Conference seems a long time ago.  I remember travelling home on the train sitting next to David Willets and Cheryl Gillian, full of optimism.  A great Conference.  Never underestimating the task ahead, key was that everything was pointing in the right direction.  George Osborne had just enjoyed the Conference of his life and delivered a speech which tackled the big issues and underlined the economic competence of the Conservatives.  David Cameron had delivered a barn storming speech which left all with hope, (yes that great word that Obama anchors campaigns around), that we were en route to a better future.  This was off the back of a dreadful Labour Conference that saw a less than half empty hall wearily trudge through a week of depression, until Lord Mandelson rallied their spirits, (and his future career prospects), with throws of inspiring rhetoric for the Labour faithful to finally have a sliver of hope themselves.

Things are bleak for this Government.  Indeed, for the country.

And yet…..opinion polls are throwing up mixed results.  Trending is that Conservatives are not dominating as much as we should be.  Local council by election results, are ‘disappointing’,(in the words of ConservativeHome’s Jonathan Isaby.  Iain Dale also asks the question why by-election results are not going our way).  Yes, there are always localised reasons at play at by-election results, and their impact can never be dismissed.  But we are not dominating.  Opinion polls are patchy and not as inspiring as the recent 17% lead polls.  Tim Montgomerie on ConservativeHome has alluded to a drop in Conservatives support post Lisbon Treaty ‘U-Turn’.  Many seem to agree with that sentiment on that blog site.  But there is more to it than Europe.

What is fundamentally true is that the Conservatives have so much ammunition at their disposal, the question why polls are not moving stronger in our favour is a valid one to ask!

Consider what’s happening around us…..

  -           The economy.  First into recession, last out.  And the deepest recession in Europe.  We hurtle catastrophically towards a £1 trillion debt that our children will still be paying off in years to come. Brown has got away with the biggest lie in Political history.  That lie?  That debt has been built up because Brown states he was saving the UK from recession, (actually he would say saving the world from recession but scrub that).  That’s like Tiger Woods saying he had 10 birdies in a round and his wife believing he was talking about Golf!   Brown was building debt way before this recession even started.  In the good times he was spending like a manic gambler at the roulette table, hoping the ball will end on black.  In the words of the IMF:  ‘Imbalances and balance sheet strains had emerged even before the recent global shocks triggered a sharp decline in economic activity’.  ie we were heading into recession and spending too heavily BEFORE the Global shocks took place. 

 -           Unemployment heads towards 3 million, (that’s by official figures), unofficially claims of 6 million seem more accurate.  That’s people’s lives wrecked, on hold, dignity stripped.  Benefits and dependency culture set in.

 -           Class War.  Entrepreneurs discouraged.  Bankers bashed.  Top talent packing their bags to work abroad as UK thumps those very people who can bring us out of slump, create jobs for others and generate tax revenues, pummelled to the ground, with more ferocity than an uppercut from Mike Tyson in his prime, by punitive tax rates.  50% for top earners.  40% threshold frozen.  More on NI.  VAT back up 2.5%.  Penalties on companies that reward bankers who make money, (the very people we need to save and keep in this country, not incentivise to work and benefit New York’s Stock Exchange). 

 -           The Unions start to flex their muscles.  Just as the nation was free from the strangulation and choking hold of the Unions, like in ‘The Shining’ ‘They’re back’!  Strikes on the increase, Union militancy.  Bob Crow back on the telly chanting his monotone messages like a failed XFactor auditionee.  The Post Office, on the brink of collapse, wont modernise, cancerously pumping money into its bottomless pension pit, faced by striking members, and growing competition.  The RMT, getting the Tube drivers out on strike, more often than we enjoy a boiling hot summers day that we can take off our shirts and bathe!  And that comes before the pending winter of discontent as Unions rally against Darling’s 1% pay rise limit for public sector workers.  Who will be out striking first?  Rush down Ladbroke’s and place your bet tonight. 

 -           Our population continues on its inextricable path towards 70 million.  Immigration remains unchecked.  Asylum seekers lost amongst the population.  Our open borders burden the UK putting huge strain on over stretched public services, with the NHS groaning under the weight, school classes getting bigger, new houses being built on green belt, predicted power shortages for the years ahead as we don’t have the power stations to support our surging nation, public transport wheezing and roads at a standstill. 

