Howard Flight put to flight for "breeding" remarks

Howard Flight is what some would see as an unreconstructed Tory. He has made some remarks in his time that have not found favour with the leadership. However, that didn't stop David Cameron making him a peer last week. The former MP for Arundel and South Downs, who is yet to take his seat in the House of Lords, has been commenting on the government's plans to cut child benefit for top-rate taxpayers. He told the London Evening Standard  "We're going to have a system where the middle classes are discouraged from breeding because it's jolly expensive. But for those on benefits, there is every incentive. Well, that's not very sensible." He didn't actually refer to the poor "breeding" but he used the word in this context. However, the press have seen fit to twist it a bit to get a better negative slant.

Within hours of being reported he was offering a fulsome "apology". Interesting that he gets the Labour Party fuming but Harriet Harman could speak of "ginger" politicians. She apologised too. But should politicians have to apologise? Should we not just judge them on the words they say? Free speech should not be restrained into restricted speech. It is right that there are certain limits, such as abusive or racist language being off limits. But there now appears to be a form of censorship in the air.

Also, hypocrisy rises up on occasions. The Speaker was apparently offended at David Cameron repeating a joke that he had heard told about the speaker's height. Yet the speaker himself often refers to his height as a jokey introducton to speeches. Is self-mockery acceptable but mocking others not?

The content of free speech is not necessarily to everyone's liking, but self-righteous humbug leads to censorship and a lack of true thought and feeling.

Read more »

Lord Young fails to fend off Eagle's attacks

When eagles swoop on their prey they more often than not get their victim. Angela Eagle lives up to her name, if only in part. She's good on the attack but has failed to soar high with glory. Her favoured method is the monotone attack laced with half truths and innuendo. This morning she has been doing the rounds giving the impression of being a palsied victim in sackcloth and ashes. This lunchtime Lord Young has resigned as enterprise advisor to the government.

His "political crime" was stating the bleeding obvious. That was that despite the economic times "the vast majority are better off". That is true. Most are in employment. Most have very low mortgage rates. Most have more disposable income. However, lots of other people will bear the brunt of the cuts, will lose their jobs and will find it hard going.

The difficulty with modern politics is that political antennae have to pick up all kinds of signals. Unfortunately, Lord Young was not tuned into Ms Eagle's wavelength. Her AM band crackle was being heard loud and clear elsewhere. It got picked up by the media, never ones to enter the cerebral heights of political debate, and relayed ad nauseam.

David Cameron realised that Lord Young's remarks were politically unsustainable. However, the truth should find more favour with him. He should be pleased that so many have actually "never had it so good". If he would prefer to tell us that we have never had it so bad, let him say so.

Read more »

Vince Cable's passion is strictly a tango!

So after much lobbying and public soundings, Vince Cable is to appear on Strictly Come Dancing. There have been criticisms and many people have criticised politicians for combining television popularity with political ambition. But I think the business secretary has a point. Speaking of the dance competition, he said: ‘I am delighted to be taking part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special. Strictly has always been a secret, or not so secret, passion of mine. I hope that by taking part in the show I can inspire others to get up and do something they have always wanted to have a go at."

I would have thought in these straightened times we need quite a few people being inspired and doing things they "have always wanted to have a go at."



More about it here.

Read more »

Gerry Adams to stand down as MP

It's more than likely that there will be a by-election in West Belfast within the next couple of years. Gerry Adams has decided that the time is right for him to try to make a contribution to the politics of the Dail. Brian "Biffo" Cowan is having a hard time leading the country. Adams reckons the current Fianna Fail/Green coalition government is "probably the most unpopular in the history of the state". He says new ideas are needed. Maybe so, but are his the right ones?

Gerry Adams will try to be elected as a TD in Louth. If he is, he will resign as an MP and an MLA. He took part in the Assembly proceedings, but was never an active MP as he never swore the Oath of Allegiance. Latterly he functioned as an MP from an office point of view, but in a fairly voiceless capacity. A by-election in West Belfast is unlikely to change this.

Ireland is in severe difficulties. I can't see much of Gerry Adams' political philosophy attracting the great and the good of Dublin society. This might be a wake-up call for them. Get your act together or face a revitalised Sinn Fein stomping around the Dail.

Read more »

Labour had to act over Woolas

Shadow cabinet minister Caroline Flint, appearing on BBC Question Time, said Labour "had to act" in response to a court verdict banning Phil Woolas from politics for three years. She said she had known Mr Woolas for more than 20 years and believed he had been a great MP and minister, but she added, "statements were made about the Lib Dem candidate that were not only wrong but the Oldham campaign knew them to be wrong. That was the judgement and therefore Harriet Harman, representing the Labour Party, confirmed that and that is why Phil Woolas was administratively suspended." Interesting the term "administratively suspended". It now seems that many in the Labour Party, including would-be leader David Miliband, are of the opinion that Woolas is not really guilty but just unlucky. The fact that a collection plate is doing the rounds in order to get funds for him to appeal the verdict suggests that politics has some way to go before it is clean enough for voters.

