Smart casual requires constant effort:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rknh6kkrJ80&feature=youtube_gdata

Baroness Manningham-Buller, the former Dame Eliza and Director-General of the Security Service (MI5), gave the Mile End lecture in the House of Lords a few hours ago.  Her topic was “Reflections on Intelligence” and I understand that the text of this will shortly be available on the Parliamentary web-site.

In the Q&A after the lecture one Jack Bauer enthusiast asked her about torture.  She was unequivocal in her reply:

“Nothing – even saving lives – justifies torture.”

She’d earlier made some comments about US “waterboarding” activities at Guantanamo Bay and she added the caustic comment:

“The sad thing is that Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush watched “24″.”

Liam Fox’s office has been in touch with journalists complaining about Gordon Brown’s visit to British troops.  In an interesting insight into the Tory mindset the troops are described as “political props”.

It is the most cynical of political games to suggest that it is wrong for the Prime Minister to visit now.  Even Liam Fox must know that there will be a General Election in the next few months – for all anyone knows it could be called this month.  Once the Election is announced it will, of course, be difficult for politicians to visit without their motives being misinterpreted.  But what the Tories seem to be arguing is that any visit at any time by the Prime Minister uses the troops as “political props”.

But just imagine the Tories’ complaints if the Prime Minister didn’t visit.

The Prime Minister is right to have gone to Afghanistan to visit British troops – something he has done regularly since he took office.

And it is Liam Fox and Cameron’s Conservatives who are playing politics.

Cynical is hardly an adequate description of their games.

The Guardian this morning produces new evidence of the Conservative Party organisation using surrogates and deniability.  Apparently, a shadowy organisation, called the Young Britons’ Foundation has trained 2,500 Conservative activists including eleven Parliamentary candidates.  The “training” has involved exercises with assault rifles on a shooting range in Virginia and the organisation’s leader has called for the NHS to be scrapped, environmental protestors to be shot and for US-style laws on firearms.  He has also defended waterboarding techniques in interrogation.

Naturally, despite the group’s close links to leading Conservatives, like Daniel Hannan, Eric Pickles, Liam Fox, Michael Gove, Ed Vaizey, David Davis and John Redwood, Conservative Central Office denies that it has official links with the YBF, even though it strongly recommends activists attend Blaney’s courses.

There they go again …..

The DCiC*, Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse AM, has in a moment of emotional transparency told the readers of  the March issue of The Job (the Metropolitan Police in-house magazine for police officers) about his formative influences.  Lauding the Volunteer Police Cadets scheme and the Scouts Association, he says:

“It is exactly these types of organisations that deserve our support.  They build self-respect, character and a sense of duty to others – qualities we need more of in the capital.”

And then comes the self-revelatory bit:

“In fact, I was an enthusiastic young scout and air cadet and look at the direction my own life went in.”

At this very moment the Scouts Association is planning a new poster campaign:

JOIN THE SCOUTS AND YOU COULD GET TO BE LIKE ME

*Dog-Catcher-in-Chief

UPDATE:

The DCiC has been in touch.  He thinks I am being a tad unfair.  I’ve told him to blame the picture on the Evening Standard.  But it turns out that what he is really miffed about is that his self-deprecatory exclamation mark at the end of his comment “… and look at the direction my own life went in” was missed off by The Job.

I always knew that there was an irony bypass somewhere in New Scotland Yard so it was probably edited out.

The question is: will heads roll?

Each session of Parliament begins with the pageantry of the State Opening, the summonsing of the Commons to the House of Lords by Black Rod and the Queen’s Speech, in which the Monarch lists the Bills that the Government will put before Parliament.

The Sunday Times, however, has revealed secret Tory plans to change all of that. Apparently, there is:

“a radical idea to reform the Queen’s speech”.

The plan is that:

“she should no longer read out the traditional shopping list of bills. Instead, her address at the first state opening of a Cameron government would not mention any specific legislation but would offer a more general message.”

This extraordinary idea would turn the present anodyne statement of proposed legislation into a sort of regal party political broadcast packed with the sort of meaningless feel-good sentiments that Cameron’s Conservatives prefer to clarity about their real plans.  And even at that late stage the public wouldn’t be permitted to know what laws the Tories were intending to put through Parliament.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.  But I wonder what Her Majesty thinks.

It looks as though a key element of the Conservative Party’s election strategy is going to be the deniable dog-whistle.

The Observer has revealed today that in a seemingly concerted initiative leaflets have been circulated by the Conservative Party in Andrew Rosindell’s constituency of Romford saying that immigration has caused a population control and that EU treaty obligations on free movement of labour would somehow be over-ridden by a Tory Government.

At the same time, Loanna Morrison, the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey and Old Southwark has endorsed the BNP writing on Conservativehome:  “Britain is full, declares Nick Griffin at every opportunity, and he is right.”

Officially, of course, the Tory Party denies that either reflects official Party policy and can distance the Party from such free-lance comments by “junior” politicians.  In reality, the comments come from an official candidate selected to be a Conservative MP and the other comes with the imprint of a sitting Conservative MP.

I expect we will get more of this.

