MILI-VANILLA

Vanilla - default option. When you can't decide what you want, you default to that which is comfortable.

And the same with Labour.

Back to the left, bye bye Blairism.

One winner is Ed Balls who has finally defeated Mili-Senior and will be looking for a higher profile in the next few days.

The Unions will be pleased as punch that they swung it.

And of course Mili-Junior.

However, the weird thing is...I was in the bank today and it had Mili-Senior giving a speech on the conference platform.

Because the sound was off, I couldn't hear what was being said so had to look at the body language alone.

Mili-senior strode about the platform as if he had won.

Mili-junior sat there with bambi eyes, staring at the headlights, frozen with one thought in his head: "Oh shi...."

UPDATE: Actually thinking about it - the post title refers to Milli Vanilli, the band that was done for mouthing other singers' voices. Quite an appropriate metaphor come to think about it.

OH...MY...GOD...

...shoot me now!



Ed Milliband?!?!?

Ed Balls?!?!?!

I would have even preferred Abbott



ht; Dizzy

LESSONS LEARNED?

Well none from the Labour Party.

Oh yeah, sure they are now saying that they should have listened when over a million people marched on Westminster in protest at the Iraq war and they should have listened as the BNP gained council seats on the issue of immigration but on the main subject of economy, by God have they not learnt.

After listening to Harriet witter on in the House you'd of thought that maybe Labour would have finally grasped the concept of intelligent spending...obviously not.

You may have noticed that Harriet had a few jokes for once, why?

Well she has appointed comedienne Ayesha Hazirika as Director of Communications of the Labour Party and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Opposition for a bargain price of £55,000.

Yup, money that is well spent...

Now I like Ayesha, having known her from her days as a DTI press officer but c'mon surely there are better ways of spending £55k?

Oh and I suppose I should mention that she was appointed Harriet's SPAD in 2007 as well, not that it's related in any way whatsoever.

LABOUR LEADER ELECTION EXPLAINED

HT: Guido

SUMS IT UP REALLY

Those mendicious c**** are just concerned about power, not about democracy

EH OH

Dammit someone beat me to a photoshop about the retro (Tory) cover from the Labour manifesto

PANTS ON FIRE

Now this is interesting.

For years Gordo has been dismissing claims that Labour has overseen a decline in the rankings of the UK.

This election so far has been littered with blatant scare tactics and lies from the Labour Party over Conservative intentions.

So let me be the first to congratulate them, for once, for telling the truth about our global status in of all places, their last manifesto.



For those of you hard of eyesight it reads:

1997-2005: Britain, the fourth largest economy in the world, with the longest ever period of continuous growth

So post 2005, we were a) no longer the fourth largest economy in the world and
b) Stopped growing.

Well, honesty is refreshing sometimes.

Pic ht: Holborn

UNITE and DIVIDE

There was an interesting bit in the News of the World at the weekend that super-union Unite was conducting a campaign in marginals trying to activise union members that may not vote the next election.

But there are a few things that are noticeable to me:

1) Unite is using its own database of members, contacting swing voters on the list who are then asked whether they are likely to vote Labour and what they think the most important issues at the next General Election will be.

That info is then used to send them personally tailored letters, and follow up calls and visits from government Ministers and prospective MPs.

Now forgive me but how does the Data Protection Act apply in all of this?
I'm sure that Unite is doing the correct procedures and asking these members whether they would agree for their data to be used for contact with prospective MPs and the data has not just been sent out without the correct permission aren't you?

And

2) Unite are likely to spend up to £5m on this campaign according to NoTW.

Where's this money coming from? According to the most recent accounts available (year ending 31 December 2008), Unite has a operating surplus from members of £339,000 and "other income" of £2.4m.

It also has a net worth of £178m.

Is Unite really going to blow most of its surplus? What's the payback for this? Has it mortgaged itself?

And that's without including pension liabilities.

Also I'm sure members would love to know where £5.6m of their money went from the year previously.

And these are guys that have a go at bankers?

Oh and a message to Gordo from his paymasters:

As a consequence of the recession, there are many challenges facing the Union and its members in the years ahead. Our aim is to consolidate our position as the premier campaigning Union, not just in size, but in impact and influence.In doing so, we intend to live within our means and take the necessary steps to streamline the operations of the Union to the benefit of all our members.

