Sky News’s Jon Craig is trumpeting the news that Buckinghamshire Tory MP, John Bercow, will not be attending his party’s conference in Blackpool next week.
For some time now, he’s been billed as the Tory most likely to cross the floor and join Quentin Davies on the Labour benches. Bercow’s absence is ‘fuelling speculation’ ((c) all media organisations everywhere when trying to justify passing on hearsay).
More interesting is Jon’s last para:
In a further sign of turmoil and panic in the Conservative Party, Shadow Home Secretary and defeated leadership candidate [sic] David Davis has cancelled all his appearances at fringe meetings in Blackpool, a move seen as more evidence of the tension at the very top of the party.
What can it all mean?
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What happened to your post Conference “bounce” guys? More like a dead Ming bounce.
You’re going nowhere fast – so don’t be too beastly to the Tories as you might be working with them soon.
“…don’t be too beastly to the Tories as you might be working with them soon.”
No problem, David – liberalism opposes divisive majority-rule and thus encourages cross-party co-operation. We believe in PR, remember?
Could David Bannerman possibly be the same David Campbell Bannerman who is currently chair of UKIP?
And stood as a Tory candidate in Warwick & Leamington in 2001?
So, never mind that, what are the theories on Davis? Something going on at home? Or is he afeared that he will be asked again and agaian and again about the leadership vacuum?
It can mean the media has settled on it’s third fixed agenda for the conference agenda. Us (Ming leadership crisis – wro-hong!), Labour (will he won’t he?) now they seem to be heading as a pack for Cameron’s leadership in the septic tank. Maybe they’ll get one out of three.
Dead Ming bounce. Hilarious and original. Did you think that up all by yourself? If not, I’d think about sacking the gag-writer.
You will note that Sky has now corrected their story. David Davis cancelled nothing. He hadn’t accepted fringe invitations.
Calm down dears.
Thanks, Iain – I see the Sky update says, “[Davis] says he turned down the invitations back in June because he thought there might be an October or November election and he wanted to be free to devote all his energies to attacking Labour on law and order.”
Sorry, but that doesn’t ring true to me. Who, back in June, was predicting this Brown bounce? Certainly not the Tories, who were rubbing their hands with glee at the thought of the ‘analogue chancellor’ succeeding Blair. There may be a perfectly innocent explanation for Davis’s decision not to accept fringe invitations – but I find it hard to credit the one he’s given.
All very well Stephen but Sky have changed their story – sometime between 2pm when Iain blogged it and 2:30 or so when I checked your link and found that your story was already out of date.
Iain Dale was actually rather impressed that they had responded to his correcting them. I have heard that he is even considering correcting mistakes he makes as soon as they are pointed out.
On the election question. I’d say it has always been a strong possibility that there would be a Brown bounce and a call for an “own mandate” election.
However I think DD is being disingenuous and he is trying to avoid mither over the leadership.
John Bercow MP has been readopted as the Conservative candidate for Buckingham on 26th September 2007.