Exclusive: Labour hires 30 extra election staff

I've been told that the Labour Party has finally overcome its financial difficulties enough to go on a hiring spree, with the funds now available to recruit 30 new frontline staff for the General Election.

Donors have funded the new posts with ring-fenced cash so that they know their donations are being spent directly on the election campaign.

Recruitment is starting immediately, so Labour activists who want to work as full-time staff on the election campaign should look out for the posts starting to be advertised here: http://www.labour.org.uk/new_job

Whilst the Party isn't out of the woods yet financially, this proves the media and Tory blogosphere hype about us being unable to fund a proper campaign is wishful thinking, and Labour is gearing up for a professional, hard-fought election campaign.

Council By-elections

Tonight's results - Tories losing three seats to LDs (two of them in target parliamentary seats), Labour gaining one from the LDs:

St Austell Bay Ward, Cornwall Council. LD gain from Con. LD 690 (48.2%, +14.7), Con 675 (47.2%, -12.2), Lab 66 (4.6%, -2.4). Swing of 13.5% from Con to LD since 2008.

Northop Ward, Flintshire CC. Ind hold. Ind 343 (27.8%, -41.5), Con 280 (22.7%, +22.7), Ind 227 (18.4%, +18.4), Lab 197 (16%, -14.7), LD 187 (15.2%, +15.2). Swing of 32.1% from Ind to Con since 2008.

Clifton Ward, Fylde DC. Con hold. Con 387 (35.4%, -10.8), Ind 372 (34%, -6.6), LD 241 (22%, +22), Lab 80 (7.3%, -5.9), Green 13 (1.2%, +1.2). Swing of 2.1% from Con to Ind since 2007.

Bushey Heath Ward, Hertsmere DC. Con hold. Con 748 (74.8%, -3.9), LD 157 (15.7%, +6.8), Lab 95 (9.5%, +1.3). Swing of 5.4% from Con to LD since 2008.

Blackbrook Ward, High Peak DC. LD gain from Con. LD 689 (56.9%, +20), Con 470 (38.8%, -24.3), Lab 52 (4.3%, +4.3). Swing of 22.2% from Con to LD since 2007.

Halewood South Ward, Knowsley MBC. Lab gain from LD. Lab 607 (46%, +12.1), LD 486 (36.8%, -9.8), BNP 113 (8.6%, +8.6), TUSP 52 (3.9%, +5.3), Con 32 (2.4%, -3.5), Ind 30 (2.3%, +2.3). Swing of 11% from LD to Lab since 2008.

St Dogmaels Ward, Pembrokeshire CC. Ind hold. Ind 483 (69.5%, +13.8), LD 163 (23.5%, +3.6), Ind 49 (7.1%, -10.9). Swing of 5.1% from LD to Ind since 2008 by-election.

Stratford Alveston Ward, Stratford DC. LD gain from Con. LD 888 (47%, -2.1), Con 834 (44.1%, +1.8), Lab 111 (5.9%, +5.9), Green 58 (3.1%, +3.1). Swing of 2% from LD to Con since 2008.

Moreton West & Saughall Massie Ward, Wirral MBC. Con hold. Con 2255 (70.1%, -1.7), Lab 615(19.1%, +3.6), LD 134 (4.2%, -1.6), Ind 121 (3.8%, +3.8), Green 92 (2.9%, -0.5). Swing of 2.7% from Con to Lab since 2008.

Tory Cash

The Mirror has been running a great investigation into how much the Tory front bench will personally benefit from their policy of raising the inheritance tax threshold for the very rich to £2 million.

The Mirror reports that "Eighteen out of 32 super-rich members of the shadow cabinet will be better off by at least £120,000. And the estates of Mr Cameron, shadow foreign secretary William Hague and shadow chancellor George Osborne will all benefit by more than £500,000 each.In total Mr Cameron's closest Tory chums will make more than £7million from his plans."

This is in the context of the Tories proposing massive cuts to public services.

The Mirror article (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/25/old-pals-tax-115875-21848294/) includes this interesting league table:

Spot the difference competition

It's good to see that Grassroots Alliance member of Labour's NEC, Christine Shawcroft, is busy sending reports to members in Leyton & Wanstead and Sherwood CLPs. It may be a total coincidence that those two CLPs both have pending parliamentary selection contests.


Oddly, Christine seems confused or inconsistent about where she lives.






