In life we all mistakes. So I admit to serious misjudgement in voting for Peter Hain as Deputy Leader. Not that that matters now, of course. The post has been rendered all but obsolete and the vaguely lefty noises made by Hain, Harman and Cruddas have been pretty much silenced by the relentless march of the Brown machine and its obsession with the free market .
Still, Hain has gone beyond the pale in allowing a whopping £100,000 in spondoolics to stay undeclared. Funds, he says , which "were necessary to run a modern campaign." Those of us on the left of course had no such cash cows - nor the slick campaign literature which Hain et al sent out in their quest to become Deputy Dawg. Would it have made any difference? Possibly. Possibly not. Anyway, that's history.
The point is that since getting back into Government Hain has behaved in a fashion which quells any remaining doubts that he would get completely behind the New Labour bandwagon in his bid to stay part of the Government's glitterati. Punitive pronouncements on welfare benefits, utter betrayal of the Remploy campaigners, backing for nuclear power from this once committed unilateralist. It's not a distinguished record at the DWP, is it?.
The bogus "think-tank" which allegedly funded Hain's campaign by the back door is yet another illustration that there is one law for the Establishment and another for us. I wager that tomorrow's Sunday papers will have lots more details. I also think Hain will be out in any Brown re-shuffle - even if he isn't forced to resign. And guess what he will do then ? Yep, expect him to turn sharply to the left. And this time I won't believe a word of it.
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To be fair to Cruddas he was one of the 35 who rebelled against the government on the POA no-strike dictat in the week. None of the other deputy leadership candidates did, of course.
Here's the roll of shame.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmhansrd/cm080109/debtext/80109-0009.htm#08010972002563
As much as I dislike Hain, it is a bit rich of the Tories to criticise
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7185622.stm
Labour MP Anne Moffat voted against, who i didn't think was normally a rebel?
Didn't Hain argue for women pensioners to get a better deal? Anyway, great to see your anger about the disgusting welfare reforms Susan, these cancel out any other good works by Hain by a mile.
Problem is that all the contestants other than Cruddas are Ministers which means they will never rebel unless they resign first. That's the nature of British government.
Hain will not resign. Unless, of course, he decides to spend more time with his money. I mean family! Ha ha! Yes, sorry. Easy slip to make. After all, Peter Hain "forgot" about £100,000.
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