The Talking Clock: Cameron: Lobbying in Britain a £2 billion industry

The Talking Clock is an opinion based, independently authored, small 'c' conservative, libertarian blog.

"The laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof; and all the kings and queens, who shall ascend the throne of this realm, ought to administer the government of the same according to the said laws; and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them respectively, according to the same."
Act of Settlement, 1700/01

"And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any
jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm."
Bill of Rights, 1689
- an important and still exisiting part of OUR both written and unwritten English constitution

Monday, 8 February 2010

Cameron: Lobbying in Britain a £2 billion industry

In a thought-provoking speech this morning, Conservative leader David Cameron has attempted to position himself and his party as the 'next generation, one of the people' type of thing.

He came up with some interesting words to describe Gordon Brown. Hard to disagree with any of the descriptions used - "secretive, power-hoarding, controlling" and "a shameless defender of the old elite".

Then he went on to detail the extent and depth to which lobbying takes place in Britain. He stated that lobbying in Britain in a £2 billion industry conducted in secrecy - something that he pledges to address.

He delivered a very good section on Parliamentary scrutiny and the role of committees and whips.

A lot of what he was promising centred on giving more power to people locally. What he did not explain was how that can be so while we are a member of the main law-making club that is the European Union - though Cameron did mention that he will claw power back from Brussels, he did not tell us how.

There was also the issue of him talking about not worrying about media headlines. So, how did the BBC, Sky News and every Tom, Dick and Harry with the news switched on know half of the stuff he was about to say an hour before he said it?

That aside, a number of the ideas voiced by David Cameron resonated positively with this blogger.

The video clip of Cameron's speech is at the foot of this post.

Meanwhile, our blog post highlighting the House of Lords speeches of UKIP's Lord Willoughby de Broke and UKIP leader Lord Pearson certainly generated interest over the weekend. Within two days, it has become the second most popular post on this blog of 2010.

Here then is Cameron...

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Forever... Diana

...genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum.

"And when I look at people in public life... I'm not a political animal but I think the biggest disease this world suffers from in this day and age is the disease of people feeling unloved, and I know that I can give love - for a minute, for an hour, for a day, for a month, but I can give. I'm very happy to do that and I want to do that."
- Diana, Princess of Wales, 1996

"I think the British people need someone in public life to give affection, to make them feel important, to support them, to give them light in their dark tunnels. I see it as a possibly unique role, and yes, I've had difficulties, as everybody has witnessed over the years, but let's now use the knowledge I've gathered to help other people in distress."
- Diana, Princess of Wales, 1996

"Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity, a standard-bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a truly British girl who transcended nationality."
- Earl Spencer

"..she was our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. She will always be remembered for her amazing public works. But behind the media glare, to us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world."
- Prince Harry

The People's Sovereignty

"...our membership of the European Union has removed our democracy; it has taken away the right of the British people to elect and dismiss those who make their laws. Our system of representative parliamentary democracy, for which millions have died over hundreds of years, has been frittered away. It no longer serves the people. That is why the time has come to give power back to the people. They deserve it anyway; it is their power and it belongs to them. Before long their anger will overflow if they do not get it back."

- Former UKIP leader Lord Pearson in the House of Lords, 5th February 2009

British resistance and liberty

"We British have in a very special way contributed to Europe. Over the centuries we have fought to prevent Europe from falling under the dominance of a single power. We have fought and we have died for her freedom. Only miles from here, in Belgium, lie the bodies of 120,000 British soldiers who died in the First World War.

Had it not been for that willingness to fight and to die, Europe would have been united long before now - but not in liberty, not in justice. It was British support to resistance movements throughout the last War that helped to keep alive the flame of liberty in so many countries until the day of liberation."

- Margaret Thatcher, Bruges, 1992

Monday, 8 February 2010

Cameron: Lobbying in Britain a £2 billion industry

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