Do we really want to choose our leaders?

by Paul Sagar    
January 8, 2010 at 11:30 am

Wednesday’s ridiculous abortive coup against Gordon Brown got me thinking about leadership in democracies.

A consistent complaint against Brown is that he hasn’t been directly elected by the people. And it’s the conventional wisdom that if he were decapitated, whoever takes over the Labour reigns will have to hold a snap election. The People of this green and pleasant land wouldn’t tolerate another “unelected” leader, apparently.

Toryboy Nick Robinson repeated the mantra too:

Weeks before the country gets to choose who should be its next prime minister Labour MPs are considering taking the decision for them. If they succeed a man or woman who has not been elected by the public would replace a man who has himself not been elected by the public.

The conventional response to this is to repeat the truism that no British Prime Minister is ever elected by the public directly. Anyone with basic knowledge of the UK constitution understands this. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party which gains the most seats (and not even necessarily the most votes) at a general election. The only people who “elected” Tony Blair in 1997 were those living in Sedgefield. Ditto for Margaret Thatcher and the people of Finchley.
continue reading… »

The best Cameron billboard poster spoofs

by Sunny Hundal    
January 8, 2010 at 11:27 am

An actual defacement

Posted on Virtual Economics

————–

From My David Cameron

————–

From My David Cameron

————–

From Go Fourth

————–

By Beau Bo D’Or

————–

By Beau Bo D’Or

————–

By Beau Bo D’Or

————–

And there’s another one at Frank Owen’s Paintbrush

————–

Use the My David Cameron website to create your own

How the Tories have flip-flopped on education

by Sunny Hundal    
January 8, 2010 at 9:34 am

The Education Maintenance Allowance is a weekly grant given to poor students, worth up to £30 a week, to encourage them to carry on staying in education.

The DirectGov site says:

Basically, EMA is cash in your hands to help you carry on learning. If you’re 16, 17 or 18 and have left, or are about to leave, compulsory education, then it could be for you.
…
There’s no catch. As long as you attend regularly and work hard, there should be no problem in receiving EMA. And if you stay in learning, it could affect what you earn – the latest research shows that learning a new skill and getting a new qualification can actually mean more money in your hands,increasing your annual salary by up to £3,000.

In unveiling their education policy this week, the Conservatives claimed they supported the EMAs. Shadow education secretary Michael Gove told Parliament: He was “absolutely” in their favour.

But the evidence actually shows deep tory confusion and flip-flopping over whether they would support the measure.

The blog Left Foot Forward uncovered these quotes from the Conservative shadow cabinet:

- Chris Grayling, January 2005: “Bribing young people to sign up for courses they may not complete might make ministers’ targets look achievable – but [EMAs] do absolutely nothing to help solve this country’s chronic skills shortage.”

- David Cameron, November 2007: “we think there are some really practical problems and issues with that sort of compulsion”

- Michael Gove, January 2008: [Asked if was in favour of EMAs] Yes, absolutely

- Michael Gove, August 2008: Claimed it was a flop and, according to the Guardian, “said fewer than 400 extra children eligible for free school meals (FSM) had stayed on after finishing GCSEs since 2004, despite the introduction of the EMA at a cost of £924m.”

- David Cameron, January 2009: Says again that “Yes” he supports EMAs.

It seems the Conservatives are yet to settle on a coherent education strategy.

Is David Miliband the biggest loser from attempted coup?

by Sunny Hundal    
January 8, 2010 at 9:05 am

This morning’s Times cartoon puts it quite starkly

And the media narrative also seems to have turned against him.

Financial Times: Slow response weakens Miliband
Daily Mail (John Kampfner): David Miliband – the pretender who is a serial bottler
Daily Mail: (comment): The real loser of this pathetic plot
Independent (Steve Richards): Miliband needs a lesson in political warfare
Independent (Andrew Grice): Inquest held — but no dead body
Economist (Bagehot): After the snowstorm

Steve Richards is right in saying there are only two options for Cabinet ministers in a coup: wholehearted declarations of support or insurrection. Miliband took so long, and the statement was so convoluted, that the charge of being a ‘ditherer’ like Brown is starting to stick.

