The Thinker

It's Arrived!

2003-11-05T14:12:00.000Z

The Thinker's new site is up and running and ready for your comments.

Please change your bookmarks (and your readership) to

www.thethinker.net

Re-inventing Activism

2003-11-05T13:28:00.000Z

This is worth reading from this month's Progress magazine. Salford MP Hazel Blears is arguing that the way we do politics must change. If it gets me out of ward meetings, I'm all for it.

Reinventing activism
The Labour party must adapt to the new ways people do politics, says Hazel Blears.

Politics is changing fast and the way Labour thinks, organises, and campaigns has to change too. Seismic shifts in the structure and culture of civil society are placing huge pressures on traditional democratic politics. We have a system of local politics that is struggling to keep pace with modern aspirations and demands. It’s like trying to make microchips using a steam engine.

Politics-as-usual is under strain as never before. The long-term trends of low turnouts in elections, falling party memberships, and the collapse of automatic loyalty to one party have all been exacerbated in recent months.

“Local Labour parties should be the catalyst for greater decentralisation of power and ownership. Labour parties must become agents of radical change, not passive passers of resolutions and talking-shops.”
So, does this mean that people are not interested in politics? Anyone who knocks on doors, attends street stalls and runs surgeries knows that the answer is no. But many people feel that traditional politics is not the answer. A new generation of activists is being born, and new forms of local politics are emerging.

The political scientist Pippa Norris points to three shifts in activism in recent years. First, the agencies of activism are changing. This means activists do not always join traditional political parties, but instead create new spontaneous groups, fluid campaigns and networks. Recent examples include anti-gun campaigns such as Mothers Against Violence and Not Another Drop.

Second, the repertoires are changing, meaning that activism today is as much about new kinds of activity such as the internet as it is about traditional forms like leafleting and public meetings. Third, the targets of politics are changing. Thirty years ago activists were largely concerned with the town hall and local bosses. Today, multinational companies are the targets as much as municipal leaderships.

New-style activism broadly covers three types: the first is the person working within the new structures established by Labour’s programmes of devolution and constitutional reform. This might include the members of the London assembly, the Welsh assembly or Scottish parliament; the directly-elected mayors in many cities and boroughs; the board members of New Deal for Communities schemes; and, in the near future, board members of foundation hospital trusts, regional assembly members, and so on.

The second type is the social entrepreneur: people who have decided to change their worlds in innovative and dynamic new ways, by creating social businesses, co-ops and mutuals. The third is the anti-globalisation protestor, the consumer boycotter, and the fair trade demonstrator. What these three groups have in common is a rejection of the town hall and Westminster as the only place to enact their politics. These new forms of social and political activism issue a direct challenge to the Labour party. So how should we respond?

We must support the people we already have. The start of the Labour academy, designed to train, educate and support Labour’s activists, is an important step. New political education courses will be made available. There’ll be advice on standing for the council. For the first time, all of Labour’s school governors will be given training and information.

Another radical idea is a registered supporters’ scheme. In Salford, we have been pioneering a system of Labour supporters, creating a bridge between our voters and our members, and increasing by several hundred the Labour ‘family’ in our city. Registered supporters can create a huge pool of potential support amongst those people who strongly share our values, but are reluctant to share our activities full-time. This is just one good idea contained in the new NEC document 21st century party –the next steps.

We also need to forge alliances with those social entrepreneurs and community activists who are already doing so much. These people are our natural allies and should find a welcome home inside the Labour party. Where there are elections and appointments for local bodies, we need to recruit and support people who share Labour’s values to stand as candidates. This is as true of ancient bodies like the council and the magistrates’ bench as it is of New Deal for Communities boards and foundation hospital trusts.

Unless there is a direct conflict of interest, as with the Countryside Alliance marchers, protest groups should be allowed to debate with local Labour parties, share perspectives, and see if there is common ground and shared values. We can be the party of government without becoming the party of the establishment.

If ‘new localism’ is to be anything more than the latest political buzz-phrase, it must mean passing real power to local communities. Local Labour parties should be the catalyst for greater decentralisation of power and ownership. Labour parties must become agents of radical change, not passive passers of resolutions and talking-shops. If people don’t see Labour as people who get things done, why will they join us?

We have a choice. We can scan the political horizon, see the changes that are coming, and retreat into the old safe ways of doing things – our Labour comfort zone. Or we can respond to the scale of the challenge with imagination, enthusiasm and vigour. The new politics requires new thinking, and new people to take the ideas forward. For Labour to prosper in the internet age, we need to re-invent activism.

Hazel Blears
Hazel Blears is MP for Salford, Minister of State at the Home Office, and a member of Labour’s NEC

Coming soon...

2003-11-04T22:09:00.000Z

Light blogging recently has not been caused by a diminished interest in sharing my thoughts with the world; on the contrary, it is because I have been finalising my new blog, complete with moveable type and all that jazz. As soon as the site is up and running and ready for your comments - in the next week or so - you, dear reader, will be the very first to know.

In the meantime, you can enjoy this.

And this...

And share in the joy of Mr and Mrs Thinker that The Thinker jnr. is one year old on 5th November.

The Right Man for the Job

2003-10-30T13:37:00.000Z

Someone just sent me this, and it deserves a much much wider audience:

40 THINGS YOU DID NOT KNOW OR HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE PROBABLE NEXT LEADER OF THE TORY PARTY MICHAEL HOWARD

Howard sacked Prison Service Director Derek Lewis and then (famously) failed to answer a direct question about it from Jeremy Paxman 14 times on Newsnight.

Howard's former deputy Ann Widdecombe said there was "something of the night" about him

Howard has spent the last 6 years in comfortable directorships of companies like Eschmann Holdings Limited (medical supplies manufacturer where his mate George Kennedy is the Chairman), the Imprint Group (specialist printer where his mate George Kennedy is er...the Chairman again) Finex plc (PR company), Crime Reduction International Limited (an international consultancy on getting tough on crime), and as a member of the Advisory Council of Gas and Oil company Consort Resources Limited (chaired by ex Tory Minister Lord Moynihan)

As Home Secretary, he believed that the answer to crime was simply to lock more people up: "an increase in the number of criminals in prison leads to a large fall in crime" (POLITICS, MORALITY AND THE NATION STATE lecture, ST. MICHAEL CHURCH, CORNHILL, CITY OF LONDON, 10 January 2003)

He came bottom of a field of 5 when he stood in the 1997 Tory leadership election - possibly the only time his leadership credentials will be put to the vote . . .

In 1995 he was accused by Private Eye and the New Statesman of misleading Parliament over the privatisation of the Home Office computer network:
See: http://users.cliq.com/~bayvulture/yarbles/ed5.html

Howard attacked Labour for defending the rights of trade unionists at GCHQ (in 1979 and 1981)

Howard was the Minister in Charge of bringing in the Poll Tax in 1988. Even after Thatcher had gone, and after the poll tax riots, he insisted he still believed in the policy (July 1991)

Howard was the Minister who brought in Clause 28 of the Local Government Act banning the "promotion" of homosexuality (March 1988)

Howard voted in favour of anti-abortion campaigner David Alton's Bill to reduce access to abortion (January 1988)

As Employment Secretary, Howard said that Labour's National Minimum Wage proposals would cost 2 million jobs (June 1991)

As Employment Secretary, Howard tried to stop attempts at EU level to introduce a 48 hour working week and to give working women statutory maternity rights (June 1991)

As Employment Secretary, Howard tried to bring in stricter anti-trade unions laws including proposals to require written consent form workers every 12 months and every time subscriptions went up before union members subs would be paid by check-off. Even the Tory trade unionists group warned him these plans shifted the balance of power too far towards employers. (Oct 1991)

As Employment Secretary, Howard refused to recognise the EC directive on Maternity Leave in (November 1991)

As Employment Secretary, Howard persuaded John Major not to sign up to the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty, according to Norman Lamont, by threatening to resign - "The social chapter opt-out from the Maastricht treaty, which Major claims as his own, was in reality due to Michael Howard, who threatened to resign over it" (December 1991)

As Environment Secretary, Howard allowed power generators to keep their pollution levels secret (Nov 1992)

As Environment Secretary, led the campaign to pull the rug out from under the coal industry by blocking long term subsidy schemes which would have kept all 31 pits threatened with closure open (Jan 1993)

As Environment Secretary, under pressure from property developers who feared the blighting of values, Howard abandoned plans to register and clear up 100,000 contaminated sites and oversee their clean up (March 1993)

As Home Secretary, tried to put local police authorities under the control of Home Office appointees instead of representative local people (Jan 1994)

Howard voted against equal rights for homosexuals by opposing lowering the homosexual age of consent to 16

As Home Secretary, was embarrassed when despite having been warned, Semtex was found in Whitemoor Prison following an IRA breakout (September 1994)

As Home Secretary, was attacked by the Appeal Court for his "abuse of power" over criminal injuries compensation (Oct 1994)

As Home Secretary, the High Court condemned his "significantly" secretive world in the Home Office and ordered him to release files on the miscarriage of justice victims whose appeals had been refused. (Nov 1994)

As Home Secretary, the High Court condemned his "fatally flawed" decision in a murder case, directing that two students should serve 25 years. (Dec 1994)

The Law Lords ruled that he had acted unlawfully and abused the power of parliament in planning to cut criminal injuries compensation (April 1995)

As Home Secretary, Howard cut access to health, housing and education for asylum seekers, alleging that £100 million was being "wasted" on them (July 1995)

Howard was judged to have flouted the European Convention on Human Rights following unlawfully delaying the release of five long-serving IRA prisoners - the SEVENTH time he had been found to be acting illegally in just two years as Home Secretary. (September 1995)

Howard dumped Sir Stephen Tumin as Chief Inspector of Prisons because he thought he was too liberal (April 1996)

Howard blocked Labour MP Janet Anderson's Anti-Stalking Bill in May 1996

His proposed reforms of the police force drew fire from former Tory Home Secretary Sir Willie Whitelaw who said they would politicise the police "to an unacceptable degree".

After the election defeat, Howard announced his "retirement" from the front bench in March 1999

Howard the hypocrite - he said very clearly that "I will never stand again for the leadership of the Conservative Party" less than a year ago in November 2002 (BBC News Online - see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2503737.stm)

However - Howard backs Gordon Brown's decisions - he told the IPPR that the Chancellor deserved "great credit" for giving independence to the Bank of England and that "We have a framework now which I say is working pretty well" (Speech to IPPR, Monday 11 March 2002)

Howard claimed, wrongly, that more than 1000 asylum seekers had been found in Dover in just 12 days - and was forced to retract a rant about asylum being "out of control" - he had got his figures mixed up. (March 2002)

Howard makes George Bush look like an anti-war protestor. In November 1998, Howard criticised Blair and then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook for not acting fast enough to launch air strikes against Iraq. On the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Howard said that Tony Blair and Bill Clinton should attack without warning and try to remove Saddam Hussein from office.

Howard opposed the introduction of the Human Rights Act.

