Robbed!

Three men armed with crowbars and an axe attacked security guards delivering cash to the Unions cash machines this morning. They got away but a massive police operation is underway to find them.

Some pictures from this morning.





I hope its open, its political-karaoke tonight!

Yellow Pages?

When I saw the debate I just thought of this...

Newsnight Poll

OK Cruddas won the poll hands down, it was an impressive display at the debate and thousands voted. Someone from team Blears has already been on the phone to tell me Conservative Home rigged it, come on!

Blair- The Goodbye Tour

For ten years now the Prime Minister has been one of the biggest figure in international politics, and when he resigns it will leave the world's leaders wondering what they have to expect from his successor. Mr Blair has decided to spend his last weeks in office solidifying the nations relationship with Africa by visiting some of the nations where his influence has been greatest. It is unquestionable that Mr Blair's legacy in Africa is impressive, but this latest trip is really to assure foreign leaders that the Labour policy on African affairs will remain constant. In Sierra Leone Labour and Mr Blair are especially popular. Quick thinking led to the maintenance of the legitimate government and the defeat of rebels. The Prime Minister is to be made an honorary paramount chief of Sierra Leone in recognition of his humanitarian work there.
"However ferocious the challenges are in this part of Africa it's better to intervene and try to make a difference than stay out and try to cope with the consequences at a later time."

Though there are a score of books about the unusually high level of conflict we have seen during the Labour Governments term of office, it is undeniable that some great things have been achieved. Though the papers seem to talk of nothing but Iraq, British records in other areas of the globe have been nothing but good. The African media has remained generally positive towards the UK during the Blair years, although Zimbabwe of course is resolutely critical. One paper said: "As Sierra Leone takes a new path towards socio-economic recovery today, this nation will always live to remember the significant contribution of a British prime minister, who had a unique vision to better the lives of the forgotten people of Africa".

Now, as the Prime Minister prepares to stand down, we must wait to see if Gordon Brown upholds the legacy of Labour foreign policy in Africa. Initial signs look good, but we shall really see how the future will look after the upcoming G8 conference. After his retirement, one of Mr Blair's roles will undoubtedly be that of international peace-broker. Ironic, say the LibDems, but I think his record proves that when he fills the role, he will do it well.

Newsnight debate

Again Peter Hain came accross strong, Cruddas certainly came over better than he did at the Sheffield Hustings. Alan was very good on the subtance of what he had to say. Harman sounded like a Trot from my Labour Club, Blears was better than usual and it was probably a nightmare for Hilary Benn.

If your best card is name recognition from your left wing dad, your appeal is to the middle class, intellectual, soft left party members why on earth do you put yourself directly at odds with the "born again" anti war candidates and deliberatly make the most right wing noises of any candidate. When one of my friends, who sits around dreaming of a Reid for Leader bid phones me up to tell me he had it all wrong about Hilary and now loves him, it kind of says it all.

Deputy Leadership Turning Nasty?

OK some people had a whinge about me being nasty about Hilary Benn earlier, having watched yesterdays hustings however im content to let him produce all his own bad publicity in the future.

It seems a "senior labour source" is behind the latest story about John Cruddas, someone in the Cruddas camp alleged to me this was Hazel Blears' work and was quick to point out that a source in the Blears camp claims she knew all along about her dodgy tshirt supplier.

No names involved of course, plenty of whispers though. Shame we can't just get on with the task at hand and winning a fourth term. If anyone of these people are prepared to run such desperate campaigns, why did they only stand for the number 2 job?

Tough Question for Hilary Benn

With Italy the latest country withdrawing from the World Bank's Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility, the agency setup to privatise water in third world countries how long will Benn continue to defend this obscene practice?

Britain now contributes more than half the funds aimed at making water a commodity to the poorest people in the world and last year a damming report found that foreign water companies are spending millions on propoganda to persuade people in the poorest countries of the virtues of selling off their water supplies to western companies. Since the start of the programme very little has been spent structurally improving water facilities however in many countries prices have soared and access decreased.

Education! Education! Education!

But where is it going? The debate over the future of British Education seems to have derailed and is on it's way over the horizon as both parties abandon their traditional positions in an attempt to design a system capable of meeting the demands of a knowledge-based economy. The Tories recently announced that they would halt the spread of grammar schools, and suggested that they would instead be expanding on Labour's own schemes, as they put it "taking seriously some of Tony Blair's own rhetoric".

However recently David Cameron has seen some serious opposition from both his own party and UKIP, many of whom are disaffected Tories. Nigel Farage, UKIP's somewhat peculiar leader has already condemned Cameron for withdrawing his support of selection. The Tories have responded, with their education spokesman, David Willets claiming that

"A return to the 11+ is not the way of increasing social mobility today."

