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Tuesday 21 August 2018

Hague joins Leadership debate

William Hague joins the Conservative leadership debate with a plea not to make Boris Johnson leader by changing the rule book. It is a cri de couer from the deeply establishment ex-leader of a predominantly Remain parliamentary party to an overwhelmingly (and growing) Leave party membership. It also acknowledges unwittingly that party members can force rule changes if the parliamentary party remains unwilling to change; Arron Banks did not pluck the figure of 10,000 new ex-UKIP Conservative members out of the air; it is also the size of petition specified in the party constitution needed to trigger the start of a rule-change process, and I believe a coded warning.

Hague instead asks the party to trust its MPs to make the right choice of Leader.

However, the party Board may hold an easier and quicker answer to changing the process used by the '22 Committee - which opens the possibility of a compromise that may not be the 20-member open ticket, but will not be a process that excludes Boris from the membership ballot.

Given recent choices by the parliamentary party, Hague's plea is a big ask. Hague is also opposed to the involvement of members in 'open primaries' on the basis that the adoption of the process in the US gave America Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton - what he calls 'appalling' choices. Yes, William - but popular. His plea is deeply patrician, wholly establishment and antithetic to change, and will no doubt find favour amongst supporters such as the CBI and the global corporates. I doubt it will find much support amongst a Conservative grass roots membership who may themselves find the actions of many in the parliamentary party equally 'appalling'.

Robbins No.2, Jonathan Black, in power stance, selling the Robbins Plan to Cabinet members

23 comments:

Stephen J said...

I didn't realise that Baseball Bill was still with us, he was already old in 1977 when he appeared at that Tory bash.

A weird little man.

Cuffleyburgers said...

Further proof if any were needed that these people hate democracy. For them it's a tool to their own personal advancement to be discarded when it it looks inconvenient.

mikebravo said...

Strange days.
An allegedly conservative ex leader of a supposedly conservative party pleading with conservative members not to force the party to take up conservative policy.
It's enough to make a tin foil hatter think that politics in this country is a charade.

Tony Harrison said...

Mikebravo at 07.53, spot on... Hague's position is indeed "deeply patrician, wholly establishment and antithetic to change," curiously enough since he's not exactly from a patrician background. I'm surprised he still gets so much space in the Telegraph and elsewhere: Hague showed some encouraging promise briefly, early on, but his true status as a mediocre meliorist and arse-licker became evident ages ago.

John in Cheshire said...

The existing rules gave the Conservative party him as their leader. If ever there was an example of why the rules need to be changed, it's Mr Hague.

Budgie said...

So the independence of our country depends on the hope of a possibility of a petition that it is hoped may possibly have a chance of changing the constitution of a Remain party skilled in ignoring its own voter base, whilst Remain and the establishment sit around doing nothing, and the EU benignly waits for us to have the Tory party meltdown, only 7 months away from implementing that party's leader's baked-in revolving-door Remain? Yeah right.

John Brown said...

The senior members of the Conservative Party have always been strongly committed Europhiles. Heath, Major, Clarke, Heseltine etc. are prime examples. Mrs. Thatcher was removed because she refused to sign the forthcoming Maastricht Treaty.

And certainly since the Maastricht Treaty have been at odds with their grass roots membership over EU membership and immigration.

Even recently Mr. Cameron declared his wish for the EU to expand “all the way to the Urals” (Kazakhstan speech 2013) and for Turkey to be a member (“Paving the Road from Ankara to Brussels” - Ankara speech 2010).

Conservative remain MPs are quite happy to ignore the way their constituents have voted in the EU referendum, such as the Mid Norfolk MP, George Freeman a descendant of William Gladstone.

Leavers voting for such remain supporting candidates is the very definition of stupidity – that is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

Nick Drew said...

Having just seen Imperium on the stage, it's hard not to make comparisons between Cicero's times and ours

jack ketch said...

Not so much about Brexit as about Blojob himself. The reason why a top tier of the party don't want to see Boris as PM is because they know just how flawed an individual he is. Not that being a dishonest, back stabbing, liar in anyway disqualifies anyone from High Office -one might even argue that those attributes are in the Job Description. However Boris leaves even people like Gove thinking 'WTActualF?!'.

The question is whether May's corpse will start to stink so badly that Leaver MPs will be prepared to hold their noses long enough to vote for Boris. Personally I think there is a chance that someone will use what remains of Parliamentary Privilege to scupper Bojo's plans. Maybe some journalist might too but they would have to be prepared to do prison time.

Mr Ecks said...



Who gives a shite Ketch. He still smells OK next to the remain gang. Including Hague who shares room with his driver to "save money".

I don't trust Blojo but as far as Brexit goes his colours are nailed to the mast. And for now that is ALL that matters.

jack ketch said...

but as far as Brexit goes his colours are nailed to the mast. And for now that is ALL that matters.

