Brown - the real problem is with the behaviour he admits.

Unexpectedly stranded at home and unable to attend a trustee meeting of Re:generate in Derby, I have had more time to follow Twitter and listen to the unfolding story of Mr Brown. Interesting just how party political this has become - OK, I know there is an election coming, allegedly........but I would like to think if this kind of allegation was made against Nick Clegg we would welcome an investigation even if we regarded the allegation as ludicrous.

It seems to me Brown has a real problem though, all he and Mandelson have denied is him hitting anyone. He admits to throwing things when he gets angry - I work in a big, open plan office - I have never seen anyone throwing anything, however frustrated they are. I have worked with bullies (one of whom was sacked for her bullying), I have represented many union members who were being bullied, but in spite of their aggressive and intimidating behaviour, none of these people was ever accused of throwing anything. Mandelson, it seems to me, compounded the problem with his interview on Andrew Marr yesterday - he "took his medicine like a man" - er right. So he, as more or less an equal of Brown, thinks because he could take unspecified behaviour, which presumably was unpleasant (hold your nose and swallow hard), everyone else, whatever their position, should do the same. Bullying is invariably the abuse of power by someone more powerful than the recipient. It is not about intention it is about impact. Brown may not have intended to upset anyone when he shouted or threw things around, that's not the point.

I can only imagine how intimidating it may be to be in an office with someone who is getting so angry they have started throwing things, be they newspapers or brick bats. If it happened in my office, even if it were my Director, I would expect some sort of action to be taken. It seems to me that what this shows us about Brown is his total lack of self awareness and emotional intelligence. If he thought that he had the right to behave like that, if he never stopped to think about the impact his behaviour may be having on those around him, if he had no notion of the great responsibility of his office and the great privilege it affords him, then I for one completely understand why so many of his colleagues have lost their trust in him.

But I am equally appalled at the actions of the National Bullying Hotline. It takes a huge amount of courage for anyone to report workplace bullying. Let's not forget it is only in very recent years it has been taken seriously. I can remember being laughed at by councillors in Bedfordshire when I raised the issue, what I was describing only happened in schools! If anyone from Brown's office did call, they called because they didn't have the confidence to approach anyone internally and because they were presumably worried about anyone internally knowing what was going on. To have that trust betrayed by the people they turned to in their time of need is inexcusable.

This country faces unbelievable challenges, the most pressing of which, from my perspective, is the growing inequality and unfairness. I have no doubt that Gordon Brown is a man, despite the clear failure of his government, who is very exercised by this. I have no reason to doubt what he says about his concern to tackle poverty in this country and across the world. How tragic then, that it appears, having been given the opportunity to really make a difference that only a handful ever get, he seems to have become so arrogant as to think he can behave as he pleases, regardless of the impact on others. Fairness is about how we treat each other as individuals, as well as a society.

It is really not good enough for Mandelson and Brown to try and create a smokescreen and claim this is all a politically inspired operation to undermine the Prime Minister - it may well be, but surely, the adult thing to do would be to immediately promise an investigation. After all, as I have already intimated, most responsible adults, however frustrated, would throw little more than the odd inappropriate comment around the office.

More evidence that Tories are same old same old

Full of fresh ideas "New Tories". Only this morning, just in time for the Sundays, time to consider over our tea and toast - a brand new investment opportunity for the hoy palloy - cheap shares in our nationalised banks.

I am old enough to remember the Ask Sid campaign. What I particularly remember is my socialist aunt, responding to the letter she received from British Gas asking if she wanted to buy any shares. She wrote back to tell them no thank you, she didn't want to buy shares in a company she already owned.

And therein lies the rub. These "fresh" Tory proposals demonstrate just how out of touch they are. Well yes, of course, for those with the spare cash to invest, they may benefit from cheap shares and a bit of a windfall. But for those who have been hit hardest by the credit crunch and the failure of the banks, there is nothing. They may have already lost their homes, their jobs, the little savings they had.

Now I may have a little more time for the Tory proposal if it was to sell the shares for the best possible price, in order to invest in making this a more equal society so that everyone who has suffered because of the greed and incompetence of the banks gets at least a little redress. But unfortunately that would betray what appears to be the only belief they have left, namely that "to he whom much is given, he shall have more" as opposed to "to he whom much is given, much is required".

In Praise of Jenny Tonge

The news that Nick Clegg has today sacked Jenny Tonge is sad news indeed. It further clouds what is and always has been a desperately clouded issue. I have read what Jenny said to the Jewish Chronicle about allegations of the IDF organ harvesting in Haiti"To prevent allegations such as these - which have already been posted on You Tube - going any further, the IDF and the Israeli Medical Association should establish an independent inquiry immediately to clear the names of the team in Haiti." Frankly, in my view, Nick has totally over reacted, which is disappointing given his unblemished and brave record of standing up to the Israeli lobby. He says - I quote from the BBC article - "The comments were wrong, distasteful and provocative and I recognise the deep and understandable distress they have caused to the Jewish community," Nick thus plays into the hands of the Zionists - if Jenny caused distress it was surely to the Israeli community? The British are being accused of colluding with torture, do we worry about that causing distress to the Christian community? Oh yes, we also have a sizeable Muslim community, so does Israel, and numerous other faiths, so does Israel.

