Labour Uncut

UNCUT: To win back voters we must question the Coalition’s action, says Sunny Hundal

15/07/2010, 11:23:52 AM

Just when the Labour party was starting to turn the tables on the Coalition, especially on education, up pops Pat McFadden to say that Labour needs to re-think its approach against the Coalition cuts.

The key line is this:

“Fight the cuts” is a tempting slogan in Opposition, and there are indeed some that must be fought. But if that is all we are saying the conclusion will be drawn that we are wishing the problem away.

I’m not going to disagree completely – saying the cuts aren’t necessary is not a position that chimes with the public (we lost the debate on that). Neither is it a position that will be electorally popular (voters aren’t as protective of the state as Labourites are).

But it’s unclear what line he would want the party to take instead. And here is where the speech falls down, because it fails to take into account the multiple problems Labour currently faces.

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UNCUT: Sadiq Khan rebutts John Woodcock’s critique of Ed Miliband’s labour market views

15/07/2010, 07:49:16 AM

For those who say that there are no issues at stake in this leadership election, I strongly encourage you to read both Ed Miliband’s speech on the future of Social Democracy and John Woodcock’s critique on Labour Uncut.

They show that far from this being a contest of just personalities, there are real issues of substance beneath the choice that Labour makes about who leads it into the next few years.

Ed’s speech argued that whilst the economic model of the New Labour years delivered some important benefits for our country and our society, we must also accept its limitations. Particularly the impact which very flexible labour markets have on the type of jobs the UK attracts and the quality of life outside of work for hundreds of thousands of workers.

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UNBOUND: Thursday News Review

15/07/2010, 07:40:50 AM

Peter in print

Labour figures from all sides of the party expressed fury that Lord Mandelson had committed private conversations to print, such as his reporting that Mr Blair believed Gordon Brown to be “mad, bad and dangerous”, and that his then chancellor was “flawed”. Neil Kinnock, the former party leader, was said by a friend to be “spitting”, and John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, “furious”. Lord Mandelson, who was lauded at Labour’s annual conference last year, was warned by some to stay away this year. Political friends and foes urged him to donate a slice of the money he was earning from the book to the party. – The Australian

She argued that Mandelson “knew perfectly well how useless Brown was”, so, by sustaining him as Labour leader, he had fatally undermined the party’s general election chances. In return for his loyalty Mandelson, who “adores pomp and ceremony” was rewarded with the bauble of an honorific title that, to most people, means little. He appeared, she wrote, “like a much-favoured Tudor courtier, stooping under the weight of his gold chains and medallions”. Sieghart concluded with a further jibe at Mandelson’s gross hypocrisy: “The man who ensured that Labour would spend five, possibly 10, years out of power now hopes to capitalise on his tales of those torrid years in government. – The Evening Standard

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INSIDE: Focus

14/07/2010, 05:21:51 PM

As the contest drags on heats up, the candidates are spending more and more time together. The hustings roll on, with many more to come, before the coronation at party conference. The teams behind the candidates are busy at work. Some teams are bigger than others. Some teams are busier than others.

Uncut has learned that in team Big Miliband headquarters there is a motivational collage to keep the worker bees on task.

Mounted on one wall of the campaign office there are pictures of all Labour’s leaders in chronological order – from Hardie to Attlee to Blair and Gordon Brown. After big Gordy, the final picture in the sequence is – not Big Miliband.

No, the final picture is on weekly rotation: Abbott, Balls, Burnham and Ed Miliband take it in turns to be the anti-employee of the month. The awful consequence of the slavish devotees failing to tweet faster, knock harder and stuff longer than any of the other candidates’ teams.

Underneath the D Milibandistas apocolyptic vision of the future sits the word that will save them from it: “FOCUS”.

We have been told that the office is at its most productive on the weeks when the image of little Miliband finishes the sequence, but this has not been confirmed.

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GRASSROOTS: We must stand together to tackle this referendum, says Samuel Dale

14/07/2010, 03:30:31 PM

The referendum on whether to adopt the alternative vote (AV) system for House of Commons is taking place on May 5 2011. It is an important moment in British politics, which will see two coalition partners pitted against each other. It may be easy to think Labour will therefore have a limited role. Actually, the party has to face some tough decisions on its strategy and policy but must avoid being a bit part player in what will be a pivotal moment.

The first, and most important, question is whether electoral reform, however incremental, is the progressive and fair course of action. By allowing second preferences the alternative vote system will stop the scandal of wasted votes endured under the first past the post system. This means that in a Conservative and Liberal Democrat marginal seat one could still make clear one’s support for Labour but vote Lib Dem second to keep the Tories out and vice versa. This seems progressive – an advance for electoral fairness and an enfranchisement of those in safe seats who wish to make their true choice but not hand the seat to a party they want to keep out.

