Guess who the TPA's new Political Director will be?

In the past my comments about the Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA) have been mixed. Sometimes they do good work, sometimes it is a bit shoddy and their habit of not crediting anyone with previous research is annoying. At times I have also referred to them as a front organization for the Conservative Party, a moniker they have vehemently denied. Well, now we know.

The new Political Director of the TPA is to be Jonathan Isaby, formerly of the Daily Telegraph and, more importantly, of ConHome, where his arrival coincided with the site acquiring a far cosier relationship with the Conservative Party and its leadership. Any particular conclusions we can draw from that?

Can the Guardian be really this silly?

That is a rhetorical question, since obviously they can be very silly, indeed. One of their leading headlines today shouts: "Tory tax allies 'subsidised' by the taxpayer". It is clearly a story about the Taxpayers' Alliance, who is being provided by a vast amount of extra publicity through the Guardian's obsession with its activities.

As it happens, I, too, have on various occasions pointed out that the TPA was acting as a front organization for the Conservative Party but being subsidised by the taxpayer is an accusation one must take seriously until one reads the sub-heading: "Taxpayers' Alliance accused of using charitable arm to claim gift aid on donations from wealthy backers".

Does the Guardian really not know the difference between using charitable status to receive donations and being subsidized by the taxpayer? Obviously not, as their main source is John Prescott, whose own financial dealings do not bear too much investigation.

Not only all think-tanks receive money through charitable trusts, whether they are right-wing, left-wing, Conservative or Labour but any government that really cared about the status of individual contributions (about which both Labour and Conservative politicians mouth off ad nauseam) would reform the tax law making it possible to give to charities, educational establishments and think-tanks. In the meantime we have to put up with this idiotic excuse for journalism.

What a shame, eh?

ConHome has a rather downbeat posting about the Czech President that quotes the Financial Times. "Vaclav Klaus may not save Britain from Lisbon after all". Well, no. In the first place, it might be a good idea to get the situation right.

The fate of the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty lies with the Czech Constitutional Court, whither it had been returne by a group of Czech Senators. The Court will decide within the next six months on whether the treaty is compatible with the Czech Constitution. If, as expected, they will say yes, President Klaus will find himself in a difficult position: by not signing he will be going against the will of both Houses of the Czech Parliament and the Constitutional Court. No president in a democracy can hold that position for very long. He will most probably sign.

The Boss on EURef has also written about this, referring to the Guardian and the BBC.

We do not know what was in the letter the Conservative Party appears to have sent him but his opinion of the British political process does not seem to be very high. Presumably, it is not terribly high when he thinks about the British Conservative Party.

Vaclav Klaus, the Eurosceptic Czech president who had indicated he would delay ratifying the treaty until after the British general election, indicated he might change his mind. "There will never be another referendum in Europe," he told the BBC after the Irish vote. "The people of Britain should have been doing something much earlier and not just now, too late, saying something and waiting for my decision."

Well, indeed. Above all, why should President Klaus go out of his way to save the Conservative Party's credibility?

Mark Wallace of the Taxpayers' Alliance is running around the Conservative Party Conference getting people to sign a postcard to President Klaus, pleading with him to save Britain, the Conservative Party and David Cameron. Some have signed, others like Boris Johnson, have refused. (Here is a picture of Douglas Carswell signing.)

Too little, too late. We suggested a campaign of this kind almost four months ago but the TPA was too busy telling the world that nobody had thought of the European issue and its problems until they came on the scene. My personal attempt to interest them in the idea of writing to President Klaus were met with charming and dismissive smiles.

Now that President Klaus has made it clear that he is not that interested in saving people who cannot save themselves, at least, not at the expense of a possible impeachment, that delightful looking postcard will do very little beyond getting media time for the TPA.