Storm in a teacup-And why are the Nats so over the top about everything?
Why not when you are dealing with lying cheating no-good toerags in Westminster on a daily basis. They and their paid lackeys like the Telegraph are below contempt and rotten to the core.
You should stop beating about the bush and tell us what you really think.
You are still not keeping up. The phone caller was the French Counsel General who has just comprehensively denied saying it in the phone call.
The person at the other end of the phone was a (probably junior) FCO official. This sort of FO gossip gets criculated around the system all the time usually as reports back from Ambassadors abroad to London.
It certainly would be sent to the Scotland Office for example. So the question is who wrote it and who leaked it.
Incidentally, the excruciating Balls has just claimed it was the offcial account of the meeting. No-body (not even the Torygraph) is claiming that and the real point is not that the totally useless Balls said it but that he was allowed to do so uncorrected by the Sky interviewer.
About as much balance from Sky as asking a current Torygraph jouro like Hodges and a past one like Oborne to comment on the story.
It will all feed into establishment dirty tricks in Scotland. Mark my words this like the assault on Salmond of two weesk ago will end up as grist to the SNP mill.
Something here doesn't make sense. The civil servant who wrote the memo doubts whether Sturgeon would have made the remark. So who could have leaked it? There is no Lib Dem in the Foreign Office.
In which case, the "caller" who suggested that comes into suspicion. He presumably works in the French Embassy.
There appears to be a chain of minute taking. It appears that someone took minutes in the meeting, someone else read those minutes over the phone to a third party in London, who wrote down the minute that was leaked, and commented there in that he felt it likely that comment hand been made and something must have been lost in translation. Either the minute taker, the guy on the phone, or the London minute take might have seen fit to modify the contents of the minute, or they might be accurate.
One or both of the last two is/are the perpetrator(s)
The swing votes this parliament have never been between Con and Lab.
This is one of the laziest assertions of this Parliament that has been made repeatedly despite my attempts to expose people to the evidence of the data. If you care to look at the ICM polls in the aftermath of the Omnishambles budget in 2012, you will see that direct Conservative to Labour swing voters made a greater contribution to the then Labour lead over the Conservatives than either 2010 Liberal Democrats swinging to Labour or Conservative defectors to UKIP.
What has changed since then is that these voters have either (a) swung back to the Conservatives, or (b) swung further off to UKIP.
Furthermore, when we now see signs of an increased Liberal Conservative vote, as 2010 Liberal Democrats now swing behind Cameron in increasing numbers, then the net benefit for Labour from 2010 Liberal Democrats declines, and the direct swing voters become even more important.
MaxPB Latest populus has Labour ahead 34.5 to 33.7 in England and Wales and Blair won most seats in England in 2005 even when behind on votes. Salmond will prop up a Labour government and make himself kingmaker before he does a deal on EVEL
Storm in a teacup-And why are the Nats so over the top about everything?
Precisely. It probably was said. The Telegraph should have notified Sturgeon and asked for her account. It won't mark a return to former glories for SLAB. The SNP should probably just be brushing it off and not making such a fuss -they are drawing more attention to it than it warrants.
Given the way she has publicly denied saying it , I cannot see any chance she actually did , that would be political suicide and she is not that stupid.
I think you have reached the point of desperation. The Counsel General was just interviewed at length on Sky. He rubbished the whole thing - no ifs no buts. It didn't happen. Only you Dan Hodges and Ed Balls believe it now or say they do!
Who wrote the FO memo and who leaked it? These are the questions.
Storm in a teacup-And why are the Nats so over the top about everything?
It's hysterical innit?
The Nats who are getting over excited about journalists lying, and demanding their resignation, were very quiet when Salmond lied about his legal advice about an Independent Scotland's membership of the EU.
Storm in a teacup-And why are the Nats so over the top about everything?
Why not when you are dealing with lying cheating no-good toerags in Westminster on a daily basis. They and their paid lackeys like the Telegraph are below contempt and rotten to the core.
