Spot On!

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My admiration for Nick Clegg improves by the day.

It is reported that, just after the General Election results were known, he told Gordon Brown that, ‘... it is not possible to secure the legitimacy of a coalition and win a referendum unless you move on in a dignified way.' He apparently also said that the Labour party was 'knackered after 13 years in power’.

He got that right!

Good Luck!

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What a riveting day it was yesterday, ending all the speculation and culminating not only with a new Prime Minister but a new form of government.

The morning dawns with our new leaders, Tory and Lib-Dem, talking positively about the future with all bickering put aside in a general will to make this next government work for the good of the country.

Best of all, those now in charge have all been elected and we have seen an end to the ‘unelected and the unelectable’ trying to control the country from behind the scenes.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg have shown that parties can co-operate for the good of the country. The country deserves decent government for a change.

Good luck to them!
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What A Disappointment!

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The General Election is a disappointment to many, not least the leaders of the three main parties.

Brown must be disappointed that Labour have lost so many seats and have now come second to the Tories.

Cameron must be disappointed that the Tories didn’t gain an outright win and that Brown seems resolved to hang on to power (though this may change in the fullness of time, of course).

And Clegg must be disappointed that, not only was ‘Cleggmania’ a busted flush, his party have actually lost seats.

The most disappointed of all must be the electorate who surely hoped that one or other party would have held a mandate to govern. Instead we have days, possibly weeks, of bickering negotiating and, worse still, a lengthy hung parliament to look forward to.

Can I foresee another General Election looming? Possibly! Groan!
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It’s Been A Bad Week For Gordon

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I suppose I can’t ignore the electioneering of the past week since all the newspapers are stuffed full of it, and the television channels have joined in with their collection of experts and pundits and daily opinion polls which jump up and down like the value of the pound to the dollar.

It’s been a bad week for Gordon Brown is the basic message, followed by speculation as to whether or not there will be a hung parliament between the Conservatives and Lib-Dem. This, in my view at any rate, may not be a bad thing since it might rein in the wildest of Tory ideas. There is also much merit in Nick Clegg’s oft-repeated plea to get the financial wizards of the three main parties together to sort the economy out. A bit of cross-party co-operation on other issues might not also come amiss.

But to return to the main story, one reviewed both by the columnists and the cartoonists this weekend. Gordon’s bad week.

I said earlier in the week that some of Gordon’s problems were brought about by the Labour party spin-doctors; the return to Gillian Duffy’s house to apologise in person for calling her a bigot was a case in point. Having telephoned her with an apology, he should have carried on with his campaign trail and not been deflected into what became a public humiliation for him. But ‘Duffygate’ derailed his campaign and ‘that woman’ has now confirmed she has thrown away her postal voting card despite a grovelling invitation to go to Number 10 for tea with Gordon and Sarah.

Of course, I should have said that most of Gordon’s problems were brought about by the Labour party spin-doctors. He was, after all, mainly following the scripts given him.

It has to be said that Gordon is not a natural television personality even though he sincerely believes in what he is fighting for. The accident which caused his blindness hasn’t helped his facial expressions and his Presbyterian upbringing probably suppresses any passion the man feels. Given this, the spin-doctors should have put him into situations where these two things didn’t matter though, to be truthful, I can’t think of any except for radio broadcasts where the studios were not monitored by television cameras to record every grimace or look of despair.

Then there was the line-up of senior party officials who, along with Gordon, all looked as glum as glum could possibly be, all photographed beneath posters which were of such insignificance that no-one remembers what they said. A scene made all the more bizarre when some hapless and distracted motorist crashed into the bus shelter nearby. Whatever message those posters were meant to convey was obliterated in a moment; the actual message received by the media was that Labour was crashing and the looks on the faces of their seniors showed just that.

