Quaequam Blog! diagnoses "a severe case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians" in his team and complains of:
a blatant lack of faith in the very product ... they are trying to sell, with a constant refrain in the campaign being that with Ming you don't just get the man, you get a whole team of young thrusting politicos.He also writes:
What I want to see from Campbell's campaign is, well, the candidate. He has a truly inspiring life story, an enviable parliamentary record and credibility coming out of his ears. I don't give a fig about anyone else, they come later. It is high time they started believing in their own candidate and treating him with greater respect.
While Iain Sharpe at Eaten by Missionaries fears that:
he has become used to being treated by interviewers and opponents with the deference that is afforded to elder statesmen.
I have no worries about Ming's decision to emphasise teamwork. It gives him the edge over the others, who are coming over as being ever so slightly too prescriptive.
ReplyDeleteAs for his abundant good qualities...well, James can see them, you can see them, I can see them...
Never mind Ming, I don't know why more people haven't asked Chris Huhne about his regular attendance at the secretive Westminster dining club, the Chamberlain Club.
ReplyDeleteThis is named in honour of Liberal Unionist Joseph Camberlain who, as you know, after a radical start ended up in alliance with the Conservatives. Meanwhile some of the other members of this private club are Nicholas Boles (part of Cameron's "Notting Hill set") and Tory deputy chairman Bernard Jenkin.
Is there something we should know?
I find this team approach very refreshing. We have often complained about excessive focus on leaders in the past. Ming's team seems to provide the antidote. But are the uneasy? I would have thought that this last week has gone extremely well for them.
ReplyDeleteI suspect you could learn a lot from looking at where each of the candidates is drawing their support from.
ReplyDeleteChris Huhne has spent most of the last ten years campaigning in the South East. As a result he is drawing huge support from activists in the South East.
How much vocal support is Ming getting from Scotland.
How much is Simon getting from London?
As long as those activists in the South East are prepared to spend large amounts of time defending Eastleigh against Tory decapitation efforts if Chris is elected...He's got a lot going for him, but a 568 majority is just too risky, even with incumbency/leadership bounces.
ReplyDeleteAh, now I remember why I don't allow anonymous postings on my blog.
ReplyDeleteIn answer to "anonymous'" worries about the Chamberlain Club, personally I had a long conversation with the candidate about it. He has attended one meeting, it was on localism, and it included a number of Labour party members including people from the New Local Government Network which is about as local as you can get.
If we're going to get paranoid about such things, then someone should point out to me which candidate has refused to join any all-party groups.