You should stop beating about the bush and tell us what you really think.
I was being polite, I have been warned previously about using bad words
Twitter Kenny Farquharson @KennyFarq · 8m 8 minutes ago The reason the Foreign Office have never heard of this memo was because it was a Scotland Office memo.
You are still not keeping up. The phone caller was the French Counsel General who has just comprehensively denied saying it in the phone call.
The person at the other end of the phone was a (probably junior) FCO official. This sort of FO gossip gets criculated around the system all the time usually as reports back from Ambassadors abroad to London.
It certainly would be sent to the Scotland Office for example. So the question is who wrote it and who leaked it.
Incidentally, the excruciating Balls has just claimed it was the offcial account of the meeting. No-body (not even the Torygraph) is claiming that and the real point is not that the totally useless Balls said it but that he was allowed to do so uncorrected by the Sky interviewer.
About as much balance from Sky as asking a current Torygraph jouro like Hodges and a past one like Oborne to comment on the story.
It will all feed into establishment dirty tricks in Scotland. Mark my words this like the assault on Salmond of two weesk ago will end up as grist to the SNP mill.
Nicola, the Foreign Office has denied that there is such a memo, The Scottish Office says, "it does not comment" on such memos.
MaxPB Latest populus has Labour ahead 34.5 to 33.7 in England and Wales and Blair won most seats in England in 2005 even when behind on votes. Salmond will prop up a Labour government and make himself kingmaker before he does a deal on EVEL
Populus online is an untested method, ICM, Ipsos and YouGov have the Tories ahead in England.
Surely it matters not a jot to Cameron whether a Scottish seat is won by Slab or the SNP. Both have the effect of preventing him becoming PM
It is the difference between a Labour majority and Con most seats. Lab+SNP might still be higher than Con alone, but they are still two parties with a deep mutual loathing.
Will be interesting to see if the Tories investigate the incident and we ever learn which government employees were involved in the lies and plotting against the Scottish Government. I will not hold my breath on that one.
Why would the Tories investigate it? Surely it's down to the Civil Service.
Is there a difference
You have to be joking. The Tories have been fighting a Labour supporting Civil Service since they got into office. McBride was a civil servant remember. Ask Michael Gove how it was trying to reform his Tory civil service in the Department of Education.
I work on the basis that so long as everyone agrees that the civil service is partisan against their team, they're probably reasonably impartial.
Remember it's the civil services job to stop the elected idiots ruining the country.
I posted what the filth monster said last night...he said he would have done something like this when in government, but he wouldn't have been such an amateur about it. He would have leaked it to the French press and pointed some helpful British journo towards it. He said in his opinion (for what it is worth), it was an amateur job, thus not likely the Tories and that the first quote in the original piece about this leak was Lib Dem response.
Are the SNP denying that the memo is authentic? That strikes me as the least likely possibility. It wouldn't then be 'a leak' as it was described by Nicola but a forgery in which case it's a job for the police
Some barking comments on Twitter re frenchlettergate. BBC on side of Government, blaming Unionists, Tories, SLAB, LDs, French, Jounalists anyone but St Nicola of Urgeon.
Are the SNP denying that the memo is authentic? That strikes me as the least likely possibility. It wouldn't then be 'a leak' as it was described by Nicola but a forgery in which case it's a job for the police
The transcriber was an official in the Scottish Office. Lib Dem Minister. Nudge, wink !
I must say it's been great sport watching the froth and hot air fart out of the pomposity balloon of St Nicola and her loyal band of defenders. Even when she's in the wrong she is above reproach.
Surely it matters not a jot to Cameron whether a Scottish seat is won by Slab or the SNP. Both have the effect of preventing him becoming PM
Except SNP might be open to a deal on EVEL and Labour wont be.
But you put your finger one the main reason why (despite frothing from the nats) there wont be any Conservatives behind this. Because worse case it pushes votes from SNP to Lab, when they have been working for weeks to make an SNP might win story to scare kippers back to the fold. Best case the SNP and LAB are in the papers for a day not their preferred narrative on the economy.
