Cometh the hour, cometh the man

There is a fascinating post on the Tory blogsite Conservative Home urging Tories to get behind Brian Coleman in his dispute with the London Region of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU). The post is titled "A time to support Brian Coleman" and it starts

The Bible tells us:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...

This tells you a lot about the low regard in which Coleman is held by even his own party members. The post is interesting; some of the comments are fascinating.

The problem is that Coleman has made so many other blunders that I cannot trust him. He simply should not be in charge of anything.
...
It might be easier to support Brian Coleman if he wasn't such a parasite himself.

Coming out with statements like "We can sack them all like Ronald Reagan did the Air Traffic Controllers" isn't exactly sensible.

Boris should sack him and get someone in who can do the job competently.
...
I sat and cringed as he was interviewed on last night's ITV "London Tonight"! In that loud pin-striped suit he comes across as an appalling caricature of a Tory!

With friends like these...

Lousy Tory councillors back Hillan all the way

I couldn't get into Hendon Town Hall to see the Barnet council meeting tonight, but I've seen the lousy news on the appropriately lousy London Daily News website, that the Tories backed leader Lynne Hillan unanimously in the vote of confidence tabled this evening.

I can only think they have woken up and smelt the coffee - the coffee that their own government is brewing. Barnet Tories cannot afford to be divided against the growing opposition to their plans. Whether they cut or privatise or whatever else they come up with, their government has told them the real enemy is outside. (It was, literally, tonight, in the shape of a trade union and residents' lobby of around 150 people, despite the rain.)

Cameron must have read his party the riot act (and let's hope he won't be needing it again soon). Or Hillan has made some trifling political concessions to the internal Tory opposition. They might be feeling good about themselves, but I don't think the average Tory voter in Barnet will have been impressed by the recent shenanigans. One minute, Barnet Tories are at daggers drawn, the next they are vowing their undying respect for each other.

It really doesn't wash. Let's remind ourselves what Mark Shooter said about Hillan's regime a few short days ago:
- bullying
- Stalinist
- morally dubious.

You can read it all here if you don't believe me, on Conservative Home ("it's anything but cosy"). I'm starting to wonder whether your average Tory politician is a different species from the rest of us.