Monthly Archives: July 2009

A state funeral for the last Tommy

Posted on July 25, 2009 | 3 Comments

Harry Patch, the last surviving British soldier who fought in the trenches of World War, has died at the age of 111 in Wells, Somerset, only a week after Henry Allingham, the last surviving founder member of the Royal Air Force.

Only one British serviceman who fought in the First World War now survives: Claude Choules, who served in the Royal Navy and now lives in Perth, Western Australia.  Mr Patch, therefore, was the last survivor of World War I alive in this country.

There has been some debate as to whether the last British World War I veteran should be given a state funeral.  For my own part, I feel that, subject to the consent of Mr Patch’s family, he should.

Mr Patch was the last of a generation who fought in what was arguably the most horrible war of the 20th century.  Scarcely a family in the country was untouched by it.

A state funeral would be a proper mark of respect, not only to Mr Patch, but also to the many hundreds of thousands of his comrades who went before him.

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Posted in Harry Patch

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Labour’s displacement activity

Posted on July 25, 2009 | 2 Comments

The Labour activist Luke Akehurst makes a highly pertinent point in his blog:

I was particularly shocked that the entire Cabinet was meeting in Cardiff on polling day. How can we expect to win if our entire national leadership is several hundred miles away rather than leading the effort to get the Labour vote out?

Mr Akehurst is, of course, absolutely right.  The Welsh awayday could easily have been set up to take place at a less electorally significant time; to arrange it for polling day was, by any measure, cack-handed in the extreme. 

The impression it must have given to party workers on the ground in Norwich was that the by-election was already a lost cause and that the top brass were engaging in a form of displacement activity.  It is hard to think of anything more likely to demoralise supporters.

David Cameron visited Norwich six times during the campaign, including helping in a “dawn raid” on Thursday, and was criticised in some sections of the press for “hyperactivity”.  Nevertheless, his visits hugely boosted the morale of election workers and communicated to the people of Norwich both confidence and interest in the campaign.

It is small wonder Labour did so badly when the top echelons of the party gave every impression of not caring what was happening on polling day.

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Posted in David Cameron, Labour Party, Norwich North by-election

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Blamed just for being Gordon

Posted on July 25, 2009 | Leave a comment

Charles ClarkeThe Rt Hon Member for Norwich South has, as expected, led the charge of those seeking to blame Gordon Brown for the by-election defeat.

Writing in the Independent, Charles Clarke trenchantly accuses the Prime Minister of “vilifying” the former MP, Ian Gibson, over the expenses issue, “but not on any fair basis”:

This incompetent and unjust style has deeply damaged democratic politics. Moreover the appalling result in Norwich illustrates the important political side-effect that Labour, as the governing party, has been injured worst of all.

“Incompetent” and “unjust” are pretty strong adjectives, but they are only part of  the growing salvo of criticism of the PM over his treatment of Dr Gibson.  The Telegraph quotes John McDonnell in typically excoriating form:

“Ian Gibson clearly didn’t deserve to be railroaded out of the party. The leadership clearly wanted to make an example of someone, and Ian was bounced out. I think it was an appalling thing to do to him.

“People are not stupid. They have looked at what the reality is and measured what Ian did up against the rest of them, and they know that some people got away with it scot free.”

More ominously for the Prime Minister, the anonymous briefings by “senior colleagues” have already begun:

One senior minister told the Telegraph that the defeat was self-inflicted by Mr Brown, who reacted too slowly to the expenses scandal.

“We have been given a bloody nose because the Tories were allowed to be seen to have been more decisive than us on their MPs who were caught out,” he said.

So poor Gordon is now being blamed for being both too heavy-handed and too indecisive.

Truth is, he’s being blamed just for being Gordon.

Expect the opening volley to develop into a full-scale bombardment in the Sundays tomorrow.

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Posted in Charles Clarke, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, Norwich North by-election

Good news on Dairy Farmers

Posted on July 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

Didn’t have time to mention it in all the excitement of the last two days, but on Wednesday the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs select committee issued the following press release:

NEW INQUIRY ANNOUNCED: DAIRY FARMERS OF BRITAIN

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has decided to examine the implications of the collapse of Dairy Farmers of Britain (DFB). The Committee will consider in particular:

• the impact of the collapse of DFB on dairy farmers and the industry;

• the governance and accountability structures of DFB; 

• Defra’s response to the collapse of DFB; and

• the causes and lessons to be learned from the collapse of DFB.

The Committee does not intend to consider the issues surrounding the receivership of the cooperative that are expected to be covered in the report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Committee invites all interested parties to address these matters in writing by Monday 31 August.  Further submissions, after the meeting held by the receivers on 7 September, will be considered.  A programme of oral evidence will be announced in due course.

I have blogged previously about the failure of DFB, which has affected many hundreds of dairy farmers in Wales and, with colleagues, have been pressing for an inquiry.

The EFRA select committee’s announcement  is accordingly extremely good news.