 -           We are in the midst of a deeply unpopular war.  Over 200 brave soldiers have been returned home in a coffin.  Debates over strategy have been rife.  More concerning than that, real questions over the equipment troops are issued with and the lack of protection eg helicopters, have undermined this Government.  There could not be a more inept and ‘uncaring’ Defence Minister in Bob Ainsworth.

 -           The Iraq enquiry is rapidly tarnishing the reputation of ‘Labour’s greatest Leader’, Tony Blair.  We hear daily about the lack of credible evidence of weapons of mass destruction and the inability of Saddam Hussein’s regime to produce workable ones.  Coded language comes from the Iraq Enquiry that George W Bush wanted a hard line and pushed Blair into it.  Bliar indeed.

 -           A House of Commons with politicians so morally corrupt that make even Ronnie Biggs look respectable.  Yes, you will retort that Conservative politicians have been just as bad.  BUT the Government have been poor in taking any lead in cleaning up this sh*tstorm of a mess.  Cameron, has pushed Brown all the way.  Even this week we hear of Prime Minister Brown repaying £500 for painting a shed!

 -           Europe.  The continued enslavery of the British people continues to the faceless unelected bureaucrats of Europe.  Now we have the dreaded Lisbon Treaty with the instantly forgettable, but powerful. President of the European Union, (Herman Van Rompuy), and Foreign Minister, Cathy Ashton, (a Brit who was as vocal in British politics as Sooty was to Children’s TV!).  Blair and Brown promised a referendum for the British people but it never ever emerged.  Yes, Cameron took some hammering on his so called U-turn but a referendum on a Treaty in force is daft.  Another referendum on whether we have given too much power away, hell yes.  The blame for our European ills lay firmly at Brown’s door.

-           Education, Education, Education.  Blair’s famous pledge that education was his first, second and third priority.  A memorable catch phrase that was almost Turette’s by nature, proved to be as reliable as Amy Whinehouse sticking to drinking coke in a bar all night !   Education failures rack up.  50,000 A-level students miss out on a place at university.  This year 52,000 more people applied to University but only 13,000 extra places were made available.  The number of young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) has leapt by more than 100,000 in the past year.  Government statistics show there are now almost 960,000 16- to 24-year-old Neets in England, more than 230,000 of whom are aged between 16 and 18.  Oh and the flagship policy, SAT’s…teachers aim to boycott them next year!

-           A big brother state that worms its way into every aspect of our lives.  Want to help out at your local school?  Drive friends Children to their Cubs or Girl Guides?  Got to be checked on the anti paedophile register first.

Quite literally I could go on all night listing failure after failure after failure.

Fertile ground to be in Opposition.  Too much to choose from.  Should be Christmas all year round.

Opinion polls should be absolutely hammering Labour for their incompetence.  Criminal incompetence.  But they aren’t.

Some recent polls have put the difference between Conservatives to 10% difference.  Labour commanding a mid – late 20’s position.

Who the hell is being polled?  Who is supporting this shower?

As we head towards an election, the most important in many a lifetime, Conservatives need to open up the gap and generate clear blue water.  This is the ‘Schumacher’ moment when we need to be so far ahead of the field, we need to be lapping not only the back markers but coming up to lap the entire field.  Schumacher never slowed up.  He pummelled his fellow drivers into the ground.  As we must do now.

So what is wrong?

Why are we not opening up more of a gap?

Many commentators say that Conservatives Agenda is not yet bought by the British people.  Voters don’t quite trust us as yet.  They don’t understand what we stand for.  They like nice Mr Cameron but don’t have a feel for what he would do.

Much of this can be brought out in the wash in an election campaign say Conservative campaign team leaders.  Maybe…in them we have to trust!  We are not privy to the campaign they intend to use to convince the people.

But one suggestion I would impart onto David, Eric, George & William is that the key word around the campaigns table must be emotion.  Emotion is what politics lacks.  Emotion means getting personal.  It means relating to the ordinary person in the street.  Emotion creates and bonds loyalty and trust.

