GRIMMER DOWN SOUTH ....AGAIN

Someone pointed out to me that it isn't wise to tell the world when you are not at home. All I can say is there is very little in my house to steal - apart from thousands of books and a rapidly becoming obsolete PC. So, am about to desert Hebden Bridge again to attend an Editorial Board meeting of Labour Briefing. Items on the agenda include the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance - about which I will say no more.But I daresay plenty will be said tomorrow. The event is also an excuse to use a rather nice photo which Louise took at the recent Briefing AGM.With me on the platform are Judy Atkinson of UNISON and Murad Qureshi of the GLA.

RUNNERS AND RIDERS IN CALDER VALLEY

The selection process for Calder Valley is about to start and we now have the list of names of the local contenders who have put themselves forward. They are Kerry May (GMB) Jane Lewis(AMICUS/UNITE) Steph Booth and Janet Oosthuysen. In the interests of fairness and good relations with my CLP colleagues, I will not be commenting further on this until a decision has been made. However, I have already made my preference clear.

Janet Oosthuysen, who four weeks ago almost WON a council seat from the Liberal Democrats, is by far the best candidate for the task. Not only does she work and campaign tirelessly, she is a committed socialist with Real Labour values. She is also a mum with teenage kids who unlike other politicians doesn't have to give patronising lectures about "hard working families." because she is part of one and knows exactly what life is like at the sharp end. Good luck Janet. We'll be working hard to try and get that selection through. Because the only way we can win this seat again is with a Labour Left - not New Labour - candidate.

DON'T CALL US......

If the phone rings tonight when you're watching the telly, it might well be our Prime Minister. Apparently, Gordon Brown is embarking on a mission to persuade people to part with their hard-earned dosh to save the Labour Party from bankruptcy.
According to the Guardian, the Party has just five weeks to find £7.45m to pay off loans to banks and wealthy donors recruited by Lord Levy. A further £6.2m will have to be repaid by Christmas - making £13.65m in all. The sum amounts to two-thirds of the party's annual income from donations.
The figures are a conservative estimate as they do not include interest that will also have to be paid. A Labour source has said that although the total debt was listed as £17.8m on the Electoral Commission website, the true level, with interest, was nearer to £24m.
The possibility that party officials and members of its national executive committee could become liable is being taken seriously by union leaders, and has been underlined by the decision of equity fund chairman David Pitt-Watson not to accept the post as Labour's general secretary.
There are more clouds on the horizon as several unions, including UNISON and the CWU, have motion at their conferences to disaffiliate from Labour. A potential £4million down the tubes.
I take no pleasure at the plight the Party is in. But surely it is not rocket science and clearly obvious why the coffers are empty. Those filthy rich people recruited by peter mandelson are now jumping ship to the Tories and Party members fed-up with New Labour are not exactly going to be digging deep into their piggy banks.
Gordon should get off the phone and start listening.......PS: I do not think he will be ringing me.....

STICKS, STONES AND FIBS

It's been quite a week. Thus far I have been called an "unreconstructed hippy", "grand witch of Hebden" and now my former comrade Peter Kenyon is comparing me to Bernard Ingham , former Press Secretary to Margaret Thatcher.
Beyond the fact that Ingham and I are /were both in the business of journalism, and he was born in Hebden Bridge it's a rather unkind analogy. But, more importantly, inaccurate.
Peter uses the LukeAkehurst blog to suggest I am utterly isolated in opposing the CLPD support for Ellie Reeves. Well frankly, I wasn't going to devote any more time to this nonsense.But if people are going to be downright nasty and tell fibs then I will up the ante.
I attended last week's Centre Left Grassroots Alliance meeting as an LRC representative. So did another female comrade of mine and another from Labour Briefing We ALL spoke out against this.The agreement was we would come back in a couple of weeks and try and reach a modus vivendi. However, the way "democracy" works in the CLGA is that we are then sent mailshots already printed with her name on, rung up, and railroaded in the hope we will back her.
WHY would the LRC back Ellie Reeves? We are not in the business of being apologists for Brownites ( and sorry Pete Willsman there is no difference between them and Blairites) -particularly those who were cheerleaders for Brown's coronation last year and for the abolition of contemporary resolutions.
Peter Kenyon, I seem to recall, gaine left cred by speaking last year on a platform with John McDonnell and Billy Hayes where this measure was roundly condemned. Now he wants the votes of the right so anything goes - even slagging off people with whom you have worked in the Party for years. It seems to me that when men lose the ideological argument they resort to what can only be described as misogynistic, personal attacks. Being sworn at and insulted ( another joy of going to CLGA meetings) is one thing, being misrepresented quite another.

QUANTUM LEAP.....

The LRC's LEAP - Left Economics Advisory Panel - is furthering the weekend's conference with a new blog outlining the way in which what was a fundamental debate on the future for socialists both in and outside the Labour Party should continue. The link is on the right........ and you can contribute to the debate

KEEP LEFT IN LABOUR

In a couple of weeks' time, Calder Valley begins its selection process for a new MP. It is my hope that LRC member and local councillor Janet Oosthuysen will be selected. She did a fantastic job at the local elections , almost wining a Lib Dem seat for Calderdale MBC. If Janet is seelcted, she faces an awesome task. Our current majority - 1500 - would be swept away if current trends continue. We will need all the commitment we can muster from the Party and its members .A candidate like Janet , from the left, would also get help and suport from those who have deserted Labour in recent years. Why? Because she is a socialist.
What we don't need , frankly, is people giving up on Labour and having illusions in "new parties" which will lead me, Janet and everyone else into the electoral wilderness. I don't think that's what the LRC was set up for.
And however difficult things are, it mustn't be what the LRC is about in the future. As it says on the official website.....
The original Labour Representation Committee was formed in 1900 to fight for political representation for the Labour Movement. In Britain today we face a similar crisis of representation. The LRC has been re-formed to secure a voice for socialists within the Labour Party, the unions, and Parliament.
Never in the history of the Labour Party has the need been so great to make the case for peace and socialism. The advocates of global capitalism and war have taken control of the political agenda. The task for today's LRC is to fight for power within the Labour Party and trade unions and to appeal to the tens of thousands who have turned away from Labour in disillusion and despair. Therefore we are calling upon all socialists, Labour Party and trade union members, constituency Labour parties and union branches to join our campaign and join or affiliate to the LRC.

CONVENTION OF THE LEFT - MORE INFO

I turn from the maddening and increasingly tiresome machinations of the CLGA to the rather more constructive opportunities offered by the COL - the Convention Of The Left. As some will know, I have been involved in the organising meetings in Manchester and this five-day event taking place as a counter to the anodyne Labour Conference in Manchester is being sponsored by the LRC . Socialist Unity has more info here Speakers confirmed so far include Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Mark Sewotka and Matt Wrack

THE CENTRE-RIGHT GRASSROOTS ALLIANCE

I am , in a word, horrified that the Campaign For Labour Party Democracy -lynchpin of the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance - has thrown its weight behind Ellie Reeves.

For years, I have been going to Labour Party Conference and hearing people like Pete Willsman and Christine Shawcroft banging on about how bad the Blairites are and how they are "puppets" of the leadership. Well, bugger me because now they are asking us on the left to SUPPORT one of the biggest New Labour clones in the business.

Trade union lawyer Ellie Reeves is straight out of central casting. Articulate, middle-class, attractive, and obviously on her way to a safe Parliamentary seat. Actually, she doesn't need the help of the CLPD or anyone else to get onto the NEC.

