8.40am: There's plenty of politics around today, but no single story that is obviously going to dominate the news bulletins. The TUC is still meeting in Manchester, parliament is sitting and there are a handful of potentially interesting select committee hearings taking place. Here's a diary for the day.
9.30am: The standards and privileges committee meets in private to consider how it will conduct its inquiry into the hacking of MPs' phones.
9.45am: Lord Myners gives evidence to the Treasury select committee on banking regulation.
10.15am: The Commons transport committee takes evidence on the drink driving laws.
11.30am: Jeremy Hunt gives evidence to the culture committee about the work of his department.
12pm: William Hague gives evidence to a public administration committee hearing into "Who does UK Grand Strategy?"
3pm: Norman Lamb, Nick Clegg's parliamentary private secretary, briefs journalists about the Lib Dem conference
3.30pm: Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland secretary, publishes a report into the killing of the loyalist paramilitary Billy Wright.
At the TUC they are debating subjects including equality and health in the morning (one of the motions is about sunbeds) and in the afternoon the debates will cover international affairs (including a call for a boycott of Israeli goods), arts and the media, and education.
I'll be keeping an eye on all these stories, bringing you all the breaking news, having a look at the best stories in the papers and flagging up the best politics from the web.
9.10am: Charles Kennedy, the former Lib Dem leader, has expressed concern about the planned spending cuts, the BBC has been reporting this morning. Apparently he made his comments in a BBC Scotland interview. But the version of this story on the BBC's website only includes one word from Kennedy in inverted commas ("he speaks of the need for 'enlightened' public investment and expenditure"). The Daily Record has done slightly better; their story has got eight words of direct quotes from the sceptic Scot. ("He said it was important not to 'throw the baby out with the bath water' when deciding where and how deep to wield the axe.") If anyone knows where I can listen to the full interview, please let me know. But it does not feel like a full-scale rebellion yet.
9.19am: Diane Abbott has said that public sector bodies should monitor the gender and ethnicity of people who lose their jobs as a result of the cuts. This is what she told the Today programme.
Black [people] and ethnic minorities are predominantly employed in the public sector, particularly women. My concern is that the progress black and ethnic minority workers have made in employment is relatively recent and if there have to be big cuts, it will be 'last in, first out' and these cuts will fall disproportionately not just on women but on black and ethnic minority workers. I think that is a thing which could lead to a degree of instability .... I think the public sector cuts have the potential to set back race relations and black and ethnic minority communities by a generation.
Asked what could be done to deal with this problem, she went on:
You could make local authorities, government, quangos mindful by making them monitor the gender and ethnic distribution of people losing their jobs.
The quotes come from an interview/profile put together by Norman Smith. You can listen to it here. Smith suggests that, even though Abbott won't win the Labour leadership contest, her decision to stand has had a postive impact on the party.
9.41am: As yahyah points out in the comments, the coalition government's approval rating has hit a new low. Here's Anthony Wells at UK Polling Report on the figures.
YouGov's government approval rating today hits a new low for the coalition, down to minus 8 (37% approve and 45% disapprove). To some extent this will be an outlier, but it is part of a continuing downwards trend in the government's approval rating.
Wells also writes about the Populus figures in the Times showing little public support for the coalition's economic policies. I'm a bit more sceptical about these figures because other polling results give a different picture. I'll post more about this later.
9.56am: Paul Waugh has got hold of more quotes from the Charles Kennedy interview. (See 9.10am) As Waugh reports on Twitter, Kennedy also said that he was "not interested in being an irritant or sniping from the sidelines" and that he wanted the coalition to succeed.
10.13am: Alastair Campbell has been sounding off about the Special Relationship, a new drama-documentary about Tony Blair and his relationship with Bill Clinton. This is what Campbell told Radio Times:
The gap between what actually happened and what is portrayed is even bigger in The Special Relationship than in The Queen. What's more, there is enough material out there for that to have been discerned, which makes me think the makers simply decided facts would not be allowed to get in the way of a good story ... It ends, improbably, with Clinton at Chequers watching on as Tony Blair talks on the phone to George Bush, and then telling his young heir that he always had doubts about him and wonders now whether he was ever a progressive at all. Somewhere between fanciful and preposterous. The film gets nowhere near the truth about the TB [Blair]/Clinton relationship and the final scenes expose the filmmakers' real agenda – to have the Clinton character warning TB in lurid terms not to get too close to Bush.
