THE WEEK UNCUT

Who won the battle of Millbank Tower? To some it was the triumphal unprising of a new, radicalised generation. To others a political score draw. The violence was an unwelcome distraction, but a message had been sent. Then there were those who saw only a missed opportunity. The largest student protest in decades, undermined by the hotheads and the vandals.

To judge success, it helps to look at objectives. The organisers wanted to draw the eyes of the nation to their cause. In that they were indisputably successful. Every bulletin and front page ran with images of the day. Some saw criminals. Others freedom fighters. But we all bore witness. They also wanted to put the issue at the centre of the public discourse. Again, they were successful. Prime ministers questions, though nominally subcontracted to the deputies, was handed over to the students. Members of parliament shared common cause with the protestors. Members of parliament shunned them. But all felt their presence.

Finally, somewhat lost amid the filth and the fury, there was a policy objective. The reversal of the misleadingly innocuous Browne report. Here, there is less evidence of progress. Clegg has been exposed and humiliated. But Cameron and the Tories, their headquarters excepted, remain relatively unscathed. They will watch carefully to see whether Wednesday’s events represent a flash of youthful disobedience, or the spark that ignites a dangerous conflagration of protest.

But they do not expect people oppressed by their mortgages, jobs and credit card repayments to rise up in defence of the cherished right to study social anthropology with a year in Denmark.

There will be implications, however, for all of us. On Wednesday, at precisely the same time that the doors of Millbank Tower were being smashed down, a wall was being constructed.

On one side of that wall sit the good. Hard-working people. Fair-minded people. Conscientious, thoughtful, law-abiding people.

On the other side sit the bad. Destructive people. Arrogant people. Selfish, lazy, lawless people.

On Wednesday, we on the left found ourselves the wrong side of that wall. And, by default, David Cameron, Nick Clegg and their government escaped to the other.

We can dismantle that wall. We can scale it. But we must do so. And we must so quickly.

These were the best read pieces on Uncut last week:

Peter Watt sympathises with Phil Woolas

Kevin Meagher says three cheers for Nigel Farage

Inside breaks the story of Ken’s pushing for Rahman’s readmission

Tom Watson on Cameron’s vulgar obsession with image

Luke Akehurst on the student riot

Simone Webb defends Sally Bercow

Dan Hodges on Ed Miliband’s gurus

Jessica Asato goes back to Tower Hamlets

Ed Miliband appears to be faced with his “first big defining moment” every week. At every turn he faces hyperbole. PMQs will define. The CSR response will challenge. Can he slay them on tuition fees? Will he fall in to a trap on child benefit? What will he do with Woolas?

Some of the answers to fleet streets leadership milestones are still to be found. The answer to the question of Woolas was more forthcoming. With the verdict still reverberating around Westminster the party turned, and shot him.

Phil Woolas is no longer an MP. He is no longer a shadow minister. He no longer represents the Labour party. The party has pulled their support for legal costs, brushed their hands, and walked away. Good riddance we hear you cry.

The court ruled that campaign literature, in which Woolas accused his Lib Dem opponent of cosying up to Islamic militants, contravened a statute prohibiting “false statements” against a rival’s “character or conduct”. Put simply, his campaign lied. But this wasn’t just the standard fare of dragging up past jobs in lobbying, or claiming homes were outside the constituency boundary. It went beyond the “usual rough and tumble.” “It crossed the line.”

Harriet showed her killer instinct. She dropped him like a stone; there was no room for manoeuvre. When asked about an appeal Harman said:

Whatever happens in an appeal – what might happen in an appeal, if he does appeal, it could be that they could say on the basis of the facts that the election court found it was not warranted for them to strike down the election result and disqualify him, so he might win on a legal basis. But it won’t change the facts that were found by the election court, which was that he said things that were untrue knowing it, and that is what we are taking action on – because it is not part of Labour’s politics for somebody to be telling lies to get themselves elected.