Worst of all has been Gordon’s appearances at the ill-conceived leaders’ debates which have mainly distracted voters’ attentions from party policies to the performances of the three main personalities. How could Gordon have outshone the polish of the other two men? Gordon did his best to get across complicated financial figures and statistics but overdid them to the point where any memorable response to a question was obscured and, bizarrely smiling in the wrong places, he came across at times as decidedly odd. None of this helped his or the Labour cause and one assumes that some spin-doctors have been ‘spoken to’ subsequently. I guess too that the spin-doctors who suggested that a bronzed Tony Blair be parachuted in to make a couple of insignificant speeches realises now that this may not have been the best idea of the campaign so far either.

Labour was never going to be ultra-popular in this election. Thirteen years of Labour misrule have seen to that. Much of the odium for the past, and most certainly the current economic situation, falls on the shoulders of Gordon Brown and, sad to say, it is Gordon Brown who will lose this election for the Labour party.

I actually feel sorry for Gordon who I think has been very poorly served by the spin-doctors, though it has to be said that his initial cock-up for calling a Rochdale matron a bigot was entirely his own fault. Compared with the slick campaigns across the country by those advising Cameron and Clegg, that of the Labour party has been something of a shambles.

Is there any way of Labour surviving from this point? I can think of only one and, sadly for the man himself, that surely can only be Gordon’s speedy announcement that after this election he will stand down as leader of the party.
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The Forgotten Message

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Most of the morning newspapers lead on the election and the chances of a hung parliament following Nick Clegg’s sudden rise in the popularity polls.

The Tory and Labour parties must now be bitterly regretting their agreement to the televised leaders’ debates. Until the first of these, the elections were primarily between the two main parties. After ninety minutes of debate it became clear that this election was now a three-horse race.

The leaders’ debates have also turned the election into a sort of Presidential race in which it has been forgotten that we are voting not for Clegg, Cameron or Brown but for our local man or woman, many of whom have served our local communities for years.

And this is a message that seems to have been forgotten as the three leaders slug it out in what has become something of a ridiculous personal popularity show.
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Uninspiring

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The morning papers are agreed that last night’s televised leaders’ debate was a draw between the three men and that Cameron and Brown had smartened up their act.

The debate in my view was uninspiring. The three men all seemed to be saying, more or less, the same thing. There were promises and yet more promises galore. What I think irritated me more than anything was Brown’s repeated promises to improve this or that, to introduce fairness and so on and so forth.

What Brown didn’t explain, and Clegg and Csmeron failed to challenge him on it, was why the Labour Party after thirteen years in office did nothing about the promises and undertakings they now see fit to give.

Promises, promises ...
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Cleggmania?

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Two stories dominate the morning papers: the ash cloud hovering over much of Europe and grounding airplanes, and the apparent growth in the support for Nick Clegg and the Lib-Dems.

Perhaps we are heading for a hung parliament but much can happen before we actually get to vote, and it is what happens on 6 May that will count not the current media hysteria.

Clegg did well during last week’s televised debate; so much so that many folk thought that the Lib-Dems were going to get Gordon Brown’s vote. But there are two more debates to follow, and Clegg is going to have to justify his stand on a number of sensitive issues - Trident, the euro, the EU, immigration and others. At the same time, Messrs Brown and Cameron are going to have to sharpen their acts if their parties are to make any progress.

On the other hand, perhaps a hung parliament might be good for the country for a few years since, if the Lib-Dems have the balance of power, then we might see some relief from the more extreme policies of the other two parties.

There are another two debates and another two weeks of politicking (groan!). But, whatever the polls, the pundits and the experts have to say on the subject, none of us will know for sure until the fat lady sings on 6 May!
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A Clear Winner!

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Nick Clegg was clearly the master of last night’s televised debate in which the three party leaders discussed questions posed by the audience.

Of course, as he himself pointed out, his party was not one of those who have been mucking up Britain for the last forty years. So he was able to cast himself in the role of honest broker whose frustration at the politics of the other two men was palpable.

