gordon brown

Will they sack Gordon? This is like history repeating itself. A long whispering campaign, hint filled speeches and interviews, protestations of loyalty. Perhaps Gordon should have contemplated the Good Book:

The boy Miliband is talking about change in typical New Labour soundbites.Interesting to see what Alan Johnson has to say about it.

Not a good day for him and it's going to get worse. Losing part of Glasgow that has been rock solid Labour since the day the party was born is one thing on many MP's minds, but they have one huge problem. If they're going to replace him, it really must be done this Autumn and the potential future leaders are hardly inspiring.

Just how bad things are will become clear later when Obama lands in the UK after such a successful speech in Berlin. Next to him Gordon looks very dowdy indeed, very uninspiring.

Is Gordon Off His Own Message?

July 7th: PM Urges People Not To Waste Food

July 8th: World Leaders Tuck into 18 Course Meal as They Discuss Global Food Shortage

Or is it just the same old New Labour 'do as I say, not as I do'?

I'll admit I was stunned when I read the story that Brown 'Will only stand for one General Election'. My first thought was "as many as that?" Then the Shakespearean tragedy that is New Labour became obvious.

This is a man who spent over a decade and a half plotting to gain the crown and as soon as he crowned himself, he blew it. He blew  it so badly that already his best hope is in the careful leaking this line of "He'll soon be gone, so please, just vote for him the once. He's off soon. Promise. No, seriously, we mean it this time".

Looks like the backbenchers are getting very restless indeed. Probably because they might well be sitting on the other side of the Commons after Gordon's single stand before the electorate.

Could it be that the possible arrival of McKenzie, supposedly with the backing of that nice Mr Murdoch is just a ploy to force Labour to field a candidate? Stranger things have happened.

A big question and one where the answer is taking a long time to appear. Winning the 42 days vote was an example of politics at its worst, it's most disreputable. By a combination of outright bribery and blackmailing his own side with 'Do you really want a messy leadership election contest with our ratings so low?' being whispered by the whips into the Labour rebels' ears.

This is how civil liberties are overturned, not out of necessity but out of saving one mans political skin, out of a twisted machination to recoup a few points in the polls by painting the Conservatives as being 'weak on terrorism'.

Let's make one thing clear: David Davis has done this on principle. He is serious and genuine. This is not a moment of madness, a foolish move but a brave decision to take a stand.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, accused the Conservatives of being in “total disarray”. Well, that's a subject she has a great deal of experience of!

Will Labour fight to defend their policy or will they be too afraid?

Does Brown have any balls at all? No. They won't put up a candidate to defend their policies or attempt to justify their actions before the electorate. It seems that the only balls he has is called Ed.

Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, branded Mr Davis's behaviour "odd" - Well Jack would find sticking to your principles odd. This is a man who had a long standing Labour party member in his eighties arrested for calling him 'rubbish' at the party conference, so we can clearly not trust him or his tired and discredited party to use this new legislation wisely.

Gordon Brown's obsession with persuading more school children to join the armed forces has taken another turn.

Controversial plans for pupils in comprehensive schools to sign up for military drills and weapons training are being backed by Gordon Brown in an attempt to improve the relationship between the public and the armed forces.

I didn't think the relationship between the public and the armed forces was in particularly dire need of improving. A recent poll found that 87% of those questioned supported British soldiers. The recent faux outrage over the ban on military servicemen wearing their uniforms in Peterborough when off-duty turned out to be a bit of a damp squib when no incidents of actual serious abuse came to light. Like Justin, I think the idea of military personnel being intimidated by a bit of name-calling is ridiculous. It would seem there is another agenda at work, and that would be the thorny issue of allowing military recruiters into schools to find more cannon fodder. The military deny that they go into schools to recruit and that their aim is to raise "the general awareness of their armed forces in society, not to recruit". Believe that and you'll believe anything.

What makes Brown's agenda so transparent is the milestones we've already passed to get to the point of drill and weapons training for school children. First we have his enthusiasm for jingoism which plumed new depths when he announced plans for school children to swear allegiance to the Queen and salute the flag; then we have the outrage at the National Union of Teachers for daring to suggest that military recruitment campaigns employ "misleading propaganda" in schools and should be boycotted - more from Justin (they don't recruit, remember); more 'fury' when students at a University voted to ban all military personnel including cadets; then we have the revelation that pupils are being given a biased view of Iraq in Ministry of Defence teaching materials.