6 MAY

According to foot-in-mouth minister, Chris Bryant. the election will be 6 May, the same date as the local elections

Is that a Nokia I can hear breaking?

h/t tory politico

LABOUR'S MANIFESTO

Nope, no electioneering going on here, Mandy said so.

The Queen's Speech was this morning and god it was bad. Here's the list of bills which won't get anywhere before the general election -

1. Fiscal Responsibility Bill - put into law promise to halve deficit

I like this one. How to stuff the Tories up before they're in government.
PMQs in 2013 - Labour MP: "The government has failed to halve the deficit and has broken the law.
Cameron: "YEs well, if you hadn't of broken the country then introduced this law then maybe we could have sorted it all out within four years."

Yep, burn the house down then make a law banning matches.

2.Financial Services and Business Bill - clamp down on bonuses for bankers taking too many risks

Here we go again. Is Labour embarking on a scorched earth policy? Who decides the risk? What right does a government have to interfer with the business of a privately-owned bank? Who the hell is going to be left in the City? Bet Frankfurt and Dubai won't see any such law.

3.The Flood and Water Management Bill - give councils powers to prevent floods

Ah yes councils are all powerful. Take a lesson from Canute will you. How does this tally with the new super-planning quango which will, I presume, allow further building on flood plains which creates the conditions for flooding...

4.Social Care Bill - neediest elderly to get home care

Blatent politicking. Labour accelerated the cost of elderly care, with private homes essentially becoming the property of local government, and this is to counteract the Tories' idea of giving £8,000 for elderly care.

5.Policing, Crime and Private Security Bill - DNA of more sex offenders added to database

More DNA. Actually, how come there are still sex offenders' DNA that isn't on the database? Oh, hang on, the government is busy compiling innocent people's DNA.

6.Energy Bill - give Ofgem more powers to act on behalf of customers over prices
Erm, what's the point of Ofgem if it doesn't act on behalf of customers already?

7. Bribery Bill - make it offence to bribe foreign officials and for business to fail to prevent bribery

Haven't we been here before?

8.Digital Economy Bill - set up fund to bring in universal broadband by 2012

Yep, definitely been here before

9. Cluster Munitions Prohibition Bill - ratify international ban on cluster bombs

eh? I thought after the blessed Diana had died that Britain had already done this? Oh hang on, there was a definition problem with British armanent sales and the use in places such as, oh, I don't know, Iraq. Oh and that the RAF had to wait for a replacement for them as well.

JILTED JOHN

Oh how they sneered when they managed to wrest the other party's lover into their arms. For 12 years, they canoodled, played footsie under the table, shared their dreams.

But all things come to an end and the jilted lover is now screaming and tearing his hair out, "How could they do this to me," he screams. "I thought I was the one."

Two things to note Mandy - 1) Petty revenge is beneath you. It was your party that removed the Ashes in the first place so that, er, Sky could hoover up the rights.
2) You spent 12 years in bed with Murdoch so it is pathetic that you are now running around trying to persuade people that Cameron has done a deal with Murdoch. I didn't see your party trying to chase up the billions of pounds that News International and Sky must surely owe the exchequer. I didn't see Blair objecting to being feted in Australia by Murdoch.

So like all tragic breakdowns in relationships, I think the best thing for you to do is take a deep breath and have a nice cup of tea.

GORDON

I am not going to comment on Brown's latest gaffe as I don't think an attack on a one-eyed person who writes in felt-tip is fair.

What I do find interesting is that Labour have really lost it. Mandy has led the charge by accusing the Sun of acting with a political interest (NSS).

The old Mandy would never have done that. Indeed the old Mandy would have realised that if Brown was to call and apologise then there would be an attack on him and the call would be recorded.

Whatever your personal views on Labour in the last 12-15 years, there is no denying that for the first 10 years the political machine was incredible.

From getting the public to think of the Tories as sleeze to avoiding the same damage during Teflon's era was with one of the best political messaging management teams ever.

Now though that's gone and like The Office, I am now beginning to cringe at each disaster: - from this letter, to looking bored and disinterested at the Festival of Remembrance to not even bowing at the Cenotaph.

BIG BROTHER

I am at a loss over all of this, really.

