His best speech ever? Jon Cruddas on how Labour needs to reinvent itself
At the Compass annual conference yesterday, Jon Cruddas MP gave this speech and received a standing ovation. It is perhaps his best speech ever
Its been a cracking day. Vibrant. Open. Optimistic.
In contrast to a sour right wing noise around Labour since the election. That goes something like this: We lost the vote of those working class people. So lets prioritise the ‘indigenous folk’, hit those newly arrived and get stuck into the welfare mothers swinging the lead, hoovering up benefits.
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What would you ask the Labour leader candidates?
After two Labour leadership hustings I have a rough idea of the main themes as well as many policy positions of all the five candidates.
I plan to write more on that soon.
But I am also planning to do interviews with some or all of the candidates and would like your thoughts on what questions they should be asked.
As a guide, there’s no point asking broad questions like: ‘do you believe in socialism or capitalism’, or rhetorical ones: ‘do you think Tony Blair was (a) rubbish, (b) a war-criminal?’ etc.
I think policy related questions that specifically ask then to address tightly defined issues would work best.
So… what would you like to ask the candidates?
Ashcroft to launch “devastating” attack on Cameron
Lord Ashcroft, who has given the Tories more than £5m, is writing his own version of the inside story on the General Election campaign. And the News of the World has learned the former Conservative Deputy Chairman and Treasurer will slam Mr Cameron.
Friends say he will accuse the Prime Minister of being the worst leader for decades – and will blame him for throwing away a 20 point lead in the Polls.
One told the News of the World: “We may have a Conservative Prime Minister, but Lord Ashcroft believes the election campaign was a disaster and that the blame lies with David Cameron and his coterie of advisers.”
…
A senior Tory close to Lord Ashcroft told the News of the World: “There was a tight circle around David Cameron and George Osborne who made decisions which were totally out of touch with what potential voters wanted to hear.
…more at the News of the World
Complete tits
A nice young man known as @Article_Dan turns up on Twitter today to say that some old bag abused his wife in a Sainsbury’s cafe for breastfeeding her (Article_Dan and his wife’s) baby.
Says Article_Dan:
“My wife – the mother of our five month old daughter and four year old son – just spent the morning shopping in Sainsbury’s with the kids hanging of each arm.”
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How bad is the feline obesity crisis?
I’m shocked. Shocked and appalled. David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, earns more than £250,000 a year. What’s that about, eh? All he does for it is manage an organisation with 1.4 million employees and a budget the size of Bangladesh. Bloody layabout.
Or what about Christine Gilbert? Chief inspector at Ofsted, only responsible for the education of a few million poxy kids, and they give her £195k a year. Pathetic. You just wouldn’t get that kind of waste in the private sector, would you?
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Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
contribution by Neil Boorman
Earlier this year, David Willets released a book called The Pinch, in which he argued how the Baby Boomer generation has mortgaged its children’s future to pay for it’s own instant gratification.
If our political, economic and cultural leaders do not begin to discharge their obligations to the future, the young people of today will be taxed more, work longer hours for less money, have lower social mobility and live in a degraded environment in order to pay for their parents’ quality of life.
It all seemed to make sense, except that the book offered no real solutions to the long-term prospects of Generation Debt.
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Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
Put aside the environmental impact of the BP oil spill for a minute – massive as it is – because right-wingers don’t really care for little things like that.
Instead they’re whinging that Obama is slamming their favourite oil company far too much. It hurts their pride you know. Oh and it hurts our pensions! Damn that Obama, does he not care for our goddamn pensions?. Who cares for those people whose livelihoods have been lost thanks to the obscene amounts of oil that is about to hit their shores?
Certainly not these idiots.
Why does Phillip Blond see civic cohesion as a security issue?
Things are looking rosy for ResPublica, the Conservative think tank led by official enemy of Paperhouse and original Red Tory Phillip Blond.
There’s now a government that’s broadly sympathetic to ResPublica’s aims (Red Toryism occupies the same sort of self-help space as Compassionate Conservatism). And it’s received a hefty injection of support – enough to be recruiting for six new positionsoffering “competitive + bonus” salaries.
One of the roles it’s looking to fill is “head of the security and civil cohesion unit“. Wait, what? Why does “security” go with “civil cohesion”?
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So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
There seems to be a fair amount of grumpiness and sarcasm going on around the Labour party leadership election.
Much of this is for sensible reasons (broadly “the only one of the candidates who isn’t a dull clone has no experience of managing anything ever, and David Miliband is a war criminal”).
However, there’s also a fair amount that’s come for the stupidest reason possible: “they all went to Oxbridge, so they aren’t representative”.
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The Daily Mail and “Bongo bongoland”
This is from a letter published in the Daily Mail today
via @uponnothing and @JonathanHayes
Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
It was great having Diane there. I’m not sure she wants to win. But it would be seriously good to have her up against Nick Clegg at Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions, not least because she has an outstanding record on liberty.
She must be part of Labour’s front bench even if she doesn’t lead it.
David Miliband is the candidate to beat, the most committed to power and appealing, therefore, to the Labour councilors and its machines. He represents continuity with Blair in his air and appeal.
