Why Did Number Ten Leak the Names?
Iain Dale 9:58 PM
This post is in reponse to the person on the previous thread who was baffled as to why Number Ten would think it was in Gordon Brown's interest to leak the names of the MPs who had written to the new Labour Party General Secretary asking for a nomination form.
I have been mulling this over and have come to a conclusion. I think they did it for the same reason as Charles Kennedy in early 2005. He thought it would rally support in the party for his position - he knew he was far more popular among party activists than he was among his colleagues. He also thought opposition was limited to a few junior MPs and it would do no harm to bring them down a peg or two.
In Kennedy's case the tactic badly backfired as it had the effect of a dam being opened.
One other point. I think it is quite scandalous that the Labour Party's General Secretary - who also acts as returning officer - passed the details of these MPs to Number Ten. During all the various Tory leadership machinations it was inconceivable that Sir Michael Spicer would have given any details to anyone about Tory MPs who had written to him on the issue of the leadership.
If yiu can't trust a returning officer in an election, who can you trust?
I have been mulling this over and have come to a conclusion. I think they did it for the same reason as Charles Kennedy in early 2005. He thought it would rally support in the party for his position - he knew he was far more popular among party activists than he was among his colleagues. He also thought opposition was limited to a few junior MPs and it would do no harm to bring them down a peg or two.
In Kennedy's case the tactic badly backfired as it had the effect of a dam being opened.
One other point. I think it is quite scandalous that the Labour Party's General Secretary - who also acts as returning officer - passed the details of these MPs to Number Ten. During all the various Tory leadership machinations it was inconceivable that Sir Michael Spicer would have given any details to anyone about Tory MPs who had written to him on the issue of the leadership.
If yiu can't trust a returning officer in an election, who can you trust?
EXCLUSIVE: I Reveal 3 More Labour MPs...
Iain Dale 4:52 PM
I can reveal the names of three more Labour MPs who have written to request nomination papers, bringing the total to twelve. The new names, told to me by a senior Labour source, are...
Mike Hall
Fiona Mactaggart
Shona McIsaac
They add to the existing list of Siobhain Mcdonagh, Joan Ryan, George Howarth, Graham Stringer, Gordon Prentice, Janet Anderson, Jim Dowd, Kate Hoey and Frank Field.
In addition, I am told the leaking of the fact the letters existed came direct from inside Number Ten.
If this list grows from 12 to, say, thirty or forty, maybe those cabinet ministers whose spine needs reinforcement will make their move. I still doubt it, but the story is dominating the political headlines, much to the chagrin of Nick Clegg and his colleagues here in Bournemouth.
Mike Hall
Fiona Mactaggart
Shona McIsaac
They add to the existing list of Siobhain Mcdonagh, Joan Ryan, George Howarth, Graham Stringer, Gordon Prentice, Janet Anderson, Jim Dowd, Kate Hoey and Frank Field.
In addition, I am told the leaking of the fact the letters existed came direct from inside Number Ten.
If this list grows from 12 to, say, thirty or forty, maybe those cabinet ministers whose spine needs reinforcement will make their move. I still doubt it, but the story is dominating the political headlines, much to the chagrin of Nick Clegg and his colleagues here in Bournemouth.
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Brown Camp Smears McDonagh
Iain Dale 7:17 PM
I have been out all day on a TOTAL POLITICS away day - fun, eh? So I have missed all the fun surrounding the resignation of Labour whip Siobhain McDonagh. Nick Robinson will be eating his words, after telling us this morning that Brown had survived his leadership woes. Perhaps Ms M made her move as a direct result. Who knows?
Those who know her (and I don't) tell me she is not someone who is a plotter. She has called for Brown to go for genuine reasons, and is prepared for the onslaught which will now be launched by Team Brown. And it has already started.
Guido seems to have been spun a line by the Brown camp that this sort of thing is to be expected. Contrary to his story, she didn't sign any nomination papers last year let alone spoil any. A source very close to McDonagh tells me it's absolute "bollocks" and that the Brown people are purposely smearing her. Well it isn't the first time and it certainly won't be the last.
MPs weren't actually sent out nomination papers; instead they had to traipse along to the Parliamentary Labour Party Resource Centre at the House of Commons and ask for a paper, then fill it out there and then. Siobhain McDonagh did not attend, let alone fill out a paper. Also, the papers weren't numbered, simply because MPs had to write their names on them so that the identity of the person doing the nominating could be identified.
If she really had written on it what Guido alleges, would she really have been appointed a government whip? I hardly think so.
It will now be interesting to see if McDonagh now has more followers than Charles Clarke.
Those who know her (and I don't) tell me she is not someone who is a plotter. She has called for Brown to go for genuine reasons, and is prepared for the onslaught which will now be launched by Team Brown. And it has already started.
Guido seems to have been spun a line by the Brown camp that this sort of thing is to be expected. Contrary to his story, she didn't sign any nomination papers last year let alone spoil any. A source very close to McDonagh tells me it's absolute "bollocks" and that the Brown people are purposely smearing her. Well it isn't the first time and it certainly won't be the last.
MPs weren't actually sent out nomination papers; instead they had to traipse along to the Parliamentary Labour Party Resource Centre at the House of Commons and ask for a paper, then fill it out there and then. Siobhain McDonagh did not attend, let alone fill out a paper. Also, the papers weren't numbered, simply because MPs had to write their names on them so that the identity of the person doing the nominating could be identified.
If she really had written on it what Guido alleges, would she really have been appointed a government whip? I hardly think so.
It will now be interesting to see if McDonagh now has more followers than Charles Clarke.
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