Tory leadership battle (plus highly biased guide to it!)

[Provost Harrison]

You know, looking through some of the posts reminds me why I think religious people are weird...

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Last Conformist


Kenneth Clarke looks like a dead codfish.

No, he looks like a shaved walrus. His wife is the codfish.

I hate to say it, but Molly does actually have a point here

Cort Haus


Haha !!! Yet another, won for the dark side!!!!

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by lord of the mark

Originally posted by Cort Haus
I hate to say it, but Molly does actually have a point here, and not just on the fringes of party and faith. I've read comments on a Tory blog saying they would rather people were Muslim than atheist, and a Spectator article sided with Muslims 'exasperated' at western depravity and decadence.

why is that so terrible? Id say from the point of view of the Jewish religion, for ex, it would be true that gentiles should be muslims rather than atheists.

Muslim != terrorist. Or even terrorist sympathizer, necessarily.

What's terrible is that I agreed with Molly, not terrible that a Christian or a Jew would prefer atheists to be Muslims.

I'd say it was unwise, though. What happens to minority religions in predominantly Muslim countries? Now, if British tories would rather live as dhimmis in an Islamic Theocracy just to stop the ghastly oiks getting drunk and throwing up everywhere, we need to know.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Cort Haus


why is that so terrible? Id say from the point of view of the Jewish religion, for ex, it would be true that gentiles should be muslims rather than atheists.

Muslim != terrorist. Or even terrorist sympathizer, necessarily.

What's terrible is that I agreed with Molly, not terrible that a Christian or a Jew would prefer atheists to be Muslims.

[/QUOTE]


Yes, how absolutely awful.

Into every life, no matter how benighted, a little common sense must intrude....

[Cort Haus]

Molly, you've got the attributions all tangled up in that post. If you don't mind -

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Molly, you've got the attributions all tangled up in that post. If you don't mind -

Dunno what happened. I used the reply with quote, and it went screwball.


Still and all, the sense of it was there, if you had it to understand it.

Back-handed compliments, and all.

[Immortal Wombat]

[quote] tags don't nest, [q] tags do.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Update.

Ken Clarke is attracting the most household-name supporters- Chris Patten has now backed his bid. In response, he's being enthusiastically smeared by veteran right-wingers such as Norman Tebbitt who has accused him of being lazy. His links to tobacco are also being waved around (because tobacco is Bad and Wicked, and he should stick to traditional Tory business connections like military hardware exports, right?).

It's also being speculated that the contest may stretch into 2006, due to inability to decide how it should be done- this will depend on whether the proposed changes get voted down.

With Howard set to resign, and divisions on policy, leadership and representation, this year's Tory conference could be the most vicious ever. This could get messy....

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

On, and Liam Fox's announcement that he will stand failed to move him ahead of any of the other leading names in the betting- not even David Cameron. The "Daily Mail" has now described him as a "no-hoper". Funny!

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp

His links to tobacco are also being waved around (because tobacco is Bad and Wicked, and he should stick to traditional Tory business connections like military hardware exports, right?).

There's nothing like good, old-fashioned Tory hypocrisy and in-fighting:

There are 300 million smokers in China. The statistic that really excites the tobacco giants is that foreign brands have only 2 percent of this colossal market. The potential is enormous. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, that determined nonsmoker who works for cigarette giant Philip Morris, has been the prophet of profit, visiting Asia and exhorting leaders to relax restrictions and allow her employers in.

In 1990, Philip Morris won its biggest export order, sending 20 billion cigarettes to Russia to help cope with a shortage. People fought over the packs.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1453/is_n11_v41/ai_16434704#continue

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Pink vote time!

Seen as pro-Gay rights: Clarke and Cameron.

Seen as anti-Gay rights: Davis, Fox and Rifkind.

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by Lazarus and the Gimp


Seen as anti-Gay rights: Rifkind.

He's probably disappointed that no sane gay man would deign to make a pass at him.

From his picture I'd say he's a covert swallower, not a spitter:

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Time for an update-

Well the proposed changes to the selection process (to make them less democratic) didn't happen. My mole within the party assure me it would have been defeated at the conference, and so was dropped as a face-saving measure. This means the MP's will select two candidates, and the party membership will decide who's the most right-wing.

The candidates I predicted at the start are the only ones standing. Rifkind still looks like a failure and is a rank outsider. Surprisingly, Liam "Goldenballs" Fox has also been largely sidelined too as the others overshadowed him.

Ken Clarke was as engaging as ever, and is probably still the most popular candidate outside of the Tory party. However he still struggles for support within the ranks of MP's due to his pro-EU stance, so I can't see him reaching the second stage. It's a shame- I think he'd be a breath of fresh air in the current climate.

David Cameron has run a very slick campaign and is rising fast. He's now the favourite to win, but I think that's premature. Though I think he'll make the next round, on social issues he's one of the most liberal candidates (only Clarke is more liberal). Despite him being pitched as the "Tory Blair" I think those pinko tendencies might scupper him with the membership.

That leaves Davis. Davis has had an appalling campaign. He had a reputation as a weak public speaker before the campaign, and his reputation is now even worse. Ultimately he's just a right-winger who's very good at bullying support from MP's. Despite his crap showing, his relentless right-wing stances will win him support from the membership.

My predictions? Davis and Cameron to meet the vote. Davis will win, and be defeated by Gordon Brown in the 2010 General Election. Then Cameron will take over, and become PM in 2014.

[C0ckney]

david cameron will be prime minister of this country at some point, and from i've seen that's no bad thing

i don't think you can write liam fox off either.

[Whaleboy]

If Kenneth Clarke becomes leader, I'll break 5 generations of my liberal families tradition and vote tory