10.49am: You'll find all today's Guardian politics stories here. And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in the paper today, are here.
As for the rest of the papers, here are the political stories and articles that I found most interesting.
• Sam Coates and Roland Watson in the Times (paywall) report on a Populus poll showing that three quarters of voters do not support the coalition government's approach to cutting the deficit.
Populus asked the public to identify which of three deficit reduction plans they agree with most, without identifying which party or group was advocating each position.
More than a third of voters, 37 per cent, say they prefer Labour's position to halve the deficit by the next election and deal with it over ten years. The same number say that protecting the vulnerable and keeping unemployment as low as possible should be bigger priorities than reducing the budget deficit.
Only one in five voters, 22 per cent, agree with the coalition plan to deal with the deficit by the next general election, in five years' time. Even a minority of Conservative supporters, 31 per cent, agree with the coalition line on spending cuts, while 51 per cent say they prefer the policy currently adopted by Labour.
(Other polls give a different picture. If you look at the figures on page 4 of this YouGov chart (pdf), you'll see that a plurality of voters think that the way the government is cutting the deficit is good for the economy. This has been the case ever since May, although the numbers who think the government's approach has been bad for the economy has been rising.)
• Rachel Sylvester in the Times (paywall) says that behind the scenes there is a row going on in the coalition government about the review of anti-terrorism legislation.
The Liberal Democrats have long promised to reverse legislation allowing terrorist suspects to be detained without trial for 28 days. They are also determined to abolish control orders, under which suspects are effectively placed under house arrest. The Tories, although committed to "reversing the substantial erosion of civil liberties", have been more ambiguous about specific pledges — they have abstained in recent Commons votes on control orders, for example.
• Philip Stephens in the Financial Times (subscription) says David Cameron and Nick Clegg want Ed Miliband to win the Labour leadership.
Ed, the younger Miliband, who could yet win as everybody's second choice, has offered mostly mush – policies and promises calculated to make the party feel good about itself and about his candidacy. Few of the voters who deserted Labour at the election will be persuaded by a declaration that he was against the Iraq war ...
By choosing David Miliband, Labour would be saying it wanted to win back England's aspirant classes – that it was still serious about power. But the party's heart could yet rule its head. Mr Clegg – and Mr Cameron – are cheering on the younger of the two brothers.
• The Independent says 22 MPs have advertised for unpaid interns in the last two months. In the Financial Times (subscription), Andy Burnham calls for a ban on unpaid internships.
11.38am: A website has been set up to find out what Tory and Lib Dem MPs are doing to create David Cameron's big society. At the-big-society.co.uk they've been contacting all coalition MPs and asking them what voluntary work they undertook during the summer recess. So far, the results have been underwhelming. Only around 5% of them have written back with details of the voluntary work they've been doing. The website includes an entry for every Tory and Lib Dem MP.
11.45am: Three former Labour MPs facing trial over allegations about fiddling their expenses are going to go to the supreme court next month to argue that the criminal courts should not be dealing with the matter. This is from the Press Association story about the case.
Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, today refused permission to take the case to the Supreme Court in the wake of [the appeal court's] dismissal, in July, of argument by David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine that they are protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege.
But he gave them permission to pose a question to the supreme court justices, allowing the three to make a direct application for a final hearing into the case.
Lord Judge cleared the way for the final appeal by agreeing that they could ask the
supreme court to consider "points of general importance" in their cases.The questions were: Does the crown court have the jurisdiction to try an MP in relation to allegations of dishonest claims for parliamentary expenses or allowances, or is the court deprived of jurisdiction by Article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1688 or the exclusive jurisdiction of parliament?
Lord Judge, after formally refusing permission, said the matter would "no doubt" be renewed before the Supreme Court at a date he said could be October 18 or 19.
He also refused the MPs, who were not in court, legal aid for separate representation by lawyers because he said there was no conflict of interests in the cases but "a complete identity of interests".They were allowed one leading and junior counsel and one firm of solicitors.