He's not tough on all criminals, though - Howard criticised Jack Straw's decision to detain General Pinochet and actively campaigned for his release: "We think this has gone on far too long. We think he should be sent back to Chile." (BBC Interview, 26 November 1998)

According to an ICM poll for the Guardian in October 2003, 26% of people are LESS likely to vote Tory with Michael Howard as the leader. (Guardian 21 Oct 2003)

He's hardly popular even with the Tory Grass-roots - according to the Guardian Diary of 9 October: "a memo from Nicola Matthews of the Wantage Conservative Association doesn't bode well for his chances of winning over the nutters in the country (technically, "the Tory grassroots"). "We are in the embarrassing situation of almost certainly having to cancel a drinks party," Nicola alerts members, "at which Michael Howard is the guest speaker, as not enough people have bought tickets." At a fiver a time? Why are pipp-ill so ungrateful?" (Matthew Norman)

Howard has pledged to scrap the New Deal to pay for tax cuts.

AND - remember Michael Howard sat through 14 years of Tory Government (from his election in 1983) loyally voting to privatise the railways, water, electricity and gas, sell off School Playing Fields, cut benefits, install the internal market into the NHS, run down public services and destroy local democracy not to mention presiding over the worst recession for decades, the spectacular failures over economic policy starting with Sterling's ejection from the ERM and the spectre of negative equity. From 1985 he was a senior Minister through the whole of Thatcher and Major's administrations. Unlike Iain Duncan Smith and William Hague he is the voice and the face of the Conservative Government rejected in 1997.

And in opposition this is the man who has voted against the London Mayor, National Minimum Wage, the New Deal, against devolution to Scotland and Wales, against all of Labour's budgets and against paid holidays for all workers, full time rights for all workers and the vast majority of all the Government's achievements over the last 6 years.

If you want to slap Michael Howard for any of this you can do so safely here: http://www.urban75.com/Punch/howard.html

WHAT OTHER PEOPLE SAY ABOUT HIM:

"The nastiest man in the [Tory] Government" - Labour MP Andrew Faulds

"The shoddiest display I've seen from a front bench in 26 years" - Labour MP Alex Eadie

"Abuse of power" - The Court of Appeal

"fatally flawed" decision making - The High Court

"an indiscriminate, scatter gun approach to justice" - Lord Chief Justice Bingham on Howard's plans for mandatory minimum sentences

"regularly to protect and excuse ourselves while visiting serious vengeance on others corrupts justice and demeans office" - Ann Widdecombe MP on Howard's actions during the Lewis affair

"The smile of Michael Howard has the substance of the Cheshire cat, the menace of Uriah Heep and the sincerity of Bob Monkhouse." Derek Lewis, Former Director of the Prison Service sacked by Howard.

"My right hon. and learned Friend has a problem, in that his first reaction to attack is denial and refuge in semantic prestidigitation" Ann Widdecombe MP

"Michael Howard's strange accent sounds as if it tried to move to the home counties but got stranded in Mid-Severn Bridge" - Alan Travis, The Guardian

"He was not rude; he had a thin veneer of courtesy, but it was very thin; underlying it was this great aggression; he's a man obsessed with his own career" - Home Office Colleague, quoted in The Sunday Times

"He was economical with the truth, I think is the phrase" John Marriott, former Governor of Parkhurst Prison (sacked by Howard)

Manages "to combine the smarm of Cecil Parkinson with the charm of Norman Tebbit" - Andrew Rawnsley, The Guardian

"Proof of the rule that the oily float on water" - Michael White, The Guardian

"makes me want to puke" - Paul Boateng (during Channel 5 debate with Howard)

[Has me] "reaching for the sick bucket" - Ann Widdecombe when Howard congratulated her on her return to the front bench

"like a dog in the gutter that keeps returning to its vomit" - Denis Skinner on Howard's habit of going over the same ground again and again

"He has obviously had, let's be frank, an image problem" - Michael Portillo on why Howard had to retire from the front bench

"every time he appeared on television the Tories lost another 1,000 votes " - BBC Commentator Nick Assinder

"No one expects Howard to win the next election.... I disagree with almost everything Howard stands for" - Max Hastings

"Poor old Iron Mike became a hate figure, the embodiment of "fascist" Tory policies" - Boris Johnson, Telegraph, 2 October 1998

Sources: Hansard, The Guardian, Sky News, BBC Online, Roths Parliamentary Profiles, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Telegraph

All comments, quotes and points are from published sources.

Let's get rid of Howard

2003-10-29T19:58:00.000Z

Here's that Folkstone election result from last time. Tactical voting, anyone?

Michael Howard, Conservative 20,645 45.0 +6.0
Peter Carroll, Liberal Democrat 14,738 32.1 +5.2
Albert Catterall, Labour 9,260 20.2 -4.7
John Baker, UK Independence Party 1,212 2.6 n/a

Conservative majority: 5,907
Turnout: 64.1%

Liberal Democrat target 30
Labour target 131

Liberal Democrat requires a 6.50 % swing to gain seat.

On hols

2003-10-28T16:25:00.000Z

The paucity of posts in recent days has been caused by being holiday in Cumbria, with a dodgy connection, and being glued to the TV watching the Tories implode. The fuhrerprincip runs so deeply in the Conservative Party that they really believe that changing leader will regain public support. They need 2 million people to stop voting Labour and start voting Tory. Is Michael Howard going to appeal to 2 million people? Or David Davies? It's not your leader that's the problem, you dummies, it's your policies, your history, and your representatives.

Booked Up

2003-10-24T17:12:00.000+01:00

This month's Guardian Unlimited books column is here

Goodbye Galloway?

2003-10-23T12:46:00.000+01:00

The main charges against George Galloway at today's hearing are that:

* he incited Arabs to fight British troops
* he incited British troops to defy orders
* he incited Plymouth voters to reject Labour MPs,
* he threatened to stand against Labour
* he backed an anti-war candidate in Preston.

Of these, the first two are just a sign of loony leftiness, not expellable offences by themselves. Various Labour figures have incited treason by calling on troops not to fire on striking workers, and not been expelled. Far more serious for a democratic party is the support given to a candidate standing against an official Labour candidate. If proven, Galloway is automatically out of the party. And good riddance, says I.

The Secret Policemen

2003-10-22T20:12:00.000+01:00

I watched the Silent Policeman last night, and like most right-thinking people, I was appalled by the ignorant, and at times psychotic racism displayed by the cadets caught on camera. But in the cold light of day, what is more significant is that an overcover reporter, with six month's worth of interviews with hundreds of trainees, could only undercover four or five hardcore racists. When relaxed and in social situations, or even drunk with friends, only four or five were outed as racists.

I bet if you went undercover in the building trade, on the trading floor of the London Stock Exchange, inside Fleet Street, inside the fire brigade, in universities, or amongst ambulance drivers, you would find a comparable per centage of white racists, willing to make racist statements to their friends and use racist terminology. The racists on the film weren't racists because they were coppers; they were racists because they were racists.

I hope they throw the book at the cretinous loud-mouthed yobs in uniform that the BBC film unmasked. I also hope they introduce psychological testing to root out similar nutters at an early stage of selection. But what the BBC film revealed to me was that far from being institutionalised, racism in the police is confined to a small number of ignorant thugs, not a widespread and shared culture.

Sleaze

2003-10-22T15:03:00.000+01:00

Amongst the bills and bank statements, an invitation arrives in the post. It is to attend a seminar entitled Inside Government: how the system works - how to work the system.

The sessions include 'what ministers and special advisers actually do' led by former DTI and DTLR SPAD Dan Corry. Steve Richards, Indie on Sunday columnist, tells us 'the culture of the system - what outsiders miss' and best of all Sally Keeble MP is on hand to tell us 'what MPs can and cannot do, limits of access and influence.' She is billed as 'Parliamentary under secretary of state, housing, planning and regeneration.' Perhaps someone should tell the organisers of this 'inside government' seminar that Keeble was fired months ago.

The price of a ticket for the one-day event? A snip at £599 plus VAT.

Educational apartheid

2003-10-22T14:53:00.000+01:00

The Thinker returns from a short trip to Salford, Oldham, and God's great city of Manchester. Many readers will be all too aware of the issues surrounding Oldham's housing policy, but I found the situation disturbing. By creating white working class ghettos and Asian working class ghettos, the council has created a racially-segregated school system, with predominantly white and predominantly Asian primary schools. Oldham is not a big place; creating a multi-racial education system is easy to achieve.

If children grow up in a mono-culture, without exposure to different cultures and influences, it doesn't take a genius to work out why there is the mistrust and suspicion which leads to riots and the BNP being elected.

Transport update

2003-10-19T20:34:00.000+01:00

Oh, the irony. The taxi from the airport broke down in the middle of Trafford Park, and still charged me £20!

Third world transport

2003-10-19T11:25:00.000+01:00

Last night, returning from Birmingham to London after a Fabian Society seminar on crime and policing, the harsh realities of Britain's third world transport system were brought home yet again.

It started badly, with a lift from Birmingham to St Albans, not helped by one of the finest minds in modern politics being unable to find where he had parked his car for 45 minutes. Then the train to London was cut short at Kentish Town for engineering works. The bus from Kentish Town to Kings Cross was terrible. The taxi from Kings Cross to Thinker Towers was stuck in traffic, and the driver was on the phone to someone from a lonely hearts column all the way.

Today I must go to Manchester. More engineering works. A bus service from Euston to Northampton means the journey takes four hours, when it should take 2 hours 40 minutes.

I have decided to fly. It costs £59, which is cheaper than the nightmare that is Virgin Rail.

On Grumpy Old Men on BBC2 during the week, Matthew Parris said he would vote for anyone, even a Trotskyist or Marxist, who could sort out the public transport system, and I know what he means...

Sunday Best

2003-10-19T11:17:00.000+01:00

The best thing about the Sunday political programmes, I have decided, is seeing the hilarious clothes politicians wear at a weekend. All politicians face a terrible dilemma - they know they must look smart for the television, and during the week they are welded into their navy, grey or pinstripe suits, so no problem.

But at the weekend, they cannot be filmed wearing slob-out Sunday sweatshirts, or their gardening jumper, and by the same token they cannot be filmed wearing a suit, shirt and tie because that would look weird. So the compromise we see time and time again is a terrible array of tweeds, tank-tops, sports jackets, tattashall shirts with ties, and other sartorial horrors. Alan Duncan has just appeared wearing the kind of green tweed hacking jacket last seen in The Shooting Party, with a blue tie and blue hanky poking from his top pocket.

Have these people never heard of normal clothes?

A family outing

2003-10-17T17:38:00.000+01:00

A pleasing tableaux of family life at the Footstool, Smith Square, this lunchtime: Andrew Marr, with wife Jacky Ashley and children, with father Lord Jack Ashley, the former deaf Labour MP. Was it someone's birthday?

Congratulations Gordon

2003-10-17T17:36:00.000+01:00

Gordon and Sarah Brown are celebrating the birth of their son earlier today, weighing in at 8oz 1lb. Fatherhood is the most amazing experience. The Thinker junior is one year old on 5th November. His name is already down for the LSE, in preparation for a career in politics or journalism; we're not fussy.

