William Hague
The Nucoalition fails to spot etc
The Deputy PM and Foreign Secretary make us laugh (intentionally?)
They're laughing now,but later?
"Are we nearly there"? The cry of the bored traveller who has not kept alert on the journey, disappointed to be still on the train but not at the destination. When Nick Clegg, with an almost child-like approach, asked us to say which laws we wanted him to magic away he had not been more then half awake.
Perhaps like a child on the way to the seaside he had nodded off, lulled by the motion, and had dreamt all was well. Poor man! His plan was for us to direct our attention to the pettiness of government, he would do the rest. What happened was that many people, well aware a lot of government is awful, said they were more than happy to let this stand, for a while. But what they would really like would be for large chunks of legislation that have come from the EU to be removed first. Clegg, as an ex-MEP, had only himself to blame for this pratfall. Is this the sort of mistake the Deputy PM should be making?
However, the devoted EU supporter is always of the opinion that the UK public is further on than 'nearly there' when it comes to the EU. They like to think that 'the journey', the act of acceptance, is over. We have arrived and we are all so happy with out lot.
William Hague, or some journalists on his behalf, tried something similar.
The EU and the Lisbon Treaty on the doorstep
The penny drops? (at last!)
At last the penny drops!
Writing in the online version of the Spectator today Peter Hoskin makes a very pertinent observation. Obviously the Spectator supports the Tory party but Hoskin says of William Hague,
The shadow foreign secretary was in uncharacteristically subdued form, (during the Daily Politics' foreign affairs debate this afternoon).
Now why should that be, what happened? Hoskin says -
Hague did deploy one of his parties' trump cards, though, by mentioning how the other two had instigated a "betrayal of democracy" over the Lisbon Treaty. Word from the doorsteps suggests that this is a more important issue than most politicos realise.
Aha! So years of 'lets pretend' by all three political parties, that is don't mention the EU and that's a problem solved, has not paid off. Hague is a very smart man and loyal to David Cameron. But Cameron has brought ultra pro-EU Ken Clarke back into the Tory big tent and, much as predicted, this move does not go down well on the doorstep. Thus Hague has to be careful.
Political science update
It gets worse
Backs to the wall?
The grating dullness of UK politics was lifted, briefly, while Gordon Brown was in the USA. The equally witless, but a little more entertaining, Harriet Harman took Brown's place at PMQs. She faced William Hague who can, in his own way, be just as funny as Boris Johnson. So the cameras rolled and the sound was switched on and yes, PMQs was a cracker. There has not been so much laughter since Brown offered to “save the world”, a task still pending. Hague annoys many people for he has ability as well as a sense of humour, a rare mix in Westminster. Some say Hague won the match, others suggest it was a draw. Harman as the real Deputy Prime Minister, as opposed to Lord Mandy, the unelected usurper, should have had the whip hand. Hague, in opposition, not only has to work harder but differently, but there are advantages, he can relax, he does and so scores on a level Harman cannot reach. [url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3411561/a-neat-little-video.thtml] A post match summary by Hague
