Kitchen Cabinet

‘SUCH is the Tory party’s palsied state that Michael Howard’s decision to slim down his Shadow Cabinet from 26 to 12 members is a cause for concern.

‘The Tory Party? C’est moi’

The Independent can talk about the dozen being, as Howard put it yesterday, ‘clean and lean’, but a reduction in Tory numbers could merely be a prelude to what lies ahead at a General Election.

As it is, the Telegraph has a nice photograph of the clean dozen seated around a table at Conservative Central Office.

Although only 12 in number, the names are too long to list here.

But the notables are the arrival of Lord Saatchi, the reemergence of Tim Yeo, who has recovered from a ‘back to basics’ scandal which cost him a ministerial post in the 1980s, and Oliver Letwin, the new shadow chancellor and the man Margaret Thatcher has described as a ‘genius’.

But what about that table, eh? It’s got a lovely patina and is ageing far better than, well, most of the people seated round it.

The photograph of the gang also shows a pretty decent standard lamp, which could benefit from a new shade, and some lovely wainscoted walls.

As the Times says, the whole lot is for sale as Michael Howard tries to flog the Conservative Central Office, party headquarters for the past 45 years.

The sale will, the paper says, raise round £6m for the party’s election campaigns.

And instantly all things become clear. It is, after all, far cheaper and easier to find space for 12 people than it is for 26.

We commend to party’s attention the Anorak EZTent, which, not a bit unlike the Shadow Cabinet, takes just minutes to assemble and promises to not collapse under pressure.’

Posted: 11th, November 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink