Labour Uncut

UNCUT: David Miliband has won, says Dan Hodges.

21/09/2010, 09:00:32 AM

This Saturday David Miliband will become leader of the Labour party. He will have won a majority of his Parliamentary colleagues and the wider membership, along with sufficient support from unions and other affiliates to secure not just victory but an overwhelming mandate. The New Labour era will be over.

A few months ago I wrote that this leadership contest would tell us more about ourselves as a party than it did the candidates contesting it. It has. Less an election, more an exercise in psychoanalysis, we’ve delved into the deepest recesses of a party’s soul. Remorse, guilt, envy, hatred, love, fear, hope. Above all, hope.

We wept for the supporters abandoned to the government’s tender mercies. Felt shame for the crimes we committed in our own ruthless pursuit of power. Looked jealously upon those who wrested it from us. Read the rest of this entry »

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UNBOUND: Tuesday News Review

21/09/2010, 08:07:34 AM

Liberal rebellion

Clegg’s speech was overshadowed by a massive revolt over the coalition’s schools policy. Party members overwhelmingly passed a motion opposing plans to create more academies and free schools, which are free from local authority control. The motion, which took party leaders by surprise, said there was a risk that the new schools would increase “social divisiveness and inequity in a system that is already unfair”. The defeat is particularly troubling for the Liberal Democrats because members are supposed to set official party policy at conference. That means the party leadership is in the uncomfortable position of promoting a policy that has been vetoed by grass roots members. – City AM

Liberal Democrat councils are on a collision course with Nick Clegg by campaigning against the creation of “free schools” in their communities. Following a rebellion by party activists against the Coalition’s flagship education policy, the conference voted to boycott the new schools because they increased “social divisiveness and inequity”. A succession of activists, including many councillors, protested that allowing parents to set up new schools beyond town hall control would benefit better-off families to the detriment of those in poorer areas, and could also lead to selection by the back door. In a snub to the party leadership, they convincingly defeated an attempt to water down a motion critical of free schools. – The Independent

Former MPs and PCCs back David and Ed (Balls)

The poll of former Labour MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates by Channel 4 News found overwhelming support for David Miliband, with former chancellor Ed Balls just pipping Mr Miliband’s younger brother Ed Miliband for second place. Channel 4 News spoke to former MPs who lost their marginal seats in May and to candidates who lost, despite standing in seats where there had been a sitting Labour MP.They all aspire to win back the seats Labour will need to secure if the party is to return to government. – Channel 4

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INSIDE: Shadow cabinet: vote for Stephen

20/09/2010, 02:16:24 PM

________________________________
From: TIMMS, Stephen
Sent: 20 September 2010 12:58
To: TIMMS, Stephen
Subject: Stephen Timms for Shadow Cabinet

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INSIDE: Shadow cabinet: vote for Ann

20/09/2010, 02:02:00 PM

________________________________
From: Ann McKechin
Sent: 20 September 2010 12:56
Subject: Ann McKechin for Labour’s Shadow Cabinet

Ann McKechin

Labour MP for Glasgow North

I am seeking your support for the Shadow Cabinet Elections.

Being in opposition is hard at any time but the coming months and years will be one of the most difficult periods in decades that this country and our Party will face.

We need to effectively represent the voices of those who will be hit hardest by the Coalition’s agenda to achieve a permanent “small state” solution but we also need to develop the right policies that will convince the electorate that there is a genuine alternative. Within the Parliamentary party we need to develop a new range of tactical skills that will require the Shadow Cabinet to work as closely as possible with backbench colleagues to maximise our efforts.

I believe I can offer a range of skills and experience to the role that will fit these challenges.

Resilience

I was chair of the Scottish Parliamentary group during the Glasgow East by-election and learnt by hard experience of the need to keep your resolve even in the toughest of times and maintain team morale. I took up my Ministerial position in the Scotland Office in the week of the Lehman Brothers collapse at a time when Labour’s support had slumped, but was determined to show that our decisions at the height of the financial crisis to take over Scotland’s major banks were the correct choice..

