The Poliblogs 5 February 2008

No Olivant branch for Northern Rock

In addition to the poor pun; this is quite bad news for the government and taxpayers. Olivant was the financial engineering bid, the one that would make the numbers add up before all else. Branson's bid has a big element of investing faith in the Virgin brand to make a turnaround. We know that this does work spectacularly sometimes, but there are a quite number of failures on the route too. I don't see too many crowing about the Virgin Media success story.

Capitalists@Work

MPs' Expenses Inquiry: I Predict a Whitewash

I've just been on the phone home, when my partner told me that the BBC were reporting that Speaker Michael Martin had launched a "root and branch" investigation into MPs' expenses. Good, I thought. It's about time too. Most MPs would admit that the whole system is creaking and is open to misinterpretation. Better look up the detail, I thought. And so I came to THIS BBC Online report - and my heart sank.

Iain Dale

MPs: Taking the Michael

Norman Baker, as always, got it exactly right on PM. Speaking of MPs who claim their mortgage payments for London second properties and then sell those properties at a profit when they cease to be MPs, he said: "That's unethical". It is very welcome that Norman, speaking in a personal capacity, we were told, put it so bluntly.

Liberal Burblings

"Secretive and bizarre" decision-making

Perversely, we can find no corresponding report in the Committee’s website. Its latest production there is dated 29 January and does not overtly deal with the issue to hand. This notwithstanding, the Western Mail story tells us that the Committee is urging greater openness about the actions of the European Council. It also complains that parliaments in some of the other member states are given access to draft European Council documents which our local government withholds from the House of Commons.

EU Referendum

Something's bugging me...

Sometimes in this job you stumble into a subject about which you know very little and emerge, well, confused. Then you suddenly realise that this is entirely intentional. Clarity is sometimes the last thing government's want when handling tricky questions. So it is has been over the years with the issue of bugging MPs (or intercepting their communications which, I now realise, is very different). To be fair to the Justice Secretary Jack Straw if you listened to him very carefully and then read what he had to say several times the fog did begin to clear (a little).

Nick Robinson

Bugs rife

The Wilson doctrine is to protect MPs from subversion by rogue elements in the security services, but not to give them immunity from all surveillance

Crispin Black

Bugging MPs

Why is there such a furore over the bugging of Sadiq Khan [Labour MP for Tooting]? He wasn't being bugged, but the person he was visiting. That he is an MP should make absolutely no difference. MPs should be exempt from bugging personally because they are MPs, but bugging shouldn't have to be restricted with regards to other people around them. MPs are just citizens who happen to be allowed to site of the House of Commons for a while by kind permission of the electorate. Maybe this is something they forget?

The ThuderDragon

Policing the Surveillance Rules and House Rules Parliament

The Wilson Doctrine states that privileged conversations of Westminster MPs and Peers should not be bugged. This morning I heard on Radio 4 a description of why the security apparatus had kept quiet when this happened: “We didn’t tell them about it becuse then we’d have to have admitted what we have done”. And - as far as I know - that is the story under both shades of government in the UK, and so is a non-partisan civil liberties question. But the problem is similar to that of seeking a more acceptable set of principles, rules and structures for managing expenses and all the rest in the Houses of Parliament.

The Wardman Wire

The reassertion of our social democracy

Labour project has demonstrated anything, it has underlined just how far British politics has become de-ideologised. No longer do the mainstream parties fight on the basis of competing visions for society, even to the limited extent that they did in the late 1980s, let alone the period of polarisation between Thatcherism and Bennism that immediately preceded the Kinnock years.

Liberal Conspiracy

Can Labour regain the moral high ground?

Can high level resignations be avoided if Labour is to have any hope of regaining the moral high ground it sought in the run up to the 1997 landslide General election result? The Conway affair exposed by journalists has left all three mainstream political parties wanting. My wife and I took our 10-year old niece to a highly entertaining production of Aladdin by the Castle Players in Lytchett hall in Dorset on Saturday. It is a long way from Westminster, but they are on the button when it comes to the political issues of the day.