So why are these alleged lefties giving her the time of day - and making themselves look bloody ridiculous in the process? Last year at Labour Party Conference the CLGA fought in vain to save contemporary resolutions. Who was one of the biggest cheerleaders in Bournemouth for their abolition? Step forward, er, Ellie Reeves. Ellie also told us 12 months ago that Gordon would be a "fantastic" Prime Minister and Leader. Clearly also a woman of great political acumen. Frankly, CLPD should be ashamed of itself. In backing Reeves, it has also become a "puppet" of the New Labour leadership. But she won't be getting my vote, nor that I wager of many others in the LRC.

SELLING US DOWN THE RIVER?

I'm not going to the COMPASS conference on June 14. And, even if I had bought a ticket, which I did last year, I think I might be asking for my money back after reading today's Guardian piece by Jackie Ashley which alleges that Cruddas is doing some kind of deal with the New Labour right. Sceptical? Don't be. Jackie Ashley is the journalist with all the invites to the Isington dinner parties. It's not good news for anyone who had illusions that COMPASS would help those to the left of them. It's no surprise to me. Cruddas's natural allies are his friends in high places, not the disaffected and disillusioned. Having urged us to support Brown, then briefly apologised, COMPASS now jump ship and hitch their star to the nearest Blairite. Their "Good Society" is an opportunist sham - and the only opportunities they are interested in are for their own narrow little clique. Here's an extract from the Ashley article

Meanwhile, there have been intensive discussions between the two wings of New Labour: the Blairites gathered around the Progress group, and the left gathered around Compass. These have gone on between the "usual suspects" but also in constituencies in the north of England between people who were recent, fervent backers of the prime minister. Between them, they have tried to agree a new policy agenda that might yet help save the day, and then a candidate to take over from Brown later this year. They have agreed a possible agenda that would satisfy both left and right, but they have not yet agreed a candidate. This is a conspiracy, in its relatively early stages.

IN LA LA LAND...........

In case you needed any confirmation just how far New Labour is in a parallel universe, read this quote from today's Guardian and weep ( or laugh hystrically)
"This byelection result shows that it is game on, not game over," the Labour figure said. "Gordon is the right man for these times."

THE ABORTION ISSUE

Before I go any further let me make it plain that this is purely a personal view.
But, with some reluctance and a fair amount of trepidation, I must take issue with another comrade's stance on the recent vote in the House of Commons.
Three LRC MPs, Bob Wareing , David Drew and David Hamilton, apparently voted in favour of reducing the time-limit on abortion - one of them to 12 weeks.
This is not a position I share or in any way condone. I support the position of the Left Women';s Network and applaud the efforts of everyone who joined the Parliamentary lobby last week.
But I do not think it is particularly helpful to have a public go at individual MPs who will have thought long and hard before casting their vote in such a way.
Tami talks of the "elephant in the room." Well in my case I fully accept that the elephant is wearing a dog-collar and is called Roman Catholicism .
Despite the fact I no longer attend church on a regular basis, I do understand why this is a painful and difficult area for many socialists who have religious beliefs.It is also a painful and difficult area for women who have had abortions because the notion that abortion is equitable with contraception just isn't so.
The slogan which the women's movement adopts, " as early as possible and as late as necessary" is one I would echo. But one must surely also acknowledge that no woman would have an abortion at 24 weeks unless it WAS absolutely necessary. That option has to be there. But it is not one to be glibly accepted . At that stage, one is basically aborting a viable human being. There is no way of avoiding that basic truth.
If we accept that people have the right to practise their religions - and respect the faiths of others then blanket condemnation is not a useful way of persuading and educating. Unlike George Galloway, none of these MPs has said they are absolutely anti-abortion. They have not, as David Alton and others did years ago, called for the repeal of the 1967 Abortion Act, which would have led to the return of backstreet abortions. Thankfully, at the moment, that is not where we are. Nor must it ever be. But I do feel we need to show a bit more understanding of those who do have ethical problems with what is a hugely emotive and traumatic issue. For women, frankly, far more than any man facing a three-line Whip.

LEAP conference report

The new and excellent blog Harpymarx has an illuminating report on this. I am still collating my notes and wil be posting something later.

NIGHTMARE TICKETS.........

The first one of these which immediately springs to mind is the one I bought for the 11.30pm coach from London Victoria which got me in to Halifax this morning at 6am. Wandering round bleary-eyed trying to find a taxi at that time of morning is not an experience I want to repeat -nor the tour of various small towns in West Yorkshire. But at least I did enjoy an exceptionally convivial drinking session and Greek meal afterwards with comrades from the Campaign For Socialism in Scotland. For which said thanks and a particular thanks to Vince for standing us all dinner - and the comrade who got me safely to the bus station.
Yesterday was spent with over 100 people seriously interested in debating socialist economic policy at the LEAP - Left Economic Advisory Panel - conference at Birkbeck College. It was a successful event which left everyine i spoke to upbeat about the prospects for the Left - in and outside the Labour Party.
However I return from that - and a catch-up on sleep - to find the papers full of the usual speculation re a leadership contest. And there are many nightmare tickets up for grabs. One has Ed Balls running with Cruddas as his deputy ( or is it the other way round?) Another Jack Straw gicing hardsh words to Gordon Brown and an uber-Blairite like Purnell running the show.
Amid this silly, febrile, speculation one "senior source" says he fears Labour losing the next election - and a "hard left rump" being left behind, Who can they possibly mean I wonder? Clearly not Cruddas, as he is obviously already jockeying for position and possibly already poised to do a deal with Charles Clarke or some other New Labour figure.
You could argue that would at least clear the way and give us the possibility of a Labour Government more in tune with Labour values but, actually, all it would do is help revive the New Labour corpse for a bit longer. The underlying message is that NuLab are terrified most of their MPs will be kicked out at the next election and that a serious left figure would be elected Leader of the Labour Party.Given the swing in Crewe and Nantwich, it's actually feasible that Clarke, Miliband et al could all lose. So no wonder they are running scared. But if the soft left does some kind of deal in the months ahead that will only betray their cynicism and their lack of commitment to proper socialist policies. What people like Cruddas SHOULD be doing is forming real alliances with the Campaign group and LRC and working together on the issues which really matter to people. Will he do that? Don't hold your breath.......

WIPE OUT.....CONTINUED

Catching up on reactions to the wipe-out in Crewe it's clear the horrendous scale of the Labour defeat is causing widespread panic at Westminster. No wonder. Evening Standard headline tonight ( am in London for weekend) reads Gordon, The Party's Over. And only the most idiotic of New Labour diehards would disagree.
Harriet Harman says we're all behind Gordon. Well, no we're not. Actually, I would like to be behind him with a removal van but in the short term that's not going to happen. Graham Stringer (one of the few Mps not to nominate Brown) says it's time for another Cabinet Minister to step in but what would that solve if the same policies continue?.
Maybe Gordon should attend tomorrow's LEAP conference and pick up some ideas on how to turn the country in a fairer, left direction away from neo-liberalism. At the risk of repeating myself, if he doesn't change tack, we will be left with a rump of 200 or so MPs at the next General Election.

WIPE OUT

In case you are wondering why I am so late with a reaction to the dreadful Crewe and Nantwich wipe-out, was in London last night at meeting of the Grassroots Alliance washed down later with Vietnamese meal in Chiswick and more wine while watching election result with friend from the LRC. It was worse, much worse than anyone had predicted.
I did feel for Tamsin Dunwoody . She gave a dignified speech and i thought she showed great grace in defeat. It's a shame she allowed herself to be sucked into a negative, puerile campaign based on a right-wing agenda focussing on crime, immigration and "toff" accusations.
How many times do New Labour have to be told. You are losing us votes by the bucketful because you are not listening to the wise voices within the Party.
One of the first people the BBC rang last night was John McDonnell MP and his analysis is absolutely spot on.
"This result demonstrates the overwhelming anger and contempt in which New Labour is now held by our traditional supporters."
Unless we somehow claim back the left of centre ground, unless Gordon Brown starts listening, unless Labiuyr starts being Laboyr again, we've basically had it at the next General Election.

