It has been quite a day… with the revelation by Lord Ashcroft that things were not quite what some thought them to be. Jack Straw has responded with a fairly robust statement, Iain Dale, disclosing that Lord Ashcroft is an investor in his publishing business, opens the batting for the Tories with some stat porn, Guido Fawkes reminds us that he has been calling for Ashcroft to come clean for some time (He has) and reminds us that Labour also has possession of a non-dom peer and Privy Councillor to boot in Lord Paul. Gerald Warner puts the boot into Cameron by saying that he is ” in a modernising hole and, thankfully, still digging” … and just so that Cameron is left in no doubt about the strength of feeling among some traditional tories… Warner puts the boot in again..
“Good, Dave! This is excellent news. Because, Dave, there is no one we want more to see in a hole and still digging than you. It would have been regrettable if you had taken fright, assumed a mask of traditional Conservatism and possibly fooled some genuine Tories into voting for you. Much better that you should persevere in the demented and traitorous stance that will cause you to crash and burn. So, this is good news.
Just one or two personal pronouns out of place there, though. “We” did not decide we wanted to modernise the Tory Party – you and the Maudernisers did. And, yes, you didn’t do it on your own, you had a bunch of muppets to support you and some hoods from CCHQ – as it is now inelegantly known – to put the frighteners on local constituenecy associations and make sure they selected their candidates from a PC table d’hôte menu of women, ethnic minorities and homosexuals. That strategy, of course, was devised when you had a 25-point poll lead; how it plays out in present circumstances remains to be seen.
The man behind the story and, indeed, the Tory Party…Lord Ashcroft… demonstrated masterly skills of evasion and obfuscation with his statement – forced in advance of a Freedom of Information request about to be published by the Cabinet Office.
Lord Ashcroft: As for the future, while the non-dom status will continue for many people in business or public life, David Cameron has said that anyone sitting in the legislature – Lords or Commons – must be treated as resident and domiciled in the UK for tax purposes. I agree with this change and expect to be sitting in the House of Lords for many years to come.
The difference, however, between Lord Paul and Lord Ashcroft seems to be that Lord Ashcroft was initially turned down for a peerage and only got it because of promises he made… promises, Jack Straw says, which have not have been kept.
“Lord Ashcroft was initially turned down for a peerage. He was only granted his peerage on the basis that he would return to live in the UK, become fully resident, and that he would pay tax in the UK on his wider income.
“Today Lord Ashcroft has been forced to admit that he has not complied with this promise and that for the last ten years the Conservatives have been concealing the truth.”
Tomorrow could be even better….. the spinning jennies could be working overtime….
Something smells, eh?
Geoffrey… something about this episode reminds me of the famous phrase ‘Economical with the truth’…
Isn’t there a process for defrocking peers if they are dishonest? I know something was considered re Archer after his conviction, the government bottled out of it.
Ashcroft has been economical with the actualite….
John… indeed… I gather the CPS is fairly busy investigating ‘other’ peers re expenses!
What a wonderful country we live in… I am a patriot… most people are, thankfully….