I spoke with Graham Brady regarding the Conservative Party's EU policy following an IEA meeting at which he spoke a couple of months ago.

I found him a pleasant guy who actually stayed to answer questions from the plebs even until they were turning out the lights and ushering us out of the door. Not many front benchers from either side would show such courtesy to lowly folk such as myself.

Still, he peddled the delusional line that there was a good chance that the EU would, if asked, give Britain the right to take back powers over certain areas of legislation such as the Social Chapter, in exchange for Britain's permission for the EU hard core to forge on ahead.

Needless to say, he didn't squarely address what Cameron would do if they just turned round and said 'no'. Nor did he give much time to the question of what would happen if the constitutional treaty had already been ratified by the time the Tories got into power, thus depriving them of their bargaining chip.

It was a shame that Brady didn't resign over Cameron's wrong-headed approach there, although I got the impression Brady actually agreed with it.

On the issue of education, by proposing to radically open up the supply side and remove much of the powers of the left wing LEAs to determine education provision in their borough, I would have thought, Perry, that Cameron's policies were heading in a more libertarian direction here than what is represented by the state direction/division of people into either Grammar Schools or secondary moderns...?

I would have thought, Perry, that Cameron's policies were heading in a more libertarian direction here than what is represented by the state direction/division of people into either Grammar Schools or secondary moderns...?

I could not care less about the actually policies he resigned over as the only rational government policy on education is to get the hell out of the education business lock stock and barrel.

I was only marvelling that there was anyone at all left in the Tory party who actually believed in anything other than their personal political career.

A politician who actually says what he believes, isn’t obviously mad and believes it strongly enough to resign, rather than spout the party line.

Can’t see he has much future in party politics - best he finds a proper job.

I do not trust Cameron to "open up" the sector in a way that helps the vast majority or enables true freedom. If not done propoerly it will become a cherry picking exercise in key constituencies and wards, leaving the "lumpen illitariat" with the State sector. LEAs need to be taken out or at least almost entirely out of the loop, enabling schools to be selective on ability if they so wish. Cameron's plans require schools to be MASSIVE all-inclusive multi-streamed leviathans. This is daft.

Graham Brady is my MP. Looks like I've got someone worth voting for!

Phil has nailed it: honest guys don't get to the top often, especially not in politics. It's just the nature of the beast.

I know Graham Brady from before he was an MP and this just affirms my belief that he is a principled bloke, not just a career politician. His parliamentary selection meeting was in the hall of the grammar school he attended as a boy.
As Guido Fawkes (Link)has blogged, the Old Etonians in Cameron's gang refer to George Osborne as 'Oik' because he went to a "minor" public school rather than Eton. Goodness knows how the Bullingdon mob refer to Grammar School boys such as Graham Brady.

Mr Brady should not have taken the job representing the Conservative party on the E.U.

Mr Cameron has made it quite clear that Britain will not demand the return of ANY powers from the E.U. - he even ditched the policy of getting control of fishing back.

"But one can not be in the Conservative party and oppose Mr Cameron, so Mr Brady had to go along with the party line on the E.U. and on education".

I denounce Mr Cameron all the time - as do some members of Parliament.

Actually (I am told) that Mr Cameron and his associates welcome these attacks - as it shows that he is in the "centre ground" opposed by "evil extremists".

Well if Mr Cameron and co like me and others explaining how bad he is, I am only too happy to oblige.

Certainly "working with" Mr Cameron and co will achieve nothing at all (on any area of policy).

I would like to think that his total uselessness on all policy matters, and lack of any principles, would bring Mr Cameron down. However, this being Britain, it will be a sex-and-drugs matter (if it is anything).

Still I hope Mr Brady does not stop at education, but also attacks Mr Cameron and co on everything else. After all (as I mentioned above) the hangers-on claim that Mr Cameron "likes it", it "helps the party" and so on.