IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 'WHIGS' & 'TORIES' OF 17th CENTURY ENGLAND THAN TODAY'S POLITICAL PARTIES?

I though this article published in the 'Chronicle of Britain and Ireland' is interesting.

England 1679
"New names for old faces can now be heard mentioned in the houses of parliament with the advent of tags for adherents of different political philosophies.'Whigs' and 'Tories' - both terms of abuse - denote government supporters and opponents. Broadly, the Whigs form the court party; they back the established church and the monarchy, and their instincts are conservative. The Tories are broadly anti-government and support the Roman Catholic Duke of York. 

The word 'Tory' was originally used to describe a particular unpleasant type of Irish robber. A 'Whig', on the other hand, is a Scottish outlaw, covenanter and sanctimonious prig.

Political commentators go further. "A 'Tory' is a creature with a large forehead, prodigious mouth and no brains," says one pamphleteer. A 'Whig' "has principles like chaos" and "prays for the kind with more reservations than the honest man" says another.

The 'Whigs' were a major political party from 1679-1832 that held liberal principles and favoured reforms and later became the Liberal Party. In later use the term was used to refer to conservative members of the Liberal party.

The article therefore seems quite apt when considering our political parties today. It might also be considered appropriate for Labour MP Dennis Skinner to refer to the Tories in a statement he uttered in Parliament by saying - "50% of those on the benches opposite are criminals". After the Speaker had asked him to withdraw his remark, the quick-witted Member for Bolsover responded: "50% of those on the benches opposite aren't criminals".

HERE WE GO AGAIN - ANOTHER WEEK OF POLITICAL GAFFS

Prominent MPs certainly seem to have a knack of putting their feet firmly in the mire. While this might raise some public anger, it might even give some of us a rare cause to chuckle at their gross stupidity – but you know, the worst part is that they never seem to learn from any of this.

Brown’s monumental gaff when he called 66-year old widow Gillian Duffy a ‘bigot’ after spending some time having a perfectly reasonable conversation with the lady was unforgivable. That cost Brown dearly; and not only in terms of dear Mrs Duffy's vote. Yet, Harriett Harman seemed to have forgotten how her prime minister had exposed himself (in a non-literal sense) to reveal his character flaws when she referred to Danny Alexander, the Chief Treasury Secretary, as a ‘ginger rodent’ at the Scottish Labour Party Conference. Perhaps Harman considered it amusing to say: “Now, many of us in the Labour Party are conservationists – and we all love the red squirrel, but there is one ginger rodent which we never want to see again – Danny Alexander.” This was quite pathetic really.

But it was even more of a surprise when Prime Minister David Cameron appeared to have forgotten how we are all being expected to tighten our belts again amidst his promises for greater transparency and accountability when it was announced that his private photographer was being funded by us. The tale refers to a former Conservative Party employee, Andrew Parsons, once a Press Association photographer, who has been given a civil service post. In a rare moment of comedy, opposition leader Ed Milliband broke from his normal moribund quizzing of the PM to announce: “There’s good news for the Prime Minister – apparently he does a nice line in airbrushing” referring of course to the election campaign poster that showed Cameron as having been ‘touched up’.

Nothing much changes then in Parliament? It looks as if we are about to embark once more on the silly season when the opposition can do no better than to trade insults with the coalition. At least it helps fill the newspapers.

WHEN WILL MPs ADMIT THEY HAVE FLEECED THE PUBLIC?

The issues over MPs expenses exposed by the Daily Telegraph earlier this year are unlikely to die down following the independent inquiry by Sir Thomas Legg. It appears public confidence in those charged with the affairs of running our country will continue to diminish because many Members of Parliament, especially those within the Government, still refuse to admit the errors of their ways. It looks likely that a large number of MPs will either resign or be forced to stand down by their constituents at the next election.

HAS DAVID DAVIS PULLED OFF AN AMAZING MASTER STROKE?

The resignation today of the Shadow home secretary, David Davis might in time be seen as a master-stroke. I reason that Mr Davis has become so disillusioned by what he has referred to as '...the slow strangulation of fundamental British freedoms by this government' and by making a firm stand he has the opportunity of making public the underhanded way this government is behaving.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

The normal working British people are being thoroughly ripped off and our once great country has already gone to pot. The rich get richer, the poor poorer but there is also a middle ‘under class’ that has evolved that Gordon Brown is succeeding in bringing to their knees. This group forms the majority of good, honest workers that Brown is treating with total contempt. He seems blind to the fact that he is crippling the nation by taxing us to the hilt while he remains happy to continue to blow money on his pet schemes as well as a useless war in Afghanistan and a peace keeping mission that can never succeed in Iraq. All of this is bleeding the country dry. On this score it is interesting how the government steers clear of questions relating to what all of this is costing the tax payer and just how much money is being spent every time a missile is fired.