Peter Kenyon

Does Ken Livingstone deserve to stay Mayor?

That’s the question I’ve been grappling with for the past few weeks… maybe even months. Long before the allegations appeared in the ‘Evening Boris (Standard)’ newspaper and Martin Bright’s Dispatches documentary on Channel 4, I had been pointing out here that Livingstone was happy hosting events for fundamentalist Sikh and Hindu groups without learning of their background (let alone cosying up to the MCB!).

Pickled Politics

Tories shrug off Conway affair in new Populus poll (revised)

Tory lead boosted to 9% in spite of problems. The figures from this month’s Populus poll for the Times are just out and show an increase in the Tory lead. The shares are CON 40% (nc): LAB 31% (-2): LD 17% (-2). The Tory share of 40% equals the best the pollster has recorded since the general election and the nine point margin is the best. I go back to the point that I repeatedly raise - that Tory poll ratings are closely linked to the volume of media coverage the party is getting - good or bad. What Conway has done has put the party back in the headlines again.

Political Betting

Fly away, Wendy

The Scottish Labour leader was once admired for loathing sleaze. Now her party badly needs her to show a sense of moral purpose by resigning

Tim Luckhurst

What Should the Rules be for MPs? Guest Article Series

I have kicked off the "What Should the Rules be for MPs?" debate over at The Wardman Wire.

I think I have come up with a great solution to the "snouts in the trough" scandals. No don't many of you will subsequently decide I am completely bonkers and have your own opinions.

However, the crux of my argument is that all decisions surrounding of expenses claims and MP pay rises and employment of staff should be put in the hands of an independent administrator. This way, MPs will get the pay rises they deserve, not what the press and public put pressure on them get; they will no longer be allowed to freely claim expenses and they will have to go through the same processes of employing staff that all other public sector companies do - i.e. an open, competitive process. Read the article for the more detailed and explanatory version!

All week different takes will be put forward by bloggers on the issue. Go take a look and enjoy what should be a fascinating series of debates.

The Late Lunch Briefing

Another week, another scandal...

A new week, a new political scandal. This latest one is, I suspect, a storm in a teacup in terms of the government and opposition. The bugging of Tooting MP Sadiq Khan having a private conversation with a constituent whilst visiting him in prison is today's headline story. There are a few interesting things that have struck me about this latest story - though I am sure that after we hear Jack Straw’s statement there will be a few more.

Was the letter sent?

Firstly, David Davis’ claim that he sent a letter to Downing Street last December telling them of this story and No.10 denying all knowledge of any correspondence. Why would David Davis lie about this? And why would no.10 deny this?

The case against DD

Well, it does seem strange that if DD did write to No.10 nearly two months ago about something he considers very serious, why has he only decided to follow it up now? Perhaps it is just coincidence that this story has come out at the same time as the first negative press the Tories have received since last summer. Perhaps not.

The case against No.10

The motive for No.10 denying this is if they were the ones who authorised the bugging directly and are attempting a cover up. This seems highly unlikely to me. The government will be seriously damaged (again) if they are found out to be behind this – particularly if it was either Brown or Jacqui Smith who is directly behind it. I just don’t think they are though. I suspect this is either the police or MI5’s doing. Again, it may well be damaging to either of them – especially if it turns out Sir Ian Blair had a say in it – enough people want to see his head roll to make this story big.

The case against the Wilson Doctrine

The second interesting part of this story is the idea of the Wilson Doctrine. Why should MPs be exempt from having their phones bugged, but the rest of us aren’t? This just sounds a little bit like the MPs having one rule for themselves and another for the rest of us. It just adds to the perception of double standards that the expenses debate is showing up. I understand that an MP should have a the right to private conversations with their constituents, but then again I should have the right to a private conversation with my friends. If the powers that be see the need to bug an individual then I don’t see why an MP is any different.

Not who was bugged, but who authorised it and why that are the important elements

Surely this whole story should be not so much about who was being bugged but who authorised the bugging and why. If it turns out that it was some two-bit copper who didn’t go down the correct channels then heads should roll. If there was a legitimate reason – e.g. a serious threat to national security - and the right and proper processes were taken, then I do not see a problem.

