Labour Uncut

INSIDE: Late poll puts the cat among the pigeons

12/09/2010, 01:24:29 PM

Today’s Sunday Times poll has set pigeons among cats and tossed works into spanners. Navigating the Byzantine wiles of the electoral college, You Gov has picked perceived wisdom up by the lapels, given it a good shake, and dumped it in the recycling bin by predicting a wafer thin victory for Ed Miliband.

Although the full figures have not yet been released, the poll shows David Miliband ahead 36% to 32% on 1st preferences, with Ed overhauling him 51% to 49% when 2nd preferences, 3rd preferences and the result of the Doggets Coat & Badge are factored in.

Over at Political Betting, Mike Smithson has a more detailed breakdown of the figures, which indicate Ed M will sneak the ‘Members’ section 52% to 48%, romp home amongst the ‘Trade Unionists’ 57% to 43%, but fall flat with ‘MPs and MEPs’, losing 44% -56% to David.

The response from the two camps has been predictable. “We are not complacent but confident” – David. “The Party is uniting behind us” – Ed.

Privately, however, there is growing concern amongst MPs and senior party activists that the disparity between Trade Union support for Ed and Parliamentary support for David raises the spectre of a ‘nightmare scenario’ , in which one of the brothers wins with a mandate from only one of three sections of the college.

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UNBOUND: Sunday News Review

12/09/2010, 08:35:16 AM

YouGov puts Miliband Jnr ahead

David Miliband’s smooth journey towards the Labour party leadership was dealt a blow last night as one poll suggested his brother was on course to snatch victory by a narrow margin. A survey of Labour members and trade unionists by YouGov suggested Ed Miliband had a small lead over his older sibling, who has been considered the favourite throughout the four-month leadership campaign. But the pollsters calculated that once lower-ranking candidates were eliminated and their second choice votes distributed, the younger brother would prevail. Although the YouGov poll gave David a 36 per cent to 32 per cent lead on first preferences, YouGov suggested that could be converted to a 51 per cent to 49 per cent win for his brother by the final round. – The Independent

Shadow Energy Secretary Ed expects to mop up an avalanche of support when outsiders Ed Balls and Diane Abbott drop out. He told the News of the World last night: “I’m increasingly confident that I have the momentum behind me and I am going to win. People are coming to my campaign because they believe we have to change to restore people’s trust.” But self-styled “unity candidate” David, Shadow Foreign Secretary, warned: “I’m trying to persuade the Labour Party not to lose three or four elections before it bounces back.” The Milibands insist they are still close, but relations between their camps have become strained, with David’s key allies branding rival Ed “Forrest Gump” after the less-than-bright character played by Tom Hanks in the hit film. The new Labour leader will be announced on September 25. – News of the World

The Labour leadership contest remains too close to call with one poll suggesting Ed Miliband could snatch victory by a narrow margin. A survey of Labour members and trade unionists by YouGov for the Sunday Times showed bookies’ favourite David Miliband enjoying a narrow lead on first preferences. But the pollster calculated that once lower-ranking candidates were eliminated and their second choices redistributed the younger of the two brothers would prevail. Voting is under way in the race to succeed Gordon Brown with the winner to be announced on the eve of this month’s party conference in Manchester. – Press Association

Balls growing fan base

Last month, he gave a major speech at Bloomberg, setting out his economic case, based on a Keynesian vision of investing in public works to boost growth. He has advocated using a £6bn underspend from government borrowing to build 100,000 houses, creating three quarters of a million jobs. “The public wants us to cut waste but they don’t want us to cancel their new schools. They want us to get the deficit down but not if it risks hundreds of thousands of jobs in the private construction sector.” This is the central argument to his economic pitch. He is particularly pleased to claim the support of both Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson for his argument against the coalition’s draconian cuts programme. “It is an unlikely alliance. The lesson of history for Labour is that if we don’t have the confidence and the credibility to stake out a view and instead run along with the consensus, then we end up not having any distinction.” – The Independent

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UNBOUND: Saturday News Review

11/09/2010, 07:00:56 AM

Leadership

Mr Miliband’s brother Ed, seen as his closest challenger, is more likely to move the party away from New Labour and has been nicknamed “Red Ed” by opponents. He said: “I’m trying to persuade the Labour Party not to lose three or four elections before it bounces back.” – Telegraph.

First and fundamentally any renewal of Labour as a party of real power must be predicated on the alignment of socialism and democracy. Socialism, which all five leadership candidates have confessed an adherence to, can only be the collective capacity to change our world. For that we need a set of moral and practical rules; this is what democracy is and should be applied not just to Westminster but the state, our communities and workplaces. – Neal Lawson, Guardian

On 25 September, the next leader of the Labour Party will be announced. This is the person Labour believes should hold the keys to Britain’s nuclear arsenal. Yet, despite one of the longest leadership campaigns in memory, there has been no detailed debate about the role and scale of Trident, Britain’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent. – New Statesman

On the campaign trail

“What the coalition doesn’t seem to understand is that when they make cuts to things like building schools for the future, it isn’t just bad for our children’s education, it’s bad for private sector jobs. It’s the cavalier way they are going about these cuts which is going to be damaging to the region. What we need to be doing is showing that there’s an alternative.” – Ed Miliband, This is Exeter.

Hacking claims

“A very senior News International journalist told me at the Labour party conference in 2006, in the early hours of the morning, that his editor would never forgive me for resigning as a minister in Tony Blair’s government and that she would pursue me for the rest of my political career until I was destroyed.” – Tom Watson, The Guardian.

