In his wonderful Uncut interview last week, Andy Burnham set great store by the manner of his initial selection as a Parliamentary candidate in 2001.
He adduced it as evidence that he is a man of the people. A proper party person who got selected the proper way, with no help from anyone, no special treatment, no favours. Which is more than can be said, Burnham clearly implies, for the coddled and over-promoted princelings who are his leadership rivals. Read the rest of this entry »
The jury is still out on new Labour’s worst mistake in government. It could be the Iraq War, tuition fees, 10p tax, regulating the banks or failing to call an election in 2007. It could be that the Blair-Brown feud was allowed to continue for a decade. Those who believe the rot started early might argue that it was when we decided to accept a donation from Bernie Ecclestone.
In my opinion, it was none of these things. I believe that the greatest failing of the last government, in which Blair and Brown were both culpable, was that they stood by as our ranks were decimated in local government. Our support fell every year until 2009, when we reached our lowest number of seats since local government was reorganised in 1973. Our slight rebound this year was our second worst result in this time.
Even in the 1980s, when the party was less popular than gonorrhea and ward meetings were slightly more painful, we could win local elections. We were ahead in national equivalent vote share estimates for half of that decade. Since 2006, we haven’t hit 30% in the same measure. Read the rest of this entry »
Lib Dem slump
Liberal Democrat support has slumped to its lowest level since the start of the general election campaign as voters protest that the party has lost its voice in the coalition government.A ComRes poll for The Independent finds that backing for Nick Clegg’s party has fallen to just 16 per cent, its worst showing since early April. It also found that almost three-quarters of the public says it does not know what the Liberal Democrats stand for any longer. The survey puts the Conservatives on 39 per cent, down one point since the last ComRes survey for The Independent on 28 June. – The Independent
What does stand out is the 12 point share for others – SNP/PC/GRN/UKIP/BNP – which is in marked contrast to what YouGov has been reporting. In one recent survey it had the total for the five parties at just five points. It’s having fewer points for others and a much lower LD figure which is behind YouGov’s highish shares for the Tories and Labour. Even though it has the lowest ComRes share for the LDs since early April tonight’s poll will be viewed with a sense of relief by the yellows after watching their YouGov total drop to 12 points at the start of last week. – Political Betting
Leading anti-government aggressor Tom Watson MP’s latest crop of parliamentary questions is ready for harvest. His efficiency report checks up on the promised reductions to the ministerial car service, something the Tory-Liberal government had crowed would be kept to a minimum.
Ministerial cars have always been hard to defend. And in the age of ostensible governmental austerity they are particularly so. Watson has estimated that if the coalition kept their word on reductions, they could be saving the public £6.2 million a year. But if you go by Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan’s interpretation of ‘we’re all in this together’, one of three cars will be waiting outside your house to take you to work tomorrow (even though poor junior minister David Jones will be getting the bus from now on). Read the rest of this entry »
The recent media circus surrounding the Raoul Moat case did lead to some interesting discussion about the ‘lost generation’ of working class men who have lost their standing in society as a result of the steady decline in manufacturing since the 1980s.
Numerous commentators discussed fathers and their sons who have spent much of their lives on benefits and with little or no expectation of finding work. This is an issue across the UK, though one more noticeable in the former industrial heartlands of the North, and especially former mining towns that experienced mass unemployment after the pit closures of the Thatcher years. Read the rest of this entry »
The immediate aftermath of a very bad election result is not the ideal time for Labour to produce radical, worked up plans to transform our public services. So we probably shouldn’t be too surprised that none of our leadership candidates has come up with anything to set the contest alight. One or two decent ideas have been floated. The proposal by my favoured candidate David Miliband to mutualise the BBC is pretty good, but it is not the humdinger to win us back the south of England.
"Aw ma, but WE wanted to do it"
Milimum backs Abbott
Ed Miliband said his mother Marion would be supporting rank outsider Diane Abbott in the leadership battle, which concludes next month. Currently David is favourite to win the leadership, although some suggest his younger brother Ed could pip him at the finish with the support of Labour voters’ second preferences. – Telegraph.
Abbott talks cash
Leadership candidate Diane Abbott has claimed the New Labour brand is contaminated and voiced fears over the influence of money on the contest. She said New Labour was “pretty much contaminated” as she claimed David Miliband was the Blairite candidate, backed by money from big donors sympathetic to that wing of the party. Talking about the relative election campaigns, she said: “It is odd that David Miliband has £400,000 and I have £5,000. He’s got the big Blairite money and the big Blairite backers – Scotsman.