Personally I am very suspect of the growing surveillance society and this may well be a good opportunity for the government not only to move on from an outdated 1960s convention but also to review who and what is ethical to be bugged. Maybe if our MPs were under the same laws and conventions as the rest of us, they might not be so quick to allow our conversations to be listened in to.

UPDATE:

Just seen this on the BBC. It looks like it was a "Thames Valley Police Officer" who took the decision. As I suspected Ministers were not consulted. Nick Robinson is also saying that Khan was not the intended target of the bugging. A storm in a teacup indeed.

The real plus out of this is the exposure of the Wilson Doctrine again and maybe we can update this outdated convention that paints the picture of MPs being above the law.

The Poliblogs 4 February 2008

So who decides the ‘right way’ to staff an MPs office? 1 February 2008

In response to the scandal over Derek Conway’s employment of his son for doing no work, there have been understandable calls from some commentators to change the way parliamentary staff are employed and monitored. But what worries me about this discussion is that people appear to believe that there is one agreed way for an MP to do his or her job, and likewise for the way they employ their staff.

Anders Hanson

Tory MP publishes detailed expenses

Is it likely, with the news that Tory MP, Ben Wallace, has decided to publish a detailed breakdown of his expenses claims that other MPs will now follow suit? Something tells me they won't, not sure why but I just doubt that many of them will. Some of them will not want to because they think it is a witch hunt, others probably won't want to because if they do people might find out that they've been claiming for money to pay for things that they shouldn't have.

Dizzy Thinks

Value for money from Parliament?

Let’s face it. Parliament has become to some another of those monopoly nationalised industries that Labour always think work in the public interest, but which the public love to hate. People pay through the nose for the subsidised nationalised industries whether they use the service or not. The service is often not up to the standard they want. Now there are similar criticisms of the cost and performance of Parliament.

John Redwood

Desperate Tories: Trying to Bury Conway News?

At last a story from a Tory about goings on in a prison cell near you. But alas not from Iain Dale's bessie Derek Conway who is going out of way to state that he doesn't think he "ripped anyone off" by passing loads of money to relatives and their mates while getting no work back. Instead Iain Dale has his M & S XXLs in a twist over the bugging of Shafiq Khan MP. This occurred allegedly during a routine prison visit to a constituent who happens to be a USA target for extradition to face terror charges.

Chris Paul

So what happened to DD's letter?

There's a nasty anti-democratic whiff to the revelation that the cops have bugged an MP. Naturally, I'm curious about a parliamentarian who has "ordinary, routine meetings" with someone suspected of Talibano-beardism, but that doesn't excuse what looks like a blatant example of contempt of Parliament by the Met. I'm told that it's not a case of mistaken bugging, and that the Yard are being quite bullish about eavesdropping on Sadiq Khan. Sir Ian Blair will have to explain why he's free to ignore Parliamentary convention.

Ben Brogan

Ken Livingstone - Darling of the Right

I voted for Ken Livingstone in 2000 and 2004 and, barring something astonishing happening, will vote for him again this year, despite holding my nose to keep out the stench of his opportunistic support for Killer of the Yard and his gun goons. Mind you, I'm a crotchety left-of-centre sod who's keen on public transport, likes a drink and hates neocons. So far, then a perfect fit. However, this discussion came up twice recently while talking with a couple of friends who don't exactly fit that image.

Blair Watch

Brown is all that stands between Blair and the EU presidency

What started off as a joke is growing more serious by the hour. Bets are being laid on the next EU president and the favourite is one Anthony Charles Lynton Blair. Ladbrokes has cut him from 3/1 to 2/1, perhaps after the Guardian piece this morning. Put aside the (rich) comic value of all this, the appointment has its logic. If you want the EU to pack a diplomatic punch (I don't) then this depends to a huge degree on getting heavy-hitter who knows how to work the circuit. Who better than the globe-trotting Blair?