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INSIDE: The hacking-gate heroes: four men in search of a scandal

10/09/2010, 05:21:10 PM

The BBC refused to cover the News of the World hacking story till Tom Watson, Chris Byrant and the Guardian gave them no option.

Since then, their coverage has at best been haphazard. Having initially turned their back on it, they’ve subsequently failed to catch up.

None of the newspapers except the Guardian and, to a much lesser extent, the Independent, initially covered the new developments in the story. It’s a scandal so big that the New York Times has published thousands of words on it. But the British papers – including the ‘serious’ ones – nakedly refused, because it’s too close to home. Which the BBC – apparently not seeing this abrogation by the papers as a rupture in the fabric of democracy – didn’t report. Read the rest of this entry »

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UNCUT: Ed Balls may be winning the economic argument – but he could still be wrong, says Anthony Painter

10/09/2010, 02:22:53 PM

The consensus – and a fair consensus at that – is that Ed Balls has had a good war. He has punishingly exposed the illogic and perverse masochism of the school building cuts. Michael Gove, who before entering the department for education was the government’s highest flyer, now seems sheepish and cautious. He’s still standing but his confidence has taken an enormous knock.

And then came the Bloomberg speech. Widely lauded by some of the leading economics columnists including Martin Wolf and Samuel Brittan of the FT, its core plea for the government and British economics establishment not to repeat the deficit denialist errors of the past has struck a nerve. Read the rest of this entry »

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HOME: Phil Davison: the poetry is in the pity

10/09/2010, 11:45:15 AM

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INSIDE: Frank Dobson’s defence of an elected shadow cabinet

10/09/2010, 11:02:51 AM

From: xxx xxx
Sent: 07 September 2010 18:17
To: xxx xxx
Subject: message from Frank Dobson

Dear Colleague,

Elected Shadow Cabinet

In view of the efforts of the advocates of an appointed Shadow Cabinet to portray past elections as corrupt, leading to the election of popular dossers. I though I might remind colleagues that the last Shadow Cabinet election before the 1997 General Election chose, amongst others:

Gordon brown

Robin Cook

Donald Dewar

Margaret Beckett

Mo Mowlam

Harriet Harman

David Blunkett

Jack Straw

George Robertson

Ann Taylor

Chris Smith

Yours,

Frank

On behalf of Frank Dobson MP

Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras

House of Commons

LONDON SW1A 0AA

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HOME: So right it must be wrong

10/09/2010, 10:38:05 AM

(HT Toby Young)

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UNBOUND: Friday News Review

10/09/2010, 08:31:58 AM

More questions, few answers

The parliamentary sleaze watchdog is to investigate claims of phone hacking surrounding David Cameron’s chief spin doctor. MPs agreed yesterday that the powerful Commons Standards and Privileges Committee should hold an inquiry into the allegations. It comes amid growing pressure on Andy Coulson, No 10’s head of communications, over accusations he knew of illegal phone-tapping while he was editor of the News of the World editor. Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who claims his phone was targeted, told MPs he was concerned that recent allegations were just the “tip of the iceberg”. – The Herald

Labour former minister Tom Watson told the Commons: “Something very dark lurks in the evidence files of the Mulcaire case, and dark and mysterious forces are keeping it that way.” He claimed too many powerful politicians were “afraid” of the power of newspapers. He said: “Here we sit in Parliament, the central institution of our sacred democracy, between us some of the most powerful people of the land, and we are scared. We are afraid, and if we oppose this resolution it is our shame. That is the tawdry secret that dare not speak its name. – The Express

David Cameron’s spin doctor suffered another blow yesterday when MPs ordered the Westminster sleaze watchdog to probe phone-hacking claims. Ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson has insisted he didn’t know the eavesdropping technique was used at the paper. But former employees claim Mr Coulson – now No10 director of communications – must have been aware of the practice. – The Mirror

THE POSITION of British prime minister David Cameron’s top media adviser is under increasing pressure following a decision yesterday by the government not to block an investigation into allegations of widespread telephone tapping by British newspapers. The adviser, Andy Coulson, who resigned in 2007 as editor of theNews of the World after one of his reporters was jailed for telephone tapping, has faced fresh allegations in the last week that he approved of the widespread use of such tactics during his time in charge of the powerful tabloid. The Standards and Privileges Committee at the House of Commons is to meet early next week to decide whether it will launch a full public inquiry into the affair, but there is little doubt that it will do so given the strength of feeling expressed by MPs from all parties present at a debate on the matter yesterday, who voted unanimously for an investigation to take place. – The Irish Times

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INSIDE: The quiet campaign for the Chief Whip

09/09/2010, 12:08:19 PM

Last night the results of the PLP ballot on the method for selecting the Shadow Cabinet were announced.

The top line is that the Shadow Cabinet will remain fully elected. The variations on the method for selecting the shadow cabinet were rejected. Harriet Harman’s suggested 50:50 gender balance was also rejected, with the PLP settling for 31.5%.

However the most important decision taken by the PLP was the resounding vote in favour of electing the chief whip at the start of each Parliament.

The vote wasn’t even close, with 150/100 voting in favour.

The Whip’s are cock-a-hoop. Telling anyone who will listen that this is an overwhelming endorsement for Nick Brown. The leadership candidates are likely to be less enthused.

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