Peter Kenyon

Lessons for Labour from its Leader - 3

We (the members) are not helpless by-standers. Recent events have confirmed our new Leader needs a helping hand. His future, that of serving MPs, MSPs, AMs, councillors and members is in all our hands. That's democracy. While the Westminster village focusses on the headline grabbing stuff, what's happening in the undergrowth - in the Labour Party's depleted branch and constituency party structure?

My own branch agenda on Wednesday night in 90 minutes reviewed its local political narrative - London living wage, Lights Out, Wardmote timetable, mega-planning issues (one one million square foot development oversahdowing the Barbican), social housing provision in the polling district that voted Ken not Boris. Next were the lessons from the London elections - should we launch a membership drive? Then there was national party business - Rule changes (deadline 6 June), Partnership in Power review (deadline 20 June). Model rule changes from Save the Labour Party and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy were discussed. Debate alighted on a big hole in the Model Rule thinking. The link between members and the Leadership has been broken. Conference Arrangements Committee has stifled the members' voices. Our response - a provisional agenda to be issued by 30 June. A new Rule change has been duly drafted. The rest of the model resolutions were reordered and endorsed en bloc as necessary changes to restore that link obliging those entrusted with stewardship of the Party's affairs are accountable to the membership as a whole. Then we walked to a member's flat and had a jolly supper that raised £50 for local party funds and put the world to rights.

Most of the proposed Rule changes are rooted firmly in the recommendations of the LabOUR Commission, chaired by Angela Eagle MP, when she was vice-chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party. I could detail the torturous route these ideas have still to travel to see the light of day inside the Party bureaucracy. But thanks to this facility and the Internet, anyone who's interested can see what we are up to.

What are the broader lessons?

To action many of those recommendations does not require Rule Book changes in advance. Our Leader and the NEC have the power to effect change. They just need the political will. They need to feel the weight of Party opinion to rebuild. They need to acknowledge the central message of the LabOUR Commissions's work - giving members a say applies to how the Party is run, as well as the policies it seeks elected office, and the democractic legitimacy of the electorate to enact.

The Party needs to raise £40 million to pay of the Blair debts and fight the next General Election. That is in addition to annual running costs. It is a very big ask in present circumstances. It will take a very radical repositioning of the Party with its members to achieve. It is not impossible. First, the squabbling has to stop. Our Leader has to come out very clearly as a democractic socialist. He has to be ready to accept that the majority of remaining members, former members and supporters have no confidence in Labour Party HO as it is currently organised. It is at branch level that the treasury function is going to have to be restarted, quality assured and networked through regional and national structures to redistribute locally raised funds to less well-off branches and CLPs with target seats at whatever level of government.

In parallel, the Partnership in Power policy review has to be open and transparent. Gordon Brown and Dianne Hayter have failed to even acknowledge correspondence from Save the Labour Party.

UPDATE 1030 I have received a letter from Dianne Hayter, Labour Party NEC chair, which will be published on the STLP website shortly declining our offer of facilities to ensure an open and transparent process.

So we are just going ahead and posting a link on the Labour Party intranet to all the official documents set out in a format that any member can comment on, or post an amendment, and any other member with Internet access can see.

So to recap for starters:

1. organise at branch level - the point of contact with the Party for each member

2. back a Labour Party Rule Book change to force the NEC to be accountable to members

3. have your say in Labour Party policy-making and know that your contribution can be seen

Let's get on with it.

Brown must dump Collins for GS idea to rebuild authority

Gordon Brown's political authority is inextricably linked to the future of the Labour Party itself. The latest issue of Tribune reports that Britain's largest union Unite's leaders Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson have thrown their weight behind assistant-general secretary Ray Collins, who has also won the support of No. 10. Shame on both Woodley and Simpson, if this is true, for throwing their own reputations as advocates of equal opportunities recruitment processes out of the window as well as that of the union they have created. If Gordon Brown has any regard for his own reputation he will put a stop to this nonsense forthwith.

If by any chance there are some financial strings attached to the cosy deal, it will not belong before some newshound exposes them, and Brown's tattered reputation will be shot completely.

I set my views out about the process here. Whatever differences I have with Mike Griffiths, over the way as chair of the NEC last year he handled Brown's proposals on Extending and Renewing Party Democracy they pale into insignificance compared with the way that first David Pitt-Watson and now Mike himself have been treated by No 10 political staff and some NEC members. They were both deemed appointable in an equal ops recruitment process, Pitt-Watson withdrew. Mike should be offered the job, unless the NEC can come up with an water-tight legal case not to offer him the post. I hope Mike stands his ground, and Brown backs him. After all Brown sat through the whole interview panel in March, so he must know the process was beyond reproach.