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?

Just back from chairing first council meeting as official Chair/Mayor and fighting measures to cut funding to our local Arts Festival. Lost the vote. That's democracy. But I hope local people will take on board the fact that those who were on their side were the Labour Party Left.
We will continue to do our best and I acknowledge that we have a huge job of work to do. But , reading the comments on John McDonnell's article today in CiF, can I say that those who sanction us leaving Labour are missing the point utterly. We stay .We fight. And we're not giving in and heading off into political oblivion. Here's the link to why the LRC has exactly the right answers. The answers which will inspire people to support Real Labour -whatever happens tomorrow night in Crewe and Nantwich.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_mcdonnell/2008/05/beyond_prudence.html

MOBILISE TO CHANGE THE RULES !

I am currently in the process of contacting several other CLPs who have tabled the following resolution on the leadership for Manchester 2008. Our constituency secretary will be writing, if possible, to every CLP in the country (please send me your details if you can) and as many trade union branches (ditto).What is this about?

Well, first off it's not about toppling Brown or stalking horses. This is a serious attempt to ensure that NEXT time round we have a leadership and deputy leadership contest in which all wings of the Party can participate. Which means left, right and centre. It would be utterly disingenuous, of course, to deny that it would not benefit someone like John McDonnell . But likewise Jon Cruddas, Alan Milburn, Charles Clarke, or whichever MP is left to stand after the next General Election or whenever.We sent this off a year ago (you have to wait two years to get rule changes debated)

But in the light of what has happened to the Party since then its appeal is clear and all-embracing. It is up to us, the grassroots, to ensure this resolution is debated, listened to and voted on. The rest of the Conference will be a talking-shop. This resolution could, literally, save the Labour Party from oblivion. Dull as it may sound.......My e-mail SsPre2@aol.com

Proposed rule change:4B Procedural rules for elections for national officers of the Party.Paragraph 4B.2b(1)Nomination reads as followsIn the case of a vacancy for leader or deputy leader, each nomination must be supported by 12.5 per cent of the Commons members of the PLP. Nominations not attaining this threshold shall be null and void."Amendment: Delete 12.5 and insert 7.5

WATCHING NEWSNIGHT......

I gathered that Geoff Hoon REALLY thought the campaign has been a disaster
I was struck at the commonsense talked by the people of Crewe - particularly a woman who said what had happened to Labour' s socialist values. And those who welcomed the Polish community being villified bu the campaign co-ordinators
I was fairly horrotstruck at Tamsin Dunwooody's defence of the indefensible - but I suppose it's too late to retract.
I predict a serious blow to Gordon Brown's authority - and that the national leadership will try and distance itself from the consequences of dog-whistle politics.

NOT JUST A TALKING SHOP

Shiraz Socialist questions the wisdom of this Saturday's Beyond The Market Economy conference in London. On the basis, and forgive the over-simplification, that no matter how good Labour Left policies may be, we have no chance of implementing them. I must confess this is an argument which I find exceptionally tiresome.

Last Saturday, I did what I swore I would never do again, and got into a huge row with an ex Labour Party member who I have to hand it to because he left in 1987. His line was "how can you support war criminals" to which of course, one says, I don't. I support the 140 MPs who voted agaunst war in Iraq, Blah, blah.We've all had those arguments in the pub on a Saturday night.This weekend's event, to which I will be going, will have a rather higher level of debate.

It is a serious attempt to bring people on the Left together, discuss capitalism and how it's failed us and advance progressive, socialist solutions to the problems which we face.

I will be there just to shut up and listen because , whatever other strengths I may have, I stake no claim to being an economist and I also admit a lot of my politics is tribal. But this is not, as comrade Shiraz suggests, just another talking shop.

Along with the experts from LEAP - the Left Economics Advisory Panel - there will hopefully be trade unionists, students and grassrots campaigners of all ages . Have we given up on the Labour Party? No. Are we working also with those outside it? Yes. We are also getting out there and campaigning. What we are not doing is sitting at home moaning and not doing anything so I urge as many who can get there as possible to do so. And I'm sorry, Ron, for shouting at you.But please don't write us all off yet.....

MILBURN TO MOUNT A CHALLENGE?

What can I say about Alan Milburn? Well, the only positive I can think of is that he's better-looking than Charles Clarke.But, as far as stalking-horses go, equally politically bankrupt and as equally likely to get the 70 names it needs to mount a putsch against Brown. Yet the rumour mill is now feverish with speculation that the man whose 2020 Vision is now a defunct website will save the day for the ultra Blairites.

All hinges on Crewe And Nantwich. If it's seriously bad, and looks like it will be, Brown's credibility is shot. Even more than it is already......He is in a very bad place where no Prime Minister has ever been before. Unelected by the electorate, unelected by his Party. The irony, I suppose, is that if he had listened to the left, the chances are he would have a much greater mandate

When Major faced the vote of no confidence, he had the guts to resign .Would Brown do that ? I just can't see it as there is no way he would be re-elected, sorry, "crowned " again. Ultimately it matters not a jot to socialists in the Party which New Labour face is flavour of the month.They are all the same. Milburn, Miliband. Doesn't matter. Even if Brown is somehow deposed, Labour's probably going to hell in a handcart at the General Election.

BATTLING BUREAUCRACY

I have finally got my Visitor Application form for Labour Party Conference. It took two days, several phone calls, and persistent badgering of National HQ. They said they could not e-mail me a form so I asked to be put through to the Compliance Unit ( they handle LP Conference ). They also said they did not have form but I insisted that they must have. Reluctantly (very) someone e-mailed me a PDF so if anyone out there has similar problems I suggest you do the same.

The Conference Services Unit is permanently on voice-mail and you cannot download the forms, as you used to be able to do, from the Labour Party website. As i pointed out to the various bureaucrats, many people don't have computers and even those that do might find the process of cropping pictures just a little daunting. Effectively, anyone without a computer has had it as far as getting a pass goes but I suppose the bigwigs at the top don't really care that ordinary people might find it difficult as long as their corporate pals are signed up. I suggest people write and complain.If anyone wnats a form, they can e-mail me @ SsPre2@aol.com and I will forward it.

NOT MY IDEA OF RALLYING THE TROOPS

As I'm sick and tired of endless speculation on the leadership, stalking horses, and by-elections not particularly inspired today.
Then the horror of "Labour " MP Quentin Davies on PM. Two more whizzo ideas from Labour HQ. 1. An Armed Forces Day as a national holiday. 2. The militarisation of our schools with Cadet Forces .
Now let me get one thing clear. I do not wish to denigrate in any way at all the contribution made by servicemen and women to defending our country nor the risks they face nor the work they do. But is it really the business of the Labour Government to be taking on the jingoistic mantle of the Conservative Party in this manner?
One minute going on about "toffs" then "toff" Quentin Davies telling us we should ape the public schools and suggesting schools should have military units? And why should there be an Armed Forces Day? People joining the Army are doing a job. Yes, they risk their lives So do policemen and women, firefighters, charity aid workers, nurses and doctors. In other words, this is yet another awful exercise in stunts, and pursuing a Daily Mail -led agenda. And I, like thousands more in the Party, am not impressed.