The three, who deny theft by false accounting, claim that any investigation into their expenses claims and the imposition of any sanctions "should lie within the hands of parliament".The judges were told that this was not an attempt to "take them above the law", but to ensure they were adjudicated by the "correct law and the correct body".
12.46pm: It's been a bit flat this morning. But here's a lunchtime summary anyway.
• A poll for the Times shows little public support for the government's approach to dealing with the deficit. Only 22% of respondents told Populus that the deficit needed to be eliminated by the time of the next election. Some 37% said it would be better to cut the deficit more slowly (Labour's position at the general election) and another 37% said keeping unemployment low should take priority over cutting the deficit. The Populus poll coincided with YouGov figures showing the government's approval ratings have hit a new low. (See 9.41am and 10.49am.)
• Three former Labour MPs accused of fiddling their expenses have been told they can go to the supreme court next month to argue that the criminal courts do not have the jurisdiction to hear their cases. David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine are accused of theft by false accounting. They deny the charges, but they also claim they should be protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege. This issue will be decided by the supreme court.
• Sarah Teather, an education minister, has said the government needs to consider the merits of describing children as having "special needs". Responding to a report saying as many as half of all the children identified as having special educational needs are wrongly diagnosed, she told the BBC: "We need to look at whether those labels are helpful and how we diagnose special educational needs."
1.49pm: The Iraq inquiry is meeting military personnel who served in Iraq between 2003 and 2009 at Tidworth garrision today to hear their views. Those attending responded to this letter that the inquiry sent out in August. To coincide with this, Radio 4 broadcast an interview with Col Tim Collins, the soldier who became famous for his eve-of-battle address to his Royal Irish regiment. Collins said that planning for the aftermath of the war was non-existent.
I rather thought that there would be some sort of plan and the government had thought this through, and I was clearly wrong ... When I gave my now notorious talk to the Royal Irish, I was trying to rationalise for those young men what was going on from my standpoint. As it turned out, it had a wider appeal because nobody had any idea why this was happening ... It became very apparent to me shortly after crossing the border that the government and many of my superiors had no idea what they were doing.
1.57pm: Lady Warsi, the chairman of the Conservative party, has written to the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, to ask what the corporation will do to make sure that coverage of the Tory conference is not disrupted by the strikes planned for next month. One of the 48-hour strikes is due to take place on 5 and 6 October, overlapping with the final two days of the Tory conference. Here's an extract from Warsi's letter.
Everyone's hope remains that a fair and amicable resolution can be found to the dispute so that strike action need not go ahead ... I would be grateful if you could let me know what contingency plans are in place to ensure political coverage is maintained during the Conference period in line with the BBC's obligation to provide impartial political coverage.
2.20pm: David Cameron has recorded a video message which has just gone up on the Downing Street website offering Pope Benedict a "very warm welcome" ahead of his "incredibly important and historic visit" that starts on Thursday.
In his broadcast - which I think is his first since his father died last week - Cameron says the pope's visit will provide a "unique opportunity to celebrate the enormous contribution that all our faith communities make to our society". He also says that society should be about "more than materialism".
The fellowship and solidarity that unite us are not just Christian values, but British values; values we cherish right across our society, amongst people of every faith and none. Now, of course, not everyone would agree with everything the pope says. But that should not prevent us from acknowledging that the pope's broader message can help challenge us to ask searching questions about society, and how we treat ourselves and each other.
It's a bit "Thought for the Day" (ie, bland and platitudinous). But it's a lot better than Gordon Brown's YouTube video moment.
3.02pm: In his Observer column at the weekend Andrew Rawnsley quoted an unnamed Lib Dem cabinet minister as saying that the party could be on 5% in the polls by next year. But what's the official story from Lib Dem HQ? I'm off to find out. Norman Lamb, Nick Clegg's parliamentary private secretary (but also a minister in the Cabinet Office) is briefing journalists ahead of the Lib Dem conference, which starts on Saturday.
3.48pm: I'm just back from the Lib Dem briefing. In the Commons Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland secretary, has just delivered a statement about the report into the murder of Billy Wright in the Maze prison. Paterson said there was no "state collusion" in the killing. There were "serious failings" by the prison authorities which did "facilitate" Wright's death, he said, but they were result of "negligence" and were not intentional.