Cui bono: SLAB, SLD, and their supporters or camp followers.
Nicola is addessing an anti -Trident rally just now. I until recently would not have been considered an normal SNP voter. Now I am a very, very determined one. This sort of thing makes me all the more so.
However, thanks to the the BBC who are emerging better from this than SKY the Tory's "senior British civil servant" is proably not FCO. In that case fingers will start pointing towards the UK run Scotland Office (not Scottish Office)! If it is confirmed then further very very bad news for the Libs. The only problem is there are no "senior British civil servnats" in the Scotland Office just junior ones.
The plot thickens and not going well for the dirty tricks dept of the unionists parties.
Will be interesting to see if the Tories investigate the incident and we ever learn which government employees were involved in the lies and plotting against the Scottish Government. I will not hold my breath on that one.
Why would the Tories investigate it? Surely it's down to the Civil Service.
Is there a difference
You have to be joking. The Tories have been fighting a Labour supporting Civil Service since they got into office. McBride was a civil servant remember. Ask Michael Gove how it was trying to reform his Tory civil service in the Department of Education.
I work on the basis that so long as everyone agrees that the civil service is partisan against their team, they're probably reasonably impartial.
Remember it's the civil services job to stop the elected idiots ruining the country.
I posted what the filth monster said last night...he said he would have done something like this when in government, but he wouldn't have been such an amateur about it. He would have leaked it to the French press and pointed some helpful British journo towards it. He said in his opinion (for what it is worth), it was an amateur job, thus not likely the Tories and that the first quote in the original piece about this leak was Lib Dem response.
Thanks I missed this. "the first quote in the original piece about this leak was Lib Dem response."
Why would the DT ask the LDs first? Unless it was a missdirect.
Will be interesting to see if the Tories investigate the incident and we ever learn which government employees were involved in the lies and plotting against the Scottish Government. I will not hold my breath on that one.
Why would the Tories investigate it? Surely it's down to the Civil Service.
Is there a difference
You have to be joking. The Tories have been fighting a Labour supporting Civil Service since they got into office. McBride was a civil servant remember. Ask Michael Gove how it was trying to reform his Tory civil service in the Department of Education.
I work on the basis that so long as everyone agrees that the civil service is partisan against their team, they're probably reasonably impartial.
Remember it's the civil services job to stop the elected idiots ruining the country.
I posted what the filth monster said last night...he said he would have done something like this when in government, but he wouldn't have been such an amateur about it. He would have leaked it to the French press and pointed some helpful British journo towards it. He said in his opinion (for what it is worth), it was an amateur job, thus not likely the Tories and that the first quote in the original piece about this leak was Lib Dem response.
Damian McBride @DPMcBride · 15h 15 hours ago Oh aye, @DA_E10, I'd have been all over it. But I'd have placed it in Le Monde attributed to sources at Quai d'Orsay.
Surely it matters not a jot to Cameron whether a Scottish seat is won by Slab or the SNP. Both have the effect of preventing him becoming PM
If Lab+SNP is a majority then Milliband will be PM. But if its Lab+SNP+LD needed then the SNP seats will be a massive deal, Lab+SNP+LD is simply implausible.
Hypothetically 300 Con, 260 Lab, 40 SNP, 30 LD will surely mean the coalition (330) continuing. A "coalition of the losers" would surely be totally impractical. Whereas if it was 300 Con, 300 Lab, 30 LD then the LD's would be kingmakers and Milliband could win.
I'm no fan of McBride but didn't he say he thought the leak was from the Lib Dems? No incentive for the Tories and unlikely to be a non-political civil servant.
Storm in a teacup-And why are the Nats so over the top about everything?
Precisely. It probably was said. The Telegraph should have notified Sturgeon and asked for her account. It won't mark a return to former glories for SLAB. The SNP should probably just be brushing it off and not making such a fuss -they are drawing more attention to it than it warrants.