Politics today is too focused on debating statistics or policies.  As we all fight the election in the middle ground, choices get confused, differences misunderstood by the public, whose political antenna is not as attuned as Westminster politicians think.  I say we all fight in the middle, the key word is that all parties want to be perceived as in the middle, to attract the largest number of voters.  Matters not that policies may be more left or right wing, the centre is where we all will fight, (rightly or wrongly in your opinion).

Margaret Thatcher and Norman Tebbit had their finger on the pulse of the people.  They spoke in terms that people understood.  They personalised and humanised issues that people could relate to.  Politicians are forgetting that, just as any film director tries to do, it is about getting someone to believe in what they see.  Emotion is created by personalising issues.  Remember when Margaret Thatcher turned complex economic issues into the language that people understood.  On spending she equated the state to the family.  We cannot spend what we cannot afford.  When we are at home, if we cannot afford it, we save and then we can afford it, we buy it.  Simple language but the people loved it.  The housewife spoke!  Powerful and it resonated.  More so that today’s debate which quotes pure stats and percentages that Joe public does not understand…or will try to understand as they worry whether Joe, Stacey or Olly will win the XFactor!

Unemployment is not about a statistic of 3 million people it is about Mr Jones, who worked all his life, bought his own council house, can’t find work, wife fallen ill, daughter can’t afford University, a man depressed, lost his dignity but wants better for his family…and is fighting to earn money.  In him we respect and want to see him do well.

The health service is not about dirty corridors, increases in disease, rising cancer death rates, it is about Mrs Hughes, a mother who has a family of 3 beautiful daughters, husband died at war, who is diagnosed with cancer and facing life’s hardest choices.  How do we help her and her daughters.

Afghanistan is so more more than a statistic 200 dead, it is about John, a brave soldier on the front line who died by roadside ambush, a wife pregnant with his unborn daughter, a family torn apart.  How we help that family of a man who gave the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.

Public debt is not about a figure of trillion pounds.  It is about Mary, who is struggling to pay her mortgage, close to repossession, working for a company that is struggling to get credit, that is laying off workers, (her friends).

Violent crime is not about a percentage.  It is about 8 year old Sarah, whose father went to pick up a takeaway for the family, but never came home as youths taunted him, attacked him and used a knife in a savage unprovoked attack.

David Cameron is a thoroughly decent man.  Post the tragic death of Ivan the public saw a different side to the Politician.  They related to him.  A family man.  A bereaving dad.  A loving husband.  And they could associate with that.  We see less of the personal side of David of late.  That loving family man, the dad, the husband, has been less visible.   The emotion of the man not emanating out.

Some may shout this down.

But just sit and watch ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ or ‘The X Factor’.  Watch how contestant’s are introduced.  How emotion is used to get that tear welling up in your eye.  Get that lump in your throat.  Make you leap our your chair and vote for them because, for that moment in time, ‘they’ matter to you more than anything else.  You support them.  You don’t care paying a phone vote because you feel better in yourself for supporting them.  You feel you are making a difference.  We can all point to stories used on shows like this.  The daughter who was told by her dad to audition for Britain’s Got Talent by a dad, who died suddenly and she is now doing this for him.  Who did not feel emotional.

So, David Cameron, more than anyone, realises the election is not in the bag.  By a long way.  It’s not over until he faces the cameras on election night after Gordon Brown has conceded defeat.

So dangerous waters lie ahead.  Gordon Brown has been getting more confident of late.  The last two PMQ’s have been his strongest for a long time.  Iain Dale even concluded that Brown beat Cameron in one of them.  Unheard of!  The economy will start to turn round in the new year.  Brown must sit by the fire at No.10 with Sarah over a mug of hot chocolate and array of biscuits, (as he can’t decide his favourite), and really laugh.  ‘Sarah, look at how bad a mess everything is and yet look at those polls.  We are only 10% behind!  Even with the state of the UK as it is the Conservatives can’t kill us off.  We could still win this Sarah!’…..as she forlornly and adoringly looks into the eye of her ‘hero’! 