Well I for one am glad the Tories have finally realised that one. However YouGov begs to differ, showing that more than two thirds of Tory voters support selection. The question is, does this mean another Tory split? Cameron is doing everything he can to make the Tories into a modern party, but he is facing much more difficulty in creating the New Conservatives than Blair did in creating New Labour. UKIP's vocal support for selection is no doubt an attempt to entice more Tories to the break-away party. City Academies appear to be the order of the day, as both parties come out in support of the initiative. Brown commented last week, saying
"For those 14 to 16-year-olds most at risk of dropping out, for whom conventional schooling is a turn-off, we need a system of special support that motivates them through work-related training and raises their aspirations through intensive one-to-one mentoring in order to prepare them for further learning and the world of work,"

But perhaps the biggest question, is 'will David Cameron be successful in ditching his own image of upper class Toffery to become a modern leader, or will he once again be out-manoeuvred by the free-thinking left'.

Overwhelming Support for Brown.

The leadership contest is effectively over, as an overwhelming number of MPs have chosen to support Mr. Brown, denying left-wing candidate John McDonnell even the chance of standing in the whole party ballot. The most tossed around line is that Gordon Brown was 'humbled' by the extent of his support, but most of the party had been aware for some time that it would be difficult for a radical candidate to secure support. Both critics inside of the party and those in opposition have came out to comment on the lack of democracy involved in the 'coronation'. Mr Brown responded today, commenting that

"At the end of the day it may be embarrassing, perhaps, to have so much support, but... I think you have got to accept that as the verdict of the parliamentary party."

The fact is that Mr. Brown has shown the nation that he has the confidence of his peers, and the parliamentary party has shown us that despite rebellions and supposed unrest, they are still united in common purpose. That purpose however has yet to be revealed in significant detail; after all, the chancellor has been noticeably reticent in revealing the full extent of his plans. However, I think that the party, and indeed the nation, can be confident that a wide range of policies and reforms will be unveiled shortly before the handover on the 27th. As he said recently,

"In the weeks and months ahead, my task is to show I have the new ideas, the vision and the experience to earn the trust of the British people."

Although full details are obviously not yet revealed, I think it's safe to assume that we will be seeing major reforms on constitutional affairs, along with some new initiatives into housing and environmentalism. The challenge is- as the Economist (May 12th) points out, is to

"...rebuild the traditional centre-left - which is split between Labour, the Lib Dems and the nationalist parties in Wales and Scotland - Whilst preventing the Tories' tightening grip on the South from turning into a lock."

It's difficult to imagine how Mr. Brown would go about achieving these seemingly mutually exclusive goals, but after this weeks show of unity, we can safely say he has a good chance.

Bloody Students come out for Johnson

The only polls that count

Certain Deputy Leadership candidates are pointing to various polls which show them as either poised to win or the best person to win. Im always dubious of polls of party members, for one thing our membership lists are not availible for private research companies to scientifically poll.

The only indicative poll so far shows Alan Johnson clearly in the lead with most of our MEPs backing him and in the clear lead on the PLP nominations without any factional Blairite/Brownite credentials. Certainly no need to scramble around at the last minute doing back room deals with the hard left.

Leadership elections roll on...

It looks very good for the chancellor's campaign today, as 282 MPs declare support for Gordon Brown. In contrast, only 27 MPs have declared themselves as supporting John McDonnell, leading commentators to wonder if he will even make it to the Ballot. With the 12.30pm Thursday deadline coming ever closer John McDonnell will be scouring the back-benches for the extra 18 MPs he needs to stand. McDonnell remains confident, however, claiming

"This is really good progress. It's not even half-time yet and we're over half-way in terms of nominations with some MPs out of the country and others finalising their position."

However, many have their doubts, including Alan Johnson MP and, quite frankly, myself. John McDonnell obviously decided to stand convinced he would receive nominations (and votes) from two areas of the party- the old left, and those who wanted to see a choice on the ballot. However, both the general public and the party seem to feel that though a contest is preferable, John McDonnell lacks the image and charisma to mount a meaningful challenge.

And as the deputy leadership elections also move forward, all of the contenders have managed to get the required 45 nominations except for the man many consider to be one of the front runners- Hilary Benn. Alan Johnson still looks strong, and today he commented on the media attention the deputy leadership election was drawing, saying

"I think the media will focus more on the deputy contest because it looks unlikely there will be a contest for the leadership."

Whatever the reason, I think we can expect to see a lot more of Mr. Johnson in the future.

Gordon is Working

Reports the Observer Today

Hilary Benn's wheels coming off?

Hilary's campaign has been dogged for a while now that he lacks the nominations to get on the ballot with one senior backbencher even going as far to say "who would vote for a man called Hilary?". The speculation seems to have been confirmed when every deputy leadership candidate announcing they had the nominations needed, apart from him.

It must come as a devastating blow today the revelation that he has not been consistently declaring his quater million pound stake in United Business Media, a company which has been doing business with his government department.

I have never been an admirer of millionaire socialists, his father Tony Benn is no exception to that and im pretty sad to see his heir attempting to pitch himself to the left in this leadership election.