Re: [A-List] Michael Howard

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Absolutely incredible, isn't it? This guy plunged into deserved obscurity
once William Hague took over the reins. IDS plucked him back in order to get
rid of Portillista Francis Maude. He symbolised everything that was widely
regarded as wrong with the Major administration. Even Major himself counted
Howard among the "bastards" in the cabinet.

All that Howard is got going for him is credibility in the nasty stakes. IDS
may have been Tebbit's anointed successor, but he never had the charisma to
play the role of attack dog convincingly. Howard can certainly do that, but
at the cost of further dehumanising the image of the party.

Barring any mortal wounds (self)inflicted upon New Labour (as opposed to
Blair himself, who is expendible), the state party will continue in office
while the Liberal Democrats supplant the Conservatives as official
opposition, thus shifting the centre of gravity in British politics towards
Europe and away from the US. Of course running counter to that is the right
wing of New Labour, in a bizarre alliance with the left of Old Labour,
united in their Atlanticist social chauvinism, but the left is dying
(Galloway's expulsion a clear demonstration) and the right wing is seriously
weakened by the negative impact of the Bush administration with respect to
British public opinion, which is remarkably in tune with the rest of Europe
in its perceptions of the neocons, despite the best efforts of Rupert
Murdoch and Conrad Black.

Speaking of which, Anne wrote a while back that the neocons would soon be
courting the Dums as their Republican support base began to fragment. True
to form, a lead author in the latest issue of Black's neocon vanity
publication, "The National Interest", is Joe Lieberman.

see http://www.nationalinterest.org/

Michael