Jenny has not accepted the allegations, she has merely suggested they should be investigated. Of course they are outrageous allegations, but so was the suggestion that this country may have colluded with torturers. Of course it is beyond belief that human beings, sent to help a country in distress would do such a thing, but human beings do do terrible things to each other, be they Israeli, American, Iraqi or British, particularly when they have been able to dehumanize those they hurt. Now, of course, I am not suggesting I believe these allegations, just challenging the idea that we assume some people are automatically beyond reproach. If such allegations had been made against Iranian forces for example, would that have evoked the same reaction?

In all of this the danger is that we lose sight of the very real outrage that the world sits silently by and allows the Israeli state to behave with impunity in violating not just the human rights of the Palestinians but of its own citizens. That we do this and continue to support a state which even Desmond Tutu has said is worse than apartheid South Africa, shames us all.

Jenny has been a brave and courageous voice challenging this. I know her to be a woman of huge integrity and compassion - she speaks out of the agony of witnessing what is happening virtually unchallenged in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel itself. I for one admire and value her contribution. If her frustration sometimes results in her speaking out of turn - at least it is only her words that are causing offence.............unlike the bombs and bullets that have maimed and killed countless innocent Palestinians in their homeland that is STILL illegally occupied.

I am thankful that there are Israelis, many of whom happen to be Jewish, and Jews, many of whom happen to be Israelis, who are at the forefront of challenging Israeli policy towards Palestine. They give the lie to the notion that this has anything at all to do with anti-semitism, they give me hope that ultimately, just as the Berlin Wall came down, just as today we celebrate the release of Mandela and the end of apartheid, one day we will celebrate a meaningful and lasting peace in Israel Palestine - but that peace will continue to allude us until we recognise that there can be no peace without justice and until we recognise that the Israeli state and the Jewish religion are not synonymous.

Will Boris oust Dave?

Having spent the last few weeks charging around all over the UK, I am now paying for it by enforced bedrest due to gammy leg/back. The only benefit being that I have been more able than usual to catch up with blogs and tweets. This tweet from Charlie Whelan caught my eye - My pal Graham Sharpe from William Hill contacts me again. Money piling on to Boris to replace 'vulnerable' Cam. Hague still favourite.

Nick Clegg and the Labour Death-Rattle

And now a Tory prepared to heap praise on Nick Clegg. Matthew d'Ancona in yesterday's Torygraph predicts that the Chilcot inquiry will be Labour's death-rattle, in the course of which he refers to Gordon Brown's imminent appearance saying "Gordon, thanks to the nimble political footwork of the ever-more-confident Nick Clegg, is now committed to taking the stand before the general election."

Brendan Barber - in Praise of Nick Clegg?

OOOOOOOOOHHHHH - and another one! The Labour apparatchiks are falling over themselves to praise our man. Could it be the penny is at last beginning to drop? I do hope so. As a great supporter of and believer in, the trade union movement, I am not a Lib Dem by accident. I look forward to the day when my old pals wake up and smell the coffee, "New Labour" has betrayed the movement - at every turn.

So Kevin Maguire is succeeded by none other than TUC general secretary Brendan Barber in heaping praise on Nick Clegg over the Cadbury take over. Now, as I have mentioned before, my only dealings with BB were when we spent a good few hours at Transport House in a roundtable trying to resolve an interunion dispute - this was around 7 years ago - the dispute is still unresolved (!). But one thing that struck me was that he was an incredibly fair man, a good listener and someone who wasn't going to be railroaded by anyone.

Apparently Nick met with him a couple of weeks ago and I have no doubt that will have prepared the ground for Mr B to be so publicly appreciative of his intervention in PMQs yesterday. I hope what he has realised is that he and Nick may not have a meeting of minds on many things, but in him we have a leader with great integrity who will not be guided by the latest focus group or vested interest, be that of union or big business. I hope that he will have realised that Nick is someone who will stand up against unfairness, injustice, oppression and downright greed and dishonesty. I hope he may, perhaps in an unguarded moment. recognise that the interests of those many of his members (myself included) he seeks to represent, may be better served if he hitched his wagon elsewhere.

Kevin Maguire - in Praise of Nick Clegg?

One thing I like about Kevin Maguire is that he has a rare quality of being a Labour hack prepared to give praise where praise is due. Yesterday was one such day - a perceptive blog from yr man - my favourite bits - on Osborne "Shakespeare was still writing tragedies when Invisible Tory George Osborne last had the confidence to hold a press conference" on Nick Clegg "Labour tribalists sounded foolish mocking Nick Clegg's questions about why state-owned RBS is bankrolling Kraft's takeover of Cadbury. Many Labour MPs silently agreed with the Lib Dem leader. If today had been an election TV debate, Clegg would've won the public vote on this one"

Hungry and Scared.......

.......the Indy has this story about 9 year old Haitian Wideline - when asked about how she felt, living in squalor in an orphanage, having lost her parents, her only possession the tartan dress on her back - she said - hungry and scared.