Fanatical followers of this blog (and you both know who you are) will be aware that – as is my habit – I posted a short tongue-in-cheek piece from the Metropolitan Police Authority meeting at 11.06 on Thursday 25th February.

This poked gentle fun at the man I call the DCiC (Dog-Catcher-in-Chief), Kit Malthouse, and his sensitivity about the nit-picking from the Green’s Jenny Jones at his attendance record.  I referred to his boast that he had attended 46 meetings since the last session of the MPA and this Stakhanovite work-rate was even more impressive given that he had been on holiday for a week of that time.  I also mentioned his nickname: “HoT” – a reference to his Hand on Tiller fixation.

Sometimes I think my sense of humour is rather esoteric and unlikely to be shared by anyone else, so it was gratifying to learn that some three hours later at 2.02 Ross Lydall posted his own thoughts on the same subject on the Evening Standard web-site.  He even has his own nickname for Kit – he calls him “The Tillerman” and he linked to the same article as I did to illustrate the nitpicking.

My cup runneth over – I am not alone.

We clearly are thinking the same.

Ross Lydall, under the headline

Met chairman Kit Malthouse: Tea for the ‘Tillerman’ at so many meetings

said:

“Kit Malthouse began his first meeting as chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority by revealing he had attended or chaired 46 meetings since the MPA last met (on January 28). What’s more, he had squeezed in a week’s holiday to boot.

Why this inconsequential start to proceedings? Because the Greens made quite a fusson the eve of his confirmation hearing as MPA chair (he succeeds the fleeing Boris, who has obviously realised what hard work it is) by revealing that Kit had failed to ever attend all three key MPA sub-committees of which he is a member in the 18 months since the Tory takeover of City Hall.”

And I said (just three hours earlier):

“The Metropolitan Police Authority is in session and the DCiC*, Deputy Mayor Kit “HoT”** Malthouse AM is in the Chair.

And the DCiC was showing his sensitive side.  He has clearly been hurt by the criticism that he is too busy to fulfil the role of MPA Chair and the nit-picking about his attendance record at MPA Committee meetings.  So the item on the agenda for his oral report consisted merely of him telling the Authority that he had had 46 meetings in the last month – and as he was away or one of the weeks concerned that works out as a productivity rate of around 3 per working day.

He promises to keep us informed of his work rate at future meetings, but that will not satisfy Jenny Jones AM.  She wants an indicator measuring the “quality” of the meetings.  No doubt those meeting HoT in future will be asked to fill in a form afterwards asking “how was it for them?”

However, HoT is clearly alive to this danger: he assured the Authority that he prefers what he calls “action” to meetings.”

Now isn’t that nice ….

The Metropolitan Police Authority is in session and the DCiC*, Deputy Mayor Kit “HoT”** Malthouse AM is in the Chair.

And the DCiC was showing his sensitive side.  He has clearly been hurt by the criticism that he is too busy to fulfil the role of MPA Chair and the nit-picking about his attendance record at MPA Committee meetings.  So the item on the agenda for his oral report consisted merely of him telling the Authority that he had had 46 meetings in the last month – and as he was away or one of the weeks concerned that works out as a productivity rate of around 3 per working day.

He promises to keep us informed of his work rate at future meetings, but that will not satisfy Jenny Jones AM.  She wants an indicator measuring the “quality” of the meetings.  No doubt those meeting HoT in future will be asked to fill in a form afterwards asking “how was it for them?”

However, HoT is clearly alive to this danger: he assured the Authority that he prefers what he calls “action” to meetings.

But the DCiC was also in magnanimous mood.  He recommended that his Conservative colleague, Tony Arbour AM, should be appointed to the MPA’s Strategic and Operational Policing Committee (despite two years of efforts by the Conservative Group on the London Assembly to keep Tony Arbour off the MPA itself and strenuous efforts at previous meetings to resist extra members being appointed to the Strategic and Operational Policing Committee).  It was mischievously suggested instead he should go on the under-subscribed Finance and Resources Committee.  However, this was squashed firmly when Tony Arbour told the Authority “You should never trust me with money” – a reassuring remark to the residents of Richmond-upon-Thames where he used to be Council Leader.

*    Dog-Catcher-in-Chief

**  Hand-on-Tiller

The General Medical Council has tonight suspended Adam Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor’s brother, from practicing medicine for six months.  The GMC has taken this action “to protect public interest”.

The Chair of the Panel who made the decision said that Osborne “seemed unable to grasp that an act of dishonesty remained an act of dishonesty”.

The incidents that led to the suspension apparently arose from a meeting between Osborne and an escort girl in a hospital car park.  According to the BBC:

“On 12 May 2008, the escort girl named as “Miss B” in court met Dr Osborne in the hospital car park.

She had earlier discharged herself from another hospital and was suffering from hallucinations as the result of heavy cocaine use.

Dr Osborne wrote out a prescription for anti-psychotic drugs haloperidol and lorazepam and falsified parts of the form because he only knew her first name.

He was denied the drugs when hospital staff could not match the patient’s name, so Dr Osborne drove to a pharmacy for the drugs.”

Apparently:

“He had earlier admitted acting inappropriately in relation to the private prescription and one for his then-girlfriend and a family member.”