I’m not that fussed.
continue reading… »

UK to get £2bn from bankers’ bonuses tax

by Sunny Hundal    
January 8, 2010 at 9:01 am

Reuters reports:

Britain looks set to reap a windfall of at least 2 billion pounds as its controversial tax on bank bonuses fails to deter banks from paying a round of big payouts.

With around three weeks to go before 2009 bonus packages are signed off, banking sources dismiss original government estimates that the 50 percent tax on bonuses over 25,000 pounds would raise around 550 million pounds.

At a time when the public purse is tight, this will be welcome news for many within government. We have gone from £550 million to £2 billion.

Inevitably there is criticism from the Financial Times, which has declared the tax a failure because it failed to stop banks from giving out huge bonuses.

But was it all a waste of a time? The Guardian’s Nils Pratley says it points to a deeper problem:

The episode has at least demonstrated that shareholders, who ultimately bear the cost of the bonus tax, are a supine bunch. Institutional investors were meant to act as the policemen here, telling banks to preserve capital instead of paying an avoidable tax. These big investors have failed to speak out. It’s time for the likes of Legal & General, Prudential, Fidelity, Schroders and Aviva to explain why.

Earlier this week the impending imposition of the bankers bonuses tax led London’s occasional Mayor Boris Johnson to complain.
He said:

I am extremely anxious about rumours in the City that seem to confirm that the recent knee-jerk and ill-thought-out tax grab by the Government to punish bankers is causing some of our most important institutions to consider their options,

Funny. He doesn’t have a problem with punishing London’s poor commuters, only rich bankers.

Iain Dale appoints himself arbitrator of blogs

by Sunny Hundal    
January 7, 2010 at 5:05 pm

The hysterical Conservative blogger Iain Dale wrote a blog post today titled ‘Is Left Foot Forward Really “Evidence Based”?‘

His complaint is that:

Left Foot Forward rather pioulsy describes itself as an “evidence based blog”. Why, therefore, is THIS story still on its site? It alleges a Conservative U-Turn on Educational Maintenance Allowances. The author of the piece, James Mills, alleged that David Cameron had reversed Tory policy on EMAs at a Cameron Direct meeting in Hammersmith. He said that Cameron had said he would keep EMAs, while other Tories, like Michael Gove were committed to outright abolition.

After seeing a video of the event LFF admitted that the words attributed to Cameron had not actually been uttered.

He then goes on to say that in his opinion LFF should “should issue an apology for this blogpost after having removed it”.

Who died and appointed Iain Dale the arbitrator of how blogs should behave?

A few weeks ago Dale published a blog-post titled ‘Oxford is Cool‘, which continued in a series of ill-informed posts spouting global warming denialism.

That blog post was thoroughly eviscerated by Unity here – but rather than amend his blog post to admit his mistake, Dale instead tried to pretend he was being victimised.
In his defence he said then:

I regard the internet as a place for debate – where you can throw something out there and let people debate the rights and wrongs.

One standard for himself and another for others. Even when exposed as having published complete shite, Dale refused to amend his mistake.

In this case, Will Straw has already pointed out his defence:

1) We issued a clarification as soon as it became apparent that James’ recollections of David Cameron’s precise comments were wrong. But the substantive point remains that David Cameron now says he supports EMAs when he previously said “we think there are some really practical problems and issues with that sort of compulsion”, Grayling said it had done “absolutely nothing to help solve this country’s chronic skills shortage” and Michael Gove called them a flop. Read our full piece for the full story.

2. The point about describing ourselves as “evidence-based” was simply that we would use links and first-hand testimony to back up our stories and would try and avoid churning out too much opinion. Generally we get it right but we sometimes get it wrong. If we do so we correct it – something that can’t be said for all bloggers.

Homophobic former Archbishop speaks out on immigration

by Claude Carpentieri    
January 7, 2010 at 4:15 pm

George Carey, Archbisop of Canterbury until 2002, has written in today’s Times< , in which he just stops short of calling for Christians to be given priority in a migration point system.

The article echoes what he already said yesterday on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.

The former Archbishop and current member of the Balanced Migration Group followed a template that we’ve recently seen far too often from the usual suspects: a) if you talk about immigration you are branded a racist b) if you want to stop the BNP from growing you need to “seriously address the concerns” c) Britain is a Christian country.

