Sentimental value? Oh for goodness sake, what place has sentiment for a building in all this?
Considering the fact that the issue of our membership of EU has been a constant thorn in the side of the Conservative party for decades, you really don't find it ironic who ended up residing in the formerly iconic CCHQ during the dark years of Opposition?
At the time it was announced who the new occupants were I thought it was a deliberate show of power and a conscious and deliberate insult. Time has not wearied that view. There were a hundred hundred other suitable buildings available at the time.
Taking back control comes in may forms. Occasionally, like this one, they are indeed symbolic and sentimental, but they are not the less for it. I visited CCHQ as was. It will be a pleasure to see it reclaimed from the dark side.
IIRC they had trouble finding a building that would let them display the EU flag outside!
That's right. They tried for a building in Tothill Street but the owner specified in the deal that the EU flag wasn't allowed, no plaque outside and no renaming to Europe House.
They looked at Victoria Street too but they could only fly the flag there if they took the entire building which was much too big.
So the CCHQ building it was, in the end, and they spent an absolute fortune of (our) money refitting it.
Some brave soul at Breitbart is liveblogging it so that we don't have to watch it.
7:51 P.M. — Another shot at Trump. Kimmel is upset that Trump isn’t tweeting about the Oscars. He tweets Trump directly: “U up?” And then again: “#Merylsayshi.”
On Topic, excellent article from Stodge, many thanks. We have often politely disagreed on the current political climate on PB.com over the years. But I find very little to disagreed with in this insightful analysis of the current state of the Labour party as an electoral force today.
"It’s bad enough when people don’t want your party to win but worse when they actively vote tactically to ensure your party’s defeat."
Well the Conservative party knows all about that following their horrendous GE defeat in 1997, an election which saw us wiped out in Scotland and left with less than 200 MPs. The subsequent tactical voting in the next two GE's saw both the rise of the Libdems as a powerful third party, but also the complete failure of the Conservative party to even start rebuilding as as a strong functioning Opposition, never mind an electoral force. For years on PB.com we all talked about the Conservative party being solidly trapped in a core vote box with no sign of us being able to climb out of it.
When the Conservatives lost the 2005 GE, the situation could not have been more stark as they languished yet again in Opposition with less than 200 MPs as Blairs government entered its third term. Even under Michael Foot's disasterous Leadership during Margaret Thatchers first term, the Labour party still managed to retain over 200 MPs, just. But while the Conservative party Leadership spent nearly a decade trying to shore up and reflect its core vote politicL values with little electoral success as the changing centre ground of UK politics drifted away from them.
We should not forget that David Cameron was elected just six months after that 2005 GE, and he faced a huge electoral mountain to climb if the Tories were to enter government and he to becom PM. It took him nearly five years and a change of Labour Leader to enable him redifine the Conservative party as an electoral force in Opposition that was fit and ready to govern. And at times he had to take his party kicking and screaming behind him, even then, what defined him as a party Leader and PM was his ability to create a functioning and successful Coalition Government with the Libdems.
But Kezia Dugdale nailed it today when it comes to the current electoral woes now faced by the Labour party, she described the Scottish Labour party as the canary in the mine warning to the rest of the party right now. And the Labour party down in Westminster should listen to her, even after the last two GE defeats the Labour still managed to return over 230 MPs to Westminster. But they would fail to do so right now if Theresa May called a GE tomorrow!
Follow on from previous post. But Kezia Dugdale nailed it today when it comes to the current electoral woes now faced by the Labour party, she described the Scottish Labour party as the canary in the mine warning to the rest of the party right now. And the Labour party down in Westminster should listen to her, even after the last two GE defeats the Labour still managed to return over 230 MPs to Westminster. But they would fail to do so right now if Theresa May called a GE tomorrow!
But where the Conservative party during the Blair years concentrated on shoring up its core vote to the detriment of reaching out to those floating centre ground voters. The irony is that despite what has happened already in Scotland, the current Labour party under Corbyn's leadership are not only fast becoming disconnected from their own core vote in the North of England, they also seem determined to even alienate and repell them as much wider UK electorate!
