Unemployment Down...again

So unemployment fell by 50,000 in the 3 months to August and unemployment is now below 8%. And 75% of those jobs were full time permanent roles. Which means Ed Miliband will go for one of two things in PMQ's....either an independant public inquiry into the Saville fallout or an independant public inquiry into #Gategate. Utterly vacuous tosh from the blank sheet of paper. And he still hasn't got back to me on #Catgate either.

I demand an Inquiry!

Ah, Ed Miliband....is there a bandwagon you can resist? And there's only one thing you like more than leaping on any passing bandwagon...it's calling for an independant public inquiry while you're at it. You wanted an inquiry into phonehacking by News International (Never mind that your mates in the left leaning rags have been at it too), one on faulty impants, another last month, two already this month and now you've asked for an independant inquiry into Saville, the Beeb, the NHS, Broadmoor, God, the Universe and everything. Aren't you worried that people won't take you seriously? Don't forget what happened to the boy who cried wolf. After a while people ignored him.


But you couldn't stop yourself, could you? Not when there was a sliver of political capital to be gained...even if it came on the back of a paedophile's systemic history of abuse. I hope you're proud of yourself.


But what's next? Will you demanding an inquiry into CatGate as Larry and Freya's tumultuous relationship came to a head....I wouldn't put it past you. Anyways...this video's for you.

Cameron's Speech

 He stood behind a lectern, he used notes, but how did it fare and what  did it contain?

The speech itself started slowly and I was wondering when it was going to get going but as he revved it up he proceeded to demolish Miliband's vacuous rebranding attempt from last week.

Content-wise was a good speech and spoke to what most conservatives (and most of the country) believe in...making the most of your opportunities in life for yourself, your family and the country at large.But almost as important as the content was the manner and the gravity in which he delivered it.

He took on the attacks on his upbringing which Labour love to use. What is so shameful about being the son of a stockbroker whose parents decided to pay to send him to the most renowned  public school in the country? It's not as if he had a say in the matter anyway so it's a daft attack. He didn't pretend he didn't have a privileged upbringing but instead aspired that every child should recieve as high a quality education. He rightly backed Michael Gove's reform to the hilt and gave tacit approval for Gove to step on the accelerator. He also lauded IDS's work on welfare reform. Most importantly he reaffirmed his commitment to dealing with the deficit, not from a wish to slash the state or break the public sector but instead to free up the private sector. He was also unapologetically beating the drum for our exports in a changing world (We're all Bucanneers together!) and highlighted the drastic growth we're seeing in exports to the BRIC countries and other developing nations.

Some people would have liked more on Europe, me included but with the changes coming in the EU a referendum is all but inevitable so it's pointless throwing your toys out of the pram about it. In fact, the public strength for a referendum does strengthen the UK's hand when it comes to clawing back powers and loosening our ties with the continent. It's Britain's trump card, to be used at the right moment.

On balance he did well, he reminded the audience in the hall why they liked him in the first place and spoke to the television viewer (or internet browser) in a manner that was candid, positive and straightforward...and not at all like a Policy Wonk (Miliband's greatest failing). I'm not  sure about the 'Aspiration-Nation' tag though...sounds a bit like the Thick of It. But a lot of what he was saying will chime with the public and it progressed into an upbeat blueprint for the country with a dash of Churchillian bulldog in the message to fight through and work hard to achieve. It wasn't the best speech he's ever made (His 2005 pitch to become Tory Leader was) but it was pretty damn close.

All three Leader's speeches were viewed as successes by the media but of the three it's Cameron who is still streets ahead as a leader. And in light of recent events across the pond can you see Cam freezing in the headlights of a TV debate? I can't...but Miliband? I'm not so sure.

Osborne's Speech - no magic bullet but some new policy

Well, I've just finished watching Osborne's speech to the Tory conference and he's probably never been under as much pressure as he was before this one. 6 months of negative headlines over pasties and caravans and other such trivia have not made him popular. Some argue he's cutting too fast, the Redwood's of this world argue he's not cutting fast enough. I'm an arch pragmatist...given that unemployment is coming down steadily and the private sector job market is also growing apace I think he's judeged it about righr.

What else did he talk about? Well, he took a bazooka to Miliband's 'One Nation' tanks and got them off the Tory lawn but he didn't concentrate on making it an overtly party political attack on the labour party. Unlike his shadow chancellor he actually concentrated the bul on the economy and played on the recent press headlines that the Tories would be seeking to do things for the strivers in Britain...all good red meat for the natural supporter of the Tories and the sort of people who gave Thatcher  their vote in the 80's, which is good because they're still out there. He also nixed the disastrous idea of a wealth tax or mansion tax (and anything that blunts a Vince Cable proposal is welcome). There were two proposals which really caught my eye and I'd love to see some more detail on them.

