Source: Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis, HM Treasury, May 2006. Hat tip for graphic: Conservative Home.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Why Ken Livingstone is right about the Scots
Source: Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis, HM Treasury, May 2006. Hat tip for graphic: Conservative Home.
Give Thatcher a private funeral
My old Newcastle Journal colleague Brian Brady reported in this week's Scotland on Sunday that Tony Blair is planning a State Funeral for his ideological mentor and foreign policy adviser, Baroness Thatcher.
Apparently this latest wheeze by the Prime Minister is going to cause great distress within the Labour Party - no change there then.
But for my part, I think Downing Street should come clean about this, and make clear that they do indeed intend to mark the eventual passing of Lady Thatcher with the most fitting tribute they can devise.
They should confirm that she will receive a State Funeral, then announce a competitive tendering process to hand over the organisation of the event to whoever can do it at the least cost to the taxpayer.
Apparently this latest wheeze by the Prime Minister is going to cause great distress within the Labour Party - no change there then.
But for my part, I think Downing Street should come clean about this, and make clear that they do indeed intend to mark the eventual passing of Lady Thatcher with the most fitting tribute they can devise.
They should confirm that she will receive a State Funeral, then announce a competitive tendering process to hand over the organisation of the event to whoever can do it at the least cost to the taxpayer.
Monday, June 05, 2006
Labour needs a clean sweep
I've so far been pretty silent on this blog on the whole John Prescott saga, but that's because I was saving it up for my newspaper columns and accompanying Podcast over the weekend.
Basically my argument is that Prescott's useful career in frontline politics is at an end and that he should go - but so, by exactly the same token, is the Prime Minister's.
"Mr Prescott’s sole case for continuance in office rests on the argument that it would be better for the Labour Party to resolve the leadership and deputy leadership issues at the same time.
"True - but that is not an argument for Mr Prescott to cling on till Mr Blair goes. It is, rather, an argument that they should both go now."
The obvious truth of this is borne out by today's dreadful poll result showing David Cameron's Tories are now a clear ten points ahead of Labour.
This Government is finished politically, and there is now nothing more that Tony Blair can do or say which could convince the public to elect Labour again. Except by resigning of course.
Instead, Downing Street wastes its time on pointless and divisive scheming, telling friendly newspapers that Gordon Brown risks losing his frontrunner status to Alan Johnson unless he presents an "absolutely Blairite, New Labour face."
"There can be no sense of an ancien regime being succeeded by a new, Brownite order," a Blair ally tells the Observer. Wrong. A new order - whether Brownite or otherwise - is exactly what Labour now needs.
Basically my argument is that Prescott's useful career in frontline politics is at an end and that he should go - but so, by exactly the same token, is the Prime Minister's.
"Mr Prescott’s sole case for continuance in office rests on the argument that it would be better for the Labour Party to resolve the leadership and deputy leadership issues at the same time.
"True - but that is not an argument for Mr Prescott to cling on till Mr Blair goes. It is, rather, an argument that they should both go now."
The obvious truth of this is borne out by today's dreadful poll result showing David Cameron's Tories are now a clear ten points ahead of Labour.
This Government is finished politically, and there is now nothing more that Tony Blair can do or say which could convince the public to elect Labour again. Except by resigning of course.
Instead, Downing Street wastes its time on pointless and divisive scheming, telling friendly newspapers that Gordon Brown risks losing his frontrunner status to Alan Johnson unless he presents an "absolutely Blairite, New Labour face."
"There can be no sense of an ancien regime being succeeded by a new, Brownite order," a Blair ally tells the Observer. Wrong. A new order - whether Brownite or otherwise - is exactly what Labour now needs.
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