The government is to go ahead with the monitoring of all phone calls, emails and which websites every person in the UK has visited.

THis is on top of Ripa, the extension of seizure powers to councils etc, and the introduction of an "exit visa" in 2010.

Would the real UK politicians stand up? You know those people who genuinely believe in the idea of freedom, free speech, the home is a castle and all that.

Where are they?

Will the Conservatives make a commitment to remove, not just repeal but remove, all these pieces of rubbish from our statute books?

I won't hold my breath.

And as others have said, this latest infringement to our privacy comes at the marvellously ironic time of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

EUROPA

Well the inevitable happened with the Czechs finally signing up to the Lisbon Treaty.

The other inevitable thing was the decision of David Cameron to back down from a referendum.

The third inevitable thing was the tin-helmet brigade shrieking - and backed by their shrill-voiced paper, The Daily Mail - that Cameron has betrayed Britain.

How exactly? C'mon how? He isn't Prime Minister and he never said that there would be a referendum if the Treaty was ratified before the next election, only if it wasn't. Try learning to read Tin-Hatters.

The Treaty no longer exists - it is now law. Now I presume Cameron is acting honourably (for a politican, natch) and has consulted constitutional lawyers about the feasibility of the proposed checks and balances - and judging from the protocol-ignoring reaction of the French there seems to be some truth to this - so good for him for trying to make a bad decision better.

Finally, how must Labour laughing at all this.

Let me remind you again, Cameron didn't "betray" the nation by going back on a referendum...



He did

and

so did he


Oh him as well



The Conservatives were the only ones to keep honouring their manifesto commitment whilst the other two parties sold us down the swanny.

BNP pt2

A quick appendum to all the BNP stuff. As I wrote below, BNP support is coming from Labour as this YouGov/Channel 4 poll shows.

So what you going to do Gordon?



H/T: To Political Betting for putting this up again

Free for all not Pic n Mix

"Five years on, the broadcasting ban remains a nasty little law, flirting with censorship."

Peter Hain is continuing his campaign to prevent the BNP from appearing on Question Time

I have always argued and will continue to argue in favour of free speech.
It is not a pic and mix, if there is free speech for one there is free speech for another.

"Tolerance of the intolerable is the hallmark of a democracy."

Why do Labour want to block these odious idiots anyway? They complained loudly about the Sinn Fein broadcasting ban - or were those bunch of political thugs acceptable to their ideology? (I thought the broadcasters did a brilliant job circumventing a ban that should never have been ordered and Labour correctly applauded the media's actions.)

You cannot decide on who has free speech. Although we don't have a written right to free speech, we do have laws and precedences to protect people. If Griffin, or any other loony commits an offence for incitement to racial violence or violence against a person then hit him with the law.

There is one straight precedence, it is fine to exercise free speech but you cannot shout fire in a packed cinema. So apply that. And whilst you're at it, arrest those thugs at the Finsbury Mosque for incitement as well. Like free speech, laws should be applied to all no matter what religion, colour or which House of Parliament you sit in.

As always, confront the bigot, don't make him a martyr. It is your natural constituents, Labour, that are voting for them.

The BNP is tapping into fears about jobs, housing, crime, the "way of life", and the only answer you're coming up with is to try and ban them?

AS I argued before, if you ban one political party, where does it stop? Hmmm, UKIP, bunch of loons, ban them. Tory Party? Full of rascists and capitalists, ban them. Lib Dems? Those orange book lads look a bit off-our-message, ban them.

Where do you stop?


Oh, and while I'm here, THE BNP IS A LEFT-WING PARTY! Look at its manifesto commitements, they're all socialist ideals. Just because they want to kick "anyone not them" out of the country and use nationalist imagery, it does not make them right wing, the left has used that as well!!


One final thing, the quotes on this blog - you may be interested to know that these come from Ann Clywd, the then-Labour spokesperson on National Heritage,on the fifth anniversary of the Sinn Fein broadcasting ban.
Here's the final one...

"Being right is not the key. Being allowed to be obnoxiously wrong is. The constitutional concept of free expression means something in continental Europe, and it means something in the United States. It should mean something here."

Appendum: Even Richard Littlejohn is calling for a ban!?! H/t Obo