And things can change in politics.  The nightmare scenario still exists.  What if Gordon Brown steps down early next year?  A new Labour Leader emerges, be it Johnson, Miliband, Purnell or Mandelson, and starts to distance themselves from Brown’s policies, as the economy picks up and as they benefit from a honeymoon period in the polls, that any new leader always does.

Could Labour win the next election.  Yes.  The public may do a 1992 and shock and keep an ‘unpopular’ Government in.  Better the devil you know.  ‘Oh well things are getting better let’s stick with Labour’.

Worst case, as Ken Clarke would say, a hung Parliament.  The best of no worlds.

Election loss.  Conservatives would tear themselves apart.  Many keeping their lips sealed now for Party Unity would feel empowered to state their case.  Something none of us ever wants to see ever again.

So let’s see more spark to our Opposition.  Let’s see our front bench hammering the Government ever harder.  Let’s see emotion, personalisation and humanisation used to bring issues closer to the public, so they understand what really is going on.

We cannot afford, as a Great Nation, to see Labour in again.

Yes.  I am raising the one topic that Politicians don’t want to discuss….apart from the BNP!

And no….Immigration is not about race/colour/nationality……it is….a purely economic issue.  Yes.  ECONOMIC! 

Immigration is the great taboo subject.  The moment it is mentioned, the race card is immediately played.  Speak about restricting immigration into our nation and the ‘left’ immediately invoke the term ‘racist’ and reference someone as being a card carrying member of the BNP.  Hence, real debate is immediately stifled! We deserve better than this.

And yes, immigration is hard to discuss for Conservatives without having the spectre of Enoch Powell’s ’Rivers of Blood speech’, being submitted as a battering ram against any sensible discussion or argument. 

So this blog article is looking at immigration and how sustainable UK entry levels are in a recession, with a strangling, cancerous level of public debt, spiraling unemployment and massively overstretched public services….. and presenting facts for your thoughtful reflection.

Immigration is a HUGE concern to the British people.  It is, without fail, in the top issues that people worry about.  Go down the pub and it’s always a subject of healthy debate.  Hence this allows the BNP the freedom to play on these concerns….and the BNP use all the emotional tricks going to whip a feeding frenzy of publicity.  BNP associate rising unemployment with immigration….hence they publisicse that immigrants are taking British people’s jobs, immigrants taking ‘our’ benefits, immigrants causing crime and making our streets unsafe, immigrants stretching ‘our’ healthcare etc…those are the headlines that the BNP want to see and seek to generate….and some in the media happily pedal this base level argument, verging on vile filth.

The BNP should be nowhere in the polls….but the inability of our politicians…allow the BNP access to public debate….to the oxygen of publicity.  Brown pressed the emotional button with ‘British jobs for British workers’ and boy did this get the public fired up.  Then Brown realized that this was protectionist language and backtracked because Cameron reminded him that huge amounts of British workers were employed abroad, especially across Europe and if we promoted ‘British jobs for British workers’ then, if our European partners did the same, British workers abroad could lose their jobs. 

So David Cameron.  Let’s seize the argument over immigration and squeeze out the BNP.  Kill the issue and you kill the lunatics of the BNP.  How?….use facts in your argument and this will seize populist belief.

Let’s not sleepwalk to 70 million people in the UK, if we cant afford it…..and our public services certainly struggle to cope with 56 million!

Huge levels of immigration put pressure on existing issues we face and are not solving:

- Housing   (limited housing stock and depressed housing market, lack of money to build new houses)

- Jobs   (rising levels of unemployment, not enough jobs to go round)

- State benefit system  (already overstretched with unemployment benefit rising and depleted exchequer revenues)

- Health service  (stretched to the bone, not enough beds, increasing waiting times)

- Education  (already cuts in University funds are seeing students turned away, pressure on schools and classroom sizes)

- Travel infrastructure  (Decrepit roads at a standstill with overwhelming traffic, trains creaking–need for money and public not incentivised to travel on any form of public transport as poor service and very expensive)

- Environment  (building more houses in the countryside, growing pollution, more cars on the road, more wasteful emissions and wastage occurring)

- Depleting energy resources  (more people using more and more resources, speeding their depletion)

- Social Fabric  (how differing cultures seamlessly blend in stressful recessionary times and live harmoniously)

So let’s get to the facts….Immigration is not an emotional debate, it is an economic and social debate, over what the UK can afford and how society should grow, (as shown above).

