During the 2005 UK General Election
and the 2006 local elections, we asked you to register a highly
visible and damaging protest vote against Tony Blair, his style of
government, his right-wing leanings, and his lies about the 'war'
on terror and Iraq.
(PS - It's well past June 2005, Oona *is* still 'here' and - according to her website - she's still an MP. We have no reason to question her word on this.)
'Serial Groper' Prescott and 'Remote Rapist' Blair
Sunday Times - Labour aide: Prescott was serial groper: A former senior Labour aide has alleged that John Prescott sexually harassed her over a two-year period. Tricia McDaid, a former political journalist and press officer at Labour party headquarters, said the deputy prime minister "jumped" on her at parties and once turned up uninvited at her home, hoping for sexual favours. She said yesterday: "He just leapt on me at one party and his tongue was halfway down my throat." Such was Prescott's reputation, she said, that she resorted to wearing trouser suits to avoid his wandering hands in the lifts at his Westminster office. She added that she was too afraid to protest at the time for fear of losing her job... McDaid also said that Prescott boasted he had a dossier of people in the Labour party who had slept with one another.
Perhaps journalists would care to spend some time on that this week, now that these serious allegations are far less likely to be batted away with any great strength.
Mail on Sunday - Angry Prescott: Lover 'motivated by money': Beleaguered Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott today hit back over his ex-lover's explosive claims about their affair - claiming that much of them were "simply untrue". His former secretary, Tracey Temple, recounted intimate details of their two-year relationship in an interview with the Mail on Sunday. In a statement Mr Prescott said: "I have admitted that Tracey Temple and I had intimate relations. "However, much of her recollections in the Mail on Sunday are simply untrue, and are clearly motivated by a desire to maximise financial gain."
Guido has a round-up of revelations here, and rightly highlights a lie (about when the relationship ended) that could bury Prescott on its lonesome. There's also the matter of a possible breach of Civil Service rules and/or sexual matters interrupting his work (Again! Again! Again! and Again! Again! Again!)... but he misses the whopper that the public is most likely to get *most* angry about (which is also potentially the most damaging revelation from Blair's point of view): Ms Temple told how regular sexual encounters took place in Mr Prescott's office with the door open while other civil servants worked outside. On other occasions they took place in Mr Prescott's taxpayer-funded flat in Admiralty Arch - once following the Iraq war memorial service.
The call to 'support the troops' is one of Blair's main weapons... it even managed to get the Lib-Dems to toe the line once the bombs started dropping on Iraq.
That Prescott brought his mistress along to this sombre service raised a few eyebrows this week, but most people took a calm breath and accepted that perhaps she was there in her capacity as secretary.
Unfortunately, we now have the mistress telling us that she and Prescott took time out after the service for a celebratory shag. Her diary entry for that day reads: "The service was nice. Had to go back to the flat with the boss. He can be a randy old sod at times coz he wanted sex again he was so up for it though."
Respect!
(Note to Downing Street: This can be neatly spun by comparing it to the well-documented bout of life-affirming sex that followed the September 11 atrocities. It makes 'Honest' John seem more human, and neatly ties the war in Iraq to the war on terror. Again.)
Tony Blair (in NOTW): But it was important to get to the facts and see what people had been trying to do. I make no excuses for what happened, it was wrong and shouldn't have happened. The reason the problem was uncovered was because people started to make changes.
The interview also contains a move from "total support" to "it depends"...
AP - Blair Won't Rule Out Nixing Clarke Support: Blair told the News of the World he believed Clarke should stay in his job to fix his department's problems but would not rule out changing his mind if one of those released was found to have committed a serious crime, the newspaper said. "I don't think I'm going to speculate," it quoted the prime minister as saying. "It depends on what happens, what the reasons are." Blair's office did not dispute the accuracy of the quotation but said it did not represent "the spirit of what he said." The prime minister fully supports Clarke and wants to keep him in his job, according to his office.
Well, let's see how long that lasts when yet more evidence comes to light showing that Clarke was primarily concerned about keeping his job rather than, say, dealing with the actual problem...
Independent - Home Office cover-up: The pressure on Charles Clarke to resign intensified last night following allegations that he tried to cover up the true scale of the threat posed by foreign prisoners wrongly released on to Britain's streets. The Independent on Sunday can today reveal that the Home Secretary withheld detailed information about the serious crimes committed by 79 convicted criminals who should have been deported following their release from British jails... With claims that public safety could have been jeopardised by the refusal to name the men being hunted, the IoS can reveal that a list of offenders passed by Mr Clarke to the Association of Chief Police Officers includes four kidnappers, two murderers, eight rapists, 13 sex offenders, two killers convicted of manslaughter and 50 violent offenders. Although Mr Clarke admitted on Friday that 13 of the "most serious offenders" had convictions for murder, manslaughter and child sex offences, he withheld the other crimes committed by the released foreigners. Five of the 79 have re-offended and two more are under investigation for alleged sex offences, one of whom was released after Mr Clarke was told about the scandal... With Tony Blair's government braced for further disclosures today about ministerial behaviour, David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, said yesterday that at "every stage" the Government had battled to keep the true facts of the prisoner release crisis concealed. "The public can no longer have confidence in a Home Secretary who covers up the facts and particularly the facts of his own failure ... We have had to drag the numbers out of them." Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: "They are salami-slicing into the statistics. It's difficult for me to work out where cock-up ends and cover-up begins."
Guardian - Alleged offer to rebel MP investigated: The police inquiry into the sale of honours may be widened to investigate allegations that the independent MP Peter Law was offered a peerage by Labour party officials not to stand against the official Labour candidate in the last general election.
Independent - Labour MP was offered peerage to head off rebellion, widow says: Mr Law, who died last week, ran as an independent at the last general election in Blaenau Gwent, previously the safest Labour seat in Wales. The allegation by his widow that a "high-ranking politician" had tried to buy him off with a seat in the Lords has been emphatically denied by the Labour Party. But suspicious Tories queried how the Labour Party could be in a position to be so sure the allegation was false, so soon after it was aired... Sir Ray Powell, the long-serving Labour MP for Ogmore, in Wales, claimed after the 1997 general election that he had turned down an offer of a peerage made by party officials hunting for a safe Welsh seat to reward Alan Howarth, who had claimed a footnote in history by being the first sitting Tory MP to defect to Labour. When Sir Ray refused, another Welsh MP, Roy Hughes, offered his seat, securing a life peerage in return. But offering a peerage to someone as an inducement not to run against a Labour candidate is more serious, because it could be interpreted as a breach of a law dating from 1925 banning the sale of honours. This month Maggie Jones, who as Labour's official candidate was defeated by Mr Law in the last general election, was awarded a peerage.
[UPDATE - BBC - Hain accused of offering peerage (04 May): Plaid Cymru have named Welsh Secretary Peter Hain as offering the late MP and assembly member Peter Law a peerage.]
Pretty slick, huh? But wait... we fear it's even slicker:
Because the Tories have Boris and the Lib-Dems have Mark Oaten, both parties have been quick to agree that John Prescott's affair is a private matter... but the affair was with Tracey Temple, his Assistant Private Secretary and Diary Manager. Surely this makes it a career matter.
Even the sheer hypocrisy of it is grounds for claiming that a minister has lost public confidence (Prescott made quite a few gains on the back of Tory sleaze), but are we really supposed to tolerate the use of a grace-and-favour flat as a near-to-office love-nest?
Further; are we honestly supposed to believe that the work that John Prescott was scheduled to do (that was scheduled by his secret lover) did not include the occasional 'accidental' meeting-of-convenience?
And who the hell is willing to investigate this? All you'd need is one diary entry that shows either or both parties used their position to secure the opportunity for a taxpayer-funded out-of-town tryst.
