This is the week that could finish Labour. As the PM tries to unveil the future, three skeletons clatter in his cupboard. A sleaze scandal, a blighted Budget and industrial unrest form the triple onslaught that may end Gordon Brown’s fragile chances. Any hope that the shadow of greed had lifted was crushed by accusations that former ministers sought money for favours. The taped claim by Stephen “Cash” Byers that “I’m like a sort of cab for hire” is a remark geared to give the Tories a chauffeured drive to power.
When his meter is not running, Mr Byers has produced some good ideas on the importance of social measures designed to harness the grey vote. Pensioners with an annual income of little more than the £3,000 to £5,000 that he declared the daily going rate for his advisory services are unlikely to be as unquestioning as the PM. A furious Mr Brown’s first, and mistaken, response was to declare himself “satisfied” that no influence was brought to bear on serving ministers. What matters is that the public is satisfied, by an inquiry and a change to shamefully lax lobbying rules.
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The second spectre facing Mr Brown is tomorrow’s Budget , widely previewed as a testimony of past profligacy and pain to come. As if that were not bad enough, the BA strike is unresolved, and Bob Crow, the lemming of the Labour movement, is limbering up for an Easter rail stoppage. Both the Budget and industrial relations contain the seeds either of Labour’s ruin or its revival.
Take Alistair Darling’s contribution first. The last Labour Chancellor to deliver such an ill-starred speech was Roy Jenkins, whose frugality paved the way for Ted Heath’s victory in 1970. Mr Darling must pull the ultimate Budget rabbit from the hat by making a virtue of being boring and being broke. Impossible as this may seem, it would be unwise to underestimate Mr Darling. Once routinely trashed by the PM’s spinners, and so close to defenestration that the removal vans were near to being despatched to No 11, the Chancellor has become his party’s unlikely secret weapon. A leading Blairite (a coterie to which Mr Darling does not belong) calls him “the unsung
By Mary Riddell Published: 7:04PM GMT 22 Mar 2010
Comments 40 | Comment on this article
This is the week that could finish Labour. As the PM tries to unveil the future, three skeletons clatter in his cupboard. A sleaze scandal, a blighted Budget and industrial unrest form the triple onslaught that may end Gordon Brown’s fragile chances. Any hope that the shadow of greed had lifted was crushed by accusations that former ministers sought money for favours. The taped claim by Stephen “Cash” Byers that “I’m like a sort of cab for hire” is a remark geared to give the Tories a chauffeured drive to power.
When his meter is not running, Mr Byers has produced some good ideas on the importance of social measures designed to harness the grey vote. Pensioners with an annual income of little more than the £3,000 to £5,000 that he declared the daily going rate for his advisory services are unlikely to be as unquestioning as the PM. A furious Mr Brown’s first, and mistaken, response was to declare himself “satisfied” that no influence was brought to bear on serving ministers. What matters is that the public is satisfied, by an inquiry and a change to shamefully lax lobbying rules.
The second spectre facing Mr Brown is tomorrow’s Budget , widely previewed as a testimony of past profligacy and pain to come. As if that were not bad enough, the BA strike is unresolved, and Bob Crow, the lemming of the Labour movement, is limbering up for an Easter rail stoppage. Both the Budget and industrial relations contain the seeds either of Labour’s ruin or its revival.
Take Alistair Darling’s contribution first. The last Labour Chancellor to deliver such an ill-starred speech was Roy Jenkins, whose frugality paved the way for Ted Heath’s victory in 1970. Mr Darling must pull the ultimate Budget rabbit from the hat by making a virtue of being boring and being broke. Impossible as this may seem, it would be unwise to underestimate Mr Darling. Once routinely trashed by the PM’s spinners, and so close to defenestration that the removal vans were near to being despatched to No 11, the Chancellor has become his party’s unlikely secret weapon. A leading Blairite (a coterie to which Mr Darling does not belong) calls him “the unsung hero” of the financial crisis.
Mr Brown, meanwhile, appears finally to have abandoned his DIY approach to the Chancellorship. While Mr Darling talks of “our Budget”, No 10 insiders pay tribute to the Chancellor, whose meetings with Mr Brown have been unprecedentedly harmonious. “We’ve finally learned how to work on a Budget,” says one No 10 aide. “There has been no negative briefing”, adds a No 11 source who could spot a force of hell at 100 paces. This belated exercise in collaboration is partly due to Mr Brown’s acceptance that a budget deficit of around £170 billion offers no scope for giveaways. As one aide says: “Gordon isn’t in the mood to splurge.” If Mr Darling is unbruised by his neighbour, nor have the Tories dented him. Their stock taunt that he won’t be around, whatever happens next, is ill-judged. Though less personally ambitious than many colleagues, Mr Darling defers to no one in his contempt for George Osborne’s policies. He has clung to his job like a barnacle to a Hebridean fishing smack on the grounds that he is the best man to oversee recovery. Should Labour narrowly regain power, the odds are on Mr Darling staying put.
