While Brown is lauded as ‘Chancellor of the World’, Shadow Chancellor George Osbourne is a ‘bloody fool’.

I know the Conservative’s are just playing a waiting game at the moment, waiting for the recession to really start biting the public and watch them turn on the government and to the Tories, but in the mean time the contrast between the words of praise for Gordon Brown and the assessment of George Osbourne by the head of the FSA is too delicious for words.

Of course Osbourne and the Tories have been less than complementary about the FSA in the past but you can only presume the discussion was about the current economic situation. I’d love to know what Osbourne said/suggested to Lord Turner for him to be described thusly.

Potential issues with hiring and firing minority ministers

I’m all for a representative government. I believe that only by having a government that reflects more widely the society we live in, by having more women and ethnic minority MPs, can it be more sensitive to issues that affect certain groups of people and therefore legislate in their best interests most effectively.

Labour’s all women shortlists, although controversial, have undoubtedly lead to a steady increase in the number of female MPs, even though it can also be directly attributable to a loss of an MP in Wales because of a backlash against the selection rules.

That said, I have a lot of sympathy with the arguments against ‘all-xxx shortlists’. As a male, I know that were circumstances otherwise, it might be the case that at my local CLP I wouldn’t be allowed on any official post, because of a shortage of women, despite my potential abilities to fulfill the role. As it happens, this is not the case so it’s not something that affects me directly.

‘A Dear John’ (Rentoul),

Actually this isn’t a ‘Dear John’ letter at all, but I read John Rentoul’s latest on the Indie and it’s really annoyed me, and for want of a better headline, I’m sticking with it. Any better ideas on the back of a postcard to the usual address.

The thrust of Rentoul’s latest piece is that Brown’s reshuffle is a gimmick and not ’serious politics’. Rentoul is a self-avowed uber-Blairite, so it’s quite funny in one sense that he’d be so critical of the return of Mandelson but he reserves his biggest criticisms for the failures of the government at large.

Tories post-conference poll boost is a flop

Although you may not have noticed it with Brown and the Cabinet reshuffle dominating the news this weekend, the first poll has been released since the Conservative party conference and David Cameron’s speech.

Remember that the supposed ‘norm’ would be a four point boost for all parties, then reverting to nothing in the weeks afterwards. Remember also that for Labour it was a SEVEN point boost and a FIVE point drop for the Tories, with the result being that the Tory lead halved overnight.

With this in mind, the so called ‘Conservative boost’ can only be described as a flop. Their support increased by a measly ONE point, with Labour’s dropping by just TWO. This means that they have failed to increase their lead back to what it was before the conference season and as it stands Labour have started some momentum against the Tories and have made definite inroads into their lead.

The momentum is with us now, but we do need to maintain is as we’re still massively behind in the polls!

Reshuffletasticular! The Aftermath

Well nothing much else happened, as I predicted, once you have the money shot at the start it tends to drift off limply. Still, nice to see Beckett back even if it isn’t as a full member of the cabinet.

Funny there isn’t anything for Cruddas given that he’s been widely tipped…I wonder if he was offered something he didn’t want (ie anything other than housing) and turned it down again. More fool him if he did.

I’m not sure I understand some of the moves. Flint to ‘Europe Minister’? Is that a step up from housing or is it a step across or what? Same with Jim Murphy going to Scotland Minister, a role that is nearly pointless and will eventually be merged into a Minister for the Nations. Likewise Tony McNulty has been moved to Work and Pensions, is that a step up or across? Why bother?

Brilliant article by Alan Sugar on David Cameron.

Read it here. I’ve put a few of my favourite lines for you below.

LAST weekend started off well when I read that David Cameron doesn’t like me at all.
I say well, as it’s a relief: It means those slimy people who have been contacting me to see if I want to meet Dave and jump ship to support his party will leave me alone. 

The question was, if he was in power for the same time Gordon has been, would things be better for the ordinary man in the street?

The only answer to that is NO.

Keegan’s a great talker and so is Dave, but they both could not punch their way out of a brown paper bag when faced with sorting this lot out.

The Government has now banned short-selling in banks.

The Government stepped in and took over Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley.