WARNING: GOSSIP AND SPECULATION FOLLOWS
Those who contribute to Guy Fawke's blog (in posts and comments) recently rounded on political reporter Nick Robinson and his 'surprise' at what they claimed to be an open secret. Nick Robinson's response speaks volumes. It also needs to be noted that Trevor Kavanagh, former political editor of The Sun, recently said the following on Radio 5 Live: "Learning that John Prescott's had an affair is a bit like learning that Simon Hughes is gay. I mean, everyone knew he has affairs. He's had a string of affairs throughout his life and this has come as no surprise."
More on that name in a moment... let's first look at the nature and context of the allegations:
Guy Fawkes (April 26): Guido knows that where there is one blousy mistress, there is often another... Inquiring minds should be looking for a local grammar school girl (this would be prior to him becoming DPM). The girl has since done very well for herself.
The woman at the centre of these allegations is Rosie Winterton.
She worked for John Prescott as his Constituency Personal Assistant from 1980 until 1986, and again as his Head of Office from 1994 until 1997 (when Prescott was deputy Party Leader).
In 1997 Rosie Winterton was elected MP in the safe Labour seat of Doncaster (a position she still holds). She also served as Minister of state for health from 2003 to 2005.
Cash and favours for peerages? Pah!
If allegations of an affair prior to 1997 prove to be true, then a serious question has to be asked, and it can be summed up in the following headline (which we have cleaned up a tad to make it suitable for universal consumption):
COPULATION FOR CONSTITUENCIES?
UPDATE (30 April): Scotsman - Prescott's lover tells of trysts in office: Last night another woman, former Labour party candidate Sarah Bissett-Scott, also claimed she had had an affair with Prescott over 20 years ago.
We readily acknowledge that chinese-whispers could have resulted in some confusion between Sarah Bissett-Scott and Rosie Winterton... but it's equally possible that both women feature in his "string of affairs throughout his life"...
We've long held the view that the risk the BNP presents is deliberately (and habitually) blown out of proportion by Labour and used to bully people into voting for their party (clearly, the only alternative).
But circumstances change. Now, the risk is actually more pronounced.
We recognise this reality. But we also seek to bring the reasons behind it to your attention:
2. The arrogance and incompetence of the Labour government has fuelled a fear of crime and foreigners that is sure to be exploited by the BNP in the days to come.
Canny operators like the BNP will most probably keep their mouths shut in the national press (they don't want to draw any undue attention) but you can rest assured that they will be hard at work exploiting this turn of events on the doorsteps and in locally-distributed leaflets.
Hell, it features alleged rape, crime *and* foreigners, and so plays right into their hands. (In Heanor, the BNP recently made a false claim that a 15-year-old girl had been gang-raped by asylum seekers.)
Anybody who has being paying attention these past few years will be well aware that Tony Blair has cynically exploited the terrorist threat to gain support, made it worse in the process, and further exploited the increased threat to gain ongoing support.
The same pattern appears to be repeating itself, this time with the BNP as the bogeyman.
This is not a healthy, responsible or even sustainable model by any means, but it worked during the 2005 General Election (Labour used a mix of Tory-fear, terrist-fear and BNP-fear on a local and national basis), Blair is desperate to cling to power, and he has no positive messages to offer.
Some voters may face a difficult choice come election-day, we ask them to:
a) Do what they can to be aware of the actual reality (not the perceived reality) of any given threat
b) Be especially wary of those who would exploit that threat for political gain
We can no longer tolerate the use of fear as the primary tool of governance.
Clarke is waiting until late Friday afternoon before releasing his statement... we don't think he has happy news to share.
UPDATE - Speak of the devil. Statement just coming through...
They have found the most serious offenders (79 in number)... on a database. That's not the same as finding them, now is it? Only 6 of them have been detained pending removal.
5 convicted re-offenders. That they know about. So far. Drugs, GBH and violent disorder... but nothing of a "more serious nature" (Clarke's words). There was also an allegation of rape that did not result in a conviction (due to 'insufficient evidence') and there are two further allegations of sex offences being investigated.
If Blair and Clarke continue as before, it's going to get very, very ugly for Labour.
(The way this news was released suggests that they are hoping that it will die down by Tuesday... that they can ride out a storm that will be reduced in size as journalists go into hibernation over the long weekend.)
UPDATE - Independent - Clarke: foreign criminals have reoffended (29 April): Mr Clarke also admitted that the checks had uncovered "a small number" of other police investigations that could lead to prosecutions. Most were minor offences, but two of them were accusations of sex crimes. In a further setback for Mr Clarke, one of those alleged offences was committed by someone released since he personally became aware of the problem.
1. There are now many more comments over at the Nick Robinson interview post. Go read. (Comments include this thought, which occured to us as well; So the home secretary thinks he should stay on to sort out the mess. The last person to say that was the Chief Constable of Humberside and that made Mr Blunkett furious.)
2. Bears repeating: It's the sheer unshakable arrogance of it which gives the game away. The idea that people might be shouting and booing and heckling because they desperately want someone to take the decisions that are right for the country just isn't on the agenda. It's not even allowed to exist in the same universe.
The Times - Three murderers and nine rapists head list of lost foreign criminals: The whereabouts of three murderers and nine rapists on Charles Clarke's list of lost foreign criminals was still unknown last night despite the fact that all were supposed to be under supervision. The admission by Home Office sources casts doubt not only on the system for expelling foreign prisoners but also on the monitoring of released murderers and the operation of the sex offenders register. Sex attackers and killers from overseas should be supervised upon release in the same way as British-born offenders. Hundreds of names from the list of 916 unaccounted-for criminals were passed last night to the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) as the Home Office's trawl became increasingly desperate. Until late afternoon Acpo had been given just 80 names, including those of the most dangerous criminals, to check against the Police National Computer (PNC). But The Times has learnt that there is no active search in progress for any of the listed offenders.
BBC - Freed criminals not on computer: Details of more than 20 of the 80 most dangerous foreign prisoners freed without facing deportation cannot be found on the national police computer. They include one murderer and a rapist. A source told the BBC police may not have sufficient details to run a check. But Home Office minister Hazel Blears insisted the most serious offenders would be out on licence and monitored.
Also spare a thought for the remarkable favour Blair and his cronies have done (again) for the right-wing tabloids, parties and interest groups.
Oh, and you may even want to have a quiet think about all those high-priority issues that were dealt with ahead of this one... like banning spontaneous demonstrations in Westminster under a banner of 'war on serious crime'.
(Fucking hell... there's a man on the loose with a megaphone! We'll have him. And let's take photos of all the demonstrators that we don't arrest... well, the ones that aren't working for the police anyway. Ten quid says *that* database is kept up to scratch.)
2) The Home Office has been awfully busy lately pushing and enforcing headline-grabbing legislation prompted mainly by misguided hysteria fuelled by the tabloids. Oh, and an ongoing need to take Iraq off the agenda (see below).
3) Nothing got done about the foreign criminals issue until it came to light. Now, suddenly, it's all hands on deck... as if that makes everything OK.
The Home Office no longer operates to protect the public; it operates to Protect The Blair. And if you need further proof of this...
BBC - Things can only get better...?: If, as many are demanding, Mr Clarke was forced to resign before voters go to the polls next Thursday, it would only add to the impression of a government in serious trouble. And the desire not to give that impression, combined with Mr Blair's desire not to lose another friend from the Cabinet, may yet be Mr Clarke's greatest protection.
And it's not just home security that operates in this basis... almost every other domestic initiative has been deliberately formed and timed in one desperate attempt after another to take Blair's greatest crime off the agenda.
The illegal invasion of Iraq and the cynical exploitation of the threat of terrorism has poisoned our society and crippled our government.
We as a people need to deal with this issue once and for all or - no matter what happens to Blair and his cronies next week - we will get the government we deserve... and that government will stand for pre-emptive strikes on oil-rich nations, torture, detention without trial and further suppression of anyone who dares object to such things.