LOCAL HEROES

I have spent this morning at the Overgate Hospice near Halifax which is my chosen charity for the year. The reasons why are entirely personal. My mother died at 61 and my elder sister at just 51 from cancer. Half my immedaite family, basically. One death was in 1986 and the other 1999 but these are not events one "gets over" as people who have not experienced such traumas seem to imagine.

Life goes on and the pain eases slowly over time but you never forget . Not in a wallowing, self-pitying kind of way but losing loved ones long before their "time" leaves a lifelong awareness that our time here is short and that life can be snatched away at any time.

So I'm going to be rolling up my sleeves over the next 12 months and aiming to raise at least £4000 for the hospice - hopefully more. The staff and volunteers who work at the hospice truly are local heroes - I found their dedication inspiring and also humbling.

So far I've signed up for a 10-mile Midnight Ramble around Calderdale in September and will be offering some media training to help them get publicity. Fund-raising curries and quizzes also beckon. But coward that I am I'm afraid I draw the line at abseiling .....

AND ANOTHER THING ABOUT CHERIE....

Last word on subject, but Catherine Bennett's excoriating piece in today's CiF is truly brilliant. Clearly, she has read every word of the Cherie memoir and it sounds even more cringe-making than I thought. I suppose what seriously gets me about "feminist" Cherie is that her entire raison d'etre revolves around the man she happened to marry. And even he, it seems, is given scant respect in this book. Call me old-fashioned, but there are certain aspects of one's life which should stay in the private domain.

FOUR DAYS FROM BY-ELECTION DISASTER?

On Thursday night I expect I will stay up to wait for the result from Crewe and Nantwich. And something tells me that Labour will lose. Maybe it's the fact that their exceptionally stupid "toff" campaign has backfired. Indeed one of the Labour Party lads dressed up in top hat and tails is apparently a former pupil of MGS - Manchester Grammar School - one of the top independent schools in the country. What a crass message to the electorate.
Frank Dobson, not the most subtle of campaigners, was apparently on Newsnight the other night slamming the Tory candidate for being an Etonian (actually he isn't) . How pathrtic is this line of attack ?
As Dobbo well knows ( or maybe he doesn't) even left icons like Tony Benn went to public school (Westminster). So did, for God's sake, the late Paul Foot of the SWP (Shrewsbury). Frankly, I couldn't care less where someone went to school , because in the end it is their values and the way they live their lives which matter.
I'm a council house kid who went to Cambridge. I mixed with plenty of "toffs" And many of them were socialists. Many, yes, were Tories. But a working-class background is not necessarily an indicator of great socialist credentials.
What's left over at the Crewe campaign? Oh, yes, Xenophobic leaflets criticising Edward Timpson for being against ID cards. Well, that's really clever - and very likely to annoy the core Labour voters who also oppose them. So.
Yet again, New Labour has gone for cheap stunts, right-wing rhetoric and what amounts to a complete failure to understand the gravity of the situation we face. Tamsin Dunwoody deserved better than this farrago.As Dick Gaughan famously sang, "It isn't what you're born with, it's what you do with what you've got."

LABOUR PARTY CONFERENCE PASSES

I have just spent a fruitless 30 minutes trying to find a way of downloading a Party Conference visitor application pass - but it seems this facility has disappeared from the official Labour website. As I've just invested £3.50 at the Post Office in a particularly hideous passport-type photo, and my digital images are not sufficiently grimacing according to the guidelines, I'm reluctant to apply online. And there must be lots more Party members who would prefer hard copy forms. But mpURL no can do it seems. Yet another way of ensuring it's as difficult as possible for ordinary members daft enough to still want to invest their hard-earned cash in this circus to actually get their credentials in time. If anyone does know a way of downloading a hard copy form perhaps they can let me know...........

CREWE AND NANTWICH LEAFLETS

I believe these are aiming to win votes by mocking the Tory candidate for being against ID cards. Add such xenophobic rubbish to the nonsense which had people dressing up as "toffs" to try and win Labour votes and you have to ask what kind of political planet are these people on? If Labour loses Crewe and Nantwich, it will be down to the stupidity of the spin doctors. And , frankly, the CLP for allowing such disgraceful tactics to be employed. Gwyneth Dunwoody must be spinning in her grave.....

THE "KISS AND TELL" GENE?

I have no intention of buying , or even browsing , Cherie Blair's awful tome, Speaking For Myself. But hands up I found myself in an idle moment today reading extracts on the internet and had a strange sense of deja vu.

Some years ago, a friend of mine came across Tony Booth's 1989 vintage autobiography, Stroll On, at a jumble sale.

And, largely as my paths have crossed with the Booth dynasty over the years (I once briefly worked for his third wife who was a journalist and he was a "regular" on the Manchester Evening News Diary pages) I did cast an eye over it in some detail. OK, I read it.

What was remarkable was the man's absolute lack of discretion about his private life. The book recalls with glee his "crumpeteering " days with stories of shinning up drainpipes, in and out of various women's beds, and lots of indulging in drunken sprees - one of which nearly killed him. This was pre-Blair days so not much mention of Cherie or his famous connections. That would come later in the hastily-cobbled together sequel, What's Left.

To be fair, when the book was originally written, Tony Booth was more famous than his daughter and he had never exactly pretended to be a saint.

However, it's quite extraordinary that his daughter seems compelled to earn a few extra pennies with graphic details of her first date with Tony, the completely unnecessary details of her contraceptive arrangements, and tittle-tattle about Gordon Brown. Will all this make the book a best-seller? Doubt it.

I would have thought a woman in her position would have a modicum of self-respect and not need to tout such rubbish. It is all, I'm afraid, tawdry, tacky stuff which reads just like a chip off the old block.......

LRC CHAIN GANG.....

There are those who remain sceptical about the LRC's ability to reach beyond the narrow confines of London. For this reason I'm glad to post picture of our local ceremony the other night when I became Mayor of the town and surrounding villages. With me are LRC members and Labour councillors Dave Young ( pictured left) and Coun Janet Oosthuysen, who is hoping to stand as PPC for Calder Valley. Our good friend and comrade John Wiseman and his dad travelled all the way from St Helens to be there. Thanks to all ........

SOCIALIST SOLUTIONS AT LRC LEFT CONFERENCE

I may be able to turn a phrase or two as a journalist but make no claims to be an economist.

Best leave that to the experts in LEAP - the LRC's Left Economics Advisory Panel - who are holding a conference next Saturday May 24 in London. Theme of the day is "Beyond The Market Economy" and the key speakers are John McDonnell MP and Tony Benn but the point of it all really is to offer people the chance to have their own say and discuss where capitalism has failed us and to talk about socialist solutions to the growing global financial and economic crisis which we face. There will be sessions on housing, 21st century models of social ownership, defending pay pensions and jobs in the global market economy and transforming the financial system. It's at Birkbeck College from 11 am and more details on the LRC

NOT BRASSED OFF.....

Apologies for not blogging earlier on but today recovering from Mayor-making last night in Mytholmroyd. Thanks to Hebden Bridge Junior Band for saving the day and practising all afternoon to learn Jerusalem. Which as we know is not just the theme tune of the WI but William Blake's socialist poem. Thanks also to Father Gott for his sterling work behind the bar and mt friends and family for making it a great evening . Only low point was standing at bus stop in sub-zero temperatures in desperate bid to escape drunken antics of woman demanding my dad should sing rebel songs. And tonight my first engagement.........the singularly apt attendance at Calamity Jane . Just waiting for the pics.....Update: Thanks to Alison for the great pictures......

TAX PACKAGE WELCOME BUT.....