The punters didn’t lose their savings or mortgages.

David Cameron will have you think this is at the expense of us taxpayers. True to form, he tells half the story.

Read the whole thing, it’s well worth it.

Reshuffletasticular!

Who’s have thought that a mid-level cabinet reshuffle could have caused so much pant wetting among the politico’s in Westminster? It’s not over yet though barring any more stunning news we’ve clearly had the big announcement for the day - Peter Mandelson is BACK!

As a friend commented to me, that guy has more lives than a cat. Here are my thoughts on the reshuffle so far:

Mandleson coming back is a stroke of brilliance from Brown. Yes, the ‘left’ will be disappointed but I think in this case we can safely ignore them. What Mandelson coming back means is that Brown has brought in a highly experienced Labour politician to the cabinet. A ‘big beast’ has returned, who is guaranteed media airtime when he says anything. Tying him into the cabinet ensures his loyalty and should also quieten down any plotting Blairites. It’s also showing unity between all strands of the party (stroppy left aside, and Cruddas might come on board yet) and by putting Mandy into the business role is provides an experienced hand to continue the work of John Hutton, who moves into Defence.

I feel sympathy for Des Browne, who was stuck with two jobs and therefore received a mauling for both. However, I think we should now have a Secretary of Nations post (on hold for now so No. 10 is saying) which negates the need for a Scottish Sec, and to be Defence sec I think you need to be much more steely and aggressive, which Hutton is. So it’s a good swap. I’d be interested to know what position Browne was offered, as it’s said he turned down a role because he felt it would be an insult to the armed forces if he left his post to go elsewhere. Frankly I find that bizarre so it might be a cover up for him being sacked or refusing another post outright.

Margaret Beckett is another big name said to be returning to the cabinet though it appears that we’re hearing two differing messages. The BBC hear it will be as a ‘cabinet enforcer’ while the Guardian thinks it will be something else. Either way her return will signal another ‘big beast’ coming back (though she doesn’t rank up there with Mandy, Blunkett, Clarke (arse), etc) with experience and is another good move by Brown.

DEFRA is being split up and a new office of Energy and Climate Change is being created, to be helmed by Ed Miliband. I agree with this too and I’m glad to see E. Miliband move up. I’m also very relieved Benn isn’t being moved out of the cabinet. He used to be my MP and he was never less than brilliant for me and my neighbours, and I thought he excelled as International Development Sec. He remains in charge of ‘Food’ (and Rural Affairs?) which technically is a slight demotion but at least he’s still there. Miliband’s old post of Cabinet Office Minister goes to Liam Byrne, who was expected to get a promotion.

Chief Whip is now Nick Brown, who has been running a parallel whipping operation anyway, so if anything it should just tidy up the messy No. 10 operation, even if he is generally unpopular (not necessarily a bad thing for a Chief Whip). Hoon moves to Transport, which I’m guessing is a bit of a demotion.

That’s all we have now. Blunkett is speaking about the reshuffle on TV so I’m guessing he’s not coming back, which is a shame but perhaps would open Brown to the charge that he has run out of ideas so he is bringing back all of Blair’s old ministers. I’m sure they’ll try this anyway.

Still waiting on news for people like John Cruddas, who was rumoured to get the housing post while Caroline Flint moved to DEFRA, which is now obviously not happening. The thing is when you start with such a surprise you hope there will be more, and when there isn’t it all gets a bit boring. Still, today Brown has stolen the initiative, wiped references to the Tories from the media and dominated the news. This is good, but it will be hard to keep the momentum. It’s rare that a reshuffle has any impact in the long term.

As an aside, the two biggest moves of the day, Mandelson and Beckett, see a gay man and a woman return to cabinet. Match that Cameron! (Joke).

Policy isn’t important, says Cameron, character and judgement is.

So David Cameron now insists that policy isn’t important when it comes to being Prime Minister, and that it’s character and judgement that matters.

With this in mind I’m going to keep a running list of Cameron’s decisions involving his ‘character’ and ‘judgement’, feel free to remind me of any more.

