Clegg wants freedoms; Tories – police powers
The increasing difference between rhetoric and reality of the new coalition government was laid bare yesterday.
On the one hand Nick Clegg offered ‘the biggest shake-up of Britain’s democracy for nearly 200 years’.
He said:
This Government is going to transform our politics so the state has far less control over you, and you have far more control over the state.
This Government is going to break up concentrations of power and hand power back to people, because that is how we build a society that is fair.
Funny that.
In a different place, at the Bournemouth conference, the Home Secretary Theresa May offered the police more powers.
Mrs May said officers should be able to use their discretion when deciding whether to charge someone with an offence.
That could mean they do not have to consult the Crown Prosecution Service before bringing charges in minor cases.
In other words less accountability and more potential for police to abuse their powers.
Watch
Does one side of this coalition government know what the other side is doing?
Burnham launches the lamest election campaign
Former cabinet minister Andy Burnham launched his exciting Labour leadership election campaign yesterday.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper the party owed a “debt of thanks” to Gordon Brown and Tony Blair but said he would end “stage-managed” politics.
… wow, he really is brimming with new ideas.
He said Labour had to understand voters’ sense of “unfairness” and that Labour lost because they felt “our priorities were not their priorities”.
A very radical agenda, as you can see there. Burnham distanced himself from colleagues by using the word ‘unfairness’ rather than ‘fairness’. That’s clever that is.
In an article for the Mirror, Mr Burnham – who held three cabinet posts under Gordon Brown’s premiership – said the party “must avoid looking like we are disowning the past”.
He really will be the change we want to see though!
“Our priorities were not their priorities: that we were doing more for those who didn’t want to work than those in work but struggling, particularly with no children; that we were in denial about the effects of immigration – on wages, housing and anti-social behaviour – in places where life is hardest; and that pensioners who had done the right thing and saved found they were above the line for help.”
Mr Burnham will be radically different from everyone else by having a one-issue campaign. Immigration! The issue no one talks about. The issue that Phil Woolas did not constantly bang on about.
Talking about immigration will bring back voters and help Burnham take back the country! The rest, apparently, we should not “disown”.
Mr Burnham pledged to make it cheaper to join the Labour Party and said he could make it “welcoming and unifying”, adding: “I am a team-player, I’ve never had time for factions.”
I’m sure there are people who hold back from joining Labour simply because it’s too damn expensive.
Welcome to the lamest campaign in Labour leadership history.
The dilemma of the Tory right: reply to Simon Heffer
Only a Tory without principles would demonise the right, argues Simon Heffer in the Daily Telegraph this morning. And David Cameron demonises the right. He doesn’t quite fill out the syllogism, but let’s just say that therefore Socrates is a mortal.
Once one cuts through the customary Hefferian hyperbole, today’s tirade is basically an extended complaint that those ghastly milquetoast moderates that make up the Tory leadership perpetually ignore those that lean to starboard.
Even viewed from what is perhaps the worst point on the entire political spectrum from which to observe the affairs of the Conservative Party, the contention seems indisputably true. What is more, the reason for this is obvious.
continue reading… »
A campaign to avoid ‘Shock Doctrine’ for the UK
contribution by Adam Ramsay
We’ve now launched a website and a petition for our campaign against a “shock doctrine” for Britain – that is, the use of the recession to force through right wing policies which would otherwise be politically impossible to secure.
On the same week, it looks ever more likely that students at Sussex University will be severely punished for the ‘crime’ of protesting against cuts to the funding of their education – this discipline could cost these students degrees they have worked three years towards.
continue reading… »
Labourites call for deputy leadership election too
A growing number of voices within the party are calling for a robust deputy leadership election within the Labour party too.
NEC member Peter Kenyon said on LC earlier this week that under Labour rules the deputy leader post could also be contested.
But 52 members of the new parliamentary group of MPs have to support a challenger for there to be an election.
Writer and activist Anthony Painter told Tribune magazine:
Party renewal is an ongoing sore within the Labour Party. The party needs to be more diverse, democratic, open and engaged. Jon Cruddas’ statement last night seemed to be a hint in that direction, and clearly the leadership race needs the strongest and most diverse feel possible. My sense is that there should be a deputy leadership race and Harriet Harman should stand as a very strong candidate in that, and the leadership election as well.
He was echoed by Sunder Katwala, General Secretary of the Fabian Society:
Whatever she does decide about the leadership, I think she should take the step of opening up the deputy leadership by formally resigning the post and announcing she will seek nomination again, to mark the fact that a change in leadership and the party leaving office after 13 years marks a different political era. She would clearly be the strong favourite for the deputy leadership.
