2010 « Labour Uncut

Archive for 2010

Tuesday News Review

27/07/2010, 07:30:08 AM

: Ed: he tweets a lot.

Following those candidates…

Four days and counting. This weekend, the Labour leadership contenders set off on holiday. After weeks of sitting cheek by clenching jowl at ever frostier hustings, they appear to be putting as much distance as possible between each other. – The Telegraph.

“Packed with teenagers going to party in the park. Some get their kicks from concerts, we make do w. hustings!” – the weekend on Ed_Miliband’s Twitter feed via BBC News.

In a rare piece of Labour mass democracy, David Miliband won the support of the Midlands Bassetlaw seat, the only party so far to hold a constituency-wide primary of 33,000 party members and supporters. David Miliband won 50.3% of the vote on the first ballot, and most second preferences. The constituency MP, John Mann,, claimed 33% of the electorate had returned ballot papers, and said he would be switching his support to the former foreign secretary – The Guardian.

We lost the election because people lost a sense of who we were and what we believed. We started as the government of the windfall tax and the minimum wage and ended up defending bankers’ bonuses and failing to listen to our party members, embarrassed by our trade union links. We need a leader who is proud of our Labour values, proud of our members, proud of our Trade Unions and will speak up for them loudly and clearly. – Ed Miliband’s letter to the Unite committee, via John Rentoul.

Diane: she's 'well placed'

Watch out, Diane’s about

A surge of trade union and constituency support for Ed Miliband has put him in a strong position to challenge his brother David Miliband for the Labour Party leadership. However supporters of centre-left candidate Diane Abbott declared that she was now well-placed to “give the brothers a run for their money.” – Morning Star.

Shortlist contest

THE fiercely-contested race for Labour nomination for the first-ever elected mayor of London’s East End is now back on track after being suspended at the weekend. – East London Advertiser.

In opposition

It may be an Urgent Question granted in the House of Commons, or a roundtable on Newsnight or a blast of regional radio interviews before breakfast. Wherever the forum, you have to want to ruin a minister’s day; disrupt their plans; pour treacle into the machinery of government. You have to do this because it’s a sad truth that you can’t change lives in opposition. You can only score points. – The Guardian.

Four out of 10 Liberal Democrat voters would not have backed the party in the May General Election if they had known it would enter a coalition with the Conservatives, a poll suggests. And 37% of Lib Dem voters quizzed for BBC2’s Newsnight said they felt their party was being dishonest about cuts. – Wales Online.

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Trident must be part of the Strategic Defence Review, argues Des Browne

26/07/2010, 03:15:56 PM

The Coalition government is embarked upon a ‘strategic’ security and defence review but Trident renewal has apparently been decided in advance and excluded from it. In taking this stance the government claims to be doing no more than agreeing with and continuing the policy of the previous Labour administration. But this isn’t good enough. As the Secretary of State for Defence responsible for committing Labour to the renewal of Trident in 2007, I know how much the world has changed since we made our original renewal decision.

In recent years we have endured and are now dealing with the consequences of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. Treasury statements to the effect that the full cost of Trident will now have to be met out of the core defence budget rather than from a Treasury reserve set aside for Trident as a ‘national strategic asset’ have enormous implications for the rest of our defence capability. There is no way of examining the necessary trade-offs between nuclear and conventional capability in this defence review if Trident is left out of the process.

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Michael Dugher blasts the inward-looking new Bennites

26/07/2010, 01:50:10 PM

When the Labour Government lost the no confidence vote in Parliament in 1979, many cabinet and other ministers at the time expected Labour to lose the following general election, but they believed that Labour would bounce back quickly. The tragedy that followed was, of course, a generation out of power, and it was Labour’s traditional areas that paid the heaviest price for our electoral failure. Now is not then, but lessons can be learnt.

