Labour leadership « Labour Uncut

Posts Tagged ‘Labour leadership’

Saturday News Review

21/08/2010, 09:29:17 AM

Kennedy talks step up

“Labour stepped up its attack on the Liberal Democrat wing of David Cameron’s coalition government by hinting Charles Kennedy, the former Lib Dem leader, has been in talks to defect to Labour and take several of his party colleagues with him.”– The Guardian

The fight down under

“Australians go to the polls tonight in what is predicted to be one of the closest battles in decades and offering a stark choice between two very different leaders.” – Wales Online

“The World Cup had Paul the “psychic octopus”. The Australian election – the closest in years – has Harry, the Australian saltwater crocodile with supposed predictive powers. Like Paul, Harry correctly picked Spain to win the World Cup last month. Now Harry has forecast a win for Julia Gillard in tomorrow’s vote.” – The Guardian

Posting the union vote

“Labour leadership candidate Ed Balls is to visit a number of post offices in the coming week, pledging his support to keeping the Royal Mail publicly owned. The shadow education secretary will launch his support in Glasgow on Saturday, followed by Durham on Sunday, Burnley on Monday, Wolverhampton on Wednesday and other parts of the country later in the week.” – The Press Association

Barmy Burnham

“Andy Burnham has long been a staunch supporter of Top of the Pops, so when he was asked at a Labour leadership campaign event in Nottingham this week whether he still planned to lobby for the programme to be returned to the BBC, his answer was a foregone conclusion, according to today’s diary in the Independent.

But as well as praising the show, he went on to complain that the BBC was too “London-centric”, perhaps referring to the ongoing controversy over the reluctance of certain BBC bosses to relocate to new premises in Salford. According to Burnham, the Beeb has also lost touch with “ordinary people” — and he went on to rachet up the rhetoric, saying that “they’d never hire someone like John Peel now”.” – The New Statesman blog

How to host a party by David Miliband

“Under the headline “What you should be doing”, the document starts at 5:30pm: “Get in from work, give the place a quick vacuum and general tidy (or not, if you’re not that type).” In case the idea hadn’t occurred, hosts are told to “prepare food and drink… no one can resist a delicious spread of food!”…” – Sify.com

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Friday News Review

20/08/2010, 08:07:26 AM

The campaign crosses the border

“The Shadow Energy Secretary, who today begins a three-day tour of Scotland with a visit to Govan shipyard, is said by his camp to have secured most first-preference votes among Labour MSPs and is doing “particularly well” on second preferences among Scottish Labour MPs. A source close to Ed Miliband told The Herald: “We are not taking anything for granted but are encouraged by the response among Scottish parliamentarians. We’re confident that, by the time people vote, Ed will have majority support in Scotland.” – The Herald Scotland

“Ed Balls explaining why he thought he was not doing as well as his opponents north of the Border: “It’s partly having had an English portfolio. It’s partly through people thinking to themselves we need to move beyond Gordon Brown and I started off as being the person three months ago who was closest to him.” – The Herald Scotland

The Philip Green agenda

“Sir Philip has been hired to advise on Whitehall efficiency. His wife Tina is a Monaco resident and as owner of Arcadia received a £1.2bn dividend in 2005 on which UK tax did not have to be paid. Alastair Campbell, the former Downing Street spin doctor, said the deficit would already be smaller if billionaires paid the same amount of tax as everyone else.” – The FT

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David Mirrorband’s banana

13/08/2010, 10:57:43 AM

As momentum starts to shift towards David M in our breathlessly exciting leadership contest, word reaches Uncut of tortured deliberations in the offices of the Daily Mirror. Their inclination to break for the elder statesman of the Miliband clan is, we understand, being tempered by painful memories of the 2008 ‘bananagate’ debacle.

This, you will recall, was when the Mirror produced a major profile piece extolling the virtues of the then foreign secretary as part of a carefully choreographed leadership challenge, only for their support to be undermined by his arrival at conference wielding a banana, rather than a knife, and professing his undying loyalty for Gordon Brown and all his works.

Given that the Mirror is now the only Labour-supporting daily in the land, and is regarded as the greatest editorial prize by all five leadership contenders, the results of this soul searching may have a significant impact on the outcome of the contest.