Crick - the man who brought down a Tory leader?

2003-10-17T17:28:00.000+01:00

There's a good profile of IDS-baiter and Man U fan Michael Crick here.

The Pedants' Revolt

2003-10-15T17:07:00.000+01:00

Over at What You Can Get Away With, Nick Barlow is having a laugh at the misuse of the apostrophe in his local sandwich shop.

But it is no laughing matter, my friend.

Something must be done to protect the correct use of the apostrophe, or civilisation will crumble and anarchy will ensue. For too long the moderate official Apostrophe Protection Society has tried to protect this vital tool of communication with its guidelines and gentle reminders of the correct usage, whilst all around greengrocers, shop-keepers and even teachers have let standards slip. What we need now is militant action.

I propose a new breakaway Apostrophe Action Front which will take direct action to punish and shame absusers of the apostrophe.

We will:

* overturn fruit and veg stalls selling 'potato's', 'tomato's', and so on
* tear down posters with misused apostrophes
* burn newspapers and magazines with poor punctuation subbing
* hound any teacher from their job who does not know where to put the apostrophe
* boycott any shop, restaurant, hotel or service supplier until they get it right.

Oh, and my wife says can we include people who write 'n' instead of 'and', as in Fish 'n' Chips. And shops who have checkouts for 'five items or less' when it should be 'fewer'.

George Monbiot - that career in full

2003-10-15T16:52:00.000+01:00

How interesting that Guardian enviro-whinger George Monbiot's father is a prominent and wealthy Tory. Monbiot fils fits neatly into that upper-middle-class-lefty-trying-to-upset-daddy mould; I'm surprised he didn't join the SWP.

So what might the future hold for Mr Monbiot?

2003 - Guardian columnist and globalisation protestor
2004 - founds new political party, wins seat in European Parliament
2008 - loses seat, starts political lobbying consultancy; writes books; trousers several million Euros
2010 - joins Labour Party
2011 - gets seat in House of Lords
2012 - becomes Labour Cabinet Minister for Overseas Development
2015 - Reconciled with Monbiot pater

Top five political resignations

2003-10-15T16:35:00.000+01:00

As we stand teetering on the brink of the resignation of Iain Duncan Smith, in order to clear his good name and that of his wife, or some such nonsense, here are my top five political resignations:

1. In at number one, it's Michael Hesletine walking out of the Cabinet and out of government in 1986 over the Westland Helicopters affair. Dramatic, but just how spontaneous was it, I wonder?
2. Hugh Dalton resigned as Labour Chancellor in 1947 for leaking budget secrets to a Star lobby correspondent. He mentioned the tax changes on his way into the Commons Chamber, and the newspaper had it on the streets before Dalton had even stood up to make the speech. Attlee commented that he was 'a perfect ass.'
3. Denzil Davies, a defence spokesperson on Neil Kinnock's Labour frontbench resigned in 1988 for not being consulted on policy changes. The manner of the resignation - completely pissed, in the small hours, on the phone to the Press Association - is what brings him in at number three.
4. When Alan Milburn resigned in June 2003, few believed it could really be to spend more time with his family, and yet as no scandal has engulfed him, it looks like it might be true. Oh, and he'll be ready to fight a leadership election in a three or four years' time.
5. Harold Wilson resigned as Prime Minister in 1976, and created a raft of conspiracy theories as to why. Who knows, but better to quit while you're ahead...

Soft on Nazis, soft on the causes of Nazis

2003-10-13T20:59:00.000+01:00

According to the BBC, the SS Guard who burnt Hitler's body has died aged 86, from a heart attack.

The report says 'Otto Guensche was an SS officer and a member of Hitler's inner circle. He was captured by Red Army troops, but was released after several years to live quietly in western Germany.'

Released after several years to live quietly! Can anyone explain why this man was not either hanged after Nuremberg, or hunted down and killed by Mossad after his release by the Soviets? Since when do SS Officers get to die peacefully in their beds?

IDS-gate latest

2003-10-13T20:04:00.000+01:00

The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir Philip Mawer says that IDS has a case to answer, and he will establish an investigation. Vanessa Gearson, deputy director at CCO, has taken legal advice. She sent the email warning colleagues about the dates of office cost allowance payments to IDS's wife and stated: 'the last thing we need now is a Crick-style investigation.' Andrew Marr says 'for the embattled Tory leader, the stakes could not be higher.'

Better out than in

2003-10-13T09:25:00.000+01:00

Another ultra-left group is forming to take on the main parties at the polls. A rat-bag of trots, anti-war muslims and whinging Guardian columnist George Monbiot are forming a new coalition. I welcome these moves, just as I welcomed Arthur Scargill's party fighting elections, and the Socialist Alliance fielding candidates, and the Socialist Party coming out from behind the cloak of Militant.

When they stand for election it proves that they have miniscule support amongst the working people they claim to represent (see, for example, their showing in the Brent by-election), and ensures that Labour candidates can stand on a clear platform of modern democratic socialism. If we had proportional representation, it would be even easier to vote for a party which represented your own views more accurately, but that's another story.

Hurrah for Michael Crick

2003-10-12T19:40:00.000+01:00

Michael Crick is the obsessive's obsessive.

From his early work unearthing the truth about the Militant Tendency in the Labour Party, which contributed to their expulsion, to his unhealthy fixation with Jeffrey Archer which brought to light all manner of hilarious anecdotes about the serial liar, to his love of Manchester United which led him to establish Shareholders United Against Murdoch to take on and defeat the BSkyB bid to takeover Man U, he has proved that the right combination of tireless research and a refusal to be put off the scent can yield journalistic golddust.

Today, he is taking on Iain Duncan Smith over allegations of how he ran his private office. Crick has ignored the threat of legal action, which shut most of the media up over the weekend, and referred the case to the Parliamentary Ombdusman. That means the evidence must be reviewed by an independent official, and the findings published.

Never mind Hutton, this one is the one to watch...

The Thinker goes upmarket

2003-10-11T20:11:00.000+01:00

This is a heads-up as they say on the West Wing to let The Thinker's loyal readers know that the website is undergoing a thorough makeover and will re-emerge with a proper facility for posting responses. It should be up within a couple of weeks...

You heard it here first

2003-10-11T09:45:00.000+01:00

Patrick Wintour's assessment of the conference season's policy announcements concludes:

'Finally each party came up with their own eye-catching initiative - the Tories had their sheriffs to run the police, Labour is turning to a massive expansion of Sure Start to forestall another dysfunctional generation, and the Liberal Democrats, well they would ban goldfish in bowls.'

Under Labour, with the promise of 'a future fair for all' surely goldfish would come in plastic bags, along with candyfloss and toffee apples?

Communism is so last century

2003-10-11T09:40:00.000+01:00

Lenin's getting a makeover, according to the Mirror. I think when Thatcher finally goes the Tories should embalm her in CCO, and the queues would snake round Smith Square.

Marxist analysis

2003-10-10T10:46:00.000+01:00

Over at Harry's Place there's a very funny analysis of the Marxist Discussion Forums being run by the Socialist Workers Party (not socialist, not workers, and no party).

I debated the editor of Socialist Worker earlier this year at their student conference at the LSE. He got a bit confused at one point and started talking about the bombing of Vietnam when he meant Iraq. Anyway, I asked the audience how many would be willing to shoot someone in a revolution. About half the hands went up. Then I pointed out that the first people they would have to shoot would be the half who'd kept their hands down, for lacking the necessary revolutuionary perspective.

In reality, as we all know, no-one will have to shoot anyone because within three weeks of graduation they will have left the SWP and got jobs in advertising.

Tory economic illiteracy

2003-10-09T19:50:00.000+01:00

Jenny Scott, the BBC economics correspondent, has got her calculator out after the Tories' week in Blackpool, and concluded that their sums don't add up.

She reckons scrapping university tuition fees would cost £700m, and that could only be afforded by rationing university places.

The cost of 40,000 extra police over four years comes to £2.1bn. The Tories say this would be met by cutting the number of asylum seekers, and doing the processing on an island somewhere (Never Never Land? Atlantis? Utopia?).

Restoring the link between pensions and earnings would cost £500m after four years, and the Tories would pay for this by scrapping the New Deal for the long-term unemployed. There is no mention of the costs of having an increase in long-term unemployed people as a direct result.

And overarching all this is the pledge to cut taxes - with a single penny off income tax costing £3bn.

So thanks to that fine public service broadcaster the BBC we can quickly see that the Tories economic plans are filled with holes, and doomed to fail if implemented. As Arnold is about to find out, when most of the people want lower taxes and better services, politicians have to decide which takes priority. Luckily, we have government in Britain prepared to do what's right, and not just what's popular.

Which one are you?

2003-10-09T15:59:00.000+01:00

A flyer pops through The Thinker's letterbox advertising a training seminar in Dealing Effectively with Unacceptable Employee Behaviour, run by some bunch of jokers called Skillpath. It says:

'If you supervise one or more of these employees, you need to take action NOW:

Antagonist: is rude and unpleasant
Blameless Bob: always has an excuse for everything
Whiner: complains no matter what he or she is asked to do
Thumb-twiddler: lacks motivation
Insubordinate subordinate
Tortoise: shows up late ot not at all
Amy Attitude: has negative attitude that brings everyone down
Hand-holder: needs constant supervision
Early retiree: has been around awhile and is beginning to practice at-work retirement
Worrywart: has personal problems that infringe on the working day
Clock-watcher: refuses to work weekends or even a minute beyond 'quitting time'.'

Ah, what enlightened times we are living in. Three hundred years of trade unionism has come to this...

They've even missed the best one out: The Blogger: spends all day on your company's PCs writing nonsense read by no-one.

Instant reaction to IDS

2003-10-09T12:45:00.000+01:00

That's an hour of my life I'm never going to get back. Andrew Marr hit the nail on the head when he commented IDS's speech was 'good for him'. We had low expectations, and he didn't disappoint. There were some well-crafted phrases, terrible bash-you-on-the-head jokes, dreadful delivery, and nervous moments of prolonged silence. The standing ovations were plainly being orchestrated. His themes - Europe, taxes, asylum seekers, crime, smaller government - appealled to the Tories in the hall, and his back-me-or-sack-me call will play well in tomorrow's papers.

Two things made me wince - his paraphrase of Hugh Gaitskell's 'fight, fight, and fight again'. How dare he? IDS isn't fit to lick Gaitskell's boots. And secondly, the joke about Charles Kennedy's drink problem. Not in very good taste, I didn't think.

The speech has probably just good enough to keep him office for a few more months, but not good enough to pursuade a single swing voter to switch to the Tories. So, it couldn't have gone better - for Tony Blair.

Iain's Big Day

2003-10-09T00:01:00.000+01:00

On the day that IDS makes his big speech to the Tory Party conference, here's a little poem (clerihew, actually)

'IDS
In a mess
Won't be long
Before he's gone'

I thank you...

