Dan Hodges « Labour Uncut

Posts Tagged ‘Dan Hodges’

Ed Miliband is not Sarah Palin

02/11/2010, 09:00:21 AM

by Dan Hodges

The tea party. Not a party as such, but a movement. A reaction. Forged in response to a seismic defeat.

They look mainly inward. Purists. Believers. Compromise is dangerous. It led to electoral catastrophe. Their politics is confident. Aggressive. Its practitioners alert to betrayal.

They eschew centralisation. They are well organised, yes. But their structures are pluralistic. They believe in grassroots ownership. Distributed leadership.

This creates problems. Indiscipline. Extremists have infiltrated the organisation. Mainstream politicians who do not fully embrace their ideology have been challenged. Members of the same party have, for reasons of personal expediency, turned on their own. The old political hierarchies are unwilling, or unable, to intervene.

They do not have opponents, but enemies, who must be destroyed. Their enemy is not just pursuing a different political agenda. He is laying waste to the country they love. They must rally others to its defence. (more…)

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PMQs is no playground. Parliament matters.

26/10/2010, 09:50:47 AM

by Dan Hodges

Does the House of Commons matter? Not the institution per se. Temple of democracy or den of inequity? On that you pays your money, or Stephen Byers’ cab fare, and takes your choice.

The chamber itself. Amphitheatre. Cockpit. Arena of the absurd.

There is a fashionable perception that Parliament, in all its forms, is now an irrelevance. Purists bemoan the callow tenor of its discourse. Modernists its arcane, anachronistic traditions. The right sees a shell, gutted by the faceless bureaucrats of Brussels. The left an inflexible monument to establishment orthodoxy.

In a way, all are right. And all wrong. What happens in the Commons chamber changes nothing. But it influences everything.

Take last week’s CSR. One of the more widely covered political showpieces of recent years. Wall to wall live coverage on the TV news channels. Six, seven, eight pages cleared in the national broadsheets. Not a Chilean miner in sight. (more…)

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The CSR was a political disaster for Labour, says Dan Hodges

22/10/2010, 09:00:17 AM

We fell into a trap. The CSR saw us out-thought, out-spun and out-positioned. First casualty of Osborne’s cuts: the Labour party.

There will be others. Those set to lose their jobs, their benefits, their housing. We will weep for them. Some of us will march for them. Though, wisely, not our leader. We will rage at the injustice.

It will achieve nothing. Neil was right. He has got his party back. A party of protest, not influence.

Wednesday was a slow motion car crash. For months people have been warning that our failure to articulate a coherent position on deficit reduction would cost us dear. Dismissed as siren voices, they were ignored. So we drove, unblinking, into the wall. (more…)

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Ed Miliband’s Israel problem, by Dan Hodges

19/10/2010, 09:00:28 AM

Ed Miliband has an Israel problem. Or, depending on your perspective, Israel has a problem with Ed Miliband.

The response to the foreign affairs section of his conference speech was dominated by Iraq. His brother’s angry reaction, which in truth reflected David’s personal antipathy towards Harriet, as much as his distaste for that particular passage, led the news bulletins. But it was the section on Israel that reverberated.

“The new generation must challenge old thinking”, he said. And duly hurled down the gauntlet. There needed to be international pressure on Israel over the ending of the moratorium on settlements. The attack on the Gaza flotilla was wrong. Israel must accept and recognize, in actions not just words, the Palestinian right to statehood. The Gaza blockage must be lifted. He would “strain every sinew to make that happen”. He would, of course, always defend Israel’s right to exist in peace and security. (more…)

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The week Uncut

17/10/2010, 04:04:00 PM

George and Liam have been fighting again. And it looks like the defence secretary is claiming victory on this one. Other departments are likely to be less lucky as the Chancellor sharpens his knife ready for the spending review on Wednesday.