One of the frighteningly numbing effects of disaster is that we can lose sight of the human impact - the 70,000 - 200,000 - 1,000.000 lives lost are all nameless, faceless, remote, other. Coming face to face with the countless survivors, like Wideline, reminds of the humanity of all. If we feel powerless in the face of injustice, inequality and poverty in our own land, how much more when we hear of the unbearable tragedy unfolding on the other side of the globe...........

I have never been to Haiti - my connection has only been through Haitians who have emigrated here and friends who have visited - one friend narrowly surviving a gun attack in what was an unbelievably lawless society. A society where even near neighbours like America, have chosen to draw the curtains and turn their heads to avoid having to address the reality of a society in melt down.

If Haiti teaches us anything it surely has to be the awesome truth of the words of John Donne - that no - no man is an island.

Whilst we could do nothing about the earthquake - we could have done something about the poverty, we could have invested in the infra structure of the country that would have mitigated against the worst effects of this disaster. We could have surely done more to support the development of a healthy and effective society. We have a graphic demonstration of what happens when we walk by on the other side.

I have never ever before heard of a similar disaster, be that natural or man made, which has resulted in that unbelievable number of so many orphaned children. Be that Tsunami, Earthquake, Typhoon, Hurricane. These children who will determine whether Haiti rises from the ashes of this tragedy - or slips off our radar again and into a malaise of hopelessness and despair.

Shadow Cabinet, FPC and Virgin Trains!

Ooops! Blank post courtesy of Virgin Trains - back in Bromsgrove now so let's hope this works.................

I’m just on my way back from FPC, on the train to Bromsgrove hoping that the train isn’t as late as it was last night, causing me to miss my connection with an hour wait for the next one! Anyway last night I was at Shadow Cabinet where, with Lynne Featherstone being the only woman, I was overwhelmed by the distinct white maleness of the brood. OK, a few women were missing, but it doesn’t take many to result in none.............Let’s hope this Speaker’s Conference really does do something to redress the balance...........but that really wasn’t my point – will return to this favourite theme in the future.

Now I may be accused of many things, but leaking isn’t one of them, so I will resist the temptation to dob Vince in about something quite amusing, or someone else about something not quite so amusing.

Last night and this evening Lynne and I were presenting the Youth Policy Paper – with many radical and fresh ideas, some of which will hopefully become policy, others which will fall victim to the fall out from “savage cuts”.

I turned up yesterday having just read an article in Children and Young People Now about the truly savage cuts that as ever, many youth services across the country are being faced with. In Nottingham it amounts to around £700,000, in Birmingham £1 million and in Oxfordshire they are consulting about a staggering £2.7 million in cuts. This is what truly does my head in. All the parties nationally make commitments about preserving frontline services – BUT – when it comes to the crunch it is the non statutory services that suffer, in particular youth service. I have lived with this for most of my youth service career – year after year of cuts –when we got rid of the Tory government I naively thought things might change. Did they? Did they heck! I used to manage a youth service where once I had paid all the fixed costs (salaries, buildings etc) I had £2,000 a year to spend on work with young people - £2,000 – that equated to about 10p per young person per year!!!

The Youth Policy Working Group has been united in the need to invest more in services for young people. So we have been arguing long and hard for additional youth workers – 10,000 to be precise. There is a reason for this.........a few years ago we had two expert witnesses to our Crime Policy Working Group who both said – what we need is not 10,000 more police on our streets but 10,000 youth workers. One of the arguments our party has for investing in police rather than youth workers is that this is what the people want. They want the police to cut crime. The fact is that young people are not only disproportionately the perpetrators of crime, they are also disproportionately the victims of crime. When I was in Bedford the crime people were most worried about was abduction.....this despite the fact that no one had been abducted for 20 years. There is a notion that more “bobbies on the beat” will help cut crime. But the truth is that a police officer actually comes across a crime once every 8 years!

Anyway, excepting a few notable parliamentary supporters, Lynne, Simon Hughes and Evan Harris – we have failed to convince the parliamentary party, or FPC of our case.

My frustration, whilst I appreciate the need to have some popularist policies, is that they must be evidence based. Also, while it may be true that people are worried about crime, if you look at the results of most citizens’ panels you will see that facilities for young people is also a hugely important issue, often topping the poll!

A few years ago my local authority commissioned a report into youth crime. An academic study was carried out by the local university. The study convincingly demonstrated that in one particular area (an area I managed) of high youth crime, the crime rates went down markedly on the evenings our youth club was open. The report was never formally published because it didn’t say what the politicians wanted it to say – I wonder how many other unread, unpublished reports would say the same thing? Actually, its not rocket science is it? “The Devil makes work for idle hands” hmmmm yes – innit?! If we actually listened to young people for a change we would hear this, again and again, but unfortunately it seems we have lost the ability to think long term or strategically, to recognise that we must invest to save. The real tragedy of this recession is that something that should have been seen as an opportunity will doubtless be squandered – and that squandering will result in yet another generation of young people who have been totally let down by our society. A society that bleats about “feral youth” but then is prepared to allow the environment to exist that reinforces their so called “feral” ways. A society that has not made the connection between effort and reward – that wants everything on a plate and doesn’t see why it should pay for it – a malaise that is being passed on to our children.

