The truth about the Labour Party

Labour cowards

2009-10-23T09:40:00.003Z

One of the most disgusting aspects of the present government's fondness for sending young men to die in pestilent hell-holes, is the fact that none of them ever served themselves. Of course, until recently, communists and homosexuals were banned from the British military, so that probably ruled out most of the Labour party anyway.

Now we learn that the father of Jack Straw, one of the inner circle that is constantly moved from one ministerial chair to another, was not much of a fighting man himself. Straw senior was imprisoned for his refusal to fight during WW2.

Straw jr followed in the old chap's quaking footsteps, and refused to join the CCF at school, on "contiencious grounds".

Priceless......!

2009-10-14T08:07:00.002Z

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett has pledged to donate his brain to dementia research, the BBC has reported today.

I don't think any further comment is needed.

Baroness Scotland: employing coolie labour

2009-09-26T21:00:00.006Z

The farcical situation surrounding the delightfully named Baroness Scotland, gets worse. It appears now that she may have actually known that her domestic staff member was an illegal.

The housekeeper has been arrested, and not being a New Labour Apparatchik, or a chum of the elite, she is quite likely to be done over and exported before she can do too much damage.

Apparently Baroness Scotland has been fined £5k, and so there will quite likely be no reason to involve her in this any further.

The lady who was employed illegally, and who did all the worrk, however, will quite likely be shafted by the system big time.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215813/BREAKING-NEWS-Baroness-Scotlands-housekeeper-arrested.html

Lady Scotland risks migrant fine

2009-09-22T07:40:00.003Z

The attorney general is in "technical breach" of rules on employing migrant workers, the BBC understands.

Baroness Scotland is expected to be fined for employing a housekeeper from Tonga who did not have the right to work in the UK.

But she has not been asked to resign, according to government sources.

The minister says she thought she was working legally and acted in good faith but both the Tories and Lib Dems have raised questions about her position.

Visa expired

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said Lady Scotland wishes to apologise for "any inadvertent mistake".

He said she had contacted the authorities herself to ask them to conduct a "thorough" investigation in order to assure the country and herself she had taken "the necessary steps" when hiring Loloahi Tapui.

Laws state that employers must check to verify their staff's right to work in the UK.

Those who knowingly take on illegal workers face a two-year prison sentence and unlimited fine, while those who do it unknowingly face a fine of up to £10,000.

Somebody who made partial checks but was still in breach could face a fine of up to £2,500.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said Ms Tapui had overstayed on her visa for five years and the key question was whether Lady Scotland had carried out enough checks.

It is understood she saw some of Ms Tapui's documents, including National Insurance numbers but it is not known if she saw a passport or a visa.

Chris Huhne, home affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Given the fact that Baroness Scotland is the chief law officer of the government, that law makers really cannot be law breakers, I think this is such an embarrassing case I think she does have to consider her position."

Eric Pickles, the Conservative Party chairman, said she was in a "difficult position" because she had piloted the law in question through Parliament.

"I think her position, I think she's not likely to survive for much longer."

From the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk

Patricia Hewitt: a family tragedy

2009-09-21T17:21:00.002Z

It is a sad story indeed Patricia Hewitt's son has been accused of posession of drugs.

This would not be something we would mention, but we know that as this is New Labour, they would be screaming from the rooftops if it were a Tory MP whose child had committed a crime.

So we decided to mention it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8266295.stm

2009-09-21T17:10:00.003Z

John Prescott, who we all assumed was dead, has spoken.... He is, of course, the last person who should be calling anybody a "giant", but here is a link to an article in which he does this, albeit about Gordon Brown, the well known political minnow, and earstwhile leader of the party that once gave a damn about the working class.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8267420.stm

Illegal Police Officers - What next?

2007-11-14T13:17:00.000Z

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is unable to deny that at least 5,000 illegal immigrants have been cleared to work in some of the government's most sensitive departments. 12 of these people have worked for the Metropolitan Police.

We should not be surprised by the Labour government's incompetence, nor should we be surprised by Smith's attempted cover-up.

What should surprise, and worry us, is that the British people continue to put up with this.

Jacqui Smith seen here buying marijuana from Sgt Abdul Mullah, formerly head of security for Al Queeda.

Smith is a self-confessed former drug user, which might help explain why she is so useless.

LABOUR PEER ARRESTED!

2007-01-31T06:39:00.000Z

Downing Street is remaining silent about allegations of a possible cover-up following the arrest of the party's chief fundraiser Lord Levy.

He was freed on bail after being held on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Lord Levy was first arrested last year and Tony Blair has also been quizzed during the cash-for-honours inquiry.

The peer, who is a close ally of the prime minister, said he completely denied any allegations of wrongdoing.

Last week Downing Street denied allegations it had a hidden e-mail system from which messages were deleted after the cash-for-honours inquiry began.