He [National Union of Teachers general secretary Steve Sinnott] warned that some of its assertions, presented as facts, would be disputed by most teachers. There were no estimates of the numbers of people killed, wounded or made homeless by the military action, he said. The material therefore risked breaching the part of the 1996 Education Act concerned with balanced teaching of political issues, he added.

So if these plans are allowed to go ahead unchallenged, how long will it be before a call for the return of National Service gets louder? Once recruiting general awareness raising officers have done the rounds of the poor and deprived areas of the country to recruit raise general awareness of the infantry and there is still a shortage of troops for America's failing imperial adventures, I suspect a call for conscription won't be far off.

So, Gordon Brown has decided in his infinite wisdom that what school children need more than, say, learning to read and write, is to pledge allegiance to Queen and Country. This has to be his most idiotic idea to date.

Of course, if the kids were actually taught some history, then they'd know just what a destructive force nationalism can be, but seeing as basic literacy seems to be beyond the capabilities of so many schools, I guess the secret is safe. No, far better to teach children to revere an over-privileged family and salute a piece of cloth while filling their heads with bullshit concepts like “my country right or wrong”.

I just can't see this idea working. Can you imagine a bunch of half-pissed hoodies saluting the flag and singing the national anthem with trembling lips and tears in their eyes? – Tears of laughter perhaps. But Comrade Gordon seems to be very attached to this idea, he's been banging on about “Britishness” for months now without actually defining the term.

This nationalistic fervour is however, a disturbing development. Gordon has got Lord Goldsmith to come up with a report on “Britishness” and his ideas go several stops beyond barking. 

• A "small" council tax discount for people who complete volunteer work in the community, like organising neighbourhood recycling projects, helping children to learn to read in schools or setting up a residents' association

How small? Miniscule I bet! This sounds like slave labour to me. I particularly liked the “helping children to learn to read in schools” What is it teachers are supposed to be doing again? Oh that's right, teaching kids to Seig Heil the flag! 

• Reduction in university tuition fees and student loans for university undergraduates who carry out volunteer work

Slave labour again. Shouldn't students be, erm, studying?

• Extending citizenship ceremonies to all young people, with the possibility of incorporating the oath of allegiance to the Queen and the pledge of commitment to the UK

I've covered this bit. It's bullshit.

• A British national day by 2012, to coincide with the Olympics and what will be the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Well, I'm fine with the day off bit but I think I'll give all the flag waving a miss – or is that treason? Which brings us neatly to:

• Reform or scrapping of Britain's old Treason laws

We can't have people disagreeing with the Generalissimo can we?

• A review of the current ban on asylum seekers taking paid jobs

Careful Gordon, don't want to upset the Daily Mail do we?

• Reducing the fee charged for becoming a British citizen from £655, with a larger discount for foreigners who apply as soon as they become eligible

So what happens to British residents who have been productively here for decades, are they to be penalised?

• Creation of a new National Citizens' Corps, whose members could provide advice to others on training and development in citizenship.

Good grief!! I've been trying to avoid Godwin's law up to now. But FFS Gordon, why not go the whole hog and set up your own version of the Hitler Youth?

• Setting up a new "Deliberation Day" to be held before each General Election to encourage political debate and other events.

Yes, we're all very familiar with Gordon and New Labour's passion for political debate. The word “Gimmick” springs to mind.

• A special citizenship ceremony to be hosted each year and possibly attended by the prime minister and a senior royal, to recognise "outstanding acts of volunteering"

Someone fetch me a bucket please.

• The setting up of "Investors in Communities" - a title earned by businesses which allow staff paid time to carry out community work

Hmm, time off work to work. I know Labour are obsessed with getting people into work but this is ridiculous. What employer will take that idea seriously?

• Foreigners applying for citizenship should follow a new credits-based system under which they would earn points for various activities in the community. For instance, working in key jobs, like the NHS, could earn additional credits.

Why not just make sure people are paid a decent wage for whatever job they end up doing?

And let's not forget that this nonsense comes from Lord Goldsmith the ex-Attorney General whose stunning contributions to citizenship include scrapping a police investigation into his Government's corruption and allowing himself to be pressured by a foreign government into changing his mind on the legality of an illegal war.