Coffee House

Blair: ‘I'll be president of Europe if you give me power’

And what power would this be? Why, the power to intervene in matters of defence as well as trade. And so the EU acquires overt military expression, and another tranche of sovereign power is ceded as the foundations are laid for a revived European Empire. Cranmer won’t say he told you so, but he told you so.

Cranmer

Have the Blairites commenced hostilities with the Brownies?

In a previous post I gave Gordon Brown until May before he was given the boot. I may have wrong. You see, he could be going much sooner. Not wanting to sound like a gypsy palm reader, I think I see a pattern emerging! Two former Senior Labour Ministers have been critical of their own party this week. The two critical interviews do not seem that damaging when taken individually, BUT when you look at the targets of the criticism and take into account that they came only days apart, Gordon Brown and his supporters will know exactly what is going on.

Daily Referendum

Crunching Credit - why is Vince Cable still a voice crying in the wilderness?

Vince Cable has been warning for many years about spiralling debt in this country. But, rather like Noah, his words have, until now, fallen on stony ground. The stoniest ground it seems to me being in parts of the financial services industry, closely followed by the opposition parties. Now we are all paying the price for this palpable neglect, but none more so than those who face the threat of the repossession of their homes.

LindyLooz Muze

Quite literally the nanny state

For what it’s worth, I think that the new proposal from the Conservatives is actually rather good. It entails each newborn and their mother having the services of a maternity nurse for the first week after leaving hospital. According to the Observer, it would cost ‘at least £150m a year’. I think a closer figure is £212m per year - my workings are at the end of this post. Whether or not it survives, I think the Conservatives - and I mean this genuinely - are to be congratulated on putting forward an ambitious, policy proposal. I hope that full, detailed costings and implementations are brought forward.

Dave Cole

Why concentrating on scandal misses the point

Political blogging is young even in its mother country, the United States. In the United Kingdom it is barely out of the cradle and murmuring its first words. Political blogging here insofar as it has come to the attention of mainstream journalists has come to their attention because of a couple of sites- notably that of Guido Fawkes. Guido writes about political scandal all the time. If you want the latest word on Peter Hain or Wendy Alexander or Harriet Harmon, head over to his blog and he’ll be sure to enlighten you. He doesn’t write about policy because he says its boring- he’d prefer to concentrate on the juicy scandals.

Liberal Conspiracy

It’s back to a smiling Gordon with Ipsos-Mori

Is Gord’s party really doing better than in 2005? The results of Ipsos-Mori January face to face survey of more than 2000 people are just out and give Labour a one point lead - a huge change on the last survey by the pollster just three weeks ago. Unlike this survey the earlier poll was by phone.

These are the latest shares with comparisons on the earlier survey CON 37% (-5): LAB 38% (+6): LD 16% (+1). The fieldwork took place the week before last finishing on January 23rd. A YouGov poll that closed on the same date had an 8% Labour Conservative lead.

Political Betting

Labour’s ICM deficit moves up to 5%

Has the Conway business actually helped Dave? A new ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph tomorrow has the following shares with changes on the last published survey from the pollster - CON 37% (nc): LAB 32% (-3): LD 21% (+1). These numbers will certainly ease Tory jitters and deflate the bubble of expectation amongst Labour supporters that followed yesterday’s MORI poll showing the party with a one point lead. All these changes, it should be said, are within the margin of error.

Political Betting

Sunday Times: illegal bugging of Muslim MP - Wilson Doctrine breached ?

The Sunday Times leads with an interesting scoop, involving two topics about which we have written about here on Spy Blog, namely the Wilson Doctrine executive administrative prohibition on tapping or bugging the communications of Members of Parliament, and the controversial attempt by the US government to extradite British Muslim IT technician Babar Ahmad to the USA, without presenting any prima facie evidence to a British Court.

SpyBlog

A golden opportunity for David Cameron

Team Cameron will be relieved they got through the weekend without another killer Conway style blow on MPs' expenses. Cameron needs to take the side of the public against the MPs. Some clever planting of policy stories, as Patrick Hennessy pointed out, diluted the impact of revelations on the subject, such as there were, in the weekend papers. Indeed, some of the worst headlines related to Labour and the renewed troubles of the party's leader in the Scottish Parliament, Wendy Alexander. She has been reported to the fiscal over non-declaration of donations.

