Knives out For Cameron

Under two years in Government and certain Tory MP's have already got the knives out for their leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron.

There will always be politicians in any party that do not like their leader and even at times let the public/press know they are not happy. But I am sure many of us are surprised how quick his own party has turned against Cameron.

I don't think Cameron is either a great leader or Prime Minister but the Tory MP's are not rebelling because they are concerned about the state of the country it seems that most are just bitter as the junior minister posts they were expecting have ended up in the hands of Lib Dems. So many posts that at times it seems that the Lib Dem MP for Portsmouth and Bob Russell at Colchester are the only Lib Dems still on the backbench.

The latest attack by a Tory MP came this weekend with Patrick Mercer accused of calling the Tory leader an 'arse' it makes interesting reading - more here

Cameron would have expected a small rebellion on the Europe referendum but he would have still been surprised by the size of the mutiny, the Tories still confused on where they exactly stand on Europe. Some of those who rebelled will be well known Euro sceptics, others would have been in 'disgruntled because Lib Dems got my job' band and a third group would be those who will state that they rebelled because their local association members expected them to vote for a referendum. Note 'what their association expected' rather than their constituents.

Where does this leave Gummer and his fellow Suffolk Tory MP's? All voted with the Government and all are seen as ultra Cameron loyalists and it could also be said that they voted for what is best for their constituents. We must remember that 60% East of England trade is with EU, one-third more than other UK regions.

I expect our Tory MP's to stay loyal to Cameron, Coffey is allegedly rated highly and may be close to a junior minister post, Dan Poulter seems to be in the Evening Star every day and has taken the role of 'saviour of Ipswich Hospital' from Ben Gummer. But Gummer does seem to have a problem with his own association and in particular the Tory activists.

Gavin Maclure makes it quite clear that he has fell out of love with Cameron and some of his posts have more of a UKIP feel than Tory Party but he at least states that they knew Ben Gummer's view on Europe before they elected him but will Ben find it hard to get people to campaign for him when so many seem anti - Europe? James Spencer their habitual Bridge Ward candidate has made a number of attacks on Ben Gummer and as usual his 'follower' Kevin Algar also seems keen to join the anti Europe brigade. Ben Gummer was probably not surprised that may of his association are so anti Europe but I am sure that he is disappointed that at one of their flagship lectures they have invited Mr Campbell Bannerman MEP to be the guest speaker. Now Gavin describes Bannerman as a Conservative MEP, but in fact he was elected as a UKIP MEP and that there is a call for him to resign as we elect political groups as MEP's rather than individuals - more on this at the Ipswich Spy site.

So what does Ben Gummer do? Turn up to the lecture to confront Mr Campbell Bannerman, to tell the association members the benefits of being part of the European Union, or does he just keep a low profile, and hope that come the next General Election, the activists will forget his pro Europe stance and get behind him in his fight to keep Ipswich as a Tory seat?

The good thing about so many Tory activists now tweeting or using blogs - we will soon find out.

The Tory MP's, the Tory activists and the Tories in Ipswich- all falling out of love with David Cameron, Gavin Maclure even suggested that putting Cameron on their leaflets in St Margaret's Ward may have been a contributing factor to their defeat last Thursday.

Patrick Mercer- an ex soldier's view

I was quite shocked when I read the copy of the full Patrick Mercer interview- shocked and very disappointed. Not because a Tory frontbencher had made the remarks but because a former senior officer in the Army had made such a statement.

To be honest I would expect many Tory MP's agreed with his view but it is, his position as an ex Regular Army Officer that concerns me.

I spend quite a considerable time defending the Armed Forces, for many people - since the end of national service - they do not have first hand experience of the Armed Forces or have had family who are or have served in the forces.

Mercer was right on a few points, the Army is no place for those with soft shells, the banter does fly but no sometimes it can go too far in most cases, commanders and instructors know where the limits are. True- ginger people do take the brunt of many jokes- but in the same way as the recent Catherine Tate sketch. what is not acceptable and I believe where Mercer gets it wrong is that the terms - "ginger bastard", "black bastard" and "fat bastard" are not common terms used by soldiers.

I served for 25 years in an Infantry Regiment like Mercer, and the army over that time became very aware that it was seen by many both inside and outside the black community as a predominately white organisation. the army set up a number of measures to counter this. To be fair to the Army, when I joined in 1978 there were a large number of black people in the Army, my regiment recruited from urban areas like East London and two of my first Sergeants were black. I never saw any overt racism but later in my career, serving black friends did say they had suffered at times. But the young black population did see us as racist- maybe due to the lack of black faces outside Buckingham Palace and that did keep recruiting figures low.

Mercer was speaking after the announcement of a black soldiers union- this is actually driven by those from the Commonwealth wishing to be represented- they have different problems with leave, culture, bringing wives and family to the UK and the subject of being granted British Nationality.

I totally refuse to accept Mercer's view of the Army- it certainly was not part of the regiment I was in, and certainly not the view of the Army that is currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I actually was in my Regiment in Bosnia in 1998 when we handed over to Mercer's Regiment. To be honest then myself and other senior soldiers were shocked by the attitude of some his Regiment- not racist but it just seemed to they had views and acted like a unit that was stuck in days of National Service- stuck in some sort of time warp- I am almost certain that attitude has changed dramatically since Mercer left.

Maybe Mercer left because he was not suited to the modern Army- lucky for him he found a place where his 1960's type of views were welcomed with open arms- the Conservative party.

I fear that he will actually gain some support- from those that like to quote political correctness as the route of all evil. I just hope a few Senior Officers will speak up for the Army and put Mercer in his place.

Alasdair Ross

ex Sergeant Major in the Royal Green Jackets- and proud of it.