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Posts Tagged ‘Ken Livingstone’

YourKen: can a website really change the game?

27/08/2011, 12:24:47 PM

by Adam Richards

This week marked a big step forward for Labour in London and Ken Livingstone’s campaign to win back City Hall, with the launch of his campaign volunteer website, YourKen.org.

YourKen.org is clearly inspired by the success of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, my.barackobama.com which did so much of the mobilising of his support during the Democrat primary contest, and to a lesser extent the SNP’s campaign during the recent Scottish elections.

The website is built on the same technology from the US-based company, NationBuilder. The founder, Jim Gilliam, talking about his tools said ‘too often, online efforts are seen as a sideline to the offline efforts of a campaign’.

The success of NationBuilder is bringing online and offline communities’ together, empowering volunteers and energising campaigns. And it works. One example makes the point. Thanks to an ingenious system 50 SNP party supporters instantaneously signalled on Facebook their “like” for a speech by Alex Salmond during the buildup to the Scottish elections; simultaneously a video of the speech appeared on their Facebook news feeds. That clever device meant that 60,000 people instantly became aware of the speech and had the opportunity to view it. Pretty powerful stuff.

The key theme that runs through YourKen.org is community which is important to consider in light of recent events in London. Outside of the micro-community of the [extended] family the key next two obvious communities are those of interest and those of place- both in quite obviously in decline. Fewer people know their neighbours names now than in decades past, especially in London with its high levels of residential churn and population mobility.

In my view there is a third kind of community though, the most important- that of time-based, or temporal communities. These are communities that come together either intentionally or serendipitously, often as a one-off and to make a formal decision or declaration to take action at a moment in time. Like an election. (more…)

Posted in Grassroots | 1 Comment »

Not today

09/08/2011, 10:00:04 AM

by Dan Hodges

Not today. Please, just not today. Laurie Penny, I think you are a beautiful and gifted writer. But don’t tell me violence cannot be mindless. Or that it is all about catharsis. Not today.

Sunny Hundal, your real and passionate desire to break politics free from its straight jacket of committees and speeches and selection meetings does you credit. But please, don’t circulate any more time lapse photography of people’s homes burning and tell me it’s “brilliant” or that it’s “art’. Not today.

Owen Jones, the working class need a voice, and you are an articulate spokesman. But please, no more hand wringing about the dangers of an “authoritarian backlash” against those who tried to loot and burn our city to the ground. Not today.

Ken Livingstone, you were once a great and radical figure. But no one needs to hear your cheap politicking about your statesmanlike dash from the Olympic awards ceremony. Or your back of the envelope theories about how 14 and 15 year old rioters trashed JD sports because they are not able to provide for their wives and children. Not today.

Boris Johnson, I’d actually liked to have heard something from you. But instead I had to put up with your spokesman Kit Milhouse explaining why it was fit and proper for the Mayor of the world’s greatest capital city to watch from afar as his charge exploded in an orgy of destruction. We’ll no doubt hear the same excuses trotted out often this election year. If we must. But not today.

Theresa May, I understand being the only senior member of the government, (Nick Clegg hardly counts in these circumstances), is tough. But I don’t want to hear any more rubbish about “policing with consent” when that consent has been brutally withdrawn by a small but violent minority. And I’d park the protestations that cutting thousands of police officers won’t have had any operational impact. For today.

David Cameron, I don’t actually blame you for taking a much needed break in Tuscany. And it was nice you made friends with your waitress. But as you sit savouring the taste of your Tuscan Dream please, do one thing for me. For all of us. Don’t tell us we’re all in this together. We are, of course. But we don’t need to hear it from you. Not today.

There is lot we do need to hear. And lots that needs to be said. About the dislocation of inner-city youth. About the link between crime and poverty. About race and resentment. About lack of employment and educational opportunities. The widening gap between the rich and poor. The politics and the sociology and the criminology. All deserve, indeed require, an airing.

We must debate, and examine, and interrogate. We must argue and enquire and report. We must ask ourselves what sort of society we really want to be, and take a deep look within our own communities, and souls.

We must do all of these things. Just not today.

Dan Hodges is contributing editor of Labour Uncut.

Posted in Uncut | 24 Comments »

No way back from losing London?

03/06/2011, 07:30:54 AM

by Atul Hatwal

Can you hear it? That creaking, grinding metallic sound, emanating from the capital.

Even faintly in the background?

No? Well, it will get louder in the coming months till it’s deafening.

It is the sound of the clock being turned back twenty years to a time when London was a Tory town.

Labour might have lost the 2010 general election, but London remained a last redoubt in the south. Despite all the troubles, Labour was still the dominant party, winning 36.6% compared to the Tories on 34.5% and the Lib Dems on 22.1%.

In terms of seats, the result was even better with Labour taking 38 seats, the Tories 28 seats and the Lib Dems just 7 seats.

But that was then and a year is an eternity in politics.

2011 could go down as the year in which the Tories turned back a generation of Labour ascendancy in London and pulled decisively ahead.