Personally, I also think we ought to introduce two deputy leadership roles: that would be the only way in the long-term to guarantee that, whoever was Leader, we could always have some gender balance in our top team, which I think is an important expression of Labour values of gender equality.
However, Sunder Katwala hopes that Jon Cruddas will run for the post.
When I put the question to Cruddas last week however, he said he had no interest in being deputy leader and throught Harriet Harman was “doing a great job”.
Getting McDonnell nominated for Labour: need your help
Yesterday Don Paskini made a convincing case for Labour MP John McDonnell to be nominated for Labour leadership race.
I agree that the party needs a strong left-wing voice and John is the obvious candidate given that the only other contender has backed out.
There isn’t much time before nominations for the leadership close, so I need some help in putting pressure on these MPs to nominate John and have that wide-ranging debate.
continue reading… »
All that ‘kill Bercow’ hype led to nothing at all
You have to give the national media their due: when Pied Piper Nadine Dorries and right-wing bloggers are playing the tune, the press-pack are always willing to sing along behind them.
On Monday night Iain Dale “exclusively” reveals that Ming Campbell would be standing against John Bercow as leader of the house.
I tweeted my scepticism:
Almost willing to bet ‘Ming Campbell as Speaker’ story is rubbish. Tory bloggers have hated Bercow for ages. Just mischief
Iain Dale snorted in response:
Finding it hilarious that lefties are doubting my Ming story. My source is 18 carat gold. Still think John Bercow will win.
After Dale laid the ground, Nadine Dorries sent out her pleading letter to all MPs. It has to be read to be believed for sheer hilarity:
Dear new Member,
Many congratulations and welcome to the House.Please forgive me for this generic email being brief and to the point.
The first job of the House today is to appoint the Speaker. The Father of the House, Sir Peter Tapsell, will present a motion to the House that John Bercow remains as Speaker.
At this point, members will shout ‘Aye’, on this occasion there will also be members from all parties shouting ‘No’. If enough members shout ‘No’, this will force a division and your first vote as new members will be to vote for or against appointing John Bercow as Speaker.
At this point, the green monitors will flash with the words ‘Division’ and the division bell will ring. This is a free vote and is entirely unwhipped and so whether to vote or not is wholly your decision. You will also have the option to abstain, and so you do not enter either of the voting lobbies.
Despite scare mongering by some left-wing commentators, there will be no repercussions according to which way you vote.
I am sure you are aware that during the previous Parliamentary term Mr Bercow was appointed as Speaker, with unanimous Labour and a handful of Conservative votes. In the words of a Labour whip, it was done to ’stick it to the Tories’.
That aside, there are a number of reasons why, since his appointment, Mr Bercow has proven unsuitable in the Speaker’s role. Not least, on the occasions during the last session when Mr Bercow found remaining impartial, a crucial quality in the role of Speaker, very difficult, leading to a number of heated exchanges between the Speaker and Conservative MPs.
We are about to head into choppy political waters. It is imperative we have a Speaker who possesses dignity, gravitas, ability, wisdom and who can command respect from all sides of the House. A Speaker beyond reproach, who via his experience has earned the entitlement to such an important office.
There are a number of candidates from all sides imminently more suitable, able and willing; Edward Leigh, Sir Menzies Campbell, Alan Hazlehurst, and Margaret Beckett.
It is imperative that we are seen to begin this Parliament renewed and afresh. We can only do that with a democratic vote for the Speaker. If Mr Bercow wins the vote, he will have the endorsement of the whole House and not just the Labour party.
The Labour MP Kate Hoey, who is supporting the vote and I will be acting as tellers. If you come to the division lobby there will be members on the doors directing you to the lobby depending on which way you wish to vote. I am sure you understand the importance of this vote. I look forward to counting you out of the lobby during your first division.
With very best wishes,
Yours,
Nadine Dorries.
ToryBear was ecstatic! It was “game time for Bercow” he claimed breathlessly. Guido was loudly patting his chum Dale on the back for the story and old pal Nadine Dorries for taking a stand.
The Spectator Coffeehouse called it the “kill Bercow email”.
Can’t live without the Westminster storm-in-teacups can we? People across the country were gripped by the scandal that was about to unfold. The media duly obliged. After all, if right-wing bloggers are excited about it then it must be worth reporting on.
Inevitably, people across the nation were crestfallen when Ming Campbell didn’t challenge John Bercow, and Nadine Dorries’s “kill Bercow” email failed even to harm a fly.
