Miliband: “I don’t want to be cutting benefits”

Al Capone says:

June 4, 2013 at 8:31 am

We have the finest Parliamentarians that money can buy.

Voters Will Punish Opponents to My EU Bill | James Wharton MP
Labour’s Cuts Door Now Open | Speccie
Miliband’s Benefits Reverse Ferret | BBC
James Caan Jobs For Daughters Row | Standard
Newspapers Starting to Take Risks Again | Speccie
Tories Ignored Mercer’s Anti-Semitism | Dan Hodges
Hypocrite James Caan Employs Own Daughter | Telegraph
Labour MP’s Hero Jailed For £19m Money Laundering | Yorkshire Post
Leveson Lover’s Large Bill Blows Brian’s Bluster | MediaGuido
Downing Street Affair v Twitter | Drum
Mehdi’s Kuffar Silence | The Commentator

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2013

Miliband: “I don’t want to be cutting benefits”

Back in January Ed Miliband called government benefit cuts “punitive” and “unfair”, he said they “must not happen”. The month before he told the the Mirror that benefit cuts “showed they are not fit to govern because they played political games with people’s livelihoods”. He told the FT “I don’t want to be cutting benefits”. The polls showed he was on the wrong side of public opinion. Tomorrow he will endorse some sort of benefits cap and admit that Labour will not reverse  £2.3 billion in child benefit cuts. In 2010, the new Labour leader told the BBC:

“It’s a cornerstone of our system to have universal benefits, and frankly there aren’t that many millionaires in this country. Families on £45,000 need child benefit in my view and it’s a way that society recognises the costs of having kids.”

Reverse ferret!

Labour Council’s Stafford Hospital Campaign Legal Threats

When it comes to Stafford Hospital, you would have thought that Labour would tread very, very carefully. Campaigners have been tying blue ribbons around trees in the area to show their support, despite recent events, for keeping the hospital open. More militant protesters from the Support Stafford Hospital campaign even advertised a candlelit vigil. How did Cannock Chase District Council respond? Not by joining the peaceful protest, but instead threatening to prosecute the campaigners. Emails leaked to Guido show the local Labour-run council coming down like a ton of bricks on these radical, subversive candle wavers:


The local Labour candidate Janos Toth was happy to pose with the same campaigners for his leaflets, yet until the end of last month he was the deputy leader of the council putting on the legal heavies.
Maybe he could personally serve a letter before action or the writ?

Tom Watson Fingered Over Plotting Dinner

Last month Guido reported that Joan Ryan, former Labour MP expenses piggy turned wannabe candidate in Enfield North, was trying to stitch up a seat for a pal in a neighbouring constituency. She brought along dozens of new members to Enfield Southgate CLP’s AGM in order to back Ibrahim Dogus, though for some reason didn’t want to answer Guido’s questions about the little trick.

Guido has now seen an official complaint from the secretary of the local party to Labour HQ alleging the new members had joined the party the previous day. Crucially the secretary suggests the fishy plot was dreamt up at a dinner with Tom Watson:

What’s going on, Tommy?

Maid in Westminster

Tongues are wagging for the second time this week over the identity of politicos involved in an alleged sex scandal. Last week a certain Tory MP was talking in support of “traditional marriage”, now he is fighting allegations that he and his wife groped their lesbian maid and tried to have a threesome with her. She is now suing them for sexual discrimination, unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal. Neither party can be named:

“‘I sat on the sofa. Mr P came and sat down next to me. Mrs P then sat on the floor between his legs. Mrs P began to French kiss Mr P. I was extremely embarrassed and hoped they’d stop.’ The woman, who had recently split with her partner, said she then felt Mrs P’s hand rub her crotch. ’I was shocked and shot into the back of the sofa. As soon as I’d done this, Mr P proceeded to place his hand on my thigh. I shot to my feet, said I’m not into this sort of thing and went into my room and barricaded my door.’”