But the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson said the police clearly believed they were not being given all the information they needed - even after searching government computers.
This could explain Lord Levy's latest arrest, he said. Liberal Democrat chief of staff Edward Davey said the "sorry affair" had the "whiff of Watergate about it". Conservative MP Nigel Evans said the arrest was a "seismic" development, adding: "It is important, we have to realise that the allegations are very serious indeed."

The Scotland Yard team, led by Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Yates, had been due to deliver its file of evidence to prosecutors by the end of this month, but they warned that would no longer be possible after the arrest of the Ruth Turner, a senior adviser to the prime minister, earlier this month.
Several other members of Tony Blair's inner circle have been questioned by police.
The inquiry began after it emerged that a number of large secret loans had been made to the Labour Party before the 2005 general election, and that some of those lenders had subsequently been nominated for peerages.

POLICE INVESTIGATION INTO LABOUR SLEAZE CONTINUES

2006-12-31T13:01:00.000Z

Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has been questioned by police over the cash-for-honours inquiry.

Ms Hewitt said in a statement that she had been interviewed in November. Her meeting with detectives lasted less than an hour.

Police are investigating whether party donors received honours in return for cash. All involved deny wrongdoing.
Ms Hewitt confirmed that she was among five ministers who had been asked for an interview.
Former Cabinet colleague Alan Milburn has already been questioned as a witness.

Downing Street declined to comment on Ms Hewitt's questioning.

ANOTHER FREEBIE FOR THE BLAIRS AT TAXPAYERS EXPENSE

2006-12-30T15:18:00.000Z

Tony Blair, it seems, cannot do anything without provoking a controversy — not even take a family holiday.

Blair, who is spending the New Year's eve with his family in pop star Robin Gibb's luxurious villa in Miami, faces the prospect of a parliamentary inquiry when he returns home amid a controversy whether he paid for the privilege of staying in a property that reportedly costs between £25,000-£50,000 a week to rent.

If he has not, he could be in breach of rules that forbid MPs from accepting free hospitality.
Two Opposition MPs — Norman Baker (Liberal Democrat) and Philip Davies (Conservative) — planned to ask Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Philip Mawer to inquire whether Mr. Blair had broken any rules.

The controversy erupted after Mr. Gibb's wife Dwina Murphy-Gibb was reported as saying the couple had not taken any money from the Blairs for staying in their 10-room waterfront mansion. "It's just a friendly thing,'' she told a newspaper.

Downing Street however insisted that the Prime Minister was paying for it. It was a "private commercial arrangement'' agreed through Mr. Gibb's manager John Campbell.
In the past also there have been controversies over Mr. Blair's holiday arrangements with his rich friends. "We need to put an end to this gravy train. It is shameless and entirely inappropriate for Prime Minister to cadge free or cut-price holidays in this way,'' Mr. Baker said.
Mr. Davies accused Mr. Blair of "systematically bringing the office of Prime Minister into disrepute.''

Although the Blairs are reported to have paid for their own flights, their staff (10 people) will be paid for by the British taxpayer. Much of the cost of providing security during the holiday will be met by the US taxpayer.

BLAIR QUESTIONED BY POLICE

2006-12-23T19:04:00.000Z

Tony Blair has made history as the first British Prime Minister to be questioned by police over the 'Cash for honours' corruption scandal.

The Daily Telegraph (22 Dec 2006) reports:

Detectives questioned Tony Blair at length in No 10 last week over a diary entry by one of the businessmen at the centre of the cash for honours investigation.

The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the diary note was made by Sir Christopher Evans, the biotechnology entrepreneur, who is the only one of the 12 businessmen who secretly lent the Labour Party £14 million to have been arrested in the nine-month inquiry.

The diary, in the form of extensive hand-written note, refers to Sir Christopher's contacts with a number of Labour luminaries, and mentions Lord Levy, the Prime Minister's personal fund-raiser, at least once. The notes chronicle all his contacts and discussions over his financial support for Labour.

The diary entry, which formed a key part of the police questioning of Mr Blair, is becoming critical to the investigation. One authoritative source said: "Evans's diary was the key piece of information they wanted to talk to the Prime Minister about."
There is a question mark over the admissibility of diary entries in any court case which is why the police are planning to re-interview a number of the main players at No 10, such as Lord Levy.

Mr Blair was also quizzed at length about the four businessmen he nominated for peerages who had made loans totalling £5 million to Labour. All four nominations were blocked by the House of Lords Appointments Commission, triggered the investigation.
A spokesman for Sir Christopher, who made a confidential £1 million loan to the party, said: "There is no record in the notes of any offer of any honour in return for financial support. It simply did not happen. No such offer was ever made to Sir Christopher Evans by anyone connected to the Labour Party."