So what is happening, what is the problem?…in facts we can understand not ‘emotive BNP propaganda’:

-     Net immigration has quadrupled since 1997 to 237,000 a year.  Yes New Labour have failed to get a grip on this

-     This means a migrant now arrives nearly every minute….yes every minute

-      Immigration will add 7 million to the population of England in the next 20 years – that is 7 times the population of Birmingham.

-      By 2008, almost one in nine British residents (6.5m) was born abroad.

-      Some estimates show that we must build a new home every six minutes for new migrants.

-      Much of the increase of immigrants has come from residents of the “A8″ countries that joined the EU in May 2004 – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

-     Of these, two thirds were Polish, making Poland the third most common country of birth for immigrants living in Britain, after India and the Republic of Ireland.

-     The latest government household projections show that immigration will account for 39% of all new households in the next 20 years.

-      England is already the most crowded country in Europe (except Malta)

-      To keep the population of the UK below 70 million, immigration must be reduced by 75%.

-      Asylum immigration, (much loved by the tabloids), only runs at 10% of net immigration, (30,000 per year)

-      There are more than 300 primary schools in which over 70% have English as a second language; this is nearly a half million children.

-     In London, which has long been home to immigrants from all over the world, one in three residents was born abroad by 2007. In the boroughs of Westminster and Brent, there are more foreign-born people than Britons.

-   Growing level of illegal immigrants, (classed as those who enter illegally on the back of a truck, visitors and students who overstay their visas, and rejected asylum seekers who the authorities fail to remove.  In March 2009 a study by the London School of Economics suggested a central estimate of 725,000 of which 518,000 were thought to be in London.

So, alarming figures.  With the UK in the midst of a severe recession, with a public debt that is cancerously spiraling the UK to bankruptcy, it is clear action needs to be taken.   Now, key to this, is not a discussion on the colour of skin, a particular race or culture, but a discussion on the burden that is being placed on public services, housing, environment, society and quality of life.

Defendants of immigration point to the economic benefits of immigrants.   So, what are the economic benefits of immigration?  Searching the Internet and Government papers shows only one major study into this area.  This was enacted by the Economic Affairs Committee of the House of Lords in 1997/98. In April 1998 they stated that “We have found no evidence for the argument, made by the government, business and many others, that net immigration – immigration minus emigration – generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population.” As regards the contribution of migrants to the Exchequer, they concluded that “The overall fiscal impact of immigration is likely to be small, though this masks significant variations across different immigrant groups.”

So who is to blame for the tidal wave of immigration?  New Labour have a lot of blame at their door as they have accelerated the numbers of immigrants, including 

-  Trebling the number of work permits issued from 43,000 in 1997 to 129,000 in 2007. (Dependants are additional—yes additional!)

-   Changing the rules in June 1997 to permit marriage to be used as a means of immigration. The numbers have since risen by 50% to about 42,000 a year.

-  Not removing those immigrants that are rejected each year so the pool of illegal immigrants continues to grow. Applications are currently running at about 30,000 a year.

 So what can be done by David Cameron & his Conservatives pre election?

-      Seize the moment and seize the issue. Cameron should address immigration with a clear policy.  This will be popular amongst voters but also make a difference to the economy.  A vote winner.

-     He should propose we stabilise the current population level to what it is,  (stabilise by balancing immigration & emigration).  Not approach levels of 70 million.

-     Propose we set an agreed target range for immigration and keep to it, (much as other countries do) eg say 20,000

-     Propose stronger border controls and increased investment to prevent illegal immigrants

-     Propose the UK cap the level of work permits.  And increase the number of points needed to settle here, (hence aid economic recovery)

-     Propose the UK cap the number of students immigrating in to study in the UK

-     Whilst asylum is low in proportion, propose measures to deport those who cannot demonstrate the need for true asylum

-     Propose measures to remove illegal immigrants.  Easy to say but hard to empower.  Start by massive punitive fines to employers of illegal immigrants.