The narrative of the post-Blair UK policy in Iraq is fairly simple - declare victory and leave, preferably without seeing anything disturbing on the way out, like a nascent Shia theocratic regime with large amounts of oil.  The latest definition of victory comes from head of the interestingly named 'Basra Development Commission', who is of course a Brown appointee from the inexhaustible supply of bankers and financiers that he uses on these occasions, one Michael Wareing (KPMG).  Apparently:

Wareing, 53, told The Observer that security had improved significantly
in recent months and was no longer an issue for investors. 'If you look
at many other economies in the world, particularly the oil-rich
economies, many of these places are quite challenging countries in
which to do business,' he said. 'Frankly, if you can successfully
operate in the Niger Delta, that is a very different benchmark from
imagining that Basra needs to be like London or Paris.'

Hang on, what was Kim Howells saying the other year?  Ah, yes, March 2006:

"People describe Iraq as a mess,"
"But it is a mess that can't launch an attack now on Iran; a mess that
won't be able to march into Kuwait; it's a mess that can't develop
nuclear weapons. So yes it's a mess but it's starting to look like the sort of
 mess that most of us live in."

[I'd forgotten that he said that invading Iraq would reduce the chances of an invasion of Iran.  Ho ho ho.]

What Mr. Wareing is actually saying is 'you don't need to have security and stability to pull the oil out, you just need to provide enough security in the right places, and fuck the locals'.  This is essentially what happens in the Niger delta, and is evidently Western capital's idea of a good place to do business.  Something's very, very wrong with the morals of the Brown government if they think that this attitude is how you do international development.

Meanwhile, what's really happening in Basra?  The conventional view, that Moqtada Sadr just gets stronger by waiting, is still holding true, he's renewed his ceasefire and seems to be waiting for the next elections which could well ratify his increasingly powerful position.  He is, of course, not the kind of chap our suits want to do business with, but he ticks all the boxes for Iraq - a Shia nationalist with proper anti-Saddam credentials, apparently reasonable relations with the Sunnis (his distance from Iran helps here), not involved in the current corrupt puppet government, enjoys mass support and who wants foreign troops out now.  W. Pat Lang has an interesting piece on him here.

Meanwhile, actually on the ground there [via Juan Cole]:

Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the governor of Basra,  
Muhammad Misbah al-Wa'ili, has charged the Iranian deputy consul
in that city of plotting his, al-Wa'ili's, assassination. He demanded
that the central government look into the charges. He said that the
Iranian consulate gave a large sum of money to one of his body guards
to discover his exact itinerary.

and, quoting the same Observer that's printing enthuasiastic bullshit from Brown's man:

Last week four British soldiers were injured, one seriously, by a
roadside bomb during a night patrol and three contractors, two Indian
and one Sri Lankan, died on the British base after it was hit by 19
rockets in 24 hours. Two private security company staff were injured
after a visit to the Basra Children's Hospital. Negotiations for the
release of a kidnapped British photojournalist continued without a
breakthrough.

In other words, the people we handed over to aren't in charge and the usual militia mob who forced us out to the airport are now trying to finish the job.  Still, we can be thankful that 'it's no longer an issue for investors', eh?

Why do they do it? Why are they so inisitent on extending detention? Even in a 'Government of all the Untalent' Jacqui Smith stands out as being particuly undistinguished and has recently been touring the media being completely unconvincing.

Watching her press her case - which amounts to "We might possibly need to do this at some point in the future. Maybe. So it would be perfectly rational to have it in place now, just in case" - under questioning is fascinating. She gives the impression that she's about to break down in tears and desperately sob at the cameras saying "It's not my fault, Gordon's making me do this".

Future crime. How very Orwellian.

There is a possibility that at some point in the future people might steal people's jet packs and use them to frighten ducks. Shouldn't we put in legislation now to prevent this?

Don't we have a pressing need to legislate launching private space rockets? There will come a time when unregulated space launches will cause a serious hazard to aircraft. We MUST legislate now so that we are prepared.

The Police have chosen today to announce a new initiative to fight crime, taken from Minority Report:

Young people who are believed to be at risk of becoming offenders are to be targeted in a new police initiative.

The move is part of a strategy for reducing youth crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, unveiled by the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Acpo says identifying potential young offenders early on could have a dramatic impact on cutting youth crime.