Lord Levy, who was also arrested when he was first seen by the police, will be questioned again by detectives for the third time in the New Year. The peer, who is the Prime Minister's Middle East envoy and was with him in Israel this week, has confirmed that he was aware of the honours list but denied proposing any names or offering any peerages or knighthoods. Among the people who will be questioned again by the police are Ruth Turner, Downing Street's director of government relations, and John McTernan, the director of political relations, who helped to draw up potential lists of working peers.
In 2005 both visited Ian McCartney, the then party chairman, in hospital to ask him to sign nomination forms for four financial backers who had been put forward by Mr Blair for peerages which were subsequently blocked.

The revelation that the police repeatedly questioned Mr Blair about the diary came amid reports that the police investigation has caused serious strains within the Prime Minister's inner circle. There is talk at Westminster of growing tension between Jonathan Powell, who is Mr Blair's chief of staff and longest serving adviser, and Lord Levy. It follows a spate of reports at the weekend that the inquiry was now focusing on any role that Mr Powell might have had in the awarding of peerages.

Mr Powell, who remains close to the Prime Minister, regards any suggestion that he is deeply embroiled in the loans affair as a smear.

LABOUR MP RESIGNS IN PROTEST AT BLAIR'S "DECEPTION".

2006-10-21T10:36:00.000Z

Labour MP Clare Short has resigned as a Labour MP, and will sit in Parliament as an independent.

She has accused Tony Blair of "arrogance" and "deception".

She previously stepped down from her ministerial post in protest at Blair's behaviour over the Iraq war.

Her departure is seen as a further blow to Blair's authority, and is likely to increase pressure on him to resign.

LABOUR INSULTS MEMORY OF BRITISH SOLDIERS

2006-09-16T07:47:00.000Z

Gordon Gentle was a 19 year old soldier from Pollok, Glasgow, who died in Iraq on 28 June 2004, after only 6 months training. He was serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Highland Fusiliers.

His mother, Rose, has campaigned since his death to highlight a number of issues: The families of many British servicemen are angry about the lack of, and inadequacy of, equipment issued to our troops. They also raise concerns about the legitimacy of the war in Iraq.

Rose Gentle wanted to protest outside this year's Labour party conference. She has banned.

This is not only an affront to Mrs Gentle's fundamental rights to free speech, it is an insult to the memory of a fine young man who fought and died for his country.

As a campaigner for free speech Mrs Gentle deserves our respect. As the mother of a hero she deserves to be honoured, not treated in such a disgraceful way.

EVIDENCE OF A PLOT

2006-09-10T21:21:00.000Z

Well, here we have the text of Tom Watson's resignation letter. It is strange to say the least!

Tony you are great, everything is great, but for reasons I cannot say, I am resigning because I want you to go.

This letter makes no sense at all unless viewed in the context of a carefully formulated plan to oust Blair. One does not give up a ministerial post for such a flimsy reason.

When Blair goes, and Brown replaces him, watch out for Watson's promotion.

"Dear Tony,
The Labour Party has been my life since I was 15 years old.
I have served the Party at every conceivable level and your own leadership since 1994 in a dozen different capacities, latterly as MP for West Bromwich East, a Government Whip, and as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence.
My loyalty to you personally, as well as to the Party and the values we stand for, has been absolute and unswerving.
The struggle to fashion the kind of credible, convincing, effective Labour Party you now lead has been the preoccupation of my adult years.
My pride in what our government has achieved under your leadership is beyond expression.
We have revolutionised the lives and expectations of millions of our citizens, combining social justice with prosperity in a way which is unprecedented in the history of our country.
Your leadership has been visionary and remarkable.
The party and the nation owes you an incalculable debt.
So it is with the greatest sadness that I have to say that I no longer believe that your remaining in office is in the interest of either the party or the country.
How and why this situation has arisen no longer matters.
I share the view of the overwhelming majority of the party and the country that the only way the Party and the Government can renew itself in office is urgently to renew its leadership.
For the sake of the legacy you have long said is the only one that matters - a renewed Labour party re-elected at the next general election - I urge you to reconsider your determination to remain in office.
As you know, I had a conversation with the Chief Whip last night, in which she asked me to withdraw my support from the 2001 intake's letter calling on you to stand down, or my position would be untenable as a government minister.
I have reflected on this overnight.
I cannot withdraw my name, and therefore I accept her judgement.
I do not believe that statements so far give us the clarity necessary to progress over the next year.
Nor do I believe that newspaper reports of potential dates which may have appeared since I signed the 2001 intake's letter can provide the clarity the party and the country so desperately need.
It is with the greatest regret, therefore, that I must leave the Government.
Yours ever,
Tom Watson MPWest Bromwich East "

Tom Watson, seen here before he fully evolved.

