The next victim of the chair is Ken Livingstone.
Labour Uncut’s crowdsourcing of the mayoral selection comes to Livingstone next week.
What question would you put to Ken if you could? What would it take for him to win your vote?
Get your questions in for Ken by adding them below by midday on Wednesday.
The Leadership Race
David Miliband poses the greatest threat to the Conservative party of all the candidates in the Labour leadership contest, David Cameron has said in private remarks that could change the dynamic of the campaign just days before millions of ballot papers are posted. To the likely delight of the older Miliband, who enters the final stages as the frontrunner, the prime minister has made it clear he believes the shadow foreign secretary stands the best chance of reaching out to middle Britain. – The Guardian.
With the Labour leadership election entering its final furlong, the faint outlines of a genuine debate are beginning to emerge. In his speech on Wednesday, David Miliband put clear blue water between him and the other candidates, tacitly admitting that the state grew too large under his New Labour predecessors and acknowledging the need to cut the deficit. – The Telegraph.
In case you missed it: Andy Burnham is a working class Roman catholic from the north of England. Not the midlands. And certainly not the south. The north.
He has no aversion to posh people. Nor to protestants. Not at all. But he is not one of them. And it is important that you know that. Weirdly, Burnham has put his ‘ordinary’ northern origins at the centre of his Labour leadership campaign.
His desert island discs are parodically reflective of this. The only tune he’ll hear in paradise which hasn’t been recorded by either a Manc or a Roman catholic or both will be “Protection”, by the Bristol “trip hop” duo, Massive Attack. Read the rest of this entry »
One of the traps for the new Labour leadership is the notion that politics in Britain today is entirely about deficit reduction. How to do it? How fast? How much? Yes, we need to have an intelligent and balanced response to the Tory-Lib Dem government’s cuts frenzy, but Labour victories have always been based not just on good management but on policies to make our society better.
One element of the 1997 victory was the separate New Life for Animals manifesto, which set out a long list of ways that Labour would make Britain more compassionate. The best-known reform was of course the hunting ban, but arguably the animal welfare act 2006 will change the life of animals in Britain more deeply, because it makes it possible for future government to introduce easily-passed secondary legislation on everything from circus animals to pet markets. It was the first comprehensive animal welfare legislation for 96 years.
Ed confirms family rift
“In the battle between the two Miliband brothers for the Labour leadership crown, things are getting a little bit tense. Ed admitted to the Daily Mirror that hadn’t spoken to David in two weeks – but he insisted the contest would not damage their relationship.
He accepted there was an “honest disagreement” between them about the direction of the Labour Party. Ed launched into his strongest attack so far on his brother’s tactics and his closeness to Mr Blair’s New Labour project. Banging the desk, he all but accused David of being trapped by the right-wing press into thinking only a move to the right would see Labour back in power.” – The Mirror
Other candidates round on Milibands
“From candidates who said they wanted to move beyond the new Labour / old Labour debates of the past, there is a danger of walking into caricatures. What we actually need to do here is put together a programme that is credible on the economy and on interest rates but at the same time will deliver the decent public services and the fairness that the majority of lower and middle income families want. The idea that we should either only focus on unskilled working people on the one hand or only focus on middle England on the other, I think both those things are pretty out of date. I worry that they’re rerunning the debates of the past.” – Ed Balls, Left Foot Forward
Oona: cute child not included
There are many signs on the wall in Oona King’s campaign office. One states that you may have “tea, or coffee, and MAYBE a biscuit”. A poster charts the details of hot drink preferences for every member of the office (Oona, decaf coffee with milk). Somebody has hand-drawn a week countdown calendar to the ballot on a piece of A4 paper. It is simple but well organised.
Oona’s office is up a tiny spiral staircase. There are dog-sized seagulls staring in at the window of the boathouse-type affair on Heron Quay, but even their squalling, which occasionally drowns out the recording, can’t do much to mask Oona’s cackling laugh. Had we used the Uncut Laughometer for our crowdsourced interviews, Oona’s would have won on the decibel of her laugh alone.
As the campaign staff whisper around the Newsnight team setting up downstairs, Oona perches in heeled patent red boots on her office chair, next to a picture of her model-cute son and cackles away with her spin doctor. (She can’t show us any pictures of her little girl, she explains, because her phone and laptop were stolen at the weekend).
THE TINY BAND which follows my musings on Twitter knows three things: I can’t spell; I regularly Tweet globally matters meant for private consumption; and during the world cup I mounted an isolated and ultimately futile campaign in defence of Emile Ivanhoe Heskey.
