Whither now...?

I realise that it may be a little trite to blog about the fact that we now have a new Prime Minister - but I don't care.

One of the things that I did notice in the news was that Quentin Davis has left the conservatives to join the Brown camp, perhaps spurred on by the fact that Sean Woodward has finally been offered a cabinet position. This has recieved muted welcomes by the Labour camp, and comtrasts sharply to the rather blatant courting of a number of Liberal Democrat MPs by the Conservatives, which has rather failed in delivering any sort of success.

What I find hugely interesting is that a Conservative finds it easier to join Labour than a Liberal Democrat to join the Conservatives. Any why now? At the very least, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have a great deal in common. By-and-large they have the same objections to the current regime and come from a similar place. Whilst many people in general society have a rather tribalistic fear of the Tories, surely this does not extend to the halls of Westminster? And why has Gordon Brown become so attractive.

Since Brown became the only possible candidate for leader, Menzies has made several speeches with a lack of subtlety suggesting that Brown was someone 'with whom we can do business'. Likewise, Quentin Davis has decided to join the ranks of this veteral left-winger. Finally, Claire Short has hinted that she might like to take back the Labour whip (I'd refuse to give her it - she's more trouble than she's worth).

I am flabberghasted, and I think that this could mean some serious problems for the tories. This dour son of the manse has attracted more attention in the last few days than the fireworks of Cameron have throughout his reign. He clearly has a broad appeal, if such diverse figures as Claire Short and Quentin Davis are able to relate to him, and comes top in the polls in a number of desireable characteristics. Most of all, he is seen as strong, something very important to the British electorate - in the run up to the last election Tony Blair was behind in just about everything except 'person I would most like to be in charge during a national emergency' and stormed home. Finally, Tory policy was very much based on being the heir to Blair - particularly on things such as education. This was, perhaps, a little prematurely announced and Brown has squeezed them out of this by making a number of speeches in support of city academies which, if carried through, could prove to be a very successful move.

In the end, the Tory party problems are, I think, simple - they have no ideas. If they had ideas they couldn't release them now as they could be used and if they had ideas that were too right-wing for Brown's blood and so wouldn't be used, they would probably be unpalateable to the electorate anyway.

We appear to have developped a political consensus and, unfortunately, that appears to be Brown.

p.s. I'm sorry to see you leave Tony - for what it's worth, I think you did a pretty good job