Cameron long on promises

Mar 16 2008 by Michael Kelly, Sunday Sun

IT is a happy coincidence that we publish the story today of single mum Nicola Bertram at the same time as the Conservatives have come to the region.

We reveal that Nicola, a mum of seven, is determined to carry on her job as a welder, even though she could make more money on benefits.

She promised her dying dad she wouldn’t be on benefits all her life, while she is determined to make something of her life.

That should cause a few people to reconsider the stereotype of the single mum.

Which brings us neatly to the Conservatives.

Tory leader David Cameron and his party have been holding their spring conference at the Sage in Gateshead this week.

Some might be surprised the party even know where the Sage is, such has been its apparent antipathy to the North in the past. But the Tories have changed, or so they would have everybody believe.

What would his colleagues from the party’s days in power have made of Nicola?

Remember the rather strange Peter Lilley, the then Social Security Minister, who in 1992 at a Tory party conference a fair few miles away from Gateshead, did a pastiche of a Gilbert & Sullivan number and sang of his “little list” of people “who wouldn’t be missed” in which he labelled single mums as scroungers.

Lilley was a favourite of Margaret Thatcher who, interestingly, was described as being responsible for the rebirth of the area at the Sage conference.

That’s akin to somebody throwing a baby into the River Tyne, which by sheer survival instinct manages to get to safety, claiming responsibility for teaching the infant to swim.

There have been a lot of promises made by Cameron this week. In fact it has added up to quite a list. It will be interesting to see what will be missed if he does come to power.

Wise choice but tactless

IT hasn’t taken Dennis Wise long to land in bother in his £1.5m new job with Newcastle United.

For, according to reports, the fiery former midfielder has been asked to explain to his bosses why he chose to go and watch the Lion King musical instead of the Newcastle-Liverpool game.

Some say the incident calls into question his judgment. Long-suffering Magpies fans might beg to differ.