DAvid Cameron

Rob4

I was stopped at the lights on Parliament Square yesterday morning, in the pissing rain, when I noticed none other than David Cameron on his bike next to me!
I knew he cycled but suspected not in that weather. At least someone in the corridors of power has an idea of how crap London's non-existent cycle lanes are.

Gussio

Rob4 wrote:

I was stopped at the lights on Parliament Square yesterday morning, in the pissing rain, when I noticed none other than David Cameron on his bike next to me!
I knew he cycled but suspected not in that weather. At least someone in the corridors of power has an idea of how crap London's non-existent cycle lanes are.

Was he riding in his Eton tails? Posh tw@t.

hamboman

Nice one! was he followed by a Chelsea tractor full of bodyguards?

ChrisLS

Was he riding in his Eton tails? Posh tw@t.

...riding a bike makes you classless...

dirk_van_gently

Never voted Tory in my life, but I may have to make an exception,.
:-D

DavidTQ

Rob4 wrote:

I was stopped at the lights on Parliament Square yesterday morning, in the pissing rain, when I noticed none other than David Cameron on his bike next to me!
I knew he cycled but suspected not in that weather. At least someone in the corridors of power has an idea of how crap London's non-existent cycle lanes are.

Was he decently fast, what sort of bike was he riding, and was there a limo or similiar in tow?

Gussio

ChrisLS wrote:

Was he riding in his Eton tails? Posh tw@t.

...riding a bike makes you classless...

Indeed. The man certainly lacks class

el_presidente

listen you disgusting oik Gussio

say that again and me and my chums here will give you a damn good thrashing

dirk_van_gently

Do we now have to guess who your "Chums" are?

8. is Boris Johnson methinks

mrchrispy

I'm not a tory but I like the bloke, may well get my vote next time.

Gussio

Dirk Van Gently wrote:

Do we now have to guess who your "Chums" are?

8. is Boris Johnson methinks

1. Sebastian Grigg

Still close to David Cameron, Grigg knew him from Eton and lives nearby, in Holland Park. Born into privilege - he is the oldest son of Baron Altrincham, Anthony Ullick David Dundas Grigg, and went to Eton before going to Oriel College - he is now a member of the moneyed aristocracy as a partner at Goldman Sachs.

He and his wife, former Times journalist Rachel Kelly, host an annual Christmas drinks in Lansdowne Crescent which is very much a fixture for Notting Hill grandees. Grigg made an unsuccessful bid to be a Tory MP.

2. David Cameron

Misdemeanours with cannabis aside, Cameron was clearly a surefooted operator at Eton, for by the time he arrived at Oxford he had the social connections to make joining the Bullingdon Club easy.

He still found time for work, though, getting a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics before going on to work at the Conservative Research Department. Spells at the Treasury and Home Office, then seven years as communications head at Carlton TV. Elected MP for Witney in 2001, and became Tory leader in 2005.

3. Ralph Perry Robinson

A former child actor, he had a walkon part in the 1984 film Another Country, that study of public school homosexuality and betrayal.

At Oxford he once paraded round Oriel quad dressed as a monk and calling for virgins to be sacrificed. A former pupil of the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture, he was recruited by Richard Rogers to help him design a virtual reality centre in Japan. He now lives in a village near Salisbury, Wiltshire, where he makes furniture.

4. Ewen Fergusson

Generally thought of as the "quiet one" of the group, Fergusson also had a wild side and is thought to have been responsible for a notorious Bullingdon incident in which a plant pot was thrown through a restaurant window, resulting in six members spending a night in police cells.

The son of former rugby international turned British ambassador in Paris Sir Ewen Fergusson, Ewen Junior - Rugby and Oriel - is now a partner in the banking and finance section of City law firm Herbert Smith.

5. Matthew Benson

Born into proper money - his family were wealthy merchant bankers - Benson spent three years working for Morgan Stanley before setting up a property consultancy.