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It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
While the hoo ha continues about whether someone left of the center gets to lose the leadership to the Miliband franchise there is a far more important selection taking place inside of Labour.
It’s going to be a Oona King vs Ken Livingstone stand-off with the winner to be decided at the Labour caber tossing contest late September.
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The Labour people need
Never one to pass up on local democracy’s offerings, yours truly recently attended the new Lewisham council’s inaugural AGM.
I went partly because I pay council tax in Lewisham and like to clap eyes on the hapless schmucks in charge of it at the dawn of each municipal term’s disasters. There was another draw, though. It struck me that as one of Labour’s outright London wins at the recent elections, Lewisham had real potential as a pain in Cameron and Clegg’s mingled butt, particularly in the fight for local public services.
Lewisham is a place where Labour could round on the coalition’s cuts programme, and begin to restore the ‘tacit covenant’ that Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rutherford believe Labour must have with constituents – ‘a covenant about housing, work and security, a sense of neighbourliness and community.’
Women’s charity raises triple Danny Dyer film
A campaign to match the weekend takings for actor Danny Dyer’s new film has been overwhelmed with donations – reaching 366% of its target.
Dyer’s film ‘Pimp’ made £205 in its opening weekend after just 24 people reportedly watched it.
He was at the centre of a controversy recently when blogger Sarah Ditum exposed a Zoo magazine column in which Dyer suggests cutting an ex’s face.
After news broke of Dyer’s film bombing in the cinema, activist Liam Barrington-Bush wanted to see “how much more generous people are than Dyer is successful.”
So he set up DannyDyerDonate – which has so far raised £750 in one week.
Liam said about the campaign:
There have been countless examples of how technology has enabled social ‘flocking’ to occur. What was simply a few combined hours of @andyvglnt and my time, became something far bigger than either our efforts or our means
All the money goes to Solace Women’s Aid, which aims to help women dealing with domestic violence.
Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
On 26th June LC will be hosting Blog Nation (my unimaginative name for our annual conference). Thanks to all of those who have already emailed in with requests: we are now two-thirds full.
The first Blog Nation event in July 2008 was nice, but ultimately just a panel discussion event. I want to try something different and would like your involvement.
Aims of the event
1. Meet other bloggers, journalists, think-tankers, activist, organisers
2. To have time and space to discuss issues
3. Have a sense of strategic direction on particular issues; find out what projects are taking place.
4. Share books
5. Discuss and learn about activism already taking place.
Unlike other conferences, and they have their own place, I want this to be strategy focused. In other words rather than debate issues, we have competing or interesting perspectives on how to move forward, what is currently taking place and how people can get involved.
The theme of the event is: ‘How Does the Left Organise in Opposition?‘
A few questions to think about:
- Do we focus on broader narratives or stick to specific topics? Or if a mixture of the two, what would you like to see discussed?
- Given the layout of the venue, what do you think the format should be?
- What mini-sessions would you like to see?
Layout of venue
The circles are tables. I thought it would be better than having lines of podium facing chairs. This way you can talk, meet and discuss with others more easily during discussion sessions. The two breakout rooms are also available if we need them.
Broad themes
Party political vs non-aligned organising – which should we focus on? Or how do we do both?
Is Labour part of the problem or part of the solution?
How can the left work toegther, better?
What approach to take towards Libdems?
Communitarianism vs internationalism: which way do we want to go?
Should we be drawing up a list of ‘progressive politicians’ to support on an ongoing basis?
Issues
Responding to budget cuts
Abortion and sex education
Climate change
Immigration
Electoral reform
The West Lothian Question
Where now for foreign policy?
Taxation and tax havens
London Mayoral election – what can be done?
There will also be mini-sessions:
Political Scrapbook is planning a short presentation on how some of us left-bloggers are planning to set up a cooperative of sorts to collaborate on various things. You’ll hear more about that then.
If you would like to attend, you have to drop me an email at blognation[-at-]liberalconspiracy[-dot-]org. It is free to attend but invite only.
Now I’m opening this out to all of you for your thoughts and ideas.
The Labour leadership’s token contender.. and it’s not Diane Abbott
There is a token candidate for the Labour Party leadership who struggled to get enough nominations to stand and who has no chance of winning.
His name is “Andy Burnham”. Ed Balls has more support amongst MPs, but he can’t win either, with his 61% disapproval ratings.
Diane Abbott, in contrast, is a serious contender. She occupies the centre ground in policy terms – anti-Iraq war, anti-NHS privatisation, pro-equality and in favour of reducing the deficit by taxing the rich rather than cutting public services.
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Boris rise for Living Wage left of Labour
The Guardian reports that Boris Johnson today announced a 25p increase in the London “living wage”, bringing to £7.85 the hourly rate that Londoners are judged to require to lift them out of poverty.
The Conservative mayor urged all employers in the capital to follow the GLA’s lead and “pay a fairer wage” to those working and living in the capital as he outlined a 3.3% rise in the unofficial minimum wage for Londoners.
The move puts him to the left of most of Labour leader contenders, with only Ed Miliband and Diane Abbott showing much support for the Living Wage campaign.
