GUIDO FAWKES -UP DATE.

Ed Miliband Needs to Sack Tom Watson | Dan Hodges
Ian Austin: Hunger Expert | Speccie
Leaked FCO Emails Show Odd Friends | The Commentator
Dear Mark, | Adam Smith Institute
More Evidence BBC is a Waste of Money | James Delingpole
Croatia Enter the Mad House | The Commentator
BBC Blows £25 Million on Golden Goodbyes | MediaGuido
Chuka: Leadership Talk is Absurd | Star
Dave Talking Hogwarts | Speccie
Leaders and Parties Split on Pay | James Kirkup
Labour Has Lost Touch With Working Class | Michael Heaver

MONDAY, JULY 1, 2013

WATCH: Keith Vaz Gangnam Style

Via Leicester Mercury

LibDem MP: “Appalling Decision” to Dodge Referendum Vote

Nick Clegg said this morning at his new monthly press conference that his position on a EU referendum had been “consistent for some time”. If by“some time” he means completely different now to what he was saying in the past, then yes, this could be considered an accurate statement.
The Deputy Prime Minister is encouraging his troops, like Labour, to avoid the House of Commons on Friday for James Wharton’s Private Members Bill. Hardly a very democratic way of doing things, and what do Liberal Democrat MPs say about being denied a vote? Well picking one at random, Guido gives you Mark Hunter, the little known MP for Cheadle:

“This is an appalling decision. To deny Parliament the chance to vote on our proposal to allow the public to have a real say on Britain’s membership of the European Union is an outrage. In the last referendum over 30 years ago, people voted to be in a very different Europe from what we have now. There have, rightly, been many important changes as the European Union has developed and grown in size. But the British people have not had the opportunity to vote on those changes. It’s time for the Westminster establishment to stop being so cowardly over Europe and have an open debate with the country.”

What has changed since 2008, Mark?

Welsh Labour Keep it in the Family

The branches are spreading out ever wider in this cosy little Labour family tree. Former Blairite minister Alun Michael gave up his seat in 2012 to run for the Police and Crime Commissioner job in South Wales, alongside his son Tal, who went for the North Wales position. Father won but son lost, so as a consolation prize GMB-backed Tal has been selected to fight the crucial Anglesey by-election seat next month. Purely coincidentally, Tal’s wife Mary has also just been chosen as the Labour parliamentary candidate for Aberconway in 2015. Union stitch-ups in Scotland, nepotism in Wales.Welcome to One Nation Labour.

Exclusive: Met “Liaising Closely” With Parliament Over Tim Yeo

Following a complaint by the Sunlight Centre for Open Politics to the Metropolitan Police regarding Tim Yeo’s conflicts of interest and the Bribery Act 2010, the coppers have today confirmed that detectives from the “Special Enquiry Team based at New Scotland Yard” are“liaising closely with the relevant parliamentary authorities.” Tick tock, Tim…

Theresa May Keeps Peace Between Lawson and Saatchi

The awkwardest of seating arrangements revealed in yesterday’s Suncolumn. Voluptuous TV chef Nigella Lawson’s brother Dominic found himself sat next to Maurice Saatchi, brother of her estranged husband, at a lunch held last week by the Centre for Policy Studies, the think-tank set up by Maggie Thatcher. Any animosity between the two families could not boil over into violence as they had a law enforcer in the room. In fact, a very, very senior law enforcer: Theresa May.

MPs Who Froze Public Sector Pay Want £10,000 Pay Hike

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) looks set to bung troughing MPs a 15% / £10,000-a-year pay rise, even though both Labour and Tory MPs support policies restraining public sector pay rises to 1%. As Ed Balls says:“There is no way we should be arguing for higher pay when the choice is between higher pay and bringing unemployment down.” Last week Osborne attacked “some public sector employees” who “see annual pay rises of seven per cent”. MPs are about to get double that. A large group of MPs are in favour of the people that clean their offices suffering a 1% pay freeze, yet want 15 times that for themselves…
Their argument is that they need higher pay to attract the best people to the job, despite there being no evidence that there is a lack of applicants for a job offering triple the average wage plus housing and travel allowances. As things stand MPs are already in a different world; their expenses alone are around the median wage, with everything included they take home more than £1,100-a-week:

Bringing in people who see being an MP as a vocation not a profession is the only change to the system that we need; real people who have done something with their lives rather than ex-SpAds climbing the greasy pole. Under the current system “powerless” ministers bleat that MPs will be able to voluntarily choose not to take the extra cash. The CV of a typical ex-MP is expense fiddling, lying, dissembling, spinning and smiling in pictures. We are fools if we think they won’t line their pockets again…

Mandela On Deathbed, Peter Hain: Buy My Book!

Nelson Mandela’s family has criticised the tasteless “vultures” circling as he clings on to life in his Pretoria hospital bed. You would never find a Labour MP looking to make a quick buck from the sad situation, would you?
Peter Hain cashing in?  Whatever next…

Naff “Global Race” Here To Stay
It Will Be Tory Party Conference Theme

It took the Prime Minister less than ten seconds to get the buzz words“global race” into his press conference at the end of the EU summit this week. Every Tory popping up on TV over the weekend dropped it into conversation and you can expect to hear it a lot more. As Guido revealed in yesterday’s Sun column, the naff phrase will be the theme of this year’s Conservative Party Conference. Ministers have been asked to come up with policies to be unveiled in Manchester that reflect this focus grouped message. While this is easy for the likes of Business and the Foreign Office, more domestic departments have been left baffled.
So what Global Race is the UK winning?
We are doing pretty well in the “Biggest Deficit in Europe” Category: We are in third there, just behind Greece and Ireland.
In the “Slowest Growth Rate in the G20″, the UK is also nearly in the lead, just behind Japan and Italy.
We are winning gold in the “Slowest growth in the English-speaking world” category!

Image via @GeneralBoles

Balls Limo Ran Over Pensioner

A 65-year-old retired journalist has accused Ed Balls’ limo of running him over then driving off at a TUC conference. Tony Patey was admitted to hospital with a gashed leg after the alleged incident. He told the Sun:

“It rammed the front of my left leg, throwing me against the passenger door. I’m not sure who was more shocked, Mr Balls or me. His eyes and mouth were wide open.”

When will our streets be made safe from this