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Watching the coverage of Blair arriving at the Palace in a Jag with a Range Rover escort and I couldn't help thinking - what's the PM's car going to be when Jag and Landrover goes?
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Also, I can't help thinking what sort of two faced example this lot is setting by forcing people out of luxury cars with outrageous taxation, yet themselves swanning around in Range Rover Vogues and XJ8's.
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....and armoured ones at that.
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Also I can't help thinking what sort of two faced example this lot is setting
When you are a head of state you can do away with the high powered vehicles, the armour, the professional driver, and the security detail, and drive yourself around London in a Mk2. Fiesta while dealing with paperwork and discussing international treaties with Angela Merkel. I'm sure she'll be very happy with the arrangement and no doubt your replacement will look suitably downcast at your funeral the following week.
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what's the PM's car going to be when Jag and Landrover goes?
Big Mercedes. There has to be room for the Chobham armour and 2-inch-thick laminated window glass.
Of course the Cousins could ship over a few of the space capsules (apparently gas, fire and nuke-proof) that the US President gets shovelled around in.
It's an unfortunate side-effect of the huge tabloid popularity of these figures. People in a scrum to touch the hems of their garments, perhaps in the hope of curing their scrofula :o}
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Any car he uses will have been vetted and approved and swept regularly for bugs by Special Branch, who will now look after him 24/7 until he dies. The Iraq war means he's now a target. The costs of his security cover will be several times greater than his Parliamentary pension.
The same was true of past PMs with respect to Northern Ireland, but thankfully it seems that threat is now over.
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>The Iraq war means he's now a target
In that case then he should be forced to drive around in a Reliant Robin
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Pity they don't paint a bulls-eye on the side.Not that many years ago my wife and I were walking down Downing St. on the Sunday before the budget.As we went past #11,the Chancellor and his wife came out accompanied by a photographer-they chatted to us and we all walked down to St. James's Park so they could have their photos taken.Thinking back,it must have been a long time ago-the Chancellor's name was Barber.
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Clement Attlee used to use a taxi. Remember that joke, an empty taxi pulled up, and Mr Attlee got out ?
And when once he came to pay a bill in a restaurant, he found he hadn't any money. Just leave your name and address said his companion. "Oh, I couldn't do that", said the Prime Minister," they don't know me!"
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With holier than thou Brown in charge now he will surely set an example and buy British which will leave him:
1. Vauxhall Astra ?
er...that'll be it for the Brits (J/LR being American owned then Vauxhall should be OK).
I can see him trundling down the Mall in a black 5dr CDTi
Sorry, I forgot. He could always have a European Van of the Year. A Transit.
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Jaguar and L/Rover family are built in the Uk.Vauxhall are also American owned(GM).
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how about a Morgan, don't get much more British than that these days?
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When Mrs T was booted out in 1990 I remember the news showing Dennis arriving at No 10 to move their possessions out in a battered blue mk5 Cortina estate!
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To be thoughtful for a moment, it's worth pointing out that few governments are popular after ten years in power, and that effective politicians tend to gather a mass of self-appointed enemies, some of whom may well be certifiable lunatics, whether they make mistakes or not.
One may not admire homo politicus but these people do a lot of very boring and difficult stuff and take responsibility for it. I doubt if many of us really want them to be murdered. Political assassinations are very bad for the atmosphere. They wound a country. Ask the cousins.
And frankly it can't be much fun having heavies lurking outside your bedroom and being driven about in cars that are smaller inside than they look and whose windows won't open.
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A Clem Atlee joke in the BR - whatever next?!
Lud - hundreds of thousands of people are being driven about in cars that are smaller inside than they look - they are called MINIs...
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I read in the paper he has an armoured Discovery on order at the moment for his retirement.
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And when that one need replacing he will be provided with a similar vehicle for the rest of his life by us the tax payers.
Cherie has recently taken delivery of a new Voyager, don't know who's paying the invoice.
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The Wicked Witch has earned more annually than her husband for several years now.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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She couldn't help opening her trap, could she....as they left Downing Street for the last time.
Just getting into the car....time to be dignified....no, have one last pop at the press.
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Oh, the poor press! Honestly the heartlessness of these people, going on about hacks and newspaper barons who only have the country's best interests at heart!
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Just getting into the car....time to be dignified....no have one last pop at the press.
I believe she was making a joke--very pointed, frank, typically Scouse dry humour I thought, though probably a little misjudged. The press know she hates them and no doubt there have been jibes just like that one going backwards and forwards for years. She gave a cheeky smile when she said it and ducked her head into the car. Typically of course, the press, primarily the ghastly Nick Robinson, decided to have a go at her instead of just sucking it up. The press, you see, don't like it up 'em.