The above letter suggests that he has also developed the ability to hold a pen, and that he has aquired a basic knowledge of the alphabet.

Well done, Tom, lets hope Brown muffs it, and you stay on the back benches forever!

BROWN BETRAYS HIS OWN LEADER

2006-09-10T21:06:00.000Z

There are suggestions that Chancellor Gordon Brown, the aspiring leader of the Labour Party, was behind the recent resignations aimed at discrediting the Blair leadership. (Brown has himself been unpopular with the New Labour membership since he was caught squeezing a zit live on national television.)

According to the Sunday Times (Sept 10) junior minister Tom Watson visited Brown at his home the day before he resigned.

Blair talked of dismissing Watson for disloyalty, perhaps he might be better advised to turn his guns on Brown. But then, Blair is believed to have reneged on a deal to hand over the leadership to Brown some time ago, so maybe he is getting his just desserts!

BLAIR REGIME ON VERGE OF FALLING: COUNTRY GIVES THANKS TO GOD!

2006-09-06T18:46:00.000Z

Tony Blair's leadership crisis has taken a dramatic turn for the worse this afternoon, with one junior minister and six parliamentary private secretaries resigning - bringing the total to seven resignations in a single day.

The junior members have quit over his refusal to name a date for resignation as Labour leader. Opponents within his party say claims the PM will go by May are 'not good enough'.
Mr Blair remained defiant today, branding ex-junior minister Tom Watson 'disloyal, discourteous and wrong' for signing a letter urging him to go.
Just minutes after Mr Watson announced his decision to quit, Mr Blair said he was going to sack him anyway.

According to the BBC, Mr Watson and the six parliamentary secretaries were among 17 normally loyal Labour MPs who signed a letter calling on Mr Blair to quit.
The six parliamentary secretaries were: Khalid Mahmood, Wayne David, Ian Lucas, Mark Tami, Chris Mole, David Wright.

They resigned saying it was no longer in the country's best interests for Mr Blair to remain in office. Mr Watson has already been replaced by junior transport minister Derek Twigg.

The whole country waits with baited breath as Blair, who surrendered to the IRA, handed over British sovereignty to the EU, and who served as an adviser to the Soviet front group CND prepares to leave power a broken and disgraced man.

In the words of the great Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell: "You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go."

MINISTERS RESIGN IN PROTEST AT BLAIR'S RELECTANCE TO QUIT

2006-09-06T18:37:00.000Z

Blair hit by wave of resignations

Mr Blair is being urged to make a public announcement concerning his impending resignation.

Tony Blair has now faced a wave of resignations by junior members of his government over his refusal to name a date for resignation as Labour leader.
He branded ex-junior minister Tom Watson, the most senior person to quit, "disloyal, discourteous and wrong" for signing a letter urging him to go.

The resignations came as Mr Blair faces growing pressure to name a departure date or even quit now.

Gordon Brown's backers say assurances he will resign in May are "not enough".

PRESCOTT'S ATTACK ON LOCAL DEMOCRACY

2006-09-05T19:34:00.000Z

From: www.ukip.org

Democracy? Don't be daft

The Standards Board of England and Wales has come under fire from the UK Independence Party following revelations that car owning local councillors are to be banned from discussing 'park and ride' schemes.

"What has this Government got against democracy?" asked Gerard Batten MEP. "All they seem to care about is forcing their agenda through, without any thought for the wishes of local people".

The Standards Board, a creation of the disgraced John Prescott, seems to have been designed specifically to neuter local government, by barring anybody with any independent thought or position from having a say in local governance, all to the betterment of appointed bureaucrats. Worse still, it seems to target independent councillors who have no major party backing.
Mr Batten continued: "The abolition of this centralising, anti-democratic quango is at the top of the UK Independence Party's local government agenda. We believe that people should be represented by those they vote for, pure and simple. It is what local democracy is about. Until we trust the people to decide for themselves, we will never create the forward looking, responsive local government we all so passionately believe in. It is just a shame that the main parties seem to hold the views of ordinary people in contempt".

IS GORDON BROWN HOMOPHOBIC?

2006-09-03T15:54:00.000Z

This must rate as one of the more bizarre attacks on New Labour, but it is worth reproducing if only for its amusement value.

The ranks of New Labour's champagne socialists are full of gays, so for Gordon Brown to be suspected of harbouring homophobic tendencies is somewhat ironic to say the least. Judge for yourselves....

27-July-2006 Benjamin Cohen
PinkNews.co.uk Investigation

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has consistently failed to support gay rights in Parliament since the Labour party was elected in 1997.

Mr Brown is well known to be preparing himself to challenge for the leadership of the Labour party following the impending resignation of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Research by PinkNews.co.uk has shown that he has never attended Parliament when gay rights have been voted on whilst Labour has been in power. Mr Brown has on 14 separate occasions failed to attend the House of Commons when issues relating to gay equality were voted on.