The tribunal continues…

Parliamentary Pass-Holders Face New Scrutiny

Rather than suspending them as reported by Sky last night, Bercow has merely ordered the 83 APPG parliamentary passes to be checked by MPs:

“There are currently 83 parliamentary passes that have been issued specifically to staff of APPGs (around 0.6% of the total number of passes).  The Speaker has instructed the Serjeant at Arms to ask Members who have sponsored these parliamentary passes to confirm that they have been properly requested and allocated, as required by the rules governing APPGs.  In the interim, no new passes in this category will be issued.  The Serjeant at Arms has also been asked, as a matter of urgency, to consider with the Administration Committee whether it is necessary or appropriate for this category of passes to exist at all. The Commission also intends that, more generally, applications for passes for Members’ staff should seek more information than at present about the purposes for which a pass is required.”

New rules would be bad news for a few interesting names on this list…

How Lobbyists Buy Legislation

Labour hand-wringers protest that unions cannot be seen in the same light as lobbyists as they don’t have a comparable capacity to influence changes the law. This is patently untrue. Wind back to 2011 and Guido revealed how the GMB union flagrantly bought votes from Sadiq Khan’s Shadow Justice team. Minutes from a Shadow Justice meeting at the time note that Labour MPs let the GMB decide which way they voted:


The leaked minutes also showed how GMB sponsored Labour MPs tabled amendments at the behest of the union. If the Tories did the same with, say, Goldman Sachs, there would rightly be uproar.
Several Labour MPs employ trade union lobbyists, subsidised with taxpayer money, sponsoring them for parliamentary passes and having them work on party business. Ian Mearns has Lisa Johnson, Tom Greatrex employs Catherine Godsell and Natascha Engel employs Heidi Benzing, all Political Officers at the GMB. For Unite, Jon Cruddas employs Nick Parrott, Mark Tami has Hannah Blythyn, Ronnie Campbell employs Stephen Turner and Jim Sheridan employs Stephen Hart. David Hamilton employs James McGowan, a ‘parliamentary consultant’ at the ASLEF trade union.
Taxpayer-subsidised trade union lobbyists employed by Labour MPs wear union lanyards around their necks as they enjoy unfettered access to the corridors of power. It is no wonder Ed Miliband voted against a lobbyist register in 2006. Labour have sold their votes, their amendments and their staff to trade union lobbyists pure and simple…

Leveson Lover’s Large Bill Blows Brian’s Bluster

When the Leveson lovers story broke, Brian responded by telling Tory MP Rob Wilson that “Ms Patry Hoskins assisted in the largely mechanical exercise of collecting and organising the evidence”. Adding that  “absolutely no role” in work on the section of the report addressing the culture, practices and ethics of the press. Well today we learn she was paid £218,606 for this apparently limited role. It does not add up…

Berger Boots Out Arnie Graf Rebel

Liverpool’s youngest ever councillor Jake Morrison claims Luciana Berger has forced him out after he failed to attend a training session with Miliband’s new American campaigning guru Arnie Graf and collect a copy of “a very comprehensive agreed script” of the party line. He says in a letter to Ed: “Luciana, a privately educated MP from London, who has came to Liverpool and made my life unbearable. At every opportunity Luciana has undermined me, rather than supported”. You can see why:

Dear Jake
I understand from your tweets that you have been knocking on members’ doors. As you will be aware from the many emails that Sheila has sent you, and which you have sadly ignored, we have had a training session with Arnie Graf from which the Wavertree CLP Members’ ID scheme was launched, and we now have a very comprehensive agreed script and process. Indeed we went out on Tuesday with an Old Swan councillor to start the activity off, and which was very successful.
You have not replied to any of the emails confirming your availability for the summer campaign which includes member engagement. You have not visited the office to collect a copy of the script, which includes a list of all the forthcoming CLP events which we are inviting members to. You have not engaged with the constituency in some time and have chosen not to discuss your facebook/twitter resignation announcement with either the officers of the CLP, branch, your co councillor or indeed myself. 
Of the 14 Labour councillors in the Wavertree Constituency you are the only one who chooses not to engage with my office, or get involved with our constituency activities. I have also had a number of complaints raised with me about your behaviour and action with regard to the Heygreen school going into special measures and the MANWEB field.
I am copying in Joe and Alan Dean by way of a formal complaint about your behaviour and your complete lack of team work and respect for other members.
I would appreciate a response
Luciana Berger

One man standing up to Arnie Graf’s wishy washy rhetoric knifed by the party machine. Save the Liverpool Wavertree one…