4.05pm: Here's the first take of the Press Association report on Billy Wright:
The official inquiry into the murder of loyalist terrorist Billy Wright in the Maze prison found that there was no "state collusion" in his killing, Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson said today.
But Mr Paterson told the Commons that there had been "serious failings" within the prison which "facilitated" Wright's death in December 1997, although these were due to "negligence" and were not intentional.
"His murder in a high security prison should never have happened. It was wrong and I am sincerely sorry that failings in the system facilitated his murder," Mr Paterson said.
Our reporter Owen Bowcott has been reading the report and will file shortly.
4.21pm: Here's Owen Bowcott on the Billy Wright report:
The 700-page report highlights a catalogue of security failures but has unearthed nothing to suggest there was official connivance at the murder of Wright – a hardline opponent of the peace process.
Special Branch, the Northern Ireland Prison Service and MI5 are all subject to varying degrees of blame for neglecting to take sufficient precautions for the shooting inside the Maze prison.
None of the failures, however, are said to amount to collusion with the Irish National Liberation Army, three of whose members carried out the attack.
4.34pm: The Commons standards and privileges committee has just issued this statement about how it is going to start its inquiry into the hacking of MPs' phones.
The committee has agreed to start its inquiry by seeking evidence from the clerk of the house and from outside experts on the law of parliament on whether and if so in what circumstances hacking of MPs' phones could be a contempt of parliament. The committee will not be looking into any specific allegations at this stage of its inquiry. When it has reviewed this evidence, the committee will consider what further steps to take.
It doesn't sound as if Rupert Murdoch is going to be summoned any time soon.
4.34pm: Here's an afternoon reading list:
• Paul Waugh on his blog says that David Cameron adopted a combative tone when the cabinet met to discuss political strategy today.
I'm told that the PM said that it was time to challenge lobby groups and "vested interests" who were making "inflammatory" warnings about the cuts to come. Those who warned of a "Christmas for criminals", for example, were dead wrong.
Take note, Chief Super Barnett ...
Finally, the PM told ministers to take the fight more to Labour and tell the public they were being taken for fools. Labour would have cut spending too but are failing to say how.
"They got us into this mess and they haven't got any idea how to clear it up" is how Cam ended the 45 minute meeting, referring to the Labour leadership divisions on the Darling deficit reduction plan.
• Mike Smithson at PoliticalBetting says that the Lib Dem MPs causing Nick Clegg most trouble are those who started in Labour politics and then defected to the SDP.
• Daniel Hannan on his Telegraph blog on the reaction of some Guardian website readers when he raised the case of Andrew Symeou, a man who appears to be the victim of the European arrest warrant system.
• Jim Pickard at the FT's Westminster blog on what Charlie Whelan is going to do when he leaves Unite.
4.35pm: I'm about to finish. First, here's an evening summary:
• Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland secretary, has apologised for the "failings" that led to the murder of the loyalist terrorist Billy Wright in the Maze prison. "His murder in a high security prison should never have happened. It was wrong and I am sincerely sorry that failings in the system facilitated his murder," Paterson told MPs. In a statement announcing the findings of an inquiry into Wright's death, Paterson said there had been "serious failings" within the prison, which had "facilitated" Wright's death in December 1997. But Paterson said that these were due to "negligence" and were not intentional. (See 4.05pm and 4.21pm.)
• David Cameron has told cabinet ministers that the government will stand up to "vested interests" who are asking for special treatment when it implements spending cuts. Government sources have described interventions like the one from the Police Federation saying 25% police cuts would mean "Christmas for criminals" as "irresponsible". Cameron delivered his message when the cabinet held a special session to discuss political strategy.
• The Lib Dems have said that 6,500 people will attend their conference starting on Saturday, 40% more than last year, making it the biggest in Liberal history. Norman Lamb, Nick Clegg's parliamentary private secretary, told journalists that Lib Dem ministers would be making "substantial policy announcements" at the gathering in Liverpool. Although the party has been going down in the polls since May, Lamb said that membership was up 15%, that the Lib Dems had achieved a net gain of seats in council byelections since May and that the party was "in very good shape".
