REMEMBER Clean For The Queen? When the Tory government tried to get us all out on the streets of Britain to do some odd jobs which had been neglected, due to austerity measures, all in time for the monarch’s jubilee celebrations?
Well, the attempt to have a “clean” Tory leadership campaign is like that except instead of tidying up, everyone is doing their best to kick over litter bins and set fire to the cleaning equipment.
In fact, the very act of these three Tories putting out this "vow" is an attempt at a smear.
So, the very gesture which is appearing to call a truce to all the dirty tricks is itself a dirty trick.
In it, they vow not to attack other candidates in a personal way. For example, they will "not speak ill of my fellow Conservatives", but according to Alex Wickham of Buzzfeed, it “sounds like *none* of the other candidates were asked if they wanted to sign the pledge before these three announced it”.
Oh dear... was the clean campaign pledge actually classic dirty tricks? Sounds like *none* of the other candidates were asked if they wanted to sign the pledge before these three announced it and started to publicly bounce them pic.twitter.com/NxGCqXbYRd
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 29, 2019
The vow was branded a “cheap trick” by Tory MP Steve Baker, who has accused Dominic Raab, Sajid Javid and Matt Hancock of scheming after they released a pledge with their names on it next to three blank spaces.
Absent are the names of key runners and riders such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove (who will be coming up with his own scheming plan right now), Andrea Leadsom and Esther McVey.
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Baker tweeted: "Did you ask the other declared candidates to sign before you published this? I hope so. That cheap trick was played on Andrea Leadsom last time. Hopefully the three of you are better than that."
And did you ask the other declared candidates to sign before you published this @DominicRaab, @sajidjavid, @MattHancock?
— Steve Baker MP (@SteveBakerHW) May 29, 2019
I hope so. That cheap trick was played on @andrealeadsom last time. Hopefully the three of you are better than that. https://t.co/Al9Jd5LCEs
He added: "I am disappointed but not surprised. We can do better than this."
The pledge came approximately 137 and a half minutes after Hancock had spoken ill of Boris, specifically about some comments he made while foreign secretary.
Maybe he was just getting it out his system. But starting now he won’t speak ill of Johnson. Promise.
If the Tories think they can just put decades-old, deep-seated division aside during this race, I’m afraid they are going to end up disappointed...
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