Some Thoughts On Conway
The media will no doubt inundate us tomorrow with their analysis of this scandal just as they did with Peter Hain the other day, however, I thought I would point out a few things that others seem to be missing or not highlighting.
Now, this is not a new story. In fact The Times covered Derek Conway’s abuse of Parliamentary expenses back in May last year – therefore why has it taken so long for the Conservatives or the media to call him to account?
Well, obviously there is the fact that quite a few MPs have recently been caught breaking their own party funding rules or having their snouts shoved in the trough – so this is perhaps just another story to keep the bandwagon rolling. Yet, I also see on ConservativeHome that Tim Montgomerie is calling for Derek Conway to stand down at the next election, which he has now just done as I write this post.
What Tim Montgomerie says on ConservativeHome can sometimes provide a good insight into what higher echelons of the Conservative party are thinking. I suspect therefore that a number of higher ranking Conservative MPs are behind the scenes probably calling for Derek Conway’s resignation. Couple this with a recent increase in discussion on how to remove bed-blocking MPs from their seats and you begin to see that there may be something more to this than it would first appear.
No doubt some new, modern, liberal Cameron-clone Conservative was or is being lined up to take over Mr Conway’s nice safe seat. The latest media furore has no doubt given the party hierarchy an opportunity to achieve that aim.