Corruption starts at home

2003-10-08T19:39:00.000+01:00

There's a thoughful piece in this month's Atlantic Magazine by Jack Beatty on Bush's prospects for re-election.

He concludes:A republic can be corrupted at the top and bottom, by leaders and led. The re-election of George W. Bush would signal that a kind of corruption had set in among the led. Our miserable failure as republican citizens would match his as President.

Why do our cousins have erudite, enlightened and entertaining politican publications like the Atlantic (and the much-missed George) but we have to hold our noses and read New Statesman? Actually, I don't anymore since I cancelled my subs after yet another load of garbage from Pilger or one of his ilk.

Much to bragg about

2003-10-08T07:53:00.000+01:00

Socialist songster Billy Bragg is releasing a 'best of...' album for Christmas, and The Thinker is letting Father Christmas (who reads this blog, of course) know that it's on his list. Bragg's appearance at Labour Party conference last week was greeted by slightly jaded early-middle aged indie-kids-grown-up-with-families like an Elvis sighting. All he did was ramble on about House of Lords reform, not a note of Greetings to the New Brunette. His preferred system - a indirectly elected second chamber in direct proportion to the share of vote in the lower chamber - is a recipe for gridlock. He can still knock out a tune, though.

See him at www.billybragg.com

Send them back

2003-10-08T07:42:00.000+01:00

Oliver Letwin has announced that under the Tories asylum seekers will be kept on an island, far far away. Couldn't we just send Oliver Letwin to an island far far away instead?

Quiz time

2003-10-07T20:15:00.000+01:00

Here's a little quiz to keep yourselves occupied whilst waiting for IDS's big speech on Thursday.

Q. What do the following places have in common? Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Bardford, Leicester, Derby, Plymouth, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Luton, Reading, Bristol, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Newcastle, Aberdeen, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Bury, Northampton, Swindon, Norwich, Stockton, Brighton, York, Coventry, Portsmouth and last of course Blackpool?

A. None has a single Tory MP

More reasons to be cheerful: In order to win the next election with a majority of one, the Tories must be 11.5 points ahead of Labour. Even if Labour is 4 points behind, it still forms a majority. The more people that vote, the more trouble the Tories are in. Fifty-three per cent of non-voters in 2001 would have voted Labour, but only 19 per cent would have voted Tory. If tactical voting continues on the same scale as 2001, the Tories will lose 6-8 seats to the Lib Dems. Amongst young people, Tory support is at 20 per cent, with Labour on 50 per cent.

So as IDS puts the finishing touches on his speech, remember that he needs to win a bigger swing than Attlee in 1945 or Thatcher in 1979 or Blair in 1997 to take the Tories to power. I'm no psephologist, but it doesn't look likely. It's going to take more than a good speech at the Winter Gardens to prevent the Tory disintegration.

And the winner is...

2003-10-06T22:37:00.000+01:00

The winner of the Robin Cook Award for Party Loyalty goes to former Tory cabinet minister David Mellor for his piece in the London Evening Standard on Monday.

For those that missed it, here are some highlights:

'(The Tories) know Iain Duncan Smith can't hack it. They know he's hopeless; on a good day a mediocrity, on a bad one a nonentity. They know this Neil Kinnock in disguise will lead them to yet another defeat, perhaps a catastrophic one. The truth is obvious. No change. No chance...

'...yes its circle the wagons time in Blackpool, but around what? No talent, no principles, no policies, just nothing.

'Duncan Smith has no leadership qualities whatsoever, but the Tories problems don't end there...there simply isn't the talent to staff up a proper shadow cabinet, let alone a government. People like party chairman Theresa May, a good county councillor in a bad year, would not have even made PPS in any of Margaret Thatcher's administrations.

'Even their great hope, Oliver Letwin, is as much a clown as an intellectual.'

'Duncan Smith has risen without trace and if returned to well-deserved obscurity would be forgotten by Christmas. Will anyone at Blackpool have the guts to declare this emperor has no clothes? I doubt it. But there's a price to be paid for such cowardice. It's called electoral oblivion.'

Hilary's the man

2003-10-06T13:46:00.000+01:00

Benn makes the Cabinet. No, not Tony, but his son Hilary. Can a big reshuffle be far away? This Autumn is my tip.

Hilary Benn's promotion makes me consider other male MPs with girl's names:

Kerry Pollard MP
Marsha Singh MP
Lindsay Hoyle MP
Kim Howells MP

Can anyone think of any more?

A Trot speaks out

2003-10-06T11:15:00.000+01:00

I remember Gary Younge when he was a student Trot, keen to overthrow the capitalist system and scornful of the sell-out Kinnock Labour Party; he was also fond of throwing the accusation 'racist' around at anyone who disagreed with him.

Today's Gary Younge column in the Guardian shows that he hasn't learnt much in the intervening 15 years. I know the Guardian is famously 'written by Trots and read by Liberals' but today's effort really is loop-da-loop. There are so many examples of poor judgement and wishful thinking it is hard to know where to start. But let's begin with Younge's comparison of the Soweto uprising with the anti-war demonstrations, and the assertion that 'we must recognise that the anti-war movement had a decisive impact on exposing the bankrupt rationale of attacking Iraq.' The Stop the War movement must rank as one of the most spectacular failures of modern politics, and not just for ...er...not stopping the war. To turn a coalition of 1m-plus people into a tiny sectarian bunfight in the space of six months must be some kind of record, even for the ultra-left.

Or this: 'We should also be buoyed by the fact that the sweep of the left's analysis since the beginning of the war on terror has been proved correct.' Correct? the 'left's analysis' was that the liberation of Iraq would lead to a lengthy Vietnam-style war, with millions of deaths, and escalating conflict throughout the region. In fact, it's pretty much business as usual in the Middle East, and Iraq is a tangibly better place without the Ba'athists.

I know why Mr Younge writes this nonsense. What I can't understand is the Guardian op ed page for publishing it.

The Tories and pensions policy

2003-10-05T10:42:00.000+01:00

Guess who said this:

'We will immediately increase the single pension by £5 a week and the pension for a married couple by £8, as the first step in re-establishing a link between pensions and average earnings or living costs, whichever is the most favourable to pensioners.'

Was it IDS this week?

No, it was the Labour Party manifesto in 1987, and look what happened to them...

The Tories' Clause IV

2003-10-04T20:09:00.000+01:00

While drafting my notes for last week's seminar at Labour Party conference, I was reflecting on the age old 'Labour and Tories - is there any difference anymore?' question. I noted Labour's Clause IV:

‘Labour is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our endeavour we achieve more than we do alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.’

And I wondered what the Tories Clause IV would be like. Perhaps this gets close:

‘The Conservative Party is an undemocratic elitist party. It believes that by the strength of our own endeavour we achieve more than we do with anyone else, so as to create for some of us wealth at others’ expense, and for all of us a fragmented society in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the few not the many, where we live apart, unfreely, in a spirit of antagonism, fear and distrust.’

Tony Blair in his own words

2003-10-04T20:04:00.000+01:00

I can offer a cast-iron guarantee that this will not the last time I mention this, but I have a new book out in the new year, called Tony Blair in his own words It's a collection of speeches and articles by the great man, edited by me, with a commentary.

The earliest ones are from the early 80s, and I suspect the last one will be his conference speech from last week (I haven't quite finished it yet!)

Conference fatigue

2003-10-02T13:11:00.000+01:00

I have just presented a session on Labour's values at the conference, with a small but interesting audience. Stuart Bruce was busy blogging throughout my remarks on Tawney, etc. I see that Tom Watson has had touble blogging, and I haven't seen Blairista for days. The NTL stand is packed with people checking their emails. Next year, if I was Google, I would rent out a huge space and fill it with PCs and it would be the most popular part of conference.

Some gossip: Chris Bryant MP for Rhonda seen dining at Klute with Andrew Pierce from the Times people column. Andrew Marr commenting that the conference reminded him of the Tories' conference. Jeremy Paxman in the Highcliffe surrounded by adoring fans.

I was on the Today Programme this morning with a short clip about the Red Flag.

Like everyone here now, I just want to get home and rest my feet. There is a strong desire to magically transport myself home to bed.

Normal service will be resumed after today.

With heads uncovered swear we all...

2003-09-30T10:45:00.000+01:00

The Red Flag is making a comeback at conference. Last night Billy Bragg led a chorus of the song at the Fabian Society's reception, and I hear that the main conference will be allowed to sing it on the last day.

Today's only story is the leader's speech - Tony's chance to answer his critics and wow the delegates. Its probably the most important speech in recent years. Talking of speeches, the latest Politicos catalogue is out, with the listing for my next book - Tony Blair in his own words. Its a collection of speeches and articles from the past 20 years, and out in the new year. Order yours now!

Dissappointed by the lack of blogging from The Thinker's friends and rivals. Too much lager in the Highcliffe Hotel, not enough tapping the keyboard.

dangerous stuff...

2003-09-29T15:02:00.000+01:00

Good joke by Martin Salter MP at the launch of Labour Academy, a new party political education body. he said it was going to be called 'University of Labour' but people might be put off by the prospect of £3,000 fees. David Treisman managed a wry smile.

Gordon Brown used his speech to tickle the tummies of the Labour and trade union delegates, and to remind us he is a class act.

The media coverage is packed with distortion and nonsense. Next time I see a hack I shall spill my drink on them

A Future Fair for All

2003-09-29T12:16:00.000+01:00

Labour's conference slogan promises a 'future fair for all'. What a great pledge! A future fair. Great. Will there be candyfloss? And gold fish in plastic bags? And a tombola? Will we have our own fair, or will we have to share with others? Will there be clowns? So many questions...

Iain Dale MP

2003-09-29T11:47:00.000+01:00

Well done to Tory bookseller Iain Dale for his parliamentary selection for North Norfolk. It's a Liberal Democrat seat, so obviously if Labour can't take the seat, I don't care whether the Tory or the Liberal Democrats win, both being sworn enemies of the Labour movement.

Talking of Liberal Democrats, Vivienne Raper of Forceful and Moderate fame casts aspirations on the Thinker's conduct, suggesting that my remarks on her appearance last week were less than gallant. Nothing could be further from the truth; I thought she looked quite fetching.

The agony and the exhaustion

2003-09-29T11:35:00.000+01:00

The main impressions from conference are painful feet, a slightly hysterical feeling, and above all a sense that the British newspapers are all at another conference, somewhere else. There is no great sense of hostility towards Blair, apart from from those who have always been hostile. The odd vote may be lost - this morning's NEC vote on foundation hospitals was passed by a margin of one, for example. But Peter Hain was cheered for a speech praising the liberation of Iraq.

Highlights: watching Paul Routledge shouting at some teenagers on the London-Bournemouth train, seeing that even MPs and Ministers can get messed about by the late accreditation office. John Spellar, Nick Raynsford, David Cairns - all having to wait for hours. The Highcliffe Hotel was not packed, but busy, and various bloggers are here, queuing up for the NTL stand to use the free PCs.