MRS BLAIR'S SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM

2006-09-03T13:04:00.000Z

Cherie Blair, the ghastly wife of the UK Prime Minister and uber Human Rights lawyer has spoken out against the British Government for "undermining our civil rights" as it contemplates responding to the Jihad now happening on London's streets.

Mrs Blair, true to form, believes we would "cheapen" our nation were we to introduce legislation aimed at preventing fun-loving Islamists detonating themselves all over the Underground, plotting to down airliners, or recruiting young muslim men to go and fight British and American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Cherie's main concern is to protect our human rights. Perhaps that's why not so long ago she spoke of her sympathetic "understanding" of those Palestinian Jihadists that slaughter innocent people in Israel?

'DELUDED' BLAIR ON VERGE OF RESIGNING

2006-09-03T12:54:00.000Z

'Deluded': Extraordinary attack on Blair by Cabinet

'Self-indulgent' PM urged to 'end the pantomime' as senior ministers meet to hasten his departure
By Francis Elliott, Whitehall Editor
Published: 03 September 2006 (The Independent)

Tony Blair will be served notice to quit Downing Street at a meeting of the Cabinet next week when senior ministers plan to confront him over his refusal to commit to a departure timetable.

One described Mr Blair this weekend as "deluded", while another said he was being "self-indulgent". They are among a growing number of cabinet ministers, some formerly loyal to Mr Blair, who have concluded he must leave office sooner rather than later if Labour is to have a chance of winning a fourth term.

"This pantomime has to end or we are going to lose the next election," said one last night.

Senior ministers were speaking last night of "near-panic" among MPs in marginal seats as Labour's poll ratings plunge because of the in-fighting.

BLAIR HANGS ON....... BUT ONLY JUST!

2006-09-03T12:44:00.000Z

Blair's innings may soon come to an end.

The clamour for Tony Blair to go is increasing but still he clings on. David Cracknell and Isabel Oakeshott report (Times, 03 Sept 2006)

Chequers, the country estate reserved for prime ministers past and present, has been a retreat for many an embattled leader.
Tony Blair loves the place and went there when he returned, tanned and refreshed, from his holiday in Barbados. All last week he held court in the Buckinghamshire mansion — a social exclusion summit on Wednesday and “private” chats with Labour backbenchers on Thursday.

He was on good form, limbering up for the last great battle of his political life. Commentators were predicting that he would announce his long-awaited resignation timetable “well in advance” of the Labour conference in Manchester later this month. Left-wing MPs were demanding that he name the day. But the prime minister was not about to cave in.
On Thursday, having confidently hosted yet another drinks party for friendly MPs and aides, Blair told The Times that Labour had to “stop obsessing” about the leadership. He had said that he would not go “on and on” and promised to give “ample time” to his successor to prepare for the next election. So what was the problem? Blair gave his interview holding a mug emblazoned with his birth name Anthony and the legend “You’re a man who’s in charge . . .” Political observers promptly assumed that it was his wife Cherie’s idea.
One Downing Street insider explicitly likened his show of defiance to the refusal of David Cameron, the Tory leader, a year ago to answer questions about drugs use.
“Blair sees it like that; Cameron could have crumbled but he took the questions and the speculation on the chin and was all the stronger for that,” said the insider.
There is an element of ritual about this macho posturing, which has been part of the pre-conference pantomime since the gilt went off new Labour. However, as Downing Street has widely but unattributably briefed that Blair will go after his 10th anniversary as prime minister next May, the play-acting is over and the knives are poised for real blood.
Blair’s aides have a straightforward excuse for not naming the day: “If Tony gives a date, then he feels it will be like one of those old- fashioned union negotiations — you offer a 5% pay deal and then everyone asks for more. People will just say: why not go now?” There is more to it than this, however. As ever with Labour, the war is ideological. Blair’s friends say he is fighting to set the agenda for what happens to Labour once he has gone. He fears that under Gordon Brown, his putative successor, the Blairite drive for an “enabling state” — one that hands the public more power over government-funded services — will be abandoned and Labour will revert to the bad habits of the “controlling” state.

What are his chances of success and what will the effects be on Labour? Could Blair really lose the party the next election by refusing to go quietly, as his enemies claim?
LAST Thursday afternoon three senior Blairite ministers — Tessa Jowell, Lord Falconer and Hilary Armstrong — were spotted slipping discreetly into the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. MPs were soon wondering what could possibly bring together the social exclusion minister and the secretaries for culture and constitutional affairs — who just happen to be Blair’s most loyal ministers — on the last afternoon of August other than a council of war.
By Friday morning, however, all discretion was forgotten when the prime minister’s friends and enemies declared open war in the wake of his show of defiance.
While Brown stayed silent — knowing that the assassin never wins the crown — his friends plunged in. Among the first was Andrew Smith, the hardcore Brownite former pensions minister who put a picture of the chancellor, rather than Blair, on his general election leaflets. He said unequivocally: “The debilitating uncertainty over the leadership can’t go on. It’s bad for the country, bad for the government, bad for the Labour party and ultimately bad for Tony Blair himself.”

