May 14, 2008
Sorry for not posting earlier, but what with PMQs, the post-match analysis with Iain Dale and then lunch with same, it’s been crazy! Iain was very good company and had tons of very interesting and funny anecdotes, none of which I can use here, sadly (just as he can’t use any of mine - you hear that, Dale?).
Then an odd thing happened. I was half way through my chicken caesar salad when suddenly the lights started to flicker, dark clouds obscured the sun, a wind started howling through the restaurant, a black crow squawked and flew into the air and a young baby started crying. For none other than Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes) had entered the restaurant. “Don’t look into his eyes!” I whispered urgently to Iain as he rose to say hello. But it was too late…
The olives and balsamic vinegar were nice, though.
May 14, 2008
I remember the day when inflation hit ten per cent. I was standing in a back room at the headquarters of Labour’s double by-election campaign in Paisley in November 1990. With me was the shadow chancellor, John Smith, who was ruminating on how to respond to what was a pretty catastrophic economic headline for the then chancellor, John Major.
Today one of the news channels carried a headline that screamed: “Inflation soars to 3 pc”. Soars? Isn’t it amazing how quickly we take economic success for granted, as if it wasn’t hard won, as if it all happened by accident? And isn’t it depressing how hard the media will try to paint a three per cent inflation rate - which in the UK is historically incredibly low - as a reason for criticism?
May 13, 2008
Don’t forget to log onto Iain Dale’s blog tomorrow immediately after PMQs to hear me and Keith Simpson MP have a punch-up reasoned debate about how our respective leaders did.
May 13, 2008
Labour MPs warmly welcomed Frank Field’s gracious apology to the prime minister during the chancellor’s statement this afternoon.
Colleagues have a spring in their step for the first time in a while. The government has listened, it has apologised and it has compensated. The only response that right wing bloggers such as Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes can offer is a petted lip and some resentful, half-hearted accusations to do with “unfunded tax cuts”. But surely, if the new Tories are all in favour of protecting the poor as ‘Dave’ says, they should be welcoming today’s announcement unreservedly?
May 13, 2008
My friend and colleague David Cairns, the Scotland Office minister, has been lowering sartorial standards in the House these past couple of days, sitting in the chamber and voting in the lobby without a tie! Disgraceful.
At the last vote a few minutes ago, he was spied by Wrexham MP Ian Lucas who, reflecting on the latest developments in Scottish politics vis-a-vis a referendum, asked David if had had his tie and shoelaces forcibly removed for his own safety.
May 13, 2008
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was given its second reading in the Commons tonight by a big majority. Although abortion isn’t yet part of the Bill, MPs will table amendments reducing the upper limit at which a woman can get an abortion, from the current 24 weeks to 22 or even 20.
I genuinely don’t know how to vote on this. Years ago when I was still an evangelical Christian*, I was a dyed-in-the-wool pro-lifer. The first - and only - time I took part in a debate at my school’s debating society was to support the case against abortion. At the first Labour Party branch meeting I ever attended, I spoke against a motion which called for Labour MPs to be whipped to support the party’s policy of “abortion-on-demand”. I lost the vote and was not a popular new member.
Since then I’ve changed my mind. The idea of making abortion illegal repels me. I also don’t think a woman should have to get the permission of two GPs in order to be “approved” for a legal procedure. And I accept recent scientific advice that the survival rate of premature babies has not measurably improved since the current legislation was framed.
What worries me is the question: was the 24-weeks limit right when it was introduced? Should it have been 22 or 20 weeks even then?
I don’t know. I’ll think and read about this more between now and the vote. There seems to have developed a consensus among Labour colleagues at least that we shouldn’t tamper with legislation that was hard-won and seems to be working effectively. Colleagues whose views I deeply respect will vote for the status quo. A lobbying operation is underway and in the voting lobby tonight I was targeted by a colleague who, when I told her I hadn’t yet made up my mind, wrote something indecipherable in a box next to my name.
It’s a classic head v heart thing. There’s no doubt that being a parent of young children has affected my view on this. And by that I absolutely don’t mean to suggest that unless you’re a parent you’re not qualified to make your own judgment. It’s just that it is an emotional subject, as are children.
I hate the hard decisions. But as I’ve said before, MPs are there to make tough decisions, not easy ones. And I want to make the right one, not necessarily the one that will make me popular. Of course, whatever I do, I’ll be more unpopular with some.
*I still consider myself a Christian, just not a particularly evangelical one. Chris Bryant has dubbed me a “recovering evangelical”, which I rather like.
May 13, 2008
Following my earlier vitriolic assessment of the abilities of our esteemed fourth estate, I’m prepared to revisit my harsher views following an amiable conversation with a couple of hacks in Strangers Bar tonight, both of whom expressed some confidence that Labour will, in fact, hold onto Crew and Nantwich on May 22.
May 12, 2008
Watching Nick (”Do you want to come back to my place and look at my canvass returns, love?”) Clegg on TV this afternoon, pontificating about something or other, I muttered something along the lines of “He’s useless, isn’t he?” A work colleague looked at the screen and asked: “Who is he?” Quite.
Years ago it was the then employment secretary Tom King who was identified as the invisible man. There was a whole song and dance routine by Spitting Image. I met (now Lord) King last year at an event where I was giving a speech as a transport minister, and he assumed I didn’t know who he was and started to explain that he used to be in the Cabinet.
“Tom, I know exactly who you are - you were Northern Ireland and Defence Secretary,” said I. “And I know you were Employment Secretary because Spitting Image called you the invisible man.” His face immediately lit up.
“You mean you remember that? Hardly anyone recalls that now.” He was clearly chuffed.
Point is, more than a decade after he left full-time politics, I wouldn’t be surprised if Tom King could be identified by more people than could Nick Clegg.
May 12, 2008
The PM today makes a speech today on how we plan for the future of elderly care. A hugely important issue given the deficit that awaits any future government unless something radical is done first. And yet, just five paragraphs into the BBC’s coverage, they return to their favourite activity - gossip:
“The speech comes after a weekend dominated by memoirs from Cherie Blair, John Prescott and Lord Levy focusing on his relationship with Tony Blair.”
And that has what, exactly, to do with this subject? It must be so easy being a political correspondent these days. You don’t have to know anything about the subject, about policy as such. Just repeat the latest gosspip going round the press gallery. The important thing is that you’re all saying exactly the same thing. Heaven forfend that one of you steps out of line and says something original. How would you explain that to your news editor?
May 11, 2008
Carolyn has announced her intention to start up her own blog. I’m… supportive. I even set it up for her over on Blogspot. She has more common sense than I have when it comes to this sort of thing so I’m sure her observations will be well-judged. I’ll post the URL on this site when it’s up and running.
Just remember: her views are her own and not necessarily mine. She’s a Daily Mail reader, after all…
