Bill's Comment Page

Slimy Platell gripes from the sidelines

Amanda Platell is at her slimy worst in her Evening Standard article today, commenting on the replacement as Conservative Party Chairman of David Davis by Theresa May.

Some of what she writes is, on the surface, correct – the Conservatives are still no nearer to re-connecting with the vast bulk of the British population – she attributes this to a classic trap set for Iain Duncan Smith by Conservatives ‘left-wingers’ – her continuing obsession with Portillo, and her dislike of him, seems to indicate how unhinged this woman is; I doubt very much if Portillo himself was in any way involved in what she describes as a ‘smear’ campaign against Davis, although no doubt some of his former supporters were – Francis Maude and Archie Norman are perhaps the two most likely. In any case, they are quite correct – the Conservative Party will never deserve re-election until the right-wingers like Davis (and Iain Duncan Smith, of course) are prepared genuinely to accept change in the Party. Does she really imagine that the way forward for the Conservative Party is not to embrace change?

I heard Archie Norman speaking very positively about Duncan Smith on the radio a day or so back, and was rather surprised – perhaps Duncan Smith is genuinely trying to change the Party, but if so it must be solely within the ‘Westminster village’, because none of it is credible in the wider country. The only positive explanation I can find is that, perhaps, Duncan Smith’s maneouvres are designed to bring about change without alarming the Conservative Party in the Shires – well, I think the Conservative party won’t change until most of those folks die off (and with the average age of the Party membership so high, perhaps that won’t be so long). People like snake-Platell, however, a bitter youngish woman, will unfortunately be around to peddle their venom for many years to come.

The Daily Telegraph reports the same change, but rather more level-headedly, even if I don’t agree with their basic right-wing standpoint – but at least they report reasonably-fairly.