A tape recording of Kenneth Clarke's speech to a private meeting of the Tory Bow Group on Tuesday was "obtained" by The Times newspaper. It revealed that the shadow Business Secretary warned the Tory leadership not to be too specific about spending cuts before the general election.Ring a bell? Six weeks before the 2005 election, the same newspaper obtained a tape recording of a much more explosive speech to a private meeting by Howard Flight, a Tory Treasury spokesman, who suggested his party had a secret agenda of unpopular spending cuts. He was dumped as an MP. The Flight recorder was John Woodcock, a rising Labour star, now a Downing Street communications strategist and Labour's candidate in Barrow-in-Furness.So you can hardly blame the Tories for claiming that Labour was up to its old tricks at Mr Clarke's speech. Labour denies it, of course, but seems remarkably well-informed. "A reminder of Times past," quipped a Tory official. But the Tories are taking it seriously: they have issued instructions to organisers of such events to vet guest-lists very carefully.
A tape recording of Kenneth Clarke's speech to a private meeting of the Tory Bow Group on Tuesday was "obtained" by The Times newspaper. It revealed that the shadow Business Secretary warned the Tory leadership not to be too specific about spending cuts before the general election.
Ring a bell? Six weeks before the 2005 election, the same newspaper obtained a tape recording of a much more explosive speech to a private meeting by Howard Flight, a Tory Treasury spokesman, who suggested his party had a secret agenda of unpopular spending cuts. He was dumped as an MP. The Flight recorder was John Woodcock, a rising Labour star, now a Downing Street communications strategist and Labour's candidate in Barrow-in-Furness.
So you can hardly blame the Tories for claiming that Labour was up to its old tricks at Mr Clarke's speech. Labour denies it, of course, but seems remarkably well-informed. "A reminder of Times past," quipped a Tory official. But the Tories are taking it seriously: they have issued instructions to organisers of such events to vet guest-lists very carefully.
Hey! US Republicans have been infected by the X Files sentient oil from Mars. What else is new? In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
