Category Archives: Blog

Once again, it's the cover-up that gets you…

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It’s one of the greatest cliches of politics that, when it comes to scandal, it’s the cover-up which gets people rather than the original offence. It’s become a cliche because it is so often true – as we’ve seen again this week with Rosemary Emodi.

The scandal about one of Ken Livingstone’s advisers taking a free trip to a luxury resort in Nigeria has cost her (Rosemary Emodi) her job – but the trigger for going wasn’t the original story, it was her denying she had ever made the trip – and then the BBC presenting evidence that she had.

Denying you made a trip which will have involved air flights, many people seeing you, a large gap in your diary of events in the UK and so on is a very high-risk strategy. I guess as the other investigations and allegations continue to play out we will see whether there was anything more behind this high-risk approach, or whether it was just a very foolish decision in the heat of the moment.

Remembering the Holocaust

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Holocaust survivor Rudi Openheimer with Lynne Featherstone MPHolocaust Memorial event at Muswell Hill Synagogue with children from Gladesmore School meeting Rudi Openheimer – a Holocaust survivor. I’ve been to many events to listen to a survivor tell their tale over the years. And it never fails to bring home the awful, unbearable truths of man’s inhumanity.

This is a phenomenal tradition – the giving of living histories to our children. And the children listened and I have no doubt they understood in a way that they probably never understood before. For some of them, most, they had never been into a synagogue before.

In the introduction, which I thought very clever, those in the audience were asked to raise their hands if they were Jewish. About ten people raised their hands. They were then asked if they could have told these people were Jews if they had seen them walking down the street. They all shook their hands.

Then it was explained that in a European, civilised country just like England – a group of people (the Nazis) decided that this group would be killed. There was no hot-blooded fighting – only cold blooded systematic extermination.

That is when Rudi Openheimer took up the tale. Well done to Muswell Hill Synagogue and all who helped put this together. It is unforgettable. And on Sunday is Holocaust Memorial Day itself.

Ken Livingstone and Dispatches

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I guess a lot of people watched the Dispatches program on Monday night – Martin Bright’s the Court of Ken! I watched it myself at about midnight on Monday. Hadn’t realised when they interviewed me (for an hour) that I would have such a starring role! Usually when you do these things (or my experience anyway) is that you end up on the cutting room floor.

What is quite interesting is the atmosphere that surrounds all of this as well. I gather that many people won’t speak on the record of what they know – for fear of reprisals. (If you find me in the Thames with concrete boots…………..). However, I am relative small fry in this. And I’m glad in that Ken is being put under the spotlight for the things he does. My view in general is that if there is evidence – which it appears there is – then appropriate authorities need to take action to bring the villain to account – be that Ken, the LDA, Lee Jasper or whoever – or clear them if the charge can’t stick.

When this started with the Andrew Gilligan stuff in the Standard – no one probably thought that it would rumble on. But as it has progressed, there seem to be more and more evidence.

So the cross-party referral of matters to do with the LDA for independent inquiry by the District Auditor is important in itself.

I don’t think it ends here. Ken may try to diss everyone and everything and assert that there is nothing here but people with agendas against him. I don’t have an agenda against Ken. I spent the early years of the Assembly fighting shoulder to shoulder with him – for the congestion charge and against the PPP for example. But – public money is being spent – and power must not be abused.

Gordon Brown agrees with me – but will he do anything about it?

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Gordon Brown has admitted that he thinks his weekly question and answer joust in Parliament isn’t really achieving much. Good I say – that’s my view too: we very rarely have exchanges that really hold the PM to account, and the whole “whose MPs can shout the loudest?” display of rowdy behaviour does damage to the reputation of Parliament and politics.

So kudos to Gordon for this in The Independent today:

Gordon Brown has expressed his growing disillusionment at what he considers the poor quality of the weekly battle of wills across the despatch box.

Mr Brown fears the 30-minute sessions have become so noisy and bad-tempered that the public will be increasingly repelled.

But the report then goes on:

He has made it clear he has no plans to change the event.

Well – why not? He’s Prime Minister, he’s there at PMQs taking centre stage role nearly every time and if nothing else – he could have a quiet word with the Labour Chief Whip about the behaviour of Labour MPs.

So come on Gordon – let’s have some action to back up your words!

Three sentences you should read about Northern Rock

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Saying something is a ‘soundbite’ isn’t normally meant as a compliment in politics! There is though a role for short, pithy statements – soundbites if you will – that get to the heart of complicated matters and pulls out the essence of them.