The ones who give a shit atm are his fellow tory mps and ATM (unless the system changes) theirs is the only opinion that matters. Yes Blojo has blu-tacked his colours to the mast regarding BrexSShite ....for as long as it suits his purposes (in other words if it helps get him into Number 10), then all bets are off. Boris has already shown (have you forgotten Chequers so soon?) that trusting him with Brexit would be like trusting, oh say, Teresa May with it and nobody but nobody would have been stupid enough to have done that.

MartinW said...

I may be mistaken, and I haven't got the time to look it, but I seem to recall that it was Hague, when party leader, who put into place the selection rules which, among other things, stripped constituency members of their hitherto sacrosanct right to choose their own candidate for MP. From him we have the abomination of Headquarters approved lists.

Tony Harrison said...

What Jack Ketch neglects is that so many of us are so terminally pissed off with May, and so aghast at the likely prospect of her negotiating nothing better than Brino if she stays, that we'd not only welcome Boris like a shot, we'd accept Noddy or Big Ears if he weren't available.
I can't be the only one who'd like you to cease your puerile indulgence in "BrexSShite" and "BloJob" etc.

Anonymous said...

mr vague is a deeply compromised tory prick.

toeing the line lad + maintaining the status quo ante - it's too fucking late for all that, it's either massive change of tack from Socialism back to small 'c' or permanent political oblivion.

English Pensioner said...

What is the point of belonging to the Conservative party? Apparently they are restricted in whom they might appoint as leader, can only chose a prospective MP from a list of candidates chosen by CCHQ. They don't have any real debate at the party conference, so exactly what would I get for my subscription if I joined?

Tony Harrison said...

Pensioner: judging from my acquaintances over the years, your sub would get you cheap beer down at the Con Club. Not very good beer, mind...

Mark The Skint Sailor said...

The only time in recent history there has been true direct democracy is when UKIP got enough support to force the EU referendum. The party machinery on all sides has worked over time to remove local accountabilit, so the call for more members to swell the Tory ranks and force the issue sounds like a fools errand, or at best just moving furniture about. I'd rather back true change.

jack ketch said...


What Jack Ketch neglects is that so many of us are so terminally pissed off with May, and so aghast at the likely prospect of her negotiating nothing better than Brino
-TH

Uhm no, I neglect that not. I am fully aware of how justifiably pissed off BrexSShiteurs, Brexiteurs AND Remainers are with May.For those that are puzzled as to why Remainers are pissed at Terry , it's because Chequers is not only no kind of Brexit but would leave us a 'rule taker' not a 'Rule maker'(which is one of the fundamental reasons for staying 'IN' in the first place). Anything, even a lemming/motorway pile-up Brexit would leave the yUK in a better position than Chequers.

So I 'totally get' (*cringe*) why Leavers want Blojo....and , more importantly Boris does too. However if May goes, it is the more likely both wings of the party will unite around Jarvid who will become PM not Boris and then we're dangerously close to BrexSShite= BritSStan.

Hector Drummond, Vile Novelist said...

I love Hague's comment that the members are looking to impose a 'divisive leader on the party'... because the leader the MPs imposed on the party isn't divisive at all, is she?

Bill Quango MP said...

How many days left to save the pound?

John Vasc said...

Those who wish to have a say in choosing the next PM might well take a cue from Hague's giveaway display of naked fear at the idea that pro-brexit supporters might consider joining the Conservative Party.
It costs only £2.09p per month: a small price to pay for the chance to vote on a new Tory leader, and possibly even on a new electoral rule - as long as those events are more than three months away - touch wood. (Voting rights are conferred only after three months' membership.)
These days, Guy Fawkes would not bother skulking in the cellar underneath Parliament: he'd get himself a peerage or a safe seat, and sneer openly at our democracy while stealing energy subsidies, CAP setaside payments, and tax-funded BTLs.
We should do all we can to counter such subversion with some counter-subversion of our own.

Budgie said...

Look how eager Jack Ketch is to slag Boris. And how often. What's that about protesting too much? Like other Remains he is scared of Boris. So Remain impugns Boris' motives - yet if Boris was only interested in leading the Tories he would have behaved as May (or Cameron) does.

However the real issue is there is no longer any time left for the Tory party to engage in a genteel meltdown. The agreement with the EU is penciled in for October. Yes, it will go to the wire - theatre for us plebs - but it is only 3 months away. Only external pressure will work.

DeeDee99 said...

Currently reading "Revolting! How the Establishment are Undermining Democracy and What They're Afraid Of" by Mick Hume (Dep. Editor of Spiked!)

Hague is a prime example of the unelected Elite who prattle on about democracy, whilst doing their utmost to ensure that a tiny, unrepresentative elite control everything.

When Brexit is delivered, the next target for serious change must be the House of Frauds.