Monday 9 February 2009

Ridiculous

Only in the archaic, slightly misogynistic world of the Telegraph could Samantha Cameron, the wife of the leader of the Conservative party, be ranked the 17th most important conservative in Britain.

This puts her ahead of the likes of Oliver Letwin at 19, who is writing the COnservative's election manifesto, Charles Moore, who heads right wing think tank Policy Exchange (2), former leader like Iain Duncan Smith at 23, and former leadership contenders like David Davies at 31, John Redwood at 48 and Ken Clarke at 58 . Big Beasts of the right like Chris Patten (45), Douglas Hurd (35). These people represent one or other wing of the Conservative PArty, embody years of its history and its traditions.

Apparently, however, this doesn't count for much. Samantha Cameron's ability "to whisper sweet nothings into the Leader of the Opposition each night by definition makes her a person of influence," more so than members of the shadow cabinet, sitting M.P.s, members of the House of Lords, newspaper editors, potential sources of funds and grandees.

What century do the pople who compiled this list live in?
1 - "Top 100 right wingers: 25-1," by By Iain Dale and Brian Brivati, published in the Telegrapgh, 1st of October, 2008. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/3088666/Top-100-right-wingers-25-1.html). Entries for 50-26 at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/3088142/Top-100-right-wingers-50-26.html and 75-51 at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/3087404/Top-100-right-wingers-75-51.html. Beyond that I did not dare look, as the standards that put Mrs Cameron in the Top 20 would probably have meant the rump of the list consisted of everyone else's wives, girfriends and mistresses.
2 - Website of the Policy Exchange think tank: http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/

No comments:

Unsurprising

 From the Guardian : The  Observer  understands that as well as backing away from its £28bn a year commitment on green investment (while sti...