Kmflett's Blog

Oliver Dowden: the person behind Sunak’s Election call?

Oliver Dowden is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, a post that does not officially
exist, which is entirely appropriate

Dowden has nasty right-wing politics but these are invariably trumped by the bigger reality that he is an idiot.

Looking at commentary on why Sunak called an Election for July 4^th (I have no inside Tory sources…) its clear that while he may have had the idea in mind as far back as April he only told senior Cabinet members this week and didn’t bother to tell Tory MPs at all. Its remarkably difficult to find a Tory arguing that Sunak’s call was unequivocally a good idea.

The Sunday Times which as a Murdoch paper remains even now sympathetic to the Tories is nevertheless often well informed. It suggests that the person who backed Sunak’s idea and encouraged him was Dowden.

This cant of course be verified but given what we know of Dowden’s career it is plausible

He appears on Kuenssberg on Sunday morning from time to time to ‘defend’ the Tory line. A recent visit saw him declaring that Tory bigot Lee Anderson could have remained as a Tory MP if he had apologised for making Islamophobic remarks, while he felt only very slightly concerned about similar views expressed by Truss and Braverman. Former Tory Co-Chair Sayeeda Warsi tweeted that Dowden’s comments were ‘mealy mouthed’ amounting to an acceptance that Islamophobia is OK in the Tory Party.

On April 7th he claimed that selling arms to Israel wasnt illegal even though it became clear that he didn’t know what the actual legal advice was (Dave Cameron’s dept)and defended now ex-Tory sex pest William Wragg

Dowden has form

When he was Culture Minister (February 2020-September 2021) Oliver Dowden opined on his then favourite subject-culture wars. He wrote in the Sunday Telegraph (16.5.21) that he was not a Maoist but a Moreist.

By this he meant (he claimed) that he was in favour of more statues not less and more history. Dowden’s statements are sometimes amusing. There seem to have been very few (if any)statues erected on his watch any more than, despite his insistence, there was any great move to take statues down. Further the ‘more history’ Dowden wanted most definitely does not include any more detail about British imperial activities.

Dowden also noted that he believed that museums and cultural institutions should be free of Government meddling and to make sure he set up a committee to, er, well meddle. Its primary purpose was to promote Dowden’s Moreist perspective.

He purged the wrong kind of person from Trustee Boards. Indeed so blatant was he that Charles Dunstone, who is believed to be not unfavourable to the Tory Party, resigned as Chair of the Royal Museums, Greenwich in protest.

In one of many Tory re-shuffles Dowden was replaced as Culture Minister by Nadine Dorries and he then became Chair of the Tory Party (September 2021-June 2022) In this role he produced a range of baffling waffle although in context this was during the latter days of the Johnson Premiership.

He was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 25^th October 2022 by Sunak. He has certainly cultivated the Tory Hard Right particularly when he was Culture Minister but his Ministerial career suggests someone promoted far beyond his competence who can only last for a limited period in any role before the sack occurs.

He faced Angela Rayner at PMQs on 24th April and John Crace’s analysis of his performance is here:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/apr/24/down-down-deeper-and-dowden-how-can-rishis-stand-in-be-so-useless

With luck and determination a pending General Election may mean he has to look for his next job outside of Parliament even though his Hertsmere seat appeared until recent Tory polling to be a safe one

26th May

Socialist candidate looks to stand in South Borsetshire

With the long standing Tory MP for South Borsetshire Bufton Tufton at last standing down its time for socialist ideas to be argued for and that won’t be coming from the (yet to be elected) Starmerite candidate. Of course we want the Tories out but we also want real change both on the cost of living and Gaza. At the moment a number of potential candidates are being considered.

Sgt Knacker Burns comes out as a policeman

Sgt Harrison Knacker Burns has always been reported by the BBC as a sensible, rational caring person. These are not the qualities many readers of the Ambridge Socialist would identify as being those of many police officers. First Knacker Burns got religion and now he has made himself ill obsessing over the loss of baby that his partner Fallon did not want and didn’t even know she was pregnant with.Time for Knacker Burns to be arrested for being a public nuisance and seriously bad acting.