Given the way she has publicly denied saying it , I cannot see any chance she actually did , that would be political suicide and she is not that stupid.
Not really. If both parties deny it then it 'never' happened. It's expedient to deny it. I wasn't there, I don't know, but I think in these situations these type of things get said. When I did part time events work when studying I was present at 'high powered' meetings where board members of huge finance companies spoke that way -for instance telling a high-powered Chinese delegation that the euro was soon to collapse and having a good chuckle about it. Of course it didn't collapse, but these situations of important people talking to important people are quite intoxicating for the participants and discretion goes out of the window - especially as you need to demonstrate trust. I don't even think it's a bad thing to say.
I'm no fan of McBride but didn't he say he thought the leak was from the Lib Dems? No incentive for the Tories and unlikely to be a non-political civil servant.
Damian McBride @DPMcBride · .@Michael_Merrick Don't see why the Tories would've leaked it, unless they're mad. Maybe the LDs though. They got first quote in the story.
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
Nicola is addessing an anti -Trident rally just now. I until recently would not have been considered an normal SNP voter. Now I am a very, very determined one. This sort of thing makes me all the more so.
However, thanks to the the BBC who are emerging better from this than SKY the Tory's "senior British civil servant" is proably not FCO. In that case fingers will start pointing towards the UK run Scotland Office (not Scottish Office)! If it is confirmed then further very very bad news for the Libs. The only problem is there are no "senior British civil servnats" in the Scotland Office just junior ones.
The plot thickens and not going well for the dirty tricks dept of the unionists parties.
Just like their dirty tricks were 'exposed' by the budding Nancy Drews of the Yes campaign? Doesn't do any good. It just draws further attention to the initial story. Sadly, politics is about perception not fact. The initial 'perception' behind this story is that the SNP are Tartan Tories and traitors to the socialist cause. The counter 'perception' is that the Unionist parties are terrified of the SNP advance and desperately scraping the barrel. This story therefore needs to be treated with derision and then ignored, not subjected to an extended post mortem.
Storm in a teacup-And why are the Nats so over the top about everything?
Precisely. It probably was said. The Telegraph should have notified Sturgeon and asked for her account. It won't mark a return to former glories for SLAB. The SNP should probably just be brushing it off and not making such a fuss -they are drawing more attention to it than it warrants.
Given the way she has publicly denied saying it , I cannot see any chance she actually did , that would be political suicide and she is not that stupid.
Not really. If both parties deny it then it 'never' happened. It's expedient to deny it. I wasn't there, I don't know, but I think in these situations these type of things get said. When I did part time events work when studying I was present at 'high powered' meetings where board members of huge finance companies spoke that way -for instance telling a high-powered Chinese delegation that the euro was soon to collapse and having a good chuckle about it. Of course it didn't collapse, but these situations of important people talking to important people are quite intoxicating for the participants and discretion goes out of the window - especially as you need to demonstrate trust. I don't even think it's a bad thing to say.
hmmmm, but as politicians know their every word is recorded they are much more careful in general and especially knowing how devious UK officials and politicians are. I just don't believe it and if it had been said she would have been much more careful on how she worded her responses on TV.
Are the SNP denying that the memo is authentic? That strikes me as the least likely possibility. It wouldn't then be 'a leak' as it was described by Nicola but a forgery in which case it's a job for the police
The transcriber was an official in the Scottish Office. Lib Dem Minister. Nudge, wink !
This sooooo has Labour's sticky fingers all over it. Discredits the LibDems, Tory's and most importantly the SNP.
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
LOL, they prefer to believe the fantasy
As I might have mentioned before, I could care less, I have had it with nationalist mithering, Scotland is another country, the sooner it gets on with it and stops bending my ear about it the better. Sadly you couldn't get the indyref right so I have to put up with it a bit longer, please try harder next time.
Nicola is addessing an anti -Trident rally just now. I until recently would not have been considered an normal SNP voter. Now I am a very, very determined one. This sort of thing makes me all the more so.
