Wednesday 19 December 2007

Dunwoody done very, very, very goody

Not entirely unreasonably I think, my initial reaction to Gwyneth Dunwoody's astonishing assault yesterday in the Commons on the dwarfish Hazel Blears was that it was part of the Blarite undermining of the Bottler that, inevitably, is now poised to turn very, very nasty, whatever Tony's protestations of innocence as he surreptitiously unleashes his attack dogs.

After all, Mandelson, though with less precision that might have been expected, has already had one go. Charles Clarke, a man who has even more reason to be bitter, another.

Yet Dunwoody's flaying of Blears was clearly of a different order.

It was that rarest of rare parliamentary performances: the defence of a genuine principle made with no thought for party or personal advantage. It was also notably well delivered. In short, it was heartfelt, honest and true.

This is the kind of attack any current Labour minister, entangled in self-spun webs of deceit, desperate for any momentary advantage and terrified of the Bottler's increasingly random clunking vengeance, is strikingly ill-equipped to rebut. That it came from a member of their own party makes it all the more devastating.

But it underlines, too, just how much the career politician has undermined the House of Commons. Dunwoody may be even more hideous than Anne Widicombe. She may also be a socialist. But as the longest serving woman MP in the House and with zero prospect of a government job, she has the overriding advantage of being able to say what she thinks.

In short, she is worth the two Ballses, both Milibands, the Alexanders (Mr and Mrs) and the Bottler eight million times over.

By comparison, the tiddly-widdly Blears registers as a momentary blip at best, a tiny, irrelevant distraction.

4 comments:

Jon said...

I say nothing about Hazel, for reasons I think you know.

Dunwoody is a self-opinionated old bag right enough, but fearless with it. When Sir Dalek Birt was appointed "Blue Sky Thinker in Chief" (or similar) by Tony Blair, he came up with some stupid ideas for transport and laid them before the relevant parliamentary committee. It was on the radio. Mrs D. tore into him with a chainsaw. Even his ego must have been a bit dented by that. For 20 minutes, anyway.

The Creator said...

Better see my comment on your own mighty site.

I know your keen, keen anquish.

I would never dream of adding to it by pointing out that 'Hazel' Blears is as ugly as she is transparently stupid, a self-serving non-entity who should be encased in concrete and hurled into the Thames.

But I agree that Dunwoody is also a self-opinionated, wobbly old bag, unimaginably hideous, laughably self-righteous, and probably keen for headlines as her Parliamentary career comes to a close.

She is also right in this case.

More to the point, she has also landed what we old-time boxing correspondents call 'a left right combination' in no uncertain style.

And by 'left-right' I mean no political allusion.

Ditto, 'combination' is no reference to Mrs Dunwoody's underwear, which I am sure is at least as sturdy as her political convictions and has no less noble service.

Jon said...

You must understand that, to me, HB represents the very acme of beauty. I am used only to the 3H of my solitary belfry (pencil joke).

Dunwoody is just another of the loathsome parasites and is also a candidate for the Thames.

When I think of all the problems mounting up for the future, and realize that no one, absolutely no one, is doing anything constructive to prevent or even ameliorate them, my feelings are like those of the despairing bloke pictured in your margin.

I wish you hadn't mentioned the Dunwoody bloomers. Sleep and the possibility of nighmares are not far away.

Bunty Binstock said...

Ahh Dennis. This is where I find you, and still wittering on about HER! Too much. Just too much