2010 « Labour Uncut

Archive for 2010

Saturday News Review

10/07/2010, 08:32:06 AM

And so it begins

The Peter Mandelson memoirs are released this week

At times, Lord Mandelson said, Mr Brown feared that he had “killed” all three men, but, wound up by his lieutenants, was unable to stop the feud, meaning that Mr Blair was forced to devote too much energy dealing with him. The former business secretary said some of the blame for the hostilities lay with the people around Mr Brown who, he said, treated Mr Blair with “unbridled contempt”. – The Telegraph

In an interview published by Saturday’s Times newspaper, the peer said that relations between Mr Blair and Mr Brown were “awful” and “exceptionally bad” between 1994 and 2007, not least because the latter “couldn’t get over” the fact that he was not prime minister. Lord Mandelson also said he wished the pair had “behaved to me and treated me differently” – a reference to his two resignations during the Blair government. – The FT

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Tom Watson describes the moment that he lost it with Gove

09/07/2010, 11:30:45 AM

In the Commons chamber on Wednesday, Labour MP Tom Watson denounced Tory education secretary Michael Gove in terms so furious that he was obliged to withdraw them. It is already becoming a celebrated moment. One in which real anger at this government’s arrogance seemed, for the first time, to be articulated on our behalf.

If you haven’t seen it, you should first watch the video here. Then read Tom’s account, below, of how he got into that state.

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A family story of where Labour went wrong, by Helen Godwin Teige

09/07/2010, 09:36:35 AM

In 1997 my entire family voted for Tony Blair. We were genuinely thrilled as we celebrated the landslide. I was 21 and optimistic after a lifetime of Conservative government.

Fast forward to 2010 and only half of us still gave Labour our vote, with my mother making it very clear that this was their last chance. Interestingly, of the Labour voters, two of us are now members. We both got involved in the election campaign and felt passionately that Labour was the right party, on policy across the board and particularly to get us out of the recession.

But what about the rest of my family; what went wrong? (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 5 Comments »

Friday News Review

09/07/2010, 08:27:14 AM

Show me the money

David Miliband has raised more in donations than any of the other candidates

Since launching his bid to replace Gordon Brown in May, accounts issued by the Electoral Commission show that the shadow foreign secretary has raised nearly £200,000 from major donors alone. He has also drawn in 94 smaller gifts of less than £1,500, which do not have to be declared. In contrast, Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary and his nearest rival, has raked in less than £30,000, and Mr Miliband’s younger brother Ed, the shadow energy secretary, has only £15,000. – The Telegraph

Black Country MP John Spellar has offered a donation of £13,000 to Labour leadership candidate Ed Balls’s campaign – but he doesn’t expect ever to pay it. Mr Spellar is listed as a donor in a new register published by the Electoral Commission which shows how much the candidates have received. Shadow Foreign Secretary David Miliband is in the lead in the cash stakes, with £185,265 in financial support from major backers. – The Birmingham Post

David Miliband brandished his political fundraising abilities today as it emerged he had attracted far more in donations to his Labour leadership bid than any of his rivals. The shadow foreign secretary has so far racked up £185,265 in financial support from major backers, according to the Electoral Commission. That is apart from 94 other donations of less than £1,500 which do not need to be declared and two cash gifts from the Usdaw and Community unions which will be listed in future months. – The Guardian

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Willsman nomination shenanigans III

08/07/2010, 01:45:17 PM

It seems that Uncut was right: Pete Willsman is fulfilling a long standing ambition to move from south east London to east Oxford.

Sources in both constituency Labour parties (CLPs) have confirmed that the veteran left-winger yesterday transferred his party membership from Erith and Thamesmead – the south east London suburb in which he has lived for years – to Oxford East.

Cynics are suggesting that this move has been prompted by Erith and Thamesmead having declined to nominate Willsman for re-election to Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC). Without such nomination from his home CLP, he is ineligible to stand.

On this occasion, cynics are right. After failing to be nominated at their meeting two Fridays ago, Willsman tried to persuade members and officers in Erith and Thamesmead to reconsider their decision. Having failed, he decided to “move” to Oxford East, the (real) home CLP of national Labour party chair and fellow grassrooter, Ann Black. (more…)

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James Ruddick says the Tories are storing up glory by trashing our past

08/07/2010, 09:51:41 AM

The next election is already being lost. And the one after. And indeed the one after that. John Kennedy once said: “We can’t know where we’re going until we know where we’ve been.” Well I’m old enough to have been here before: it was the summer of 1979 and Margaret Thatcher was busy rewriting the last Labour government as the Worst Moment in History.