A new Uncut analysis of YouGov polling shows how a Labour lead of 2% in January had become a deficit of 4% by the start of June.

Polls can be deceptive and there is always a debate to be had about the extent to which they really reflect voting intentions, but two factors make these figures particularly worrying for Labour.

(more…)

Posted in Uncut | 18 Comments »

The real reasons Ken wants Lutfur back in the party

13/11/2010, 12:00:13 PM

by Jessica Asato

It is clear that, despite trying to arm-twist some quite senior members of the Labour party into allowing Lutfur Rahman back into the fold, Ken Livingstone has failed the new mayor of Tower Hamlets for the time being. Instead of pushing the issue at the next meeting of the NEC, Ken has recently rowed back – having had the riot act read to him by Victoria Street – and said there’s no timescale. Though the ambition is still there. Earlier this week Ken said “there is a lot to be said for letting this all calm down and seeing how Lutfur performs”. So why has Livingstone gone out of his way to find such common cause with Rahman?

When I last wrote about the Mayoral election, some commenters suggested that Ken was merely being politically pragmatic by supporting Lutfur. This was not an endorsement of Lutfur’s ideological position, but instead a calculated partnership with an eye on the future. They pointed out that his vote doubled in Tower Hamlets during the 2008 London Mayoral election, arguing that the East London mosque and the Islamic forum of Europe (IFE) were key to his success. By siding with the Labour candidate three weeks ago, Livingstone might have alienated these two important lobby interests in the borough, which could create a mass desertion of Muslim voters from Labour’s cause across London ahead of 2012. (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 10 Comments »

Livingstone had face to face talks with Ed Miliband over Rahman

10/11/2010, 12:12:28 PM

Ken Livingstone and Ed Miliband have held face to face discussions about Lutfur Rahman’s future in the Labour party, an official Labour mayoral spokesman has confirmed to Uncut.

Responding to yesterday’s Uncut story that Livingstone would push for Rahman’s readmission to the party at this month’s NEC meeting, the spokesman said, “Yes, Ed and Ken have met and discussed the issue. I’m not going to go into the details. It was a private meeting”.

The spokesman denied that Livingstone planned to raise the issue at the NEC meeting scheduled for the 30th, but refused to deny that he planned to raise it at a future date. When asked specifically if the denial meant that Livingstone was not pushing for Rahman’s readmission at all, or simply that he did not plan to raise it on the 30th, the spokesman replied, “let me seek clarification, and I’ll get back to you”. The spokesman subsequently called back, and responded, “Ken will not be raising the issue of Lutfur Rahman at the NEC meeting on November 30”.

When asked on 5 successive occasions to confirm or deny whether Ken Livingstone wanted Lutfur Rahman readmitted to the Labour party, the spokesman responded “We’re not going to get into hypotheticals on what’s going to happen in the future to Lutfur Rahman”.

When asked if the fact Ken Livingstone had raised the issue with Ed Miliband indicated that it was significant rather than hypothetical, the spokesman responded, “That’s your interpretation”.

The spokesman added, “The reality is that the position re the NEC on the 30th is the complete reverse of the story you printed”.

Asked if that meant that Ken Livingstone had accepted Rahman’s exclusion from the Labour party, the spokesman replied, “No”.

Posted in Inside | 2 Comments »

Livingstone to push for Lutfur Rahman’s readmission to Labour

09/11/2010, 01:15:04 PM

Labour disciplinary problems come not in single spies, but in battalions. As Woolasgate rages, Uncut understands that the NEC meeting on 30 November will see Ken Livingstone stage an audacious bid to get Lutfur Rahman reinstated to the party.

According to Labour officials, Ken has already discussed the issue directly with Ed Miliband, talks which a Livingstone insider described as “positive”.

Rahman, who defeated official Labour candidate Helal Abbas in last month’s election to become directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, has asked Livingstone to broker his return to the Labour fold.

Sources close to Tower Hamlets Labour party confirmed that discussions have taken place between Rahman and Livingstone about his bid for re-inclusion, and that Rahman had decided to delay appointing a full cabinet in the borough until his status in the party had been confirmed. In contrast to the Livingstone camp, they believe that Ed Miliband will not endorse a return for Rahman, and that Livingstone does not enjoy sufficient NEC support to secure his readmission otherwise.

The decision to push for Rahman’s inclusion will create serious tensions within the local party. Local MP Jim Fitzpatrick has made his own submission to the NEC calling for disciplinary action against Ken’s public show of support for Rahman during the campaign.

Sources close to Ed Miliband have indicated that such action is unlikely.

Posted in Inside | 6 Comments »

The lessons from Tower Hamlets, by Jessica Asato

22/10/2010, 02:00:27 PM

Were you out campaigning in Tower Hamlets yesterday?

I thought not. You’re not alone; lots of Labour campaign stalwarts stayed away. They took one look at the situation and thought that their precious holiday could be saved for a more deserving campaign.