If you think we deserve better, then you have to work for it.... and this coming week is the time in which you can do the most good.
Guardian - Double vote-rigging probes: Detectives from two police forces are investigating alleged vote-rigging ahead of next month's local elections. Scotland Yard said officers were looking at suspicious activities in seven London boroughs.
BBC - Police launch vote rigging probe: Police are investigating alleged vote-rigging in seven London boroughs, ahead of the local elections on 4 May. Harrow, Kensington and Chelsea, Merton, Southwark, Hounslow, Tower Hamlets and Barnet are being looked at... The Metropolitan Police is not the only force probing vote rigging claims - in Birmingham, one arrest has been made.
Amateurs. The pros know it's smarter to stuff rallies rather than ballot boxes. Perception is the new reality.
Did you know that if you objected so strongly to Charles Clarke staying on (despite his incompetence) that you decided to go down to the Home Office, stand outside and called for his resignation that you would be committing a crime? Welcome to Blair's Britain.
Apparently Labour does have something positive to offer...
... they just choose not to include it in their commercials. It's all part of "a more sophisticated modern approach"... or something. Dave Cross reports.
Europhobia - Dear God - someone pass the mind-bleach: It's just sunk in how utterly screwed the government should be over all this. I mean, in just the last week we've had: [ED: snip of very long list] And God alone knows what else I've missed. Do they actually WANT to get wiped out at the local elections next week?
Blair has survived a number of serious threats to his premiership with the use of the following method:
Cabinet members form a tight circle around him (or perhaps a triangle, when numbers are short) and friendly media bods are used to create a perception of support/stability. In short, the public is assured that the matter simply isn't an issue, and - eventually - the issue goes away.
But it is an issue and - if you'll pardon the pun - this week it has been widely acknowledged that it is a Major issue.
Blair is fast running out of credible cabinet members... and he can no longer rely on Murdoch. If anything, Murdoch is on the attack.
He is fighting a losing battle, and the longer this goes on, the more likely it is that he will drag Labour down with him.
BSCC - Something in the Air: So Labour are at a 19-year low in the opinion polls. I do believe I detect the beginnings of a long slow decline into long-term opposition unless something dramatic is done like now. In all fairness, this is only partly Blair's fault. The rest of the Labour Party have not been able to grasp that he's become a serious liability so they've got to take some blame too. And the assortment of sycophantic incompetents he's got as ministers, of course.
You can't say that we didn't warn you.
(But we do look forward to being blamed for all of this because we didn't clap for Tinkerbell.)
Blair Watch - Charles Clarke: His lies, Damn Lies and the Statistics: People are finally waking up to the fact that the unsafe elephant has been lying through his back teeth about the extent of the problem... since Charles assured us that the Home Office was on top of the problem - it has got worse, not better. Just under one third of the cases cited happened since August last year, AFTER Charlie's staff got on the case. The approximate rate of cases for deportation that should have been considered but were missed went up, from a couple a week, to more than one a day ON HIS WATCH. The number of missed cases didn't simply continue, it INCREASED after Charlie got on the case. His intervention made the problem worse, not better. That's neither a historical, or a systemic problem.
Worse, not better. Not even slightly improved.... but instead much, much, worse. And why? Most probably because Clarke knew that any serious move he made to correct the problem would result in that problem coming to light. Somebody might want to look into that.
David Davis (House of Commons, 26 April): Last night on "Newsnight", when asked if anyone was released in the period after we knew about this problem, the Home Secretary said, "Very, very few," but a statement broadcast after the 10 o'clock news announced that 288 more foreign criminals were released after the Home Secretary explicitly knew that there was a problem: 288 releases over eight months is actually a faster rate than 700 over six years. The rate of release of those criminals into the community was greater after July, when he found out, than it was before July. Does the Home Secretary really believe that almost 300 foreign convicted criminals released into our communities is "Very, very few"? I am afraid that I must tell him that I cannot think of a starker demonstration of a Minister not in charge of his Department.
Also worth noting is this exchange, that began shortly after Blair ran from the room:
Charles Clarke (Home Secretary): (rises)
Hon. Members: Resign!
Michael Martin (Speaker): Order. The House wanted a statement yesterday. The statement is here, and we must listen to the Home Secretary.
BSSC: What else is there to say about Charles Clarke? It seems that the problem actually got worse after he found out about it. It seems that he thought it more important to brief the media than to come to parliament to explain himself...
The pattern is clear... Clarke sought to tackle the perception of the problem rather than the problem itself.
(Hint: There's a very short list of likely contenders)
Bloggerheads - A message to all 'wobbly' MPs: ignore the puppet show, look at the strings (November 08, 2005): Even if we depart from the central issue of terrorism, you need to acknowledge that the only people Blair can appoint to his cabinet or count on in the pursuit of his reforms have to have backed him over the war on Iraq then and continue to back him to this day. And anyone who can do that with a smile on their face is duplicitous, stupid or woefully misinformed. It's no longer a case of the best man or woman for the job.
Chicken Yoghurt - Save Charles Clarke: I just had a nasty thought. If Charlie Two Lunches decides to spend more time with the sweet trolley over the foreign prisoner affair, who would replace him? Step forward John Reid.
(check out the comments on that latter link... well worth a read)
UPDATE - Stephen Pollard: The story I am being told is that, even as the PM prepared to back his Home Secretary at PMQs this morning, the feeling in Number 10 was that today will be Charles Clarke's last day in office and that a reshuffle was already being pepared for. Alan Johnson will be Home Secretary. You read it here first.
Hopefully everyone remember's Blair's 1997 mantra regarding his main priority. Well, it would appear that - as with the NHS - the eventual solution (if indeed it can be called one) has been the use of overseas labour.
The Headspace survey also reveals that a large number of schools are using unqualified teaching staff: 73% of secondary and 35% of primary heads in England admitted they had taken on someone without qualified teacher status (QTS) to teach in the past three years.
Dunford expresses little surprise. "This merely reflects what everyone already knows - that there have been severe teacher shortages in several subjects, not just in maths and sciences," he says. "It's also been difficult to recruit in ICT and English."
Now there is nothing wrong per se with using teachers from overseas. After all, they can actually add to the richness and cultural diversity of lessons. But there are two issues here.
Firstly, by using unqualified teaching staff, the standard of education our children receive may be lowered. And this is a direct result of the DfES directive to increase teachers' non-contact time without introducing an equivalent budget increase to fund cover. As a consequence, head teachers are faced with making budget cuts to fund UK qualified supply teaching cover; asking teaching assistants to cover the lessons or employ an unqualified overseas teacher at a lower cost than the equivalent UK qualified supply teacher.
Secondly, this process has the effect of depriving poorer countries of valuable teaching staff.
Yet another example of New Labour's inability to apply joined up thinking to the process of government.
Hey, do you remember just a few short days ago when Charles Clarke said this?
"Since the (SOCPA) legislation came into effect last August, 157 demonstrations have taken place in Parliament Square, on issues ranging from human rights in Burma to a protest about the right to protest itself..." (source)
Martin Linton (PPS (Team PPS), Department for Constitutional Affairs, Battersea, Labour):
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many protests have been granted permission by the police under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 since it came into force.
Clarke Charles Clarke (Home Secretary):
The Commissioner of the Metropolis is responsible for the day-to-day operational management of the force. I have passed your question to him and asked him to respond to you directly. I will arrange for a copy of the reply to be placed in the House Library.
Clarke didn't bother finding out the truth, he just presented an out-of-his-arse statistic as a 'fact' supporting his case.
(Note - Those expecting a 24-hour webcast of Tony Blair sitting on a couch, drinking cheap cider and arguing with other housemates will be sorely disappointed.)
