History corner: a patrician Etonian Prime Minister essays a Middle East adventure against a dictator. The PM fails to make sure of sufficient support, and has the rug pulled out from under him.
We all know what happened to Eden.
Interesting to watch Miliband and Alexander making merciless partisan capital out of last night's debacle. Well, they've had a miserable summer. (Almost made Hammond look statesmanlike by comparison on Newsnight, which is quite an achievement.) Gloves off now on the domestic front, for sure.
Miliband needs to be careful. These are fraught times, and Grown-Up's games are being played. If anyone ever wondered what the UK does in Cyprus, they may find out shortly, Commons vote or no Commons vote. Cyprus is 95% of what the US wants from the UK. Israel may have a little message for Miliband too, in due course.
Now - who is going to play Macmillan to Cameron's Eden ? Someone flamboyant, unscrupulous, ambitious ... whoever could that be ?
ND
23 comments:
You really hope at important times like this that politicians will be a little statesmanlike rather than trying to make political capital. Milliband calling Cameron's actions "cavalier and reckless", is a) unhelpful and b) untrue.
As you say, the domestic front may get a little more interesting moving forward..
For Team Cameroon to score such a spectacular home goal shows that it's not the Westminster Bubble he lives in but CamCameroon Land.
Well we all know what the Mr Posh will be doing between now and 2015.
Securing his seat with Boy George on the EU Gravy Train Express.
It may not be the most edifying of spectacles but i'll defo take my hat off to young Miliband. Isn't it one of the first rules politicians get taught - never hold a vote you may lose? I can't believe what Cameron did - I can't really understand why he even bothered with parliament at all let alone recalling it and giving young Miliband license to treat him as his bitch.
Mr Miliband is going to win in May 2015. Likely with a majority of about 50 to 70.
The chance of this has gone up further after last's nights defeat in Parliament for David Cameron.
However, Miliband will also be a worse Prime Minister than Gordon Brown - wh himself was easily the worst post-war Prime Minister. This after all is the result of having dinosaur unions decide Labour leaders.
The Government lost last night as MP's could read the mood of the country which is strongly against intervention. But they also lost as Labour sent mixed messages and changed its tune about what it would and would not vote for. Whilst Miliband chose the populist route, this is not what he had told Cameron on Tuesday.
This is the ultimate use of populist division, using key national security issues as divisive political tools. Miliband will deny, even to himself no doubt, that he did this - but the facts are self-evident.
That Labour is led by such a desperate and unprincipled leader is bad for the Country. Worse is the thought that he will soon be Prime Minister and will seek out populist Labour positions on this form - class war, taxes on the rich and companies, ever increasing benefits. They will be used as both policy and to create dividing lines, just as with Gordon Brown.
the above was going to be a post but ND beat me to it!
If Milliband does win in 2014 then God help the country. Are the British people REALLY that stupid? Are we so ignorant that we can't see him for what he is? You really, really think that in Milliband and Balls people are going to look at The Geek and the Idiot and say, "yup, that looks like a winning combination"?
I guess it's possible.
At least Eden won an MC as a captain in WW1, so he knew what he was doing when he started a war.
As much as I dislike Cameron --- mainly for his hatred of the lower middle class --- I really can't see Milliband becoming PM.
Miliband is not going to win. Lab-Lib a possibility, Lib-Con a possibility, Lab outright? Non.
However this time Miliband's judgement was far better than Cameron's. I am to the "right" but am totally against wading in guns blazing. Hague and Cam came across as randy teenagers. Very poor positioning. I want to help Syria but I am certain that Cameron was proposing the wrong thing.
Miliband did not force Cam to back down on his own. Plenty of Tories are against Blair-style foreign games.
And whoever said that Cam should have just gone in without calling a vote should hand their head in shame. The post-Blair era may have actually won Britain something: democracy.
Milliband got on the right side of public opinion, but such matters do not linger long in the public memory, certainly as far as the floating voter is concerned. Meanwhile Cameron has buried some appalling news on immigration figures whilst this was going on, and that is something that floating voters care more about.
The real problem for Cameron is he has made a massive tactical error in the eyes of his own side. They may not forgive him for his entirely avoidable mistake. It is actually quite difficult to see how the backbenchers can allow him to continue unchallenged when his competence is so clearly lacking. Those that never had any time for Cameron will have their knives out for sure now. They could reason that teaming the now highly plausible Osborne with a better leader might well hand them outright victory in 2015.
Ryan - that is not the reaction at all today. The rebellion was on principle not tactics. None of the Tories I have heard today want to lose Cameron over this.
His lack of calculation is damaging though and also in the long-term it shows the danger of coalitions where a few disseneters means needing the opposition who will never play fair.
Ryan:
"...highly plausible Osborne..."
Which Osborne are you thinking of?
Osborne..? I'm with DJK. Perhaps there are two Osbornes ?
He was good in opposition. Not in government.
Boris for PM :) it would be interesting for sure!
I am with DJK and Bill on this. I am unaware of anyone called Osborne in the government who might be called "highly plausible".
... except of course by by their mum.
One factor not mentioned so far (that I am aware of), is Cameron's decimation of our military. We no longer have sufficient military clout to be plausible - that is Cameron's doing. It also emphasises his disconnect from reality, which in turn adds to people's distrust of his judgement.
For the Tories, it is time he was ousted.
It didn't help Cameron having the BBC ramping things up with their emotive news coverage.
He at least deserves credit for putting it to Parliament.
Now - who is going to play Macmillan to Cameron's Eden ? Someone flamboyant, unscrupulous, ambitious ... whoever could that be ?
Scratching the bonce.
Labour in govt as a majority party?
No chance.
None.
This whole farrago of morality and the military is because of Labours conduct on Iraq. The public know it too.
They are against this because they dont want another Blair.
How many effete/effeminate leaders lying about war will the UK accept.
Clearly Cameron is mortally wounded; Osbourne as his gimp must also go.
All of this, for me, points to a shotgun-blast type fillip of UKIP support at the next election. They're gonna steal votes from Labour (over immigration) and Tories (over foreign policy). Whoever forms the next govt will need UKIP.
If you didnt know better, you'd swear this incompetence was engineered into the polity to that end.
God help us all.
Boris?
You might say that BE, I couldn't possibly comment (beyond the tag I put on the post, *ahem*)
it will be interesting to see if he starts going on manoeuvres ...
Cameron should never have sabotaged the AV vote.
ND, nobody spotted that! I certainly didn't.
Boris got it wrong on Syria. Not only wrong, but totally against public opinion. He should have said something like "what do I care about Beki Beki Stan" to win the frothy blue rinse vote.
Just as a thing - this has been wonderful politics. Because it's so important, because their predecessors Bush & Blair fucked it up so much - Cammo & Obama are given space to decide. It's only the meeja & Syria who's watching the clock - everyone else just getting back to skool, shaking off summer.
I put serious odds on a congressional amendment that everyone agrees on that approximately means nowt. Both Cleggy & Osborne have said that there won't be a 2nd Syria question and it becomes apparent that they don't understand how amendments are tabled - I hope so, anyway.
If it was the 1st war fuck vote up since 1792 then it defo should be an A level question.
Cheers Nick
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