Sir Humphrey’s guide to Britain scrapped by the Foreign Office for being ‘dated’…

The Foreign Office has ditched Sir Humphrey's guide to Britain as part of a modernisation programme...

Perhaps with the threat of being shipped out of Whitehall to the regions, to save money, the Foreign Office has decided to drag its image of Britain into the modern age. 

The official book, The United Kingdom: 100 Questions Answered, used in UK embassies abroad, to explain Britain to the world is now considered too out of date to be useful. Some of the top questions the book asks are: ‘What is Cockney rhyming slang?’ and ‘Why do the British like drinking tea’!

The book claims: “Britain’s most popular ‘fast food’ has got to be fish and chips… curry — a spicy dish with meat, fish and vegetables — is now the most popular meal”.

According to the Telegraph, the book admits “British humour” is often a source of “mystification for other nations”, the book suggests: “It may be loosely defined as an attitude of mind which is readily responsive to the incongruous and ridiculous.”

Other concepts explained are the difference between “tea time” and “high tea” and the rules of darts which involves “short, weighted steel darts thrown at a circular dartboard numbered in sections”.

The FCO has decided to phase the book out as, although it had been helpful in the past, they ‘recognise that parts of it are a little dated and Sir Humphreyesque.’

No wonder we have such international influence with this level of self-awareness!

Tarquin Fintim-Limbim-Whimbim-Lim Bus Stop-F’Tang-F’Tang-Olé-Biscuit-Barrel – 238 votes, but Shirley Williams (SDP/Liberal Alliance) 28,118…

The 'Gang of Four' set out to break the mould of British politics and Shirley Williams was to become the first elected SDP MP, 28 years ago today...

With 28,118 votes Shirley Williams gained the formerly strongly Conservative seat of Crosby. The by-election took place at an almost unprecedented state of division in British politics.  With social unrest and both the Labour and Conservative parties in a state of flux.

The SDP had, at this point, not elected any MPs but did have an ever-growing group of former Labour and Conservative MPs in Parliament, as shown at its launch earlier that year. 

A few months earlier Roy Jenkins had failed to gain my hometown seat in the Warrington By-election despite a massive swing from Labour, and Shirley Williams was promoted as the potential SDP candidate for the Crosby by-election.  Although the seat was one of the wealthiest in the North West of England the party felt that Shirley would be the best candidate for the seat, having links with Liverpool, through her father, and with her being a practising Roman Catholic.

Always an effective and energetic campaigner Shirley ran a high visibility campaign and romped home in an historic win. It effectively delivered the SDP a 50% swing, which would have elected a House of Commons, if replicated across the UK, full of Alliance MPs.

It was probably, at that point, the most significant post-war by-election. Although there were important Liberal gains like Orpington, there was for a very short time a genuine belief that the SDP, with their Liberal allies, could ‘Break the Mould’ in British politics, and Shirley’s win 28 years ago today was a major moment in that.

Tarquin Fintim-Limbim-Whimbim-Lim Bus Stop-F’Tang-F’Tang-Olé-Biscuit-Barrel contested the election as Cambridge University Raving Loony Society polling 238 votes. Those of you who are Monty Python fans will recognise the gentleman concerned as being the winner of Luton in the 1970 ‘Election Night’, for the Silly Party. He later joined forces with Screaming Lord Sutch of the larger Official Monster Raving Loony Party.

Leaflets and the full results from the by-election can be seen here.

‘Over the Firth to Kirkcaldy,’ doesn’t quite have the same ring as ‘over the sea to Skye’!

'Over the Firth to Kirkcaldy,' as the song goes

News has come out that Edinburgh council is putting out a tender for a hovercraft service to link the city’s Portobello beach with Kirkcaldy.

To be fair the plan might benefit those who need to travel between the two, and would probably help, to a small extent, with the massive congestion on the Forth Road Bridge.

A spokesman for Stagecoach, who piloted a scheme in 2007, said: “The beauty of a hovercraft is that there are very limited facilities that are required in terms of infrastructure.

“Don’t forget that the route from Fife to Edinburgh across the Forth Road Bridge is one of the most congested routes in Scotland so its only going to get worse.”

He added: “We think that by offering an alternative sustainable public transport option, we have a big opportunity to get people to switch from the car to the hovercraft.”

However, the Romantic in me can’t help but feel that the idea of ferrying, however excitingly via hovercraft, from Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy doesn’t sound that interesting, I suspect there won’t be much tourist traffic.

Imagine the shock of a Tory Woman from Plymouth beating a Liberal favourite from Cornwall…

To be beaten by a Tory woman was quite a shock, especially as the national party was so openly opposing the local Liberal favourite

The shock of being beaten by a woman from Plymouth, who had no political experience to speak of, was quite a shock. It was compounded by the fact that the national leadership of the party was actively opposing a local Liberal candidate and writing letters in support of the Tory opponent.

But, nonetheless, ninety years on it is time to remember Nancy Astor’s election to Parliament, beating the local Liberal champion, Isaac Foot.

It was a strange campaign in the 1919 Plymouth Sutton by-election. Isaac Foot, the local Liberal, contested the seat against a candidate who had the backing of the Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, despite Nancy Astor being a Tory. But, as part of the Coalition agreement which Lloyd George had entered for the 1918 General Election only those candidates in receipt of the ‘coupon’ could stand for the Coalition Government.

So, Isaac Foot contested the election as an ‘Asquithian’ Liberal candidate, against a candidate with the backing of the Liberal Prime Minister.

As Nancy Astor had the support of both the Conservative Leader and the Liberal Prime Minister, as well as contesting the seat vacated by her husband, it is perhaps no surprise that she became the first woman to win a seat in Parliament and take it up.*

Despite this brief setback for Isaac Foot he returned three years later to win the Bodmin by-election in 1922, presently the South East Cornwall constituency, winning the seat off a Conservative Coalition candidate, who also received the backing of the Tory/Liberal Coalition government in London. But, with no Labour candidate standing Foot romped home undermining the coalition, which was to finally collapse later that year.

*Although Countess Markiewicz did win a seat in Parliament she never took her seat due to Sinn Fein policy.

18 out of 32 in the Shadow Cabinet would benefit from the Tory Inheritance Tax cut

18 of the 32 Conservative frontbenchers would benefit from their own Inheritance Tax cut - truly representative of Britain...

It may not come as a shock to many to discover that the Conservative front bench will, on the whole, benefit from the cut in Inheritance Tax, but the fact that they will benefit to the potential tune of £7 Million will.

According to today’s Daily Mirror calculations, ‘Mr Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne are among nine top Tories whose families stand to gain the maximum £520,000 from the change, because their wealth is estimated at more than £2 million.

George Osborne’s plan to cut Inheritance Tax to help the wealthiest people in Britain is a sign that if the Tories get back in to power they will not, as they claim, ‘be in it together’ with the rest of us.  They, and their rich chums, will give themselves such a large financial boost that they won’t need the outside jobs they have at the moment.

Mr Osborne has claimed that the cuts will benefit people who live in former council houses, and once again the Tories are proven to be completely out of touch with reality.