The Fabian fringe meeting on the far right was characterised by both Claude Moraes MEP and Denis Macshane turning up late - almost an hour late. The Social Market Foundation (SMF) fringe meeting on Labour's values was won hands down by Douglas Alexander and Hazel Blears, versus Tribune's Mark Seddon and Roy Hattersley (who came in for some stick for his constant drip of poison against the government).

Channel 4 screened The Deal at the local IMAX on Sunday afternoon, which allowed delegates to play truant from conference. The drama was excellent, but the politics that lay behind it were dodgy. A man dressed as a mole has walked past - something to do with skin cancer. Now I have found a computer, there will be no stopping me.

Thank you Tony

2003-09-26T18:46:00.000+01:00

On the eve of Labour Party conference, here is a site every delegate and commentator should see. Thankyoutony.com has been set up by an American citizen to encourage others to thank Tony Blair for his support of the US in the war on terrorism, and to recommend him for the Medal of Freedom. So far, over 11,000 people have sent a message of support. As far as I can tell, this is an irony-free site.

Those Fabian candidates in full

2003-09-26T17:29:00.000+01:00

It's the highlight of the political year - the Fabian Society executive elections!

There are 28 candidates standing in the main section, for 15 places, and eight candidates standing in the local societies' section, for four places. They are:

Douglas Alexander
Beth Breeze
Martin Brown
Simon Buckby
James Connal
Alf Dubs
Margaret Greenhalgh
Alex Heslop
Eric Joyce
Pippa Langford
Mark Leonard
Guy Lodge
Calum Macdonald
Seema Malhotra
Ashton Mcgregor
Austin Mitchell
John Morgan
Richard Olszewski
Sally Prentice
Jeremy Regan
Greg Rosen
Meg Russell
Nicholas Russell
Daljit Sehbai
Rosamund Stock
Stephen Twigg
Mari Williams
Tony Wright

and in the local societies section:

Patrick Haynes
Margaret Meling
Rory O'Kelly
Geraint Owens
Suresh Pushpananthan
Paul Richards
John Solomon
James Watkins

Nick Butler is elected unopposed as treasurer. The ballot papers are in this month's Fabian Review, and the ballot closes at 5.00pm on 17th October 2003.

1970 General Election

2003-09-26T14:21:00.000+01:00

The BBC parliamentary channel on cable is currently showing the election night special from the 1970 General Election in real time. It is completely brilliant: the ramshackle editing and frequent mistakes are hilarious, but the interviews with Wilson, Healey, etc, commentary from Robin Day, Ludovic Kennedy and David Dimbleby, and the actual results coming in are just fascinating. George Brown loses Belper. Labour's black candidate in Clapham is defeated. Donald Dewar is beaten in Aberdeen South. Jeremy Thorpe loses his seat. Being three at the time, I missed the 1970 election. I hope the BBC is going to use its parliamentary channel to show other elections during recess.

The Thinker at Conference

2003-09-26T14:15:00.000+01:00

Like many hundreds of others, I shall be travelling to the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth on Saturday. If I can find a computer, The Thinker will be posting daily or more frequently, on all the gossip, highlights and general mayhem from the fringe, hotel bars, and BIC.

Those that are there may want to end their conference on a real high by coming along to the Solent Restaurant, BIC, on Thursday 2nd October at 11.30am to hear The Thinker lead a session on Labour's political thought, for Labour Academy. The session will cover socialist values, revisionism, and what makes the modern socialist.

Arrive early to guarantee a seat!

The Labour Representation Committee

2003-09-25T11:46:00.000+01:00

Another week, another Labour pressure group. This one is the hard and ultra-left organising a new group supported by the so-called awkward squad of left-wing union leaders (some are more left than others) and the Campaign Group of Labour MPs. It has taken the Labour Representation Committee as its title, which as we all know, was the name for the group of Labour and trade union MPs elected between 1900 and 1906 after which they became the Labour Party. This is acurious choice of name. Firstly the LRC was not socialist, it was a trade union-dominated body. It wanted improvements for working people, but not an explicitly changed society. Secondly, it formed an election pact with the Liberals in 1903 to win more seats. Is this the future the new LRC want us to go back to?

A missed opportunity

2003-09-25T10:18:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, just minutes after lending my copy of Prime Minister Portillo and other things that never happened to Labour NEC member Ruth Turner, who should I see strolling down Jermyn Street but the man himself. If I'd still had the book, I could have asked Portillo to sign it, and that would have been one signed book worth having.

If You're Listening

2003-09-24T07:00:00.000+01:00

I wonder if her election victory may have gone to Sarah Teather's head.

As part of her Cambridge Union-style address to Lib Dem conference she proclaimed: "Tony Blair, if you're listening to me, today, abolish fees. They're divisive and an affront to justice."

Now, what are the chances that Tony Blair is watching the Liberal Democrat conference? I bet he's glued to the television, hanging on every word.

Missing, presumed irrelevant

2003-09-23T18:20:00.000+01:00

Has anyone noticed that the Lib Dem conference is two-thirds empty during debates? Even their own delegates don't care how the conference votes on road safety, council tax, tuition fees or anything else. They're bored, we're bored, the public is bored, let's just get it all over with quickly.

Look after your own

2003-09-23T18:05:00.000+01:00

Hugo Young's sad passing reminds me of a recent comparison in Private Eye between the number of column inches afforded by editors to the deaths of politicians, business leaders, trade unionists, charity workers, inventors, academics and so on, and journalists. Guess which group came out on top...

Thought for the day

2003-09-22T14:28:00.000+01:00

Would it be uncharitable to remind ourselves during the week of the Lib Dems conference that

"politics is showbusiness for ugly people"?

MPs for hire

2003-09-22T08:59:00.000+01:00

How much would you spend for an evening with William Hague? Or Peter Mandelson? Or even Boris Johnson? This site has politicians for hire, and you'll be surprised at who's available, at the right price.

Between £2.5k and £5k you can have 'C' list pols like Charles Kennedy or Steve Norris. For between £5k and £10k you can get Michael Portillo or Ken Clarke. But for that little extra - just between £10k and £25k - you can have an evening with William Hague.

Neither left nor right, nor anything at all

2003-09-22T08:16:00.000+01:00

Another year, another Lib Dem debate on the future of the Monarchy. The annual ritual played out - some students call for an elected head of state, Charles Kennedy makes some patronising remarks about the vibrancy of the youth and student section, the conference defeats it because they're worried about losing Tory votes in places like Romsey. This year Lib Dem blogger Vivienne Raper led the charge dressed in a riot of polka-dots (and appeared on Sky News as Vivienne Wraper) and went down to defeat as usual. The Liberal Democrats? About as radical as Channel 4, as Rik would say.

Roy's wrong again

2003-09-22T08:03:00.000+01:00

Roy Hattersley earns his substantial fee from the Guardian again this morning with a preposterous assertion that Tony Blair, like a Zulu chief, will deliberately sacrifice 50 or so of his MPs at the next election by failing to backtrack on his unpopular policies. Hattersley's argument is that if only the Government followed his advice, it would keep all its seats.

Leaving aside the obvious sideswipes about Hattersley's own electoral record as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, the idea that a series of policy U-turns and a lurch to the left would help Labour retain seats like Hove, Enfield Southgate, Glasgow Eastwood, Basildon, etc is clearly nonsense. These are seats Labour MPs won because of being New Labour, where the old Labour Party of Roy Hattersley was feared and reviled, and never elected. Politics is fought out over the centre ground, with the aspirant middle classes mostly deciding who forms a government. Tony Blair's strategy to capture that ground has been spectacularly successful at two elections - and will be at the third.

A thoughtful reaction to Labour's defeat in Brent

2003-09-21T22:43:00.000+01:00

THE MAIN LOSER in the Brent by-election was not Blair, or IDS, but the democratic system itself. Such a lamentable turnout at a time of huge political turmoil proves that no-one, not even the Liberal Democrats, has much to smile about.

Millions of people are on vote strike. Politicians who talk about ‘the voters’ or ‘the electorate’ are using outdated terms. We don’t have a mass electorate, we have a mass ‘ingorate’. Across Britain, hundreds of councillors were put into office this year for four years in Albanian-style single-candidate elections. Thousands more were elected with less than ten per cent of the vote. And the real concern is that most people couldn’t care less. Most people don’t know the difference between a county and district council, or what powers they have. Local democracy is like a crumbling dusty town-centre museum, with a couple of visitors a week, which if it closed to make way for a supermarket, few would miss.

This country must decide over the next few years if we want to be a democracy or not. If we do, our starting point must be that we must stop flogging a dead horse. Trying to coerce people into voting for the same old candidates for the same old institutions, with the same old pencil stub tied with string, will lead only to a greater erosion of democracy. The problem is not that democracy isn’t working, but that it hasn’t been tried yet.

Reform of the constitution is part of the solution, but only part. Those who place all of their faith in recasting institutions and voting systems are misguided. Democratic renewal comes from reforms to cultures as well as structures. Labour began in government by charging ahead with constitutional reforms, devolving power to millions in Scotland, Wales and London. But no-one in Edinburgh, Cardiff or Ken Livingstone’s London can say that constitutional reform has led to more democracy. It has resulted in the same grubby deals and backstabbing, with the same concomitant voter distrust and disengagement.

The missing ingredient is a change in political culture: the way we think about, discuss and enact politics. What changes do we need?

The first is an extension in the knowledge and understanding about politics. If you watch television quiz shows, you’ll know how ignorant most people are about even the basics of our political system. Labour’s introduction of citizenship teaching into our schools is a welcome first step. Now we need to spread the concept through other institutions. Any one working in the public sector, at university or college, in the emergency services, in prison, or in the armed services must undertake a short course in the basics of British democracy. Not the old nonsense about Black Rod and what the Queen does all day, but radical concepts of citizenship, democracy, representative government and the mechanics of politics.

The second, once we have established basics levels on knowledge and understanding about politics, is to transform the quality of political debate. Politicians come and go, and in each generation attract a great deal of interest, controversy and media attention. But who today remembers John Moore, Bryan Gould or Bill Rogers? What matter are ideas, not politicians. Yet most political discourse, especially when described by the media, is obsessed with political personalities and the day-to-day rows, rather than ideas and policies. Politics is a battle of ideas, not spats, splits and resignations.

The third, and most important, is that we must stop equating democracy with voting for others. Democracy must mean self-detirmination. Voting takes five minutes: what people do for the rest of the year is what matters. A lively political culture is one where people have a real say over their local schools, streets, parks and hospitals. A Fabian pamphlet Communities in Control public services and local socialism by Salford MP Hazel Blears takes the argument further. She calls for local mutual ownership over public services and taking power away from civil servants and politicians. Power to the people is not something you often hear from government ministers. But Blears’s pamphlet sold-out within a few weeks, and has had to be reprinted such was the demand.

People will become involved in politics if the prize is real power. In areas where the government’s new deal for communities (NDC) scheme has led to elected management boards, often the turnout and interest has been higher than for the council. Why? Because with millions to spend, NDCs have the power to transform neighbourhoods. Politics should be DIY, not about hiring others to do the job for you.

