That headline will seem rather rude to those people who've taken the trouble to fill me in on some of the background to this story - Mark Shooter to challenge Lynne Hillan for leadership of Barnet council Conservative group.
But it's a political stance, rather than a personal opinion. Of course, it's great fun to see the Tories ripping themselves apart just because David Cameron can't be doing with the PR disaster that is Lynne Hillan (or does he have bigger beasts in his sights?).
But, at the end of the day, will Barnet be spared any cuts with smoothie Mark Shooter in the leader's swivel chair? Is he going to stop Future Shape privatisation?
From the Tories' point of view, can Shooter revive the Tories' reputation in Barnet? I doubt it, frankly. The whole government and, by extension, Barnet council strategy stinks. We don't need public service cuts, we need more public services! We don't need privatisation, services run like businesses for profit by bosses out to screw their workforces! We need democratically accountable public services, that treat their employees like an asset.
If Barnet Tories (and the people that vote for them) can't grasp that, no shuffling of the pack in the Barnet Conservative group is going to change anything fundamental.
But if I haven't put you off yet, and you are determined to know more about Shooter's motivations (and chances), you can read the details on Dan Hope's Barnet Bugle blog - any time now, I would think!
P.S. As an amusing aside, Hendon Conservatives website informs us that Shooter teaches "Enrichment" classes at a local school. I trust he won't be looking to enrich himself in his new post.
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The trouble is that they are in power until 2014.
Even the left should be pleased if less nasty people are put in charge. (Although who is he, exactly, anyway?)
The divide in the Tory party is between those who just want to shrink the deficit, and those who don't like to see a good crisis go to waste - and want to permanently shrink the state.
As indeed the Economist, about the Cuts, says:
A gamble it remains. But it is one that in general this newspaper supports. Throughout the rich world, government has simply got too big, and Mr Cameron’s crew currently have the most promising approach to trimming it. Others — and not just the tottering likes of Greece and Spain — will surely follow. That includes America. At present, unlike in the 1980s, there is no Reaganesque echo from the other side of the Atlantic: despite the Tea Partiers’ zeal, the Republicans seem as clueless as Mr Obama in producing a credible medium-term plan to balance America’s budget
- The Economist
You are right, Vicki, of course - we are still stuck with the dangerous bunch of cut throat crazy councillors, but it is fun to see the cracks appearing now. I would be more impressed with Mr Shooter's bid for glory if he had had the balls to follow Kate Salinger's example and not vote for the allowances he now claims he does not support, or even if he had spoken out earlier.
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