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Didn't Maggie drive a Maestro for a while as well?
--
04 Grand Scenic 1.9 dCi Dynamique
00 Mondeo 1.8TD LX
97 Ford Fiesta 1.4 16v Chicane (for sale)
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"The Iraq war means he's now a target"
Shame he didn't think of that...
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There has to be room for the Chobham armour and 2-inch-thick laminated window
glass.
Is that the armour that is really needed by the troops in Iraq & Afghnistan?
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"Clement Attlee used to use a taxi. Remember that joke, an empty taxi pulled up, and Mr Attlee got out ?"
More often he was driven by his wife in the family Hillman Minx - including to Buckingham Palace in 1945 for King George VI to ask him to form a government. Apparently he could drive but didn't like it.
Without making a political point, history is becoming kinder to Clement Attlee. He just got on with the job without fuss or spin, and somehow the Hillman Minx was typical of his approach.
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"Apparently he could drive but didn't like it."
Mr Brown doesn't drive.
Anybody who knows anything about British History after 1945 doesn't need it explained how much we owe Atlee.
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PU without his Mod Hard Hat on !
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Gordon Brown is partially sighted after a rugby accident in his teens - so it's just as well!
At the risk of straying too far from motoring, so keeping the Hillman Minx in mind, I quite agree about Attlee. He couldn't have inspired the nation during the war as WSC did (although he gave him his full support against any deal with Germany) but equally Churchill couldn't have done what Attlee achieved in the face of the country's almost insurmountable debts.
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"Attlee achieved in the face of the country's almost insurmountable debts"
That's the bit I had in mind. It's quite remarkable that this country survived as a democracy after WW2, especially after the alleged double dealing by a close ally. Can't remember whether it was Atlee that came up with the saying of "Export or Die" which heralded the zenith of the the British Motor Industry, shame we let it decline.
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Pages 10 and 11 of this discussion paper cover this particular "Export or die" period in UK history:
tinyurl.com/2m26bv
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Good read that, I knew that my A level History wasn't totally wasted.
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Probably in Atlee's time people were going on about his Hillman Minx and tutting "A horse and carriage was fine for Lord Melbourne ........"
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sad that i should have noticed this....but........Gordon Brown went to meet the Queen in a Vx Omega......and came back in the Prime Ministerial Jag
wonder if Tony had to do it the other way around.......or did he get the bus?
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You are quite right. Gordon was prime minister from that moment so he got the car.
Saw footage last night of T&C hanging around at Darlington station waiting for a car to collect them. Must be quite a change ....
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How about an Aston Martin? (British owned once again!) And a few James Bond attachments "just in case"...
Despite all the talk about environment, global warming, taxation (groan!) we all know the PM has to be protected. In Bilbao where I live, the Ertzaintza (Basque police) have VW Passats (old model 4-motion, not sure which engine) with far-from-standard spec: run flat tyres, flame, bullet and bomb proof bodyshell and windows. 52,000 GBP per car and not a word of protest from anywhere when they were delivered. The police union insisted on this level of protection after a number of terrorist attacks.
It would, however, be nice to see Gordon and his wife driving/being driven round in something economical and modest and British-built at weekends, on holiday, etc... A shame his predecessors let British mass production car manufacture die its death.
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"did he get the bus?"
Made me wonder (rather hypothetically) if I would give him a lift, were he requesting one at the side of the road? I might take Cherie...
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>>... the side of the road? I might take Cherie...
...and dump her in a nearby quarry...
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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"and dump her in a nearby quarry..."
Why? Do you know her? What has she ever done to you??
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And now back to motoring. DD.
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just a personal annoyance, and then maybe her husband would spend his time...I'll stop there before I get into trouble for being political.
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Aim low, expect nothing & dont be disappointed
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Just as it is childish to think a person is an aggressive, arrogant driver just because he drives a BMW, so it is childish to personalise politics unless you actually know the figures concerned.
People think that because of all the TV and because of the rudeness of journalists, they now know what's going on. They don't really. What they see is a sort of charade, behind which the real stuff proceeds in the shadows.
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What they see is a sort of charade behind which the real stuff proceeds in the shadows.
Have they got a Shadow now? Bet that won't go down well with the press....:-)
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They can probably afford one Westpig.
And not even a reactionary like you (:o)) will deny that they have put in the gruelling work, I imagine?
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put it this way.....don't always agree with what he/they have done......but as leader of the country i'd have a few perks and they'd include nice cars....why not
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"Have they got a Shadow now?"
Only if they can't afford a Phantom.
(There we are, Dave - back to motoring....)
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Did anyone else see TB try to get in the private silver 5 series BMW at Darlington station, instead of the official Omega? Amusing.
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"TB try to get in the private silver 5 series "
There's a missed opportunity!
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