Hurrah - that's 5x day returns to Crewe

No ifs, no buts. Alistair Darling has produced a master stroke at a time when everyone on low pay/pension could do with a little extra. I promised to head for Crewe if the compensation package was unequivocal. A quick check on Virgin trains website is offering £22.15 day returns from London for those of us on Senior railcards. As one of the unintended beneficiaries that is five trips to help with the campaign. Or if any comrade could offer lodgings....

Mission impossible? - Darling statement on 10p today

Alistair Darling is to make a statement in the House of Commons on compensation for the 10p tax losers. For a man known better from his managerial talent than his charisma, this is his moment to prove his detractors mistaken. I hope he can rise to the occasion - confirm that Labour is willing to risk over-compensating the low-paid whether in work or retirement to put this matter to rest. No ifs, no buts. Got to be done.

If done unequivocally, I will be heading for Crewe too.

Labour hits 5.3 million, and Balls attacks Field - nice one

Labour leadership pretender, Ed Balls hit out yesterday at fellow Labour MP Frank Field. Whatever his faults Field (whom I have never met, or spoken to) has led the case for compensation for the estimated 5.3 working people and retirees who have been paying more tax since 5 April 2008 following the proposed abolition of the 10p income tax band.

Having read the transcripts of the Prime Minister's recent remarks on this subject, I'm with Frank. What Balls can not obscure is the evidence that Brown still does not understand the nature of the problem, or the enormity of his mistake. I don't believe that this has been lost on either Frank Field, myself or a significant number of backbench Labour MPs.

Buried in the coverage in today's papers are reports that Chancellor of the Exchequer (CHX) Alistair Darling is going to announce details of the compensation package shortly, the BBC's Political Editor Nick Robinson is suggesting as early as today. That will determine the political weather, not Balls' misplaced loyalty. He would be better employed bringing Brown up to speed on this to restore his tattered credibility - vital if Labour is to win the next British General Election. If Balls doesn't know what I'm talking about, he knows me and where to find me. I will enlighten him. (I was going to say 'happily', but that would be trite - what's unfolded is tragic.)

PM's credibility - will a social care consultation help?

Is Prime Minister Gordon Brown's credibility going to be enhanced by launching another consultation when Labour's own policy consultation implies Labour in Government is already on the job? Take concern about social care provisions leading the headlines this morning. I have just been proof-reading a CommentonThis version of the Labour Party's Partnership in Power Final consultation round Health document.

Page 17, lines 31 to 42 read:

Unlike the care provided by the NHS which is free at the point of delivery to everyone, the cost of social care has always been shared between the individual and local authorities, based on assessments of the person’s need for care and the person’s financial resources. There is a wide consensus that a means-tested element to social care will continue to be needed. But the eligibility criteria used by social services, which were introduced in order to ensure that resources were targeted towards the people who need them most, have too often been used to deny people help. As well as reviewing the way social care is funded, we are reviewing the eligibility criteria to look at ways of making them fairer. We will also ensure that local authorities provide universal information, advice and advocacy services about social care, so that even where people have the financial resources to pay for their own care, they are not left to arrange that care alone.

Why didn't he just remind everyone of how mindful Labour is already about this issue and what it is doing?

Instead the BBC reported this morning:

His speech kicks off a six-month public consultation focused on making care services fairer and affordable.

Aagh! Is the government consulting on something different? How does this related to the Labour Party Policy Review and claims of what Labour in Government is already doing? As for the statement in the Labour Party document statement Page 17, line 34 about:

....a wide consensus that a means-tested element to social care will continue to be needed.

I wonder if that will stand up to detailed scrutiny by Labour's depleted membership, let alone the media and ultimately, the electorate? There might have been were it not for differences between social care provisions in Scotland. Oughtn't we to be talking about testing whether there should be a national (read Union, not England) consensus about what we could and should afford for social care provision? Perhaps someone following this more closely could explain.

Opening up Labour Party policy making - update

STLP's volunteer team is working over the weekend with the CommentonThis team to convert all the documents into a format where all comments, amendments and rewrites made by Labour Party members can be seen by any other member with access to the Labour Party intranet, Membersnet. STLP will be inviting all Labour Party linked bodies to post their recommendations here as well, creating a central depository for this third and final year of Partnership in Power policy consultations before the next British General Election.

This week's Tribune carries a letter about the process. The latest edition of Chartist has a feature article.