OK, I am in rant mode, but I want our party to tell the truth. Tell the truth about what the consequences are if we don’t invest in services now. Tell the truth about how the obscene inequality that exists now has resulted in our children being the unhappiest of all OECD countries, us having the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Western Europe, close to 1 million young people unemployed, us locking up more children than almost anyone else and the equally obscene human and financial cost of this.

Despite my rant, and my passionate belief that we really should be investing in our young people’s futures – I do think we have come up with a great policy paper. It will be launched soon and hopefully will get through conference without too much flak (especially since it ain’t gonna cost much!) It is head and shoulders above anything the other parties have come up with and is rooted in our core belief that "The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community and in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity"

For love of Sam

Last night I got an unexpected phone call from a young man I worked with a good few years ago - let's call him Sam. During the time I was working with him he turned up at my office with rope marks on his neck - he had tried to hang himself. I took him straight down to A&E and given there was no specialist unit for young people we were sent to the adult psychiatric unit. Last night he reminded me of what happened, an inpatient, an older woman, coming up and asking him for sex. The whole environment was difficult and very disturbing for him. He got some help, but never really enough. He ultimately ended up in prison on a short sentence. Since then he has been in and out of a number of relationships. He has three children by different mothers and another one on the way. He has no job and his criminal record doesn't help. But he is desperate to get himself a job and be able to support his partner and children. He is at heart a lovely lad, who has suffered terrible rejection in his childhood and just needs the right opportunity to get his life back on track.

I have to confess, I came off the phone a little tearful, as ever pondering, how many other Sam's are there out there? Young men who for what ever reason get themselves into trouble and then, even when they want to turn their lives around, find the support really isn't there to help them. One of the saddest things Sam told me was that one of the good things about being in prison was that he actually got some real help with his mental health issues. They got him on to cognitive behavioural therapy and he was able to come off his medication. But since he came out he hadn't had anything like the same support. And yet the rest of his description of his time inside was horrifying. As someone who had suffered bullying in the past, he was easy prey.

Sam told me that what he really wanted to do was to get involved with a project that helped divert other young people from ending up in prison, but he didn't really know where to start.

At the moment there are even more young Sams out there, nearly 1 million unemployed young people, a good proportion who have other challenges, such as having been in the criminal justice system, being homeless, being failed by school, having disabilities, all factors that will make it even more difficult for them to find a job. Young people whose dreams are not very different from the rest of us, to have a job, a family, security, to be happy.

At a time when we are all being told how difficult it is going to be, how "savage cuts" will have to be made in our public services, lets not forget those who are likely to suffer far more than the rest of us. Young people whose lives may not be blighted just for a few years, but for a generation.

Nick Clegg, Michael White.........True Confessions

While atTory party conference I visited the Politics.co.uk stand and got them to look me up. Their assessment of my blog was that it was excellent, although declaring that the funniest thing about it was the way I swoon over my leader.....for me the funniest thing was that they also described me as the "eminence grise" of conference - yes I had to look up what it meant :-). Well...........I have a confession to make..........its not Nick Clegg I swoon over.......its Michael White. Scary but true! None is his equal. Has any other political commentator his wit or charm? Or dulcet tones? Or classic good looks? Oh yes, if anyone is to make me swoon it has to be Mr W. But I have to confess to having a mixed reaction to his latest missive about our dear leader. On the one hand he is generous in his acknowledgement of the validity of the principles underpinning our manifesto, having listed them he takes issue with our ability to clean up politics but goes on to say - "But overall it's wholesome enough. Fairness matters in healthy societies. Ours is out of balance again and needs a decent tweak. The Lib Dems are sincere in wanting to deliver improvement. It's the politics they may find tricky."

It is his assertion that Clegg is closer to the Tories "because he's a market man, not a social democrat at heart: it's the old Liberal-SDP split, Paddy Ashdown v Charles Kennedy, Menzies Campbell v Simon Hughes, Vincent Cable v Chris Huhne. Clegg's indignant denials are the "narcissism of small difference" that I take issue with. Whilst he acknowledges that he might be wrong and that "it won't matter much. Whatever Clegg's private inclinations (his Sheffield Hallam constituency is one of Britain's richest), his party is culturally anti-Tory at heart and will nip any temptation in the bud as it did when Jeremy Thorpe was tempted to sustain the defeated Ted Heath in office in February 1974." He has hit on a misrepresentation of Nick that feeds into an unjust perception, fed by the right wing media and hence prevalent amongst many of our potential supporters, that he is "Cameronlite". Yes, it may be reasonably fair to suggest he is a market man, and if that was the sum total of all that he is, I certainly would never have supported him. White, like many before him, has confused values and methodology. Nick, wrongly in my view of course, has a belief that the market can help deliver social objectives. But make no mistake, what drives him is not that blind belief in the market that characterises Tory philosophy, but a belief that we can and must have a fairer society. That we can and must redress the balance through fairer taxes and investment in improving the life chances of all our children. That we can and must fulfil the reason d'etre of our party - to build a fair, free and open society, balancing liberty, equality and community, in which no-one shall be enslaved by poverty, ignorance or conformity.

And that, dear Mr W, is light years away from being a mere "market man".