UPDATE - Oh dear... it looks awfully recycled and last-minute. We were hoping for some decent new footage... not more (and more and yet more) of the same.
Clarke claims support of Blair... and dumps him in it as a result
BBC - Clarke: Blair told me not to quit: The home secretary told Tony Blair he was ready to quit over the 1,023 foreign prisoners released but not considered for removal from the UK. Charles Clarke said he told the premier of the problems just before Christmas.
We continue to assert that Blair's PR team has new man on board who used to work for the Bush administration...
The bit where people now accept responsibility but not consequences... that's a worldwide infection these days. But we've got all this flip-flop messaging going on, we began the week with attempts to stop the press using words like 'gulag' (because the Coalition of the Willing is only imprisoning and torturing hundreds of people without trial, not millions... see here for an across-the-pond example) and now we have this...
Charles Clarke, stalwart critic of the "lazy and deceitful" media, yesterday sought to use the media to put his best foot forward on the latest prison scandal...
David Davis: The Home Secretary briefed the press at 12.30 pm today and laid a statement in the House at 2.11 pm, so the House could not have been aware of the situation before the press. As far as I am aware, we do not have a mechanism to bring the Home Secretary to the Chamber to answer for that major Government failure.
Richard Bacon: Further to the point of order raised by the shadow Home Secretary, Mr. Speaker. I would have wished to table an urgent question this morning, Mr. Speaker, had the Home Office made its written statement early enough. It was my question in the Public Accounts Committee (last year) that led to the information—as it turned out, the inadequate information—being released.
Charles Clarke (you remember him; he was the guy who called the media "lazy and deceitful") knew about this for well over 9 months, but did nothing to immediately arrest the problem... most probably because any minor corrections would have set alarm bells ringing at a time that was politically inconvenient.
In that time, a further 288 foreign criminals were released instead of being deported and they could/should have been under law... and Charles Clarke has been caught lying through his teeth about it
One can only wonder what new, exciting and misguided authoritarian measure will be used to over-compensate for this disgraceful state of affairs (which must surely be acknowledged as an election gift for the BNP).
Pandora: Another day, another "confidential" e-mail jollifies the inbox of Labour's backbench drones. Sent by one Caroline Adams, from Labour HQ, it brings important instructions regarding the forthcoming local election campaign. "For those MPs with flats in London, the PLP office has available VOTE LABOUR posters to put up in your window," it reads. "Please come along to our office in the West Cloister to pick one up." The e-mail has so far met with a mixed response. "This smacks of desperation," grumbles one recipient. "And what about the poor old taxpayers who pay for MPs' accommodation? Will they be happy to subsidise this petty electioneering?"
There is a need for understanding and tolerance here... not a knee-jerk reaction over taxpayer-funded housing allowances paying for advertising space.... even if MPs *do* spend; "an average of £17,852 for mortgage repayments, domestic appliances, utility bills and security on their second homes."
As many readers of this weblog know, active public support is pretty thin on the ground for Labour these days; so much so that they often have to invent it.
In such circumstances, Labour can be forgiven for placing posters in *any* way that might give the impression that there is at least one person in any given street/neighbourhood/constituency who still believes passionately in Tony Blair's grand vision for his future the nation.
In fact, we would even dare to make a bold suggestion. After this news...
Independent - Blunkett's £4m Belgravia pad to be put up for sale: The luxury house was at the centre of a bitter row last November when this newspaper revealed that Tony Blair was to let Blunkett remain at the taxpayer-funded residence despite his no longer being a minister. Blunkett responded furiously to our report, claiming it was "misleading" to infer that he would remain there for so long. "I've put up with distortion about my private life for the past six months," he wrote. " I did not expect a respected newspaper to continue in this vein." As it was, he was still living there four months later and only recently moved out. But since his departure, officials have now examined the building and have decided it is no longer credible as a safe house for ministers at risk from terrorist attack. The sale will provide a boost to the Treasury's coffers as property experts expect it to fetch as much as £4m. It will also come as a huge relief to residents who often complained about police cars coming and going at all hours of the day.
Hmmm. Blunkett was allowed to stay in this property for months and months and months because of 'security considerations'... and now we find out that it's not very secure. How very interesting. Now, where were we? Ah yes, bold suggestions...
We say; why wait to profit from this property when Labour can use it as valuable advertising hoarding right now?
It is situated right about here (warning: location given is deliberately vague in order to foil potential terrists who may not have read recent newspapers). This places it right in the centre of the Borough of Westminster. What better place to give the Tories what-for with a huge fuck-off poster of Dave the Chameleon? After all, it's not as if this is going to break any *big* rules...
Clarke may be a nasty piece of work, but he's your typical coward/bully... he will bluster and insult as he pleases for as long as he thinks he can get away with it (and may even bluff his way out a few corners as a result), but he will always curl into a pudgy ball and mind his mouth/manners the moment a serious blow looks likely.
That's too bad, really. He and Blair could have continued this pattern by insisting that his incompetence was proof of Neo-Labour's liberal values.
The Times - Don't use result as excuse to oust Blair, MPs told: Cabinet ministers have delivered an early warning to Labour MPs against using possible poor Labour results in next week's local elections to try to bring forward the departure of Tony Blair... Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, who wants Mr Blair to stay on while accepting that Gordon Brown will eventually succeed him, said yesterday that the May 4 poll should not be seen as a referendum on Mr Blair's leadership. He declared it would be "batty" to think the results would have any bearing on when Mr Blair leaves Downing Street.
Brownout (noun): A reduction or cutback in power, often resulting from a shortfall or failure.
Financial Times - Contest marks critical test for prime minister: Tony Blair has been assailed on numerous fronts in 2006. The Tessa Jowell affair, the allegations over "cash for coronets", perceptions of disarray in the health service, the deterioration in his relations with Gordon Brown - all this has intensified questions over how long the prime minister can stay at Number 10. Next week's local elections in England are therefore critical for Mr Blair, revealing how much he has become a liability for Lab-our. A truly bad performance next Thursday would intensify demands from Labour rebels that he must go now. A reasonable outcome would probably give him the momentum to go into 2007... Arguably, Labour would have a bad night if it suffered a net loss of more than 200 council seats. Labour currently has about 6,500 councillors in the UK, the lowest it has had since 1978. To go even lower would smack of humiliation. In the battle for London, Labour is likely to lose control of established strongholds like Brent, Bexley and Hammersmith. But the bellwether will be its flagship in Camden. Labour has solid majority control here. Losing Camden is unthinkable, but a serious bloodying here would do damage to the government. It would also be an embarrassment for Labour to lose Tower Hamlets - where the party is in a three-way fight with Respect and the Lib Dems - or to do very badly in Haringey.
We stopped holding any dim hope of Gordon Brown presenting any kind of viable leadership solution well over a year ago... and the longer this goes on the more gutless he looks to more voters. Brownites should get used to hearing this kind of thing more often...
Blair Watch: Brown of course lacks the balls to stick the knife in, preferring to sneer from the sidelines via his minions. Gordon has wimped out of several golden opportunities to inherit the throne and I think he'll be the David Davis of New Labour. When his challenge came it was too little, too late.
Guido: Euan Blair telling George Osborne at the Washington Embassy that his father was going to stay until the end, is as close to the horse's mouth as it gets. Guido reckons Gordon hasn't got the balls to take Blair head on.
Bloggerheads - Popular support costs money: In 2001, shutting down entire cafes for staged meetings with the 'public' was the norm. In 2005, they actually *built* outdoor cafes so Blair could have a 'spontaneous' chats in them.
Copies of the relevant invoices (that do go into this level of detail) have been supplied to journalists, but - judging by the 'stand-out' items that are being recycled in most newspapers - very few journalists have actually made full use of access to this material.