To me, Big Emile is socialism personified. The collective before the individual. The selfless work ethic. Dignified persistence in the face of intolerance and prejudice.
There’s also something wonderfully affirming about setting yourself against the majority. Knowing that you, and you alone, are voting online for Emile to start against the USA. That you will be the only person in the bar in a t-shirt sporting the Ivanhoe heraldic crest. Celebrating his sublime flick, whilst the rest see only Gerrard’s finish. Read the rest of this entry »
Feuding brothers
“It was always an ambitious hope. Two loving brothers would maintain warm relations even as they both challenged for one of the greatest prizes in British politics. But the seemingly friendly contest between the two Milibands for the Labour leadership has come to an abrupt halt as the sons of one of Britain’s greatest Marxist thinkers turned their fire on each other.” – The Guardian
“The mother of Labour leadership contenders David and Ed Miliband is ‘upset’ that their relationship has been damaged as the feud between the brothers erupted into open warfare yesterday. A Labour activist who knows the family said: ‘Marion is finding it all very difficult. They have been a close family for years and now she is concerned that their relationship will never be the same again.” – The Daily Mail
Clegg forced onto the defensive
“The hard-hitting conclusion from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) did not take into account moves to get people off benefits and into work, the Deputy Prime Minister said. IFS, Britain’s leading economic think-tank, calculates that the poor will be disproportionately hit by the measures, which include tax rises and benefits cuts. Tory and Liberal Democrat ministers have claimed that other changes, including an upcoming £1000 rise on the point at which income tax is paid, will protect the poorest in society. But this was clearly undermined by the IFS analysis, which suggested that the most disadvantaged would still be worst off, bearing more of the brunt of the cuts than the wealthy. Yesterday the Liberal Democrat leader attacked the figures as partial.” – The Herald Scotland
Cruddas backs Miliband Senior
“Our party has such talent and energy. We can no longer be divided against ourselves. Together, we can kick the coalition out of office and develop a new agenda, with proposals for a living wage, union representatives on company boards, new social housing and investment in green jobs. This is why I’m supporting David Miliband’s campaign. He has the patience, the strength and the convictions to get the public listening to us. He can lead a credible opposition and build a party that is united for the first time in a decade.” – Jon Cruddas, The Mirror
Scargill gets the boot
“Former miners’ leader Arthur Scargill has been told he is being expelled from the National Union of Mineworkers. Mr Scargill, who led the union through a bitter, year-long strike over pit closures in the 1980s, is among a number of people who have received letters saying they no longer qualify for membership. Mr Scargill, the union’s former president, has told friends he intends to fight the move. He retained an honorary position within the NUM after standing down as a full-time official and has been engaged in work for the union.” – The Press Association
Cameron reveals name
“David Cameron’s new-born daughter is to be named Florence Rose Endellion, Downing Street has revealed. The baby was born by caesarean section, weighing 6lb 1oz, on Tuesday while the prime minister and wife Samantha were on holiday in Cornwall. St Endellion is a village in the north of the county.” – bbc.co.uk
I have been re-watching the West Wing recently – it is remarkably addictive. Somwhere in between mainlining up to 5 episodes a night, this quote struck me:
“It’s not just about abortion, it’s about the next 20 years. Twenties and thirties it was the role of government, fifties and sixties it was civil rights. The next two decades it’s gonna be privacy. I’m talking about the Internet. I’m talking about cell phones. I’m talking about health records and who’s gay and who’s not. And moreover, in a country born on the will to be free, what could be more fundamental than this?”
Sam Seaborn says this in the first-season episode “The Shortlist”; so if Aaron Sorkin, the creator of the show, understood this back in 1999, why is it that our politicians and leaders continue to be so woefully ill-equipped for the 21st century eleven years later? Read the rest of this entry »
The Conservative MP for the seat of Dudley South is the millionaire heir to the Keltruck haulage fortune, Chris Kelly.
After barely two months in Parliament, he took the opportunistic photo intervention to new places on 16 July.
Some small children having “found a young game cockerel”, Kelly turned up at their school with his camera to rescue the situation. His press release tells us that he “enjoyed showing the cockerel to the reception class and went to lengths to explain to the children his knowledge of chickens.”
The man is a genius.
One Conservative colleague described him as “the most self-promoting man, including all politicians, that I have ever seen”.
We must not let him out of our sight.
In the meantime, what is Chris saying to the young game cockerel, or vice versa?
