Rant: Flight takes flight
26 Mar 2005 by Paul Davies
"any politician who insists on telling the truth: he is mocked, vilified, ignored and abandoned as a hopeless loser by even his good old buddies" – Hunter S. Thompson
I had a meeting with some Tory MPs the other day. Amiable, intelligent chaps that if put in charge of the country would not suddenly reverse two decades of almost unbroken progress. However, there was a strange sense hanging in the air, one of questioning resignation; as if they were wondering whether their efforts were as pointless as those of Labour voters in Surrey.
Until Wednesday afternoon, the most shocking aspect of the Tories' election campaign had been how well it had been going. Even with Michael "less popular than Simon Cowell" Howard in charge, some polls had shown the Conservatives level with Labour in the percentage of vote stakes – still miles behind in terms of seats, but it's the Tories that most vehemently oppose electoral reform, so they can hardly complain.
Enter deputy party chairman Howard Flight and his ill-chosen predilection for speaking the truth.
For a politician, telling the whole truth is a silly idea at the best of times, but in the run up to an election, especially during a campaign which is going well, it is as retarded as a couple of teenage boys playing chicken with a train.
Among the political truths that cost Mr Flight his exalted position and his candidacy for the seat of Arundel and South Downs in the forthcoming election were: "whatever the fine principles, you have to win an election first" and "after the election you can actually get on with what needs to be done".
He went on to describe the Tory proposal for pensioners' council tax rebates as "nakedly political" and mentioned that the "James findings have been 'sieved' for what is politically acceptable and what is not going to lose the main argument".
Truth on Wednesday, sacked on Thursday and effectively removed as parliamentary candidate on Friday. Who needs a week in politics, when you can get it done in three days?
After the months of hard work and the millions splashed on professional liars – or admen – that had enabled the Tory party to drag itself from the gutter and perhaps even retain second place by a comfortable margin, Howard and his henchmen find themselves floundering in the political sewage once again, wading around with the claims that Ken Livingstone is anti-Semitic and that Boris hates scousers.
Tony was obviously delighted, even if Mr Flight had uttered the word 'passionately' without prior consent from the PM, who claims the copyright on its use.
The mêlée even prompted Mr Howard to let slip hitherto unheard of radical plans for a shake-up of the party, hinting at a revolution that would see blue heads roll across the board. He said: "We will not say one thing in private and another thing in public. Everyone in my party has to sign up to that. If not, they're out." Quite what he'll do with himself is as yet unknown.
So it was that Mr Flight was ejected from the murky swamp of politics. Like a true Thatcherite, however, he is fighting on, clinging to the hope that he might yet stand on May 5th, despite his obliviousness to the wonders of obfuscation. However, just when you thought someone was standing firm as an honest politician, Mr Flight then went and blamed the whole episode on New Labour spin. Some things never change.
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