I sincerely hope that Gordon Brown's U-Turn on tax will save Labour at the Crewe and Nantwich by-election. Even if it smacks rather of a fag packet calculation the announcement is welcome. But one must ask the question why was the policy to penalise the very poor dreamt up in the first place? I think one of the problems is that most MPs are very far away from the day-to-day concerns of people's lives.
On Monday night , I made by debut in the Strangers Bar at Westminster thanks to an invite from Halifax MP Linda Riordan. We sat outside on the terrace sipping wine looking out over the Thames and very nice it was too . Inside, well-dressed male MPs were getting drunk, impressing constituents, and looking eminently at home in this strange little world which is rather like an Oxbridge college. It's easy to see how seductive it could all become.
But if we are somehow to escape electoral Armageddon then the only way of doing so is by MPs leaving this gentleman's club atmosphere, getting out into their communities and addressing people's real concerns on issues like housing and low pay.
Let's also hope that the Government is finally beginning to realise the damage which its self-inflicted wounds are doing to the Labour Party. Because, whatever my differences , I don't want to see the Party annihilated .

LOOK BACK IN ANGER

Interesting, if eminently annoying, to read Neal Lawson's excoriation of Gordon Brown in today's Independent. Clearly, he is Rip Van Winkle. Because let's face it we bloody told him a year ago this is precisely what would happen. Blair without the charisma. Same policies, same old New Labour voices.
On a human level, I actually feel sorry for Gordon Brown. I think his former allies ie Prescott, Levy, et al are bahaving appallingly and making all kinds of personal accusations which must be deeply hurtful. Cherie Blair is , welll, just nauseating. How greedy can it be to tout details of your sex life in the hope of extra spondoolics?
On a political level, though, Gordon Brown has brought most of this on himself. For an intelligent man, he listens to bad advice. Which is why New Labour is where it is. ie stuffed
But amid the horror I'm not going to listen to siren voices saying that the answer is for groups like the LRC to join up with less principled people on the so-called centre-left in the hope of some spurious, opportunist, alliance.
The LRC is not awash with money.It's growing slowly but steadily. And I have no illusions that hundreds of people are queuing up to re-join Labour. But, just in case anyone hadn't noticed, I've spent a long long time in PR and journalsim.
At the risk of sounding like a horrid spin doctor, the LRC "brand" is principles and integrity. Believe me, in the current climate, that''s a pretty good USP. And we don't need to conpromise or dilute our socialist values to win over many more people.

LOOKING THE PART.....

After six hours (four hours Friday and two today) trailing round Manchester with increasing desperation I finally found something halfway decent to wear for tomorrow's Mayor's bash in Mytholmroyd. I will not reveal how much I spent - suffice to say far more than ever before on adult life on an outfit. Was trying to avoud the "Hyacinth Bouquet" syndrome ( see picture) and also as we are about the same height ( she is one inch shorter) the Hazel Blears power suit special . Think I have come up with a decent alternative in shape of jacket and dress from Whistles....what all the LRC-supporting Mayors are wearing this year.... and NO HAT

GRIMMER DOWN SOUTH....

The blog has been neglected last 48 hours as I have been up and down to London for various meetings. From what I can gather, the political picture down south is far far worse for Labour than up here . And up here is bad enough.
This morning, I was killing time in a splendid Italian cafe in Camden which I last visited in 1983 wqhen I lived in north London. Deliberately sought it out as will have no truck with Starbucks etc. Which started me thinking about Labour's position then and now.
Back then, poll ratings may have been bad but we had policies we could be proud of, a message to inspire our core voters, and the absolute certainty we were better than the Tories.
In fact, Gordon Brown's ratings now are far worse than Michael Foot's and he's paying spin doctors thousands to come up with such gems as sending people in top hat and tails to Crewe and nantwich - where I believe the campaign is yet more reactionary dog-whistling rubbish which will probably lead to a Tory victory.And can one actually say, anymore, that "we're better than the Tories and expect anything other than hoots of derision? a) it's just not good enough and b) barely anyone believes it.
I also wonder how many activists my old CLP, Brent South, now has, In 1983 we used to get around 50 people along and competition was fierce to be a delegate. Bet it isn't now.
The truth is, the Labour Party has hit rock bottom. The truth also is that, without shifting left again, things can only get worse.

CREWE, NANTWICH AND ELECTORAL MELTDOWN

The polls are apparently bad in Crewe and Nantwich. No wonder when Labour's electoral strategy is to send people dressed as "toffs" to try and persuade voters that the Tory candidate is off-limits.
Can anyone really take that seriously when our former PM Tony Blair has just bought a £4million house ( one of many) and swans around with Britain's richest people.
As misfortunes pile upon Brown he has only himself to blame and only one choice. Adopt Labour policies or you might as well throw in the towel now.
While I'm on the subject, can I say that the strategy of the Left also throwing in the towel and accepting that we're doomed for the next 20 years is NOT one which appeals to me. Indeed, I was dismayed to hear it articulated at some length at yesterday's meeting in London.
Far better, surely, that we continue to fight for what we believe in. Which I'm glad to say was the message from both Tony Benn and John McDonnell. Defeatism, comrades, is no way forward. Despite the undoubted mess which Labour is in.

MAY IN LENINGRAD

I'm truly not an apologist for Putin and his mob. But when it comes to iconic images like these, you have to hand it to the Russians. The Victory Day images from Moscow reminded me of a trip in 1989 to Leningrad under the auspices of the British Soviet Friendship Society. Yes I know it was a front organisation but I was invited as a journalist and, looking back , it was a great insight into what would become the dying days of the Soviet Union.

A highlight was standing on the VIP platform at the Leningrad May Day parade right in front of the Winter Palace. I felt like Warren Beatty in Reds..... ok maybe Diane Keaton.

Low lights included the appalling food, which almost hospitalised one of us, Gorbachev's alcohol ban in public places which meant having to drink vile soft drinks which we labelled "green" as they tasted of the ersatz colouring which had gone into them. There was also the incident where I was conned into buying expensive perfume for a comrade's girlfriend at the hard currency Beriozka store in our hotel.

But trips to the Kirov ballet, viists to the Tsar's summer palace , and most poignantly the Leningrad war cemetery remain good memories. Along with the midnight train to Moscow where after a copious amount of Stolichnaya I suggested to a leading Party member that I was time Trotsky had a fair shout and was emblazoned on the May Day banners. One year later, it was all over.......

BRIEFING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.....

Today I fulfilled a long-standing engagement to speak at the Labour Briefing AGM, which i was happy to do. Not quite so content at the outcome of the afternoon's debate on the future of the magazine. A proposal to discuss making Briefing LRC Briefing ( possibly, maybe after negotiations) fell because the vote was split right down the middle after nearly two hours of discussion. Not a good result from where I'm sitting after a long, tiring journey back .
The view round here was that this was an excellent idea which would enable us to build the LRC and engage with groups both inside and outside the Labour Party. Unfortunately, half of the meeting chose to keep the status quo. Which is fine if, as I said the other week, you want things to stay exactly as they are. Which is an excellent magazine read by too few people.
In my view, the LRC now needs to look at ways of either setting up a separate publication or at least sending out a regular newsletter to those who don't have e-mail. No doubt that will be discussed in the months to come.
In the meantime, I will carry on blogging and maybe others out there who are LRC supporters could consider doing the same. As I am now a member of the Briefing Editorial Board, I look forward to some lively discussions which I hope will be a bit more constructive than today's . The comfort zone of comrades largely talking to each other is not where I want to stay.

DAWN CHORUS OF THE LEFT......

Not much blogging today either as about to leave home to get train to leeds and then Kings Cross for today's Briefing AGM which will be discussing Where Labour Goes Next...... As both Tony Benn and John McDonnell are due to speak on the positives we can draw out of this appalling mess new labour has got us into then I expect it will be an extremely interesting day but don't expect to be back till about 10.30pm tonight. So thoughts on that much, much later.........

