Back to the '70s as Labour's far left crank up for selection battles

I have discussed before the indulgent attitude that Ed Miliband takes towards the far left and also noted how blatant Len McCluskey of the Unite union had been about his intentions. Mr Miliband poor judgment was recently confirmed by his schmoozing of George Galloway.

Peter Watt, a former Labour Party General Secretary, has warned Ed Miliband that far left union activists are "running rings" the Labour leader in candidate selections. So far these have been for Euro Election candidates. Recently The Times splashed on the subject. Still, who cares about Euro MP selections as who cares about the European Parliament, aren't the Lefties more Eurosceptic than the Blairites anyway, etc.

However Mr Watt says the same will happen for selections for Labour candidates to be MPs at Westminster in their target seats at the next election.

He says:

"We shouldn’t be surprised; it is what the trade unions have been saying that they would do.  Unite have a political strategy that explicitly says that they will operate on this basis; get onto local committees, selection panels and regional boards and then wield power to get sympathisers selected."

Labour's NEC election results: Red Ken, Karl Marx, and the "extreme left"

By Matthew Barrett
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The results of the recent elections to Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC), the Party's governing body, were announced yesterday. While the results cannot reasonably be said to represent a "lurch to the left", since five out of six of the NEC members were simply re-elected, and the sixth, a Blairite, replaced another Blairite, it's still worth considering the very left-wing ideals and activities of the members of the NEC.

The most popular candidate, with 31,682 votes, was Ken Livingstone. There's been enough written about Livingstone over the years for me not to have to revisit much of it here, but suffice to say his council tax rises, flirtations with dictatorships like Cuba and Venezuela, and mismanagement of City Hall mean he is unlikely to be the one to tell Ed Miliband to take a sensible policy option. 

The second most popular candidate was Ann Black, a trade union member since 1979, with policies to match the era. She is sceptical about Trident, and has a list of unaffordable, unrealistic, and out of touch policies:

"Personally I support properly-funded public services, comprehensive education, better employment rights, freedom from discrimination, joined-up transport, environmental sustainability, respect for local government, pensions and other benefits linked to earnings, and a positive role in Europe."

Black also recently wrote:

"We must tackle the tabloids on welfare, crime and immigration: people who want to be really nasty to scroungers, yobs and foreigners will vote Tory anyway, so we might as well take the moral high ground and give ourselves something worth fighting for."

Labour MPs attack Jubilee celebrations as irrational and "a show of opulence by state elites"

By Matthew Barrett
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This morning, Tory MP Greg Hands tweeted: "Still lots of Labour MPs on Twitter carping and trying to find fault - any fault - they can with the Jubilee. Sad, but not surprising."

Hands was referring to the lack of positive tweets about the Jubilee celebrations coming from Labour MPs. A number of them were tweeting about the bad treatment of unemployed people used as stewards for the celebrations. Other thoughts from Labour MPs included:

Contagious infantalism silenced rational argument.

— Paul Flynn(@Paulflynnmp) June 6, 2012

Denis MacShane tried to put this angle on the coverage:

Professor friend abroad calls to say he was struck at all faces in Jubilee events seemed to be white. That right?

— Denis MacShane (@DenisMacShane) June 6, 2012

Ken Livingstone's route to victory: hanging George Osborne and prosecuting Tony Blair

By Matthew Barrett
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Ken Livingstone seems to get his Mayoral campaign into a new controversy every other week with some new remark about evil Tories. The remarks are usually made at a "Tell Ken" event - public meetings he is holding around London as he campaigns to re-enter City Hall at next year's election. 

A fortnight ago, Harry Phibbs reported Livingstone's words to a Hammersmith and Fulham Borough Councillor:

"All of you [should be sent to prison], all of you. I think it’s what Shirley Porter did, and you’re destroying lives, and you should be ashamed of yourself. And if there’s any justice you will burn in hell and your flesh will be flayed for demons for all eternity."

These sentiments may well appeal to fringe left-wing activists, but the questionable language is unlikely to win over floating and moderate Labour voters - you would think. 

Labour Shadow Education Minister argues for the abolition of private schools

By Matthew Barrett
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Stephen Twigg, a Blairite reformer, was appointed to the Shadow Education brief in Ed Miliband's last reshuffle. As a former Education Minister who helped the drive for academy schools in the New Labour years, it was hoped his appointment might signal Ed Miliband's support for the Coalition's Free Schools programme. 

Indeed, Twigg said earlier this month:

"On free schools, I am saying that we need to apply a set of tests, that we are not going to take an absolute policy of opposing them. The tests should be: will the school raise standards for pupils and parents, will it contribute to a narrowing of the achievement gap between rich and poor and what is the wider impact of that school?"

Unfortunately, any credibility that Twigg may have in his brief will be undermined by the class war, anti-rich sentiments of his deputy, Kevin Brennan (pictured above), who last night spoke in favour of abolishing private schools - a proposal last seen in Labour's 1983 manifesto, aka the "longest suicide note in history".

Brennan was speaking at the Oxford Union, where he proposed the motion "This House Would Abolish Private Schools". Brennan had previously spoken in favour of the same motion in his debut speech to the Oxford Union - as a student.