I took an active role in the campaigns that led to our subsequent victories in both the Glenrothes and Glasgow North East by-elections which paved the way towards our strongest electoral performance in Scotland for many years at the General Election.

Policy Development

I was Chair of the Manifesto group on International Development before the General Election.

As Chair of the All Party Group on Debt, Aid and trade I was one of the first parliamentarians to actively call for a currency transaction tax and to produce a detailed report on how it could be achieved.

Campaigning

Before I was first elected in 2001, I spent many years actively campaigning as a volunteer for OXFAM and as the Scottish representative for the World Development Movement.

As a Backbencher, I successfully lobbied for a full public inquiry on the causes of the Stockline Factory explosion in my constituency. This has led to a number of significant changes in Health & Safety practices including the current replacement of every metal LPG pipe in the country.

In this year’s Election I faced a Libdem target campaign against my seat and managed to increase both my share of the vote and majority at a fraction of the cost of my opponent’s campaign.

Understanding Opposition

As a Scotland Office Minister and now a frontbench spokesperson, I have spent the last two years on a daily basis working on how to put across our message and develop our policies against an SNP led administration.

I hope to speak to as many members of the Group as possible but if you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or by phone on xxxxxxxxx.

Kind regards,

Ann

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INSIDE: Shadow cabinet: vote for John

20/09/2010, 12:53:43 PM

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UNCUT: Give us leadership, not dictatorship, says Michael Dugher

20/09/2010, 11:36:10 AM

For backbenchers, especially for the non-aspirant or the new intake, the election of the shadow cabinet is an entertaining process. Perhaps this is why so many of us voted for it. Wannabe shadow cabinet members clog up the email inboxes of hitherto ignored Parliamentary colleagues with their CVs. Backbenchers eagerly await the ‘personal notes’ from candidates to arrive in the post – handwritten to demonstrate the new closeness of the relationship.

Election friends are easily won. But when the next leader of the party says that he or she is “one of a team, not a team of one”, this time they will have to mean it. Labour needs not just a new leader, but new leadership. A different style and approach is required, including to policy-making and to working with colleagues.

All leaders, and especially aspirant leaders in the middle of a leadership election, talk about the need to do things differently, to be more inclusive, to work better with colleagues, and to more closely engage with the Parliamentary and wider party. The difference this time is that the new leader will have little choice but to do things differently. Read the rest of this entry »

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UNBOUND: Monday News Review

20/09/2010, 07:00:23 AM

Lammy at Lib Dem conference

So to David Lammy. The Labour MP acknowledges that some think his party is too aggressive towards the Lib Dems and is getting more tribal. I would certainly put myself in the pluralist quarter of the Labour party but it may be shrinking to 10%. I don’t think any one political party has all the ideas. We need to get used to ministers being able to publicly disagree within government.” He gets applause for this. – Guardian blogs.

Ashcroft’s departure

“Going into the election, many voters had little clear idea of what we stood for or what we intended to do in government. At a national level, too much of our message was focused on unnecessary and counterproductive attacks on Gordon Brown and Labour, which meant that voters were not clear about our own plans.” – Lord Ashcroft, FT.

Lib Dems on 9/11

The Lib Dem motion notes “the widespread public concern about the human rights abuses that have taken place since 11 September 2001 under the guise of the so-called ‘war on terror’ initiated by the Bush government and backed by the Labour government in the UK. The abuses have included enforced disappearance, rendition and torture.” It also says “there has been a lack of transparency as to whether and to what extent the UK has been involved in these abuses and that such a lack of clear information is both detrimental to Britain’s reputation and damaging to public confidence in our security services”. – The Guardian.

‘Useful Idiots’

Labour’s Liam Byrne accused the Lib Dems of being the “Tories’ useful idiots”, who offer “progressive poses for a Conservative Budget that hits the poorest hardest and an economic strategy that puts honest people’s jobs at risk”.
The measures against tax evasion came amid reports that Tory backer Lord Ashcrof is to quit as the party’s deputy chairman after attacking its failure to win an outright majority at the General Election. – Mix 96.