Sources say that the clever money is on the paper finally taking the plunge for DM, though a commitment to avoiding yellow herbaceous plants of the genus Musa is likely to be the price of their endorsement.

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Wednesday News Review

11/08/2010, 08:58:56 AM

Blackburn: cuts

Grim up North

Labour Party councillors in Blackburn have failed to overturn plans to cut £4m from the council budget.Blackburn-with-Darwen Council is trying to save about £40m in the next four years as it prepares for a reduction in grants given to local government. – BBC NEWS.

Jimmy Reid

Tributes were paid this morning to Scots journalist and ex-trade union activist Jimmy Reid, who died on Tuesday night. The 78-year-old, who led the campaign against the closure of Glasgow’s shipyards in the 1970s, passed away in hospital at 9pm. He is believed to have suffered a number of heart attacks and had been in poor health for a number of years.On Wednesday, his former colleagues said they were in mourning for a “great Scot and a true internationalist”. – STV.

Charlie

Charles Kennedy, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, has separated from his wife Sarah, the couple’s lawyers have confirmed.
The couple said their “amicable” separation would be “an entirely private family matter… Our ongoing and overriding priority will obviously remain our son.” – Sky News.

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Trots, stitch-ups and door-knocks: the leadership candidates’ parliamentary selections

10/08/2010, 03:41:33 PM

In his wonderful Uncut interview last week, Andy Burnham set great store by the manner of his initial selection as a Parliamentary candidate in 2001.

He adduced it as evidence that he is a man of the people. A proper party person who got selected the proper way, with no help from anyone, no special treatment, no favours. Which is more than can be said, Burnham clearly implies, for the coddled and over-promoted princelings who are his leadership rivals. (more…)

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Monday News Review

09/08/2010, 09:05:38 AM

"Aw ma, but WE wanted to do it"

Milimum backs Abbott

Ed Miliband said his mother Marion would be supporting rank outsider Diane Abbott in the leadership battle, which concludes next month. Currently David is favourite to win the leadership, although some suggest his younger brother Ed could pip him at the finish with the support of Labour voters’ second preferences. – Telegraph.

Abbott talks cash

Leadership candidate Diane Abbott has claimed the New Labour brand is contaminated and voiced fears over the influence of money on the contest. She said New Labour was “pretty much contaminated” as she claimed David Miliband was the Blairite candidate, backed by money from big donors sympathetic to that wing of the party. Talking about the relative election campaigns, she said: “It is odd that David Miliband has £400,000 and I have £5,000. He’s got the big Blairite money and the big Blairite backers – Scotsman.

New leader powers

Labour’s new leader will be able to hire and fire his or her shadow cabinet under radical reforms drawn up by the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett. After the summer recess the Parliamentary Labour Party will be balloted on a series of measures handing far greater power to whoever is elected leader three weeks later. – Independent.

Mail on memoirs

Tony Blair will cash in on his experience as Prime Minister by flogging a special edition of his memoirs at a wallet-busting £150.
The red cloth-bound, slip-cased publication of A Journey resembles a Bible or hymn book and bears the signature of the former PM, who was often compared to a vicar for his preachy tone. – Mail.

Age factor still facing Ken

Ken

His rival for the nomination, Oona King, is of the same generation as Ed Balls and the Miliband brothers, whereas Livingstone is at least 20 years older than the next Labour leader, whoever he may be. If he wins the Labour nomination, he will be running for Mayor at the age of 66, and if he wins that, he will be nearly 71 when his term of office ends. – Independent.

Cable

There has been much speculation that frugality is the only feature of this government Cable will find to his taste. Perceived as the Lib Dem furthest to the left – a former Labour party councillor and parliamentary candidate, the man Gordon Brown phoned in the frantic post-election days – Cable is widely tipped as the minister most likely to resign from the coalition. He made no secret of his preference for forming a government with Labour – but was forced by the arithmetic of the election result to abandon that dream, “and follow my head, not my heart”. – Guardian

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The week Uncut

08/08/2010, 12:24:29 PM

There’s been some mixed messages from the leadership race this week. Andy Burnham chose the FA Cup final boyhood dream over being next Labour prime minister in our crowdsourcing interview (before some cajoling from his press secretary changed his mind) and Ed Miliband got into a spot of bother, denying that he’d opt for a north-south divide on tax credits.