Now a director of Rettie and Co, an Edinburgh-based property company, he married in 1997 Lady Lulu Douglas-Hamilton, ex-wife of Lord Patrick Douglas-Hamilton, at a ceremony which involved a ruined castle being rebuilt over three floors.

6. Sebastian James

Another Bullingdon blue blood, James is the son of Lord Northbourne, a major landowner from Kent. Something of an entrepreneur, his business ventures have included a DVD rental business, Silverscreen, and a dotcom business, ClassicForum, which was supposed to be an eBay for rare books.

7. Jonathan Ford

The president of the Bullingdon - a post to which Boris Johnson aspired, but never succeeded in attaining - the Westminster-educated Ford was elected to the post because "he had a mad genius about him".

After Oxford, where he read modern history, he had a spell in the City as a banker with Morgan Grenfell before going into financial journalism. He is now deputy editor of a financial website, and married to Susannah Herbert, literary editor of the Sunday Times.

8. Boris Johnson

He looked much the same then as he does now, albeit a trifle slimmer, and was regarded in much the same light: ludicrous, but with an ambition that is not to be underestimated. Beaten by Ford for the post of president of the Buller, he made up for it by becoming president of the Oxford Union.

Editor of the Spectator from 1999 to 2005, and MP for Henley since 2001, his chief occupations outside journalism and politics would seem to be amusing television quiz show audiences and being unfaithful to his wives (two, at the last count).

9. Harry Eastwood

Another old Etonian, after Oxford Eastwood worked in corporate finance at Storehouse, the retail group. Later tried his hand at setting up his own business, co-founding a firm called Filmbox which aimed to operate vending machines for people to rent videos from. They were persuasive enough to get backers to stump up £450,000, but the business was a failure before it even got off the ground. Is now commercial director for a company called Monkey.

Belv

mrchrispy wrote:

I'm not a tory...

No one should be a Tory!
Or a Labourite...
Or a Liberal.

As adults, shouldn't your vote for who will govern your country for up to the next five years be based on more than an allegiance to a colour or an assumed set of values? If you always vote Tory, do you really think the aims of Thatcher and Cameron have been the same? If Labour, new or old? Vote for policies you agree with offered by the people you think most likely to deliver them.

This has been an all-party political broadcast by Belv

Parkey

I think that's well said. Vote for the best candidate.

Did Cameron have panniers for his shoes and breifcase?

daniel_b

So most importantly, what bike was he riding?

I reckon a flat bar Dawes hybrid?

patchy

if this was a Wednesday, I'd imagine he was getting the blood pumping for Prime Minister's Questions... i swear Big Gordon's going to swing that big clunking fist right at Davey boy one day...

il_principe

Cameron and Boris are getting my vote - just cos of the cycling thing... there's little else that differentiates politicians these days.

It's been fun watching Brown at PMQ's though. He really is the Mclaren to Blair's Sven.

BentMikey

And why not Ken? I reckon Ken has and will do far more for cycling specifically than any other politician.

il_principe

Yeah Ken's done a bit but he's had long enough now, time for someone else. At least Boris actually cycles and has an idea of the challenges we face. I've never seen Ken on a bike and he seems to have done nothing to educate drivers about ASL's or cycle lanes, plus he introduced bendy busses which are a cocking nightmare!

cupofteacp

Ken talks a good talk, yes he got the TDF here and he often promotes cycling, but he has of as yet not delivered.

His idea of number plates on bikes was the height of silliness. If you look you’ll see he tried to cut the cycling budget and heaven forbid it was only the green party that stopped him.

Ken has come up before and I’d be interested of hearing about some of the projects that he’s delivered, that directly benefit cyclists?

I’m not saying anyone would be better, cyclist don’t make up enough of the voting population to matter. Cyclists are a great “sound bite” for the environment. Every time global warming is mentioned it seems the next thing is how cycling is being promoted.

If cycling was important why aren’t all-round Lorries mirrors a requirement like in other European countries?