David Cameron, as was to have been expected, gave a polished performance in contrast to Gordon Brown’s aggressive stance which probably earned him few friends. Nor did Brown’s stubborn refusal to answer some of the questions, the planned increase in national insurance contributions for example, a reminder of his tactics in parliament.

Did we learn much from last night? Not much in my view, except that Clegg gave the clearest account of what he would do were he to be our next prime minister. He also made the point that all three parties needed to get together to deal with some of the big issues, the country’s deficit for instance, a suggestion not markedly taken up by the other two leaders.

Two things I found irritating. The first was Gordon’s enthusiastic agreement that just about everything under discussion needed improvement. Why then, were they not improved during his thirteen year tenure of office? The second thing was Alastair Stewart’s abrupt interruptions to some answers just when it would have been interesting to have heard them.

It will be interesting to see how the three men adapt their performances for next week’s debate. By then the party PR consultants will have been at work.

But whether they or the leaders themselves can part the veil of obfuscation, counteraccusation and pure politicking that we witnessed last night is quite another thing.
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Bullying?

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Much of today’s media has been side-tracked by the relatively unimportant allegation that Gordon Brown is a bully.

I don’t know whether he is or not and don’t much care to be truthful, though I do wonder whether a person can rise so high in life’s rankings without an element of aggression along the way - the survival of the fittest, so to speak.

This story was initiated by an author who claimed in a new book that Brown ill-treated his staff and that the Cabinet Secretary had to give him a ‘pep-talk’. This led to denials from Number 10.

The head of an anti-bullying charity then popped up to tell the world that her organisation had received complaints about bullying in Number 10, though she was careful to say that Brown was not named by the complainants. This led to the resignation of one of the charity’s patrons and calls for the head’s resignation on the grounds that she had breached confidentiality by making the disclosures.

Now David Cameron and Nick Clegg are calling for an Inquiry.

Bullying in the work place (or any other) is undoubtedly a problem. Heads of organisations want results and they want them quickly and this puts pressure on junior staff who, let’s face it, are unable to fight back regardless of what anyone says.

I’ve seen workplace bullying in action and, in circumstances where the boss is the final arbiter of an underling’s future, can testify as to the utter hopelessness of the person concerned as well as those around him or her. Livelihoods are at risk and it is a brave person who makes a complaint, either though an organisation’s own complaints procedures or to an anti-bullying charity.

Whether the Prime Minister will allow an Inquiry to be set up remains to be seen, though I’m not very hopeful of any clear result.

Meantime, people are being killed by war, devastation and poverty all around the world. Oughtn't we to be focussing more on these issues?
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Too Much Politicking - And In Advance!

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Among many others, one thing that annoys me is the habit these days of politicians and government ministers shipping out in advance the text of the speeches they are going to give next day. If the public has the text of a speech a day in advance, there seems little point in any of these people actually bothering to deliver their speeches.

One such case was yesterday when the text of Gordon Brown’s speech to the King’s Fund about cancer care was published. And this morning, David Cameron’s PR people have publicised a speech he intends to give on those trying to avoid prosecution by claiming parliamentary privilege along with his intention to introduce a new law to cover the point.

This last seems to me to be unnecessary politicking for the sake of it and that is another of my pet hates.

Gordon Brown has made it quite clear that no-one is above the law, and his deputy has stated unequivocally that she is ‘completely satisfied’ that parliamentary privilege does not apply to cases such as theft or fraud. That ought to satisfy the most strident of voices but not it seems in David Cameron’s case.

I regret (almost) having to say that yet again I agree with Nick Clegg who, it is reported, will say: ‘Listening to the two of them anyone would think they were powerless backbenchers rather than the leaders of the two parties in Parliament which have proved to be the real roadblocks to reform. ... If they genuinely want political change, it is in their power to deliver it. So I challenge them to cut out the speeches and the rhetoric and get on with the job.’

He’s right again. On the other hand, this little speech was publicised in advance of him actually delivering it!
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‘This Rotten Parliament!’