• Experts are going to be asked to give evidence to the Commons standards and committee about whether hacking an MP's phone constitutes a contempt of parliament. The committee announced the move as it explained how it will start its inquiry into the phone-hacking affair. "Cautiously" would be a fair way of describing how it has decided to proceed. (See 4.01pm.)
• Gordon Brown has been made a visiting fellow at Harvard University's institute of politics, the university has announced. He will address students there next week. "We are confident our students, faculty and university community will enjoy engaging with Gordon Brown, a prominent international leader with experience at the highest levels of government and public service," the institute's interim director, John C Culver, said.
That's it for today. Thanks for the comments.
Comments in chronological order (Total 55 comments)
Post a comment14 September 2010 9:14AM
Meanwhile outside the Westminster Coalition La La Land inhabited by Cameron, Clegg et al.
From Anthony Wells. UK Polling Report
.
Does anyone know of a government which has fallen in public support so quickly in recent [or earlier] years ?
No wonder Clegg is getting so tetchy.
He was a regular Mr Grumpy in Parliament yesterday. The Coailition have got to use every trick in the book to cling onto power.
If they are polling like this now, what will it be like in 6 months time ?
14 September 2010 9:51AM
What will the polls look like?
Cleggy won't care - he's set his stall out to be Dave's little support puppet and he's going to stay there. They claim not to care about polls - but publish biaised polling from their puppet blogs such as Lib Dem Voice (which the Guardian desperately publishes to justify their mistake in supporting them) and obsess over every ward by-election result.
All those promises - all those empty promises. A new politics; a fair government; a new transparency; a liberal outlook. All evaporated in a desperate attempt to paint Coalition as the only way forward for Britain. They've turned into neo-Conservatives just to have power - and it sickens me.
Alastair Campbell has been saying this all along. The worse it gets for the Liberals, the worse it'll get for the Country as Dave 'n' Gideon use them as cover for appalling acts of Thatcherite demolition. Cleggy knows that if his party walks away - they'll be wiped out for a generation by a public who won't forgive them.
The New Politics - highlighted by Gideon's contempt for parliament yesterday and the Lib Dems support of him - is hust so jolly isn't it...
14 September 2010 9:57AM
Anthony
What was interesting in the Populus poll was that the answer choice didn't identify which party or organisation backed which choice [if that makes sense].
Not sure if other polls explicitly identify the choices as linked with the Coalition or Labour etc. which may affect people's responses.
14 September 2010 11:13AM
How much of the electorate is that 37%? Around 18% is it?
14 September 2010 11:13AM
So no crumbs of comfort showing the a slight overall approval for the Coalition. It explains the lack of news on this item i.e. people do not approve
14 September 2010 11:21AM
This comment has been removed by a moderator. Replies may also be deleted.
14 September 2010 11:24AM
PLEASE could you put the rolling commentary on your Politics Live Blog up the other way!
We read from top to bottom, but to read this column you have to start at the bottom, find the top of the bottom section, read down, follow up the page till the top of the next bit, read down again...completely maddening, and it means I never bother to read this column any more.
Why not just add the latest bit at the bottom - it would actually be perfectly easy to find, as that is the direction in which we read!
14 September 2010 11:35AM
Did Diane Abbott really say that ethnic minorities should be protected in job cuts? Is she having a laugh?
14 September 2010 11:36AM
The thing that gets me is that when one attempts to deconstruct/analyse Coalition statements/arguments concerning contemporary social/economic issues one ends up with - zero, zilch, or just plain rubbish.
For example, George Oddball's statement that those on welfare benefits choose this as a 'way of life'!. Now what is his experience and knowledge of the life of the 'untermenschen' - nothing! Does he really think people choose that as a way of life or is that there are no alternatives. 2.5 million unemployed 500,000 job vacancies - fat lot of choice! Wouldn't it be better to to provide training in job skills and provide jobs for them instead of just letting them rot away and then blaming them for their condition? But far from it in the midst of growing unemployment with a lot more to come the Coalition is cutting back public expenditure which of course is guaranteed to further deflationary pressures.