Who says there are no upsides to this Parliament?
Have police really banned wearing England tops?
A bizarre rumour has kicked off on Facebook (thanks @gjcsouthsea for this).
Hundreds of people are copying and pasting this on to their Facebook status:
Police are going round all pubs and club saying we cant wear our england tops and we have to take our england flags down, as its offending people that arnt from england! Now im NOT racist… but this is taking the piss.. This is england and we need to make a stand!! Would you remove your turban if it offended me? NO! we need to stick together, repost this as your status and make your stand!
You can see people posting this on Facebook via OpenBook.org.
Is there any truth to this?
Searching various websites and news stories, I came to this Sun story in April: ENGLAND shirts could be BANNED at pubs screening live World Cup matches.
Apparently the Met police sent a letter to some pubs in Croydon with “guidance” notes.
Among World Cup guidance, it suggests “dress code restrictions – eg no football shirts”.
It also urges using plastic glasses and door staff. Pubs are not obliged to follow the advice, but it warns: “Police will not hesitate to use powers under the Licensing Act should we find you are not actively supporting the prevention of crime.”
This is all reported in the Sun story, but it is still titled ‘Police are trying to ban’ football shirts when that clearly isn’t the case.
It is however true that the Licensing Act gives police too much power to shut down local events. I made the same case when the Met used the Licensing Act’s Form 696 to stop black and Asian music live events across London.
Anyway, the point is that the story is bogus. There was no ban on wearing these tops whatsoever.
And yet it’s now become an urban myth travelling across Facebook at frightening speed.
Look, I have a brother who wears a turban and I have friends who wear hijabs – I’ve never once heard anyone ask for a ban on wearing England tops. I have a turbaned mate who wears England tops himself!
If you want to blame anyone, blame the police for abusing their powers.
Update: The police now deny that England tops were ever banned. A complete made-up story by the tabloids.
The case for nominating John McDonnell as Labour leader
John McDonnell represents a constituency which was Tory from 1983 to 1997. One of Labour’s key policies was massively unpopular in his constituency, involving hundreds of people losing their homes and the rest suffering a reduced quality of life.
Yet the Labour vote increased by more than 4,000 votes between 2005 and 2010, and he was re-elected with a majority of more than 10,000.
His campaign mobilised large numbers of volunteers, including many who weren’t members of the Labour Party.
He has a large personal vote in his constituency, and I’ve met people from other, neighbouring constituencies who have been helped by him when their own MP didn’t want to know.
continue reading… »
BA cabin crew: not Scargillites of the skies
Something intuitively doesn’t quite stack up about Willie Walsh’s efforts to brand British Airways cabin crew unreconstructed throwbacks to the glory years of class struggle.
Everybody knows the real industrial militants of the period were hairy-arsed engineering workers in blue overalls, ready to down tools and converge on Saltley Gate at the drop of a hat, the instant they were so instructed by Red Robbo.
Try to picture the idea of ‘massed ranks of pencil-skirted women with ash blonde highlights, accompanied by a bunch of obviously gay blokes’. It doesn’t exactly replay images of Orgreave in your head, does it?
I mean, it is shop stewards who are supposed to ringlead angry chants of ‘the work-uhs … united!’ Airline stewardesses politely put on a fake smile and softly ask ‘can I get you a drink, sir?’
FT pulls controversial Shell ad on libel worries
Amnesty International UK expressed its immense disappointment today at the Financial Times’ decision to pull a new hard-hitting advertisement at the last possible moment.
The ad was due to appear today as Shell held its London AGM.
The advertisement focused on the appalling human rights record of Shell in Nigeria. It compared the company’s $9.8bn profits with the consequences of pollution caused by the oil giant for the people of the Niger Delta.
Numerous oil spills, which have not been adequately cleaned up, have left local communities with little option but to drink polluted water, eat contaminated fish, farm on spoiled land, and breathe in air that stinks of oil and gas.
Tim Hancock, Amnesty International UK’s campaigns director, said:
The decision by the Financial Times is extremely disappointing. We gave them written reassurances that we would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement.
Both The Metro and The Evening Standard had no problems with running the ad.
Tim Hancock added:
The money to pay for the advertisements came entirely from more than 2,000 individuals online.
Amnesty International also today launched a new hard-hitting online video focusing on Shell’s illegal practice of gas flaring (the burning of gas produced as part of oil extraction) in the same region. Gas flaring is only serving to add to environmental impact on the people of the Niger Delta.