For now, Labour’s survival or demise are in his gift. In countering the fiscal hawks who want instant cuts, he will have to prove that he possesses safe hands and a roadmap to a better from of capitalism. There may be extra money for young jobless, and even some for public services, but the central plank of Mr Darling’s speech is likely to be the green investment bank set up with at least £1 billion of state money, matched by private contributions.
That move to finance sustainable energy projects and transport offers a glimpse not only of a modern Britain but also of a reworked compact between citizen and state. The promise, to be included in the election manifesto, of a People’s Bank based in Post Offices is a second example of a rejigged system in which mutual interests prevail. With suggestions of further manifesto pledges, including an end to extortionate credit, free school meals for all, and dropping the voting age to 16, a picture is starting to emerge of a Labour fourth term based on “fairness”. Its impact, however, may be negligible if Mr Brown cannot overcome his third challenge: union intemperance.
The Tories’ “spring of discontent” is not going to happen. The unions are feeble, not strong. In recent years, the number of days lost to strikes has rarely topped one million, compared with an average of 12.9 million in the Seventies, rising to 29.47 million in the 1979 “winter of discontent”. But while Mr Cameron’s sabre-rattling is absurd, Mr Brown cannot afford to seem at the unions’ mercy.
In a speech yesterday, he outlined his plans for the MyGov state, in which public services are delivered via broadband. No more JobCentres, or queues for parking permits. Soon, almost everything will be done online. What Mr Brown heralds as the Britain of 2020 starts here, with Yvette Cooper’s promise to save money by increasing online benefit claims. The paperless state may create many jobs, but it will also, as Mr Brown privately acknowledges, cause a cull of public service workers, with all the union anguish that implies.
To show the danger of David Cameron’s dangerous and Quixotic notion of becoming a Thatcherite union-breaker, the PM needs to end the BA imbroglio and help avert any Easter rail stoppage. He cannot wade in like a one-man Acas, or pose as a sub-branch of Relate. But with both his kick-ass methods and his blandishments producing scant leverage, Mr Brown had better dust off his diplomatic skills.
If he also avoids the urge to brush the latest evidence of sleaze under the carpet, and if Mr Darling can lace gloom with some credible hope, then Labour can fight on. We have seen a fuzzy version of its future, and we know too how it plans to get there. This election will be fought online, through social networking, and in front rooms, on whose sofas Mr Brown plans to perch for cosy chats. This combination of IT and high tea has the virtue of mixing technology and homeliness. “Also, it’s cheap,” says a No 10 source.
Labour is a near-bankrupt party, some of whose ex-ministers display near-bankrupt values. The debate starts here over whether a country deemed near-bankrupt by many voters will give it a fourth term. While the omens spell failure, never underestimate the survival instincts of a PM and a Chancellor convinced, with some justification, that they are still the future. Tomorrow, Mr Darling will have to prove that case.
Comments: 40
@ Jill Hall 'The voting cockroaches will not let Labour down. They will vote for freebies no matter what' That sort of deeply unpleasant attitude towards public sector workers and those on benefits partly explains why the Conservatives are, after three election defeats, only four points ahead in the polls and on course to not even be the largest party after the coming election.
Mary - I have long held you in high esteem as the most belligerent, biased cretinous writer who would never admit to the possibility of Labour's deceit being uncovered! Then what? You let me down by conceding that Brown is a treacherous, deluded, devious, lying Git who you now realise has not a snowballs chance of re-election! Every item of news in any paper you care to name is revealing daily, or in some cases hourly, further instances of fraud, lies and deceit by Labour comrades who of course claim to 'have done nothing wrong'. How they expect the public to accept that their misdemeanors can be judged by their own partners in crime is beyond belief! Of course they will say that they did no wrong as to say otherwise would be to admit to guilt of their own! Time to shoot the 'Sheriff' - sack the whole rotten crew! Meantime Mary, best get down to the job centre!
Billholmes gets my vote.
Vote for all Labour ministers, Labour party members and Labour voters to be kicked out of England. The Scots, Blair and Brown, have been a disaster and a corrupt influence on our country. They are guilty of treason and trying to destroy our constitution and democracy. Never again must they be allowed anywhere near London. They can go and stand in the Iraq and Afghan elections. Anybody voting Labour is a traitor. Get out of our country now.
Taxi anyone ? Another beer old pal.....? Trip to Cyprus will we ? Lets find another brothel of ideology shall we. Tory sleaze anyone ? All they were interested in was sex, the poor mutts. Harriet High Standards Harman doesnt like it one little bit !! A good day to bury bad news and perhaps some self importance as well ha ha ha !!
Britisher pals, don't be a bunch of risk-averse losers. If you haven't figured Britain's washed up, you really are slow on the uptake. What are you, a bunch of masochists? Whatever the result of the General Election (win, lose or draw), you know in your heart that Britain's not going to get well anytime soon, if ever. Therefore, I suggest you start the ball rolling by checking your passport, and if necessary apply for a new, clean one. Face it; even if the Conservatives secure a working majority (unlikely), there'll be lines around the block for embassies of countries popular with Brit emigrants. You also might want to consider supply and demand, and less obvious host nations. Keep in mind the more irksome the regulations, the more exclusive you'll be when you finally get that “licence to print money” visa in your passport. Just after you graduate, and before you get bogged down with family/mortgage would be the perfect time, assuming you have the confidence. Overseas employers may not have realised that many British university degrees are essentially worthless. In fact, consider combining emigration with spouse acquisition. So obvious when you think it through.