14 September 2010 11:44AM
@yahyah
"The Coailition have got to use every trick in the book to cling onto power. "
Err ... the Coalition has a handsome majority. I don't think cling is the right word, more "firmly grasp and enjoy" .......
As we know from recent history, polls (real and imaginary) quite often throw up an unexpected result !!
14 September 2010 11:45AM
@conanthebarbarian
Divide and rule. Oldest trick of the British ruling class. If she can drive a wedge between us according to skin she stands to get more votes from those with skin similar to hers.
14 September 2010 11:56AM
Gideon's claims about 'lifestyle choices' are not even remotely connected with reality but EVERYTHING to do with the classic Tory tactic of 'divide and rule' his (and the rest of this shower of shit) are doing everything in their power to provoke/encourage tensions between those working / not working as a justification for this ideological purge on the public sector / welfare.
I concede that very few people are going to approve of benefit fraud no matter what their political persuasion is, however, to portray this (miniscule) % as responsible for the present financial difficulties is, as was said in the House yesterday, Unethical in the extreme.
Of course these are the type of 'tactics' those of us with experience of the Thatcher purges fully expect from Tory scum such as this.
14 September 2010 12:49PM
Just been on the 'Big Society' website. David Cameron's ' Big Society' basically boils down to people doing voluntary work.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't people been doing volunteer work years and years? If that's the case, then how can the government call the 'Big Society' a 'policy'?
As far as I can see, the 'Big Society' is basically Cameron trying to take credit for something that has existed for hundreds of years and has absolutely nothing to do with government. He's a clever one that Cameron.
14 September 2010 12:54PM
@ConDemNation - You are wrong.. if the libdums were to remove support from the Tories then they would find it very difficult to pass legislation in the house and would be open to horse trading by the smaller parties the SNP etc. In reality they would probably loose a vote of no confidence, any wonder they want to fix the length of the parliment...
14 September 2010 1:12PM
Cuse
14 September 2010 9:51AM
Thanks for your comment but please never mention the odious Alastair Campbell's name ever again.
14 September 2010 1:26PM
Alastair Campbell
14 September 2010 1:28PM
Just looked at the the-big-society.co.uk website. Shouldn't Cameron, Clegg and Osborne be setting us an example and doing some voluntary work at the weekends and on holidays. I thought we were in this together. I see we work for nothing but they need to be incentivised with money.
14 September 2010 1:42PM
Clegg is Daves Donkey. In 6 months time he will have joined the Tory Party his real home.
14 September 2010 1:43PM
@conanthebarbarian
I don't know if she's having a laugh, but she didn't say ethnic minorities should be protected. Try reading the words, it always helps.
14 September 2010 2:06PM
The Trade Unions coordinated response is but one aspect of challenging the Tories ideological purges on the public-sector / welfare; (civil disobedience being another). However, I would suggest the most important focus should be coming from disgruntled Lib-Dems and even if you didnt vote for a sitting Lib-Dem MP we should ALL be directing our ire towards them.
The only way we are going to get rid of these Tory vermin is to do everything we can to get the Lib-Dems to withdraw their (vital) support from these ideological lunatics thus enabling a minority government / vote of no confidence.
It is to be hoped that the growing campaign (both viral and otherwise) encouraging the Lib-Dem rank and file in the run-up to their conference will have the desired effect; after all, it cant have failed to register on the present cohort of Lib-Dem MPs that they are heading for electoral oblivion at the next election (otherwise). This should focus their minds with any luck :)
14 September 2010 2:11PM
Why doesn't she send Coulson round for another 'chat' ?
She should be thanking Thompson for his very favorable coverage thus far.
14 September 2010 2:19PM
Anyone else read this as a veiled threat?
Scary.
14 September 2010 2:23PM
So the polls show that there is no majority for these cuts, and yet the BBC is always saying that the coalition is "winning the argument" on cuts and that a majority support them.
A majority probably does support some cuts in some time frame. But clearly not the accelerated cuts the Tory dominated government are about to inflict on us. Yet even yesterday on BBC News 24 the head of IpsosMori was claiming that his polling was showing support for the government position. There was no attempt by the reporter to go deeper into the poll results. Or tease out whether this support was for cuts over one parliament; and we were not told the question either.