Tony Woodley, head of the Transport and General Workers’ Union, pulled no punches either, saying: “We’ve got confusion, we’ve got disillusionment and we’ve got dissatisfaction within the Labour party and within the country. And that’s the sort of thing we’ve got to remove now.”
Welsh MPs joined in, claiming that Blair could lose the party next May’s elections to the Welsh assembly unless he laid down a departure timetable. Welsh Labour was never exactly a hotbed of Blairism; but ominously for the prime minister, normally loyal Labour MPs were also concerned by his defiance.

Ashok Kumar, MP for Middlesbrough South, said: “I am a huge supporter of the government and never voted against it. I am new Labour all the way. In fact, I’ve never even abstained in a vote. But I am deeply disappointed by what Tony said. His attitude seems to be, ‘Leave it to me boys and it will all be all right’.
“But I have been door-knocking in my constituency over the summer, and I would hate to repeat some of the profanities I have been hearing about him.
“I don’t see why he can’t set out a timetable for leaving office and, as a friend, I appeal to him to reconsider. He’s got to think of those of us who are going to fight the next election.”

Derek Wyatt, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, is one of the 100 or so Labour backbenchers in marginal wards, fighting majorities of 1,000 votes or less, who are seriously worried. “I’ll win the next election on a wing and a prayer. Politics for my constituents are personal and they are all telling me to lose Blair,” he said.
Des Turner, MP for Brighton Kemptown, said: “Gordon Brown is the natural successor and, given enough time, I think he could save my seat . . . There is an overall loss of credibility with Tony Blair.”

Charlotte Atkins, MP for Staffordshire Moorlands, agreed: “Labour voters want change in leadership. In marginal seats Gordon will make a huge difference.”
THE implications go beyond personal survival. With a working majority of 69, Labour has to forfeit only 35 seats to lose control of the Commons. There could be a hung parliament under Brown or Cameron — with the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power.
Blairite ultras refuse to see Brown as the solution, however. Alan Milburn, the former health secretary, writes in The Sunday Times today: “Electing a new leader is not a political panacea. Replacing Tony Blair will not in itself renew Labour. Renewal means more than changing the guard. It means updating policy and purpose so that it is in tune with the modern world.”
In other words: elect anyone but Brown. From the ultra point of view, any of the potential contenders — John Reid, Alan Johnson, David Miliband or even Hilary Benn — would be preferable.

Even the Blair camp has its tensions and jealousies, however. Blair aides profess annoyance with Milburn and Stephen Byers, the former trade secretary, who have been fighting a guerrilla war against Brown for weeks. (The Brownites call them the “Hezblairites”.) “Tony is actually irritated by these interventions by the likes of Byers and Milburn,” claimed an insider. “He knows that it only feeds Gordon’s anger and those of his allies.”
Blair’s innermost circle — including Alastair Campbell, his former spokesman, and Philip Gould, his pollster — were involved in transition talks with Brown which broke down. Their view is that the ultra outriders have audiences with Blair barely once every couple of months and that their interventions are pointless. It is also the case, however, that Milburn and Byers have a role in articulating policies that Blair would like to leave in place as his legacy when he does resign.
The argument with Brown about Blair’s passions — the size and nature of the state, the purpose of government spending and public services, the importance of the middle-class electorate — have never been resolved. The prime minister does not want to go until this is settled in his favour, insiders say, and he regrets his decision to declare his hand in advance by telling the electorate that he will give up at some point in this parliament.

In his view, his ideas should define policy for the rest of this parliament and beyond. Brown profoundly disagrees. While he has no substantial argument with the prime minister over economic policy, security or defence, he wants sole “ownership” of Labour’s renewal. This does not imply that his policies would come out of the old Labour handbook, simply that they would be his.
Brown has sent out his main outrider Ed Balls, the junior Treasury minister, to fire the opening shots of a campaign to see off Blair’s cheerleaders. In a barely disguised attack on the likes of Byers, who recently called for the abolition of inheritance tax, the minister warned that Labour “mavericks” should not seek to divide the party.
The chancellor himself intends to issue a pre- conference statement of authority, claiming his right to lead the party for the future — and hoping to leave the ultra Blairites and any other challengers smashed in his wake. He will also need to rein in Blair’s critics if he is to avoid an uncontrollable leadership crisis that could cast the succession into uncertainty.
Reports yesterday that Blair may announce his departure date next April — in advance of the Welsh, Scottish and local English elections — were perhaps evidence of an emerging deal with the chancellor that would get the succession back on track.