Firstly this 'Employee Ownership' voluntary scheme. In exchange for less employment rights and regulations employees would receive shares in the company they work for. Now this scheme has a few things that make it worth exploring.

1. It will make it far easier and less risky for an employer to hire people. If it doesn't work out then the employee can belet go.
2. It gives the employee more incentive to make the business a success, they have a stake in the future of the company...they'll work to ensure it's future as theirs is tied in to it...meaning the company would be less likely to sack them anyway.
3. The Treasury would put a 0% rate on any capital gains from these shares.

Personally I thinkEmployee ownership is a great thing, It's like John Lewis writ large. My uncle was one of the Miners who bought Tower Colliery in the 90's and ran it as a successful profitable coal mine for 13 years, in a far better way than the NCB ever managed. I love employee ownership so I think this could be something potentially huge for the workers of Britain,

The second item that caught my eye was the tax relief for Shale Gas. It could be as important to us now as North Sea Oil was to the 80's recovery. And it would also reduce our reliance on overseas oil as well as acting as a stabiliser from increased energy prices. And it indicates that Ed Davey will not be permitted to torpedo it.

He got the tone of the speech right, he's not going to be easing up on the cuts (this is a good thing, the markets will have appreciated that speech and will instead harass the French), he didn't make it a gag a minute but the few jokes he made were well-timed and Mandelsonian (And that is a compliment) in their barbed nature. All in all, while the speech didn't blow the roof off it was a solid outing with a few moments which may prove significant for the future.

This follows on from Solid Speeches by Shapps, Hague and Hammond yesterday. It looks like the Tories have had enough of rope-a-dope and are up for the fight....about bloody time!

Red Ed...prolier than thou!

So this is Ed's great strategic objective this week. To convince the electorate he's just a simple comprehensive schoolboy made good...one of our own. Pull the other one, Edward. You were born with a silver spoon in your gob and nothing offends us proleteriat like a posh boy looking to gain kudos by slumming it with the plebs.

You may have gone to a comprehensive, but it wasn't a crappy comprehensive where hope was at a premium for the pupils. In fact you probably only went to a comprehensive because old Ralph the marxist had an overwhelming belief in the state. You went to the same primary school as Boris and the same university before a spell in Harvard. I'm sure the factory workers in the Midlands can relate. You interned for family friend, Tony Benn and got yourself ensconsed in the Labour party due to family connections. There you came under the wing of Gordon Brown and alongside Ed Balls you 3 helped to engineer the biggest economic balls up in the UK since the great depression. Don't pretend to be one of us, it's an insult. Cameron and Clegg came from similarly priviliged backgrounds but at least they don't try and hide it. In fact, maybe you should take a leaf out of Clegg's book and apologise for the economic shambles you left behind.

Oh, and last night's COMRES poll...you've got to laugh!

Ed Balls Leadership speech (he wishes!)

Blinky was at it again, with another spending promise to add to his recent list (remember the £20 billion he wanted to borrow on a VAT cut and National Insurance Holiday), this time hewants to spend £3 billion (a pittance!) on building 100,000 affordable homes and a stamp duty holiday for first time buyers (Which made no difference to first time buyers the last time they did it). This is not to be no borrowing though, according to Balls....oh no, remember, he was the advisor to 'Prudence' himself. This was to be funded from the sale of the 4g licenses estimated at £3 billion pounds. The trouble is, that there's no guarantee it will raise that figure and in anycase £700 million was already allocated from that in the last budget. So yet again blinky has flunked the economics...so with that a dismal failure, let's move onto the politics...his speech had the look and feel  of a leadership speech. If I were Ed Miliband I would avoid getting onto a train to Bradford any time soon!

No more pussyfooting from CCHQ...finally

The one constant message over the last 2 years from Tories has been that Ed Miliband is crap. It's not been trumpeted much but anyone who's not a died in the wool Labour supporter that has a vague knowledge of politics has at times reached that assumption.

And in his first major piece of action since  becoming Tory Chairman Michael Green *ahem* Grant Shapps has decided to take the gloves off and give him a tickler to the ribs with the launch of this poster...just in time for Labour conference.

About time too. They've been waiting until Miliband was secure enough to remain Labour Leader for the next election (and 12 months ago it was touch and go) but have now decided to go on the offensive. So it explains why they were pulling their punches for the last 12 months. Now they need to continue to press home the reminder that the two Ed's were Gordon Brown's advisors when he was chancellor, which lead to the biggest boom and bust (even though they thought they'd abolished it) in living memory. The tories will need to be constantly pressing on the front foot on programmes like Newsnight. The likes of Shapps, Fallon, Grayling, Gove and even Osborne (When he does intervene and go on the attack, his barbs usually hit the target but he's not seen nearly enough) will have to be at their combative best.

Labour have had probably the best 6 months they could wish for with the government copping flak fron all sideds of the media. Now is an ideal time to turn the spotlight back onto them and their vacuousness.