That was misleading and is just one more example of the BBC acting as a cheerleader for government policies.
14 September 2010 2:27PM
Would that in any way involve the Labour party democratically sharing power under a completely proportional electoral system?
And then governing with the Lib Dems on an agreed policy platform?
Or would you just like Lib Dem voters to continue permanently to lend you their votes, so you can once again do whatever you want, based on a "mandate" from about one-fifth of the electorate?
14 September 2010 2:42PM
Finally! Not before time.
14 September 2010 2:56PM
Have you no shame GlennOlive.
Would Clegg be in the position to be helping the Tories so gleefully without the borrowed Labour and left leaning votes that he got ?
Surprised you have time to be posting on here - taking time out from practising 'We Love Nick Clegg' for the upcoming Lib Dem conference ?
14 September 2010 2:59PM
"The fellowship and solidarity that unite us are not just Christian values, but British values; values we cherish right across our society, amongst people of every faith and none."
Just as much cobblers as "we're all in this together".
14 September 2010 3:02PM
Moan, moan, moan, we're only £trillions in bloody debt, what did you expect??????
14 September 2010 3:04PM
Assuming the sick and unemployed receive 65 pounds a week
The cost of the Pope's visit amounts to the weekly needed payments for 38000 people.
The waste makes me sick in the face of what the government are doing.
We are not even a catholic country
The cost of a budget Easyjet flight to Rome is around 65pounds
14 September 2010 3:04PM
@sickboy47
So please explain what 'mindful' means in this instance? I had always rather associated it with being protective but if there is some other meaning perhaps you will share it.
14 September 2010 3:27PM
.
I live in hopes of the day the Lib Dems plunge to 5% by next year as my husband and I have a wager going on it.
He thinks they'll hit 5% by Christmas.
If he loses he promises to make me breakfast in bed every morning for the rest of my life.
14 September 2010 3:30PM
Five years is a long time in politics.
14 September 2010 3:33PM
Another of Brown's mad ideas to garner a few more votes. Another Labour bill to pay.
14 September 2010 3:34PM
You betcha.
14 September 2010 3:35PM
Only when I have cause.
Have you no shame, yahyah?
It was your own damnfool party which spent the last 13 years comprehensively negating every last possibility of a centre-left realignment.
The bunch of bloody hypocrites would much rather totally abandon the people they supposedly care so much about about, and spend a decade or two in powerless opposition, than share one iota of power with the Lib Dems.
Try actually answering my questions, if you have any reasonable point of view to express.
14 September 2010 3:43PM
Three former Labour MPs accused of fiddling their expenses have been told they can go to the supreme court next month to argue that the criminal courts do not have the jurisdiction to hear their cases. They deny the charges, but they also claim they should be protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege. This issue will be decided by the supreme court.
Well why not it appears to be standard practice for the wealthy who use Tax evasion and Tax Havens to achieve the same objective of not paying their share. The rest of us ofcourse do not have this kind of defence. T
he majority of us do pay up what is due to provide public and social services that the poorest need and the necessary financial support our armed forces require to defend our nation. Apparently the extremely wealthy are not even prepared to support the boys defending with their lives their commercial interests.
14 September 2010 3:47PM
Astonishing self-blindness.
The tactical lending of votes was overwhelmingly from Lib Dem to New Labour, and not the reverse, during the three elections 1997-2005.
That's why you were elected, and the removal in 2010 of many of those tactical votes is why you were kicked out.
In 2010, it was the fact that tribalist Labour voters would not switch to the Lib Dems in Tory/LD marginals that lost Labour the chance of -
a. Winning the most seats in this Parliament
b. Becoming the larger partner in a centre-left coalition.
It really is quasi-religious with you lot, isn't it?
You actually believe you are the one true voice of the left, and no other point of view may be allowed a look-in.
Until you rethink that arrogance, you are likely to be a voice in the wilderness for a very extended period.
14 September 2010 3:54PM
Awwwww mods you removed my negative comment about the chubby ones nazi-like desire for the racialist profiling of UK citizens and how it stands to exaggerate artificial divisions.
If you're scared of her you can hide behind me I'm not using any alias and you have my contact details, point the lawyers this way.