Nadine Dorries AWOL for PBR (but don't worry, she has a security guard)

The observant among you will have noticed that Nadine Dorries revealed last week that she was going to take this week off to take part in a Channel 4 reality show. No expense spared she is being shipped off to a high rise in London - apparently being issued with her clothes when she gets there. To quote Nadine "Security will be with us the whole time, even when sleeping." Wow, I know MPs are a pretty unpopular bunch, but I had no idea they were quite that unpopular!

Apparently "One of the objectives is for me to experience the problems that the residents have to face on a daily basis and for residents to challenge and get to know an MP."

Er........now. That is odd. I would have thought the most important MP for residents to get to know would have been their own? And I am sure if she ends up in a Lib Dem constituency she will find that the residents probably do know their MP!

"The programme is being screened at prime time in February in four one hour programmes, one night after the other." Ah.......that explains why she has taken 6 days off from her parliamentary duties. I have to say I mentioned this to one of our London MPs, Lynne Featherstone this evening. Lynne demonstrated why she is in the running for "best MP" and Nadine is not. Lynne had also been asked to take part in this programme but had flatly refused - how could she possibly take 6 days out, particularly when the house was sitting? So my question, on behalf of the constituents of Mid Beds has to be - why was this more important than doing what she is paid to do - represent them? Now, had she wanted to take time out during the seemingly endless recesses - fair enough. But now? In the week of the PBR? In the week when parliament is debating the Energy Bill, Child Poverty, Disability Benefits for the Elderly, Local Government Financial Settlement and Council Tax...........?

"If I said I wasn't scared, I would be lying." Yes, very scary mixing with poor people.

"I will be swapping my ivory tower in Westminster for a tower block in London – the kind of accommodation that houses many thousands of people across the UK. These are people who may be in a constant state of being overwhelmed with the sheer scale of problems they face on a day-to-day basis." Yes Nadine, and even in leafy Mid Beds, there are people with the same problems. The problems of the inner city are well known and well documented. Less so the very real problems of rural deprivation and what can be even more stark social and physical exclusion. Having taught and been a youth worker in the constituency, I am well aware of what that can mean for communities. Wouldn't it have been more appropriate for you to have carried out the same exercise in your constituency?

"My objective for the week is to survive. To learn as much as I can. To leave something behind, even if it's only friendship." Surviving - SURVIVING?!!!! Heavens dear, what on earth do you think you are going into? People who live in high rises in London are not an alien race. They are people just like you and me, with hopes, aspirations, fears. Some are nice and some are nasty. Some are loving and some are not so loving. Much like the rest of us. This is not "I'm a Celebrity get me out of Here" - now that would be scary and I for one would certainly not survive!

"I must not slip into the C4 trap of creating good TV. I'm only too aware that they will attempt to exhaust and challenge me in an attempt to provoke an adverse reaction which would look good on the telly." Hmmmmmm

"I've told my girls not to worry. The only violence likely to occur is if C4 try to prise my mascara wand out of my hand. Security will be necessary then! Big time." If ever someone betrayed their prejudices this was it.

Well, I do genuinely hope some good comes out of this "I'm a Celebrity get me in There" stunt. Maybe it will change Nadine, maybe, just maybe, she will see the consequences of decades of Tory indifference and Labour ineffectiveness. Maybe, just maybe, she will realise that the only hope for our country lies with the Liberal Democrats. Maybe, just maybe, she will decide to become a full-time campaigner for change. But, I'm not holding my breath.

Tickling the Hard Underbelly of the Tories

Last week I was speaking at the Harpenden Branch AGM. They had given me 25-30 minutes (brave souls!) to talk about the current political landscape. I outlined my personal take on where all the "main" political parties are - noting that during the expenses scandal the media started chatting about the "3" main parties!



My starting point, it has to be said, is values. If you understand someone's values you are more likely to be able to predict how they will behave in any given circumstance. I often quote my old pal Raj Lehal - who would say "we need to be tight on values, then we can be loose on everything else, but all too often we are tight on everything else and loose on values". And it seems to me this is one of the dilemmas that plagues politics at the moment. When power at all costs becomes the driving force, values take a back seat aka Blair and now Cameron. The problem is, that the grassroots activists of most parties will likely be far more wedded to their values.

Blair brilliantly took advantage of the Labour movement's shared value of collective responsibility and was able to persuade his activists to suppress their values for the "greater good" - taking power (those who couldn't stomach this - and there were many of them - upt n left).

Cameron has clearly learned the lessons of Blair. To take power he has to persuade his party stalwarts to suppress their values - for "the greater good" of taking power. The problem he has, it seems to me, is the nature of the values so many grass roots Tories share. No collective responsibility for the Tories, oh no - these are the spawn of "there is no such thing as society" approach let's not forget.

Now I have to say I have been surprised and delighted to hear what some senior Tories are saying, for example on a more liberal approach to youth justice, (articulated again today by David Burrowes at a conference I attended) but I wonder if these proposed policies will ever see the light of day. And of course there are other senior Tories who are already beginning to attack their leader on what they see as thoroughly unconservative approaches to, for example, climate change (more about this later).

