Labourhome - Stories by mike ion

Labourhome - Stories by mike ion http://www.labourhome.org/ Back to the roots... en-us Copyright 2007 - LabourHome.org Sat May 17 03:34:56 2008 Labourhome Labourhome Labourhome http://www.labourhome.org/favicon.ico http://www.labourhome.org/ [Blogs] Tories in row over 'cash for influence.' http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/16/3137/54702 If a company partly funds the private office of a Shadow Minister and if the said company has a direct interest in the portfolio of the said Shadow Minister is there not a potential conflict of interest? I think the simple answer to this question is YES.

The leading Tories who have taken money from various sources are as follows:

George Osborne
The shadow Chancellor was found to have broken the rules by failing to declare £500,000 which had been channelled through Tory HQ from donors to run his office.

Alan Duncan
The shadow Business Secretary received funds from Ian Taylor, the president and chief executive of Vitol oil company, who is a former colleague of Mr Duncan.

Grant Shapps
The housing spokesman took tens of thousands of pounds in cash from five companies linked to his portfolio.

Andrew Lansley
The shadow Health Secretary received funds from London Secure Services and Julian Schild, who owned a medical equipment company, Huntleigh Technology, the largest manufacturer of NHS beds, until last year.

Jeremy Hunt
The shadow Culture Secretary, whose brief includes tourism, received funds from the chairman of the Conservative Tourism Taskforce, John Lewis, also a former chairman of the British Tourism Authority.

Advertise on this site with MessageSpace

]]> 2008-05-16T03:13:07-05:00 [Blogs] Partnership in power - a response to the Education and Skills paper http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/15/19390/0611
CLPs have an opportunity now to press for a change of policy to include a commitment to end to selection on ability and aptitude. CLPs are encouraged to hold meetings to submit amendments to the draft final year Partnership in Power documents from now on. I would be grateful if LabourHome readers might consider suggesting amendments to the Education and Skills document at forthcoming branch or CLP meetings - I suggest some wording below. Details are on the members section of the Labour party website under 'resources'. Consultation ends on June 20th by which time CLP secretaries should submit amendments.

There is plenty of supporting material on the Comprehensive Future website www.comprehensivefuture.org.uk or you can send me an email - mike-ion@hotmail.co.uk

The suggested textual amendments to the Partnership in Power: Education and Skills are as follows:

Page 9
There are two alternative amendments we suggest - both for line 47 following 'Code' They are -

We now intend to go further and ensure no child has to face selective entry tests for secondary education (except banding) by ending selection on ability and aptitude.

Or
However many English children continue to face overt selective entry tests on ability and aptitude in order to transfer to secondary education. We intend to commission a wide ranging study on how this affects children, families, schools and educational attainment.

Note
Ending selection on ability and aptitude would support the following –

Social justice is about opening up the doors of opportunity – Gordon Brown’s letter

‘our commitment to give every child the chance to unlock their talent and narrow the gap in educational achievement between the most disadvantaged young people and their peers’. Page 2 line 19

Labour wants every child to make good progress at school and reach their full potential. That is why we will do more to tackle barriers to learning and focus on individual needs of every child. Page 7 line 42

Our firm belief is that every young person has a talent and everyone should have the opportunity to use that talent. Page 8 line 44

We must close the gap in attainment between disadvantaged young people and their peers and raise the aspirations of all young people. Page 9 line 5

But members agree that we need to raise the aspirations of young people, especially those from low aspirational families and communities. Page 9 line 39

]]> 2008-05-15T19:39:00-05:00 [Blogs] Gareth Butler, history and shaping the future http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/15/82120/3920
Jess has set up a blog to track the progress of the trust and is keen to hear from potential endorsers and donors. Please think about linking to Jess's blog or better still putting her in touch with some high profile endorsers or donors.

