Friday, June 05, 2009
Caroline Flint's Letter of Resignation
Iain Dale 5:55 PM
Dear Gordon
I believe the achievements of the Labour Government to date have been monumental and you have played an immense part in the creation of those achievements.
However, I am extremely disappointed at your failure to have an inclusive Government.
You have a two tier Government. Your inner circle and then the remainder of Cabinet.
I have the greatest respect for the women who have served as full members of Cabinet and for those who attend as and when required. However, few are allowed into your inner circle. Several of the women attending Cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing. I am not willing to attend Cabinet in a peripheral capacity any longer.
In my current role, you advised that I would attend Cabinet when Europe was on the agenda. I have only been invited once since October and not to a single political Cabinet - not even the one held a few weeks before the European elections.
Having worked hard during this campaign, I would not have been party to any plan to undermine you or the Labour Party in the run up to 4 June. So I was extremely angry and disappointed to see newspapers briefed with invented stories of my involvement in a “Pugin Room plot.”
Time and time again I have stepped before the cameras to sincerely defend your reputation in the interests of the Labour Party and the Government as a whole. I am a natural party loyalist. Yet you have strained every sinew of that loyalty.
It has been apparent for some time that you do not see me playing a more influential role in the Government. Therefore, I have respectfully declined your offer to continue in the Government as Minister for attending Cabinet.
I served six years as a backbencher and, therefore, I am not unhappy to be able to devote myself to promoting my constituency’s interests and to support the Labour Government from the backbenches.
This is a personal decision, which I have not discussed with colleagues.
Yours
CarolineGordon Brown Is Not Arrogant, OK?
Iain Dale 5:17 PM
I can foresee marches on Downing Street after this incredible performance.
I hope every single Labour MP has been watching this press conference. If they have, they know what their patriotic duty is? | Permalink | links to this post | Comments (86)Quote of the Day
Iain Dale 5:12 PM
Gordon BrownStop Press; Caroline Flint Quits Government
Iain Dale 5:05 PM
The Whitehall farce continues.Mandelson is the new Heseltine
Iain Dale 4:57 PM
And, wait for it, Dawn Primarolo and Rosie Winterton are to attend Cabinet. I always said that you'd know it had become a farce when Dawn Primarolo joined the Cabinet. Amazing. Frightening.
Brown has lied. He has denied he wanted to sack the Chancellor. He did. Liar.
He also said he knew John Hutton was going to leave the government several months ago. In that case, why didn't he find someone of higher stature than Bob Ainsworth to replace him? It's a farce.
I am embarrassed that this man is Prime Minister of one of the greatest countries in the world. How did we allow it to happen?Brown's Press Conference: Beyond Parody
Iain Dale 4:54 PM
What do you think?Ian Gibson Forces Norwich North By Election
Iain Dale 4:22 PM
Following Tuesday's meeting with the panel set up by the National Executive Committee of The Labour Party, and the upholding of their recommendations by the Organisation Committee, I wish to make the following statement:
“Although I was told it was not to be a disciplinary hearing, it turned out to be so. I was allowed to bring one 'silent friend' with me and Martin Booth, President of Norwich Constituency Labour Party, offered to accompany me. He has commented elsewhere that their final decision was a fait accompli and I have to agree. I felt the panel had made their mind up prior to the interview and the considerable local and national support from constituents and non-constituents, although available, was not examined. A document produced by the CLP was presented but there were no questions addressed to it. Nor were any questions asked about my personal statement which I had also submitted.
The panel asked me if I felt my actions contravened the 2009 Code of Conduct clause in The Green Book, which states that claims should not give rise to “improper personal financial benefits to themselves or anyone else”. This clause did not feature in Codes of Conduct in Green Books prior to 2009, when my daughter and her partner were living with me and when I sold my property to them, and even if it had I do not believe that there was anything improper about my actions. It still remains unclear which rule I have broken and I have not received the verdict in writing yet. I asked them to draw a line in the sand and to think carefully before taking a position on the family life of MPs, and the ways in which Parliamentary life intrudes upon family life. I was really pleased to be able to share my flat with my daughter and her partner.
The issue of my selling-on my second home below the market price begs the question why did I not sell it on the open market and make a profit? Some MPs did and, no doubt, gave or shared the proceeds with their family members. In my case I was not motivated by making a profit. I received the equivalent of the mortgage loan for the flat, namely £162,000 which was due to be repaid in November 2009. I will be required to repay an additional loan incurred by having to re-mortgage my first home in Norwich in order to buy the flat for £195,000 in 1999.
It was, and will be, my personal money and not the taxpayers which will be used to pay-off the re-mortgage. This helped to reduce the mortgage interest payments made by the taxpayer for my second home. I will, of course, be paying Capital Gains Tax on the sale of my second home, the exact amount of which will be determined in consultation with my accountant when preparing my 2008-09 tax return later this year.
I did not cover up, as implied by The Daily Telegraph, that my daughter and her partner shared my second home. Their names appeared on the electoral register. The address was only removed from my published receipts to meet the requirements of the House Authorities who were redacting, ie blanking out, members and staff addresses, telephone numbers and bank account details to comply with the Data Protection Act. Unredacted material was, of course, sold to The Daily Telegraph.
It has been my great honour to have served the people of Norwich North as their MP since 1997. I am proud to have voted with the Government on the introduction of Tax Credits, Pension Credits and the Minimum Wage etc., but equally proud to have voted against invading Iraq, ID Cards, renewing Trident missiles and the charging of University Top-Up Fees.
I wish to publicly thank the hundreds of people who sent me messages of support. The decision of the NEC leaves me today bowed but not broken. However, I believe that my position as an MP between now and the next election is untenable. And after discussions with my family, colleagues, party members and my admirable staff, I have decided to tender my resignation as an MP with immediate effect and I expect it to be accepted.”
Friday, 5 June 2009
Three times now, Gordon Brown has said "I am not arrogant". No, not at all. "My mission is to keep on with the job". Not if the rest of us have a say in it.
"This reshuffle has been conducted in an ordered and calm way"
Slap bang in the middle of the Prime Minister's press conference!!!!
Peter Mandelson has just been made Deputy Prime Minister. You couldn't make it up.
I have never called Gordon Brown a **** before, but I just blurted it out watching him at his hubristic press conference. A quite unbelievable performance. It was beyond parody. I wrote a blogpost a couple of weeks ago doubting his sanity. I never published it. I now wish I had. He is deluded, delusional and completely unable to accept the precipice which he is looking over.
I cut my political teeth in Norwich North. I know the seat like the back of my hand. I also know Ian Gibson. His decision to stand down as an MP is an honourable one and I have no hesitation in publishing the full text of the statement he has just released. It begs some questions, not least, will he stand as an Independent candidate in the by election? UPDATE: No he won't. Chloe Smith is the Tory PPC there and is absolutely excellent. She will no doubt have received the shock of her life this afternoon. Cometh the hour. Cometh the woman.
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