A couple of years ago I attended my first Tory party conference. It was one of those moments......(what's the opposite to an epiphany?), when all your prejudices are confirmed. Despite the sheep's clothing it was clear, at every fringe I attended, that the grass roots were still largely nasty party wolves.

This year it was no different - my only claim to fame was having a question I asked at the World at One debate broadcast on the programme (I guess I just have to do the same at the Labour Party conference to get a full house - or would it be a hat trick?). They were debating cuts and were getting on my proverbial.......so my question was about willy waiving (never imagined Radio 4 would broadcast that!) and how much was going on in relation to cuts - what - I wanted to know, would the panelists cut and why? Martha K bless her pushed the point with Louise Bagshaw who ended up confessing that she would have to cut rural bus services. I also ran into our erstwhile presidential candidate, Mr Fernandez, who is now an approved Tory candidate. He, you may remember, answered my question - if there was one thing about this country you would change, what would it be? - by saying he would abolish inheritance tax - why was he ever in our party in the first place????! But - let's not forget, for a long time, this was the only declared Tory policy there was.

So, make no mistake - when it comes to the point of actually having to put mouths where money is - the Tories will struggle. Not only the activists, or even the backbenchers......it is likely the frontbenchers who will publicly air their differences. Dave says he is a liberal, and who am I to doubt?

When I arrived at that Tory conference two years ago Brown was riding high. We were anticipating a snap election. The Tories were up for dumping Cameron. But then Brown screwed up - in Iraq - over the election - and Cameron found himself suddenly the darling of his party. The man they really didn't like suddenly became far more attractive.

So, they have had a season of success - but will it last? The fissures are already beginning to appear and some of them are fairly deep. Look at what happened in Bedford, in Norfolk. There is no doubt there is a hard underbelly of true conservatism - the leadership have done well to more or less suppress it for so long - my contention is that all we needed to do is tickle it over the next few months - and we may provoke them to display their true colours. That is our challenge - at a local and national level. Now surely is the time for Nick Clegg to change the focus of his fire. The weeds whose roots have already died can be left to expire of their own accord - the attack has to be on the new and vigorous growth - even at PMQ's. We have the best opportunity for a generation - how we play this could be the difference between heralding an era of real change and progress, or a return to the dark days of reactionary conservatism.

Reasons to join a Tory coalition

(Nearly) 20 Questions to a Postie

The news yesterday that the Postal strike has been postponed was indeed good news, I do hope this can be properly resolved, though I find it extraordinary that Adam Crozier will not go to arbitration - if he thought his case was that sound I would have expected him to jump at the chance. But it is important to remember this dispute is not just about the terms and conditions of postal workers it is about the whole future of Royal Mail and our postal services.

Some of you may remember my outburst at conference a few years ago during the debate on the privatisation of Royal Mail. I hadn’t intended to speak (no really!) but someone said something stupid about the public not really caring who delivered their services and that was it. I attached myself to the end of the queue for interventions and said my piece. I hadn’t realised just what impact I had had until pal Martin rang up late that evening to say he had been looking for me in the hall when the! 0 o’clock news went to Lib Dem conference and instead saw me waving my arms around, shouting about thinking there was clear blue water between us and the two Tory parties and that this had muddied the waters and turned it a murky shade of orange.......... my view hasn’t changed.

So, as you may imagine, I am firmly behind the battle of the great Postmen and Postwomen are fighting up and down this country as we speak. Now this is partly because I have had two siblings and my mum working for the Post Office over the years, but also because I have a fundamental, pragmatic belief, that public services are best kept in the public service. My brother has agonised over whether or not he should go on strike – as a Christian he believes in “turning the other cheek” so this hasn’t been an easy decision. My views are more along the lines of “the workman (or woman) is worthy of his/her hire” – and the Old Testament is full of prophets renting their clothes and railing against the exploitative bosses.

But my brother has been frustrated that the whole story hasn’t come out. I am a big fan of Billy Hayes, but I don’t think he has really explained to the public what the threat to them is. I am delighted that the rather adorable Brendan Barber has been able to get the mini breakthrough we have seen – my one experience of being involved in negotiations with him was when he chaired a meeting to try to resolve an inter union dispute I was involved in which ended in abject failure, but then of course inter union disputes are usually far tougher to resolve than the bog standard union v management fare.

So – what does Postman Pete think?! I sat down with him on Sunday (interesting to note that he lives in a forgotten backwater of the Mid Beds constituency on the edge of Luton, where he has never hears anything from his local MP Nadine Dorries - maybe she doesn't realise she has constituents in Luton though)

How long have you been a Postman?

Nearly 29 years, mostly in Stopsley (Luton)

So it can’t be that bad?

Actually I love the job, meeting the public feeling part of the community and building relationships. When I started I was very shy (may have had something to do with having 4 older loud sisters), but the job helped me become more confident. People say that it makes them feel they are still in a community when they see me every day. Also the majority of postman and women look out for people – for example, I had to break into house once, someone was stuck in his bathroom (actually a Tory Councillor!), he was shouting for help. I told him to move away from the door and ran into it; unfortunately he hadn’t listened to me and ended up with a few bruises! Another time I was delivering down Morthouse Green in Luton. It was when Calibras had just come in, and I saw one rolling down the hill, I asked the woman standing nearby “is that your car?” It was. She was so shocked she couldn’t move so I ran, jumped in and pulled up the handbrake before it ran into a wall! But a lot of that goes on, people looking out for people. Sometimes we are the only human contact isolated people have. I am often finding keys left in the door, I once found bottle of champagne in a garden, another time a wad of money – I knocked on the door and a man told me it was the savings of an elderly woman over the road he was supposed to be paying it into her account for her, the funniest thing was that the then came running after me to give a pound reward.