3. How much money was spent keeping off-message people away from Labour rallies and 'spontaneous' gatherings... and did this come out of their election expenses or an anti-terror-slash-security fund paid for by the unwitting taxpayer?
Tony Blair doesn't think that you're stupid... he just hopes that you are.
Check out this desperate last-minute gambit where he seeks to launch a debate silence his critics on civil liberties just over a week before local elections:
Henry Porter: (source): In Parliament Square we now see people parading with blank placards to make the point that they are not allowed to demonstrate within one kilometre of the Square under the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA).
Tony Blair: (source): You say people can only have blank placards outside Parliament and can't protest. Go and look at the placards of those camped outside Parliament - they are most certainly not blank and usually contain words not entirely favourable to your correspondent. Outside Downing Street, virtually every day there are protests of one sort or another.
Henry Porter: (source): The only reason you see placards in Parliament Square today is because the anti-war protester Brian Haw's demonstration preceded the introduction of the act, which is not retrospective. His presence in the square is still being challenged by government lawyers.
Tony Blair not only misrepresented Henry Porter's claim in his answer, he sought to use a man who was unsuccessfully targeted by this illiberal legislation as an example of how liberal the legislation is!
He also assures us that; "Outside Downing Street, virtually every day there are protests of one sort or another"... but does not make clear how many of those are of the authorised variety.
You can see Charles Clarke using the same blatantly dishonest trick on exactly the same issue here.
This is not an honest response to an unfair charge... it is coordinated disinformation.
CuriousHamster is spot on in that last link... this is neo-con territory. Add this to the attack on Cameron that looks like a recycled anti-Kerry ad and you have to wonder if there's a new political adviser in town.
Hey, wait a minute... didn't Karl Rove just ...? No... it couldn't be. Life in Britain today is absurd, but surely not *that* absurd.
We must admit to laughing out loud during the 2005 General Election campaign when Tony Blair sought to fend off valid questions about his conduct over Iraq and his dangerous exploitation of the 'war' on terror with statements like these:
April 2005: "In the end, you can play the ball or play the man," said Tony Blair on Wednesday, when the Tories accused him of telling lies. "If they play the man, that's probably because they don't dare play the ball."
May 2005: The Labour leader shrugged off attacks on his character, saying opponents "play the man rather than the ball if they have lost the policy argument".
Let us put aside any changes of outright hypocrisy just long enough to note the following:
Yes, sometimes it is easier to play the man not the ball. And sometimes, you are left little choice when that man will not pass the ball!.
Two things need to be pointed out for laymen and bystanders respectively:
1) Google recognises blogged/dated/archived material, so Londonist's result will decay over time.
2) As Jawbox points out here, davethechameleon.com did not fall over or simply disappear, it had all the hallmarks of a site that had been strategically removed. Someone lost their bottle, then changed their mind. Or had it changed for them.
(PS - We look forward to Part 2, as we already have a fresh remix concept in mind.)
And, on a different issue serving much the same purpose...
Independent - Hodge blamed for increase in far-right's support: Ann Cryer, whose seat in Keighley, West Yorkshire, has been one of the BNP's main strongholds, attacked Mrs Hodge's comments as "very misguided". She feared they would be a morale booster for the BNP as the Labour Party appeared to have halted the rise of the BNP in Keighley... A YouGov poll in yesterday's Daily Telegraph showed 7 per cent support for the BNP, with 24 per cent saying they had considered voting for them in the past or were considering it now. But analysts believe some of this may be a direct result of the publicity the BNP has received from Mrs Hodge and others who attack it. Anthony King, professor of government at the University of Essex, said: "Margaret Hodge and others who have warned of the BNP threat have probably done it a favour by reminding voters of its existence."
Hmmm... cynically exploiting a threat for political gain and making that threat worse in the process... where have we seen this kind of thing before?
The Times - Bush and Blair have brilliantly done Bin Laden's work for him: There is now a voluminous literature on the politics of fear and its distorting appeal for democratic leaders (this month alone, David Runciman's admirable The Politics of Good Intentions and Peter Oborne's The Use and Abuse of Terror). The 9/11 "changes everything" mantra began as an explanation of a national trauma and a plea for sympathy. It was hijacked to validate the latent authoritarianism of democratic leaders.
Labour's Dave the Chameleon site has been removed.
The main page at www.davethechameleon.com now redirects to the home page of the Labour Party website. Both the page where you used to be able to download copies of the attack ad (previously at /debut.html) and the 'hilarious' two-entry blog (previously at /blog.html) now come up with 'File not found'. (Though, so far, Blair's bods have failed to delete this download page at the Labour Party website.)
This is a big kick in the teeth... for us. In fact, we hope that this is some sort of glitch and not a permanent arrangement.
Damn it, we want to slug it out in a fair fight in Google to see which version of the ad the nation prefers. Oh well. The page with our 'new and improved' version hasn't appeared in Google's database yet, but we do have this initial Yahoo result to be proud of:
Not, it should be noted, over the loans scandal... but all the same it's the last thing we as a country need. Why? Because now we're woefully short of willing opposition. Everybody will be too busy keeping their heads down.
Now you might be tempted to think that now is a good time to burn the whole thing down and start afresh, but you really should be warned that Lord Levy has already started without you...
Guido/Snopes/Spectator: (I)t emerges that the Marylebone offices of the New Labour treasurer, Lord Levy, have been devastated by a mysterious fire. This took place last November, well before the police investigation began and around the time the House of Lords Appointments Commission raised the first queries concerning Tony Blair's list. When I rang Downing Street for a reassurance that no papers relevant to the police investigation had been destroyed, I was informed that 'that is a matter for Lord Levy'.
Prepare yourselves for the best opinion-piece on Charles Clarke since Matthew Norman let fly...
Tim Wortsall - Fuck him: Charles Clarke should be hung from the nearest lamp pole, assuming we can find one to bear the weight of the fat fucker, the assembled political parties forced to watch as he tap dances on air and happy children gambol at his feet. If we as a society get things wrong and imprison the innocent it is our duty, as that very society, to both say sorry and to compensate them as best we can. What we offer can only ever be inadequate but to deny this moral fact, to save the price of MP’s pork pies? You *fuck* Clarke, for shame.
" At the heart of my politics has always been the value of community, the belief that we are not merely individuals struggling in isolation from each other, but members of a community who depend on each other, who benefit from each other's help, who owe obligations to each other. From that everything stems: solidarity, social justice, equality, freedom." - Tony Blair
"Fairness and social justice. Liberty and equality of opportunity. Solidarity and responsibility to others. We will never sacrifice those principles." - Tony Blair
"Get away from me, I will not be insulted by you, this is an insult." - Charles Clarke
OK, we can understand folks getting tetchy about Labour's "So what?... we won the election!" response. (Apply this to the debacle in Iraq, the disaster that is the 'war' on terror and/or the scandal of rendition torture, and you're not far off the full nightmare of Tony Blair's 'the people have spoken' mantra.)
But we can also understand Blair's sense of betrayal, as Murdoch's newspapers continue their refusal to soft-pedal bad news and instead go for the throat (again)...
The Times - Labour fury at Cherie's election hair stylist bill: Cherie Blair presented the cash-strapped Labour Party with a £7,700 bill for the services of her personal hair stylist during last year’s general election campaign. As Labour struggled with outgoings so large that it had to resort to secret loans from millionaires to stay afloat, Mrs Blair made the party pay £275 a day for a month to keep her hair in shape. The invoice from Andre Suard, her hairdresser, is declared by Labour as an election expense in its annual statement of accounts for 2005 submitted to the Electoral Commission last month. The Times understands that his invoice describes the services rendered to Labour’s election effort as "hair styling for Cherie Blair". He charged a daily rate of £275 between April 6 and May 6, the day after her husband won Labour’s historic third term.
Our position on the hairdressing affair is as follows...
