Uncut « Labour Uncut

Oxbridge wonks are people too, says Jessica Asato

15/10/2010, 03:20:25 PM

When is a job not a proper job? And can you get by in politics without having done one?

Apparently not, if my previous experience of writing online is anything to go by. Whatever I wrote, be it an argument for universal childcare or a fairer funding system for older people’s care, the most frequent comment was that my opinion was irrelevant since I had never done a proper job.

On the face of it, the commenters had a point. I have never stacked shelves at Tescos, or dealt with angry customers in a call centre. I have never been a street cleaner or driven a bus. I cannot claim to have come from a family of miners or dockers. My career path, if it can be given a linear route at all, has been predominantly academic and political. Put the words Cambridge, think tank and Progress on any CV and it will scream privileged, middle-class Blairite. I am the walking, talking stereotype of a NuLab politician and I worry about it. (more…)

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A man for all seasons: Dan Hodges interviews Peter Hain

15/10/2010, 09:00:36 AM

Hain. A signature surname. No introductions necessary.

Some politicians travel on a journey. Peter Hain streaks like a comet.

Anti-apartheid insurgency. Letter bombs. Arrest. Conspiracy. Sensational acquittal. Liberal activism. Labour defection. Left wing standard bearer. Moderniser. Cabinet minister.

It’s a biography most politicians would die for. And those are just the highlights. Where, Uncut wonders, can Peter Hain possibly be heading next.

“Chairman of the national policy forum”.

Oh. Er, that’s a bit prosaic isn’t it? What about policy guru? Or supremo? Ed Miliband personally selected you for this role. Surely it must come with some grand honorific?

“I’m also Ed’s representative on the national executive”. Representative? Not capo? Consigliere? We’ll work on it.

“What I want to say to followers of Labour Uncut is – ‘I’m interested in your ideas. If you’ve got a new ideas or policies, I’d like to hear them’”.

Brilliant. Uncut’s followers – we do like to think of ourselves as something of a cult – are all ears. This is fresh. Innovative. Hain – the Peter Hain – is reaching out to us. The doors of the policy forum, the inner-sanctum where Blairite alchemists concocted their heady third-way brew, are to be thrown open. How will it work, Peter? Tell us. Bring us within the fold.

“Well, at the moment, you know, I’ve only just been recommended for this post. I’m just interested in new ideas basically”.

Ideas. Well, I’m sure we can come up with some. Maybe need a little steer though. Bit of guidance. Know it’s a fresh dawn and everything. New politics. Inclusivity. But after all those years of visionary leadership and iron discipline, perhaps a little nudge?

“It’s my job to act as funnel for Ed Miliband’s vision and strategic objectives to be channelled through. And then for the party to be engaged in that”.

So what is Ed Miliband’s big vision?

(more…)

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Pat McFadden on the Browne report

14/10/2010, 04:05:16 PM

Student finance always combines policy with highly combustible politics. And so it is with the parties treading round the Browne Review as if it was an unexploded land mine, accompanied by headlines about degree costs running into tens of thousands which alarm students and their parents alike.

But first, step back. Many similar headlines were around in 2004 when legislation increased fees to £3,000. Since then participation has continued to rise, including from low income groups, confounding predictions that fear of debt would put off prospective students. Upfront fees were abolished, making higher education free at the point of use for students. Graduates paid but only when they were earning. And safeguards were built in to write off debt if graduates took time out of the labour market to have children or had low lifetime earnings.

There were also less welcome consequences of the 2004 changes. Charging no real rate of interest on loans had the unintended side effect of limiting student numbers because it costs the state more to borrow the money for the loans than it gets back in repayments. So although participation has gone up, universities are still held back from taking on as many students as they would wish because it is too expensive for the government. (more…)

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Far from being the left’s embarrassing secret, the state is actually its trump card, says Anthony Painter

14/10/2010, 08:54:51 AM

What weird contorted, politically arrogant logic comes to the conclusion that David Miliband should join the Tory-Lib Dem coalition, as Nick Boles attempted to argue yesterday? While setting on a course that gives Margaret Thatcher a run for her money in terms of its social and economic destructiveness, the government has finally been lifted from the ground with the hot air of its own rhetoric. The definition of socialism is what a Labour government does and anything this government does is progressive reform – by definition. Why? Well, because it’s a progressive reformist government, duh.

With Labour’s leadership election out of the way, the fog of war is starting to clear. David Miliband and all those on the left who know that the state must change – be more personal, more local, and more innovative – equally know that the type of reform offered by the Tories and Lib Dems is anything but progressive. David Cameron and Nick Clegg know that as long as they can be seen to be taking it out on relatively high earners as well as the least well-off then the progressive fig leaf will stay in place.

So high rate taxpayers lose £1billion of child benefit. Others much lower down the earnings ladder lose up to £15billion a year. There is a £9billion hit for 3.5 million disabled people over five years according to the think tank, Demos. Progressive. Then there is the pupil premium: the government’s get out of jail free card when it comes to fairness. Or so they think. It conveniently ignores the fact that there already is a pupil premium. It goes to local authorities. Meanwhile, investment in creating the school buildings of the future for many is cut. Progressive. (more…)

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Siôn Simon on Ed Miliband’s first PMQs

13/10/2010, 01:14:18 PM

All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

Not for a moment have I missed sitting on the green benches. Not for a wistful split-second have I wished that I had the choice again. As I’ve watched them twist and turn in the Westminster wind, and remembered how it feels, there’s been nothing but relief that it isn’t me any more.