It is no accident that the once toxic Scottish Converatives have now replaced the Labour party rather than the Libdems to become the main Opposition in Scotland in a post Indy Ref era. Just as its now the Conservative party and not UKIP that is winning safe Labour Seats in a post Brexit era in the wider UK. Don't knock it, but George Osborne was one step ahead of us all again with his Northern PowerHouse strategy, a strategy that he continues to support strongly from the backbenches. So this makes his sacking by Theresa May still one of her biggest mistakes in the early days of her Leadership. Lets just remember why David Cameron needed to put IDS back into his Shadow Cabinet and then Government after he created the Centre for Social Justice.
Comments
"Nice dress by the way, is that an Ivanka?"
They looked at Victoria Street too but they could only fly the flag there if they took the entire building which was much too big.
So the CCHQ building it was, in the end, and they spent an absolute fortune of (our) money refitting it.
7:51 P.M. — Another shot at Trump. Kimmel is upset that Trump isn’t tweeting about the Oscars. He tweets Trump directly: “U up?” And then again: “#Merylsayshi.”
"It’s bad enough when people don’t want your party to win but worse when they actively vote tactically to ensure your party’s defeat."
Well the Conservative party knows all about that following their horrendous GE defeat in 1997, an election which saw us wiped out in Scotland and left with less than 200 MPs. The subsequent tactical voting in the next two GE's saw both the rise of the Libdems as a powerful third party, but also the complete failure of the Conservative party to even start rebuilding as as a strong functioning Opposition, never mind an electoral force. For years on PB.com we all talked about the Conservative party being solidly trapped in a core vote box with no sign of us being able to climb out of it.
When the Conservatives lost the 2005 GE, the situation could not have been more stark as they languished yet again in Opposition with less than 200 MPs as Blairs government entered its third term. Even under Michael Foot's disasterous Leadership during Margaret Thatchers first term, the Labour party still managed to retain over 200 MPs, just. But while the Conservative party Leadership spent nearly a decade trying to shore up and reflect its core vote politicL values with little electoral success as the changing centre ground of UK politics drifted away from them.
We should not forget that David Cameron was elected just six months after that 2005 GE, and he faced a huge electoral mountain to climb if the Tories were to enter government and he to becom PM. It took him nearly five years and a change of Labour Leader to enable him redifine the Conservative party as an electoral force in Opposition that was fit and ready to govern. And at times he had to take his party kicking and screaming behind him, even then, what defined him as a party Leader and PM was his ability to create a functioning and successful Coalition Government with the Libdems.
But Kezia Dugdale nailed it today when it comes to the current electoral woes now faced by the Labour party, she described the Scottish Labour party as the canary in the mine warning to the rest of the party right now. And the Labour party down in Westminster should listen to her, even after the last two GE defeats the Labour still managed to return over 230 MPs to Westminster. But they would fail to do so right now if Theresa May called a GE tomorrow!
But Kezia Dugdale nailed it today when it comes to the current electoral woes now faced by the Labour party, she described the Scottish Labour party as the canary in the mine warning to the rest of the party right now. And the Labour party down in Westminster should listen to her, even after the last two GE defeats the Labour still managed to return over 230 MPs to Westminster. But they would fail to do so right now if Theresa May called a GE tomorrow!
But where the Conservative party during the Blair years concentrated on shoring up its core vote to the detriment of reaching out to those floating centre ground voters. The irony is that despite what has happened already in Scotland, the current Labour party under Corbyn's leadership are not only fast becoming disconnected from their own core vote in the North of England, they also seem determined to even alienate and repell them as much wider UK electorate!
It is no accident that the once toxic Scottish Converatives have now replaced the Labour party rather than the Libdems to become the main Opposition in Scotland in a post Indy Ref era. Just as its now the Conservative party and not UKIP that is winning safe Labour Seats in a post Brexit era in the wider UK. Don't knock it, but George Osborne was one step ahead of us all again with his Northern PowerHouse strategy, a strategy that he continues to support strongly from the backbenches. So this makes his sacking by Theresa May still one of her biggest mistakes in the early days of her Leadership. Lets just remember why David Cameron needed to put IDS back into his Shadow Cabinet and then Government after he created the Centre for Social Justice.