When writing to members in Leyton she uses headed paper with an address in nearby London E14. When writing to members in Nottinghamshire the address is given as Nottingham NG2.


Perhaps she just has two homes in anticipation of being an MP.

Labour closes the gap to just 6%

Tonight's Ipsos MORI poll shows a huge boost for Labour, with the Tory lead down by from 17% to 6%:

Con 37% (-6%)
Lab 31% (+5%)
LD 17% (-2%)
Others 15% (+3%)

On a uniform swing this would produce a hung parliament: 296 Tory MPs, 278 Labour, 44 Lib Dems and 32 others.

This is the lowest Tory lead MORI have found since December 2008.

A medley of links

Just catching up on posting some links to a variety of things that have taken my interest or been sent to me:

Labour List tells us that Sir Jeremy Beecham is stepping down as Labour Group Leader at the Local Government Association and from the local government section of Labour's NEC. I wanted to put on the record the huge debt we in Hackney owe Sir Jeremy for defending local democracy here when the council was hung and failing and some in government wanted to take it over or shut it down. He took a gamble when Hackney Labour Group said we could provide a political solution by winning back control and then improving the council. He convinced others, including then DTLR Secretary Stephen Byers (whose decision to step down as an MP I also regret) to give us a chance to turn Hackney round, and now we are one of the success-stories of improving local government. This is just the local example I have of his work in fighting for local government against the centralising instincts of some in Whitehall.

Unison in the East Midlands are doing a great job exposing the loopy politics of the new Conservative administration on Nottinghamshire County Council, whose slash and burn approach to local services gives a frightening foretaste of what a Cameron government would do nationally. There's loads of detail here: http://unison-em-locgov.blogspot.com/, particularly this post and also a more scurrilous and gossipy look at Tory Notts by an anonymous blogger here: http://parishofnottinghamshire.blogspot.com/.

Hackney Council has launched a "Be Fare to Hackney" campaign: http://www.hackney.gov.uk/befareboris.htm aimed at getting Boris Johnson to reverse his decision to increase bus fares by 20% in the New Year. The increases, which will come into force from January, will raise the cost of a single pre-paid Oyster bus journey from £1 to £1.20.
Over the course of a year, this mounts up to at least £263 for a household where two people go to work by bus. This is the equivalent of Hackney’s share of the Council Tax rising by nearly 27%. Hackney will be hit harder than most other London boroughs, because bus usage is very high here, and car ownership lower than virtually anywhere else in the Capital.

Owen Jones of the Labour Representation Committee has written an interesting article from a hard left perspective, but with some perceptive points made, about how the left needs to re-engage with working class voters: http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=4789

My neighbours in Hackney Central Ward have started a great new blog focused very much on ward issues: http://www.hackneycentrallabour.blogspot.com/

Liam Byrne MP has relaunched his blog - http://www.liambyrne.co.uk/ - again with a very local focus.

And finally Paul Richards has used his Progress column to provide an endorsement of my NEC candidature which is a nice antidote to Bob Piper's rant this week. Ironically this week's NEC meeting voted to go for a timetable where NEC nominations don't happen until after the General Election - I'd announced my candidature, as had other runners and riders, on the assumption nominations were happening between January and March. This is great news as it means we can all focus on the real task - getting Labour re-elected locally and nationally, and leave the NEC election (and the first ever OMOV elections to Labour's National Policy Forum) and its debate on Labour's future direction until after polling day. I was concerned about the task of getting nominations for the NEC contest distracting me from my role as Campaign Manager for the May Hackney borough elections. Now it won't so my multi-tasking skills will be a little less challenged.

Council by-elections

Yesterday's results:

Cholmondeley Ward, Cheshire East Council. Con hold. Con 1764 (77.6%, +6.5), LD 508 (22.4%, +5). Swing of 0.8% from LD to Con since 2008.

Rossington Ward, Doncaster MBC. Lab gain from Ind. Lab 637 (26.9%, +1.1), Eng Dem 551 (23.3%, +23.3), Ind 501 (21.2%, -21.8), Ind 420 (17.8%, +17.8), BNP 101 (4.3%, +4.3), LD 78 (3.3%, +3.3), Ind 76 (3.2%, +3.2). Swing of 11.1% from Lab to Eng Dem since 2008.