Until today. Ed Miliband’s first prime minister’s questions was a great parliamentary moment. A performance of such assurance and aplomb on the first day of such an inexperienced leader that it will be long remembered.

All new party leaders begin by promising an end to the punch and judy style of traditional PMQs. They never mean it. Substantively, Miliband doesn’t mean it either. It’s not a debate; it’s a fight; and he wants to win. But presentationally – and may the ghost of Frank Johnson forgive me for the phrase – he just changed the game.

At a stroke, by simply willing it, he halved the heat and pace of what has always been a stupidly uproarious affair, and effortlessly took control.

At first he seemed so slow that one feared the worst. But he held his nerve and within a minute was completely in command of the occasion. (more…)

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Tom Watson promises Ed Miliband that he’ll stop behaving like a child

13/10/2010, 10:03:38 AM

Ed Miliband is more like the early Tony Blair than either he or Tony would publicly admit. He is patient with his colleagues, considerate and engaging. He is irritated by complacency and policy inertia. And he is murderously ambitious for electoral success.

As Neil Kinnock once famously said “to lead a political party, first of all you have to establish whether the political party wishes to be led”. Ed’s got to put the band back together. Re-pitch the big tent.

And with what was a sublime re-shuffle – respect for defeated opponents, dignified exits for distinguished big beasts, early promotion of a cadre of new MPs – I think the band might soon, for the first time in many years, be playing in harmony.

He’s made some spectacularly audacious and very clever appointments that make it just possible for this happen. Anne McGuire joining the team as his PPS is an act of genius. She’s canny and well-respected by MPs. (more…)

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Charlie Whelan should holster his guns and let the posse ride on, says Dan Hodges

12/10/2010, 09:00:25 AM

Two weeks ago Charlie Whelan savoured his greatest triumph. Unite’s pistol-packing political director strained every sinew and bicep of union muscle as Ed Miliband was carried triumphantly across the finishing line. The crowd roared. And at that point our hero was supposed to hang up his six shooters, saddle up his horse, and gallop into the sunset.

It didn’t happen that way. Instead, Charlie wheeled his steed, came barreling down main street, and started shooting up the town.

“Charlie Whelan: the puppet master who ‘won it for Ed’” – the Sunday Telegraph; “Charlie Whelan launches attack on biggest names in Labour party” – the Guardian; “I’m not going to go around crowing. But it was clear that the union vote turned out for Ed Miliband.” – the Times.

To many people, there’s no mystery to answer. “Charlie’s just being Charlie”, said one journalist, “what you get is what’s on the tin”. “It’s all about his book”, says another, “he just wants to sell more than Peter”. (more…)

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Jonathan Todd reviews “The British General Election of 2010” by Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley

11/10/2010, 04:50:33 PM

“The characteristic virtue of Englishmen is power of sustained practical activity and their characteristic vice a reluctance to test the quality of that activity by reference to principles.”

So said R. H. Tawney. Whereas the mantra of Alicia Kennedy, Labour’s director of field operations, during this year’s general election was ‘where we work, we win’ – a eulogy to the power of sustained practical Labour activity. Now, we can test the quality of that activity by reference to a simple principle: did it secure Labour representation as effectively as it could have done?

Only now is it possible fully to answer this question. Because Dennis Kavanagh and Philip Cowley have just published the 2010 edition of what used to be known as the ‘Butler book’.

Kavanagh and Cowley have ably stepped into the big shoes of David Butler, whose foreword to the 2010 volume means he has been involved in these election studies for 65 years. Cowley’s revolts project, which, though struggling for funding, has so far just about made into this parliament, has debunked many myths about backbench behaviour. This study of the 2010 general election is equally successful at disentangling hype from reality. (more…)

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Labour should properly embrace elected mayors, says Andy Westwood

11/10/2010, 09:00:52 AM

Back in 1997 Labour’s big idea for local government was the election of city mayors. But it appeared and then disappeared in an instant. After creating the office of mayor of London (and then a few others in places like Middlesborough, Newham and Hartlepool), Labour enthusiasm quickly waned as an independent Ken Livingstone fought and won it. After a second term as the Labour candidate, he lost it again. But Ken has been rehabilitated once more and has been selected to fight again in 2012. Does his return suggest that we should take a moment to rethink our rather lukewarm attitude to mayors in England’s other larger cities? Mayoral elections are now in the pipeline with the government committed to introducing the offices in England’s twelve largest cities.

But we should pause and take a breath. This is far from a popular idea – among many in the Labour party and perhaps even more so in the wider electorate. Some readers will already be writing their comments – and they won’t be positive. Most local councillors in cities across England are not keen. National politicians have been happy to drop the idea given the degree of opposition from some town halls. Even Eric Pickles has been lobbied by Tory and coalition councils to back off. And perhaps they all have a point. After all, we’ve started to win back many of the city councils that we lost during our time in government. But we really should think about it more deeply – not least because we will need to fight any mayoral elections every bit as hard as we plan to do to in London. (more…)

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