Eric v Paddy: who’s the “frail and confused” one?

Eric Pickles has, we hear, labelled Paddy Ashdown “frail and confused”. It seems an odd charge for the lifelong political hack and current Tory chairman, Mr Pickles, to level against Paddy – a former Marine, diplomat and spy, who’s placed himself in danger in service of his country more times than Eric’s had hot dinners (no mean feat).

Here’s a picture of Eric.

And here’s a picture of Paddy (taken just last week, I believe).

And now let’s see Eric in action – in his infamous car-crash appearance on BBC1’s Question Time. A cruel person might observe that Eric seems a little, well, “frail and confused” as he tries to justify his second home allowance:

Perhaps Eric could take some tips in how to handle the pressure of Question Time from Paddy? Here, Eric, is how it should be done:

Let’s leave the last word to Lib Dem MP Colin Breed, who has proposed Eric and Paddy meet up in the south-west of England to ‘yomp’ across Dartmoor, but reckons the Tory chairman:

would have passed out on a boggy patch a few hundred yards after trying to keep up with the frail and clearly decrepit Paddy Ashdown.”

PS: Liberal England’s Jonathan Calder blogs his own take here.

Read more by or more about , , or .
This entry was posted in News.
Advert

7 Comments

  • To be fair to EP, I would imagine pretty much everybody looks frail in comparison to him.

  • Liberal Neil 17th Jan '10 - 9:30pm

    I’ve met Paddy a few times.

    Nice fella, but I wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.

    My advice to EP is that he should go into hiding sharpish and never come out.

  • More personal attacks eh? Sure sign that htings they be a warming up….

  • The look of disgust/disdain/shock/disbelief on Ed Davey’s face is something to behold!

    ‘It doesn’t matter if a LibDem isn’t there’ WHAT! I would presume that it matters to the 20% of the population that voted for the Liberal Democrats along with the constituents of those that are lucky enough to have a Liberal Democrat MP.

  • David Blake 18th Jan '10 - 4:18pm

    Paddy was on Question Time not long ago. Nothing frail and confused there.

  • Ah, but poor old Eric is so frail he can’t manage the commute in from Brentwood.

    I do try to avoid personal distaste in my politics, but I really, really didn’t enjoy Eric’s sojourn in my constituency in 2008 ……..

  • Paul Jenkins 18th Jan '10 - 9:56pm

    I think that Eric Pickles clip should be posted twice a day, every day to everyone we can to remind people exactly where the Tories are coming from. That’s your party Dave. They have not changed, they will not ever change. They just can’t do it.

    Seeing that clip has just reminded me why I push leaflets through doors.

One Trackback

Post a Comment

Lib Dem Voice welcomes comments from everyone but we ask you to be polite, to be on topic and to be who you say you are. You can read our comments policy in full here. Please respect it and all readers of the site.

To have your photo next to your comment please signup your email address with Gravatar.

Your email is never published. Required fields are marked *

*
*
Please complete the name of this site, Liberal Democrat ...?

Advert

Recent Comments

  • Simon R
    @Joe: I don't think it's at all hypocritical to support Ukraine's right to sovereignty while also not being opposed to attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities. ...
  • Mick Taylor
    @SimonR. I do have a PhD in economics and peer reviewed published papers and I do challenge the whole orthodox approach to economics practised par excellence by...
  • Andy Daer
    @Hina, you might not have got the responses your expected, but I hope you will take heart from those of us who think racism is on the retreat n this country. T...
  • Simon R
    @Steve: Ah, so you want to challenge the whole academic discipline of economics, and all the couple of hundred years of research by many thousands of people tha...
  • Steve Trevethan
    Alas, I beg to differ concerning the validity of current orthodox economics theory, practice and teaching. One objective test of current "Economics" is the ...