If we want a lively politics, we need these radical reforms to be led from the bottom up. The main barrier to a new political culture is politicians. I know no politician who would prefer to lose an election on a ninety per cent turnout than win one on a ten per cent turnout. Even the Liberal Democrats.

How fares the revolution?

2003-09-20T13:42:00.000+01:00

So how did the socialist revolutionaries do in the Brent by-election? With the masses in revolt over Blair's war on the Iraqi people, the attacks on trade unionists, and the failure of the sell-out Labour government, you'd think they'd have done pretty well...

The Socialist Alliance bulletin before polling day proclaimed: 'Last Saturday we had five stalls and a cavalcade around Brent. On Sunday we finished off the second leafletting of the constituency and sent teams out canvassing. We got a very good reception on the doorsteps and it was clear that visiting people helped to set us apart from a crowded field of 16 candidates in total. It also helped to make the argument against the Lib Dems.'

Result? Brian Butterworth Socialist Alliance 361 votes or 1.7% of the vote

And what of Arthur Scargill's lot?

Iris Cremer Socialist Labour Party 111 votes or 0.5% of the vote

No sign of barricades just yet.

A reaction to Brent

2003-09-20T12:30:00.000+01:00

As a confident predictor of a Labour victory in Brent, I feel I should issue a reaction to Labour's defeat.

Well done to the Liberal Democrats, you pulled off a great victory, and you have another MP. This does not mean that you will win the next general election and form a government, it does not mean you will form the official opposition, it does not mean that Labour will be defeated in 2004/5, it does not mean that Simon Hughes will become Mayor of London, it does not even mean that you will hold Brent at the next election. So a little less smugness might be in order, especially at your conference this week. The biggest loser was not Blair or IDS, but the democratic system. The lamentable turnout shows that none of the parties managed to excite the majority of voters, and that means none has a reason to celebrate.

Your Xmas present dilemmas solved

2003-09-20T12:22:00.000+01:00

A new book is out this week called 'Prime Minister Portillo and other things that never happened'. Its a collection of 21 political 'what ifs'. What if Halifax had been PM instead of Churchill, what if the bullet had missed Kennedy, what if John Smith had lived. You get the idea. My own humble contribution is what if Callaghan had called the election in 1978 and beaten Thatcher. With a Labour Government, oil money, no SDP splitters, no Falklands War, and no Thatcherism, what would 80s Britain have been like? It's more of an amusing fantasy than a serious historical analysis. Anyway buy the book and see what you think.

Good political drama

2003-09-17T09:33:00.000+01:00

The Key, BBC2 Tuesdays, is a great new three-parter about a radical Clydeside family. It was on last night. From rent strikes and unionising in the mills during WW1, to standing for New Labour in 1997, three generations of women fight the bosses, the system, and each other. Donna Franceschild has done her political homework, from knowing that the Communist Party became the Democratic Left, to the workings of PFI, and she has the culture clash between New Labour apparachik and Scottish Labour Party agent just right. Ronni Ancona stands out, playing a straight role for a change. This is shaping up to be a great political drama in a way that The Project, probably the worst political drama ever, never managed. The final part in on the Tuesday night of Labour Party conference, so you might have to set the video.

Also coming up is The Deal, directed by Stephen Frears, on Channel 4 on Sunday 28 September. It's a dramatic working of the legend of the Blair/Brown dinner at Granita. Don't hold your breath, but it might be interesting.

Stuart Bruce

2003-09-16T15:53:00.000+01:00

Cllr Stuart Bruce is a hard-working Labour councillor in Leeds and blogger, and he said something nice about me, so visit his blog.

I only buy it for the articles..

2003-09-16T15:18:00.000+01:00

Stephen Pollard feels the need to justify why he buys the Guardian: 'I buy the Guardian as I find it useful professionally - within two minutes of looking at it there's always something there to annoy me.' He reminds me of those blokes who bought Playboy 'for the articles'. You don't have to justify yourself, Stephen. Like most sound-thinking people, you read the Guardian even though you know it's full of lousy journalism and glaring mistakes, because it's the house journal of the British left. Reading the Guardian reminds me of when I smoked cigarettes. You know you shouldn't, you want to give up, you feel bad afterwards, yet somehow you do it every day.

So here are three good reasons to read the Guardian:

* The Corrections & Clarifications column. The best journalism in Britain today - a corner of the printed page that is forever concerned with homophones, apostrophes, and difference between Tolstoy and Trotsky
* The Letters Page. Check and see if you're on it. If not, what have Luke Akehurst, Gary Slapper or Keith Flett got to say for themselves?
* John O'Farrell. Labour activist turned columnist and author. Funny, and gets his laughs without attacking the Government.

And three reasons not to:

* piss poor columnists: George Monbiot, Gary Younge, Roy Hattersley. Whingers and whiners. Who needs them?
* Supplements you don't want unless you're a teacher/social worker/IT specialist or environmentalist
* The Guardian Diary. Not funny.

It's your 55p, your choice.

I couldn't put it down...

2003-09-16T10:58:00.000+01:00

You can read my monthly Guardian books column here.

Top five political bars

2003-09-15T21:36:00.000+01:00

Following from the overwhelming response to the top five political restaurants, here are my top five political bars and pubs:

1. The Strangers' Bar, House of Commons. A pint of Federation, a stroll onto the terrace, a gawp at all the pols, guests and staffers, what could be better for the political addict? Used to be known as the Kremlin, because it was an old Labour haunt. Best of all, only MPs can buy drinks, so enjoy some of that taxpayers' cash being recycled.

2. The Galleon Bar, Winter Gardens, Blackpool. Just one of the bizarrely-themed rooms and bars in the Winter Gardens, scene of many a political intrigue and plot at party conference time and during union conferences. The Winter Gardens recently invested several million pounds in rennovating their venue, and the result is that it looks exactly the same.

3. The Red Lion, Parliament Street. Legendary scene of Charlie Whelan's phonecall to the FT on some market-sensitive issue or other. Too long, thin and crowded by tourists on the ground floor, but the underground bar is good for private parties, and in summer everyone spills into Derby Gate.

4. The Marquis of Granby, off Smith Square. Used to be Tory and Liberal dominated because of the proximity to CCO in Smith Square and the Lib Dems' HQ in Cowley Street. Then came Millbank, and the New Labour staffers took over. Labour's caravan has moved on again, and now it's pretty quiet.

5. The Two Chairmen, Dartmouth Street. This is traditionally the Fabian Society pub, opposite the Fabians' offices. In the 1950s the Labour Gaitskellites used to meet upstairs and scheme their schemes. Nowadays, with the Labour Party round the corner in Old Queen Street, it is packed with Labour staffers.

Runners-up: The Paviours Arms, the House of Commons Sports and Social Club, the bar of the Old Ship Hotel, Brighton, and the Old Star, near St James's Park tube where Civil Servants from the Home Office, ODPM and other departments meet.

I used to be a cabinet minister, part II

2003-09-15T13:26:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Matthew Seward for pointing out that I missed not one, not two, but three former Labour Cabinet ministers on Labour's backbenches. They are Nick Brown, Helen Liddell, and Gavin Strang. Matthew reckons of the rest three are in government (Harriet Harman, Alun Michael and Estelle Morris), two are out of Parliament (Ron Davies and Mo Mowlam), five are on the backbenches in the Lords (Lord Irvine of Lairg, Baroness Jay of Paddington, Lord Richard, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen and Lord Clark of Windermere) and one is dead (Donald Dewar).

More good advice

2003-09-15T12:07:00.000+01:00

One thing Tony Blair is never short of is advice. The latest set of unasked for advice comes from new group called Compass. It may be a new group, but the faces are the same: Lobbyist Neal Lawson, former-SDP founder David Marquand, academics Andrew Gamble, Colin Crouch, Raymond Plant, Ruth Lister, and Stuart White, and others who should know better such as NEC member Ruth Turner and Progress Director Robert Philpot. Their statement, leapt on by the Guardian as an attack on Tony Blair, natch, contains some laudable statements about pluralism, the public realm, markets and the environment.

But does it really help Labour? I wonder how many of them have been campaigning in the Brent by-election, or argue their case in their local Labour parties month after month? I know some of the signatories put their backs into Labour party campaigns and electioneering. Others haven't been seen at a local Labour party meeting for years. Right now, what Labour needs is do-ers, not talkers.

Party election publications

2003-09-14T20:59:00.000+01:00

An idea: state-funded space in national newspapers for political parties. We have party election broadcasts. The state pays for the airwaves on BBC and commerical radio and television for a set number of minutes per year, and during elections. The style and content to up the parties. So why not have a double-page spread in the Sun, Telegraph, Mail and so on dedicated to the parties own messages? We have PEBs (party election broadcasts). Why not PEPs (party election publications)?

Enough is enough - or is it?

2003-09-14T20:55:00.000+01:00

Today I heard for the first time a Tory frontbencher use the phrase 'enough is enough' when talking about the Labour Government. It was Tory chairman Teresa May on Breakfast with Frost, and we can be sure it will form part of the Tories' campaigning lexicon for the next two years. It's a powerful phrase. It goes to the heart of people's general sense of ennui and fedupness with this Government. The Tories hope that people will feel 'it's time for a change' - another phrase that pays in politics. I remember six years ago handing out leaflets with the slogan 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH' in Billericay high street as the Labour parliamentary candidate. You could see people nodding. The desire to get rid of the Tories was palpable. The slogan spoke for the political mood. In Billericay, the swing from Tory to Labour was 18 per cent.

So, in 2005, will it work for the Tories? The answer has to be an emphatic no. As Michael Portillo said on Sunday with Adam Boulton, the Tories need to secure the kind of swing that Blair managed in 1997 or Thatcher pulled off in 1979. IDS is not winning enough converts in the right parts of the country to even secure his own position as leader, never mind threaten Blair's hold on power. Many voters have individual reasons to be annoyed with the Labour Government, may more have good reason to be delighted. But there is not a sea-change in attitude, no serious seismic shift in the electoral geography. On balance, people think there's enough reason to vote Labour as they did in 1997 and 2001. A third term for Labour is a distinct possibility.

Is state funding the answer?

2003-09-10T17:26:00.000+01:00

A new survey by the Electoral Commission shows that just seven per cent of the public want the taxpayer to fund politics. So is state funding the answer to the crisis in politics? State funding is already a fact of British political life. The main parties have their parliamentary activities supported by taxpayers’ cash, through the Short money and Cranbourne money given to opposition parties’ front bench researchers in the Commons and Lords, through the office cost allowance to MPs, and through support-in-kind such as party election broadcasts, free postage, and free use of public buildings.

The argument now is whether the balance between state funding and private donations to parties should be altered, and how state funding can be used to refresh the front-lines of political parties rather than their central bureaucracies.