All these proposals are potential election manifesto winners on this emotive subject.  I hope this blog demonstrates that the issue of immigration, when tackled sensitively in an economic and social basis, is a huge vote winner.  David…over to you……

Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee has announced that tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have entered Britain posing as students at bogus colleges and coupled with this the Government is doing nothing to track them down.

Vaz came out with a cracking phrase that sums up the Governments lack of control in this area.  Vaz wants the Government to stop the use of the word ‘college’ by ‘any premises above a fish and chip shop’ that wants to claim it is a reputable educational establishment.

What is most scary is that the Home Affairs report states it is possible that terrorists use this route to gain access to the UK.  I think we all knew that anyway….but protecting this country from attack is pivotal and all backdoor routes for terrorists to get into the UK must be shut and all applications scrutinised.

The report also states there could be up to 2,200 colleges that were not legitimate but were accredited by the Government under a system that was running until March this year.

Quoting the report:  ‘Firm enforcement action must be taken against any individual whose student visa has expired to ensure that they leave the country, as well as against those who have set up bogus colleges to perpetrate visa fraud’.  ’We have received no evidence that the Home Office has made adequate preparations to deal with this issue  we are extremely disappointed that the Government has ignored repeated warnings from the education sector about the problem of bogus colleges’.

The Government’s response.  More checks in the future!

This looks like another mess that the Conservatives will need to clear up and seek to locate the ‘needles in the haystack’ of students with expired visas and those who came in under bogus applications! 

Is this a wise use of the public purse in an economic recession with no spare money to go round?

It was announced yesterday that thousands of, (currently 450,000), failed asylum seekers will be able to obtain free health care.

The Government announced this after doctors stated they would not act as immigration officers by checking passports.

Current rules are that asylum seekers get free health care while their application is under review. However, they lose this privilege if their asylum claims are rejected. The new proposals mean failed asylum seekers who have a so called ‘recognised barrier’ to returning home, or who are surviving on state handouts, will get free NHS treatment.   Failed asylum seekers with kids and unaccompanied children will also be eligible.

Migration Watch stated that over time, over a million foreigners could take advantage of the Governments genorosity!  

Interesting time to announce this policy—the day before recess.  I wonder why?

It beggars belief!   What next free housing for Asylum Seekers…oh that’s been done already!

James Purnell is one of the most gifted politicians in this current Parliament.  Yes, I spend most of my time on this blog attacking Labour and its policies but I have a respect for Purnell.  He is an intelligent guy, with a vision and principles.  He will debate on issues and is rarely drawn into the slogan politics that Brown is so fond of.  Purnell’s resignation, after polls closed after the Local & European elections, was done with honesty and yet dignity.  Not a career politician and certainly not bearing the naked ambition of a Caroline Flint that saw her bend beliefs to put career greed ahead of conviction & principles.

Purnell, has kept his counsel, until now, with an interesting interview in Sunday’s Guardian.  Purnell tells the Guardian that: “Over the last six months I had been thinking, ‘has the elastic stretched beyond the point where I feel I am being true to myself?’”    http://tiny.cc/wGhbE  This is a great indication that Purnell was not at ease with the direction of Labour’s strategy and the way policies were being presented/communicated to the electorate.  Certainly Purnell found the ‘10% Tory cuts’ messaging was ‘crude’.

The Guardian interview highlights several interesting insights.  Purnell feels that the government has failed to properly make the positive case for immigration.  This is a growing issue amongst the electorate that the BNP and also UKIP will seek to play on in the next election.  As discussed on this blog, immigration is an issue that as Purnell notes, Labour is not addressing and on the Conservative side, arguably, not being played as a strength.  “The answer is to not end up looking tongue-tied doing some things you don’t actually believe, but working out what the argument is which might be able to win people round to your point of view which is, ‘will we be a more successful country if we open up in terms of free trade, in terms of Labour markets. We’re going to be a more interesting country’.” Purnell also feels that the Labour Government is “allergic” to a debate on the wisdom of faith schools. 