All of which is a prequel to praising Vince Cable for his Northern Rock soundbites yesterday. Once again Vince got to the heart of the matter, and rather than losing himself in the massive financial details of the Northern Rock saga, he got right to the heart of the matter:

The Government has ingeniously come up with a private sector sale that doesn’t involve any private sector money.

In order to save face Brown has decided that losses of Northern Rock should be nationalised, but that profits should be privatised.

Taxpayers now face years of underwriting Northern Rock, giving the opportunity for a private bidder to make an absolute killing.

Well said Vince! (And you can sign his petition on the topic here.)

The Home Secretary's kebab-buying habits

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Well, well – Home Secretary Jacqui Smith seems to have made a right mess of talking about the dangers of walking out at night.

This was in fact the topic of second newspaper column I ever wrote. It was for the Ham & High, back in 2000 and started with a personal anecdote:

A man followed me home from the tube last Wednesday night. It was about 11.30pm. He had been in my carriage from Warren Street, got off at Highgate, was behind me on the first escalator, behind me on the second escalator up to Archway Road – and as I headed up the hill, I was conscious that so did he.

The few people who had started in the same direction, faded away within the first 100 metres – so it was just he and I. I crossed the road – at a point where the pavement narrowed so it would look like the natural thing to do. So did he. When I came to the turn I needed to take – so did he – albeit once again on the opposite side. I was ready for flight – was looking for which houses had lights on, which doors were near. Suddenly he ran across the road towards me and then, with a spurt of speed, arrived on the pavement ahead of me and accelerated away.

Once he was ahead of me and I had him properly in my sights, I felt OK. And then, of course, he crossed the road and went up a drive, got his keys out of his pocket, opened his front door and went home to hearth and family. He had obviously run to get ahead of me to stop me thinking he was following me. Men and women reading this will probably recognise this situation – a woman thinking she’s being followed and a man knowing that she’s thinking he is following her. That’s the situation we have arrived at because we feel unsafe, going home late at night – whether we are or not. (Continued here)

That night, things ended safely for me – as they have indeed on numerous journeys around London, often late at night returning from meetings and events in previously unfamiliar locations.

Yet there are many victims of crime – and even more who have their lives limited and curtailed by their fears of crime (sometimes well founded, sometimes not – but in both cases the fear of crime feels just as real, is just as unpleasant and can have just as limiting an effect on people’s lives). So the question of crime – both actual and fear of – is one I’m happy to debate and discuss – and was/is a major campaigning point of mine both on the London Assembly and then in Parliament.

Jacqui Smith though has got the issue all wrong. Not once, but twice she’s sounded as if she doesn’t understand at all how the rest of us live – saying that no real people are ever out walking in Hackney after midnight (hello? have you looked?) and then that she never walks somewhere she doesn’t already know (hello again? I can’t imagine living my life never walking somewhere that I don’t already know – how do you manage to only walk somewhere you’ve already driven, cycled etc through?).

One slip of the tongue – fair enough, we all can mangle a word, leave out a word or fluff a line. But to do it twice and at some length – sorry Jacqui, you’ve really messed up. And you’d be better off admitting that, rather than have the rather bizarre attempt to rescue matters by having your spokesperson ring the media talking about your late-night kebab-buying habits.

Jacksons Lane: outcome of Arts Council meeting

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Lynne Featherstone MP and Cllr Neil Williams petition Arts Council over Jacksons Lane Community CentreWell – Neil Williams (Lib Dem Leader of the Opposition on Haringey Council) and I met with Moira Sinclair of the Arts Council this morning to plead for the Arts Council to overturn their proposal to cut funding to Jacksons Lane Community Centre. The Arts Council meet to make this decision on Thursday.

We have been swamped with responses to our petition which we handed in – thanks to everyone who responded; we will keep sending them in.

I was very impressed with Ms Sinclair. She was thorough, rigorous and efficient in her summation of why our beloved Jackson’s Lane is under threat. And it was crystal clear that she felt we are in this position because Haringey Council has not given it the necessary backing – neither financial nor emotional – over the last five years. And that has given the Arts Council concerns over the future financial management and property maintenance.

It was made quite clear that there is hope and the decision is overturnable – but at this eleventh hour I think perhaps only Haringey Council coming forward with complete commitment to the repair and renewal of the building and some matched funding would sway the members of the Arts Council when they sit on Thursday.

