Iain Dale has this story on his blog at the moment which I hope he doesn't mind me linking to ;-)
It shows that the Labour Party have been auctioning off signed copies of Lord Hutton's report into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly to raise more cash for party coffers.
Of course, we knew New Labour had no sense of shame. But even I never thought they would stoop this low.
May 23 Update: Tory MP Stewart Jackson has now tabled this Early Day Motion into the affair. Let's hope some Labour members have the guts to sign it.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Ming's birthday blues
BBC online's Nick Assinder has become the latest pundit to question whether Ming Campbell - 65 today - is up to the job of Lib Dem leader.
"Some have started re-examining the way former leader Charles Kennedy was ousted. Mr Kennedy, remember, took the Lib Dems to historic electoral heights only last year, and appeared to have a rapport with ordinary voters," he writes.
"The question that some are asking is whether the fact that there has been a successful Lib Dem leadership coup once this Parliament means there is more, or less, appetite for more leadership turmoil before the next election."
I think I know the answer to the last question....
"Some have started re-examining the way former leader Charles Kennedy was ousted. Mr Kennedy, remember, took the Lib Dems to historic electoral heights only last year, and appeared to have a rapport with ordinary voters," he writes.
"The question that some are asking is whether the fact that there has been a successful Lib Dem leadership coup once this Parliament means there is more, or less, appetite for more leadership turmoil before the next election."
I think I know the answer to the last question....
Will Reid run?
The political prospects of Dr John Reid formed the main subject-matter of my Saturday Column and accompanying Podcast this weekend.
Dr Reid could easily become the latest in a series of Home Secretaries to drown under the weight of the department’s mountainous bureaucracy. But alternatively, he may – just may – manage to turn the situation round, and establish himself as a credible alternative contender to Gordon Brown for the Prime Minister’s job.
Interestingly, Guido Fawkes is today urging punters to get their money on Reid, in the wake of last week's declaration by Mike Smithson that Gordon will ultimately be beaten.
For my part, like Smithson, I reckon Alan Johnson is a marginally more attractive alternative bet, given his power-base within the union movement and Reid's relative lack of popularity with MPs.
Dr Reid could easily become the latest in a series of Home Secretaries to drown under the weight of the department’s mountainous bureaucracy. But alternatively, he may – just may – manage to turn the situation round, and establish himself as a credible alternative contender to Gordon Brown for the Prime Minister’s job.
Interestingly, Guido Fawkes is today urging punters to get their money on Reid, in the wake of last week's declaration by Mike Smithson that Gordon will ultimately be beaten.
For my part, like Smithson, I reckon Alan Johnson is a marginally more attractive alternative bet, given his power-base within the union movement and Reid's relative lack of popularity with MPs.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
The Little Red Book goes live
The Little Red Book of New Labour sleaze is now on sale at all good bookshops and also has its ownwebsite.
The book, detailing 101 scandals to have hit the government since the whiter-than-white one came to power in 1997, has been put together by Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes with help from around 30 or so political bloggers, including myself.
For what it's worth, I contributed entries on Ron Davies's "moment of madness," the award of peerages to deadbeat old MPs in return for safe Labour seats for Blair favourites, the routine trashing of out-of-favour ministers by Alastair Campbell and Co, and the "dodgy dossier" under which the country went to war with Iraq.
As Guido says - buy this book, and throw it at Tony Blair every time he claims to be a "pretty straight kind of guy."
The book, detailing 101 scandals to have hit the government since the whiter-than-white one came to power in 1997, has been put together by Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes with help from around 30 or so political bloggers, including myself.
For what it's worth, I contributed entries on Ron Davies's "moment of madness," the award of peerages to deadbeat old MPs in return for safe Labour seats for Blair favourites, the routine trashing of out-of-favour ministers by Alastair Campbell and Co, and the "dodgy dossier" under which the country went to war with Iraq.
As Guido says - buy this book, and throw it at Tony Blair every time he claims to be a "pretty straight kind of guy."
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