Following the furore of MP’s expenses and the perception of current Politics plunging in the eyes of the electorate, Purnell suggests that Labour should hold a referendum on electoral reform at the next election.  This is an interesting proposition and will be fascinating to see if Cameron picks up this mantle.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Purnell dictates that he did not expect fellow cabinet members to follow his lead and resign.  Purnell always asserted he was not part of a coup attempt….and would certainly not admit that to us now post event.  We know that David Miliband certainly thought about resigning but bottled it.  Purnell and Milliband are great mates.  He calls Miliband “one of the most serious politicians of his generation”.  He has obviously seen something that has passed the rest of us by. 

Purnell is known by many as a staunch Blairite….which was a thorn that Brown hated in his Cabinet.  Fascinatingly, he thinks times have changed and now is not the time for nostalgia back to the Blair days.  He said: “All those Blairite, New Labour labels … for me, it’s a bit like Britpop – I feel nostalgic for it, it was absolutely right for its time but that time was 1994. It’s a very different feeling being 12 years into government from the idealism of the start, but we need to recapture that idealism, not by living in the past or by aping New Labour or just sticking to the old tunes. We need to open up New Labour, reinvent it and then eventually move beyond it.”  Sounds like Purnell will be doing all he can to help this policy debate…certainly not something that Brown will applaud. 

In the meantime Purnell is assuming a role at the thinktank Demos in September.  At Demos Purnell joins figures critical of the prime minister’s style and agenda. Blair’s former speech writer Phil Collins is a Demos trustee. Alan Milburn, the former health secretary and critic, is also a board member.  The thinktank was formed in the mid-90s by former Blair adviser Geoff Mulgan and though it has frequently published pamphlets by non-Labour figures, government sources were taken bu surprise when Demos appointed to its board, on it’s 16th birthday anniversary, politicians from the Conservative and Lib Dem parties including the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, and Treasury spokesman for the Lib Dems, Vince Cable.

Purnell does not see a return to front line politics.  He is revelling being away from those red boxes….as is Jacqui Smith.  Purnell is bound to say that as Brown is hardly likely to offer him a new role pre the election….after that election Brown will be deposed and the influence of Purnell will again rise.  Maybe right to the top as he wont be tainted by the Cabinet Collective Policies that Miliband and Johnson will be tainted with.   Maybe the Leadership Campaign is over before it even starts…if ‘Teflon’ Purnell continues as he is now.

We have not heard the last of this man….expect great things from this thinking politician…he may have turned his back on Brown but not on politics!

Immigration remains the issue voters worry about most. Yet despite the rise of the BNP, Conservatives have not played this issue to their strengths.  I have provided an in depth piece on how the Conservatives can turn this into a key election winning issue here:  http://tinyurl.com/mvvv2s 

MigrationWatch UK has provided an estimate that the population of the UK, (which is already the most overcrowded country in Europe), will hit………a massive 70 million in the next 20 years, (whoever is in power).

Yes that is 9 million more than today.

Immigration is an emotional issue…but this is not an issue about race as the media often position it….but an economic issue……why?….. well look at what overcrowding impacts:

-     Housing   (limited housing stock and depressed housing market, lack of money to build new houses)

-     Jobs   (rising levels of unemployment, not enough jobs to go round)

-     State benefit system  (already overstretched with unemployment benefit rising and depleted exchequer revenues)

-      Health service  (stretched to the bone, not enough beds, increasing waiting times)

-      Education  (already cuts in University funds are seeing students turned away, pressure on schools and classroom sizes)

-      Travel infrastructure  (Decrepit roads at a standstill with overwhelming traffic, trains creeking–need for money and public not incentivised to travel on any form of public transport as poor service and very expensive)

-     Environment  (building more houses in the countryside, growing pollution, more cars on the road, more wasteful emissions and wastage occurring)

-     Depleting energy resources  (more people using more and more resources, speeding their depletion)

-     Social Fabric  (how differing cultures seamlessly blend in stressful recessionary times and live harmoniously)

So when you travel back from work, crammed in on the London Underground, face pressed against a neighbours sweaty festering armpit, just take a look round……more will soon be joining you on that tube!!!!!