Lincolnshire show how the Tories would run the country...

What was David Cameron's side-kick wee Georgie Osborne thinking of when he said a future Conservative government could learn lessons from Tory councils like Lincolnshire...?

Was it Lincolnshire Tories record of running the only education authority in the country to spend millions of public money to send selected children to public school - by top-slicing the budget of every state school in the county...?

Or was it the cavalier way Lincolnshire Tories trebled home care charges for some of Lincolnshire's most vulnerable people - from £40 to an staggering £120 a week in one hike - (a saga on which I posted on HERE and HERE...?

Maybe it was the back-of-a-fag-packet scheme to close all infant schools that showed what Lincolnshire Conservatives really feel about 'choice' despite their rhetoric...?

Surely wee Georgie wasn't thinking about the way Lincolnshire Tories' forced through the biggest council tax demand for policing in the county - an eye-watering 78.9 per cent that had to be capped by the Labour Government with a welcome rebate for every council tax payer...?

Ironically, wee Georgie was talking in his speech about value for money when he highlighted Lincolnshire as a flagship to follow...

Wonder if he realises that Lincolnshire Tories insisted on hiking up council tax bills this year - voting down Labour's sensible plan for a council tax freeze...(despite his promise that Conservatives would deliver a freeze on council tax).

No, wee-Georgie was talking about Lincolnshire's record on public-private partnerships. While I believe private firms might sometimes deliver a better job than local councils, in eight years as a county councillor in Lincolnshire, I was far from impressed with the way county services were run by private companies.

I believe the system wee Georgie was so impressed with was brought in by former Tory Leader of the county council, Jim Speechley...

Wee Georgie will remember Jim well...Speechley of course was sent to jail for corruption.

So now we know how the Tories would run the country if we were ever daft enough to give them a chance...

Same old Tories, or what...?

Bizarre stunt exposes Tory splits and Cameron's weak leadership...

Today's bizarre stunt by David Davis in forcing a needless - and costly - parliamentary by-election after losing the democratic vote shows David Cameron and the Tories in disarray...

As the BBC's political editor suggests Cameron has lost the plot, it's worth reflecting on what The Sun says today following last night's Commons vote on locking up suspected terrorists for a maximum 42 days without charge:

GORDON Brown is entitled to considerable satisfaction after his victory in last night’s terror vote.

He stood up for the fight against extremism in the face of deeply hostile criticism and predictions of disaster — not least from his own party.

The same cannot be said for the Opposition who seemed more concerned about narrow self-interest than the national interest.
We expect nothing less from the Lib-Dems. But we might have hoped for better from Conservatives who aim one day to be in charge of protecting Britain from attack.

The move to detain terror suspects for 42 days without charge is backed by police and security chiefs.

It is supported by seven out of ten voters, instinctively by many of David Cameron’s own Tory MPs and — as The Sun revealed yesterday — by his grassroots voters.
Yet they were all whipped into the Opposition lobby, apparently for opposition’s sake.

Some demeaned themselves by shabbily jeering Ulster MPs who supported the PM, knowing more than most about fighting terror.

Yes, it was a narrow government margin: just nine votes.

But that was enough to give police and security services the tools they need to test complex evidence against dangerous extremists.

We must hope we will NEVER need to detain a suspect for 42 days.

But Gordon Brown rightly argued that now is the time to act — in a period of calm debate, not in the wake of a national catastrophe.

It would have been deeply irresponsible to wait until Britain was in deadly peril before realising 28 days was not long enough.

The Commons struggle was a major victory for the PM after a torrid six months. He passed it with credit.

Now he has a precious breathing space — and the opportunity to prove to the country he has the vision and the energy as Prime Minister.

BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson says:

David Cameron has lost control of his strategy. This was not his decision. He wasn't asked for his agreement.

In other words, he's lost the plot.

And while senior Tories admit they knew hadn't a clue about the intentions of the man who challenged David Cameron for the leadership of the Conservative Party a couple of years ago, LibDem Leader Nick Clegg had been informed.

All of which leaves a big question about David Cameron's leadership...


UPDATE: The Three Line Whip blog published this morning at the Daily Telegraph website puts the rest of the day's events in some kind of perspective....