The Three Whip

Condoleezza Rice

I don't agree with much of the rhetoric that has come out of the current US administration over the past few years and I try to focus this blog as much on UK politics as possible. However, I have to say that Condoleezza Rice is spot on about Al Quaeda’s use of mentally-handicapped women as bombers. Rice said that Al Quaeda had “no political programme here that is acceptable to a civilised society and that this is the most brutal and the most bankrupt of movements”.

Using handicapped women as suicide bombers? This brutal and bankrupt bunch of sick criminals has almost impossibly plummeted new levels of depravity.

The Poliblogs' Blog of the Week

A slight change to the Poliblogs' Blog of the Week award from this week onwards. Instead of a top three I will just be awarding to the winner.

This week's top of the blogs is the brilliant Blaney's Blarney. A blogger who hardly needs recognition from me, but he's getting it anyway! Blaney's Blarney is from the old school of Conservative thinking. A self-confessed Thaterite, Donal Blaney is not a man to mince his words. Punchy and cutting, Blaney's Blarney has featured in my Daily Roundup from day one and rarely goes more than a day or two without at least one of his posts making making it on to the Poliblogs. Whether you are a Tory or not, this blog will pick you up and either make you cheer with joy that finally someone is saying it, or make you hang your head in shame that someone has only gone and said it! Either way, you'll want to enter the debate. Thought provoking, amusing, sometimes filled with anger, Mr Blaney is a master of the partisan blog.

The Late Lunch Briefing

The Worst Politician in the UK

Who is the worst politician in the UK? Derek Conway? Peter Hain? George Galloway, perhaps? Some might even plump for Livingstone and/or Boris Johnson. However, I can trump all of these. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Britain’s worst politician - Liberal Democrat MEP Fiona Hall. Deluded Fiona Hall has summed up to me everything that is wrong about the Environment debate and whether you are a staunch believer in man-induced climate change or a sceptic, you should have contempt for MEP Fiona Hall.

Ban Patio Heaters? Are you joking?

In case you missed it, Fiona Hall has called for a complete ban on patio heaters. This is her idea of saving the planet. The every little helps approach. In fact, not only is she doing bugger all to save the planet she is reducing what is actually a very serious issue in to one about patio heaters. What in the name of all things holy does this enviro-nutter think banning patio heaters is going to actually do? We’d probably make more difference if we all promised not to fart for a week.

What are you actually trying to tackle here?

Lib Dem Voice (thank God not all Lib Dems are nutters, just this one and few others – all parties have them!) has highlighted a piece from Dr Eric Johnson, a national expert reviewer for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. He states that plasma TVs produce far more CO2 than patio heaters. Let’s ban them too. And while we’re at it, let’s ban the car, the fridge – hell let’s ban electricity. We should all move in to caves and eat plants –raw one of course. And while we are at saving the planet, there are far too many of us here to sustain a zero-carbon lifestyle so let’s have mass genocide and get rid 90% of all humans on the planet. That will end made man CO2 emissions, for sure. Just one problem – why the hell should we?!

It is people like Fiona Hall that have a real problem with people actually bettering themselves. Why should the masses be allowed to huddle round a heater while having a cigarette? Smokers are tantamount to murderers these days, so to hell with them! Why should Mr Jones buy a better car just because he has worked his way up the ladder and come in to a bit of money – he came from humble beginnings, he can stay there.

A Radical new approach is desperately needed to tackle this serious issue effectively

Attacks on people’s simple way of life that have virtually no impact on global warming will only make people more resistant. We need a new approach to tackling climate change because right now we are making no difference other than to increase taxes to raise coffers and change people’s chosen life styles. We are not having an impact on the real issues. The result is apathy and cynicism. Technology is the answer and industrial change in the USA and BRIC countries will make the differences. By all means we should practice what we preach – but banning patio heaters? Dear Lord.