However, thanks to the the BBC who are emerging better from this than SKY the Tory's "senior British civil servant" is proably not FCO. In that case fingers will start pointing towards the UK run Scotland Office (not Scottish Office)! If it is confirmed then further very very bad news for the Libs. The only problem is there are no "senior British civil servnats" in the Scotland Office just junior ones.
The plot thickens and not going well for the dirty tricks dept of the unionists parties.
Just like their dirty tricks were 'exposed' by the budding Nancy Drews of the Yes campaign? Doesn't do any good. It just draws further attention to the initial story. Sadly, politics is about perception not fact. The initial 'perception' behind this story is that the SNP are Tartan Tories and traitors to the socialist cause. The counter 'perception' is that the Unionist parties are terrified of the SNP advance and desperately scraping the barrel. This story therefore needs to be treated with derision and then ignored, not subjected to an extended post mortem.
Only the dwindling SLAB MP's etc come out with that guff, everybody knows the reality. No sane person thinks the SNP are Tartan Tories , it is pathetic.
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
Quite frankly why the Scotland Office hasn't been abolished is beyond me. We don't to my knowledge have a North West Office or a Yorkshire Office or an England Office and devolved issues are the responsibility of the Scottish government NOT the Scotland Office. So just what point does it serve now?
Seems a prime target for austerity cuts. Abolish the entire thing and either devolve responsibilities to the Scottish government or transfer to a sensible department in the UK government
Nicola is addessing an anti -Trident rally just now. I until recently would not have been considered an normal SNP voter. Now I am a very, very determined one. This sort of thing makes me all the more so.
However, thanks to the the BBC who are emerging better from this than SKY the Tory's "senior British civil servant" is proably not FCO. In that case fingers will start pointing towards the UK run Scotland Office (not Scottish Office)! If it is confirmed then further very very bad news for the Libs. The only problem is there are no "senior British civil servnats" in the Scotland Office just junior ones.
The plot thickens and not going well for the dirty tricks dept of the unionists parties.
Just like their dirty tricks were 'exposed' by the budding Nancy Drews of the Yes campaign? Doesn't do any good. It just draws further attention to the initial story. Sadly, politics is about perception not fact. The initial 'perception' behind this story is that the SNP are Tartan Tories and traitors to the socialist cause. The counter 'perception' is that the Unionist parties are terrified of the SNP advance and desperately scraping the barrel. This story therefore needs to be treated with derision and then ignored, not subjected to an extended post mortem.
Only the dwindling SLAB MP's etc come out with that guff, everybody knows the reality. No sane person thinks the SNP are Tartan Tories , it is pathetic.
Precisely. And that's the line the SNP should be taking on this. Not calling for enquiries and keeping the story alive.
Interesting spot from James Forsyth: "Among voters who expect another hung parliament, support for Labour and the Tories is markedly lower. The British Election Study reveals that Labour and the Tories poll at 39 and 38 per cent respectively with those who think that one party will win a majority. But among those who reckon that no party will win outright, these votes shares fall to 29 and 28 per cent.
The beneficiaries of their decline are the other parties. Support for Ukip goes from 11 to 15 per cent, the Liberal Democrats from 6 to 10 per cent, the Greens from 4 to 7 per cent and, most dramatically, the Scottish Nationalists from 2 to 7 per cent."
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
Quite frankly why the Scotland Office hasn't been abolished is beyond me. We don't to my knowledge have a North West Office or a Yorkshire Office or an England Office and devolved issues are the responsibility of the Scottish government NOT the Scotland Office. So just what point does it serve now?
Seems a prime target for austerity cuts. Abolish the entire thing and either devolve responsibilities to the Scottish government or transfer to a sensible department in the UK government
Lets them pretend they still have an empire and gives them an empty title when they want to park some dummy.
Are the SNP denying that the memo is authentic? That strikes me as the least likely possibility. It wouldn't then be 'a leak' as it was described by Nicola but a forgery in which case it's a job for the police
The transcriber was an official in the Scottish Office. Lib Dem Minister. Nudge, wink !