Miliband put the proposal at the centre of his campaign.
London Mayor Johnson revealed today that five new employers had agreed to pay the rate as a minimum: Clifford Chance, Deloitte, Nomura, Prudential and Standard Chartered.
Over a 100 organisations in London are now committed to the standard, in addition to boroughs such as Ealing and Tower Hamlets.
In an answer to London AM Len Duvall this morning, Boris Johnson said:
[W]e have to be honest about the impact of the LLW in that, at the margin, there will be places where for some employers, particularly people with businesses on very tight margins, I think you have to be intellectually honest about its impact.
I became convinced by it talking to people [in charge of] very large organisations who’d had people on quite low wages – very low wages – and who’d found that it generated loyalty, and that it thereby enabled them to cut down on their employment costs in hiring and firing. And I think that that is a powerful case that we can make to London and to London business.
London blogger Dave Hill adds:
So there we have it. Red Boris strikes again? Not quite. His is the line of the practical capitalist rather than the workers’ friend (though Boris, being a free enterprise believer, would argue that the goals of the capitalist bring the greatest benefit to the workers too). He also claims success in getting London’s businesses to join him.
Compass annual event this Saturday
The UK’s most influential centre-left pressure group will host its annual conference this Saturday 12 June stage with over 1000 activists in attendance. The event will also host a Labour Leadership Husting Debate.
One of the highlights of the event will be the first major speech given by the newly elected MP for Brighton Pavillion Caroline Lucas the Green Party Leader.
Other major keynote speakers include Nick Dearden Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign; Christine Blower General Secretary of the NUT; Pam Giddy of POWER 2010; Jon Cruddas MP Labour’s most influential backbencher and Chuka Umunna MP Labour’s newest rising star.
Compass says over 500 new people have joined the organisation in the last month alone bringing its total membership to over 4500, whilst its members and supporters list has surged to over 40,000.
Compass will shortly ballot its membership on who the organisation should back for Labour leader.
The event will be the first major gathering of progressives after the election and provide the opportunity for the centre-left to come to terms with the new coalition as well as face up to the scale of Labour’s defeat.
Gavin Hayes, General Secretary of Compass said:
Things have to change. The planet burns, the poor get poorer, a rich elite get ever wealthier, and our democracy is in a sad, broken state. The rules of the game must be rewritten. We need a new progressive consensus, and a new hope.A new hope that while there may be limits to what politicians can do in Westminster, there should be no limits to what a new progressive movement can achieve. That’s what the conference this Saturday is all about and why it is so important.
More here: http://compassonline.org.uk/conference
From a press release
In defence of these fraternal nominations
So we will have a five candidate contest for the Labour leadership.
Well done to Diane Abbott and Andy Burnham for securing the chance to continue their campaigns campaign.
Credit for assists goes to acting leader Harriet Harman, who responded to calls from party members and supporters for MPs to ensure a broader contest and avoid charges of a stitch-up, and to rival candidates John McDonnell, who dropped out to nominate Abbott; David Miliband, who followed through on his offer of a nomination to a rival; and Ed Balls, who asked MPs to nominate Abbott once he had reached the threshold.
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Statement from John McDonnell on leadership
This is the statement John McDonnell MP has circulated today on his withdrawal from the Labour leadership race.
——–
Dear Comrades,
I am writing to let you know that I have withdrawn from the Labour Party leadership race this morning.
I stood for the Labour leadership as the candidate of the Left and trade union movement so that there could be a proper debate about Labour’s future in which all the wings of the party were fully represented. It is now clear that I am unlikely to secure enough nominations and so I am withdrawing in the hope that we can at least secure a woman on the ballot paper.
We came into this campaign knowing that it would be really difficult to obtain sufficient nominations but we knew we had to try. The support we received from rank and file party members and from trade unionists was just overwhelming but we still could not overcome the barrier of gaining sufficient support from Labour MPs.
I appealed to the party leadership to lower the qualifying bar to allow all the candidates on the ballot paper. It was perfectly possible within the existing rules for this to be done. Reducing the bar to 5% would have allowed all the declared candidates to get on the ballot paper and the Party to have a full and open debate about its future direction. The party hierarchy refused and instead threw its weight behind one candidate.
I know that many Labour activists and trade unionists will be disappointed.
I want to thank you for all your hard work in lobbying and campaigning to secure sufficient nominations to get me on the ballot paper. You could not have worked harder.
I am urging everyone to continue the fight for democracy within the party so that in future elections rank and file members will be represented by the candidate of their choice.
We must also now throw our energies into the campaign to resist the cuts that the Coalition government is launching against our community. Providing leadership in this struggle is critically important in this coming period. We will be convening rallies and demonstrations and linking up with trade union action to resist the cuts. Let’s rise to this challenge.
Yours in solidarity,
John McDonnell MP
Update – interview on Sky News
You can read articles through the front page, via Twitter or rss feeds.
» What would you ask the Labour leader candidates?
» Complete tits
» How bad is the feline obesity crisis?
» Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
» Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
» Why does Phillip Blond see civic cohesion as a security issue?
» So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
» Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
» It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
» The Labour people need
» Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
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