Burger Bill

Burger Bill apparently runs the canteen at Vince’s meat packing factory. Freddie thinks the food and Burger Bill himself need an upgrade. Eating out at a Philippine restaurant a deal is stuck for training and meat supply. Non meat eaters need not apply

Joy, Rochelle & Mick

Rochelle who is according to the BBC Joy’s daughter, is one of the non speaking people of Ambridge. Perhaps she could send a message on social media

The Ambridge T20. The Archers goes off message

What’s wrong with the Hundred??

The Times (25th May) has reported on what will certainly be one of the key issues of the Election, the impact of Beard Power at the polls.

The Beard Liberation Front is meeting over the Bank Holiday weekend to review its Election strategy and agree its Election Manifesto

Richard J Evans on Michael Gove ‘History Man’

The Times (20^th August 2022) reported that Michael Gove was to step down from ‘front line politics. This of course was as a result of Truss becoming Tory leader. In fact he returned under Sunak but on 24^th May announced he was stepping down as an MP.

Since 2010 Gove has held a variety of Government posts (like Johnson he is a journalist) including that of Education Secretary.

During his tenure Gove proposed what is now a Tory favourite- reforming the history curriculum. Needless to say his plans were a disaster.

Reviewing a biography of Gove in the London Review of Books the historian Richard J Evans recounted an occasion when Gove despatched his advisor Dominic Cummings to gather his views:

Gove sent his special political adviser to see me. A slim, balding, casually dressed, youngish man came into my Cambridge office and flopped into an armchair. ‘Well’, he said, ‘we’ve fucked up, haven’t we?’ It was Dominic Cummings.

I’m no fan of Cummings but that does rather seem to sum up Gove

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n17/richard-j.-evans/the-demented-dalek

Sunak and Starmer are rather similar & as E P Thompson noted in 1959 we’ve been here before

Aditya Chakrabortty has a very good piece in the Guardian arguing that the world according to Sunak and the world according to Starmer looks very similar. They are both clean shaven middle aged politicians in suits, so the image is similar, but so in many (although not all) are the policies

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/25/election-pm-change-politics-keir-starmer-rishi-sunak

It remains the case though that the parties do represent different social bases. The Tories are still, in part, the party of business. Labour retains links with trade union HQs, albeit Starmer would clearly prefer to supplant the Tories as the representative of capital.

We have however been here before. In the 1959 Election Harold Macmillan faced Hugh Gaitskell. Perhaps the only significant difference was that Macmillan had a moustache.

On occasion the difference between the Tories and Labour at an Election has been greater- arguably in 1964, certainly in 2017. However the differences were still contained within an official political framework. The reality that Jeremy Corbyn perhaps suggested a break out from that spooked capital. Hence in 2024 we have Starmer

E P Thompson in the New Reasoner, Autumn 1959 on the General Election

The  ” New  Statesman ”  was  right.  It  was  a  ” Heads  We  Win “election,  and  the  alternative  administration  was  ” Tails  You Lose.”However  loudly  the  electorate  called  while  the  coin  was  in  the  air,there  was  a  TV  smoothie  in  a  fat  silk  tie  on  either  side.  It  wasprobably  the  most  discreditable  General  Election  since  George  IIIbought  the  House  of  Commons  out  of  Treasury  funds.

https://banmarchive.org.uk/new-reasoner/the-autumn-1959/

The veteran England cricketer Jimmy Anderson is set to play his final Test at Lords in the week after the General Election.

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians @ACScricket has tweeted that if Starmer wins on July 4th Anderson will hold the record of having played a Test under eight Prime Ministers.

Liz Truss was briefly Prime Minister in the early Autumn of 2022. Many are still impacted by the consequences of her 49 day tenure.

