The Conservative Conference - The art of losing the plot

"Are you really sure this won't make us look like a fascist party in a dystopian novel?" "Yeah, sure,don't worry"

Nothing could sum up just how badly the Tories have lost the plot than this picture. Those of us who remember Neil Kinnocks rather unfortunate Nuremburg rally style conference in 1992 in Sheffield could only hold up our hands and say "what on earth were they thinking?". Whatever your political persuasion, you have to admit that this isn't a great look. Of course no one actually thinks Grant Shapps, David Cameron or any of the rest of them are a bunch of Nazis waiting for the coup, but in this day and age, images are everything and this isn't a great look. The conference itself was perhaps the biggest piece of navel gazing in British history. Rather than talking to the issues that that the country care about, it has been dominated by two big cock ups (or rather a big one and what was apparently a rather less big one, if you believe the gossip).

Firstly we had Tory Chairman Grant Shapps (Pictured above) ranting about betrayal, in regards to Mark Reckless. He claims Reckless lacks integrity. Now I am not a UKIP fan, but it was no secret that Reckless had sympathy with UKIP and he has done the honourable thing and called a by election. Too many politicians have not followed their conscience and towed the party line. That is why we had an illegal war in Iraq. I for one believe any MP with the guts to follow their conscience is  a man I'd respect, even if I completely disagree with him. It is up to the electorate to say whether they agree with Reckless, which is how it should be. The fact that the Tories find it inconvenient is neither here nor there.

Then we've had the rather odd case of the Tory junior minister who decided to send a picture of his dangly bits to Mirror journalist who he believed to be  a pretty young woman, but was in fact a rather less pretty bloke. It is quite simple, if you are a Tory minister and married. Don't send pictures of yourself in compromising postions to people you've never met. If you are you are an idiot with lousy judgement. There is no point moaning about the press. If you are so stupid as to do that, you are a naive fool and a security risk to boot. What if the person had been a terrorist mole and wanted to blackmail a minister, rather than a journo. For  the Tories to get outraged just shows how stupid they really are.

As for policies, the big one is the announcement the George Osborne will cut £12 billion worth of benefit payments. This is a small sum sat next to corporate tax avoidance. One single company vodaphone managed to wriggle out of a £6 billion tax liability. I am all for cutting benefits where it is not needed and stamping out fraud (which is rife). I am completely against cutting benefits to vulnerable people who will suffer. The sad truth is that if the £12 billion benefit cut was feasable or desirable they'd have done it already. The fact they haven't surely tells you something. One thing about benefits which is never mentioned is that nearly all legallyt paid benefits comes back into the economy. Far more than tax cuts for the rich. Is it really such a good idea to squeeze it, just when the economy is picking up?