Howard Flight II
It's hard to know what to make of Michael Howard's order for Howard Flight not only to lose his Dep. Chairman role but also to be deselected as an MP. Certainly it is a terrible weekend for the Conservative Party. Almost every Conservative hopes, indeed believes that the party is promising one thing in public but in office will do another. It's not just on public spending. Britain's leading Tory blogger, Peter Cuthbertson, says that NOT A SINGLE MP believes the party will scrap tuition fees, despite promising to do so in their first month. Should all the MPs be deselected?It also is a terrible warning of what Michael Howard will be like as a PM. If you think Tony Blair is authoritarian, what does this say about Howard? Furthermore is there anything inside his head except short-term electioneering? Howard's political views appear simply to be determined by Lynton Crosby's view of what plays well with the public rather than any underlying political philosophy.
On the issues, who is telling the truth? Howard Flight noted that he was the motor behind Tory finance and economy policy, and was instrumental in launching the James' commission. So if he says, to friends, that the results were 'sieved' to be political acceptable, it's not likely that he is lying. Similarly Michael Howard has in the past called for state spending to be 35% of GDP, as has Oliver Letwin. This is consistent with Flight's view of the policy not Howard's.
On the other hand it now appears that Howard has been forced into such a clear position that there's no way he could backtrack. Thus it's likely what is on offer is a high-spending, high-taxing, socially authoritarian government with policies that not even its own MPs believe in. If this isn't a recipe for turmoil and disaster, what is?
posted by Matthew @ 3/27/2005 12:42:00 PM
Comments: 0
