David Maddox: Politician caught blue-handed

It is amazing what politicians will do to try and appear to be cool and trendy, even though it usually turns them into a walking oxymoron.
There are those who still cringe at the thought of former Tory leader William Hague in a baseball cap at the Notting Hill Carnival. If you find the memory painful don't look at this picture.

But Mr Hague's faux pas has not deterred the current UK Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg who has waded in among the music lovers of Glastonbury, although, wisely, he left his baseball cap at home. Here he is pictured at the festival with his hand painted blue.

Apparently the blue hand was in support of the Talk Yourself Blue in the Face campaign to stop climate change. The leader of the UK's third party joined the likes of Fatboy Slim among others in getting various bodily appendages painted blue.
However, there was some speculation that given Mr Clegg's brown attire, the blue paint might have just been a precaution to make sure he showed up if he got stuck in the famous Glastonbury mud.

Gerri Peev: Cameron signals Top Tory is Osborne and Out

Scewered. Kebabed. Roasted. Just some of the verbs used by colleagues to describe the treatment meted out to Shadow Chancellor George Osborne. The recipe is unveiled in this morning's Sun newspaper. In an interview with David Cameron, the Tory leader reveals he sees William Hague as "my deputy in all but name and people need to know that."

Ouch, which people did he mean? His best friend George? In the joint interview Hague adds: "I won't tread on George's toes". Indeed why bother inflicting more pain when they have effectively kneed him in the groin.

Cameron protests a bit too much when he says that "William, George and I work incredibly closely together...It doesn't reflect on George's position, absolutely not."

Hmmm... Ménage à trois are rarely seen as long-term arrangements. No doubt Osborne will reflect the extent of his betrayal in a few years in a teary-eyed TV interview when he will confirm "There were three of us in that marriage".