Brown premiership bombshell - fuse ignited

You may have already heard this week's BBC Radio 4 Any Questions programme broadcast last night with Frank Field MP on the panel. I am just catching up. A chill went down my spine in his analysis of the predicament facing Labour MPs. In a nutshell, he is forecasting that unless the Prime Minister comes forward with a simple straightforward compensation package for the 10p tax band abolition, the 2008 Finance Bill provisions to abolish the 10p tax band will be defeated in the House of Commons. Listen for yourself here's the link to Any Questions page for the listen again facility. It starts about 10 minutes into the programme. Is he right?

Labour First's last stand to control the Party?

The best explanation for the bizarre story that circulated earlier this week about the appointment of the next Labour Party General Secretary that I have heard is this.

At the heart of the intrigue is said to be Labour First (LF). LF is a non-membership brother/sisterhood of right-wing Labour Party members that is alleged to control the Party machine. BTW you won't find any reference to them here. Among those at the centre of the LF web is alleged to be Fiona Gordon, Political Secretary to the Prime Minister. She was the person, of whom it is said according to my sources raised her voice to David Pitt-Watson, who has now declined the post of General-Secretary, not Gordon Brown. She is the person, of whom it is said is actively promoting the candidacy of Ray Collins with support from the Amicus section of Unite (or at least its political director and former spin-doctor to Gordon Brown, Charlie Whelan) against the obvious candidate from the GPMU section of Unite, Mike Griffiths. Griffiths was interviewed for the job only six weeks ago. If Griffiths was deemed to be appointable then, and went through a legitimate interview process missing appointment by one or two votes, why hasn't the full NEC considered the option of offering him the job? Or has the Labour leadership lost its senses completely and ditched any pretence of following sound equal opportunities recruitment practices?

My hope is that the NEC will reconsider the position adopted by its officers as a matter of urgency.

First, they need to get a clear understanding of why the last recruitment failed. Unfortunately, to avoid scrutiny of their actions, NEC officers who met on Tuesday allowed the chair, Dianne Hayter, to cancel the next NEC scheduled for 22 May.

Now, it just so happens that the whole Labour Party NEC (remarkably in the circumstances) has been invited to Brussels next week by the Labour Group of MEPs in the European Parliament. If there were a quorum present, I would be demanding an Emergency Meeting in the hub of the European demos to overturn the NEC chair's ruling and reinstate the 22 May meeting. They have a lot more to discuss than just the appointment of a GS. Current declining membership trends, the Statement of Accounts for the Electoral Commission, rescheduling of loans, latest donations returns, and the outcome of the May elections to mention a mere handful. Oh, of course there's that by-election in Crewe on....oh, when is it? Oh, yes 22 May, what a coincidence. If any member of the NEC seriously believes that by cancelling their meeting that day it will have any bearing on outcome, then s/he has really lost touch with reality. (In any case, who's idea was it to move the by-election writ so quickly following the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody MP?  Of course, Fiona, couldn't possibly have had anything to do with it, could she?)

Perhaps the HR experts among readers of this blog would like to comment. Politically, I don't think we have a leg to stand on.

Anyone interested in knowing a little more about Fiona can find references here and here, with added material in the comments to both blogs.

National Express cycle challenge

Planning a holiday by train and bike? Beware. I have just been told by National Express East Coast that it will be unable to carry our bikes on a bus replacement service on the weekend of 28-29 June between Newark and Peterborough.

NXEC website boasts:

National Express East Coast welcomes cycles on its services and conveys them free of charge, provided it is safe to do. Standard Bicycles Space is limited and there is a maximum number of bikes we can carry on each service. Cycle reservations are compulsory on all of our trains: they are free of charge and should be made 24 hours before travel. Folding bicycles are welcome on all National Express East Coast services and should be stowed in the luggage racks at the end of each coach. They must be folded before boarding and must not be reassembled until you have left the train. For more information and to make cycle reservations please contact us.

Yeah, yeah. So here's the challenge:

National Express better known as a bus company, than a train operating company:

1) purchase cycle/baggage trailer (hint go here or here to satisfy yourselves they are available)

2) fit tow bars to small fleet of rail replacement buses

3) inaugurate by 28 June 2008

4) redeploy fleet on popular routes likely to be patronised by cyclists (bus 'n bike, for example, London to the New Forest for a fraction of the price of South West Trains)

5) Don't even think of offering excuses - if these people can do it - so can you.

Looking forward to an invitation to cut the ribbon, with Holly Bruce from Customer Relations who thinks its a good idea and has promised to escalate inside NX. if you are a cyclist and support the challenge, let NX know at c.relations@nationalexpress.com