Jimmy Anderson is quite possibly the only person to achieve something positive during Truss’s 49 days. The England v South Africa Test was played between 8-12 September 2022. One day was washed out and one day cancelled due to the death of the Queen. Even so Anderson still managed to take three wickets. That Test also saw him become the first England player to win 100 home Test caps

Michael Atherton reported in the Times(24th May 2024) that a headline agreement had been reached by the First Class Cricket Counties on how money from a projected sale of stakes in Hundred cricket sides is to be distributed. This involves an outline agreement between Counties that host Hundred teams and those that don’t.

The perspective from the ECB that runs English and Welsh cricket is that money is needed and this year’s Hundred is the focus for getting it. Indeed the ECB are treated it as a showcase for potential investors

Lizzie Ammon back in May provided a breakdown of who might invest, summarised below.

Indian Premier League: several IPL franchises already own sides elsewhere around the globe. The Mumbai Indians are reported to be interested in London Spirit who play at Lords.Meanwhile Rajasthan Royals are looking to buy Yorkshire and Delhi Capitals, Hampshire

US Investors. Some of the T20 World Cup was played in the US and Major League Cricket is taking off. Investors include Adobe and Microsoft. The ECB are also courting NFL owners

Premier League Football Clubs. Several are reportedly interested in football/Hundred tie ups with joint branding and promotion

Saudi Arabia. There is interest but again reportedly its not likely to materialise until 2029 when the Hundred is expected to expand and the Saudis envisage a bid via Newcastle FC. The grimmest of a number of grim options.

This is clearly about money and people making it. About cricket rather less so, although the boost to the women’s game has been huge and welcome, albeit unintentional.

With the Hundred 2024 reaching a conclusion this weekend, reports are that IPL franchises are leading interest to buy into Hundred teams. London Spirit based at Lords is reportedly the most attractive proposition. The ECB seem to accept that even a minority stake will allow an IPL franchise to rebrand the team- Mumbai Indians London is suggested.

If the takeover and reformulating of an important part of British society was taking place elsewhere, the Government would at the very least be reviewing whether it was in the interests of the country. Its time for Culture and Sports Minister Lisa Nandy to call this in

Summer Elections are relatively rare in the UK and media speculation about why Sunak went for a July 4th date is considerable. One key theme is that things can only get worse for the Tories. Some reports suggest that Sunak was influenced by Deputy PM Oliver Dowden who is a professional idiot, so pure randomness when it comes to the date cant entirely be dismissed.

A strong feature however is how the Election falls in a summer of sport.

Sunak is a cricket fan and the summer’s Test Series (England v West Indies at Lords) doesn’t get underway until the following week. Free of Prime Ministerial duties Sunak will be free to watch, as John Major did at the Oval after he lost in 1997.

The Election also falls in the middle of the Euro 2024 football championship, just before the quarter finals and its also in the middle of the first week of Wimbledon. That’s a lot of interest not focused on the Election. Perhaps there is an agenda there. No one is interested, whoever wins things will go on much the same.

That’s not my view btw

From the late 1830s through to the early 1850s one of the many tactics employed by the Chartists in their campaign for the vote was Exclusive Dealing. This focused on supporters of Chartism only using businesses that supported the People’s Charter. Partly it was about promoting Chartist owned co-operative businesses. Partly it was about boycotting shops and pubs that refused to back the call for the vote.

The boycott tactic has survived into modern times, that of the campaign against South African apartheid and now the BDS movement on Israel.

At the start of the Tories 2024 Election campaign Sunak paid a visit to the Vale of Glamorgan Brewery in South Wales. A social media picture posted by Sky suggested that the brewery workers were less than delighted to see Sunak. The brewery owner may reflect that not all publicity is actually good publicity.

While it may surprise those reading this who are not in Wales the country has a large number of mostly small-ish breweries. VOG is one of the larger ones. Very few of the breweries make it out of Wales. Partly because many are small producers. Partly also because the beer is often not that good. There are some decent breweries in South, West, Mid and North Wales and a few that are very good indeed. In that sense the picture is not that different to the rest of the UK.

When it comes to VOG then, there are many other breweries to try. We will shortly be marking the 185th anniversary of the moment when Chartists in Newport almost managed to start a revolution. That was all part of the tactics and strategies designed to win the vote just as Exclusive Dealing was.