I neither expect nor want my politicians to be 'goodie-goodies'. It's a tough old world out there and you need very tough people to hack their way through it on our behalf. Even so, there are some limits and Ed Miliband crossed one of them when, with deliberate 'malice aforethought', he stood against his own brother in the last Labour party leadership election and, with the help of a loaded and potentially corrupting election system that allowed Len McClusky and his UNITE union to swing the vote, he won and killed his brother's dream. I hope he savoured that victory which drove his brother from British politics and, it is reported, created a deep family rift, because that sweet taste has now turned to ashes in his mouth. Four years ago he stood triumphant on a victory platform. Today he trembles on a scaffold trapdoor with a rope around his political neck waiting for either the voters or his own party bigshots to pull the lever and send him on the last big drop. Throughout these Isles he is derided and despised - and I'm lovin' every minute of it!
And so is Mr. Dan Hodges, my 'go-to' commentator on Labour party affairs. In today's Telegraph he, in effect, writes the 'Milipede's' political obituary. According to his careful analysis of the likely run-up to the election Labour has nowhere to go except down. This, of course, is cheering news to a (small 'c') conservative like me. Perhaps, just perhaps, 'Dim Dave', despite himself, and with a few encouraging smacks around the head from his Right-wing bully boys, might just be forced to make enough promises to swing the election his way. Then my dreams will come true because the thought of 'Dim Dave' with a small majority and thus totally at the mercy of his 'Kipper'-sympathising faction is about as near heaven as I am ever likely to reach!
I have placed my champagne on ice ready for the night!
