So, to no great surprise, IDS has lost his confidence vote and there will now be an election for a new leader of the Conservative Party.
I hated it in the 1980’s when Tories used to lecture the Labour Party about what their policies should be and who they should choose as leader. And while it is healthy for a democracy to have a vibrant party of opposition, blah, blah, blah, I really don’t care who they choose (although Michael Howard would get the old anti-Thatcherite juices flowing more than any of the other victims being tipped at the moment).
Having said that it would be silly to deny some interest in the event, as a spectacle, so any comments from our right-leaning readers are welcome and as this spins out I’ll link to the conservative bloggers and what they have to say.
Update: Already some interest reaction in the comments box below. On his blog Laban Tall is not happy:. Even though with the benefit of hindsight they should probably have refused to accept the resignation of William Hague, or failing that gone for the great Michael Howard, having chosen IDS and seen a slow but steady revival in Tory fortunes they should have stuck to him.
New Labour blogger Paul Richards has swung into action and has a wicked idea. He is calling for tactical voting in Michael Howard’s seat in Folkstone where the Liberal Democrats requires a 6.50 % swing to gain the seat.
Talking of which I wonder if Charles Kennedy will buy IDS a consolation drink tonight?
More: As you would expect, the eagle-eyed Labour blogger British Spin is in his element:
On the current frontrunner to replace IDS he says: The Labour high command will be pleased if the Tories gather round a known and disliked standard bearer. At least it will make a change from them choosing unknown and disliked standard-bearers.
And he has this curious little snippet: One Tory MP is in North Korea and still voted. Surely the first Democratic vote in North Korean history. It must have been a bit odd for him to explain that he was deciding whether to depose his Dear Leader for incompetence. I wonder if the North Koreans reflected on this.
There’s plenty more good stuff from Spin.
And yet more: The BBC have set up an ad-hoc weblog from their reporters on the ground.
And another thing: Strange silence from the best-known Tory blogger Peter Cuthbertson. The only news from his blog is that he has decided not to give us the final installment of his conference diary, which would have dealt with the speech by IDS.
Given recent events within the Conservative Party, I have decided not to blog the last day of conference. That’s a shame. I was looking forward to a description of the standing ovation and reflection on the many MP’s, pundits and journalists who told us that IDS had done enough to ward off any rebellion….
Meanwhile over at the Adam Smith Institute’s weblog they have been playing fantasy shadow cabinet.
It seems to some things up that their line-up starts in this decisive fashion:
Prime Minister – Michael Howard
Foreign Secretary – Dave Davis
(these two could be swapped around)
And wait, it’s comeback corner: Deputy Prime Minister – William Hague
Defence – Iain Duncan Smith……
And finally, here’s what the Conservative Party have to say.