On the first, there is a head of steam building for greater state funding, and a cap on private donations, following various embarrassments. John Prescott, Robin Cook, David Blunkett, Peter Mandelson, charter 88 and the institute for public policy research (IPPR) have joined the growing chorus calling for state funding and an end to large individual donations to parties. Cook told the Commons press gallery ‘If the electorate want a healthy parliament and independent political parties, then they must be prepared to fund them from the public purse’.

John Prescott said in April 2002 ‘I think the only system under which you can be properly accountable is state financing within set limits of expenditure and advertising.’

State funding should be, not merely a reflection of parties existing levels of activity, but an incentive for increased activity. The state should expect its money to work hard in pursuit of democratic renewal. For it to be more than an exercise in eradicating embarrassing individual donations, state funding must be

• linked to political activity and an incentive for parties to do things differently
• distributed at a regional and/or local level.

State funding for parties’ elections, campaigns, and administration could be allocated on the basis of numbers of registered supporters. If lists of registered supporters are held at a city, county or regional level, then funds can be distributed to fairly reflect local levels of support for parties. This system only works if all political parties have comparable registered supporters schemes, and if they are independently evaluated by, say, the electoral commission. As such, this may be some way down the road.

If state funding is to be increased, as surely it must, it should not be perceived as taxpayers’ cash being spent on central party machines, advertising campaigns, and ministers’ and shadow ministers’ offices. Instead we need to debate new ways to match state funding against a combination of criteria, for example:-

• number of registered supporters
• number of party members
• proportion of black and minority ethnic members and candidates
• proportion of women members and candidates
• share of the vote
• number of candidates fielded
• political education initiatives
• political campaigning.

Parties could be independently scored on the basis of a range of criteria such as this, and allocated funds accordingly.

The amount of money needed to properly fund UK parties is a tiny proportion of overall government spending. But state funding must be seen as an investment in democracy, not a hand-out to a dying and discredited system.

Thought for the day

2003-09-10T15:14:00.000+01:00

Appropriate for the week of the TUC:

'Socialism does not come by shouting' - Keir Hardie

I used to be a cabinet minister you know...

2003-09-10T11:00:00.000+01:00

Some Tory or other once said that you know you're no longer in the cabinet when you get into the back of your car and it doesn't move. I was pondering the other day how many ex-Labour cabinet ministers there are on the current backbenches. If you ignore retirements such as Mo Mowlem and Ron Davies, and retreads such as Estelle Morris, I count nine former members of Blair's cabinet currently on the backbenches.

They are:

Stephen Byers
Robin Cook
Jack Cunningham
Frank Dobson
Peter Mandelson
Alan Milburn
Clare Short
Chris Smith
Ann Taylor

If today's Evening Standard story is true, Geoff Hoon might make it double figures.

Safe seat, anyone?

2003-09-09T16:12:00.000+01:00

It's a shame that Anthony Howard's incisive political column is hidden away in the part of the Tuesday Times that usually ends up on the floor of trains and buses. Today's column has a gem hidden away - the news that Helen Liddell, former Secretary of State for Scotland, general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party, and MP for Monklands East since the death of John Smith, might soon be retiring, causing a by-election. Why? Because she has been 'sounded out' by the prime minister to become British High Commissioner of Australia. I'm not sure what a British High Commissioner does all day, but I bet you it's more fun than handing out leaflets in Monklands shopping centre, getting grief at the Monklands East GC, and sitting on the train for 15 hours a week. It means, of course, that some lucky Scottish Labour activist gets to become a Labour MP. Get polishing those CVs.

Meacher's shame

2003-09-08T08:47:00.000+01:00

Michael Meacher's article has provoked the kind of reaction he hoped it would: outrage from the political establishment, support from the political underground, tacit nods from conspiracy theorists, anti-americans, and armchair lefty Guardian readers. I refused to be swayed by the furore, and decided to look at the article itself. Weighing up the evidence, I have come to the considered view that Michael Meacher has gone completely bonkers. His basic argument is that the USA has been taken over by a right-wing conspiracy, who ordered the security services and military to ignore hundreds of warnings that terrorists were going to crash aeroplanes into the twin towers and pentagon, and then refused to allow the USAF to shoot the planes down once they were in the air. Why? Because the American government needed an excuse to invade countries with oil. He even claims the USA allowed the attack on Pearl Harbour to take place so that they could declare war on Japan. His evidence is some old document by a right-wing think tank, and some cuttings from Time magazine.

Firstly, the intelligence warnings that came in about some kind of impending attack were part of a blizzard of intel coming in from around the globe; there were no specific warnings about NY and Washington.

Secondly, even when the planes were in the air, there was no realisation of their targets. It looked like a hi-jacking, so why would jets be scrambled from Andrews to blow them out of the sky, over a heavily populated area?

Thirdly, if the USA wants oil, it buys oil. It doesn't care who's running the country selling the stuff.

Meacher has made sickening claims that US politicians allowed people to be killed on purpose, as part of an oil-driven power lust. He's plainly barmy.
He should apologise to the US government and people, and quietly resign from the UK parliament. Perhaps a new career as an internet-based conspiracy theorist nutcase might be more suitable for him. Oh, and shame on the Guardian for publishing this insulting garbage in the first place.

Ultra left in split shock

2003-09-05T14:18:00.000+01:00

Good heavens, can it be true? An article in today's Tribune by a former leading light in the Socialist Alliance claims that the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) have run the Socialist Alliance into the ground, treated the anti-war movement as their personal property, bullied and purged non-SWP activists from key positions, and behaved in a totally undemocratic and nazi fashion. It was always true that the SWP isn't socialist, isn't a party, and hasn't got any workers in it. Now it seems the Socialist Alliance isn't much of an alliance either.

Rifkind rejected

2003-09-04T16:18:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Nick Barlow's blog for highlighting this story I missed yesterday: Malcolm Rifkind, a former Conservative Foreign Secretary who lost his seat in 1997 under Labour's landslide, has failed to be shortlisted for the vacant Tory seat of Windsor. The local Tories drew up a shortlist of 46 potential candidates (46? sounds like a long list to me) but failed to include Rifkind. What on earth has happened? Can there really be 46 Tories left? Perhaps the Windsor Tories want a assiduous constituency MP rather than a ex-minister, or that Rifkind is too wet for the new IDS Tory party. Either way, there's no coming back from that for little Malcolm. Great stuff.

Mind your language

2003-09-04T08:39:00.000+01:00

The Thinker welcomes the proposals by Professor Sir Bernard Crick on behalf of the Home Secretary for those seeking citizenship in the UK to have some knowledge of British culture, history, institutions and language. Quite right. A lack of such knowledge is what keeps many recent immigrants in poverty and exclusion from mainstream society, fuels the illegal economy and undermines the national minimum wage. But surely the inclusion of Welsh and Scots Gaelic as valid UK languages is unnecessary. Is there anyone in the world who speaks their own language (Punjabi, Serbo-Croat, Arabic, whatever) and Welsh or Gaelic as their second language, but not English? I'd like to meet them.

Britain's oldest news story

2003-09-04T07:43:00.000+01:00

A glance at the BBC politics website reveals that under 'Welsh politics' the story 'Morgan hints at Labour loss' is on the front page. It was posted on 25th July. Is this Britain's oldest news story?

Talking of old news, Marie Woolf, chief political correspondent at the Indie ran with 'Labour member to stand against party' referring to disgruntled soon-to-be-ex Labour party member Harold Immanuel's less than loyal activities in the Brent by-election. It appeared on 2nd September, just seven days after the same story appeared in the Guardian (and in The Thinker, Britain's best political blog).

Curious too, that she chose to mention one obscure Labour member, and ignored the eleven other candidates:

Kelly McBride (Independent)
Winston McKenzie (Independent)
Neil Walsh (Independent)
Harold Immanuel (Independent Labour)
Aaron Barschak (Independent)
Alan Howling Lord Hope (Monster Raving Loony Party)
Jiten Bardwaj (No description)
Khidori Fawzi Ibrahim (Public Services Not War)
Brian Butterworth (Socialist Alliance)
Iris Cremer (Socialist Labour Party)
Cabbie Brian Hall (UK Independence Party)
Rainbow George Weiss (WWW.XAT.ORG)

More change in Downing Street

2003-09-03T18:24:00.000+01:00

Here's the latest internal reshuffle at Number Ten: Geoff Mulgan, former head of the strategy unit and a founder of the Demos think-tank is to be new Downing Street head of policy. Andrew Adonis, former head of the policy unity, is to be the Prime Minister's senior political adviser on education, public services and constitutional reform. Matthew Taylor, formerly of Institute of Public Policy Research, will join the policy directorate on secondment to lead responsibility for policy planning for the next parliament. Jo Gibbons, a former Labour party press officer joins Sally Morgan's team looking after events and visits. Pat McFadden is the new director of political operations.

Send Sir Humphrey to Coventry

2003-09-03T09:50:00.000+01:00

If there's one policy proposal likely to send shock waves through Whitehall it's the one by leftwing think tank Catalyst out this week to devolve government departments throughout the UK. The Home Office would go to Birmingham, the DTI to Newcastle, and the MoD? Well on current form, they'll end up in the outer Hebrides. It would be marvellous to see the senior civil servants (and not just the lower grades who work for the DVLC in Swansea, etc) being forced to live and work in the regions of Britain. Sir Humphrey in Walsall, Wallsend, or Warrington is an appealing thought.

There is a serious point to the report - these days there is no good reason why the administration of Britain has to be conducted within the square mile of Whitehall. Ministers spend much of their time out and about - on visits, at conferences, in their constituencies - but Civil Servants at the higher grades have little knowledge of life outside the home counties and SW1. A devolved UK would benefit from a devolved system of administration.

US political broadcast-erama

2003-09-02T11:53:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Stephen Pollard for pointing us towards this site, which has all of the US election television political broadcasts, from 1952 onwards. See Kennedy, Nixon, LBJ, Reagan, Bush and Bill Clinton. My favourite is Jackie Kennedy speaking Spanish in the 1960 election.

A chip off the old block

2003-09-02T09:18:00.000+01:00

This month's Progress magazine lands on The Thinker's doormat - always an eagerly anticipated event. Progress is a respected Labour activists' network and magazine, with roots deep in the Labour movement. So who can this letter from a Terry Philpott on the letters page be from? Surely not the editor Robert's dad?

All change at Number Ten

2003-09-02T08:23:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Matthew Taylor, director of the IPPR, who is soon to be announced as a new policy wonk at Downing Street. Taylor is himself a one-man think tank. He was Labour's head of policy in the dark days of opposition, has been a Labour parliamentary candidate and was even once a Labour county councillor. He will bring a wide-ranging expertise into the heart of government, and inject some radicalism and fresh thinking where it is needed most. He may need to smarten up his act, though. He was once berated by his new boss Tony Blair from the platform of a Progress conference for not wearing a tie.

The latest Lib Dem turncoat

2003-09-01T16:59:00.000+01:00

The Liberal Democrats are up to their old tricks again. They've persuaded some clapped out disillusioned Tory councillor in Brent to defect to the Lib Dems, just weeks before the Brent East by-election. This takes the Liberal Democrat total of councillors to a massive ten out of 63. I keep hearing that the Liberals are going to take Brent East, mostly from Liberals. But they're not. Labour is going to win Brent East, because it is a working class urban seat where Labour in Government has done huge amounts of good for the community and for working people and the poor. The Liberal Democrats, as ever, are on the sidelines, carping and criticising, spinning like crazy, but ultimately a pointless political party.