She succeeded – big time – and her rewrite kept Labour out for a generation. It didn’t matter that the disasters which had led to the fall of the Callaghan government – the biggest since World War II – were not Labour’s fault (there had been an international oil crisis, then a US gold crisis, then another oil crisis, then European stagflation). (more…)

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Thursday News Review

08/07/2010, 09:38:49 AM

The candidates

Andy Burnham, a contender for the leadership of the Labour Party, has accused supporters of a rival camp of conducting “malicious briefing” in the hope of getting him to throw in the towel. His remarks are the first public sign of mutual antagonism in a leadership contest that has been marked by restrained language up to now. – The Independent

ALLIES of Ed Balls fear his Labour leadership campaign is about to be wrecked by damaging revelations in an explosive book by his political foe Lord Mandelson, it emerged last night. The Labour peer’s memoirs are set to be published next week amid growing speculation that he will lift the lid on the feuding and spite that infected the party under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. – The Express

We interviewed him this afternoon to find out why he believes the gay community should back his leadership bid, if he agrees with full marriage equality and why he enthusiastically supports the Pope’s UK visit. His answer to the first question is short and direct: “I’ve got the beliefs and capabilities to lead us back into government and build a more equal country.” Pink News

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Shenanigans at the grassroots alliance II

07/07/2010, 02:42:25 PM

Strange developments over at the grassroots alliance. We reported last week that the savagely-wrought left slate for the CLP section of Labour’s ruling national executive committee has been imperiled by Pete Willsman’s failure to secure the support of his home CLP. Without which nomination you cannot stand.

Strangely, the name of Willsman’s home CLP has now disappeared from the online version of the grassroots alliance NEC election flyer. All the other candidates’ CLPs are listed, according to the rules. Willsman’s, weirdly, is not.

Uncut’s hard copy of the original is in the post. It will be interesting to see, when it arrives, whether it is similarly and bafflingly blank, or whether it says “CLP: Erith and Thamesmead”. We’ll post it up when it gets here.

Cynics are speculating that Willsman intends to attempt a last minute rebirth as a member of Ann Black’s Oxford East CLP.

This would require fast-track help from head office and a pyrotechnic interpretation of the rules. The world (or our little Labour corner of it) awaits with affectionate concern.

Anyone who may be able to help Pete with information or documentation should email Uncut and we will do our best to facilitate.

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John Woodcock says Ed Miliband is wrong about flexible labour markets

07/07/2010, 08:59:30 AM

As this Labour leadership contest goes on, candidates are jettisoning more and more baggage from 13 years in power in the hope that it will make their leadership balloon soar higher.

Much of this is understandable and necessary. We won three elections on the bounce, but we lost what is always the more important one – the last one. And we need to learn why we lost in order to ensure that we can win the most important election of all – the next one.

But the latest sandbag offered to the wind this week – the belief in a flexible labour market – is one that should stay firmly in its place. (more…)

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Wednesday News Review

07/07/2010, 08:25:01 AM

Join the club

Harriet Harman, the interim Labour leader, says a new breed of young political activist, committed to opposing the coalition government and the Liberal Democrats in particular, is joining Labour at a rate of 1,000 a week. She said the unprecedented growth in membership, albeit from a historic low base, represents a huge challenge to the party as it tries to make sure the activism has an effective outlet in opposing the government. She said the party’s research shows that half the 30,000 new recruits are previous Labour supporters but regard voting as not enough to change things. A third are former Liberal Democrat supporters angry with the way in which Nick Clegg formed a coalition government. – The Guardian

The Campaign

After a opening few weeks that were, frankly, as dull as watching people watching paint dry, the campaign for leadership seems to have sprung to something resembling lively as the candidates appear to have realised that just as ‘I agree with Nick’ didn’t work for Gordon, ‘I didn’t agree with Gordon’ wasn’t a particularly great line for them to each spew out. Suddenly policy has become the subject of the leadership race, each contender sharing their core ideas across a variety of subject areas. – Political Promise

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