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HOME: The week Uncut

19/09/2010, 04:20:02 PM

With just a few days of voting to go, the leadership election is drawing to a close. On Saturday the coronation will take place in Manchester and opposition can begin. Well almost. On Sunday the new leader will wake, with a hang over, to the noise of 50 colleagues playing musical chairs with only 19 seats.

The shadow cabinet bun fight is well underway, hats have been thrown into rings. A flurry of letter writing, mass emailing, bulk texting, arm twisting, double crossing and general bad behaviour has already taken place. The three stand out letters so far have come from a talonted Maria, a brooding Tom and a thoughtful Eric.

It was the week that Ed M felt confident, David warned of heroic failures, Andy blamed his tools, Ed B wished the campaign was a little longer and Diane rocked the boat.

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

John Woodcock on why the new leader should bring back Peter Mandelson

Shadow cabinet elections are stupid enough without voting stupidly too, says Lesley Smith

Making childish noises at the unions is not the way to lead Labour, says Dan Hodges

As the cold war begins, so do the defections

We must make sure the country is with us on the union fightback, says Ruth Smeeth

We need a more sophisticated response to the big society, says Peter Watt

Blair was always the cynical grit in Labour’s oyster – which we still need, says Kevin Meagher

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INSIDE: John Mann MP and the Bassetlaw Primary

19/09/2010, 11:38:32 AM

John Mann, MP for Bassetlaw, is calling for a “widening of democracy.” Or perhaps he just needs a few extra hands folding leaflets and knocking on doors in a local by-election.

Either way he is asking Bassetlaw Labour party members to vote for who he should back in the shadow cabinet elections. He is generously allowing local members the chance to pick 10 of his 19 votes. Of this 10, at least 3 must be women and 3 must be men. Still with us?

From: MANN, John
Sent: 18 September 2010 18:41
Subject: Shadow Cabinet Elections & Bassetlaw Labour Party Members Primary

Comrade!

Bassetlaw Labour Party are to be balloted on how I will cast ten of my votes in the Shadow Cabinet elections. This widening of democracy is the direction in which, in my view, the Party must go.

Please let me know if you are standing by sending your CV to XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bassetlaw Party members are being given the password to this account so that they can view the CVs themselves and I will make them available to members without email access.

A quota system will operate, with at least three of the 10 chosen being women and at least three men.

Bassetlaw Labour Party are currently campaigning to win a By-Election and I am pleased to invite all candidates to the constituency to assist with the campaign.

John Mann

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UNBOUND: Sunday News Review

19/09/2010, 07:56:34 AM

The smart money

There’s been a big plunge of money for Ed Miliband to become the new Labour leader, with polls indicating he has a strong chance of victory. William Hill have reported big chunks of money for Ed Miliband in their Labour leadership race betting, with the candidate now 11/8 from 3/1 to beat the rest of the pack – the shortest odds that he has been since the contest began. – bettingpro.com

It was your fault

Lord Mandelson told a BBC Radio 4 documentary that the manifesto failed to address those who were not “natural, or automatic” Labour voters. Ed Miliband, a candidate for the Labour leadership, wrote the manifesto but Lord Mandelson accused him of now distancing himself from the document. – bbc.co.uk

Peter Mandelson has launched a blistering attack on Left-wing Labour leadership contender Ed Miliband, blaming him for the party’s General Election defeat. He mocked Mr Miliband for producing a ‘crowd-pleasing Guardianista’ manifesto that ‘offered nothing to people worried about immigration, housing and welfare scroungers’. ‘Nobody else authored the manifesto,’ said Lord Mandelson, who is backing Ed’s Blairite brother David Miliband for the Labour leadership. – Daily Mail

All eyes on Clegg

Nick Clegg has launched the ‘yes’ campaign for the AV referendum amid ever more angry attacks from Ed Miliband. The Labour leadership candidate, who has built his campaign on his ability to attract votes from the Liberal Democrats, said he would “make sure he is punished at the ballot box” for joining government with the Conservatives.

Ed Miliband went further than most with a remarkable outburst against the deputy prime minister. “Nick Clegg has taken the Lib Dems in a direction that they may never recover from, Nick Clegg has sold out to the Tories, and I will lead a Labour party that makes sure he is punished at the ballot box for it.” – politics.co.uk

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