Louise Mensch has had an eventful summer. The Conservative MP for Corby has raised her profile considerably following her grilling of James Murdoch at the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and her ensuing spat with television personality Piers Morgan. The chick-lit author endured some fairly desperate allegations of youthful indiscretions and had to call in the police when her family was threatened via email. She has also used the medium of Twitter to make a number of interesting policy suggestions. Her alternative to Nadine Dorries' abortion amendment last week was praised by many, though perhaps the call to restrict social media in the wake of the riots was slightly ill-advised.
Yet the most insightful of Mrs. Mensch's online observations did not receive the credit it deserved. Discussing the race for the Republican Party's presidential candidate in the US, she bemoaned the lack of a credible centre-right candidate to rival President Obama. Criticising in particular the GOP but also the British Labour Party, she argued that 'it would be better for both our countries if it were Tories versus Democrats', making for a 'saner right and saner left' respectively. This would equate to the Republicans 'moving to the left socially' and Labour 'to the right' economically. If only those on the right and left either side of the pond could see it, Mrs. Mensch has handed them a potential political masterstroke.
The current political climate in America is perfectly suited to a conservative candidate consigning Obama to a one-term presidency. The US would welcome a Cameron-like figure to implement a programme of tough but fair spending cuts; an American George Osborne could conceivably win the economic argument with Timothy Geithner. And yet, looking at those put forward by the GOP to represent these commonsensical views, there is arguably no one who can realistically challenge the Obama administration.
Rick Perry - the Texas governor currently leading in the polls - may have an impressive record on jobs and growth in his home state, but his strident social conservatism makes him unelectable to many undecided voters. His rejection of climate change science, decision to describe evolution as 'just a theory' and portrayal of Social Security as a 'Ponzi scheme' will have done little to endear himself to those in the centre. Michelle Bachmann, the new darling of the Tea Party movement, is arguably even further to the right on social issues. Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, surely has too chequered a past to be a credible candidate. The most moderate of the Republican frontrunners, Mitt Romney, has yet to convince his Party's grassroots that he is enough of a heavyweight to defeat first Perry and then Obama.
Back in Britain, the Labour Party is still struggling in its attempts to appear credible on the economy. Miliband and Balls insist that the Tory cuts go 'too far, too fast'; somehow trying to make voters believe that, if they were in power and wielding the axe, the effects would be painless. Balls has his reputation trashed in Alistair Darling's memoirs, and then calls for an entirely unfunded cut to VAT. The Shadow Chancellor's apology in the Commons last week is the first step back on the long road to respectability.
While the demise of New Labour may not have been a bad thing for Britain, the present unelectable status of the GOP is terrible news for America, and indeed the world. Many believe neoclassical rather than Keynesian approach to deficit reduction and growth is needed more than ever in the US, but the vehement social conservatism of Perry and Bachmann is preventing the global economy from receiving the political leadership it needs.
Louise Mensch has divided opinion this summer, but when she took to Twitter this summer to broach this subject she was absolutely correct. And all in 140 characters.