The aftermath of Callaghan’s defeat at the polls was a full scale civil war inside the party, with tensions that had simmered around the Cabinet table for many years in government finally boiling over. The party pushed the self-destruct button in electing veteran left-winger Michael Foot to the leadership and, despite narrowly losing the deputy leadership to Denis Healey, the influence of Tony Benn was ubiquitous and destructive. (more…)

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We need to build a party ready to win, argues David Miliband

26/07/2010, 10:00:36 AM

Labour has a responsibility to win again.

John Prescott, who epitomises the permanent campaign, wrote here that the correct response to the anger we feel is to get organised. I could not agree more and agree strongly with the ideas he set out. The Labour leadership election will rightly focus on the policy lessons we need to learn from our defeat – and there are many – but when the debate is over, Labour will have to re-emerge as movement with both the right ideas and organisation to win again.

We should recognise the remarkable lengths that party activists go to. Their hard work saved Labour from catastrophe and meant that we got a 1992 result on a 1983 share of the vote. But despite their commitment, and this hasn’t been said enough in our contest, we lost badly. We won just 12 seats in the Southern regions of England. 4 million Labour voters and 180 Labour seats have been lost since 1997.

The seeds of our defeat were sewn long in ago in the loss of council seats, activists, members and supporters across the country. The leadership of our party invested too little in organisation. We lost the link between the voices and experiences of local members and the policies we campaigned on nationally.

Labour’s new leader will have just over 200 days to get machine and movement ready for the Welsh, Scottish and local elections. If I was that leader I would put us on a war-footing from day one. This coalition seems cosy but I suspect some Liberals are already looking for an escape route. I don’t want us to be caught napping by a surprise election or for us to still be selecting candidates with a few weeks to go before an election. We need good people in place as quickly as possible, especially in those Lib Dem seats which have become competitive again after their decision to join the Tories. The Liberals, for so long the party of relentless opposition campaigning, should now reap what they have sown.

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Monday News Review

26/07/2010, 07:35:41 AM

Ed Balls: I’m a fighter

Ed Balls: Fighting to the end

Ed Balls confirmed today that he was “fighting to win” the Labour leadership contest, as his campaign suffered a major blow when he failed to secure the backing of the Unite union. The decision by the political committee of Unite to back Ed Miliband means the shadow climate change secretary enters the summer recess with the backing of Britain’s three largest trade unions. Unison and the GMB have also endorsed Miliband. – The Guardian

Ed Balls has rejected speculation that he is considering quitting the Labour leadership contest. The shadow education secretary told the BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend he was “fighting to the end and I’m fighting to win”. Speculation about his leadership bid came after he failed to win the backing of the Unite union, which gave its endorsement to Ed Miliband. – The BBC

The former schools secretary was forced to re-state his commitment to the contest after reports suggested he was stepping aside in the wake of his failure to secure the backing of Unite union. Mr Balls was overlooked by the union in favour of Ed Miliband, who has now secured the endorsement of three out of the four major UK trade unions after Unison and the GMB also pledged their support. Mr Balls was believed to be considering his candidacy, but came out fighting to deny the reports. – The Scotsman

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Spain faces up to unpleasant economic realities, says David Mathieson

25/07/2010, 11:20:54 PM

The celebratory soccer binge over, Spaniards are once again having to face up to some unpleasant economic realities and along with the rest of Europe Spain has just published the results of a stress test on its banking system. A report on financial services would not normally be the stuff of conversation in the bars of Madrid but most people are aware that the consequences could be serious. Apprehension has again replaced euphoria. For Prime Minister Zapatero the findings will have far reaching political consequences: confidence in his socialist (PSOE) Government is at a record low and the revealed weaknesses in parts of the Spanish financial system will not improve the national mood. So far, Spain has avoided a Greek style meltdown but renewed trust in the Spanish banking system is essential if Madrid is not to become the new Athens.

Up to now debate on the crisis in Spain has focussed on the state of the public finances and the growing fiscal deficit – the difference between the Government’s income and spending – which is now around 11.5% of annual income. Over the last couple of years unemployment has soared to 20% – the fastest increase in Europe – and nearly two million people have stopped contributing to the social security system. Consumption and investment have slowed (trade between the UK and Spain, for example, fell by more than 30% last year) and Government revenues have collapsed.

