Rory Stewart OBE who was a candidate at the Bracknell Conservative Primary (See how he preformed my review here) and is now the Conservative PPC for Penrith and the border is on television tonight.
Rory Stewart if he wins (he should do Penrith is a very safe conservative seat) will be a useful addition to any government. you only need to read his CV on Wikipedia to know that. I’m not sure how good he would be as a constituency MP given his history but if he gets in I will be watching with interest to see how he gets on in Government. He certainly has an interesting way of campaigning which does bold well for his possible future constituency, see Iain Dales blog A Walk With Rory the Tory.
He is on BBC 2 Tonight (Saturday 16th January) in a two part program called the Legacy of Lawrence of Arabia. To quote David Butcher a reviewer on the Radio Times;
“As a former soldier, diplomat, travel writer and governor of an Iraqi province, Rory Stewart is just the kind of dashing character to offer a personal take on the life of TE Lawrence, something he does superbly in this two-parter. Stewart's angle is that the lessons Lawrence learnt about the Arab world, desert warfare and insurgency are painfully relevant today. In fact, as he points out, today's US Army officers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are encouraged to read Lawrence's writings as well as counter-insurgency manuals influenced by his ideas. Whether they bother is another matter. Stewart walks us through Lawrence's early years as a historian and archaeologist and traces how a shy, romantic young student became first a spy and then, in World War One, a guerrilla general, leading an army of Bedouin rebels against the Turkish Ottomans who at the time ruled Arabia. It's a stirring story, and blessedly free of reconstructions, though the odd clip from David Lean's classic film doesn't hurt.“
Now I think you can see just what an insightful program this will be into the problems in this part of the world and perhaps into the interesting mind of Rory Stewart.
Next Conservative Leader - Odds at paddypower.com
ReplyDeleteBoris Johnson 3/1
William Hague 5/1
George Osborne 5/1
Rory Stewart 12/1 ***
Dr Liam Fox 14/1
Theresa May 16/1
Adam Afriyie 18/1
Interesting stuff in that program about Lawrence of Arabia and the legacy that he left. I wonder what insights that Rory has into the Arab mindset?
I wonder if people at the vote were worried about having someone who could strut the world stage, rather than being a representative of Bracknell. Any of the candidates could have done the job. We were given a very interesting group of people to select from.
I was hoping Rory Stewart would win the Bracknell Open Primary. Someone with a strong military background yet is anti-Trident.
ReplyDeleteThose 3/1 odds on Boris Johnson scare me to death. I can think of few things worse!
Boris, well he has always wanted to be leader. Yes I was most surprised and pleased that a man like Rory is anti trident, hes one of the good ones.
ReplyDeleteAs a 70 year old expat Brit living in Arizona USA (I've been in the US for 33 years), I tend to dispair at the world we live in and the (unrecognized by the majority of Americans) continued relative decline of America. But I find this young man, Rory Stewart, inspiring. As a lifelong independent voter I supported Barack Obama hoping for change on many fronts. Would that he would have heeded Rory's advice on Afghanistan. That would have been courageous leadership. Even at my age I now contemplate moving back to the EU, which inspite of the awful beaurocracy, is becoming THE leading force in world affairs. Penrith sounds good. I could walk with Rory in support of his candidacy!
ReplyDeleteRay - It would be amazing to walk with Rory almost worth flying back over here for it hey? What does the average American in Arizona Think of this war?
ReplyDeleteIn response to dazmando.
ReplyDeleteI will try to keep my response brief. Arizona has a population of 6.5 million on a land area 40% greater than Great Britain. But, two thirds live in the Phoenix Metro area. An urban sprawl that threatens to eventually join up with that of the second largest city, Tucson.
In turn, two thirds of the urban dwellers are not "real" Arizonans. They have moved here from other states and countries. Unfortunately they often try to affect a ruggedly independent posture in the tradition of real Arizonans and finish up as caricatures. Succeeding in persuading an incompetent state legislature to allow handguns in bars, repeal a motorcycle helmet law, possibly have speed cameras removed, etc..
Someone said something like "To a man with only a hammer for a tool, every problem looks like a nail" Well,these pseudo cowboys tend to see military force as the answer to all problems. They are ill-informed on foreign affairs and have no understanding of the complexities of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. But that is not surprising since the last statement applies to the majority of Americans who rely on 10 second sound bites for their news.
So this vociferous group agreed with our Senator McCain on the need for military surges in Iraq and Afghanistan. Talk about history ignored ensuring its repeat (of failure)!
rory stewart...a bilderberger 2011...watch this space.
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