So what’s changed?

Firstly the hours. Going out later, which isn’t so bad. We now do one delivery not two, this has lead to us being asked to do others work – we’re not against absorbing extra on Mondays and Tuesdays when mail is lighter, but it’s more difficult later in the week. The biggest change is opening the market to private companies, which was Mr Blair’s leaving present to us, we were the first country in Europe to do it and all the other countries were supposed to follow suit, but saw what a mess we made of it and thought better of it.

So who do you blame for the current crisis?

I don’t blame private enterprise, I like to see little companies doing well, but you have global companies like TNT making profits off the postman’s back.

Why do say that?

Because TNT can pick up 100,000 items and charge 26p an item and just drive to one of our mail centres, offload it then we have to process it, deliver it and because of the regulator we can only charge them 13p per item.

So isn’t privatisation the answer?

Yes, if you are a big fat cat because they are the only ones who will benefit.

So won’t they be able to cut costs and benefit the public?

No, what the public doesn’t realise is that the cost of a letter could go up more than 400%.

What evidence do you have for that?

You only have to look at all the other services that have been privatised like gas and water, and I would expect that if you in rural areas you may only get one delivery a week, or be charged far higher rates.

So how do you think the present situation can be resolved?

There needs to be compromise on both sides and a real desire to get that compromise.

So what should the union do?

At the moment we are trapped by an antiquated them and us attitude between management and union, both seem to forget that this is a public service. The union needs to be a bit more diplomatic and be prepared to compromise.

What should management do?

Stop bullying people and pushing the workers around. Have a bit more respect and realise that they are also supposed to be serving the public as well as the postmen and women and should not just be a puppet for the government’s secret agenda.

What about the government?

Leave us alone and think about the public in all of this. And also they should repay our pensions after allowing Royal Mail to take 13 years garden leave. I have paid into my pension for 29 years and now the money may not be there to pay me when I retire.

So what do you want to say the public?

Firstly I’d like to apologise to the public for the inconvenience. Most of us really don’t want to go on strike because we end up losing money and we care about the service. Secondly if you really want to see the service improve, lobby your MP to allow us to compete without one hand tied behind our back and to stop privatisation.

You say that, but money is going down the drain to an unprofitable business?

That’s the whole point; this is a service not a business. You don’t hear people complaining about the police service being unprofitable!

So finally, anything else you want to say?

Well personally I fear we are becoming more like an inverted Robin Hood society where the rich get richer off the poor people’s backs.

Also, this is a community job, a public service; therefore it should always be in the public sector.

And if the government do go down the road of privatisation the public should not be surprised at the price of posting a letter going up 400%

Nadine Dorries and the Mystery of the First Home

OK, I admit it - I am a bit of an Agatha Christie addict. When I broke my leg I amused myself by watching endless episodes of Poirot. I like nothing more than a good mystery, with just enough of a hint of the solution to keep you guessing. In Nadine Dorries' case - its not so much guessing, it's more - do you really think we are that stupid? Like the culprit with the smoking gun crying "it wasn't me guv" - the hole she has dug for herself just gets deeper.



Wednesday night I missed the News at 10 piece about her. Here is this poor unfortunate MP travelling home to her SECOND home and complaining about it! She travelled all the way to her constituency - arriving home at gone 1am. Yes, she gets on the train in the morning with her constituents but they don't have to come home at the same ungodly hour as she. I do have some sympathy, I also often find myself arriving home at gone 1am which isn't that pleasant, especially this time of year on cold and dirty First Capital Connect trains, but I don't have an alternative.

Now, maybe I am missing something. There are some MPs whose second homes are near Westminster - this is because their first home is in their constituency, so that when they have a late sitting they can hit the sack relatively quickly. There are other MPs whose first homes are near Westminster. This is because their second homes are in their constituencies and so that they can not only hit the sack relatively quickly, but have their families with them when they are carrying out their parliamentary duties. Frankly, I don't care which way they do it, but whichever way, there is a logic.



Not so with Ms Dorries. To hear her bleating about getting home so late, when the only reason she gets home so late is because she has (unless she has changed the arrangement since it all came out in May) chosen to designate her first home as being absolutely nowhere near either her constituency or Westminster, beggars belief. Does she take the good people of Mid Beds for complete fools? Does she think they will all just accept that it is OK for her to take advantage of an antiquated system that effectively allows her to have a holiday home? She has apologised, but what has changed? If she is so concerned about arriving home late at night she could do what others do. Jacqui Smith got rightly lambasted for designating her sister's home as her main home - but at least she could argue she spent more nights there (which I thought was the definition). Nadine Dorries firstly tried to keep secret where her first home was, even admitting that she only spent the odd weekend and holiday there. By no stretch of the imagination is that a first home. So, to coin a phrase, you can't have your cake and eat it. If you want to get home at a Godly hour, then you need to use the second home allowance as it was surely intended. Otherwise as the saying goes - put up or shut up!.............Although, from the perspective of her prospective opponent maybe that is bad advice - carry on dear, carry on!!!