Rob4

The man was riding some crappy MTB of no particular note, but then I'd say posh boys don't go for brands, they're far too common. No helmet, no paniers, just a florescent waistcoast, and no accompanying SAS rider or following Lexus - there was a queue up Grt George Street half a mile long so he must have braved us oilks on his own.
When it turned green I made it my duty to leave him for dead, naturally.

Roastie

:-)

Hairy Jock

Rob4 wrote:

The man was riding some crappy MTB of no particular note, but then I'd say posh boys don't go for brands, they're far too common. No helmet, no paniers, just a florescent waistcoast, and no accompanying SAS rider or following Lexus - there was a queue up Grt George Street half a mile long so he must have braved us oilks on his own.
When it turned green I made it my duty to leave him for dead, naturally.

No paniers, so there must be a car carrying his suit and papers. As he is in opposition he is not entitled to security out rides, or to jump red lights, that is the privilege of power which he only craves, at present.

Cyclegent

Sorry, but Red Ken won't be getting my vote after his barefaced lie that he would not abolish Routemaster buses. The only good thing that came out of their replacement by the Bendy Burners was that it prompted me to start cycling.

I also like Cameron and Johnson because they are 'normal' cyclists and don't dress up like luge riders.

rdaviesb

and no accompanying SAS rider or following Lexus -

Errr. No. You just didn't see them.

Cameron. Banker. Replace first letter with that between V and X. Johnson. Tosser.

Just because both get out on a bike for effect every once in a while doesn't make them fit to represent us. Don't get me started on the rest. For those who have forgotten, remember the Miners Strike, the introduction of a "market economy" into the NHS, the Poll Tax, late 1980s interest rates, and Back to Basics, whilst Edwina was having it off with Major all along.

Comrades!

Belv

rdaviesb wrote:

For those who have forgotten, remember the Miners Strike, the introduction of a "market economy" into the NHS, the Poll Tax, late 1980s interest rates, and Back to Basics, whilst Edwina was having it off with Major all along.!

I agree entirely. No-one should even consider tryin to vote for an 80's or 90's political party. Not unless they have a flying Delorian. And no-one vote for Tony Blair either. :roll:

Incidently, i am too young to have been aware of the immediate consequences of the events you refer to, but i do remember the firemans strikes and fuel protests, PFI schemes that build hospitals now and will bleed them dry for the next decade or more, stealth taxes, early decade interest rates that have created unprecedented levels of debt and ludicrous overspeculation of house prices, and sex scandals with Robin Cook, David Blunkett and John Prescott. Hardly unparelleled failings then.

But then these events are also in the past which is why intelligent people MUST use their brains and vote for current policies and the people they believe are most likely to deliver them: Gordon Brown versus David Cameron, Alistair Darling versus George Osbourne, and so on. You don't have to like these people (who does?!) just to decide which of them will do the best job for you in your circumstances.

BTW, all political parties care less about their 'core' voters than any other demographic since they can guarantee their support. Be a floating voter and make them listen to you.

Parkey

Belv wrote:

...intelligent people MUST use their brains and vote for current policies and the people they believe are most likely to deliver them

Absolutely.

I would never have considered voting Conservative in the past, but I'm closer to doing so now than ever. Political parties aren't football teams; vote for the best candidate.

That said, I don't think I'd EVER vote Labour without first having had a lobotomy.

flattythehurdler

I saw a girl cycling in stockings and suspenders so there.

DavidTQ

flattythehurdler wrote:

I saw a girl cycling in stockings and suspenders so there.

Thats what helmet cams were really made for....

AidanR

I saw a girl cycling in stockings and suspenders so there.

Was it Anne Widdicombe? :shock:

misterben

DavidTQ wrote:

flattythehurdler wrote:

I saw a girl cycling in stockings and suspenders so there.

Thats what helmet cams were really made for....

Must. Resist. Double. Entendre.

prj45

flattythehurdler wrote:

I saw a girl cycling in stockings and suspenders so there.

Do you know if I can vote for her?