Is it a reasonable defence that you withdraw all your comments after you have been exposed? It is unbelievable that Byers , Hewitt and Hoon think that they can escape from this disaster. Even funnier are the words from Downing St. "there is no evidence of any impropiety" How much more evidence does Brown need before he takes action?
Gareth: "At what stage would you cease to support Labour? When the IMF arrive?" The tragedy of our nation is that for many people that is indeed the answer.
"Vote Labour" - Captain R.E. Jones Bwahahahahahaha! 1) For mass immigration into the already most crowded country into the EU, admittedly intentional, & designed to undermine our social structure - VOTE LABOUR. 2) For a mass housing programme concreting your green fields to cope with 1).....Developers are proposing to destroy 975 old growth oak trees adjacent to my town, because the government mandates another FIVE THOUSAND HOUSEHOLDS must to be built here - VOTE LABOUR 3) For an ever-rising tide of traffic congestion in your once pleasant town, due to the knock on effects of 1) - "white flight" from the big cities to the provincial towns etc. VOTE LABOUR 4) For education levels dumbed down so much that even the dimmest can get their "qualifications" but are basically illiterate and innumerate - VOTE LABOUR. 5) For a police and criminal justice system so politicised that the police prosecute Channel Four Dispatches for exposing Islamist treason in British mosques - VOTE LABOUR. 6) For the biggest destruction of the public finances in the whole of the OECD, and in the history of Britain - VOTE LABOUR. 7) For doubling the taxation load on British households since 1997 - VOTE LABOUR. 8) For abolishing the 10% tax band, so that STILL there are people ( I am one ) on low incomes who now pay MORE TAX than previously - VOTE LABOUR. 9) For a doubling of COUNCIL TAX since 1997, to be followed up by stealthy Council Tax "re-evaluation" of your home, where you will be savaged financially if you've dared to improve it rather than blow your money - VOTE LABOUR. Bwahahahahahaha! What planet are you on "Captain"? .......
Mary Riddell (reluctantly) states that 'Labour is a near-bankrupt party, some of whose ex-ministers display near-bankrupt values'. Perhaps we should assure Mary that it has not escaped our attention that this rabble of a government has been vociferously supported by numerous cerebrally-bankrupt journalists of which Mary Riddell is probably the prime example. She's hedging her bets just a little now as the day of reckoning approaches but she still cannot disguise her total admiration for Gordon Brown and the most evil and odious government in our political history. We look forward to future instalments of Mary's perceptive and incisive political analysis!
In many constituencies, and areas, people vote Labour "cause we always have". No this is nonsensical. And it results in corrupt MPs like Byers getting into Parlaiment. The way to deal with this is to expose these hypocrites. And this means having the debate with Harmon, Mandelson and the other opportunists in the Labour Party, who regard the working class as being worthy of contempt. Attack the weakest point. The weakest point is liars like Harmon and Mandelson. They are serial liars and are suitable candidates for attack by the Tories and the Lib Dems.
I agree with Gareth. Harriet Harmon is the most hated woman in Britian. She is more detested than Jade Goody, Ann Robinson and everybody's mother in law put together. The Tories need to match somebody in a television debate with Harriet Harmon in the final week. The sight of Harman will get Labour voters to stay at home. Oh yes, and a direct debate with Mandelson should also be planned. A direct debate, with all sorts of questions concerning his role in the EU Commision, quotes from a German CDU MEP member who asked questions about his cronyism with Russian Billionaires in the European Parlaiment and who got no answer. If possible bring the German CDU MEP to London to publicise his book, so as to embarrass Mandelson and remind the voters of the arrogance of key Labour Party members. And then there is the fact that Mandelson is not common enough for the House of Commons. This must surely rankle the ordinary Scouse, Brummie or Toon. What exactly are these people voting for ? The Labour Party is a fraud. Mandelson and Harmon are the two best assets that the Tories have. Take them on directly : ))))
The Tories need to take aim at Harriet Harmon. Harmon is one of the most annoying people on television. And she is Brown's number 1 supporter inside the Labour Party. She is patronizing, and deceitful. She also is the wrong class of background for the Labour Party and is the type of person that would make repeat Labour voters stay at home. Also a question has to be asked about Brown's track record concerning the nation's finances. Just look at some of the comments/quotations that he made on i) Boom and Bust, ii) The Financial sector, iii) Sterling, iv) certain banks (NRock, RBoS), v) borrowing. These comments all clearly indicate somebody who was cluelessly, and aimlessly going along with whatever was happening, and who had no idea what he was really doing. You did not vote for this idiot to be your Prime Minister - but you do have a chance to vote him out !!!
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