Westminster Update: Patrick Mercer, Lord Levy, UKIP

Patrick Mercer makes an early comeback - another thought about his sacking
Patrick Mercer, unceremoniously sacked by Mr Cameron last week is not bowing out quietly. It is understood that he is a guest speaker to the prestigious United and Cecil Club dinner next week - in place of uber-moderniser Matthew D'Ancona who has had to postpone. Interestingly it is thought there was a mild sub plot to Mr Mercer's removal. He was thought to be unhappy with the pace of Cameroonism and had made his feelings clear privately. A close colleague of David Davis, Mr Mercer is very much on the right of the party. Was his sacking a warning to the right: "Thus far and no further"?

Patrick Mercer had to go because he was an impressionist
An excellent Shadow Minister who really knew his brief on homeland security brilliantly, Mr Mercer's departure is both a loss to the Conservatives and more significantly a blow for the fight against terrorism in this country. His constant exposure of the inadequacy of Government preparations for a terrorist attack, has hopefully ensured that the Home Office is better prepared.

Nevertheless, despite this, it is clear that Mr Mercer had to go. Not because of the orgy of self righteousness from the illiberal left, Channel 4 and the BBC (witness Jon Snow's marked disappointment that Lord Taylor did not describe the whole of the Conservative Party as racist in a C4 news interview), but because of the impression that he created. Across the country there are numerous grassroots ethnic minorities who think Conservative, act Conservative and espouse Conservative values of strong families and hard work. The problem is that these same people never vote Conservative. Why, because the only soundbites they ever hear (they don't have the time to analyse the context) is "rivers of blood" (witness Enoch Powell), "mongrel nation" (witness John Townend), "foreign land" (witness William Hague) and "black bastard" (witness Patrick Mercer). Mr Mercer's failing was that he gave an impression of being a racist without actually being one. In doing so he allowed the illiberal left to have a field day and upset many members of ethnic minorities who would probably vote Conservative if they believed that the Tories really represented them.

Lord Levy, the Neil Hamilton of the Tories?
The idea that Lord Levy is a victim of an anti-Semitic witch-hunt is ridiculous. Just as cash for questions came to symbolise the decaying edifice of the Major Government, so the cash for peerages scandal epitomises the rottenness of New Labour to its very core. Of course donors to political parties have been given peerages for years, the difference this time is that the donations (made as loans) were kept secret and not divulged to the Lords Appointments Committee. For years, New Labour has acted with a swagger when it came to their dealings with big business, donations and such like. Because Tony Blair got away relatively unscathed after the Bernie Ecclestone and Hinduja affair, the party thought it could walk on water. But with cash for peerages, New Labour went just too far. Whatever the result of the investigation is of no matter. The impression, the mood music amongst the public that has been created is that New Labour is corrupt in a way few would have thought imaginable.

Better to get UKIP fair and square than by machination
Watlington has no love for UKIP and its jihad against Conservatives. Yet the spate of stories week after week in the weekend press alleging corruption, fraud and such like have the appearance of a nasty "illiberal" establishment cabal. Why is it that the Liberal Democrats can escape paying back a donation from a convicted criminal (now in jail), but UKIP is forced to repay its donation having failed to ensure that the donor was on the electoral register? Why is all of a sudden there are a spate of stories - all coming together - of UKIP alleged fraud in the EU Parliament and such like? Of course UKIP will have their demons and shenanigans – as every party does. But the way to defeat the UKIP jihadists and their quest to promote Labour federalists by destroying the Conservative Party, is to vigorously prove that Conservative Eurosceptism is both true and achievable. Let argument and reason triumph over fanaticism and dirty tricks.

To read more by Watlington, see Watlington.