Ed has made his position equally as clear on Channel 4 News:

The court’s made a very clear judgement in this case. A clear finding of fact about what happened and what Phil Woolas did and that he knowingly made false allegations about his opponent and therefore I think we’ve taken the right decision. The right decision is to suspend him from the party and to say we’re not going to fund his further legal action. I think reasonable people will think we’ve done the right thing.

There is obviously rough and tumble in politics, but sometimes you go beyond rough and tumble. I think this is a salutary reminder to all politicians across the political spectrum about the importance of a clean fight. It’s certainly a reminder that I think all of us will take to heart.

But there is no such thing as a clean fight. Politics is a contact sport. Negative campaigning will always take place, because it works. But there has to be a line. Across the country if you listen very closely, you might be able to hear the low hum of shredders whirring. Better to be safe than sorry, how many have gone “beyond rough and tumble.” Simon Hughes and Sayeeda Warsi should pause from chucking rocks for a moment and remember that they have very big conservatories.

But what happens if Woolas wins the appeal? Legally he remains the MP for Oldham. There is no by-election. And he returns to work, until the good people of Oldham get the chance to vote again. Ed and Harriet have drawn the line; win or lose he is not welcome.

If he does appeal, and he wins, you know what – it might just be Ed Miliband’s first big defining moment.

In case you missed them, here are Uncut’s best-read pieces of the last seven days:

Michael Dugher says the loony libertarians in the government are not confined to the Lib Dems

The Tories swaggering arrogance is storing up trouble

Tom Watson goes to the movies and finds a new leading man

Andy Bagnall says the Tories defence review was a disaster

Dan Hodges says Phil Woolas is our fall guy

Jessica Asato says it’s time for debate and dialogue

Kevin Meagher says the battle for the regions has just begun

Peter Watt thinks Labour are wrong on housing benefit

David Cameron is a war leader. We know this because he has told us so. Outside is a gathering storm. We face tribulations without modern parallel. But he will unite a nation, and, together, we will persevere.

The leader at a time of crisis requires many attributes. He must have the foresight to project a clarity of purpose. He must have the humility to reach beyond the confines of party, and embrace his opponents. He must also have a fair slice of luck.

As Labour has found to its cost, David Cameron has those attributes. He would not be prime minister without them. He has set out a cruel, but clear, strategy on deficit reduction. Entered coalition with the Lib Dems. Narrowly prevailed in an election against a demoralised and exhausted opponent.

But leadership, especially war leadership, requires one quality more than any other. Courage. And David Cameron is not a brave politician. He is a cowardly one.

This week he had a choice. He could stand up to his partners in Europe. Or he could stand up to his euro-sceptic back benches. He did neither.

Cameron surrendered to demands for a 2.9% increase in the European Union budget, having initially talked brazenly of a freeze, or even a cut. Then he pandered to the europhobes by pretending to have secured a “spectacular” victory.

His only true achievement was the way he managed to unite both left and right in ridicule. “He’s tried to swing his handbag but simply ended up clobbering himself in the face”, said Yvette Cooper. It was a “Vichy style” betrayal, raged Norman Tebbit.

As Uncut has noted previously, David Cameron has a history of marching away from the sound of the guns. His child benefit panic. The u-turn over his plan to reform the 1922 committee. The ditching of “compassionate conservatism” when he feared Gordon Brown would call a snap election.

To date, style and spin have masked these deficiencies. Labour must also take its share of responsibility for failing to expose him. But “Yellow Dave” is as much reality as “Red Ed” is caricature. And it is Cameron’s, and the Conservatives’, Achilles heal.

We are indeed facing turbulent times. The enemies of fairness, social justice and tolerance are at the gates. It requires a bold and brave leader to confront them. Dave le Jaune is not that man.

Here are  Uncut’s best-read pieces of the last seven days.

Stella Creasy says the loan sharks are circling, and the government doesn’t care

Jessica Asato on negative campaigning

Tom Watson’s anatomy of a Downing St spin day

John Woodcock finds glimmers of hope amid the grey

Chris Bryant’s poetic take on the cuts

Dan Hodges says PMQs is no playground – Parliament matters

Eric Pickles the ‘transparency champion’ refuses FoI request

See more from @davehowells at www.davehowells.co.uk