Here is the ad
Greece bailout shows how subservient we are to financial markets
Writing in Le Monde yesterday, the economist Michel Aglietta looked at the long-term implications of the Greek bailout. His assessment was damning:
Lazily imposing a crushing austerity on Greece that it will undertake alone in the context of an internal recession, a possible spiral of deflation, and with European growth which is at best very weak will create a time bomb that could cost all of Europe very dear.
Aglietta’s point was that the Greek bailout is the worst of all possible outcomes.
continue reading… »
Activists force Tate Modern to close over BP
Tate Modern was forced to close down parts of its No Soul For Sale tenth anniversary exhibition this Saturday whilst it struggled to remove dozens of dead fish and oil-soaked birds hanging from huge black balloons let loose in the Turbine Hall.
Art activists from Liberate Tate, a growing network dedicated to ensuring the museum drop its sponsorship deal with BP (British Petroleum), infiltrated Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall and released dozens of helium-filled black balloons with dead animals attached.
Crowds of tourists and art lovers gathered to watch the balloons rise up in the air until they filled the ceiling of the Turbine Hall.
Josephine Buoys, who took part in the art action, said:
We took this action whilst Tate sponsor BP is creating the largest oil painting in the world. Across the Gulf of Mexico ecosystems and livelihoods are being devastated by their oil spill. Every day Tate scrubs clean BP’s public image with the detergent of cool progressive art. Yet there is nothing cool about a corporation that cares more about its profits than life or the future of our fragile world.
The activist group is promising further actions to “free art from oil” by artists and activists across Britain until Tate ends its association with BP.
It has also issued an open invitation for artists, activists, art lovers and other concerned members of the public to act to ensure that Tate ends its oil sponsorship by the end of 2011 ahead of Tate Modern’s expansion into its cleaned out underground oil tanks.
@liberatetate /
[hat tip Derek Wall]
Meanwhile, the oil spill in the US is becoming a hotly debated topic on US news networks
Reasons why Ed Balls is also a good Labour leader candidate
Ed Balls MP is a widely reviled figure in the right-wing press and right-wing blogs. But it’s more unfortunate that many on the left have also bought into the narrative that ‘Ed Balls is a bully‘ or that he is unelectable simply because the right-wing press don’t like him.
As far as I’m concerned the latter is a plus point: the last thing Labour now needs is a leader desperate to please right-wing tabloids and play the ‘policy by headline’ game that Tony Blair did for years.
But Ken Livingstone last night on Newsnight made a point about Ed Balls that I’ve heard repeated several times.
continue reading… »
Ken sets out six points for Labour leadership
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone set out six points last night which he wants Labour’s post-election debate to focus on:
One, Labour must recognise that the party lost five million votes after 1997, four million of them under governments led by Tony Blair, during times of economic growth. Therefore our assessment must go deeper than just this election. We have to connect with everyone Labour lost touch with.
Two, Labour must be a coalition that includes both middle and low income earners. Labour cannot win by limiting itself to either or taking any part of its electorate for granted. We need a policy that leads the whole of society.
Three, protect investment, defend public services. Bankers, not the public, must pay for the economic crisis. Bankers were paid £8.5bn in bonuses in the four months to April, compared with £7bn during the same period last year. For the bankers, nothing has changed, yet public services are going to be slashed. And for the British economy to revive investment must be defended.
Four, we must draw a line under the military adventures abroad that revolted many electors and saw trust break down, even before the expenses scandal. Labour must recognise that the Iraq war was a disaster, making us closer to Bush’s America than Obama’s. The public must know Labour will not make this error again.
Five, Labour must show it is looking to the interests of the next generation and the future of the planet, which means applying progressive levers of investment and planning to tackle the challenge of climate change.
Six, Labour must defend its relationship with the trade unions from any attempt to demolish this vital link with the largest civil society bodies in our country, democratic organisations that enable Labour to counter the vested interests of multi-millionaire donors like Ashcroft.
The six benchmarks were laid out yesterday at the Next Steps for Labour event hosted yesterday evening by CWU, Progressive London; and Tribune magazine.
Do you agree? What else would you add to this list?
Jon Cruddas rules himself out of Labour leadership
Jon Cruddas writes for the Guardian in an article to be published tomorrow.
Since the election many people have urged me to stand for the leadership of the party. I have been humbled by the enthusiasm people have shown for my possible candidacy. I have given it serious thought.
The role of leader is one of the greatest honours imaginable – but it is not a bauble to aspire for. It is a duty to fulfil. I do not feel that I am in a position to deliver on the hopes and expectations that will be placed in the next leader.