Thought for the day

2003-09-01T16:26:00.000+01:00

"You only have to open any of the newspapers any morning, read the leading articles, and you will find always that the Government...at some time or another will be blamed for something it has not done. In fact it is an endless cacophony of blame and dirision and nagging day by day."

Aneurin Bevan, Fabian lecture, 1950

Cutting edge Auntie

2003-09-01T15:30:00.000+01:00

The threat by the Tories to abolish the BBC website should focus a few minds over at Auntie. The politics coverage on their website is a disgrace. Some of the stories are hopelessly out of date and remain on the front page for days. It's like having the same old copy of the Guardian or Mirror delivered to your door every morning. A swift look at the politics stories on 1st September for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales reveals that the dates the stories were posted are:

Northern Ireland
27th August
26th August
21st August

Scotland

31st August
31st August
29th August

Wales

8th August
7th August
25th July!

Does the BBC really think that nothing happened in Welsh politics between 8th August and 1st September? So much for rolling 24-hour news.

More spinned against than spinning

2003-09-01T12:18:00.000+01:00

A letter in this morning's Guardian makes a good point about the nature of spin in modern politics. Spin is an interesting term. Most people know they're against it. But most people can't define it either. Some people think it means telling lies - but no politician or their aide could get away with straightforward lies, they would soon be found out. So what does it mean? Like the spin put on a ball in snooker, it means sending the media in a particular direction, trying to highlight particular facts over others, and to accentuate the positive. Labour's spin machine is a result of two factors - one is twenty years of having the crap kicked out of them by the newspapers (especially the tabloids), and the second is the voracious appetite for news and comment created by the 24-hour media. No government can be without an army of press officers and special advisers these days. And Labour could not have stood for a situation where the papers told lies about it day after day with no scrutiny or redress.

The public demands instantaneous information, and the media supplies it. That's why there will be more journalists and media people at Labour Party conference than delegates next month. The most blatant spin doctors of all are the journalists themselves - sexing up stories, creating conflicts, using unnamed (made up) sources, hyping up mundane stories, hounding public figures and dishing up a diet of processology, irrelevance and self-serving tripe. But you won't hear that from the media, oddly enough.

Briefing on Bahá'í

2003-08-31T19:47:00.000+01:00

Five things you didn't know about the Bahá'í faith

On Wednesday the Hutton Inquiry will take evidence from a psychologist, and a representative of the Bah'ai faith, to which Dr Kelly belonged.

Here are five things about the Bahá'í faith you never knew (unless you are one):

1. The Bahá'í faith began to take its present form in 1844 in Iran. It grew out of the Shi'ite branch of the Muslim faith.

2. Bahá'ís believe that all human beings have a soul that lives for ever: all human beings are members of a single race, which should soon be united in a single global community and all human beings are different, but equal; there should be no inequality between races or sexes. This why at the British Youth Council the Bahá'í always formed part of the left caucus, along with the trade unions, NOLS, LPYS, and Woodcraft Folk.

3. In the UK, a person can indicate verbally to a Bahá'í friend or in writing or by email that they consider themselves a Bahá'í and wish to be part of the community. Unless there is some very good reason for not doing so, their enrolment in the community is accepted without question.

4. Bahá'ís are forbidden to drink alcohol, or take drugs other than for medical reasons.

5. The Bahá’í faith is the second most widespread of the world's religions, with 5 million followers in 235 countries and territories throughout the world. There are around 6,000 Bahá’ís in the UK.

Find out more here.

Just fancy that...

2003-08-30T20:41:00.000+01:00

From Be Your Own Spin Doctor by Paul Richards (1998)page 16

"One of the greatest contributors to Labour's communications strategy and daily spinning to the media over a twenty year period is a man few outside the Westminster village have heard of - David Hill. That's because Hill, a consummate and respected professional, steers clear of all of the temptations of magazine profiles and fly-on-the-wall documentaries. One of his few appearances in the media was being insulted by the Tory MP Alan Clark's Diaries, which is a compliment in itself."

this is fun

2003-08-30T12:08:00.000+01:00

Check out this websitewww.geistofthezeit.com/It generates instant think tank pamphlets at the click of a mouse. This should save a lot of wonks a lot of time.

King of the Hill

2003-08-30T09:10:00.000+01:00

David Hill has accepted the poison chalice from Tony Blair and is set to become Downing Street's new head of communications. It is hard to believe that David will wield the same kind of power and influence as Alastair Campbell. The Campbell legend was built up over the years in opposition and the early days in government. Those days are never coming back. But David has something far more valuable than legendary status; he has real talent and a curious penchant for telling the truth. I worked with him at the Labour Party's old HQ at Walworth Road, London. It was in the days when people said Labour would never win an election again. The Labour press office consisted of three people (Jo Moore was on maternity leave). It was a grim time, but David was a great boss, a superb media handler, and I learnt a lot. Ten years later, he will have the whole government communications machine in his hands, but I am sure he will make a great job of it. An example of his deft touch was shown when sometime before the 1992 election the Sunday Times was going to run a story claiming that Neil Kinnock was somehow under the influence of Moscow. The story appeared as 'Kinnock's Kremlin Connection'. But on the weekend before, Hill had phoned round every other Sunday newspaper and broadcaster and told them about the Sunday Times's 'exclusive' and got his rebuttal in first. The story was pre-empted, diluted and the media quickly moved on. That's spin doctoring.

Who's next?

2003-08-29T15:50:00.000+01:00

The 'news' that Alastair Campbell has resigned, announced an hour or so ago, comes as no great surprise to close observers. Campbell has served the Labour Party well for over a decade. It is clear that the Hutton Inquiry will place him firmly in the clear (and blame Gilligan for sexing up the news story). He deserves to be able to take the foot off the gas, along with his partner Fiona Millar. His departure will lead to two types of story in tomorrow's papers and the Sundays - one, that all the Blairites have deserted Blair, and two, speculation over who will replace him. On the first, Blair is still firmly in charge of the party and the government. There are plenty of loyalists coming up through the ranks, who are New Labour through and through. There's plenty of life in the project yet. On the second, who knows? It will have to be someone with a skin of steel, no life outside politics, no skeletons in the cupboard, and a willingness to have the media crawl over every aspect of their private life. It doesn't sound very appealing, does it?

Death on the roads

2003-08-29T13:37:00.000+01:00

For my generation, the death of Diana in 1997 is our equivalent of the assassination of Kennedy. We all know where we were when we heard the news. I was in a hotel room in York, attending the wedding of a friend. I was awoken at about 6am by the telephone. It was none other than Britain's first and best blogging MP Tom Watson (long before his parliamentary career started), and when he told me Diana, Princess of Wales was dead, I assumed it was a prank. Like the Kennedy assassination, Diana's death has been followed by increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories, although not yet an Oliver Stone movie. The news today that Diana's beau Dodi Al Fayed, also killed in the car crash, is to be the subject of a full inquest by the Surrey Coroner is welcome. It is important, even after six years, to get the full story out into the open. I suspect what the inquest will show is that there was no conspiracy, no French agents, no drugged drivers, just a car driving too fast and a tragic accident.

Incidentally, according to campaigning group RoadPeace there are ten fatalities and 1,400 injuries on Britain's roads every day. Seventy people have been killed in London in road traffic accidents in the past three months. Perhaps we should think about them when we await the Dodi inquest verdict.

Ready to lunch in 45 minutes

2003-08-29T08:43:00.000+01:00

Lunch is an important part of political life in London. Here are my top five political restaurants

1. In at number one, it's the Cinnamon Club, Great Smith Street, SW1. This new entry has taken over as the main lunchtime haunt of pols, hacks, lobbysists and the rest. It's close to Westminster, next door to the DfES, and the food is just fantastic.
2. The Gay Hussar. Soho's traditional left-wing meeting place has undergone a makeover in recent years. You can still get the signature dish of cherry soup, but the Hungarian menu has been updated. Around the walls are Martin Rowson sketches of every Labour and trade union leader you can name, and upstairs the walls are covered with political memorabilia. A favourite with Tribune staff and writers. It's in Greek Street, Soho.
3. Shepherds, Marsham Street. Packed with Tories and business leaders enjoying nursery food. Micheal Caine part-owns this established traditional English restaurant. Great for big plates of meat and veg, and fantastic huge puddings. The sticky toffee pudding is recommended.
4. The Atrium. The Atrium could not be nearer the heart of modern politics - not the House of Commons, but the media centre at Millbank. The food is good, but much more fun is people-watching. Expect to see plenty of Sky, ITN and BBC political staff, as their offices are upstairs.
5. County Hall restaurant. The old Greater London Council (GLC) headquarters has been turned into a hotel and aquarium, which is a national disgrace. But the County Hall restaurant, across the river from the House of Commons, retains some political connections. You can still see the Aye and Noe lobbies, and Ken Livingstone cartoons bedeck the gents. See if you can spot the photograph of the old London Labour Party headquarters on the wall by the lifts. Wander round the new Saatchi gallery to walk off your lunch.

The latest loony tunes

2003-08-28T19:52:00.000+01:00

An unsolicited email arrives in my inbox, for once not offering operations or pills, but equally unwelcome and pointless. It is from Stephan Cholewka of Rochdale, representing a group called The Link. They want to 'reclaim the Labour Party'.

They say: 'New Labour IS NOT the Labour party but an alien force, a party within the Party. We are NOT members of New Labour, we are members of the Labour Party. New Labour is a cancer introduced inside the Labour party to destroy it.

This appeal which is being circulated for endorsement by The LINK is addressed to those who do not intend to leave their party in the hands of New Labour, to those who fight to defend its traditional Labour values, with its core members, its elected local representatives, with its millions of dedicated trade unionists who day after day face a difficult situation, and are doing their best to oppose New Labour, to reclaim the founding values of the Party.'

It goes on and on with ramblings about Blair's war on the Iraqi people, how Foundation Hospitals will be run by Brussels (eh?) and how the massed ranks of the Labour movement should rise up and 'together we can develop a perspective to return the Labour party to its legitimate owners.' It also invites us to send cheques for Â£10 to The Link, (payable to S. Cholewka!)

So let's be very clear. Labour's leader was overwhelmingly elected by the membership of the party. The 1997 manifesto was overwhelmingly endorsed by a ballot of all the members. The party's policies have been endorsed by the party conference. No sizable or serious challenge has ever been mounted against the leadership because New Labour is the only game in town. New Labour is true Labour - true to the founding principles of the party, true to the British ethical socialist tradition, and true to the values of the majority of people in this country.

Mr Cholewka can rant and rave all he wants, but the tiny strand of opinion he represents is not going to knock Labour off course. He has the right to be heard in this great party of ours; but not the right to be taken seriously.