Loyalty still counts for something

Although Tory MP Derek Conway is clearly in the wrong over his generous taxpayer-funded payments to a family member - he is by no means the only MP who does this by the way - I have to admire Iain Dale for his refusal to join the braying pack demanding his instant hanging, drawing and quartering. Conway is a friend of Iain's and he says loyalty should still count for something.

And so indeed it should. Which is why you won't find me calling a decent and honest politician like Gordon Brown a weirdo just because he chews his fingernails.

Britblog round-up nominations

As promised here are my nominations for Britblog Round-up 154 which will appear later today at Philobiblon.

First, Dizzy for his revelation that a new Whitehall department is being created which will involve significant "legacy issues." This can only be a Department for Devolution taking over from the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland offices and the fact that it didn't happen in this week's mini-reshuffle probably meant no more than they aren't quite ready to do it yet.

Second, a great piece from Hopi Sen refuting the silly but oft-heard argument that it would be good for Labour to lose the next general election so it can renew itself in opposition.

Thirdly, I'm nominating Anthony Barnett's response on Our Kingdom to my own post about the Tories' personalisation of the battle against "that strange man in Downing Street." Anthony's argument is that you have to be pretty strange to be Prime Minister anyway.

"Brown maybe getting things wrong. But he is a serious political figure in a land steeped in superficiality - if that is not a contradiction in terms....The fact is that to be a driven politician today demands a personality defect. The proof of this is Thatcher. She was respected even though her popular vote always declined. But everyone knew that she was as strange as a bat out of hell."

Finally, it would be impossible to conclude a round-up of the blogging week without mention of Guido Fawkes and the spat over whether or not he is working for Conservative Central Office (not, as it happens.) In the week in which he was widely credited with bringing down Peter Hain (my view is that his investigative work certainly played a part) Mr Fawkes appears to have put one over on the MSM yet again.

No to Milburn, and no to electoral reform

This week's column in the Newcastle Journal focuses on two stories - Peter Hain's resignation and the subsequent Cabinet reshuffle, and as flagged up in the previous post, the government's decision to rule out PR for Westminster following the review of electoral systems across the UK.

Both of these, in my view, go down as yet more missed opportunities by Gordon Brown. He could, as I have argued in recent week, have used the departure of Mr Hain to strengthen a distinctly middle-weight Cabinet line-up by bringing back a heavyweight from the Blair years, preferably Alan Milburn. Interestingly James Forsyth on Spectator Coffee House takes a similar view. He comments:

"A quick check on the health of a party is whether there is more talent on the back benches than the front bench. Labour are close to that tipping point with Charles Clarke, Jon Cruddas, Alan Milburn, Stephen Byers, Denis MacShane, David Blunkett and Frank Field all out of the front line...If Labour is going to win the next election they have to get their A team on the field. This limited reshuffle suggests that Brown hasn’t grasped this."

In my column I also argue that Brown should have used the review of elctoral systems to order a fresh look at PR for Westminster, as a pre-emptive strike against the Tories for Nick Clegg's hand in marriage after the next election. The piece can be read in full HERE.