Efforts include sharing information with other services and extending a police presence in some schools.

New Labour: Fighting Tomorrow's Crimes Today. Today's crimes can wait.

The Peter Hain saga grinds on, showing us that Gordon's 'Age of Change' hasn't actually resulted in any change at all. Once again we see that New New Labour continue to tell us that they can continue to manage the nation but not a simple election expenses account.

The usual excuses have been trotted out, an oversight, not important and so on. But it is important. How politicians raise and manage their own financial affairs are very important indeed, especially as UK policitians are trending towards heroic levels of corruption and incompetence.

The Tories have been quiet, a sure sign that some of their skeletons are close to being unearthed.

What's the answer? There is a simple punishment that would concentrate people's minds. Any failure to register or any breach of ethical codes means instant resignation and the MP would be ineligible to stand for office for 7 years.

It's shaping up to be a bad week for Gordon Brown (see, I told you we'd have to start all articles like this).

First, despite being as big a control freak than Blair, a man who hauls in errant ministers for a hairdryer session if they step out of line on the Today Programme, he's officially the last person in the Party to know that they've been accepted illegal dodgy donations from a dodgy millionaire with a list of previous as long as the queue outside an ID Card centre and of such a retiring, quiet character that he crops up at Blair's Sedgefield tear-fest back in June.

Second, the Lib Dems demonstrate that sacking an unpopular Scotsman is worth 10% in the polls.  Labour appear to be trying to demonstrate that hanging onto one is worth 10 years in opposition.

Third is all the bad news that's been buried under, er, the other bad news - the rip off over QinetiQ (who was running the Treasury?), the bodge up at HMRC (who created HMRC and encourage the outsourcing that pushed up costs, then put pressure on to reduce costs), the severe criticism from the top brass about Brown's parsimony towards the armed forces, the impending retreat from Capital Gains Tax reform in the face of angry suits at the CBI, the evident lack of experience and competence in Milliband and Darling, the fact that only Killer of the Yard and co. still support his idiotic 56/58/whatever days detention offer and finally the Daily Mail turning on him.  Any I've missed?

If Mr. Brown appoints a couple of judges or bishops or Lords to investigate this little lot, we'll run out soon.  I suggest holding a larger inquiry into the performance of the Government, to be conducted by every mentally competent British person over 18.  We could call it a 'General Election'.

Still, at least everything was done in good faith, eh?

It's been a bad week for Gordon Brown (incidentally, there's a new law that states that every article for the rest of the year has to start with these words).  Luckily, according to a transparent planted story (full of 'senior officials' and 'insiders') in the Observer, he's getting some heavyweight talent on board to sort it out:

Now, Straw is no longer in the Blair inner circle, if he ever was, and is also actually quite bright, but of low-to-dubious morals.  Hoon is, of course, but he's a mental midget who shouldn't be anywhere near anything important.  Of course, the actual contents of the story are irrelevant (it is the Observer, after all), it's the hidden hand behind it that fascinates.

So what to make of this?  Is it the Blairites spinning it as their guys riding to the rescue (see Martin 'I Never Saw A Blairite Arse I Didn't Want To Lick' Kettle all-time-classic article the other day) or the Brownites spinning that they've got it under control and are in charge of events?  Beats me, although given that it's the Observblair and the Blairites are evidently running an anti-Brown campaign, I veer towards the former.  Remember, these people are like particularly virulent undead - stake them through the heart, cut their heads off, stuff them with garlic and they'll still be writing snarky pieces for the Guardian about how they were Right all along and how Gordon just needs to be More Like Tony and it'll all be well.

This was a very interesting meeting and I'm glad I was able to attend. My only regret was that I didn't take any notes so this is largely from memory. First of all, much kudos to Dan Hardie for working so hard to make this meeting happen and for chairing it so well. The speakers at the meeting were:

• Richard Beeston, senior Foreign Correspondent for ‘The Times’ newspaper
• Mark Brockway, a former Warrant Officer in the Territorial Royal Engineers, who ran the British Army’s Quick Impact Reconstruction Projects in 2003 and who hired a great many Iraqi staff in 2003.
• Ed Vaizey MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
• Chris Bryant, Labour MP for the Rhondda
• Lynne Featherstone MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for International Development
• Andrew Alderson, banker responsible for reconstruction projects in Basra

Richard Beeston spoke about the important work Iraqi interpreters do for the military and also for journalists and diplomats. The Times has provided the best media coverage by far on the plight of Iraqi employees and the moral obligation Britain has to protect them. From Richard Beeston's speech it was evident that the plight of Iraqi employees is an issue close to his heart. He has reported on last night's meeting in today's edition of The Times with an excellent article that highlights the problems with David Miliband's offer in a concise way.