THERE WILL BE NO BLOGGING TODAY BECAUSE.....

I still have about a dozen exam scripts to mark, an article for Manchester City Council, a speech to write for tomorrow's Labour Briefing AGM and have just had a phone call from one of the other publications I work for saying where's the copy we expected this morning ( which they might have told me they expected today) Headless chicken mode......

MESSAGE TO THE TOWN......

The following piece is in this week's Hebden Bridge Times .

Newsflash: I have hopefully ditched the egg mayonnaise sandwiches ( would rather die than eat one) insisted on meat pies, and as Things Can Only Get Better for the Left I have decided that my campaign tune for the year will be Eddie Reader's version of a Dick Gaughan song called It's What You Do With What You've Got...... Comrades, this is going to be fun!

In 1996 I boarded a removal van and headed here from Salford in search of green spaces and a peaceful place to live. If someone had told me then that in 2008 I would become Mayor of Hebden Royd I would have been absolutely astonished. To be honest, I knew absolutely no one when I came here. Twelve years on, it is literally impossible to walk down the street or visit the Co-op without someone saying hello. Despite what people say, “Offcumdens” like myself find a welcome here which is all embracing and, I think, unique to this part of the Calder Valley.
I was born in Manchester 50 years ago and work from home as a freelance journalist. Most recently, I have also taught media studies as a lecturer at Huddersfield University and I’m Chair of Calderdale National Union of Journalists.
In 2003 I was elected as a Labour councillor for Fairfield ward. Since 1976 I have been a Labour Party member and, along with fellow councillors Dave Young and Janet Oosthuysen, am a member of the Labour Representation Committee – a growing group of socialists within the Labour Party campaigning to end New Labour policies
Locally, Labour councillors have bucked national political trends by working hard and backing a range of initiatives which have proved enormously beneficial for residents in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd. It was our idea to appoint an Environmental Community warden, and a Part-time Project Officer to attract more investment and public funding. Both initiatives have paid off handsomely. Last year, both our officers worked their socks off to win some £55,000 in additional funding from a variety of bodies. They were also instrumental in making us winners of the People’s Millions TV poll and now we’re all looking forward to the opening of the new Calder Holmes Park Play facilities in time for the school holidays.
In the next 12 months, I hope to work with and support as many community groups as possible within Hebden Royd.As Mayor, I will be instrumental in supporting Labour’s ongoing “Fair Wage” campaign to ensure everyone is paid at least the Minimum Wage and hopefully more. We also desperately need more social housing for rent as well as “affordable” homes so I will be pro-active on that issue. And it’s also vital that the Hebden Royd Town Council offices are turned into a vibrant fully accessible community space. On an international note, I’m looking forward to renewing links with people I have met from our twin towns of St Pol and Warstein.
I’m also looking forward of course to next Wednesday May 14, when the mayor-making at the Good Shepherd RC Church in Mytholmroyd will be attended by friends old and new, my fellow councillors and of course our outgoing Mayor Coun Nader Frekri. But there are two people who sadly can’t be there. They are my mother and my elder sister, both of whom died far too young from cancer. In their memory, and in solidarity with the many families in Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd who have shared similar losses, I am making my charity for the year the Overgate Hospice. And I shall work tirelessly to raise money for that cause. I’m sure the people of Hebden Bridge and Mytholmroyd, who are quite remarkable in their generosity of spirit , tolerance and community engagement, will be more than glad to help me do that.

BREAKING THE POST MIDNIGHT RULE......

My rule is never to blog past midnight but breaking it because tomorrow I am doing an interview on a Halifax radio station and I have a message for all the right-wingers round here who continue to be unhelpful to left-wing members of the Party in all manner of unacceptable ways. I am going to give it both barrells and today's interview is just the start of a long campaign to speak to socialists disenchanted with Labour and try and put the message across there are still reasons to get involved with the Party. I now have a platform - and I'm going to use it 100 per cent. This is just the start........

CREDIT CRUNCH GONE MAD

Don't usually do girly stuff on this blog but the other week I had a bit of a clothing crisis and ended up at St Pancras buying one or two things I had not anticipated. Stupidly I succumbed to the allure of a Monsoon storecard - partly vindicated by the fact I will get a small clothing allowance for the next 12 months . So when a credit card arrived the other day with a £5000 limit I thought it was connected to this expedition. Not so. Turns out somehow I have been sent an additional bit of plastic as today the Monsoon card arrived separately and it has a modest £350.00 limit. Having been as good as gold for two years and not used my credit card at all I've now got three -with the obvious temptations they bring with them. I have no idea why I've got this additional card and yes, I should tear it up. But I probably won't.
As I'm relatively disciplined about money this will probalby be OK , but if they're handing our cards without even being asked well, no wonder people are getting into serious debt. And why are credit card companies sending them out unsolicited at a time when recession is about to strike......

X FACTOR POLITICS MUST STOP

Apparently, a new poll says that 55 per cent of Labour voters want a "younger, fresher, charismatic leader," which almost makes me feel sorry for Charles Clarke. He is currently doing the rounds in what is clearly a thinly veiled bid to take soundings on his leadership prospects. To be fair to Clarke, even he is calling for an end to the 42 days terrorism legislation, a sort out on the 10p tax issue and revision of the Post Office closures. But I simply cannot see that he would win the support of the wider constituency of trade unionists and Party members . However that's not really the issue. Had the Lib Dems had some sense and appointed Vince Cable as their Leader, instead of ingenue Nick Clegg, they would be in a far better place. Our problem isn't generational, it's ideological. I am now imposing a blogging ban on myself as i have a mountain of work to do, including a pile of essays and marking.

SIGN JOHN McDONNELL'S MAY MANIFESTO

Earlier today I launched a tirade against the hopeless policy direction New Labour is taking us in. Well , the Labour left is clearly up and running and on the offensive as I have just been e-mailed with details of a May manifesto and petition calling for the following policies to be implemented. You can sign on-line here . These are the measures LRC Chair John McDonnell is calling for:

• Nailing the 10p tax mistake by the introduction of a fair tax system removing the low paid from taxation and ensuring the wealthiest and corporations pay their fair share


• An increase in the basic state pension, immediately restoring the link with earnings, lifting people off means tested benefits and providing free care for the elderly


• An immediate start on a large scale council house building programme and assistance for those facing repossession


• Immediate end to programme of local Post Office closures and liberalisation of postal services


• An end to the privatisation of our public services


• A new pay deal for public sector workers to protect their living standards and tackle low pay


• Abolishing tuition fees and restoring maintenance grants for all students


• Scrapping ID cards and abandoning 42 days detention


• Introduction of a Trade Union Freedom Bill and measures to protect temporary and agency workers


• Rejecting the proposals to renew Trident

WE ARE NOT THE STUPID PARTY......

