TORY DISARRAY PLAYS INTO HANDS OF FARAGE AND Ukip.

Following on from the scare delivered by Ukip in the recent council elections, the Conservative party is now running around like the proverbial headless chicken.

 

While Nigel Farage can't stop smiling, David Cameroon and his pals are in an almighty funk, simply not knowing how to respond to the Ukip challenge. Indeed, they seem to believe that 'more of the same' is all that's needed and various senior party figures have trotted out to give us all the usual hogwash - Theresa May failed dismally on radio 4 a few days ago and Grant Shapps fails miserably every time he appears. How this man was ever considered to be the best choice for Party Chairman has to be one of the mysteries of the age. The only one I've seen so far who makes any sense and talks coherently is Michael Gove, someone to whom I do not particularly warm. On today's 'Andrew Marr Show', he gave straightforward answers to straightforward questions and came across very well; for the first time, I saw him as a possible future leader of the Conservative party, perhaps sooner rather than later. 

 

Of course, with all this Tory mayhem, Labour has plenty to get its teeth into, except that it, too, is failing to make any headway. They continue to trot out the same tired old socialist claptrap and continue to try to pick holes in Government policies while offering no real policies or alternatives themselves. Interestingly, when I write that they are attacking Government policies, I really mean Conservative ones, as attacks on the Liberal Democrat part of the coalition are few and far between, presumably due to considerations about future coalition possibilities as well as the increasing irrelevance of that party.

 

Next week, a group of Conservative MPs will try to obtain a debate on the 'Queen's Speech' that will centre on the issue of our membership of the European Union; the intention will be to take the debate to a vote which will, effectively, be a vote about the continuation of that membership. It's a measure of the disarray in which the party now finds itself that all Tory ministers are being 'advised' to abstain from voting even though it is party policy to hold a referendum on our continuing membership sometime after the next general election; backbench MPs will be allowed a free vote. The expectation is that at least 100 Tory MPs will vote for a motion which effectively calls into question our continued membership, arguing for a referendum before the end of this Parliament. While the Liberals will vote, en masse, against any such measure, the Labour party may find itself divided though most will probably discard any personal views and vote whichever way their whips tell them to.

 

Whatever happens, the Tories will be shown as being irrevocably split over the issue of Europe. Historically, such a split has been catastrophic news for the party and there's no reason to believe it won't be again. I can see Nigel Farage grinning from ear to ear and, unlike the 'Cheshire Cat', he shows no signs of fading away.