This sooooo has Labour's sticky fingers all over it. Discredits the LibDems, Tory's and most importantly the SNP.
My last word on the day of the French - for now at least.
As long as the SNP get the best of it and it now looks like they will, since everyone is peeling off the story - even Sky's James Mathews now! - then there is only one outcome and that is positive.
1) SNP front and centre of campaign - just as two weeks ago in the attacks on Salmond! 2) Unionist dirty tricks exposed. 3) All coming attacks will be judged in the lee of this piece of nonsence.
Conclusion - the more the SNP are attacked the stronger they will get.
I think there might be five weeks until the general election in the other 92% of the UK, where I believe other parties might be in play than the SNP, and possibly some of them might get more seats than the SNP, maybe even get a majority and then ignore the SNP for the next five years. Anyone got any idea what is happening there ?
Saint Nicola has a loose tongue - Ed needs to distance himself from her ASAP or his credibility will be further damaged. He needs to rule out any sort of deal.
As far as the source of this, logic dictates the Lib Dems. Even without the fact its their office its come from and that they got their quote in early in the Telegraph ... the SNP and Tories obviously didn't do this, it'd be perverse for Labour to want to insult Milliband like that. IIRC the Lib Dems stand to lose upto 11 seats to the SNP so have a fair bit to gain from this and I can't see anything for them to lose.
McBride has his own opinion, knowing that this is exactly the sort of stuff he used to do. http://damianpmcbride.tumblr.com/post/115470278209/the-truth-will-out-or-will-it Two interesting points: 1. If this was all a big misunderstanding then the parties involved would have agreed by now on what actually happened. 2. Given that the conversation happened, how much of what leaked is disputed? The more that is agreed upon, the less likely that one point in particular will be spectacularly different to what was actually said at the meeting. Officials are generally sober and accurate in their memos. McBride also suggests on twitter that he would have removed himself as far as possible by going to the French press with the story, saying without saying that any political operators involved here must be comparative amateurs!
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
LOL, they prefer to believe the fantasy
As I might have mentioned before, I could care less, I have had it with nationalist mithering, Scotland is another country, the sooner it gets on with it and stops bending my ear about it the better. Sadly you couldn't get the indyref right so I have to put up with it a bit longer, please try harder next time.
Spouts ill-informed guff then takes huff when it's pointed out. Feel free to turn off the 'insights' on Scottish politics at any time.
My last word on the day of the French - for now at least.
As long as the SNP get the best of it and it now looks like they will, since everyone is peeling off the story - even Sky's James Mathews now! - then there is only one outcome and that is positive.
1) SNP front and centre of campaign - just as two weeks ago in the attacks on Salmond! 2) Unionist dirty tricks exposed. 3) All coming attacks will be judged in the lee of this piece of nonsence.
Conclusion - the more the SNP are attacked the stronger they will get.
Do you think Sturgeon's strong performance has made much difference in terms of polling and seats? For the all the huffing and puffing I am not sure the debate has in England /Wales.
Let's face it. Sturgeon is a PB Tory, and wants the Blues returned to a majority. Now, let's try and guess which poster she is. I'm gonna go with scrapheap.
No, she has Fluffy written all over her!
Hmmm,
She is no pearl. And why should she accept my genetic-donation...?
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
Just met Tory candidate in Bristol West, have uploaded leaflets to election leaflets.org
No photo of Cameron on the leaflets. She is confident that she could squeeze in if her support holds. Local Councillor recently elected, possibly to her surprise in the first place, but has made a mark.
Was canvassing on own, no blue rosette, in district very close to home address. Though I still wonder how serious a threat Tories are to LDs. A passer by joined in the conversation, who immediately mentioned food banks, zero hours contracts, all it needed was bedroom tax to shout house - an uncharitable thought was the Tory candidate being followed? Just seemed odd that these themes came up so quickly. Claire Hiscott was civil, discussed these points, and how transport hindered unemployed taking job offer up.