Former New Labour acolyte Polly Toynbee makes many sensible remarks in today's Guardian -but still manages to draw the wrong conclusions. Quite rightly, she argues that voters are punishing Labour because a Labour Government punished the poor.
Labour, she says, is now the "stupid Party". Which shows just how disengaged this Guardianista is from the realities of life outside the media elite. Yes, the Government is almost unbelievably stupid. The Prime Minister more so. It almost beggars belief that in less than 12 months the country has swerved from goodwill and support for Blair's long-awaited replacement to poll showings lower than any in my lifetime. So what are they to do? Do the obvious progressive thing and bridge the widening gap between rich and poor, tax the rich, build more council houses, stop privatisng and outsourcing everything, stand up for civil liberties and internationalism. No, they are heading to the Right and ignoring every bit of sound advice from backbench MPs and activists. The phrase "lions led by donkeys" springs to mind.
Despite Polly's ire, she is also unable to grasp the obvious nettle and veer away from the predictable conclusions of someone who spends their spare time on the Fabian dinner party circuit - with warm words for right-wing hope James Purnell who is yet another New Labour clone and no solution whatsoever to the problems which we face.
To use Tony Benn's old phrase, it is the POLICIES not the PERSONALITIES at fault here. Though God knows I can't imagine enjoying a pint with any of the Brown coterie.
Polly, the Party on the ground is far from stupid. The grassroots know the game is up unless the Government reverts back to Labour - not New Labour - policies. Frankly, they know more than the politicos, wonks, apparatchiks and overpaid journalists who have solidly backed this reactionary Government - and Gordon Brown. Last year, the Party wanted a leadership contest and was denied it by MPs , plus the influential, omniscient likes of Toynbee, Martin Kettle, and COMPASS guru Neal Lawson who all joined forces and held hands in support of a man who is the biggest disaster as Leader we have ever had. In retrospect, how stupid was that.
We are where we are, which is looking into the abyss. But don't blame the Party. Apologies for ranting but I get SO angry reading commentators who haven't got a bloody clue how much the ordinary Labour Party members are sick of being preached at and lumbered with awful policies which will lead us even further into the mire. However much we protest......

COMRADES COME RALLY......

The most important gathering yet this year of the Labour Left is on Saturday May 10 in London. Supporters of the LRC will join readers and supporters of Labour Briefing ( and hopefully others broadly in agreement) for a post-election analysis of where we go next and how we stop New Labour leading us to defeat at the general Election. The key speakers are Tony Benn and John McDonnell MP and I expect this event will garner far more media attention than is usual - far more importantly, it's the start of what I hope will be a concerted and determined fightback bringing some hope to the many disenchanted and disaffected. Venue is the University of London Union in Malet Street (nearest Tubes Goodge Street, Tottenham Court Road, Russell Square) . Other speakers include Murad Qureshi of the Greater London Authority and LRC Vice-Chair and NEC member Christine Shawcroft I will also be putting in my three penn'orth about the local elections.

The Labour Briefing AGM starts at 11am and goes on till about 4pm.

WHY HUTTON SHOULD FACE AN INQUIRY

Dear God. We really are doomed if today's pronouncements by John Hutton are anything to go by. Nasty New Labour's answer to the crisis we're emvroiled in is pretty transparent. Instead of following the pleas of the decent majority in the PLP, their answer is to veer even more sharply to the right. It is enough to make one despair.
Apparently, Number 10 is going to answer the anger of the left by pandering to racists and stepping up the Australian-style points-based system which will tighten the criteria for foreign workers hoping to take up skilled jobs in Britain.
According to the Guardian, Liam Byrne, the Immigration Minister, will attempt to "outflank" the Tories by saying that British jobseekers will "get the first crack of the whip", while only those foreign workers needed - and no more - will be allowed entry.
What an absolute bloody disgrace.
·And remember the fiasco over the General Secretary. Runner-up was Mike Griiffiths, no left=winger but the favoured choice of the grassroots. So now Gordon Brown has anointed someone called Ray Collins, from UNITE. Wasn't the NEC supposed to have a vote on this? Message to PLP. For heaven's sake DO something about the state we're in - and those in the Government who should be in the Tory Party ( although it's probably a bit too left-wing for Byrne, Hutton and Purnell)

GRASSROOTS SOCIALISM

As friends will ascertain I'm an expert in displacement activity but the game is up and I have till tomorrow morning to write an article for the Hebden Bridge Times setting out my stall for the next 12 months as the Mayor of this locality.

Traditionally, small town Mayors major in garden fetes and rubber chicken dinners and I daresay I will do my fair share of that but, given the Apocalypse which has befallen Labour in the past few days I also see it as my duty to use this role as a platform for grassroots socialism.

Last Thursday, our Calderdale MBC candidate Janet Oosthuysen managed an 8 per cent swing TO Labour on a ticket which combined real community issues with serious credentials as a socialist Labour Party member. It wasn't quite enough to win (53 more votes needed) but a tremendous achievement which now has to be built on.

In the speech I will be giving next Wednesday May 14, I will highlight Labour's campaigns to help low-paid workers locally and the initiatives we have instigated in the five years since we once more stood on a party political ticket.

We'll also be standing up for more social housing , engaging with more groups in the community and I hope winning back the disenchanted - many of whom sadly could not bring themselves to vote Labour last Thursday.

Getting out and about over the next 12 months will also be, of course, a great opportunity to inform people about the LRC and the three Town Councillors who are members. We have absolutely got to get out there and start winning the grassroots back. And that won't be done if I stick to a Vicar of Dibley -style agenda ............however much I admire Dawn French

ON PROBATION

So Gordon Brown is on probation - with just months to turn round Labour's current tailspin into electoral disaster.
One of the few advantages of getting older is that you can put things in perspective and from where I am standing as a Party member with 30-odd years of political trials and tribulations there is absolutely no way Labour can recover from this without a new Leader and a new direction ie leftwards and reaching out to our core supporters who are deserting us in droves. Cabinet members of course disagree.... for the moment.
One positive of this awful debacle is that Labour's Left has had more media coverage over the past few days than in years. We need to step that up and ensure that people realise many many of us in the Party are not buying into Brown's Britain.
As John McDonnell says in today's Indepenedent: "We need to concentrate on getting our policies right and restoring the trust of our supporters. We cannot spin and relaunch our way back to popularity, nor is the anger we are facing from the electorate going to disappear when recent errors are forgotten."
Compare and contrast this honest assessment of the situation with the usual spin from David Miliband, "I have always believed that Gordon Brown was the right man to take over from Tony Blair. I think he was the right man last year, he is the right man this year [and] I think he is the right man to take us forward into the next general election, because he is a man of deep convictions and real values. I think this is a time for the Labour Party to unite."
And likewise uber right=winger John Hutton, who should be in the Tory Party,"I've worked very closely with [Gordon Brown] in the past year or so and I have seen a man who is completely focused on doing the right thing for Britain." But not, it seems, for the Labour Party......

MILIBAND KEEPS HIS EYES SHUT

So there you have it. David Miliband on World At One assuring us that Gordon is the right man for the job and we must all pull together. I hope he remembers that one in 2010 or whenever the next General Election occurs because his majority is quite likely to disappear in the groundswell of defeat which will engulf many of the New Labour establishment . Listening to Ministers this morning ( when officially supposed to be marking essays) it's clear that they are still in denial, don't "get it" and that the only strategy the Left can adopt is to come out fighting, all guns blazing and tell them we are SICK and TIRED of New Labour 's death-wish on this Party. John McDonnell was also on the programme and it looks as though The Mail On Sunday may have gone over the top in its claims that he was to mount a leadership challenge.But I have no doubt that the common consensus now on the Left that it's time to go on the offensive. Gordon's had his chance and he's blown it.

WILL McDONNELL CHALLENGE GORDON AGAIN?

It's not often that the Left is front-page news but today's Mail On Sunday is seething with speculation that John McDonnell is to mount another challenge to Gordon Brown. The piece , alleging that "friends of the MP" have said he will try to topple Brown in the next few months, is curiously at odds with others alleging there will be no challenge from the Left MP as it's mathematically impossible to get the 70 or so MPs. So maybe the Mail is misinterpreting events.

But what is in no doubt is that Gordon Brown has been so damaged by the local election results it seems impossible he can continue until the next General Election. And the next few months are going to be absolutely fascinating politically - particularly for those of us who support the LRC.

