I suppose we have to make allowances. I didn't know he was a lawyer. I suppose he works all days biting his lip and making sure he's not actionable, but when he comes on mudcat - he lets his hair down, takes his wig off, whatever! Imagine telling me, I don't sing folk music!

I disagree about DD though.

If Portillo had set out his stall earlier on, he would have been the natural choice for when Major started to flounder - (as he was pretty much bound to). That is, given the state the country was in - after waiting god knows how long for Lamonts green shoots of recovery - (never really likely to show their heads in the barren soil of relentless deflationary economic policies and mass unemployment.)

Surely you remember how cheesed off the tories were when Kinnock managed to lose the '92 election. A couple of years of stuttering John Major and Portillo would be in. That was the plan. Kinnock managed to scupper it, by running an even more bloody useless campaign than anyone thought posssible.

I think DD has opened his account. He knows his troops. Nobody wants to hug a hoody. They'd rather birch a baddy! He has raised his standard, it only remains to be seen who will gather under it. The Daily Mail's on board already.