Most voters are of the opinion that yah-boo politics is not very attractive. At most PMQs the Speaker has to appeal for rowdiness to cease. He keeps telling them it puts off the voters. Whilst Harriet Harman says telling lies has no place in Labour Party campaigns it has yet to settle in the minds of many Labour MPs that liars have no place in the Labour Party. Unrepentant ones, that is!

Read more »

Phil Woolas at centre of Labour Party row

Extraordinary scenes are happening in the Labour Party. At the centre of it all is the supposedly disgraced ex-minister Phil Woolas. Having been found guilty of spreading lies about his Liberal Democrat opponent in election leaflets, Woolas is now seeking to show himself as the wronged one. Is he a victim? Has he been unfairly treated? I would hardly think so.

However, on Monday night, Labour backbenchers let rip at Harriet Harman and said some quite nasty things to her face. All because she said racism, telling lies and smearing opponents had no place in the Labour Party. It should have no place in any party.

Is Phil Woolas loved by so many? Or is there some kind of feeling that the courts should not get involved? I can't understand it. Politicians make the laws that govern elections. If they are so beefed up about it, get the law changed. Make it perfectly legal to insinuate that someone is gay, doesn't live in a constituency, is a racist, has dealings with terrorists, fans extremism and is an all-round bad egg, even if none of it is true. That's the way to progress.

As it is, Woolas was found guilty of corrupt election practices. Fine for him to appeal, but let's not suggest that what he did was OK because it wasn't.

Read more »

MPs lose court appeal over expenses

The Supreme Court has ruled that three former Labour MPs should face criminal trials over their expenses claims. They are David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine and they have been claiming that their cases should be heard by Parliament, not the courts. They seem to think that they will get a more favourable hearing before their peers in Parliament rather than their peers in a jury. I would tend to doubt it. As they are no longer MPs, the current House of Commons, with its vast intake of new members, will want to keep them at arms length. Their best bet is to plead not guilty (as they claim they are) and put their case. It's been done before. The late great George Carman QC, in defending Ken Dodd, said, "some accountants are comedians, but comedians are never accountants".

Perhaps a similar sentiment could be put before the courts in their cases.

Read more »

Lord Heseltine's Schools' Army

Lord Heseltine was bemused to hear Evan Davis remark on the Today Programme "nice to have you back", as if the noble Tory had been politically recuperating somewhere. I think Heseltine looks far better now than when he was last in office, if "in office" is the right expression. He's raring to go, all enthusiastic and is up to his whatsits with new ideas.

One is the recruiting of retired army officers to provide school discipline for failing schools. Described as "shock tactics" by some, Lord Heseltine does not mince his words. He says that Michael Gove is doing some good things, but that if he was in charge he'd start at the other end of the spectrum. "I think the head teachers in the 100 worst sink schools in this country would have got a letter from me, or from the local council via me, which said - You've got six months and if there's no change in the way that this school is being appallingly mismanaged, your job is on the line." So enter the idea of retired army officers giving their marching orders. No drill sergeants here!

He says "boys who have had no male in their lives to give them any sense of discipline or adventure" need leadership. The thing is he got somewhat of a different message when he was in office under Margaret Thatcher. She was the political female in his life and it gave him little sense of discipline but an extraordinary sense of adventure.

We'll have to see if any retired army officers get the call.

Read more »

Phil Woolas refused judicial review

Ex-immigration minister Phil Woolas has lost his first bid to overturn a court ruling that banned him from politics. He had a bit of a brass neck trying it in the first place. The election court that ruled against him last week did the right thing. Woolas tried every beastly trick to rubbish his Liberal Democrat opponent. He insinuated that Elwyn Watkins was gay because he was said to "live with his mother". An untrue statement. Equally untrue was saying he didn't live in the constituency, that he was in league with Muslim extremists.

Woolas was once a darling of the Labour Party for being a streetwise political terrier. That was then, and now is now. Now meaning that Harriet Harman has given him a public drubbing and said he is no longer wanted. But she screeched not a word when the offensive leaflets flooded Oldham East and Saddleworth. If anything there are other guilty types, but with election law the buck stops at Woolas. His agent, his party leadership and all those in his local entourage are what we long suspected. Hypocrites!

Read more »

Baby boy for Ed Miliband

Ed Miliband and his partner are celebrating the birth of his second child, a baby boy. This takes his mind off politics, that's for sure. “Ed and Justine are overjoyed at the birth of their second child and can't wait to introduce the new arrival to his big brother, Daniel,” said a spokesman for the couple. “Both are keen to pass on their thanks to the NHS staff at the hospital.”

This is all very modern, isn't it? He is the first leader of a major party not to be married in such circumstances and he will be taking paternity leave. And it means that all three leaders of the main parties have young children at home. Maybe the next modern thing they can do is get every MP home by six o'clock. No overtime and double shifts!

Read more »