Even without knowing the complex saga of Tower Hamlets politics, trying to elect an imposed candidate who came third in a party selection seemed like electoral suicide. It was. Despite a valiant ground campaign which I witnessed yesterday, our candidate Helal Abbas was beaten solidly by Lutfur Rahman on 51% of first preferences. I can’t remember the last election day in which I felt so outnumbered by the sheer presence of opposition campaigners. Rahman’s supporters drove round in cars plastered with his literature and quite happily flouted electoral rules by crowding round the entrance to polling stations with leaflets. The few of us who did make it there were stretched thin. It won’t count as one of my happier campaigning experiences. (more…)

Posted in Uncut | 21 Comments »

Friday News Review

24/09/2010, 08:24:01 AM

Not so secret talks

Aides to the former Foreign Secretary are said to have attended a planning meeting with his brother’s supporters to discuss a possible role in the event that he loses. The overture is being seen as a signal that the elder Mr Miliband, long regarded as the front-runner in the race to succeed Gordon Brown, is bracing himself for defeat. But members of his camp told The Guardian that he was simply taking sensible precautions. In the event that he wins, the move could also be regarded as a timely olive branch to avert a damaging fraternal rift. – The Telegraph

Senior advisers to the two Miliband camps held a secret planning meeting at which they discussed what role each might play in the other’s shadow cabinet when one of them loses the knife-edge battle to becomeLabour leader. It is understood that Jim Murphy, one of David Miliband‘s two campaign managers, attended the meeting with members of the Ed Milband camp to map out how they would handle Saturday’s dramatic leadership result. David Miliband’s campaign said they regarded the discussions as just exploring sensible precautions. The Ed Miliband campaign took the willingness of his older brother’s camp to discuss the consequences of defeat as a sign they are bracing for Ed seizing the leadership in the final lap. – The Guardian

Is it Ed’s?

Until now I’ve been saying that I thought it was a 50-50 chance between the Miliband brothers and that that an EdM bet was the better value because his price was longer. Now I’m changing my view – I believe that Ed Miliband has a better chance of winning. There are two main reasons – firstly the progress his campaign seems to have made in the MP/MEP third of the electoral college. Here it only took a very few changes of mind or alteration of the positioning of the Milibands on the AV list for there to be a big impact. Last night SkyNews was reporting that a former minister was saying that the EdM deficit here was down to just 14 votes. Whether that was on first preferences or after the lower preferences had kicked in we do not know but there’s a sense that progress has been by the younger brother. – Political Betting

(more…)

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The week Uncut

05/09/2010, 05:00:12 PM

The ballot papers are out. Voting has begun and the end is in sight. In three weeks the party will have its leader and the job of opposition can begin.

The Red Menace, Bash’em, Rocky, the Mauler and the Changemaker were back on the campaign trail kissing babies and courting votes. The candidates played the numbers game with campaign polls coming out that all, unsurprisingly, said their man was the answer.

It was the week David and Ed B played nice, Andy auditioned to be Shadow Health Secretary, Diane got stood up in Camden, Ed M welcomed new members and Tony’s big week was overshadowed by the New York Times and Andy Coulson.

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

Tom Watson on what the New York Times says Andy Coulson knew

Tom Watson writes to the Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson

Crowdsourcing the mayor: Ken Livingstone on newts, suits and Johnson’s johnson

It’s time to offer real alternatives, says John Healey

Dan Hodges backs a Blairite for the leadership

A night down the pub with the leadership contenders

We must be in the game, not shouting outside the stadium argues John Woodcock

Gove made me ashamed to be a Conservative says senior Tory councillor as she joins Labour

Posted in Home | 1 Comment »

Crowdsourcing the mayoral selection: Ken Livingstone

03/09/2010, 11:00:07 AM

Ken Livingstone: Time traveller

Assassination, time travel and giant humans are his weapons. Though there’s very little mention of Oona, Ken’s other opponents are clearly defined; he still bears the scars. There is a great pile of fancy biscuits in one of the rooms that makes up Ken’s campaign offices, proudly proffered by the spin doctor. Amid the phonebank volunteers plenty of Yesweken badges are strewn around. There is even a glass wall of red roses and Labour logos.

A tanned Ken arrives and launches into the questions with a swig of strong, black coffee. He’s friendly in his racontes, but sometimes he looks down and gives a wicked little laugh. Ken talks to Uncut about London politics, buying snakes, being a pharaoh and drops a couple of C-words along the way (one of them Crocs). Settle in; everything with Livingstone is a story.

Q. So, Ken. We ask the questions that people send in…

A. I know. I won’t blame you for the questions.

Q (from Micheal) What are your biggest regrets from your last spell as mayor of London?

A. Not putting out a contract on Veronica Wadley, the editor of the Evening Standard. Because she could have been taken out before that campaign started and I might have been re-elected. But it’s a real risk having your opponents bumped off. If it comes out it’s very embarrassing.

(more…)

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