The imminence of the new era is also evident in the Conservative camp, which is moving into a “second phase” in Cameron’s strategy to win power, according to a Tory insider.
“The gimmick phase is coming to an end. We will be rolling out policy so we are seen as a real alternative,” said a Tory source. “Cameron is not so much a continuation of Blair but a break with Tory tradition — a modern politician at ease with the modern world. The comparison that can be made with Blair is about style, not politics. Politics and delivery with Cameron will be very different.”

LITTLE SOLACE FOR BLAIR IN LATEST POLLS
Tony Blair’s defiance of his critics comes despite his worst opinion poll findings in his 12 years as Labour leader, writes David Smith.
Both party and prime minister are in the doldrums, according to recent polls, with Labour for the first time in a position where it could lose a general election and the Tory ratings creeping closer to securing a Commons majority.
An ICM poll for The Guardian put Labour on 31%, with David Cameron’s Conservatives on 40% and the Liberal Democrats on 22%. If repeated at a general election this would bring a hung parliament with the Tories as the largest party.
A year ago, before Cameron became Tory leader, ICM’s findings had Labour on 40% and the Tories 31%.
YouGov, for The Daily Telegraph, in its latest findings put the Conservatives on 38%, Labour on 31% and the Lib Dems on 18%. This too would produce a hung parliament, though with Labour narrowly the largest party. YouGov found a strong majority, 64% to 22%, disapproved of the government’s overall record.
Cameron was ahead of Blair as the people’s choice for prime minister.
The poll also suggested that changing the leader might not do the trick for Labour. By 43% to 36%, a Cameron-led Tory party was seen as preferable to a Gordon Brown-led Labour party.
According to Mori, in The Sunday Times, 49% want Blair to step down immediately, compared with 36% in September last year. Brown, however, is seen as the most capable prime minister by 31% of people, compared with 24% for Cameron.
But Brown would be wise to take nothing for granted. Most of ICM’s detailed findings were bad for the government, including on the economy, usually regarded as its strongest card.
Those polled dismissed, by 52% to 37%, the proposition that Brown had created economic success.

BLAIR BRINGS "WHIFF OF CORRUPTION" TO NUMBER 10

2006-07-12T19:03:00.000Z

Andrew Pierce, of The Times, says that the cash-for-honours scandal now seems to be getting uncomfortably close to No 10.

"They will be in meltdown in Downing Street this afternoon. Lord Levy is personally identified with the Prime Minister. He bankrolled him while he was in opposition. Tony Blair made him a peer, appointed him his Middle East envoy. He is his tennis partner.

"Mr Blair and the then general secretary of the Labour Party were the only ones apart from Lord Levy who knew about the secret loans, and Lord Levy is at the apex of all of it.
"I am surprised that the arrest has come so soon, but the story that The Times ran on Saturday - saying that an unnamed Labour Party person told Sir Gulam Noon to withdraw the references to his Labour loan from the paperwork going to the House of Lords' commission on the appointment of peers - may have meant that the police had to act.

"If the allegation is true, it was a deliberate attempt to subvert the election law that Labour itself brought in as recently as 2000 in order to stamp out corruption.
"This will send a shiver down the spines of every Labour donor, and every Labour MP. And it has brought the whiff of corruption to the door of No 10".

CURRYING FAVOUR: MORE SLEAZE

2006-07-12T16:18:00.000Z

'Cash for peerage' tycoon was asked to hide loan
by Rajeev Syal
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2261059,00.html

A SENIOR Labour figure advised a businessman to hide the fact that he had lent £250,000 to the party after it had nominated him for a peerage, The Times has learnt.
Sir Gulam Noon, who lent Labour £250,000 last spring, declared the money on his official Lords nomination form, according to documents seen by this newspaper. However, a high- ranking Labour figure with close links to No 10, who has not been named, asked Sir Gulam to drop any mention of the loan after he had sent the form to Downing Street, Whitehall sources said.

The disclosure, which is being investigated by the police, appears to confirm suspicions that Downing Street and Labour were attempting to conceal the loan from the House of Lords Appointments Commission. It is the most astonishing development in the investigation into whether peerages were sold for political donations — the “cash-forpeerages” row.
The Times has also learnt that the Labour Party drew up new loan agreements for at least two of its millionaire donors after the story broke earlier this year. Police are in possession of both the new and old loan agreements. The first ones, drawn up in spring 2005, make no reference to a final repayment date. The second agreements set an 18-month period over which they must be repaid.