The Poliblogs 1 February 2008

Brian Paddick: Talentless & Desperate

The sight of Brian Paddick, famous only for being a gay policeman and downgrading cannabis on his patch, at a celeb-filled fundraiser for his London mayoral campaign shows how weak his campaign for mayor has already become. How he can use the phrase "Serious About London" as his campaign slogan is beyond me: it must be his display of humour.

Blaney’s Blarney

Times: 'Livingstone Used City Hall Staff in 2004 Vote'

Today's Times has alleged that Ken Livingstone's 2004 campaign team "instructed public servants to write articles in support" in his bid for re-election. The paper reports that "One e-mail to the mayor's former senior adviser on Asian affairs, Atma Singh, sent at 9.30am, explicitly asks that he write two articles in support of Mr Livingstone by noon that day."

Mayor Watch

Galloway backs Ken

You can say a lot about that George Galloway, but this is a positive thing. Anyine who can get the support both of Galloway and Luke Akehurst is onto a winner. I have no idea why SWP/Respect persists in running a candidate against a socialist mayor, but I suppose that's the SWP for you. This is particularly insightful:

New Direction

Maggie Gives Cameron His Orders

Never one to mince words, Margaret Thatcher has told David Cameron to raise his game and win a "proper majority" for the Conservatives at the next election. They were together at a rather glitzy awards ceremony in London, at which he presented her with a Lifetime Achievement Award and made a rather gushing speech about her.

Boulton & Co.

Cameron on Thatcher

Last night, David Cameron presented Margaret Thatcher with a lifetime achievement award, and he follows it up with an article on the Iron Lady in today's Telegraph. The article begins boldly: “Those who say that the modern Conservative Party is breaking with the legacy of Margaret Thatcher are wrong.” And mixes praise for Thatcher with swipes at Brown:

Coffee House

PMQs - 30/01/08 Gordon Brown, just answer a bloody question.

I've just caught up with yesterday's PMQs. Until late 2006 I considered myself a Labour supporter, all be it a disaffected one. I then went through a stage of not being able to call myself aligned to any party. However through blogging I became more aware of the political situation in this country and decided to become a member the Conservative Party. The reason I became disillusioned and ended my life long support of the Labour Party? - Incompetence - pure and simple. I voted Labour in their last three election victories. The latter with a gnawing doubt that I was making a mistake, but I was pinning my hopes on Labour finally getting to grips with governance. You see I was brought up in Barnsley, South Yorkshire where enterprising (i.e. wear a red rosette) donkeys really can make it to Westminster.

Daily Referendum

Should the Lib Dems be supporting the ban on patio heaters?

It’s a big day for patio heater manufacturers, as the European Parliament looks set to approve a Lib Dem-inspired measure which would see the faddish appliances phased out, along with electrical stand-by modes, and minimum standards set for energy efficiency on air-conditioning, television “decoder” boxes and light bulbs. Lib Dem MEP Fiona Hall is behind the initiative (which has no legal force). You can read her report in full here. Here’s an extract:

Lib Dem Voice

Do you think Gordon will see this as a threat?

What does Labour do now the Tories are not seen “the nasty party”? The front page of this morning’s Guardian is dominated by a report that groups of Labour modernisers, including cabinet minsters, are planning to tell Brown to offer a more radical reform programme to help beat off the Tory threat in the centre ground. Linked to a paper from the Progress thinktank the group is arguing that the political landscape has changed, that the opposition is perceived differently and, pointedly at Gordon, that economic competance is not enough as a platform. Labour needs a stronger message.

Political Betting

David Cameron's day in the Sun

Surely it is a mere conspiracy theory? Can there possibly be any truth in a story I’ve picked up about David Cameron and the Sun? On Wednesday morning, when the rest of Fleet Street was busy ending the career of Derek Conway, Britain’s Number 1 daily red-top had a different story on its front page. “Police, Cameron, Action” ran the headline: the Tory leader had told the paper exclusively of his plans to revise the rules around the police’s so-called stop powers. I’m not sure this was such a great departure by the Tories, but let us leave that for now.

Three Line Whip