• CHARACTER - He backs raising the inheritance tax threshold to £1million, £2million if you’re a married couple. This will only benefit the richest 3,000 people in the country.
• CHARACTER - Backs a £20 tax break for married couples to encourage family and marriage, ignoring widows and widowers, people who have been abandoned by their partner or those fleeing abusive and potential fatal marriages.
• JUDGEMENT - Was an economic advisor to Normal Lamont when he spent billions propping up the pound in the ERM before it crashed out and interest rates went up to 15% overnight.
• CHARACTER - Claims we too often talk of people being ‘at risk of’ being overweight, addicted to drugs or poverty, when actually it’s their own fault for being fat, a drug addict or poor.
• JUDGEMENT - Aligned himself closely to Ray Lewis from Day One of his Conservative Leadership in a desperate attempt to modernise the party by standing next to a successful black conservative.
• CHARACTER AND JUDGEMENT - His wife had to explain to him why so many people found Section 28 - which banned the so-called ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools and banned teachers from teaching that homosexual relationships were a valid alternative to the nuclear family.
• JUDGEMENT - Was against the nationalisation of Northern Rock despite not having a clear policy on it himself for months.
• CHARACTER - To fob off a backbench rebellion in the embryology bill, he went on TV and told a sob story about his disabled son as the reason he was going to vote for stem cell research.
• CHARACTER - Parades his children around in an ITV newscast to try appeal to voters.

A list of errors from Cameron’s speech.

1. ‘(In Afghanistan, while troop numbers have doubled) the number of helicopters has stayed the same’

FALSE. MoD estimates that helicopter numbers have risen by about 60%.

2. Royal Bank of Scotland paid £4 billion in tax. And now it will pay none.

FALSE. RBS paid £2 billion in tax.

3. ‘David Miliband said that “unless government is on your side you end up on your own.” “On your own” - without the government. I thought it was one of the most arrogant things I’ve heard a politician say’

FALSE. Cameron couldn’t have possibly ‘heard’ Miliband say this, because Miliband didn’t say it. At this stage in his speech he departed from his script and said ‘If government is not on your side then it’s a world of sink or swim.’

4.  He quoted the President of the Spelling Society saying that people should be able to spell however they want and used it as an example of education standards being ‘dumbed down’ under Labour.

FALSE. John Well’s, the man in question, explains in his blog (For 2nd October) that Cameron took his quote out of context and he was actually referring specifically to words like ‘thru’ instead of ‘through’ and ‘lite’ instead of light. He was speaking about changing the rules of spelling rather than ignoring them.

5. Claimed a constituent’s wife died of MRSA and read out a ‘bureaucratic’ and ‘formal’ response from Health Minister, Alan Johnson listing ways to complain, using it to claim she died without dignity.

FALSE. Alan Johnson sent a two-page, handwritten reply to David Cameron saying how sorry he was before listing the options the consitituent could take if he wished to complain. Alan Johnson’s office confirmed that the woman did not die of MRSA, nor was it a contributory factor in her death (She sadly died of breast cancer). In fact the constituents letter specifically said the death certificate ruled out MRSA being involved in the death. Furthermore she was moved to a private room after contracting the disease.

6. Claimed teachers can’t put a plaster on a child’s knee without calling a first aid officer.

FALSE. Simply not true. Unless Philip Collins is lying. Andrew Sparrow from the Guardian also felt it was a bit too overboard to be true and Cameron was playing a dangerous game making comments like that.

The Tory Conference - A summary

• Gay Tory candidate Margot James tells gay people they have a ‘duty’ to vote Conservative. This is because Labour spends money on things gay people don’t use much of, like the NHS or education. No mention of the constant Conservative opposition to the gay rights Labour have been introducing since 1997.
• Eric Pickles revealed that when John Prescott admitted he was bulimic he thought ‘good’. Although I refute any article that refers to Pickles as a ‘top tory’.
• The Shadow Universities Minister and influential voice in David Cameron’s ear, David Willett’s, claimed that increasing numbers of women going to university had increased family breakdown. He claimed that with women now wanting to be the breadwinner, or jointly be the breadwinner, it was ‘denying’ men the chance (or should that be right?) to be the breadwinner and that this was bad for families.