14 September 2010 3:55PM
A wee bit tribalist eh GlennOlive ?
It may interest you to know that I am not a cheerleader for New Labour.
I'm as disenchanted a Labour voter as probably exists.
I was even foolish enough to nearly vote for the Lib Dems on May 6th believing what Clegg was telling us about being new, honest and different.
Watching his embarrassing non answers at his PMQ stand ins show how very much he is the old politics in action.
14 September 2010 4:00PM
GlennOlive
What wilderness ? I'm not a member of the Labour party.
I live in very rural Wales - is that what you mean ?
Again you show the tribalism that you Lib Dems love to project onto Labour or Tory supporters.
Keep on in Lib Dem La La Land. Your views do not reflect those of Lib Dem friends and people in my village who lent their votes to the Lib Dems.
If there's a story tomorrow that Clegg's been co-habiting with Mother Teresa's corpse and Cameron strangles kittens with his bare hands and and election is called - look at any of the last few weeks voting intentions.
Labour would have the most seats.
I think that's what rattles you the most. Lib Dems would probably only get less than 25 and would be a truly junior party in any coalition of what ever hue.
14 September 2010 4:06PM
@GlenOlive
I 'personally' do not have any problem with that proposition but if you think that it what you are getting from your incestuous alliance with with the Tory Toffs then you are truly deluded.
I also do not dissagree with many of your criticisms of Nu-Lab either; I hold my hands up (in shame if truth be told after 2002) to voting for them; however your glorious leader Clegg, far from leading the Lib-Dems into the 'promised land of power' by alligning himself with the Bullingdon Bum Boys, stands every chance of dissapearing into the wilderness for a VERY long time come the day of reckoning albeit, if this unholy alliance lasts that long which, for the sake of so many in this country, I fervantly hope it dosent.
14 September 2010 4:23PM
The Orange ones are bursting to get a bit of collusion under their belt so they can keep up with the Green ones in the perceived persecution stakes. A country of nearly two million children and no adults really needs taking charge of at this stage. Somebody, like the State for instance, should put all the poor brainwashed kids in school together like they did in Rwanda with the Hutus and the Tutsis as part of their peace process.
14 September 2010 4:25PM
See the Saudis are buying US planes again. Guess they won't touch BAE since the bribery got out.
14 September 2010 4:27PM
He also says that society should be about "more than materialism".
Cameron may want to take some tips on Socialism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCAEQha-3Rk
14 September 2010 4:41PM
I think you'll get quite a surprise at just how many Labour voters DID you vote lib-dem.
The irony is that the Lib-Dems will loose quite a few to the conservatives.
My city will sadly go Blue next time because the Labour vote propping up the Lib-Dems will not return with Clegg as leader.
14 September 2010 5:01PM
I realise to many it may seem that way, but most of us aren't brainwashed bigots, you know.
Regarding the accusations of collusion in the murder of Billy Wright, given the circumstances an intentional effort to write him off by the authorities seems more likely than merely negligence. Collusion, deceit, underhandedness and dirty tricks defined most of the conflict and Mr. Wright happened to be one of the biggests threats to the peace process at the end of it all. Even if it's unequivocal that collusion didn't take place here, there are countless other cases of suspected state involvement we'll never get the truth about.
14 September 2010 5:15PM
@SeanThorp
Does it not have it's usual meaning of "be aware of"? I make no comment pro or anti Diane Abbot and her views but surely she is saying nothing more than be aware that cuts in the public sector will have a disproportionate effect on ethnic minorities and women?
14 September 2010 5:30PM
@GlenOlive
Your are absolutely wrong, because I did.
14 September 2010 5:37PM
@Glenolive
Let me add my voice to this as yet another Labour voter who voted Lickspittle Democrat in 2005.
Be honest with yourself. About one third of the LD vote was Labour tactical votes that you ain't never gonna get again.
14 September 2010 6:20PM
sickboy47
.
SickBoy, I've found another good word to add before or after Lib Dem - poltroon.
I think we should probably leave poor Glenn Olive alone.
After waiting 80 odd years to get into government then see it all turning to dust, and increasingly unpopular dust at that must be heartbreaking.
The first stage to recovery is getting out of denial.