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Posted in Miscellaneous

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Cold comfort in Norwich

Posted on July 24, 2009 | 1 Comment

Craig Murray, the defeated independent candidate at the Norwich North by-election, has posted a meisterwerk in sour grapes on his blog.

It has prompted a number of consolatory comments, all of which I commend for your perusal, but the most entertaining of which must surely be:

Posted by: art caballo at July 24, 2009 6:45 PM

You beat the BNP, which is surely a huge positive.

Yes, that would really give me heart.

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Posted in Norwich North by-election

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The fallout from Norwich

Posted on July 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

Oliver Kamm, blogging on TimesOnline, offers his own  interpretation of  Norwich North and its fallout.

He opines that, bad though the result is for Labour, it is not so cataclysmically dreadful as to trigger a move to oust Gordon Brown:

Any rational Labour MP would be demanding Gordon Brown’s departure. It wouldn’t be the difference between defeat and victory, or even defeat and heavy defeat, but it might be the difference between heavy defeat and annihilation beyond hope of eventual recovery. Will there be a parliamentary revolt to force Brown out, or will Labour MPs march loyally to oblivion? Expect the latter.

Kamm’s analysis is probably correct, in that, unless Brown concludes that  the game is no longer worth the candle and decides to resign, it is now almost certainly too late for Labour to change  leader this side of the general election.  The last window of opportunity was the immediate aftermath of the European election, but the Parliamentary party funked  it.

However, it doesn’t mean that the awkward squad won’t pile in over the next few days or  weeks, to make Gordon’s position even less comfortable.  As mentioned above, Charles Clarke will almost certainly be less than helpful to the PM, and the likes of the outgoing Alan Milburn, Stephen Byers and Frank Field will very likely stick their oars in, too.

For Labour, it will very probably be a rather unsettled  summer.

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Posted in Alan Milburn, Charles Clarke, Frank Field, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, Norwich North by-election, Stephen Byers

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Harman makes matters worse

Posted on July 24, 2009 | 1 Comment

As if the result in Norwich North were not bad enough, Harriet Harman has added to Labour’s woes with what appears to be an off-the-cuff comment of remarkable stupidity:

This is how Politics Home reports it:

13.11 Also on the World at One, Harriet Harman calls the result “very disappointing”.

She says: “It is really a reflection of the quite unprecedented circumstances.”

She also describes Theresa May as arrogant for saying she thought the Conservatives would win Norwich North in the general election: “I never take the voters for granted, I think that is arrogant.”

For a start, I know of no Conservative, Theresa included, who took the by-election result as a certainty; everyone worked flat out right up to close of polls.  A similar attitude will certainly prevail at the next general election.

Theresa May’s comment, as reported on the BBC website, is clear enough:

She added: “We’ve overturned a Labour majority of 5,500 to a Conservative majority of over 7,000. If we hold this seat at the general election, we’ll have a majority of over 100.”

I can’t see anything taken for granted there.

Furthermore, Harriet Harman should perhaps reflect on the extent to which Labour themselves have indeed taken certain sections of the electorate for granted over the years.

The fact that they can no longer rely on an unquestioning client voter base appears to have taken her by surprise – which may, in part, be the reason for her silly remark.

Perhaps, having reflected, she will now consider making an appropriate apology to Theresa May.

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Posted in Conservative Party, Harriet Harman, Labour Party, Norwich North by-election, Theresa May

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Look out for Norwich South

Posted on July 24, 2009 | 4 Comments

An excellent result for the Conservatives and Chloe Smith in Norwich North.  The swing of 16.5 per cent on a fairly typical by-election turnout of 45 per cent was, by any standard, stunningly good.

It goes without saying that the result is extremely bad news for Labour and for Gordon Brown in particular.   Expect renewed expressions of dissatisfaction with his leadership from various quarters, probably before the day is out, the most likely candidate for first in line being Chloe Smith’s new political neighbour, the Rt Hon Member for Norwich South.

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Posted in Charles Clarke, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, Norwich North by-election

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Strategic rethink

Posted on July 23, 2009 | 1 Comment

Norwich North has seen neither hide nor hair of Gordon Brown; indeed, the Labour by-election material makes no reference to him at all, which tends to indicate the extent to which he is considered an electoral asset by his own party.

The Prime Minister was, however, in Cardiff today, holding a cabinet meeting.  Afterwards, the press were apparently briefed that Labour intends to base its “fightback” on “highlighting the Conservatives’ lack of policy”.

In one sense, this is a welcome development, in that it would appear to confirm the abandonment of Labour’s failed strategy of “Tory cuts v. Labour investment”, to which the response of most focus groups seems to have been: “Yes, sure; pull the other one.”

On the other hand, it appears also to overlook the fact that, this week alone, David Cameron, George Osborne and William Hague all made major policy speeches.  So perhaps the strategy needs a little finessing. 

By the way, a little journalistic bird tells me that the announcement of the new strategy was made not by Gordon Brown, but by Peter Mandelson. 

No mistaking who’s in charge, then.