New leader powers
Labour’s new leader will be able to hire and fire his or her shadow cabinet under radical reforms drawn up by the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett. After the summer recess the Parliamentary Labour Party will be balloted on a series of measures handing far greater power to whoever is elected leader three weeks later. – Independent.
Mail on memoirs
Tony Blair will cash in on his experience as Prime Minister by flogging a special edition of his memoirs at a wallet-busting £150.
The red cloth-bound, slip-cased publication of A Journey resembles a Bible or hymn book and bears the signature of the former PM, who was often compared to a vicar for his preachy tone. – Mail.
Age factor still facing Ken
Ken
His rival for the nomination, Oona King, is of the same generation as Ed Balls and the Miliband brothers, whereas Livingstone is at least 20 years older than the next Labour leader, whoever he may be. If he wins the Labour nomination, he will be running for Mayor at the age of 66, and if he wins that, he will be nearly 71 when his term of office ends. – Independent.
Cable
There has been much speculation that frugality is the only feature of this government Cable will find to his taste. Perceived as the Lib Dem furthest to the left – a former Labour party councillor and parliamentary candidate, the man Gordon Brown phoned in the frantic post-election days – Cable is widely tipped as the minister most likely to resign from the coalition. He made no secret of his preference for forming a government with Labour – but was forced by the arithmetic of the election result to abandon that dream, “and follow my head, not my heart”. – Guardian
There’s been some mixed messages from the leadership race this week. Andy Burnham chose the FA Cup final boyhood dream over being next Labour prime minister in our crowdsourcing interview (before some cajoling from his press secretary changed his mind) and Ed Miliband got into a spot of bother, denying that he’d opt for a north-south divide on tax credits.
Demos polling ended poorly for Labour, with projections of weakness and division. And even in the heat of the summer recess, there’s the distant rumble of the AV storm on the horizon.
Here’s a brunch digest of some of our best-read pieces from the Uncut week past.
The American way – no we cant says Dan Hodges
Ed Miliband clears up confusion over tax credits
Why Cameron knows nothing and cares less about council house tenants
It’s time the leadership also-rans came clean about their second preferences, says Sion Simon
James Ruddick bids farewell to Nick Clegg
Second preferences
But while he won’t win, Ed Balls will be the kingmaker. The closeness of the race means that second preferences will be critical. – Will Straw, Channel 4.
Gloria on Sunday
Gloria does People thought Labour was bonkers back in the 1980s when the Party said it would raise their taxes and ban the bomb – and, of course, they were right. – Gloria De Piero, NOTW.
The AV Rollercoaster
Rob Hayward, the respected psephologist who advised the Tories during the election campaign (on boundary reform) tells me that the polls are likely to worsen for the yes campaign. He points out that half of Tory voters polled by YouGov were in favour of AV at the last poll – early last week. That is unlikely to be sustained given the number of Tories who will soon be making a strident case against changing the way we vote. Tighten your seatbelts; this is going to get rather exciting. – Financial Times.
Vince’s tough gig
Vince In open-neck pink shirt and slippers Vince Cable, in many ways the unlikeliest member of the coalition cabinet, is sitting in his living room talking candidly about his experiences in government three months on from its formation.
“People sometimes ask me ‘are you having fun?’ ” he says. ” No! It’s hard work and it’s tough, but it’s important.” -Telegraph.
Coalition coordinates
After a breakfast of Danish pastries and sausage rolls came a presentation from Cameron and Clegg. The Prime Minister went through his half and then, to everyone’s surprise, threw the pointer he had been using across the room to his deputy. Clegg, playing it cool, caught it one-handed. The two partners grinned at each other like Torvill and Dean at the end of Bolero. – Daily Mail.
Bercow’s wendy house
The Speaker of the House of Commons is sitting in his two-year-old daughter’s Wendy house. Can you fit in it, I had just joked to the diminutive John Bercow, all 5ft 6 inches of him, and to my surprise he bends down ever-so-slightly and climbs in through the plastic yellow door. He sits inside and waves. – Telegraph.
Like many London Labour members, I’ve been keeping a close eye on our mayoral selection, which has galvanised and polarised London activists more than the leadership campaigns.
Several times over the past few weeks, I’ve been struck by negative comments made by Oona King and her campaign highlighting Ken Livingstone’s age.
This blogpost by Oona offers one of the clearest examples:
“And I don’t think Ken Livingstone is the way to go. He may qualify for Britain’s Got Talent but only on UK Gold.” Read the rest of this entry »
Contact the Editorial Team via editorial@labour-uncut.co.uk