Snaps of Shapps

[threegee]

Here's an interesting snap sneaked recently at somewhere mega-posh:

 

 

You might recognise the guy on the right as Grant Schapps, the Tory Party hatchet person (read Chairman). He's been mentioned here before by Sym. But who is the guy he is in earnest conversation with?  It almost looks like Schapps is expecting something.

 

Well.. the guy he has in earnest conversation is no other than media baron Richard Desmond (Daily Express, The Star, Channel 5, etc.).

 

Why is this significant?  Well Schapps is doing what all political parties do with an election coming - going for a media endorsement, and a big cheque, from natural allies.

 

Whoops!

 

Desmond is taking a huge risk in deserting the establishment.  Broadcasting licences and many other perks are in the gift of establishment politicians, and they have very long collective memories.  It really doesn't matter which of the establishment parties you decide to help, the roundabout keeps on turning and your free ride will come before too long. It's not cricket to spoil the game for other players when it's your turn to bat.  But... turn your back on the game and you've rejected the entire system - you are out in the bleak cold!  As far as I can tell Desmond's move outside the establishment is unprecedented in modern history.

 

Desmond is no fool though, and knows what his editors have been telling him for some while.  He's banking on a sea change in British politics, and has calculated that he can ride out everything that Schapps and all of LibLabCon can throw at him - and you can be absolutely sure that they will!  My money is on this (new) Porn Baron, Mr Camerband!

[Symptoms]

That 300 grand he's just bunged the kippers will certainly pay for all those swinger parties the ex-bosskipper seemed to enjoy with that ex-prospective candidate.  I think Nige will need some of it to drown his sorrows down the Dog & Duck on Election Day +1

[threegee]

His tastes aren't that expensive Sym.  Dunno where the champaign socialists are going to get their tipple from though.  Not that they'll have anything to celebrate when they work out that they've neatly put Salmond into the driving seat, and that the deep deep cuts Balls will be inflicting fall largely on England (in order to "preserve the Union").

 

This is why most of the Labour old guard are quitting now.  They can see the end of anything which even vaguely resembles traditional socialism coming up very fast indeed.  The Blairite PPE technocrats are best equipped to spin the tale that the coalition deficit forced the cruel welfare cuts on them.  They'll have those graphs Brand so despises to show that debt spiralled under the coalition. So the fairy story that they'd have done all the right things at the right time will be believable to just enough voters (of that ever-decreasing 33-35% target, topped up by always grateful immigrants).

 

It's a one-term dead-duck government coming anyway, and Kippers don't really care whether it's Lab or Con on the nameplate, because essentially the same dither is going to happen.  This is a fact totally lost on Cameron as he bleats on to people about vote Ukip get Labour - in fact in the North exactly the opposite is true, and voting Con now will surely get you Labour.

 

Most Kippers I've spoken to are happily prepared to bide their time whilst even more voters come to their senses.  A Cameron pretend re-negotiation of the EU treaty will likely be worse than a bury-head-in-sand, treat the electorate as utter dummies, Labour approach, and it will be a lot harder to undo.  Cast-iron Dave has mega-form in ducking promises anyway, and has quite simply lost all credibility, even to much of his own party (the reason for the Tory MP defections). There's also a fair chance that the EU will implode in the interim, but for the Country's sake we really need to be out long before this happens!

 

Getting back to the original subject, Desmond's game isn't short-term either.  It's a game of falling circulations in the dead tree biz i.e. who's circulation falls the least in order to bag the available advertising bucks. Cutting through establishment propaganda for an ever-increasing audience is his plan.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Thought UKIP were getting it?