Standing at the count for my seat in Dagenham almost two weeks ago, I watched as Labour won both parliamentary seats in a borough targeted by the BNP. The council elections saw the BNP wiped out in a borough where they had high hopes. I also saw results come in from Oxford East, Blackburn, seats in Birmingham, and stunning local election results in places like Camden and Islington on the Friday.
Those results, in an election that was supposed to deliver a hammer blow to the Labour party, made me more determined than ever to help create a national party rooted in the culture of organising that these local examples signify.
The full article is here.
He has ruled himself out of the race.
Osborne is following ‘Chancellor for Dummies’ to the book
A few months ago, I wrote that any idiot could be Chancellor, as long as he obeyed a few rules. Well, any idiot has become Chancellor, and he’s following the rules. He’s told the FT:
We are finding all sorts of skeletons in various cupboards and all sorts of decisions taken at the last minute. By the end the previous government was totally irresponsible and has left this country with absolutely terrible public finance.
But as I advised him:
Kitchen sink the bad news. Every finance director knows this trick. Your first announcements should be about how bad things look, and how there are probably many gremlins you haven’t yet discovered which your incompetent predecessor left you.
It’s hard to give the impression that you’re good at the job. But you can exploit the framing effect, by making your predecessor look bad.
Are 172 new Lords going to be the ‘Change we need’?
“Change”, is what David Cameron pledged all along. Well, you certainly can’t accuse him of leaving things as they are.
If the Times is to be believed today, the House of Lords is set to become the fattest parliamentary chamber in the world.
There are currently 736 sitting Lords, or 707 if you take into account disqualified ones and other exceptions- see here for a full summary.
continue reading… »
Lammy wants public say in Labour leader contest
The public should be given a quarter of the votes when Labour chooses its next leader, former government minister David Lammy says in an article today for the Indy and in the Fabian Review.
He says 25% of the votes in Labour’s electoral college should be handed to ordinary people. At present, the party’s MPs, members and trade unionists each have a third of the votes.
Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) will consider widening the franchise when it fixes the timetable for the leadership contest tomorrow.
The former higher education minister says Labour must drop “old labels” that are no guide to its political future. “Most obviously ‘New Labour’ has become a meaningless term and shouldbeconfined to history,” he says.
“We must move on. Similarly, there can nolonger be’‘Blairites’ and ‘Brownites’.”
Article in the Indepedendent here.
The longer piece for the Fabian Review focuses on three areas:
1) Democratising the party
This political culture hasn’t just stifled our electoral prospects, it is suffocating our party. Membership has reached rock-bottom. Members feel disempowered. The Parliamentary Labour Party feels its voice is not heard. Our volunteers are wonderful but our candidates are still selected by fewer than a hundred people sitting in a room.
2) Moving beyond managerialism
The election itself proved that we stopped listening not just to our own members but also to the country. Going into the election 80 per cent of the public said that they wanted ‘change’. Our message: more of the same.
We warned people not to risk what they had, but forgot to offer hope of something better. We spoke about the economic recovery but never reform. The implicit message was that we would go back to the status quo. But people wanted more than this. The financial crisis revealed that markets are amoral. People wanted ethics, not just economics. For the campaign we should have run, anyone should watch Gordon Brown’s speech to Citizens UK: passionate, idealistic and reformist. This should have been our message throughout.
3) Rebuilding the coalition
The truth is that our party is itself a coalition – of trade unionists, Christian socialists, NGOs and local community activists, human rights campaigners, environmentalists, feminists and anti-racists. We are at our best when we draw from all these traditions. Of course there will be disagreements but renewal must take place in that spirit.
He says in conclusion:
It is time to start to imagine a new governing project. We need to become a more open, democratic party, not centralised and controlling. We must become a more forward looking party that offers vision and reform rather than defence of the establishment. And above all we will only rebuild our governing coalition by rediscovering our own unique identity. Achieve this and come the next election we can be ready to serve our country again.
Full Fabian piece here
Have Libdems abandoned those most in need of help?
There is a lot to like in this coalition deal stuff that the Labour Government should have attended to long ago: political reform, cracking down on tax avoidance, regulating and taxing the banks, restoring the link between the state pension and earnings, environmental measures.
But there are three parts of the agreement that must make any serious progressive question the priorities of the Liberal Democrat leadership. Unemployment, the deficit and immigration have all been handed over to the Tories with only moderate qualifications. They are all areas which will most seriously impact on the poorest and most disadvantaged.
continue reading… »
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» 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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