Tories Fear That They've Been Rumbled.

Ken Clarke, the jovial Herman Goering-like figure in the Tory party, has warned Cameron that dropping him from the cabinet would "re-toxify the party." In fact, as their policies amply demonstrate, the Tory party has remained as toxic as it always was. Having assured us all that "we're all in this together" they have gone out of their way to attack every vulnerable person in the country in order to make them pay for the mistakes of their rich pals. They have thought nothing about villifying sick and disabled people and exposing them to abuse from the more vicious elements in our society, nor have they shrunk from blaming the victims of their wicked and deeply selfish policies. That the Tory party as a whole is no better than even the most pessimistic predictions is amply shown by a simple statistic - that Tory councils have, since 2010, sold off six times as many school playing fields than councils controlled by other parties. Nasty, sleazy, two-faced, unutterably stupid and congenitally unable to tell the truth, the party is also tearing itself apart in the continuing re-run of its vicious history. Tory backbenchers, having already revolted to stop electoral reform, have now decided to scratch the eyes out of their leader in two new pollicy areas - protecting the green belt and rail fare hikes. At first sight these might appear to be good reasons to revolt - everyone agrees that the green belt needs protecting and everyone agrees that rail fares are already too high. But, when the motives of these revolting Tories are examined, their opposition is seen to be rather less noble. Their objections to building in the green belts is based on protecting their voters in rural constituencies and fears that their property values might suffer despite the need for new affordable housing, while their objections to a hike in rail fares is based on fears for their waifer-thin majorities in marginal constituencies outside London. As is usual in the Tory party their fears and objections all turn out to spring from selfish motives. Ken Clarke has no need to worry about the "de-toxification" of his party. Like any other poisonous compound rebranding it can never hide its essentially deadly and thoroughly unpleasant nature.