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Caption contest, Rory Stewart special

25/07/2010, 08:15:50 PM

Captions please.

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The week Uncut

25/07/2010, 12:57:50 PM

It’s all about momentum. And team Ed M think they’ve got it. Miliband Jnr has hit his stride and has Miliband Snr in his sights. He picked up the backing of Unison this week and now looks certain to be backed by Unite on Monday. But will it be enough?

Miliband Snr has got lots of pieces of paper with the Queen’s head on and fancies his chances. And the bookies seem to agree. Abbott, Balls and Burnham have been written off, long shot outsiders; the real money is falling on the Milibands, with David the odds on favourite.

The race is on the home straight. The Coalition is getting shaky, the sooner the Opposition is in place the better. Rumours of Ed Balls dropping out have been denied by his team. Diane has managed a whole week without picking on the boys and Andy Burnham is looking like the closest runner to the Milibrothers.

It’s been a busy week on Uncut. In case you missed them, here are half a dozen of Uncut’s best read pieces of the last seven days:

Ed Miliband on girls, gigs, baseball, cuts and co-operatives

Alistair Darling on the growth figures that vindicate Labour’s actions

A brutal assessment of the leadership candidates and contest from Dan Hodges

Hopi Sen gives his advice to the man (or woman) behind the man (or woman)

Peter Mandelson on the book, the candidates and the future

Young dynamism and old pragmatism, Shelly Asquith makes the case for Ken

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Sunday News Review

25/07/2010, 09:06:39 AM

Balls out?

There are Westminster rumours that Ed Balls may be considering dropping out of leadership contest

The Unite union’s national policy committee overwhelmingly opted for Ed Miliband in a significant boost for the former climate change secretary’s campaign. Mr Balls had hoped to win Unite’s backing – but only secured four votes compared to Ed Miliband’s 24. The decision left him contemplating withdrawing from the fray and backing either Ed Miliband or his brother David, the former foreign secretary, who remains the bookies’ favourite. Both Miliband brothers were attempting to persuade Mr Balls, who has won Labour plaudits for his recent attacks on the decision by Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, to abandon plans to rebuild schools, to quit and support them. – The Telegraph

The main piece of hard information we have is that Balls will start well behind both Milibands in the Parliamentary third of the electoral college on the first round. Most, though not all, MPs first preferences are public. Left Foot Forward have estimated that Balls trails with 13.4% of this section behind David (38.9%) and Ed Miliband (27.9%). A winning Balls strategy would surely need to offet that deficit by topping the affiliated section, and doing so with a commanding double digit lead over at least one and preferably both Milibands there. – Next Left

More than 100 council leaders and Labour group leaders will today publish a letter backing Mr Miliband. A third of the votes in the Labour Party election will come from grassroots members. Last week bookies cut the odds on David’s closest rival – his brother Ed – after he received the support of most of Britain’s major trade unions. And yesterday Ed was backed by the Unite, in a severe blow to leadership contender Ed Balls, who had close ties with the union. But the turnout in the leadership ballot will be far lower among trade unionists than grassroots party members. – News of the World

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Opposition has a lure like crack cocaine to some Labour activists, writes Helen Liddell

24/07/2010, 02:30:36 PM

I turn my back for five minutes – well, four and a half years – and meerkats rule the advertising world and the Lib Dems show their true colours. Enough to make me turn around and head back to Australia.

Those halcyon days with Labour Governments in Australia and Britain did help us leverage a progressive agenda together on the world stage. Who can forget Kevin Rudd, within days of his election as Aussie PM, signing the Kyoto protocol, neutralising the last alliance the Bush administration had on denying climate change.

The financial crisis saw Brown and Rudd redefine world economic geography by creating a more meaningful G20 with the world’s emerging nations instead of the Rich Man’s Club of the G 8.

Labor chose the first ever woman Governor General, a human rights lawyer at that – and she took her oath of office wearing the purple of the suffragettes. Some Sheila.

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