Tories "Must Conserve Their Compassion."

Tim Montgomerie, a self-styled Christian Tory, has made an impassioned plea today in the "Guardian" for more understanding for the poor Tory party. "They want to be compassionate - honest," he tell us, "but can't be because of the wicked Labour party which has spent all the money." Nor can money be raised by taxing the rich, he tells us, without, at the same time, explaining why this should be. After Labour nearly turned Britain into a Soviet republic, he goes on, its no wonder that the Tories have little choice but to reverse the trend and turn us into a Nazi dictatorship instead. The Coalition just hasn't gone far enough, he explains with a straight face, and have failed the unemployed by not underming workers rights even further than they have. He pleads for more traditional skills - presumably things like teaching young children how to climb chimneys - and reminds us that compassion is better expressed in lower taxes for the rich and giving money to middle class families who don't actually need it. We asked our political editor for his reaction; "Tim Montgomerie has carefully placed his own head up his intestinal tract and extracted every idea of value he's found there. Jesus Christ would be spinning in his grave if he'd ever had one."