]]> 2008-05-15T08:21:20-05:00 [Blogs] If Labour hold Crewe, the economy holds up and Gordon 'softens up'... http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/12/144327/081 bloggers, party activists and members have short memories. Less than 12 months ago the Tories were disintegrating over academic selection and Labour was 14% ahead in the polls. The next election is not due for another 24 months, the economy is probably over the worst and Gordon Brown - though he admits that he has made mistakes - is not stupid. If Labour hold Crewe, the economy remains reasonably stable and if Gordon loses the PR men and allows himself to be, well Gordon, then things just might begin to change. Cameron is 'likeable' but not really liked or trusted (particularly by his own party) and he is happy to come across as a leader who is all style but no substance. Once the Tory lead in the polls starts to close in Labour's favour the press will turn on Cameron and the 'traditional' tendency in his own party will start to make rumblings about how he needs to move further to the right etc.

A week really is a long time in politics - two years is a lifetime.

http://mike-ion.blogspot.com/

]]> 2008-05-12T14:43:27-05:00 [Blogs] Crewe by-election and the 'Tory Toff' campaign http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/12/141912/902

Above is one of the leaflets being used by Labour in the Crewe by-election. Personally I think it is OK and let me tell you why...

David Cameron’s Tory party (and particularly his parliamentary party) is increasingly becoming populated by the ‘right kind of people’, his people – ex-public school and from a background of immense wealth and privilege. Under Cameron the Tories still believe that the role of government is to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of their friends and backers - i.e. those who embrace their political, their economic, and their social views.

Politics can be a bruising affair at times but the reality is that you cannot govern if you don't win.

]]> 2008-05-12T14:19:12-05:00 [Blogs] Tories 26% points ahead in latest poll http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/8/145654/8486 According to Mike Smithson over at PB.com You Gov are reporting a 26% lead for the Tories in their latest poll.

If true it will almost certainly result in further calls for Gordon Brown to change tack or indeed 'consider his position.'

More later...

]]> 2008-05-08T14:56:54-05:00 [Blogs] Abortion debate: keep party politics out of it http://www.labourhome.org/story/2008/5/7/104817/9897 When shadow Health Secretary, Dr Liam Fox appeared to suggest that the Tories should become the anti-abortion party. In 2001 Fox was quoted in the Conservative Christian Fellowship prayerbook as saying that the UK's 'pro-abortion laws' should be scrapped. In 2005 Michael Howard almost made abortion a general election issue when, towards to start of the campaign, he told Cosmopolitan magazine 'I believe abortion should be available to everyone, but the law should be changed. In the past I voted for a restriction to 22 weeks, and I would be prepared to go down to 20.'

It is because of examples like this that I am just a little sceptical about the new campaign launched yesterday by the Tory MP Nadine Dorries. A former nurse, Ms Dorries is leading a parliamentary campaign to reduce the upper limit for abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill is debated in the Commons later this month. The last time the law on abortion was amended was in 1990 – given the fact that both medicine and science have advanced significantly one cannot agree that a review of abortion legislation is long overdue.

At present, all legislation on abortion in Britain is considered as a matter of conscience and decided under a free vote. What worries me is that some MPs and campaigners may use the forthcoming debate as a means of polarising attitudes where the issue of abortion is seen only of terms of being a vote winner, or a vote loser. Yesterday’s Daily Mail led on the launch of Ms Dorries’ campaign and will no doubt be a strong advocate of the need for a change in the present law. Britain has a long and enviable record of allowing its elected representatives to make up their own minds in matters of conscience. The danger, as I see it, is that some of Ms Dorries’ colleagues may well be tempted to frame the debate about abortion in such a way that it heralds the first tentative steps to try and establish a political arm for the Christian right in Britain.

Ms Dorries has stated that the campaign is not a religious campaign (yet 6 out of the 10 organisations linked to it are backed by Christian evangelicals) nor, we are told, is it politically motivated. Let’s hope it stays that way.

]]> 2008-05-07T10:48:17-05:00 Search Labourhome string http://www.labourhome.org/search/