Lightsabers and Lord Vader

Dull day in the Sundays today - presumably because everyone was settling down for a pint of mild and bitter in front of the rugby last night. The major stories seem to be Chris Huhne and Nick Clegg breaking out the lightsabers over the LibDem leadership, and mutterings from the Tories over the review on party funding.

Chris Huhne begins by channelling Ming and claiming that his age gives him an advantage over young Nicky, as well as setting himself up as the candidate who isn't the heir to Cameron/Blair. The Mirror's Vincent Moss reports on the Clegg camp's reaction to these "dirty tricks," and with just under two months to go until the ballot, there's every sign it will get nastier still.

It's not all plain sailing for Chris, though, as the Sunday Times appears to have uncovered an article he wrote whilst at Oxford about the benefits of illegal hard narcotics. Whoops! For his own part, Nicky gets a rather sycophantic write-up in the Observer which it's best not to read on a full stomach.

Meanwhile, the discussion about how political parties should be funded is bounced around our Sunday organs of record. The Observer has a good run-down of what's been going on, particularly in light of Geoff Hoon calling for spending caps on the Lord Ashcroft money. The Tories seem to be getting all "destroy the union link!" whilst hoping that nobody calls for spending limits because that would really knacker Lord Ashcroft's key seats strategy.

Curiously, the last couple of weeks have seen an explosion of articles from m'lud on how his personal fortune is bringing balance to the Force. Yes, as any Star Wars fan knows, so did Darth Vader...by strengthening the Dark Side! Meanwhile, little Davy Cameron has to sit tight and do what his paymaster general tells him - which currently seems to involve a threat to walk out of the talks unless the Gord shoots every third trade unionist - or else Darth will stop sticking £10 notes down his g-string.

In other news, the Tories have chosen some celebrity Westmonster's never heard of to advise them on housing policy, the whips' office is am-I-bovvered over the prospect of a rebellion on Europe, Sarkozy's ex-missus is outta here, and the Nation of Fatties debate plods ponderously along.

Written by Lloyd Shepherd on 21 Oct 2007 3:25 PM. Permalink