Labour denied yesterday the charge that it had amended the agreements. A spokesman said: “Suggestions that loan agreements were altered are absolute nonsense. Each agreement with each individual lender was agreed in writing ahead of any funds being provided. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

A senior official refused to comment on the claims surrounding Sir Gulam.
Scotland Yard is investigating the documents to establish whether Labour later hoped to convert the loans to gifts, in exchange for peerages. A Downing Street spokesman said: “We cannot comment on an ongoing police inquiry”.
The scandal broke after Tony Blair nominated several big Labour supporters to the House of Lords after they had made £4 million in loans to the party. The property developer Sir David Garrard, the broker Barry Townsley, Chai Patel, the founder of the Priory clinic, and Sir Gulam were all recommended for peerages.
Police are looking into whether the 1925 Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act and the 2000 Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act have been broken.
Sir Gulam, 70, known as the Curry King, has been a Labour supporter for 25 years. The Sunday Times Rich List puts his wealth at £65 million.
Contacted yesterday, Sir Gulam confirmed that he had originally declared the loan, but had been asked to change his form. “I have done nothing wrong — in fact, I thought I should declare the loan, so I tried to do so. When I was asked to withdraw it, I withdrew it. All of these records are with the police. As far as the loans agreements are concerned, Labour asked me to change the loan agreement, and so it was changed. Simple as that.”
Sir Gulam lent the party £250,000 in the weeks before last May’s general election after a request from senior Labour figures. He was nominated for a peerage by Downing Street last autumn. As a result he was sent a House of Lords’ nomination form that asked him to declare any donations he had made to the party.

On October 4 he filled in the form and by arrangement sent it to Richard Roscoe, the head of honours at Downing Street, sources said. There is no suggestion that Mr Roscoe was the official who asked for the loan to be omitted. Sir Gulam declared initially £221,177 of donations to Labour between 2000 and 2005, and the £250,000 loan. The next day he returned the form to No 10. He was then contacted by a top official who asked him to drop all references to the loan.
Sir Gulam sent an amended form to Mr Roscoe omitting details of the loan. This was then sent to the House of Lords, sources said. Sir Gulam’s nomination was blocked subsequently because of that failure to declare the loan.

Police have obtained copies of both nomination forms and are trying to establish whether anyone from No 10 or the Labour Party was trying to obscure the loan arrangement.
The implication is that Labour officials may have tried to conceal the loan because they hoped that it could be converted into a gift at some later stage. Police have been told that Sir Gulam relied on No 10 to forward his form to the House of Lords because he was a Downing Street nominee.
Detectives are also examining the two loans where the terms were changed in March. The original agreements were rolling loans for an initial 180-day term, with a new interest rate calculated for each subsequent 180-day term according to the Bank of England base rate.
The first agreements were signed by Matt Carter, then Labour’s general secretary.
A second agreement was then drawn up by Labour officials in March this year, it is alleged. This agreement rescheduled the loan to expire in the autumn of 2007. This was signed by Peter Watt, the present general secretary.
“What were Labour trying to do?” said the source. “Why ask a loyal friend of the party to obscure a genuine effort to declare a donation? Why then change the nature of the loan? The more the police look, the murkier it gets.”

LABOUR PEER ARRESTED & HELD IN CUSTODY

2006-07-12T16:06:00.000Z

Tony Blair's chief fundraiser Lord Levy has been arrested, and at the time of writing is being held in custody in a North London police station.

His arrest is in connection with the "cash-for-honours" inquiry by the Metropolitan Police.
He has been a high profile fundraiser for Labour since Tony Blair's election. Asked if he had any reaction to the news that Lord Levy had been arrested, the prime minister's official spokesman said: "I cannot comment on that, it is a party matter."

He confirmed the peer was still the prime minister's Middle East envoy.
We are seeing a process that is deeply damaging for Tony Blair - this is someone who is close to him.

A Scotland Yard spokesman would not confirm whether Lord Levy had been arrested, but did say a man had been arrested by the Specialist Crime Directorate of the Metropolitan Police in connection with inquiries into possible breaches of honours and election laws.
The spokesman said the man had been asked to attend a London police station on Wednesday morning and questioned about possible infringements of the Honours (Prevention of Abuses ) Act 1925 and the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act.
Scotland Yard is conducting a wide-ranging investigation into loans and donations made to all three parties to see if there is any evidence that honours have been given as rewards for financial help.
It was prompted by the revelation earlier this year that a number of multi-million pound loans were secretly given to Labour before the last election, and that some of the lenders had subsequently been nominated by Tony Blair for peerages.
All involved have denied any wrong-doing.

BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson said the arrest was "deeply damaging for Tony Blair" because Lord Levy is a particular friend of the prime minister.
He said the fate of Lord Levy and Mr Blair was "intertwined". "It doesn't get much more serious than this," he said.
Angus MacNeil, the Scottish Nationalist Party MP who initiated the police inquiry, called for a freeze on all future honours until the investigation is completed.
"This is a significant development and one that would appear to justify my decision to report this matter to the police," he said.