The Blond, McPoison and Me
Just as the North Pole used to be famous for ice, Peterhouse – the oldest of the Cambridge colleges – used to be famous for producing Conservatives.
But in the last couple of years Damian McBride, and (without homage to Amber Rudd's ex-husband, AA Gill) the Blond have burst onto the political scene.
Whilst we were in different academic years, Damian and I studied History at the same time. And we were still there when a certain Brylcreamed Scouser whirled into the graduate common room, to start a doctorate in theology.
How could we have known how things would turn out...
I was, and many of my friends were, friends with Damian at first.
That appalling photo of him (and the caustic political obituary written by Marina Hyde at The Guardian) were worlds away when he was captain of the college football team and would hold court in the bar around the quiz machine. (What a heady student life we led!)
It didn't last.
And then there was Phil Blond. Well, he was Phil then – just as David Cameron used to be Dave...
Now of 'Red Tory' fame; the darling of the Notting Hill set; just having launched his new Think Tank in London...
He always caused high drama in the Porter's Lodge - an uncontrollable greased forelock, and a Sherlock Holmes, tweed overcoat. Invariably in a rush to get somewhere; letting you know the sheer existential absurdity of it as he passed.
Most people couldn't understand what he said because of the thickness of his Scouse accent.
As a St Helens lad myself, the Liverpool accent wasn't difficult to translate. I didn't understand him because he talked bollocks.
How interesting that they have both surfaced in politics ten years later. Not as politicians, but in the presentational wings of their respective parties.
Both are ambitious, and I predict that we have not heard the last of Damian McBride.
Blond, in my view, is not really a Tory, but likes the camp celebrity of being David Cameron's 'philosopher king'.
These days, some of what he says makes sense. I read one of his pieces on The Guardian website last year and sent an email suggesting that he wasn't a million miles from Lib Dem policy. He replied that he often thought the Lib Dems are right on the policy issues.
The trouble is that being a Liberal Democrat is not a glamorous political option.
It's certainly not the easiest way to get on in politics.
Rightly or wrongly people become Liberal Democrats because of political philosophy, and the politics of principle.
When trust in politics is at an all time low, perhaps our time will come.
(To read more about what Nick has been up to, check out his blog – 'Nick Perry for Hastings & Rye' at www.nickperrylibdem.wordpress.com; or reply to him: @nickperrylibdem on Twitter]
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Weather for Hastings
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
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