked like a bad start to the New Year for the Conservatives and their election campaign. Until, to his rescue came two galloping Labour malcontents, calling for a Labour leadership election in the third coup attempt to politically assassinate the PM. The howls of relief from Cameron’s campaign team were deafening, as were the joy of the tabloids that pounced on Hoon and Hewitt’s treachery as political manna from heaven.
The week in Northern Ireland started off well with news of the UVF Decommissioning their arms to join the Peace Process; but this historic news was lost in the scandal of the problems engulfing the First Minister and his wife.
What a Week
11 January, 2010
What a week
The first week of the new year in Parliament began with a General Election Campaign launch (Tory’s); another coup attempt to politically assassinate the PM by former cabinet malcontents (Hoon & Hewitt); arctic storms engulfing the whole country and ended with a saucy scandal in Northern Ireland that made the gossip columnists blush.
I travelled to London Tuesday and it took me longer to dig my car out of my drive than to fly from Edinburgh to Heathrow. The Cameron campaign launch bombed when he dropped his commitment to give tax cuts to married couples, within minutes he backtracked saying he didn’t mean to drop it but within hours got into a muddle and changed his tax cut promise to an aspiration. The PM gutted him in Prime Ministers Questions and it looked like a bad start to the New Year for the Conservatives and their election campaign. Until, to his rescue came two galloping Labour malcontents, calling for a Labour leadership election in the third coup attempt to politically assassinate the PM. The howls of relief from Cameron’s campaign team were deafening, as were the joy of the tabloids that pounced on Hoon and Hewitt’s treachery as political manna from heaven.
The week in Northern Ireland started off well with news of the UVF Decommissioning their arms to join the Peace Process; but this historic news was lost in the scandal of the problems engulfing the First Minister and his wife.