Haringey have – at this late point – responded to the consultation positively – but will there be any money on the table? It is their track record over the years before that I fear has led the Arts Council to put this terrible question mark over the centre’s head. Neil and I put our best foot forward, saying we would do our utmost to ensure that the corner had been turned.

Labour on Haringey Council really need to come up with the rescue package that can influence the final decision on Thursday. We certainly made it plain that this is a vital arts and performing arts facility in West Haringey and much loved and much needed by local people.

Perhaps the chink of light is that out of 75 organisations that are to have their funding completely or partially cut – there will probably be a couple who are saved from the axe. Let’s hope that Jackson’s Lane is one of them. With the enormous local community support and Neil and my pleas – we wait with baited breath and everything crossed!

The government wants to reduce your say over local planning issues

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Lynne Featherstone MP with Quenin Givens protesting against the Planning BillYesterday it was a case of rain, rain go away – but it didn’t. So trooped off to the Friends of the Earth stall in front of Wood Green library to show solidarity against the swingeing powers of the proposed new Planning Bill. Cutting to the chase – decisions about big developments will be taken away from local decision making and we local people won’t even have a voice. Hence Quentin Givens being blind-folded and gagged in the photo.

This is a really serious issue and as the Bill goes through its Parliamentary processes I will certainly be representing those people and groups locally who rightly fear what the outcome will be in terms of unwanted, unnecessary and badly planned developments.

Planning law already favours the developer – and with the developer being able to appeal against a refusal. This Bill brings forward proposals that simply put more and more nails in our local coffin – and mean that we will have no means to prevent something being built that local people don’t want. Action stations!

Fix that term: the case for fixed term Parliaments

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A polling stationIt’s 80 minutes into an Arsenal-Tottenham football derby. Tottenham lead 1-0. Arsenal are piling on the pressure. The Tottenham manager shouts at the ref, “OK, that’s it – can we have the final score now please?” The ref agrees, all the players troop off the pitch 10 minutes early and Tottenham get the three points.

Sounds absurd doesn’t it (and I don’t just mean the idea of Tottenham beating Arsenal!)?

But that’s what passes for normal in the world of Palace of Westminster politics when it comes to general election dates. The Prime Minister – and the Prime Minister alone – gets to choose the date. Now – in theory Parliaments last for five years and the monarch has to agree to any earlier election, but in practice – the PM always gets his or her way – and they shouldn’t.

Which is why, even though the immediate fuss after Gordon Brown’s general election that wasn’t has died down, I’ve returned to the topic in my latest magazine article – which you can now read on my website.

It mentions www.fixedterm.org.uk – which is a cross-party campaign on this very topic, including the likes of bloggers Iain Dale (Conservative), Stephen Tall (Lib Dem) and Sunny Hundal (of Liberal Conspiracy), MPs Ed Vaizey (Conservative – and my frequent sparing partner on The Westminster Hour) and former Lib Dem leader Ming Campbell, and journalists including Benedict Brogan of the Daily Mail. If you agree with me on the issue – do go and sign up to support it. And if you don’t – read my article, and perhaps you’ll be persuaded!

Ministry of Defence loses more than one laptop a week

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Crime scene tapeNews that the Ministry of Defence lost a laptop containing personal details of over 600,000 people, including national insurance numbers and bank details, has brought back to mind (thanks to a SpyBlog posting) a Parliamentary question I asked back in 2005:

Q. To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many laptop computers have been used by (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in his Department in each year since 1995; how many have been (i) lost and (ii) stolen in that period; what the cost was of the use of laptops in that period; and if he will make a statement.

A. The total number of laptops in use in MOD is not centrally recorded since purchase is delegated to individual business units. The approximate number currently in use (covering laptops purchased in the last four years and held by both MOD civilians and Service personnel) is estimated to be in the order of 46,000 at an overall cost of £69 million.

75 laptop computers belonging to the Ministry of Defence (including the armed forces) are recorded as having been lost and 590 as having been stolen since 1995.

The Ministry of Defence is alert to the vulnerabilities of laptops and security policy and procedures are continually being reviewed and revised to introduce measures to reduce the numbers of laptops stolen or lost, and to mitigate the impact when losses
occur.

So – that makes 665 laptops lost or stolen in 1995-2005, or more than one a week on average. I wonder quite what Adam Ingram (the minister who answered the question) really meant by that last sentence – because surely one thing to mitigate the impact when losses occur is not to have personal details of 600,000 people on a laptop in the first place?