But this week was all about Ed. He entered the chamber as the young pretender. The media waited for the slick PR machine that is the PM to swat him aside. Ed stood up, a little shaky at first, and then, very slowly but surely he started hitting him. And he didn’t stop.

Yes it was only his first PMQs, and there are plenty of rounds to go, but he did something very important. He gave the Labour benches something to really cheer – for the first time in a long time. Cameron now knows what he is going to face week in week out. The game has changed – the new boy knows the rules, and can play rough too.

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

Dan Hodges interviews Ed Miliband’s consigliere, Peter Hain

Tom Watson promises the new boss that he’ll stop behaving like a child

Siôn Simon gives his verdict on Ed’s first PMQs

Jessica Asato makes the case for the Oxbridge wonks

Pat McFadden offers a sensible review of the Browne report

Anthony Painter kicks off a debate on the role of the state

James Watkins says Labour mustn’t leave the countryside to the Tories

Uncut looks at the new generation front bench

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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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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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The week Uncut

10/10/2010, 01:48:50 PM

This week was all about George and Vince. George’s child benefit cuts caused confusion throughout the Tory ranks. Dave said sorry. Vince’s incredible u-turn on university fees caused a shock wave throughout the Lib Dem ranks. Nick said nothing.

Ed got dealt his hand. 19 players picked by the PLP, with some big names left on the bench. He played his wildcard and rescued one or two of his campaign faithful. Gordon’s Scottish mafia are gone, the ‘new generation’ hail from Yorkshire.

Lower down the food chain, the junior shadow ministers should be named today, with lots of the ‘010 intake expected to make a showing.

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

Michael Dugher said Liam Fox is right (and George and Dave are wrong) on Defence cuts

Dan Hodges deconstructed the new shadow cabinet

Uncut gave you our pen portraits of the new front bench team

Philip Cowley talked us through the incumbency factor

Tom Watson wrote to David Cameron about the new Andy Coulson allegations

ITV News’ Alex Forrest took her baby somewhere funny

Tory Margot James couldn’t quite figure out her own party’s child benefit cuts

Chris Bryant wrote a poem for national poetry day

Nick Keehan says we shouldn’t join the Tories in going soft on sentencing

Dave Howells gave us his take on Cameron’s big society big moment

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Dan Hodges deconstructs the new shadow cabinet

09/10/2010, 09:00:35 AM

ANOTHER HURDLE cleared. The lot of the new leader. Evade the obstacles, real and imagined.

First conference speech. Check. First shadow cabinet. Check. First grilling by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby. Tough one. But check.

As with every other make or break moment Ed Miliband will face over the next few months, yesterday’s was definitive. “It will test his maturity and decisiveness”, warned the Independent.

Well, unless he was planning to order the shadow cabinet to turn up to their first meeting in fancy dress, or delay the announcement till boxing day, Ed was always likely to scrape home this time. An examination of his leadership skills? Yes. But the reintroduction of shadow cabinet elections ensured that it was a straightforward multiple choice, rather than a full blown thesis.

Put aside the hype. Ed Miliband played a relatively weak hand well. (more…)

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A reckoning deferred: Dan Hodges on Cameron’s cagey week

07/10/2010, 09:00:14 AM

Policy chaos. MPs in a panic. A rattled prime minister, with fear in his eyes.

It’s been a dangerous couple of days for the Labour party.

Conference season is a game of two halves. Attack. Counterattack. You roll out your programme. They hit it. You assess where the blows have fallen hardest. Recalibrate. Then you roll out your programme again.

Not this year. By accident, and by design, the Tories have played to different rules.

This should have been the week that Cameron and co. blew some sizeable holes in “Red Ed” and the “new generation”. Instead, they spent the best part of their conference blowing holes in each other.

Their semi-disintegration on child benefit was selfishly dispiriting. I couldn’t weep for the single mothers about to lose their benefits. Or the families facing hardship. All I could think was: “did we really lose an election to this shower”? (more…)

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