The New Statesman's "Plan B" suggestions to George Osborne would be a manifesto for economic ruin

By Matthew Barrett
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The New Statesman magazine has a big economic story in this week's edition, which seeks to suggest a Plan B for George Osborne. The NS' Alice Gribbin writes: "nine of the world's leading economists -- including a Nobel prize winner, one of the Chancellor's own advisers and three former members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) -- write open letters to the Chancellor, George Osborne, urging him to adopt alternative and radical policies to stimulate growth and create jobs."

Let's see what they propose:

• Christopher Pissarides: "Cutting VAT back to 17.5 per cent, or reducing National Insurance contributions for those on low incomes, will revive job creation and reduce unemployment. "
• Sushil Wadhwani: "One good place to start is with the textbook example of printing money to finance consumption - sending every adult in the country a voucher that can be spent in the next three months."
• Jeffrey Sachs (an advisor to George Osborne): "I am strongly supporting the call for a Financial Transactions Tax, or FTT, which I believe would add efficiency to the global financial system by reducing destabilising speculation."
• David Blanchflower: "I suggest you increase the number of university places by 100,000 at once - the universities have a capacity. You could even insist that the extra places be primarily in science and engineering, which would help future growth. Second, give a tax holiday for two years on employer and employee National Insurance contributions for anyone under the age of 25."
• Lord Skidelsky: "We need a proper national investment bank, with more capital and the ability to raise private money ... You should use part of the proceeds of the sale of government shares in bailed-out banks to increase the capitalisation of the national investment bank."
• Jonathan Portes: "...reverse the damaging restrictions the government has introduced on skilled immigrants and students from outside the European Union."
• Ann Pettifor: "We need public works programmes that will mobilise a "carbon army" of "green-collar workers" and offer major incentive to environmentally friendly businesses."
• George Magnus: "The Bank of England could get involved in direct lending to SMEs and to the government, so that the latter could fund infrastructure and other programmes to boost employment."
• Christopher Allsopp: "My preference would be public investment for infrastructure, which is sorely needed and could be financed, currently, at negative real interest rates. How about a recovery fund, financed by index-linked gilts?"

Ed Miliband heckled at TUC congress

By Matthew Barrett
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Labour Leader Ed Miliband gave a speech to the TUC Congress this morning. He treated those assembled in the hall to the usual Miliband line about unions - they play a vital role, union members should have a say in the Labour Party, and the government is wrong to try and change their pensions. 

However, Mr Miliband ventured into dangerous territory - for a man who was elected by the unions: he questioned the wisdom of strike actions by teachers and civil servants during the summer. He said (video here):

"The Tories have set about reform in completely the wrong way. Even before John Hutton’s report was complete, they announced a 3 per cent surcharge on millions of your members. It was a typically bad move by a bad government trying to pick a fight. So I fully understand why millions of decent public sector workers feel angry. But while negotiations were going on, I do believe it was a mistake for strikes to happen. I continue to believe that."

Labour MP rushes to exploit Tottenham riots for political advantage

By Tim Montgomerie
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The tweets of Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, speak for themselves*.

The unrest last night followed the fatal shooting by local police of a 29-year-old man on Thursday. A protest at the shooting got out of hand. The BBC has more here.

* Hat tip to Iain Dale who spotted Mr Williamson's late night Twittering.

9.15am: Prime Minister's statement:

Peter Hain refuses to condemn strike action

By Matthew Barrett
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Earlier on this week, the head of public-sector union UNISON, Dave Prentis, used belligerent and class-war rhetoric to call for "a campaign for strike action without precedent". 

You might think it would be politically sensible for Ed Miliband and his team to shut this story down and remove themselves from any possible strike action. As the Telegraph's James Kirkup reports, Mr Miliband certainly tried to, telling the Guardian:

"Personally I don’t think actually strike action is going to help win that argument and I think it inconveniences the public."

However, Peter Hain, who is leading a review into the structures and organisation of the Labour Party ("Refounding Labour"), refused to condemn strikes on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, saying:

"I don’t think political leaders, in opposition or in government, should either applaud strikes or condemn strikes."

Perhaps Mr Hain, in his review of Labour's foundations, is simply aware of just how dependent on the unions his Party is.

Introducing... the Arthur Scargill of 2011... Dave Prentis of Unison

By Matthew Barrett
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Dave Prentis is the General Secretary of UNISON, one of Britain's largest unions, and one with a huge grip on public services. He is also auditioning for the position of 2011's Arthur Scargill, if this speech is anything to go by. 

In the above video, Prentis starts off with some way over-the-top rhetoric:

"Don't underestimate the outrage at the savagery of your gratuitous attack on our pensions"

He then accuses the Government of instigating some kind of class war:

"their crude efforts to set public sector against private sector, to start a new race to the bottom ... an attack on over five million workers, 20 million people could be affected and all on the false premise that our pensions are gold-plated and unaffordable, it's a tissue of lies"

Prentis finishes off with a belligerent rallying cry:

"we will strike to defend our pensions and it will be a campaign of strike action without precedent ... we plan for the worst and our preparations are well advanced, but there is more, much more to do, and today, this is our union's call to arms"

Mr Prentis also recently urged Ed Miliband to stop making "reasonable statements".