Mark Brockway spoke at some length on his experiences in Basra working with Iraqi interpreters. He was passionate about the problem and showed a Power Point presentation which outlined various aspects of the issue in great detail. He stressed the urgency of solving this issue now as former employees are in hiding while death squads tour the Basra region looking for them and threatening their families. Mark also relayed the close relationship military personnel have with their interpreters and recounted some incidences where they actually saved British lives. From his presentation and speech, Mark showed just how inadequate David Miliband's announcement is. It is impossible for many of the Iraqi employees to prove that they have been working for the British for 12 months because of the chaotic record keeping of the British. Added to this problem is the fact that many interpreters move to different employers. For instance, an interpreter may work for six months with a British regiment then move to work in a diplomatic capacity or translate for the Americans - and nearly always under a false name. Mr Brockway also highlighted the extreme difficulties of moving to Syria or Jordan in order to get asylum.

Conservative MP, Ed Vaizey stressed the cross-party support for the plight of Iraqi employees and how this is a moral issue rather than a political one. This sentiment was echoed by Labour MP,Chris Bryant and Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone. All three MPs acknowledged the important points about the danger of the '12 month' stipulation but that as frontbenchers they aren't free to criticise this without checking with their bosses, as it's an implicit commitment to a new policy. However, they all showed a keen interest to learn more and continue to campaign. Chris Bryant invited campaigners to email him with important points which ought to be raised and Lynne Featherstone drafted an Early Day Motion (EDM) for MPs to sign.

Andrew Alderson is a banker who was responsible for the allocation of funds for reconstruction projects in the Basra region. He has written a book on his experiences called Bankrolling Basra which has just shot up to the top of my list of books I want to read. Mr Alderson spoke of the problems he had in protecting the Iraqis he employed, particularly his personal assistant who was shot three times and left for dead while people close to her were murdered. She has now found asylum in Australia. She was further endangered by being visited by military personnel while recovering in a Basra hospital. This story outlined another part of the problem. If someone is wounded or killed while out on patrol with the British army, for instance, it is reported as such. However if an Iraqi employee is murdered on his or her way home, away from military or diplomatic installations, it is merely chalked up as just another murder in a lawless area.

There is a new website which has information about the campaign to grant asylum to Iraqi employees. It's called We Owe It To Them and it has details of the dangers faced by these people and their families. It is well worth viewing and supporting.

Among the people in the audience was an Iraqi exile, Mazin, who had worked for a Kuwaiti construction firm which constructed US bases. He gave a passionate speech on the difficulties in finding asylum and the horrors experienced by his friends and family. It was very moving and did much to ram home the message of the urgent need to solve this problem.

Here is a Radio Five clip with Dan Hardie explaining the inadequacies of the Government's current position on asylum for Iraqi employees of the British armed forces (courtesy of Ministry Of Truth).

More bloggage on this from David Cole, Sunny Hundal in CiF, Yorkshire Ranter (I'll add the reports of other bloggers as I find them).

For those unfamiliar with this campaign, here are some pointers.

1. Watch the video.
2. Write to your MP.
3. Let us know if you get a response.
4. Sign the petition.
5. Join the growing list of supporters.

OK.  Here's how it goes (I think):

1) We welcome General Petraeus' report on how wonderful things are if you put lots of troops in and patrol intensively out in the streets
2) We notice how wonderful things are in Basra now we've taken lots of troops out and stopped patrolling intensively in the streets
3) We win either way
4) We can get out now

'Declare-victory-and-leave was always going to be the exit strategy of choice, of course.  Odd that Mr. Brown seems to think that we've got to stay to see through the UN mandate, since it expires on the 31st December, and besides we were one of the countries that wrote it in the first place!  So Gladstonian!

[incidentally, it behoves all of us to read the bloody mandate, since Chairman Brown thinks it's so important.]