We feel that Cherie Blair was totally justified in spending 3.08% of a peerage on her daily use of a professional hairdresser, for two reasons:
UPDATE - You can find even more bloggage on this subject by starting here and following your nose.
UPDATE - Telegraph - Labour anger at £7,700 for Cherie's election hairdos: Last night the suspicion at Westminster was that someone inside the Labour Party had leaked the information in a bid to undermine Mr Blair. His supporters are certain to suspect that one of Gordon Brown's allies was behind the leak.
Most papers carry a big picture of the Queen and/or a celebration of her 80th birthday on their front page today. Even Blair's (now former) ever-reliable propaganda device, Page 3 chips in, as Keeley (19, from Bromley) 'thinks the Queen is fantastic for 80' and says: "She does a wonderful job and looks amazing for her age. It's incredible that the pressures of the monarchy haven't taken more of a toll."
Independent - A monarch willing to kill his own people to save his skin: Tens of thousands of the people he rules over lined the streets calling for his death yesterday and he has been condemned the world over. But hidden away in his palace in the midst of a city in chaos, King Gyanendra of Nepal appeared desperate to cling to power - and prepared to shoot down his own unarmed subjects in the streets to do it.
Labour Bods: Do you really think Blair gives a tuppeny-stuff about you and your little problems? He doesn't. He will cling to power for as long as he can, because he's desperate to be remembered for something other than Iraq. But that's just not going to happen, is it? Following this election, Blair will be extremely vulnerable and - this time around - there is no shortage of ammunition. All sorts of people will be lining up to take their shot at him from the moment this election is over... after Labour's soldiers have paid the price for his arrogance.
Labour members, candidates and activists now have less than 2 weeks to sort the Blair problem out before facing the wrath of the public. Why are they waiting?
New Backing Blair video - Dave the Chameleon (for Dummies)
Blair is neck-deep in a loans scandal, so his activists assure angry voters that local elections are about local issues and not what the Labour party leader may or may not have done... then Blair goes and spends that loan money on a personal attack on the Tory leader!
I'm sorry, but absurd situations like this cannot be allowed to pass without comment:
(PS - Iain Dale describes it as; "the funniest thing I've seen in ages"... but there are many Conservatives who said the same of the original, so we won't get too carried away with ourselves.)
Will the Prime Minister offer a credible response to the following question? When his fundraiser-in-chief and tennis partner was offered a £1.5 million donation to the Labour party, why did he refuse it in favour of a £1.5 million loan?
Tony Blair (Prime Minister):
I have no intention of giving a running commentary on this, but I can say that I am delighted that so many successful people support the Labour party - and quite right too.
Further hedging and further spin will follow as Blair does his best to deny that the problem exists and - at the same time - assure us that he is the man to deal with the problem. That doesn't exist.
How do you think this effects public trust... a major issue that drives the small amount of substance behind the BNP-gain scare-stories that only seem to come around at election time? (We disagree on the matter of scaremongering, but you should read this excellent post by Chris at qwghlm.co.uk on the subject of extremist gains.)
The Herald - Loans row ‘has eroded public trust’: The row over party funding has unfairly reduced the standing of politicians, Lord Falconer admitted last night. The Lord chancellor said that although the "vast majority" of British politics was "utterly uncorrupt", he conceded the secret loans scandal had damaged public trust in the political process... Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP for the Western Isles, whose complaint to the police led to the Scotland Yard investigation into allegations of cash for honours, highlighted the "happy coincidence" of donors giving money to parties and then ending up in the Lords. He described it as representing "almost a two-finger sign given to the public and saying: 'It's only a coincidence, lads, there's nothing much you can do about it. It's business as usual.' This is the end of business as usual." Urging the public to sign the petition on www.cleanupwestminster.com... Elfyn Llwyd, the leader of Plaid Cymru, said there had been a great deal of wrongdoing by several parties and what was urgently needed was "to clean up this stable".
Labour councillors are going to look pretty stupid if they run around insisting that the BNP might win if people don't vote Labour... because it's Blair who drives any increase in this vote (where it does exist as something other than an abstract notion or 'temptation'):
1) Eroding Public Trust: Let's take that as a given with everything from 'burying bad news' to not finding weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist.
2) Distancing The Voters: Take away their right to protest. Do everything you can to dodge the issues and drive your opponents into the ground. When that fails, pat voters on the head and assure them that the matter is really quite simple... or pat voters on the head and assure them that this same issue is really quite complicated. When that* fails, answer every question in need of a straight answer with "Lalalalalalalalalala.... I can't hearrrrr yoooou!" Oh, and don't forget to avoid voters at election time.
3) The 'Enemy' Mentality: Blair has cornered any effective opposition into supporting him at almost every turn by cynically exploiting the terrorist threat. As a result, voters are turning to minority parties of all shades.
4) Race Issues I: Blair's relationship with Murdoch involves regular bitch-slappings over Europe and immigration issues. Blair quietly accepts this as a necessary evil, and ignores what it breeds.
5) Race Issues II: Blair's 'war' on terror and the illegal invasion of Iraq conducted under its banner have racism hard-wired in. Just one example: there's a body count for 'our boys' but not for the Iraqis.... because they don't count (more here). Blair breeds racism through his actions, but will never sully his tongue with racist statements. So those who are susceptible to racist messaging become more and more certain that filthy inhuman foreigners are out to get them (and/or their jobs/homes/pets), but fail to see Blair as the solution to the invented problem.
If you seriously think that increasing support for the BNP is a danger, then you have to deal with a major source of that danger... Blair.
You can start by getting him to answer this one simple question:
When his fundraiser-in-chief and tennis partner was offered a £1.5 million donation to the Labour party, why did he refuse it in favour of a £1.5 million loan?
Come on, Labour... give the public something to believe in and cauterise this open wound.
Dave the Chameleon Vs. Blair the Loathsome Reptile
While angry ex-Labour voters are assured that the local elections are about hard-working councillors, and not their great and glorious leader, Labour are using their political airtime to launch a negative campaign that focuses on the Tory leader.
This excellent quote (source) bears repeating: Blairites can only define themselves as progressive if they do so in a negative fashion - ie, we're not the Tories and we're not the BNP."
The site even has a 'hilarious' blog. Spare us.
And if you're going to talk about flip-flops, you'll want to watch out that you don't trip over this whopper that resulted in the needless deaths of thousands soldiers and civilians.
Here's some reports and reactions from around the traps:
Telegraph - Levy: I won't be cash-for-honours fall guy: Tony Blair's chief fund-raiser, Lord Levy, has said he will not be the "fall guy" for the Prime Minister over the cash-for-honours affair. The Labour peer is to be questioned by detectives about his role in brokering £14 million worth of loans to the Labour Party - four of which were from lenders later nominated for peerages. Sources close to Lord Levy said he would tell police that he was against getting wealthy backers to offer secret loans instead of publicly declared donations - but was urged to do so by Mr Blair to save the party from bankruptcy.
You may pull up and pause at that "sources close to Lord Levy" bit, and fair enough.... but please note that - two days following publication - we are still waiting for a firmly-worded denial.
We also have the following to contend with:
Telegraph - Who'll be next in All The Prime Minister's Men?: In his diary entry for October 19, 1998, the Downing Street spin doctor, Lance Price, recorded that his boss, Alastair Campbell, "went off to a meeting on the honours list saying: 'Who can we give gongs to, to get a good story?' or words to that effect."... From its earliest months, the New Labour Government was hoping to squeeze headlines from the honours system. Now it is doing so in spectacular fashion, though scarcely in the way that Campbell and Price had in mind eight years ago.
Yes, times have changed. Now we have online diaries, which can be downright dangerous if you don't know what you're doing....
