Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Who said that?

It seems that the arrival of Sajjad Karim into the bosom of the Conservative Group of MEPs has not been greeted with unalloyed joy. Outside the group one Jackie, ("Jaqueline, Miss Foster to you") Foster, formerly of this parish and very keen on returning to its fold is, I am told "Off her cake".

However the comments in today's Telegraph are made by a present incumbent,

"Having failed to top the North West Lib Dem list for the next election, he's clearly concluded that he's most likely to retain his seat by standing as a Tory," one Conservative MEP told Spy. "The man is a complete opportunist and I'm not aware he has a Conservative bone in his body."
I am running a book as to who might possibly have said it.

Syed Kamall: Evens
Sayed is not thought to be a great fan of his co-religionist, having allegedly described him as, "A professional Muslim". Mr Kamall is famous for having the Danish cartoons stuck up in his office, right next to his prayer mat. A passionate believer in free trade and liberty, Mr Karim is an anathema.
Roger Helmer, 2:1
Roger is what can be described as a semi-detached member of the delegation despite having the whip returned. He is Hon Chairman of the Freedom Association and is a passionate supporter of Better Off Out. He is also Parliament's leading Climate Change sceptic.
Martin Callanan, 4:1
Martin also hails from the sceptic wing and is no great friend of the enviro-weenies
Nirj Deva, 6:1
Nirj, though he keeps his nose clean in most matters is currently the only (what about Kamall? Ed.) ethnic minority Tory MEP and worse his chosen field Sri Lanka has had Karim's size 6's pattering all over it, not only that but Karim has attacked Nirj on the subject in an anonymous piece of vitriol on his blog.
Chris Heaton-Harris, 8:1
A year ago, Chris would have been favourite as the Tory's resident sceptic rent-a-gob, but selection to the safe Tory seat of Daventry has filed his mouth with fool's gold. Still a possibility, old habits die hard.
Dan Hannan 12:1
Though Dan should be a favourite he maintains a strict policy of only being rude about people in public through his blog or through his various articles in the Telegraph and Spectator. If he wanted to say this he would be unlikely to do so anonymously through the Spy column.
Geoffrey Van Orden, Den Dover, David Sumberg, 15:1
From the sceptic wing, Karim's appearance strengthens the federastic EPP wing of the delegation.
The rest
250:1 bar
Only too delighted to have such a fine principled chap in the delegation.
At tonight's reception to welcome Karim to the Tory family I fear that it won't just be champagne flutes that will be frosty.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It has got to be the one who has failed to inspire you with something to say about him but who gets mentioned anyway. I'll go a tenner on the 4:1 shot.

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