Still surprised that she wasn't with other canvassers, last year's council election had several LDs & the MP knock on doors on behalf of their candidate. It seemed low key, though a good way to kill time, whilst dinner was cooking.
Comments
You are still not keeping up. The phone caller was the French Counsel General who has just comprehensively denied saying it in the phone call.
The person at the other end of the phone was a (probably junior) FCO official. This sort of FO gossip gets criculated around the system all the time usually as reports back from Ambassadors abroad to London.
It certainly would be sent to the Scotland Office for example. So the question is who wrote it and who leaked it.
Incidentally, the excruciating Balls has just claimed it was the offcial account of the meeting. No-body (not even the Torygraph) is claiming that and the real point is not that the totally useless Balls said it but that he was allowed to do so uncorrected by the Sky interviewer.
About as much balance from Sky as asking a current Torygraph jouro like Hodges and a past one like Oborne to comment on the story.
It will all feed into establishment dirty tricks in Scotland. Mark my words this like the assault on Salmond of two weesk ago will end up as grist to the SNP mill.
Nobody suggested he talked about his political preferences ! Why "their" ?
Sky news ticker being unhelpful To Ed
Sturgeon denies it rolls by
The French deny it rolls by
Ed Milliband says these are damning revelations rolls by
LOL
What has changed since then is that these voters have either (a) swung back to the Conservatives, or (b) swung further off to UKIP.
Furthermore, when we now see signs of an increased Liberal Conservative vote, as 2010 Liberal Democrats now swing behind Cameron in increasing numbers, then the net benefit for Labour from 2010 Liberal Democrats declines, and the direct swing voters become even more important.
I think you have reached the point of desperation. The Counsel General was just interviewed at length on Sky. He rubbished the whole thing - no ifs no buts. It didn't happen. Only you Dan Hodges and Ed Balls believe it now or say they do!
Who wrote the FO memo and who leaked it? These are the questions.
Simple really unless you are a desperate lefty trying to make something out of nothing
Kenny Farquharson @KennyFarq · 8m 8 minutes ago
The reason the Foreign Office have never heard of this memo was because it was a Scotland Office memo.
Even you would understand that, wouldn't you ?
Why are Labour and their wee pals in the Tory press so over the top about everything?
Obviously, he could write that they did discuss their political preferences since they did not discuss his preferences.
For all its imperfections and problems, miracles abound in the modern world. One of the challenges we have is NOT to take them for granted.
Happy Easter.
But you put your finger one the main reason why (despite frothing from the nats) there wont be any Conservatives behind this. Because worse case it pushes votes from SNP to Lab, when they have been working for weeks to make an SNP might win story to scare kippers back to the fold. Best case the SNP and LAB are in the papers for a day not their preferred narrative on the economy.
Cui bono: SLAB, SLD, and their supporters or camp followers.
Nicola is addessing an anti -Trident rally just now. I until recently would not have been considered an normal SNP voter. Now I am a very, very determined one. This sort of thing makes me all the more so.
However, thanks to the the BBC who are emerging better from this than SKY the Tory's "senior British civil servant" is proably not FCO. In that case fingers will start pointing towards the UK run Scotland Office (not Scottish Office)! If it is confirmed then further very very bad news for the Libs. The only problem is there are no "senior British civil servnats" in the Scotland Office just junior ones.
The plot thickens and not going well for the dirty tricks dept of the unionists parties.
"the first quote in the original piece about this leak was Lib Dem response."
Why would the DT ask the LDs first? Unless it was a missdirect.
Oh aye, @DA_E10, I'd have been all over it. But I'd have placed it in Le Monde attributed to sources at Quai d'Orsay.
Hypothetically 300 Con, 260 Lab, 40 SNP, 30 LD will surely mean the coalition (330) continuing. A "coalition of the losers" would surely be totally impractical. Whereas if it was 300 Con, 300 Lab, 30 LD then the LD's would be kingmakers and Milliband could win.
