Sunday 17 June 2007

Tories pressing the self destruct button again?

One could be forgiven for wondering what on earth the Conservative leadership are playing at. Recently they seem to have scored two spectacular own goals, that they never needed to go anywhere near in the first place.

The row over selective education and now the fuss over ‘free’ museum entry.

Is it incompetence, or do they have some deep-seated fear of actual power?

Shadow Culture Secretary, Hugo Swire, baffled Westminster - and many senior Tories over plans he announced, to scrap free admission to many of Britain's most famous museums and art galleries. Forcing the Conservatives into a virtually immediate and embarrassing U-turn.

For those who don’t know the museums are effectively funded by the taxpayer, so it is reasonable that taxpayers should enjoy the benefit without further cost. Since entrance fees were scrapped in 2001 there has been an 83% increase in visitors.

Once chance, twice coincidence - but three times is enemy action…

Now they are busily playing down the idea that Dave the Chameleon might be the ’heir to Blier’ that they had appeared to be promoting, though why they would want to have tarred him with that particular brush in the first place is not clear.

In a joint appearance in Yorkshire this weekend, David Davis and William Hague tried to put paid to the idea that David Cameron was positioning himself as the "heir to Blair" - An idea that had been backed strongly in public recently by Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, apparently also privately by Cameron himself.

It's like watching a three stooges movie!

Why can’t anyone stand on a platform of reducing the size, scope and powers of the state? A platform that reigns back in the health fascists and busy bodies?