BlairWatch -Blair 'in it up to his neck,' alleges former head of Labour fundraising: Don't you just love 'internet diaries'? The latest person to be caught out is Dr Nick Bowes, a most interesting author. Dr Nick used to be Head of the Business Liaison Unit at Labour. In other words he used to look for high income donors/lenders. For such a high flyer, Dr Nick seems to be unaware of how to set Blogger's private settings and his blog, intended to be private, was avaliable to the world. He has spent some time discussing the Cash for Honours scandal:
"The whole peerages thing is corrupt. It is one of the biggest forms of patronage still in the hands of the Prime Minister. I just wonder whether the PM really believes in sorting out the House of Lords, as it may just rob him of his one first-class way of rewarding big donors and sponsors of city academies."
"I still think the crucial questions are (a) why were donors persuaded to change their donations into loans, and (b) to what extent was the Prime Minister involved?
"In answer to (a) you have to conclude it is because they were going to get peerages and Number 10 didn't want people to draw a relationship between the two and (b) the Prime Minister was in it up to his neck, and was personally involved."
Up to his *neck*, folks.... even if Lord Levy were willing to fall on his sword, it wouldn't do Blair much good.
Two things Labour bods have to consider here are:
1) Progress will be determined by the timetable of a police investigation... so this could go on for a while. 2) Blair will try to hedge and spin his way out of this... at your expense.
Happily, this particular problem also provides you with a possible solution to the wider problem... especially if you know where the bodies are buried.
Go on; finish him before he finishes you.
(If self-preservation is all you've got to offer us, at this stage we'll take it.)
The new electronic badges are a bloody godsend; they turn out to be *very* effective when you're testing new slogans... and this one is a doozy.
Save Blair - Vote Labour
Whether you're voting Labour to support the party, to further employ that nice man who keeps dogshit off the street, or even just to keep the BNP bogeyman at bay, the fact remains that your vote will be claimed by Blair as an endorsement.
A lot of people don't really think about that until you point it out... so these four simple words turn out to be very powerful indeed.
We were so impressed by reactions to the badge-test this weekend that we've come up with a brand new poster based on the slogan.
Display it with pride... but be prepared for some dirty looks from people who are on your side, but just don't know it yet.
BBC - Headteacher held in honours probe: Former government adviser Des Smith has been arrested as part of a police probe into cash-for-honors allegations. Mr Smith, a secondary school head, was a council member of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, which helps the government recruit sponsors. He was arrested in the London borough of Redbridge for an offence under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act of 1925, police said. He is currently in custody in a London police station.
How interesting...
The Times - Revealed: cash for honours scandal (15 January 2006): Private donors to Tony Blair's controversial city academies can obtain honours and peerages by sponsoring the schools, a senior adviser to the programme has revealed. Des Smith, a council member of the trust that helps recruit sponsors for academies, disclosed that if a donor gave sufficient money, he could be nominated for an OBE, CBE or even a knighthood.
Sunday Herald - Greed and lack of any sense of propriety will be Blair's final undoing (19 March 2006): Earlier this year, The Sunday Times revealed that Des Smith of the Specialist Schools Trust was telling businessmen that they would get honours "for certain" if they funded a city academy. At the centre of this financial network was Tony's tennis partner, Lord Levy, the self-made businessman who brought you the pop groups Dollar and Bad Manners. His nickname, "Mr Cashpoint", tells you all you need to know.
Guy Fawkes - Trusts and Convictions (24 March 2005): Des Smith's admission is prima facie evidence of what we all know. If you wanted a peerage, a seven-figure loan to the Labour party and the same again donated to a city academy obtained it. Levy induced it. He covertly procured the money for the Labour party. The public donations were the cover story.
UPDATE - Guy Fawkes - Will Blair's Sleaze-Master General Be Next?: The Sleaze Master General himself will be worried that his former minion, Des Smith, is helping police with their inquiries. Des Smith, a secondary headteacher who was also a council member of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) which was the camouflage operation under which peerages were doled out to the Labour party's secret lenders. The president of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is Lord Levy. That perp walk is getting nearer...
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what (a) allowances, (b) expenses and (c) other moneys from public funds have been paid to Lord Levy in connection with his role as president of the Specialist and Academy Schools Trust.
Jacqui Smith (Minister of State (Schools and 14-19 Learners), Department for Education and Skills):
Lord Levy does not receive any public funds in connection with his role as president of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. His appointment is a matter for the trust and he receives no remuneration for this.
The Times - Minister pursues green brief as queen of the Royal Flight: Margaret Beckett, the Cabinet minister responsible for the environment, is one of the most enthusiastic users of the Queen's Flight, regularly summoning its aircraft to collect her from her local airport. Mrs Beckett, whose department is responsible for reducing carbon emissions and air travel across government, has cost the taxpayer more than £100,000 on 110 flights in three years. Her department has not offset the carbon emissions from the flights. Other than ministers with an overseas brief and Tony Blair, Mrs Beckett cost the taxpayer more in flights than any other minister. She has made repeated public statements about the environmental dangers of air travel...
BlairWatch - Blair Airways: Now that it has been revealed that Blair and his ministers have been treating the RAF like a free taxi service they're desperately trying to pretend it's cheaper than other methods of transport. Bullshit.
Guy Fawkes - Air Miles Spin Don't Fly: New Labour's spinmeisters knew the Air Miles story was coming and they went into damage limitation mode. Much was (they knew) going to be made of the hypocrisy of the environment minister decrying carbon emissions while flying on RAF jets to her constituency home. How would they spin Margaret Beckett's greater use of the Queen’s Flight than the Queen herself? Easy, you claim it is cheaper than getting the Eurostar to Brussels. Never mind that is a lie.
Scotsman.com - Prime Minister is using Queen's Flight 'like a taxi': Tony Blair has been accused of treating the RAF aircraft the Queen's Flight like a "private taxi service". The Prime Minister has flown on the plane more than 670 times since 1997 - including trips on family holidays - at a total cost of £1.22 million. And cabinet colleagues, including Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett, have used the planes for short-haul trips to Brussels - sometimes via her constituency. Downing Street insisted the flights were only used for Government business and when it was the most efficient way to travel.
Guardian - No 10 defends PM's flight to Rover plant: The prime minister, Tony Blair, used an RAF helicopter in the middle of the general election campaign to fly up to MG Rover's Longbridge plant following the collapse of the company, it was disclosed today.
You know what's coming, don't you?
Yep, the ever-reliable threat of terrorism presented - as always - in the form of a false dichotomy. According to Michael White, it's this or the bus... and terrorists bomb buses...
An excellent article by Katharine Gun, warning us that public opinion is yet again being carefully massaged on a path to war....
New Statesman - Iran: don't let it happen: More than three years ago, as George Bush and Tony Blair rushed headlong into the invasion of Iraq, Martin Bright, then at the Observer, tested the veracity of an e-mail passed to him and his colleagues anonymously, while I nervously waited to see if the contents would appear in a newspaper. The e-mail, which the paper duly published, contained details of a bugging operation designed to coerce wavering members of the UN Security Council to vote for the use of force. It alerted the world to what I saw as scandalous dirty tricks within the United Nations... Now, we face the dreadful possibility of action against Iran. Jack Straw may sincerely believe that "the idea of a nuclear strike in Iran is completely nuts", but we in Britain need much more detailed information of the sort that Seymour Hersh and other journalists have been revealing if we are to avoid following the US into another disaster.
In other news...
SitNews - Bush discusses leak, dismisses attack on Iran: President Bush on Monday dismissed as "wild speculation" reports that his administration is weighing possible military air strikes against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. On Iraq, Bush confirmed for the first time that he authorized the release of prewar classified intelligence about Iraq three years ago in a bid to influence public debate about his decision to invade the country in March 2003. White House press secretary Scott McClellan denied that Bush had politicized the intelligence on Iraq by authorizing its release to reporters. "The president had the authority to declassify information as he chooses," McClellen said. "He would never declassify anything if he felt it could compromise our nation's security."
