1% Bob’s £100,000 Delusion

Iran Will Get the Bomb Unless Obama Steps Up | Melanie Phillips
TUC Slides Into Irrelevance | Peter Watt
Could You Be the Next Mervyn King? | ConservativeHome
Hayek’s Influence on Thatcher | Ryan Bourne
Liam Fox Loves Coalition | Speccie
Sacked Ministers Go on the Attack | Standard
Davis and Fox: We Will Not Be Constrained | Matt Chorley
Individualism, Conservativism & Collectivism | Charles Crawford
Fox: We Must Follow Thatcher’s Example | Guardian
Maggie T-Shirts Demean the Left | Dan Hodges
TUC Back to the Stone Age | ASI

1% Bob’s £100,000 Delusion

It takes something pretty extraordinary from Bob Crow to raise an eyebrow, but the RMT fat cat has surpassed himself at the TUC today:

“I’ve been in a minority all my life. I’ve got more in common with a Chinese labourer than I do with a city financier - I don’t care if it’s the Queen’s head or the Queen’s arse on a ten pound note… If you spit on your own you can’t do nothing. If we all spit together we can drown the bastards.”

Guido challenges Crow to find a Chinese labourer earning £100,000 a year while living in a rent-subsidised council house.
The only minority Bob’s in is the 1%…

Tim Yeo Quits Lucrative Green Job
MP and CEO Walk From Eco City Following Guido Revelations

Last month Guido revealed that Tim Yeo’s cab-selling company Eco City Vehicles was set to profit from a change in the law agreed by their own CEO Peter Da Costa – yet another conflict of interest from the chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee. Following the revelations hereand here, Yeo has quit as a director of the company. Da Costa is also standing down. With the lobbying mission accomplished, now Yeo is running for cover…
There has been speculation in recent weeks that No. 10 have become increasingly worried about Yeo’s outside interests, raising questions over whether he could stay as the Energy Select Committee chairman while having such high level interests in green businesses. Some see Yeo’s “man or mouse” attack on the PM was a tanks on lawn warning shot from the golf fan. The loss of his Eco-City job means he’s down over £3,000 per month, but don’t feel too sorry for him – Yeo remains a director of ITI Energy, AFC Energy, Eurotunnel and  chairman of TMO Renewables. Guido will say it once again – just because the conflict of interest is declared, it’s still a conflict of interest.

Dame Jowell Quits to Spend More Time With Crook Hubby

Hardly a surprise, but Shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell has quit the shadow cabinet today as promised. Heebie jeebie-giving Jowell told Ed it was job done following the Games.
No news yet on whether he asked her to stay with a new job.

More time now to spend with her “estranged” criminal hubby.

UPDATE: The couple certainly seemed to have patched things up at the Olympics opening ceremony…

Nadine: “We Need a Kill Cameron Strategy, Not a Voice”

Earlier Guido noted that the Conservative Voice team were“not quite saying what they wanted”. No such restraint from one Tory backbencher. Nadine Dorries isn’t very happy with the new group, particularly the fact that this morning’s launch consisted of an all-male panel. Speaking more broadly she tells Guido:

“We need a kill Cameron strategy, not a voice.”

Metaphorically speaking of course, but ouch. Guido wonders how many of her colleagues agree…
UPDATE: Nadine is stressing the metaphorical aspect of that quote. As originally stated above.
UPDATE II: 

Whispers are Louder than Conservative Voices
New Group Denies Big Donor Backing

In the subtle surroundings of Cameron’s old haunt – the dining room of the St Stephens Club –Conservative Voice launched this morning with David Davis and Liam Fox, as well as recently un-promoted members of the 2010 intake like Dominic Raab and Steve Barclay. While everyone was on their best behaviour today, making sure to say nice things about the Prime Minister and how this most certainly was not a challenge to his authority, what is clear is that the right of the Tory party are at least trying to organise.
Multiple mentions of Obama-style fundraising and online campaigning could not hide the fact  that the whole thing seemed a little dated though. Soundbites like “a vision of radical and popular conservatism that reflects the aspiration of the voters, join us on this exciting mission,”were complemented by dated branding.
As one senior Tory told Guido afterwards: “this itself will not amount to much, but if it annoys the Prime Minister then sign me up”. The fact that the group has been set up by Don Porter, until recently the Tory’s most senior volunteer, shows just how deep the dissatisfaction is in the party. Despite this, the group claims they will be working “closely with the leadership and CCHQ”.Whether that lasts beyond what is shaping up to be a tempestuous Tory conference remains to be seen.
Probed on their funding by Guido, Porter confirmed that as of yet they have no “big donors”, though they were touting for them. Apparently the 25 most vulnerable seats and 25 must win targets will be getting help, but details of what the group will be actually doing  beyond being a lightning rod for discontent was vague. The two somewhat tainted standard bearers of the right – Davis and Fox – were careful to attack the LibDems today rather than Cameron. While they talked about giving a voice to the right, you have to wonder whether their “conservative voice” would have been put to better use around the cabinet table.
Fox is putting a brave face on his enforced liberation from the shackles of government:“There are limitations to what ministers can say, given the constraints of Coalition. There are no limitations on what we can say.” That was not strictly true this morning though – it was clear the group were not quite saying what they wanted.Guido had to chuckle at the picture of Cameron looming over