Turn on Parliament Channel Now!

Firstly - isn't it great to see young people in the chamber? Secondly isn't it refreshing to see some colour rather than the grey suited monochromistic mush? Thirdly - interesting and well argued debate (on tution fees at the mo).

OK, so there are issues about just how representative UK Youth Parliament is - however, this opening up of the chamber is long overdue. Last week I was with the Youth MPs from Speaking Up - a pilot representing young people with learning disabilities - let's see them in there, there is another one for young offenders, let's see them in there. I hope this is just the beginning.

Update - it looks like the only Lib Dem MP there is David Heath - lots of Labour and Tory, yet we are the party with the best youth policies........where are they?

Battle of the Bloggers?

I am just home from being selected as PPC for the 'safe' Tory seat of Mid Beds and the prospect of a fairly boring contest against Ms Nadine the blogging Queen :-) (Joke Nadine, joke!). As I pointed out to my fellow members, following the extraordinary events of this year, there is no longer any such thing as a safe seat - so from my perspective........game on girl, game on!

Chair of the selection committee Brian Golby began with a little anecdote about me when I was Unison Branch Secretary, a story I hadn't heard before. As a county councillor he had been on an appeals panel at which I had been representing members, apparently as I left the room one of the Tories muttered, "I'll be glad to see the back of that bloody woman" - in Brian's eyes that was an accolade! I reminded him that at that time the joke was that the union was the only effective opposition to the disastrous, worst performing county council in the country.

The Tories are peddling a myth of "real change" - er............when we have effectively had 30 years of Tory government. OK, the party may have changed, but the values never did. Frankly Tory "real change" should read same old same old. Not change, just a return to the dark days of Thatcher's Britain.

The people of Mid Beds deserve better, they deserve - and now have - a real choice. As Lib Dems we offer that choice. Real - same old same old - change...........or a genuine Fresh Start for Britain.

Watch this space :-)

Nick Robinson and the BBC - The Sound of Silence?

Tonight I am back in Bedford with pals celebrating the election of Dave Hodgson as Mayor of Bedford - a momentus occasion by all accounts - but one that has apparently completely passed the BBC by. I was a little miffed by this, Cameron, riding high in the polls, on the cusp of a landslide victory in May, snubbed by the electorate of not one but THREE constituencies in traditionally Tory Bedfordshire - er..........story? I couldn't understand why this did not make national news and fall under the normally forensic analysis of the BBC's excellent political team - in particular the great Nick Robinson. I perused his blog expecting at least a passing reflection on today's results - but - ZILCH. Now, granted, I may be doing the man a diservice. He may be on holiday. But many many more political editors, correspondents, etc scurry around the BBC airways at a rate of knots - did none of them honestly find this result of any consequence? However, one of my pals gave me at least a hint of why Mr Robinson may be a little shy to comment on this story. Apparently he was vice chair of the Young Conservatives when Richard Fuller (Tory PPC for Bedford) was chair. This may explain why he considered David Cameron's visit to Bedford a few weeks ago worthy of reporting on News at Ten...........but also why the far more important mayoral result this evening did not command the same attention - tho of course if the Tories had won I have no doubt it would have featured long and loud! What's all this nonsense about the BBC being a hotbed of left wing dissent?!

Cameron - hope you have the kaolin and morphine in!

This evening there is a story in Bedford's local paper telling the sorry tale that the Tories predict defeat in the Mayoral tomorrow. Earlier this evening, a source "close to the party" called to tell me the same - even before the polls closed the Tories were off to console themselves with Pizza.

Last week at Tory Party conference, any local activist I bumped into was far from buoyant about the prospect of a Tory mayor - despite the huge effort central office has clearly put in to support his campaign. I understand (though this will have to be confirmed) that there were 7 central office staff on permanent Bedford duty.

Sadly, this election is unlikely to command much national attention or analysis, but it must be remembered - Bedford Borough is more than a constituency, in fact it straddles three. It is clearly important to the Tories to win, otherwise why would we have seen such huge investment - and the rolling out of leading lights, including this week, Cameron himself?

What this has done, is expose the true underbelly of the party. Having a primary that sidelined local activists did nothing to engage them in the fight, but more importantly, it exposed the very real thread of racism that still blights the Cameron and Pickles unrealistic vision of a more "liberal" party.

Tomorrow I fully expect us to trumpet the election of Dave Hodgson as Bedford Mayor - Cameron should be afraid - very afraid. This is not just a little local difficulty, it is very real evidence of the reality of the hill Cameron has to climb. When the chips are down he has to deal with a party that has never understood the concept of collective responsibility and who, when push comes to shove are likely to show their true blue colours. Bedford is likely to be an emblem - one to spur us on to believe we can and must be the real alternative to Labour - and one to remind the Cameroonies that it is not just their Labour opponents they have to fight.