.@Michael_Merrick Don't see why the Tories would've leaked it, unless they're mad. Maybe the LDs though. They got first quote in the story.
May the Gods preserve my patience. The SCOTLAND OFFICE is an arm of UK Government. It has no Permanent Secretary and a few dozen offcials . The Head of It is a comparatively junior civil servant. The sort of grade which would make a PPS in a real Dept of State- lower end senior civils service. This is the outfit, run by Lib Dem Carmichael, that the fingers are now pointing to.
The Scottish GOVERNMENT had a Permanent Secretary and 6,000 civil servants or several hundred thousand if you include Health Service etc etc. There offcial record of the meeting in common with the French record doesn't make the claim. They of course had the advantage of being at the meeting!
Once you get a starter for tem of Scottish Government then come back to comment.
Seems a prime target for austerity cuts. Abolish the entire thing and either devolve responsibilities to the Scottish government or transfer to a sensible department in the UK government
"Among voters who expect another hung parliament, support for Labour and the Tories is markedly lower. The British Election Study reveals that Labour and the Tories poll at 39 and 38 per cent respectively with those who think that one party will win a majority. But among those who reckon that no party will win outright, these votes shares fall to 29 and 28 per cent.
The beneficiaries of their decline are the other parties. Support for Ukip goes from 11 to 15 per cent, the Liberal Democrats from 6 to 10 per cent, the Greens from 4 to 7 per cent and, most dramatically, the Scottish Nationalists from 2 to 7 per cent."
http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/politics/9488022/the-election-result-that-everyone-expects-and-no-one-wants/
So expectation of a hung parliament may result in a squeeze on Con/Lab rather than the smaller parties.
As long as the SNP get the best of it and it now looks like they will, since everyone is peeling off the story - even Sky's James Mathews now! - then there is only one outcome and that is positive.
1) SNP front and centre of campaign - just as two weeks ago in the attacks on Salmond!
2) Unionist dirty tricks exposed.
3) All coming attacks will be judged in the lee of this piece of nonsence.
Conclusion - the more the SNP are attacked the stronger they will get.
http://damianpmcbride.tumblr.com/post/115470278209/the-truth-will-out-or-will-it
Two interesting points:
1. If this was all a big misunderstanding then the parties involved would have agreed by now on what actually happened.
2. Given that the conversation happened, how much of what leaked is disputed? The more that is agreed upon, the less likely that one point in particular will be spectacularly different to what was actually said at the meeting. Officials are generally sober and accurate in their memos.
McBride also suggests on twitter that he would have removed himself as far as possible by going to the French press with the story, saying without saying that any political operators involved here must be comparative amateurs!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/SNP/11515276/Revealed-Full-text-of-Nicola-Sturgeon-memo.html#disqus_thread
Here's a flavour......
Let's get this right.
Nicola Sturgeon denies it.
Fiona Hyslop denies it.
The French Ambassador denies it.
The French Consul General denies it.
The person who wrote the memo doesn't believe it.
Great story, chief.
For the all the huffing and puffing I am not sure the debate has in England /Wales.
She is no pearl. And why should she accept my genetic-donation...?
No photo of Cameron on the leaflets. She is confident that she could squeeze in if her support holds. Local Councillor recently elected, possibly to her surprise in the first place, but has made a mark.
Was canvassing on own, no blue rosette, in district very close to home address. Though I still wonder how serious a threat Tories are to LDs. A passer by joined in the conversation, who immediately mentioned food banks, zero hours contracts, all it needed was bedroom tax to shout house - an uncharitable thought was the Tory candidate being followed? Just seemed odd that these themes came up so quickly. Claire Hiscott was civil, discussed these points, and how transport hindered unemployed taking job offer up.
Still surprised that she wasn't with other canvassers, last year's council election had several LDs & the MP knock on doors on behalf of their candidate. It seemed low key, though a good way to kill time, whilst dinner was cooking.