Bo'ness and Blackness Ward, Falkirk Council. SNP hold. SNP 1604 (57.5%, +10.3), Lab 823 (29.5%, -2.4), Con 283 (10.1%, -2.6), LD 79 (2.8%, +2.8). Swing of 6.4% from Lab to SNP since 2007.

Coleford East Ward, Forest of Dean DC. Ind gain from Con. Ind 267 (29.8%, +1.2), LD 230 (25.7%, +25.7), Con 210 (23.5%, -17.7), Lab 188 (21%, -9.2). Swing of 12.3% from Ind to LD since 2007.

Open letter to Bob Piper

Dear Bob,

I was a bit surprised by your vituperative attack on me yesterday (http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/2009/11/not_in_my_name_2.php).

I know you are on the left of the Labour Party and I'm not (by any stretch of the imagination) so I don't expect you to agree with me on everything or vote for me in the NEC elections. What I don't expect is an ad hominem attack accusing me of being "someone who is so sectarian, negative and divisive [he] is not fit to be a member of our NEC."

We've only met once and it was perfectly amicable. I know from talking to your local MP John Spellar that you are a great local councillor and a good campaigner. My take on you was that we were actually kindred spirits even though from different ideological wings of the party - people that are passionate about their politics, enjoy the legitimate cut and thrust of debate within the Labour Party as well as taking on Labour's opponents and put public service and campaigning first.

Your accusation of sectarianism, negativity and divisiveness just isn't borne out by my record:

• working with people from the Labour left to run election campaigns in Bristol, Camden, Hackney, Aldershot and Castle Point;
• yes expressing my views robustly in meetings but being comradely about the way I do it and not confusing the personal and the political;
• consistently upholding the rulebook and defending party democracy so that as Chief Whip in Hackney I was more often than not the one arguing against suspensions from the group etc., on our LGC I was the one fighting for every ward to retain its right to select its own candidates; when I have sat on regional appeal panels etc. I have a record of scrupulous fairness and regularly find in favour of people with the opposite political views to mine;
• having personal friendships that extend across the spectrum of Labour politics because I can disagree with people without it descending into acrimony

Then I thought, fair enough Bob hasn't actually been in the same region or CLP as me so maybe he's judging me just on the blog. So I did a trawl through to see if what I had written in the last three months since I came out of hospital justified the description "sectarian, negative and divisive".

The following could broadly be described as positive and unifying from a Labour perspective:

• Anti-Tory 11 posts
• Pro-Labour 5 posts
• Praising individual Labour politicians (Ed Miliband, Blair, Mandelson, John Woodcock) 4 posts
• Anti-LD 2 posts
• Anti-BNP 2 posts
• Reporting my speech to conference about the NHS 2 posts
• Calling for unity at Party conference 1 post
• Calling for a May election date 1 post
• Calling for retaining the fourth Trident submarine 1 post
• Promoting local achievements in Hackney 1post
• Calling for action on pleural plaques 1 post
• Praising Norway's Labour election victory 1 post
• Obituary of left wing Castle Point activist John Trollope 1 post
• Announcing my own NEC candidature 1 post
• Linking to trade union websites 1 post
• Linking to articles I agree with 1 post

Then there were some neutral ones:

• Reporting council by-election results 11 posts
• Reporting opinion polls 6 posts
• Commenting on the timing of election counts 1 post
• Personal stuff about my illness 1 post
• Reporting this blogs rank in a league table 1 post
• General psephology 1 post
• Analysis re. political role of trade unions 1 post

The only ones that could be defined as negative are:

• Reporting on the GRA slate for the NEC - 5 posts (incidentally all just repeating what Peter Kenyon and other GRA members are saying, not attacking them directly)
• Attacking Compass 3 posts
• Attacking Charles Clarke 2 posts
• Calling for resignation of Baroness Scotland 1 post

So, 69 posts in 3 months: 36 of them positive, 22 neutral and just 11 negative, of which 3 were having a go at people on the right of the party not the left, and 5 were just reporting gossip.

The hook for your attack was just bizarre, a post where I linked to a Labour party political broadcast that praised the party's radical past and included footage of Michael Foot, and then a plea for the PLP to fight the Tories not quit or plot against the PM! The targets of this weren't the left - one of the best fighters in the PLP is Denis Skinner. I have no idea what annoyed you about a statement of the bleeding obvious - that we need to unite, focus on fighting the Tories and not give up.

