Crewe and Nantwich

Foreseeing a set of bad results in the local elections (although not as near as bad as events played out), Labour last week announced that the by-election for Crewe and Nantwich would be help on May 22nd, an announcement which came as a shock to many as Gwyneth Dunwoody's funeral had yet to be held.

It seems the tactic was planned to disturb the by-election planning of both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems. Under convention, there could have been six months before a by-election was called, giving ample time for Brown to reinstate *some* of his authority and perhaps to move away from the 10p debacle.

Yet despite this smacking of desperation, some of the fury which may have been felt at this shallow opportunism has probably been tempered by the selection of Dunwoody's daughter as the party's candidate, but hopefully the good people of Crewe and Nantwich will see through the charade, vote for change (as they did on Thursday) and give the Tories a perfectly timed by-election win.

Mike Smithson over at Political Betting speculates the by-election could hold the answer to Brown's future.

Conservative Home offers details of how to volunteer to help the election campaign.

Frank Field Is Having Doubts

Looks like Brown and Darling haven't quite yet convinced Frank Field of the merits of their 10p tax fixes. His op-ed in the Mail on Sunday today raises the spectre of a reinstated amendment and more trouble for Brown.

I would have thought that on the back of the initial 10p debacle, the lack of clarification from the Treasury on the corrective measures apparently planned and Thursday's results, Frank Field would be better placed defecting over to the Conservatives (as many a rumours have long speculated) and using his considerable experience and thoughtful thinking on welfare reform to influence the policies of the next Tory government.

Boris Takes Over

I'm currently using this graphic as my facebook profile pic:

Hattip: Newsbiscuit

One thing that has been interesting in the campaign for London Mayor was how good Boris' team were at adapting his image as an untidy mop haired blonde into a series of iconic images used in his publicity. Instantly recognisable and playful at the same time, it took what could have been a negative issue, his percieved lack of professionalism and turned it on it's head. Now if only someone could work the impossible and change Gordon's image from a sourface dullard...and pigs might fly.

Back Blogging

After a six odd month lull in blogging I've decided to restart the blog and dedicate more time to making sure there are regular postings. Unfortunately the previous two years of posts have been deleted and I'm not sure how to get these back, nevertheless this gives an opportunity to start afresh in what has been a tremendous week for the Conservatives.

Hopefully this blog will be able to track the events of the next few years (if we even have that long) leading up to a decisive General Election victory for David Cameron, and the dawn of a new era for in British politics, bringing a long overdue change in government.