Feb/10
15:24 1
Pickles vs Strathclyde in Westminster North
There have been some engrossing accounts of the last 48 hour’s internecine warfare in Westminster North from Iain Martin and Paul Waugh. The detail that jumped out at Scrapbook, however, was this from Andy McSmith at the Independent:
The sense of crisis was heightened by the appearance of two members of the Shadow Cabinet: the party chairman, Eric Pickles, in support of Ms Cash, and Lord Strathclyde, a Westminster resident and the Tory leader in the House of Lords, reported to have sided with Mrs Sayers.
An A-list uber-Cameroon throwing a strop and trying to resign less than three months before an election is one thing. Two cabinet ministers decamping to the constituency to take sides is another.
This incident may yet become a key point of reference in the story of Cameron’s effort to wrest control from, in Joanne Cash’s words, “dinosaur” elements of the party. And this tale may not end well for Cash, whose inner circle status and desire for “total victory” in this spat may make her a target for traditionalists.
You honestly couldn’t make it up.
Feb/10
14:49 7
Rumours abound over Joanne Cash resignation
Speculation was rife last night that the pregnancy of Tory Joanne Cash was a factor in her being “forced out” as Conservative candidate in the crucial target seat of Westminster North. Reading the following excerpt from a Times article, however, is it surprising yesterday’s crisis meeting was attended by both Eric Pickles and Lord Strathclyde?
Another one to watch is Joanne Cash, the candidate for Westminster North. If Cash, a barrister specialising in media law, is elected she will arrive with a contacts book to die for. At her wedding last year to Octavius Black, the founder of the Mind Gym consultancy, Michael Gove, the Tory schools spokesman, gave the main speech.
Other guests included Andy Coulson, Cameron’s director of communications. Cash lives in Notting Hill, west London, yards from the home of George Osborne, the shadow chancellor. As well as being an assiduous social networker, the Oxford-educated Cash is a policy junkie, advising the front bench on legal issues.
The rumour mill has been working overtime in the last 17 hours. ConservativeHome reported before 10pm that the Tory top brass were “mounting effort to reverse [the] decision” while Tory Radio heard whisper this afternoon that she may be back in place as PPC by the end of the day. The Daily Mail, however, suggests tensions may have arisen over the appointment of local party officers, rather than Cash’s pregnancy; Paul Waugh notes a rather cryptic bio entry on her Twitter account – did Westminster North members take offence?
Either way, this won’t look good to voters less than three months before the election.
Will be interesting as to how they explain this one.