As for my post this week on Compass if it is now off-limits to criticise people who are calling for a leadership coup just months before a general election, then I plead guilty ...

You say you've "been around the Labour movement and the Labour Party longer" than me but given I've been a Party member 21 years through good times and bad, since I was 16, that's only because you are a couple of decades older than me.

You make the throw away comment that I am someone who "can't think for themselves, and who thinks every utterance from the Party leadership has to be swallowed whole" but even the briefest effort to read this blog would reveal that to be a lie.

I always knew that some people would find my NEC candidature hard to stomach - I've not been running for a popularity contest writing this blog so it might turn out I'm not popular! I'm resigned to people picking on one thing I write and using it to have a go, that's fair play in politics.

But Bob your post overstepped the mark and presented a caricature of me that doesn't reflect my real record or my real views.

I'm proud of my politics and happy to take stick for my views where they are contentious. But running for office in the Labour Party, or writing this blog, doesn't give people who disagree with me a licence to smear my character, behaviour or motives.

Looking forward to debating Labour's future with you on a comradely basis going forward, and best wishes for the coming elections in Sandwell,

Luke

Fighters and Believers needed here

Great new PPB from Labour, the first to feature Michael Foot (and Herbert Morrison's Hackney committee rooms) for some time ...

As Nick Robinson pointed out on Monday the PLP divides into fighters, quitters and plotters: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2009/11/plotters_quitte.html

I wish the quitters and plotters would both quit and let the fighters get on with taking on the Tories. A precondition of even the slightest chance of victory is preparedness to go down fighting.

Who do Compass think they are?

I try to avoid looking too obsessed by Compass, honestly I do.

But today Compass has been singularly unhelpful to the Labour Party, which it purports to support, by reopening the question of the Party Leadership, as reported in today's Guardian.

Their timing could not be more destructive – on the day of the final Queen’s Speech before a General Election, and just as the first tentative steps towards a Labour recovery have started with a thumping by-election win in Glasgow North East and a 4% boost in this week’s ICM poll.

Who do the Compass “Management Committee” think they are to sit around plotting to undermine a Labour Prime Minister? And more to the point what do the Guardian think Compass is, publicising the self-aggrandising sectarian scheming of a small group as though it was major news?

The Guardian consistently calls Compass a think-tank. This is insulting to real think-tanks that work objectively to generate new policy ideas. Compass is a political faction, the only policies it publishes stem from its own prejudices, not objective research.

The Compass claim to have 4,000 members and 30,000 supporters is repeated without scrutiny, yet the membership list includes people who swear they have resigned from it or never joined, and generated a paltry 237 voters when Compass held internal elections; and the 30,000 “supporters” is a mass-spamming exercise sending emails to anyone unlucky enough to have their address fall into Compass’ hands. I get two emails to different addresses from Compass yet I’ve never indicated support for them.

At their AGM last weekend Compass "General Secretary" Gavin Hayes (winner, most pompous title of the year award 2009) compared himself to the General Secretary of the Labour Party, saying:

"And on the Labour Party I have to say I think my counterpart Ray Collins could learn a thing or two from Compass, and let me tell you if you’d wanted a robot for a General Secretary then you might have picked him. It gives me no pleasure to say that over this last year, as a long-serving loyal Labour activist myself, I’ve stood back and watched in utter aghast at some of the goings on in Labour’s Ivory Towers. Whilst this week may mark 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, increasingly the New Labour machine looks a bit like a clapped out Trabant, feels a bit like the dog days of an Eastern European Communist Party – an ossified party state welded to a dogmatic ideology, entrenched elites, dormant party organisations and a stagnant economy."

Not only is it hubris on a massive scale for the head bureaucrat of a staff of four to compare himself to the General Secretary of the Party in government; it's unfair to personally attack a paid member of party staff who is prohibited by their contract from responding to these kind of attacks, and massively insulting to the hard-pressed and hard-working staff who are working their socks off to try to win the General Election.

This confused grouplet, who advocate a lurch to the left for Labour but are reported to favour Blairite candidates Alan Johnson and David Miliband for Party Leader; and who claim to back Labour but give platforms to the Green Party’s candidate in a seat they hope to take of us, gets far more publicity than it deserves.

Labour Party members should concentrate on trying to prevent a Tory General Election victory and reject the sort of sectarian plotting and undermining of Party unity that Compass is indulging in.