To which the answers are:
continue reading… »

The government is smaller than the right admit

by Giles Wilkes    
January 7, 2010 at 11:15 am

A standard attack on Labour is that it has left the government dominating the economy, which spells doom for our future growth. Policy Exchange’s approach to this has been the most uncompromising and (as I shall show) wrongheaded; see this publication, mentioned by the Wolf, and utterly debunked by me.

A state that actually dominated economic production is terrible for economic efficiency. For the UK to grow for 200 years has needed capitalism’s endless, restless search for better ways of doing things. Good ideas get rewarded and prosper– for a while – and bad ideas get thrown out.

Imagine if the development of the IT industry had been all decided in think tanks and Whitehall. We would still be on BBC Microcomputers.

So, are we in a 50%-state economy? Superficially the government spends about £650bn of a £1400bn GDP economy. But does it feel like that? Um, no.

Think about it: the state employs 6 million people, or about 20% of the workforce (h/t John Redwood). Half of the state’s spending is actually transferring money to people so that they can spend it themselves. Government consumption is about 20-25%.
continue reading… »

Thoughts on the coup: this ain’t over yet

by Sunny Hundal    
January 7, 2010 at 9:30 am

Some thoughts on yesterday’s knifing attempt by Hoon and Patricia Hewitt.

First. I’ve long said that Gordon Brown is a terrible communicator and the party should have replaced him when they realised this to salvage their chances. I made the call just before the last party conference too. Initially, I did think the H&H coup came too late. But I’ll have to break with convention and agree with John Rentoul that now is probably the right time. As I said earlier, a new leader would have to quickly declare an election anyway. So the timing probably isn’t that off.

Second. The problem is actually that neither Hewitt nor Hoon are particularly popular with any part of the party, which meant little chance of popular support (though they could have snagged a cabinet minister anyway). The mood across blogs and Twitter among Labourites and lefties was overwhelmingly of derision. See Mehdi Hasan for a good left-wing summary of the argument.

Third. At this point Alan Johnson is the only viable candidate, given he knows he’ll be leading the party into elections with approx 25% chance of winning. He’s never shown lofty ambitions so it wouldn’t be a huge blow to someone generally seen as a safe pair of hands. The problem is that to avoid looking too disloyal, he can’t be the first big beast to jump. The Milibands, Ed Balls, Harriet Harman etc are also biding their time and don’t want the disloyal tag either. So they’re afraid to jump too. All this saps away confidence.
continue reading… »

More funny #lolplot pics on yesterday’s failed coup

by Sunny Hundal    
January 7, 2010 at 9:30 am

(made by reader redpesto)

————

(made by reader redpesto)

————

(made by reader redpesto)

————

(made by reader Ed Rooksby)

————

(made by reader Ed Rooksby)

————

(made by reader David Wright)

————

RECENT OPINION ARTICLES

Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel 19 Comments Watch: Chicken chases Boris Johnson 33 Comments Does Priti Patel MP care for human rights? 59 Comments Watch: funny spoof explains benefits cuts 18 Comments UKuncut to join disabled to oppose Welfare bill 15 Comments Lawson’s GWPF faces questions over funding 25 Comments Shock poll shows public indifferent to Labour’s new cuts line 38 Comments Watch: NHS report “vindicates Labour” 7 Comments Daily Mail writer: Hurrah for French fascists! 64 Comments Save our pensions! Unite slams Unilever in video 11 Comments

LATEST COMMENTS » Sunny Hundal posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Sally posted on Even by economic standards Hester's £1m bonus is unworthy » Flowerpower posted on Diane Abbott resigns from abortion panel » Tom (iow) posted on The benefits of being a "burden" on society » Anne posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Ian M Davies posted on Week of action against Atos begins Monday » Robert2012 posted on The benefits of being a "burden" on society » G.O. posted on Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest? » Dave posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Schmidt posted on Even by economic standards Hester's £1m bonus is unworthy » Link: “govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote” | Help Me Investigate Health posted on Revealed: govt to restrict abortion counselling despite Nadine Dorries vote » Planeshift posted on Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest? » Makhno posted on The benefits of being a "burden" on society » Trooper Thompson posted on Would raising the tax threshold actually help the poorest? » ukliberty posted on Does Priti Patel MP care for human rights?