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Posted in David Cameron, George Osborne, Gordon Brown, Labour Party, Peter Mandelson, William Hague

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Norwich North

Posted on July 23, 2009 | 1 Comment

Norwich1

After the rain of the Royal Welsh, the blue skies and sunshine of Norfolk came as a welcome contrast.

We had the job of calling on voters and reminding them to turn up at the polling stations – known in the trade, rather indelicately, as “knocking up”.  Encouragingly, most had already voted by the time we called on them and were very enthusiastic about our candidate.

It’s hard to judge how we are going to do in this by-election, but I am genuinely – to use the well-worn formula – “cautiously optimistic”.

This was my first visit, albeit a flying one, to East Anglia.  I found it to be a very beautiful part of the world and I am seriously tempted to return over the recess (if that’s OK with Mr David Babbs).

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Posted in Norwich North by-election

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Long day ahead

Posted on July 23, 2009 | 3 Comments

Journey home

Having had a quick canter around the dailies, I commend to your attention this article in this morning’s Telegraph, which gives the lie to Gordon Brown’s solemn pledge that spending on education will be “protected”.  Analysis of Treasury figures reveals that there will in fact be a cut next year of £100 million.

But no time for detailed comment, much as I would love it.  I’m off to Norwich to help out in the by-election.  Then back to North Wales, for the beginning of recess proper. 

Quite when I’ll arrive home after what looks, on the map, like a nightmare journey, remains to be seen.

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Posted in Gordon Brown

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Running on time

Posted on July 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

Last Saturday, the Welsh select committee published its report on cross-border transport.  Among its recommendations was the following:

The electrification of the Great Western Main Line is a real possibility in the coming years. This holds out the promise of a significantly better service for passengers travelling between London and Swansea. For social, economic and financial reasons, it is essential that electrification be extended along the whole South Wales route.

Today, according to the BBC, the Department for Transport will announce that the whole of the Great Western line will be electrified between London and Swansea, in a project lasting eight years.

I’m claiming no credit for the committee, but it’s fair to comment that our report was timely.

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Posted in Welsh Affairs Committee

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A day at the Show

Posted on July 22, 2009 | 1 Comment

FUW

Long day today.  I visited the Royal Welsh Show at Llanelwedd, setting off before 7.00 a.m.

The journey was a long one, with a wait of over an hour in a queue trying to get into the car park.

The weather was atrocious; not having a pair of wellingtons in London, I tramped through the mud in a pair of light brown loafers, trashing them in the process.  As I type, they are drying out in front of a radiator in the hall, in the possibly forlorn hope that they are salvageable.

No matter.  Apart from the weather, it was a great day.

I visited the FUW (pictured), NFU, CLA  and Young Farmers, as well as the Conservative pavilion.  I bumped into, and spoke to, a large number of friends, relations and constituents.  I listened to the views and concerns of farmers and others involved in the rural economy.  I had a lot of laughs, too.  I’m sure even David Babbs would have approved. 

Got back to London at 8.30, a bit tired but very happy.

As I said, it was a great day.

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Posted in Miscellaneous

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Fairtrade is good business

Posted on July 22, 2009 | 5 Comments

fairtrade_logoCongratulations to Cadbury on turning its famous Dairy Milk chocolate into a Fairtrade brand, so improving the lot of a large number of Ghanaian cocoa producers. 

Cadbury is a company founded upon a socially-conscious Quaker ethos, so the move may be regarded as a natural progression of a policy that it has pursued in its growth into one of the world’s largest confectionery companies.

The announcement is a huge coup, also, for the Fairtrade Foundation, whose distinctive logo now adorns increasing numbers of mainstream food products. But the benefit works both ways. Buying Fairtrade now has a certain amount of social cachet and I would not be at all surprised if Cadbury witnesses a leap in the sales of its celebrated chocolate bar as a consequence of the decision.

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Posted in Miscellaneous

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Mandelson’s expanding empire

Posted on July 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

The indispensability of Peter Mandelson to the increasingly isolated and impotent Gordon Brown was made still plainer today when it emerged that he now  has a place on 35 important cabinet committees, namely:

National Economic Council
Better Regulation
Democratic Renewal Council
Domestic Policy Council
Domestic Affairs
Borders and Migration
Communities and Equalities
Food
Families, Children and Young People
Health and Wellbeing
Justice and Crime
Local Government and the Regions
Public Engagement and the Delivery of Services
Life Chances
Talent and Enterprise
Economic Development
Environment and Energy
Housing, Planning and Regeneration
Olympic and Paralympic Games
Productivity, Skills and Employment
Constitution
National Security, International Relations and Development
Europe
Overseas and Defence
Africa
Afghanistan and Pakistan
Trade
Protective Security and Resilience
Public Services and Public Expenditure
Public Sector Pay and Pensions
Pandemic Influenza Planning
Post Office Network
Flood planning
PM’s ad hoc Committee on International Climate Change
PM’s ad hoc International Climate Change Negotiations

For an unelected minister to wield such power within government is quite remarkable.

It is also quite unacceptable.

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Posted in Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson

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