PASTYGATE FUELS GOVERNMENT INCOMPETENCE CLAIM

It seems my concerns over the lack of political intuition inside of the Tory party as expressed in my blog on this months budget was just a taste of things to come?. No events can better illustrate how crass, irresponsible and out of touch this government really are than the happenings on what could be described as Cameron's Black Wednesday.

First Cameron himself and Francis Maude whipped up a nationwide frenzy over possible fuel shortages due to a days strike not yet announced and on which 7 days notice must be given, and then Maude suggested we all turn our homes into potential firebombs by storing fuel at home! Maude should resign for making such a stupid and dangerous comment. The Tory party made a deliberate attempt to but public sympathy against the Unite Union in the hope that some bad public bad feeling would rub off on the Labour Party.

And then of course we had pastygate. Having upset the pie eating public by slamming an additional 20% on their hot pastry based purchase, the politicians from all sides were falling over themselves to prove to us all that a daily nibble on a hot pie was an everyday occurrence.  "I bought one recently from the West Cornwall Pastie Company on Leeds Railway Station" said Cameron, leaving it to the Daily Mirror to point out that that franchise on the platform closed down five years ago! and the only other kiosk where a pasty could be bought went out of business last Friday, just after the budget.

On both counts, petrol and pies they failed miserably to get their point across and in fact acted irresponsibly and they have ended up discrediting their own fragile reputation even further. One foot note, I am told if you buy your pasty at a petrol station and pay for it cold, then warm it up in the provided microwave, then you can avoid paying the VAT at the point of sale. I remain unsure as to who is advising the government on its political strategy and media presentation, but it looks like Alastair Campbell is getting his own back. Anyone for a Pasty?