Monday, April 28, 2008

The bare-faced hypocrisy of David Cameron on poverty

I thought Nick Clegg Today interview started very hesitantly for him, but got very much stronger as it went on.

I really thought the Piers Morgan/GQ interview was a refreshing example of a politician being open and honest, without thinking cynically of the spin-value of everything he says.

Of course, Groucho Humphrys painted the interview as a disaster because that's what political journoes do. But, as a commentator observed on one of the TV shows over the weekend, after Clegg's GQ "less than 30 lovers" revelation, the folks down his pub suddenly knew who Nick Clegg was and started talking about him. In other words, the "less than 30" talk endeared Clegg to the public as being rather human, in the same way that Paddy's poll rating went up when he was splattered over the front page of the Sun as "PADDY PANTSDOWN".

But Nick made an excellent point later in the Today interview, which I had been trying to think of but, as usual, not quite done so.

David Cameron is, with usual vacuous, opportunist, transparent, odious spin saying that he will "stand up" for poor people. Presumably this will be in the unlikely event when he is ever sitting down in his drawing room when a poor person, cap in hand, comes into the room. He will, out of old-fashioned politeness, stand up for them before giving them sixpence, sending them on their way, then sitting back down again to enjoy his cup of Darjeeling, little finger pointing up into the air as he raises his porcelain cup.

But of course, the only tax announcement David Cameron has made in the three years he has been Tory leader, was to give a huge cash benefit to the richest 6% in the country through his inheritance tax proposal. Well done to the Cleggster for pointing this out with quite a bit of passion.

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