These people are playing games with the lives of millions, here and abroad. The only way to save lives is to call to account those who would cynically exploit the threat of terrorism for political and financial gain and take them out of the equation.
Blair has to go, and he has to go for the right reason.
Observer - Leak reveals official story of London bombings: The official inquiry into the 7 July London bombings will say the attack was planned on a shoestring budget from information on the internet, that there was no 'fifth-bomber' and no direct support from al-Qaeda, although two of the bombers had visited Pakistan... According to the report, the attacks were largely motivated by concerns over foreign policy and the perception that it was deliberately anti-Muslim, although the four men were also driven by the promise of immortality.
Observer - Candidates disown Labour in local polls: Rebel Labour candidates, including the brother-in-law of a senior cabinet minister, are publicly distancing themselves from their own government in a frantic bid to salvage votes in next month's crucial local elections. In some areas the party has also resorted to 'stealth' leaflets that do not appear to come from the party - including a letter to voters in north London purporting to come from a man living near by, urging them to vote for his 'old friend', the Labour candidate, despite reservations over the war on Iraq. Electoral register searches reveal nobody of that name listed at his supposed address.
BlairWatch - "Don't punish us for the mistakes of the Prime Minister" say activists - Then deal with him!: When are the Labour Party going to get it? This far down the line it is not possible to separate the leadership from the government and the party. If you stand under the Labour banner, then you are part of it. You are responsible for it. You pay subs to support it, you knock doors to argue for it... Candidates can easily distance themselves from Blair by standing as independents, but that requires having the courage of their convictions or the intellectual honesty to simply resign, as 50% of the party has done since 1997.
BSSC - Candidates disown Labour in local polls: One slight quibble. I think they mean "Candidates disown Blair and his minions in local polls". In reality, there's only one way for the Labour Party to successfully disown Blair. It really wouldn't be hard.
Agreed, agreed and agreed.... candidates will do themselves no favours by adopting dishonest tactics to distance themselves from a dishonest regime.
And rather than denying responsibility, they should take responsibility. Sensible people vote for doers and leaders, not bystanders or hapless followers.
BBC - Terror fear over Clash fan's song: A phone salesman was hauled off a London-bound plane by police after his taste in music aroused terrorism fears. Harraj Mann, 23, asked a taxi driver to play The Clash's London Calling through the vehicle's stereo. But the cabbie rang police after he heard the song which includes the line: "War is declared and battle come down". Police said Mr Mann, from Hartlepool, was released without charge after his arrest on board a Bmi plane at Durham Tees Valley Airport. Durham Police said a security check revealed he did not pose a threat.
After they'd delayed the flight and hauled him off it, of course. And it's not the first time that Clash lyrics have got people in hot water in this New Game with New Rules:
The Register - Police slap cuffs on Punk SMSer (3rd June 2004): A tech worker was arrested yesterday after a text message he sent was intercepted and traced back to his phone. In a scene reminiscent of Neo's first escape from Agent Smith, Special Branch officers slapped the cuffs on Mike Devine at his office in Bristol yesterday, and took him away for questioning. Devine, who plays in a Clash tribute band in his spare time, had sent a message containing lyrics from The Clash's Tommy Gun to his lead singer who had forgotten the words to the song.
And today there's even more good news for those who are worried that the government is not doing enough to protect themselves:
Independent - Helen and Sylvia, the new face of terrorism: Two grandmothers from Yorkshire face up to a year in prison after becoming the first people to be arrested under the Government's latest anti-terror legislation. Helen John, 68, and Sylvia Boyes, 62, both veterans of the Greenham Common protests 25 years ago, were arrested on Saturday after deliberately setting out to highlight a change in the law which civil liberties groups say will criminalise free speech and further undermine the right to peaceful demonstration. Under the little-noticed legislation, which came into effect last week, protesters who breach any one of 10 military bases across Britain will be treated as potential terrorists and face up to a year in jail or £5,000 fine. The protests are curtailed under the Home Secretary's Serious Organised Crime and Police Act. Campaigners expressed their outrage yesterday at Charles Clarke's new law, which they say is yet another draconian attempt to crack down on legitimate protest under the guise of the war on terror.... As well as Menwith Hill, the sites covered under the new law include Fylingdales, the early warning station on the North York Moors and the US air bases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath in East Anglia. From next week the powers will also cover three nuclear sites - Aldermaston in Berkshire, its research facility at neighbouring Burghfield and the Devonport naval base at Plymouth. The Government's decision suggests it is already preparing for the protests that would follow the expected decision to replace Trident with a new generation of nuclear weaponry... Before Mr Clarke's announcement military police only had the power to escort protesters off the military sites and prosecute them for civil trespass.
And in case you're wondering how you missed this little announcement...
After all, knowing that you're balls-deep in a partnership that has resulted in hundreds of people being humiliated, brutalised and sodomised must be as sexy as all hell. Why, it's enough to keep one tossing and turning all night.
I won't be looking at Jack Straw's speeches in quite the same way again, either... whenever he speaks about torture and/or Condi I just know that he's going to be struggling to keep Red Hot Chilli Peppers lyrics out of his head:
What I’ve got you've got to get it put it in you What I’ve got you've got to get it put it in you What I’ve got you've got to get it put it in you
Scotsman - Support for ID cards does not add up: Government claims that Scotland is backing plans for a national identity card are based on a survey of fewer than 200 people, The Scotsman can reveal. Following a Freedom of Information Act request, the Home Office has admitted that its main poll of public opinion in Scotland used a sample group of just 158 people. That is just a small fraction of the size which independent pollsters say is required for reliable results. The Home Office claims that 69 per cent of Scots endorse the government's plans. Until now, the department has not admitted that claim, but it indicates only that 109 people in Scotland have said they are in favour of ID cards.
Boy, this Habeas Corpus thing is a bit of a pain, isn't it? Let's get rid of it.
Boy, there seem to be an awful lot of protestors around these days. Let's get rid of them.
Boy, this Parliamentary oversight thing is a bit of a hassle, isn't it? Let's get rid of it.
Boy, these Geneva Conventions really are a hassle aren't they....?
Guardian - Defence secretary calls for Geneva conventions to be redrawn: John Reid demanded sweeping changes to international law yesterday to free British soldiers from the restraints of the Geneva conventions and make it easier for the west to mount military actions against other states.
Blurred Clarity - Barbaric Democracy: John Reid's argument is that terrorists don't fight fair (he invents something called 'barbaric terrorism', which much be really bad terrorism in comparison to let's say, 'nasty terrorism' or 'naughty terrorism') so we need the powers to also not fight fair and no doubt bring about 'barbaric democracy'
BSSC - Aggression Pre-Emption: What he seems to be saying is that nation-states should be free to take military action against threats which they believe exist, whether there is an imminent threat or not... Reid, of course, actually thinks that any new freedoms to pre-empt remote threats should only apply to "us", not "them". I'd like to see how he intends to codify that under international law. He says he's not a lawyer. No shit.
You really should worry when a government stops dodging laws and starts trying to change them instead....
As of this moment, Labour have 30 days to get rid of Blair.
Actually, they've got *less* than 30 days to get rid of Blair.... because if Blair is still in power on Thursday 4th May 2006, we WILL NOT VOTE LABOUR.
No exceptions, no arguments, no falling for scare-stories about the BNP/Tory boogie-men... and no f**king nosepegs!
We are perfectly aware that some Labour MPs, councillors, candidates and activists do not support Blair... just as we are aware that many merely claim this to be the case in order to secure a few votes.
Enough is enough. We are not prepared to put up with the current state of affairs for 'just a few more weeks/months/years' as Blair continues to have his merry way with what's left of our democracy.
As long as Blair remains in Downing St, the message remains:
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