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In 1648 Edward Sexby in expressing the mood of the ordinary people of Britain complained about the King and his ‘rotten Parliament’. The mood of the ordinary people, or more properly that of Oliver Cromwell and his associates, ultimately led to the execution of Charles I and to a new Parliamentary system.

362 years later the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, used exactly the same words when referring to the debacle of MPs expenses. He got that right!

Look at the newspapers today. We learn that over half of our MPs have been ordered to repay £1.1 million following Sir Thomas Legg’s review of their expense claims for the last five years. This morning, the Director of Public Prosecutions has announced that the Crown Prosecution Service will charge three MPs and one peer under the Theft Act.

This has been a Rotten Parliament. Not only for taking us into a needless war with Iraq, for allowing taxation to reach new levels, for allowing bankers to overreach themselves and so put the economy at risk and for ... the list is endless.

But above all, many of the MPs in this Rotten Parliament have shown that they have milked a ‘flawed’ expense system for all it is worth and, even now, they complain they have been unfairly treated. Those charged this morning have also raised the question as to whether they are covered by Parliamentary Privilege!

Some of the amounts to be repaid are trivial, like .35p for a cup of Horlicks claimed by a Tory MP. Other amounts are staggering, such as £42,458 to be repaid by a junior minister or the married couple of Tory MPs who managed to milk the system for £60,000.

It was the Daily Telegraph that first uncovered the scandal of MPs expenses and, despite objections from the then Speaker and Government seniors, it persisted. It was right to do so for if we cannot have trust in our MPs personal behaviour we cannot trust them for anything else.

MPs are meant to represent what Edward Sexby referred to as the ‘ordinary people of Britain’. It is to be hoped that those elected to the next Parliament will show that they can do so.

The words of Oliver Cromwell all those years ago when addressing the Long Parliament ring as true today as it did then.

‘Begone, you have sat here too long. It is time to give way to honester men!’
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What A Hoot!

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An unknown hacker has hijacked the EU Presidency website and replaced the image of Spain’s Prime Minister with that of bumbling Mr Bean with the message, ‘Hi There!’

It seems that Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero bears an uncanny resemblance to Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean, a resemblance that is a long-standing joke in Spain.

I don’t know anything about hacking into other people's websites, but I wonder what characters would replace those of Brown, Cameron and Clegg?

It would be fun to see.
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It’s Started!

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It’s started! The run-up to the General Election I mean.

David Cameron kicked off proceedings yesterday morning with a not-too convincing speech telling us that the NHS will be his number one priority, pledging also maternity reforms ‘to meet mothers’ needs’ whatever that means. All this while tackling the government’s budget deficit.

Then we had the monotone Chancellor Alistair Darling who launched an attack on the Tories’ spending plans, claiming that they had a credibility gap of £34 billions, an easy accusation to make since none us understand it or can check it.

Not to be outdone, Nick Clegg has told us that the Labour and Tory parties were ‘increasingly alike’. I’m not sure I agree with him here unless he was referring to the general shouting match that has now erupted.

We haven’t heard from the other parties but, doubtless, we will in time.

Commentators believe that the General Election will be called for 6 May. If that is right, we will have four months of this nonsense to endure.

Groan!
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Groan - It’s Started!

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It’s official. Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are to appear in three 90-minute head-to-head televised debates.

Anyone expecting anything other than pure party politicking will be sadly disappointed.

George Orwell in ‘1984’ says ‘Political language ... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.’

He got that right!
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Give Her The Day Off!

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Until it was pointed out by Nick Clegg, I hadn’t realised that there was a State Opening of Parliament occurring on Wednesday when her Majesty will have to read out the Government’s latest plans for the forthcoming year.

Only, as Mr Clegg rightly points out, there won’t be a forthcoming year for this government as there will have to be a General Election within that period. He suggests that the Queen’s Speech should be cancelled and replaced with a statement about the reforms about to be implemented to ‘clean up politics’.

I think they should give the Queen the day off. And we would be saved what will essentially be a party political broadcast.
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