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By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 UPDATE: Alastair Campbell has made a Vlog on the TV debates, why the hype doesn't matter and why Gordon's substance will shine through. UPDATE: Watch Cameron losing his rag in PMQs. I increasingly dislike watching PMQs on a Wednesday. The paper waving gamesmanship and jeering should have no place in a discussion as serious as Defence spending, when the country is fighting war and soldiers are dying. Really, it should have no place at all...
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By Matthew Rhodes Is the Lord Ashcroft affair something that “just concerns people in the Westminster village”? This is the comment made on my Facebook page by a friend of mine with very different political views – he’s a Tory – but that doesn’t make him wrong about everything. I’m not so sure this is just a Westminster obsession, as I think it and the examples of where Labour in government has fallen down over the last 13 years...
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By Ella Rolfe International Women’s Day, following hot on the heels of the most important Iraqi election in five years, is not likely to get much attention here. But questions of women’s role in rebuilding Iraq feature high on both domestic and international agendas, and female election candidates have been touted as central to the process. In this election, even the Islamic parties have female candidates. So are they taken seriously? The answer seems to be a disappointing ‘occasionally’. All...
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By Ian Robathan A couple of weeks ago, my local labour MP, Bruce George (Walsall South), decided not to stand for election again after being the MP for 36 years. To his credit he sent all local members a 4 page letter explaining his decision and I feel it was genuine and not a resignation to allow a parachute candidate to step in. So, as I am only 38, this was the first chance I have had to take part...
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By Brian Barder / @BrianLB With the opinion polls momentarily suggesting a narrow gap between the Conservatives and Labour, the chattering classes’ newspapers and current affairs programmes on television are full of pundits agonising about the dangerous implications of a hung parliament after the impending general election — i.e. a result in which no single party has an overall majority in the House of Commons. The main anxiety arises from the uncertainties implicit in a hung parliament and a minority...
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By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 UPDATE: Paul Waugh says there could still be debates on policy between Burnham v Lansley; Mandelson v Clarke; Balls v Gove; Miliband v Hague; Johnson v Grayling. And even Darling v Osborne. Brilliant. Well done to Sky News for seizing the opportunity and for their successful campaign on securing the first general election TV debates between leaders, details of which have now been announced. Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg will debate...
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By Len Duvall AM The Tories are facing big problems nationally and here in London as their promises to "fix broken politics" start to look more than a little suspect. When David Cameron made a speech criticising "an elite few" buying influence, did he forget about non-domiciled Ashcroft, "the man who bought the Tory Party", according to Peter Oborne? In London, Boris Johnson seems to be doing his best to enhance his regime’s reputation as sleazy as well as incompetent....
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By Alun Davies Labour supporters across Wales are celebrating St David’s Day bursting with optimism. On the back of a hugely successful Welsh Labour Conference in Swansea which took place last weekend, Labour can be proud of the way it has led the battle against the global recession. Make no mistake – there are still many challenges ahead, but the economic outlook is looking far more positive than at this time last year. This is in no small part due...
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By George Gabriel Imagine an open campaign. A set of proposals developed through public debate where each and any is free to contribute and have their view weighted equally. Imagine a sincerely democratic discussion, where the agenda is set and then voted on by the public. Imagine that the results of this debate then formed the basis of a campaign across the UK in the run up to the general election. What we are in fact talking about is a...
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By George Gabriel It was written on LabourList some weeks ago that if the “constitutional reform bill” is to be a “democratic renewal bill” its process must come to reflect its ends. Democratic renewal cannot be achieved behind closed doors, power cannot be given, and to bring people back into politics, the political system must be prepared to have its agenda set by the people. Recent initiatives from the Labour Party towards a fairer voting system, strengthening Parliament and the...
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By Jon Cruddas MP As we approach the election, we are at a watershed in the life of our Party. We have lost many millions of voters since 1997. We have lost hundreds of thousands of members. We have become reviled by younger generations who view us as the party of the establishment, of war, and of insecurity. New Labour acted as if the electorate – or at least the section of it that counted – bordered on the misanthropic...
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By Peter Kenyon This is the second part of a Save the Labour Party survey initiative to enable members to have a say in Labour Party policy making. The first part about Labour Loyalties appeared on LabourList and other web outlets in mid-January. The Labour government says it wants a 'radical' Manifesto. This survey is designed to explore how strongly members feel about current issues, bearing in mind Labour values. It should take no more than 5 minutes to complete....
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The Labour movement column By Anthony Painter /@anthonypainter What is the point of the Liberal Democrats? That’s the battle cry of Labour and Conservative activists up and down the country. There may even be the odd Liberal Democrat activist who asks the same thing, but that’s just being mischievous. Elections are good news for the Liberal Democrats. For one month every four to five years they are able to command part of the national conversation. So, instead of being gritty,...
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By Tim Nicholls / @tim_nicholls We are a curious bunch of people in this country. We bemoan, quite rightly, the detachment of the political class from real life, but we deride those politicians that display their human sides. Gordon Brown’s interview with Piers Morgan is just the latest in a series of these events and I think it's time we reconciled ourselves to the fact that politicians are human too. The papers, blogs and news are full of comment on...
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By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 A new ComRes poll for tomorrow's Independent on Sunday shows Labour down two points on the same poll at the beginning of the month, with the Tories gaining two points. According to the poll, the Tories are now on 40%, with Labour on 29% and the Lib Dems up two points to 21%. Worryingly, but perhaps not unexpectedly, the poll suggests that voters are more alienated from politics than they were at this stage before...
View 'Poll List: Tories up; Labour down - but voter turnout likely to be down, shows ComRes' >