Demos polling ended poorly for Labour, with projections of weakness and division. And even in the heat of the summer recess, there’s the distant rumble of the AV storm on the horizon.

Here’s a brunch digest of some of our best-read pieces from the Uncut week past.

The American way – no we cant says Dan Hodges

Ed Miliband clears up confusion over tax credits

The Andy Burnham Interview

Why Cameron knows nothing and cares less about council house tenants

It’s time the leadership also-rans came clean about their second preferences, says Sion Simon

James Ruddick bids farewell to Nick Clegg

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Sunday News Review

08/08/2010, 07:30:37 AM

Second preferences

But while he won’t win, Ed Balls will be the kingmaker. The closeness of the race means that second preferences will be critical. – Will Straw, Channel 4.

Gloria on Sunday

Gloria does People thought Labour was bonkers back in the 1980s when the Party said it would raise their taxes and ban the bomb – and, of course, they were right. – Gloria De Piero, NOTW.

The AV Rollercoaster

Rob Hayward, the respected psephologist who advised the Tories during the election campaign (on boundary reform) tells me that the polls are likely to worsen for the yes campaign. He points out that half of Tory voters polled by YouGov were in favour of AV at the last poll – early last week. That is unlikely to be sustained given the number of Tories who will soon be making a strident case against changing the way we vote. Tighten your seatbelts; this is going to get rather exciting. – Financial Times.

Vince’s tough gig

Vince In open-neck pink shirt and slippers Vince Cable, in many ways the unlikeliest member of the coalition cabinet, is sitting in his living room talking candidly about his experiences in government three months on from its formation.
“People sometimes ask me ‘are you having fun?’ ” he says. ” No! It’s hard work and it’s tough, but it’s important.” –Telegraph.

Coalition coordinates

After a breakfast of Danish pastries and sausage rolls came a presentation from Cameron and Clegg. The Prime Minister went through his half and then, to everyone’s surprise, threw the pointer he had been using across the room to his deputy. Clegg, playing it cool, caught it one-handed. The two partners grinned at each other like Torvill and Dean at the end of Bolero. – Daily Mail.

Bercow’s wendy house

The Speaker of the House of Commons is sitting in his two-year-old daughter’s Wendy house. Can you fit in it, I had just joked to the diminutive John Bercow, all 5ft 6 inches of him, and to my surprise he bends down ever-so-slightly and climbs in through the plastic yellow door. He sits inside and waves. – Telegraph.

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Saturday News Review

07/08/2010, 08:27:48 AM

Straw to step down

Straw to step down

“I was first appointed to the Labour frontbench in 1980, and then elected to the Shadow Cabinet in 1987,” he told the Press Association. “But now I want the freedom to range more widely over foreign and economic policy.” – Jack Straw, Belfast Teregraph.

The immigration debate

Deborah Mattinson has run focus groups – snapshots of the voting public – for the past 20 years. In that time she has been made plainly aware of the needs, wants and fears of the British people. She claims that the immigration debate – dismissed to quickly by politicians as bigotry – is in fact a clear cry from voters that they are afraid for their families and their communities. – Daily Mail.

Nick Clegg Jnr

Somewhat sooner than any of us could have predicted, the time has come to ask what exactly is the point of Nick Clegg. Just cast your minds back to those heady days of the first-ever British television election debates as the nation enjoyed Mr Clegg’s warm sincerity; those arched hands, those dewy eyes that looked straight into the camera as he promised a ‘new politics’. – Daily Mail.

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Diane Abbott’s desert island discs

06/08/2010, 03:10:56 PM

A woman of conviction, Diane Abbott presented us with the same list she gave to our namesake in 2008. Any flirtations with post ’08 tunes have been put to the back of her mind. She has stayed true to the mix tape which had accompanied her life up to that point. The lady’s not for turning.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo make the list. The Temptations make the list. Bob Marley makes the list. Buju Banton – the (convicted) weed growing, (awaiting trial) alleged coke smuggling, (on/off) gay bashing, (confirmed) Jamaican – singer, makes the list.

But the one song that really stands out from the rest is D.ream, with the Blairite crowd pleasing, conference-electrifying classic Things can only get better. Abbott isn’t a Blairite. Abbott wasn’t a Blairite. We can’t imagine Abbott was one of the many uncomfortable middle class lefties shuffling on the spot and mouthing the words at conference ’97.

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