Basically, around 100 or so MPs now know they have had it unless there is a change of leader - and policy direction. The prospect of redundancy can sharpen minds wonderfuly and Ken Livingstone's demise in London will also have been a wake-up call to MPs hitherto , as John puts it, "sleepwalking to disaster." I rather suspect that next Saturday's Labour Briefing AGM, at which John McDonnell is due to speak, may atttract rather more media attention than we would have thought possible just a few days ago.

NEW LABOUR'S DEAD

Forgive me for getting over yesterday so quickly but spirits lifted after today when I went on a May Day march in Leeds and then drinks with new friends and comrades on the Left. Maybe it was when Jeremy Corbyn MP said he had to leave as he was doing TV interviews re the state of the Party that I thought, yes, New Labour is dead. Not quite buried, not quite cremated, but definitely on the way out. Suddenly, the Left is news again. We have a major oppportunity now. When was the last time the media were seriously interested in anyone other than Blairites and Brownites ??? As we stare disaster in the face now is the time for the Labour Left to rally, build and get the message across it doesn't have to be this way. Our Real Labour policies could turn the picture round very very fast. Paradoxically, New Labour's death could herald the rebirth of Labour. As the rats leave the sinking New Labour ship. we have a serious opportunity to grasp victory from the jaws of defeat

LEADERSHIP ISSUE ON AGENDA AGAIN..

On the day of what became electoral Armageddon, I was neverthless amused to read a piece in the Guardian by Brownite acolyte Patrick Wintour. The article was about the local elections, but the second par referred to a leadership Conference resolution in which twas alleged there was "no interest."
Rule 1 of journalism. If something is not news, you do not put it in the second paragraph. Therefore I concur Number 10 is briefing against this it delberately - and that there IS concern at the highest levels over Calder Valley's bid to change the rules. Hardly surprising. Lets just say Gordon has to give up the ghost. Passing this resolution in September would mean only 30 MPs would be necessary to get a candidate on the ballot. That, hopefully. might see candidates from ALL wings of the Party getting the chance to stand as Leader. And, given the nightmare we suffered yesterday, it would certainly be feasible to get John McDonnell on that ballot and indeed obviously a soft left candidate like Cruddas. Such an event would finish off New Labour as the Party would collectively ensure Real Labour values were re-instated and Purnell, Blears et al consigned to the dustbin of history . At the moment, it's the stuff of dreams. But it's also a scenario whch I wager will be giving some people in New Labour nightmares. So I urge serious lobbying in the months ahead to get this through. ......we all know as things stand no-one will get thge 70-plus signatures needed to challenge Brown. But if events change then things could happen very, very quickly. And, in the 24 hours or since I originaly posted these thoughts, the media is once more febrile with speculation.......

TWO SPEECHES, SIXTY EXAM SCRIPTS AND A RALLY.....

So Boris won. An event I had been expecting for days but nevertheless a downer to go on-line and see the pics of him and Cameron punching the air with triumph. And yesterday was a pretty awful day round here. Labour lost two seats on Calderdale council (one to the BNP) and our vote everywhere, apart from where I live, was way down. On these figures, no question the constituency will fall to the Tories at the General Election. Indeed, most of West Yorkshire would. Tempers got frayed and tears were shed. I won't go into the details of the beer-throwing incident nor the row over someone not voting. Just 50 votes more and our left candiate would have won - so I hope all those 400 holier-than-thous who voted Green are thoroughly pleased with themselves. For the record, I got over 400 votes in an unwinnable ward but, hey, 400 votes for socialism.....
I now have to write two speeches . One for next Saturday, when I'm speaking at the Briefing AGM in London. I will be concentrating on the impact of the desperate local election results but, frankly, where do you start? The debacle of London will be left to those with the expertise. Ironically, I suppose, I take over as Mayor on Wednesday May 14 and must set out my stall before invited dignitaries and friends. The joke is already going round that I'm now the most left-wing Mayor in Braitain but it's not very funny really.
And then, today. A gang of us are setting off for Leeds for a May Day rally and I must confess I don't feel exactly upbeat about that. Somehow, New Labour has managed to throw away all the golodwill it got 11 years ago and Labour stares General Election defeat in the face. Hundreds of councillors have lost their seats. Gordon, let's be honest, is a disaster as a Leader.
Nevertheless, I will go and fly the flag for the LRC and speak to as many as I can to stress there is an alternative.......then head back and make a start on the 60 exam scripts shoved through my letterbox yesterday which all have to be marked by Friday.

LOBBY COMPASS FOR A LEFT AGENDA

It has been a strange kind of day. People angry, people sad. People apologising to me for not listening when we warned Gordon Brown woukd be a nightmare.

I take no joy in Schadenfreude. But those in Compass now sadly disappointed were told a year ago that either they supported a proper left leadership agenda or they were aiding New Labour. They protest too much for me to care very much. But Neal Lawson, Cruddas and the rest are pretty much responsible for the mess Labour is in. After all the platitudes and eulogies re Brown, finally the penny has dropped. Let's quote their latest directive

"The strategy that saw the Party continually triangulate interests and concerns, tacking endlessly to the right, doing what the Tories would do only doing it first, fixating on a mythical middle England and denying that free market policies are having a damaging effect on society is now finished.The atrocious results from last night clearly show that the Blairite strategy, revived by Gordon Brown, of targeting middle class votes while assuming the working class would back the Party come what may, no longer holds. The working class are now staying home or voting for anyone other than Labour as an alternative to the Tories. Millions still identify with the Party but won’t back it because its policies and rhetoric is alienating them. There is now no point trying to pile up middle class support in southern seats if our core vote is deserting us and destroying our voting base. The whole electoral strategy of New Labour is in tatters. "

Great analysis. Trouble is that Compass claims it has been has been saying this since 2005. To what end? Typically, its spokespeople now nick proper left policies ( which they wouldn't back a year ago) As Lawson points out: "If Brownism is just Blairism without the economic boom then the Party is finished."

What COMPASS doesn't say is that the road ahead was quite clear 12 months ago and they chose to advocate Brown. Nor that the radical policies they are advocating are largely borrowed from the lrc. Which makes me rather glad that LRC Chair John McDonnell will now be speaking at a fringe meeting at the Compass event on June 14 and, I am sure, pointing out to Messrs Cruddas et al that their hand-wringing now needs to be translated into decisive action to bring the left and centre-left together in a positive and constructive way.

The alternative, clearly, is landslide victory for the Tories. And none of us want that. On that note, will collapse into bed nefore get horrors of the Mayor of London result. One disaster at a time.....

ALMOST THERE....WITH A SOCIALIST CANDIDATE

Just 53 votes short in Calder ward of WINNING seat from Liberal Democrats. Why? Because our candidate Janet Oosthuysen fought an honest, Real Labour campaign from start to finish. We made ir clear we were not New Labour, we stood up for peace and against racism. Janet, who is an LRC member, stated plainly "Vote Labour - Get A Socialist." Seems to me that it's not a bad slogan toi build on and indeed counsel others to follow.
Elsewhere, our worst vote for decades. No wonder. No time for considered thoughts. Three hours' sleep last night and about to gather for lunchtime wake. But we have plenty to be proud of here. I await the London Mayor result with growing sense of dread......

MAY DAY GREETINGS...

And good luck to all Labour candidates across the UK. Now have to dash off as strangely an urban guerilla has strung up a huge VOTE LABOUR poster in the middle of Hebden Bridge which the Highways Department aren't too pleased at . I have my scissors at the ready and naturally I deplore such tactics.......