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GRASSROOTS: The greatest trick the devil ever played

14/07/2010, 01:34:31 PM

Looks like Michael Ashcroft’s cash hasn’t reached Walsall. The re-run of the Bloxwich West by-election will take place tomorrow, and the poor cash-strapped Tory candidate has had to re-use her leaflets from May 6. Good for her you might say, saving on paper, and after all the only thing that needed to be changed on the front page was the date.

But it’s not just the council candidate who is cash strapped. After Michael Gove took his knife to the Building Schools for the Future programme Walsall schools are cash-strapped too. Luckily for the council candidate you can gloss over the loss of £200million schools investment you were previously claiming credit for, that you’re government has just pulled, with some subtle editing. Click on the picture below to see the Tories make that investment disappear. Now that’s magic.

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UNCUT: The man we loved to blame – Dan Hodges defends Peter Mandelson

14/07/2010, 10:11:12 AM

Soon after England’s penalty loss to Germany in Euro ’96, (remember the days when we could still take people to penalties), a pizza advert appeared featuring Stuart Pearce, Chris Waddle and Gareth Southgate. Waddle and Pearce, who had missed similar penalty attempts during the 1990 World Cup, were seen coaching Southgate in how to come to terms with his own career-defining failure. The advert rebound as spectacularly as the Aston Villa defender’s spot kick, with many criticising his tasteless attempt to cash in during a period of national trauma.

Gareth Southgate and Peter Mandelson are not two men who naturally meld in the consciousness. But as I watched Peter advertising his new memoirs whilst reclining in a deep leather chair, affecting the air of a Victorian gentleman successfully acquitted of poisoning his wealthy wife, meld they did. Read the rest of this entry »

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UNBOUND: Wednesday News Review

14/07/2010, 07:35:34 AM

Ed M woos the press

Ed Miliband impressed at press lunch

I have been listening to Labour leadership challenger Ed Miliband wooing a notoriously sceptical audience, members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. And I’m wondering: Is he Labour’s David Cameron? Having observed him giving several impressive party conference speeches in recent years, I’ve noted before that his style is similar: shirt sleeves, no jacket, strolling around the podium, speaking without notes. But now, as Ed Miliband enters the crucial summer period in the Labour leadership contest against his four rivals, he appears to be adopting another Cameron tactic, dumping large parts of party policy. – Sky

Ed Miliband has just emerged from a lunch talk in front of dozens of journalists in the — for a politician — not un-intimidating surroundings of the press gallery restaurant in the House of Commons. Miliband appeared to impress most present with a speech laced with jokes in the first half. One of the most notable of these was when he said that he didn’t need to brief journalists while he was working for Gordon Brown because he “shared an office with the forces of hell”, in a reference to Alistair Darling’s comments about hard-core Brownites who briefed against him in recent years. – The New Statesman

Speaking at a Press Gallery lunch, Mr Miliband said: “I do not begrudge him at all the chance to offer his reflections, because I think he served the party extremely loyally. “What is absolutely clear is that we need to move on as a political party from the culture, methods and ways of that New Labour establishment.” Saying that Lord Mandelson’s book should “close a chapter,” he added: “I believe I am the candidate who can move Labour on.” – The Telegraph

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HOME: Pat McFadden says Labour should be confident about its record in Government

13/07/2010, 08:39:58 PM

Ahead of his keynote speech to the Fabian Society tomorrow, Shadow Business Secretary Pat McFadden MP sets out his stall:

Two months after the election we can see the shape of the political and economic debate in the times to come.

The Government has set out a narrative which seeks to pin all the blame on Labour and absolve themselves of responsibility for their decisions.

But in the end, these issues are a matter of choice and judgement. We made our choices. Now they are making theirs.

Labour’s response should be confident about our record in Government and clear that we would have handled the deficit in a very different and more just way than the coalition Government. But it should also acknowledge that if we had won, there would have been difficult decisions to come.

Our debate about the future should focus on the kind of economy we want and the jobs and opportunities it can bring to people.

Labour has a strong agenda on these issues. The Tories and Lib Dems talk about what they are against on industry policy but say little about what they are for.

Pat McFadden is the MP for Wolverhampton South East and the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

The full speech is available here.

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HOME: Crowdsourcing the leadership

13/07/2010, 01:25:39 PM

This morning we published the latest in our series of crowdsourced interviews with the Labour leadership candidates. This time it was David Miliband’s turn to be interviewed.

You can read the David Miliband interview here, and in case you missed them here are our earlier interviews with Diane Abbott and Ed Balls. Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham are still to face the Uncut crowdsourcing hotseat.