Tag Archives: gordon brown

Al Yamamah: High Court rules against Labour

Posted on by

Well – hurrah! The High Court has just ruled that it was illegal for the Serious Fraud Office to drop its investigation into corruption around the Al Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia. Of course – the reason the SFO dropped the investigation was that the Prime Minister and Attorney General put heavy pressure on them. As I’ve said before – so much for Labour’s ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric when they put the pressure on to axe criminal investigations when it suits.

What now? Well, Gordon Brown – here’s your chance to step up and show you really are a change from Tony Blair’s discredited regime. Will you now back a full investigation and see it through, to wherever the allegations of law breaking take it?

We should also see a public inquiry into how on earth we ended up in this mess – where Labour Party ministers pressurised the SFO into breaking the law. I and my colleagues have been calling for an inquiry for some time – but there’s no time like the present to sign our petition if you haven’t yet.

Olympics protest

Posted on by

Lynne Featherstone with Tibet protestorsJoined the protests earlier today – with Hornsey councillor Monica Whyte – over China’s record on Tibet and human rights as the Olympic Torch passed through London.

Free speech – and speaking out against that which we oppose – is a key part of our society, and it was great to see so many people exercising that right to speak out today – a right, of course, that China doesn’t extend to people in Tibet or China.

The Chinese Government has been repeatedly politicising the Olympics for its own ends – and yet Gordon Brown seems too timid to show any real displeasure at China’s repeated abuse of basic human rights.

Numerous other government heads have spoken and acted – but not our own. What is the point of having the privilege of holding a post such as Prime Minister if you’re not willing to use it to speak out when needed?

Well done Steven Spielberg

Posted on by

Impressed to see in the news today that Steven Spielberg has pulled out from his role in the Beijing Olympics because of the Chinese Government’s failure to do enough to influence the Sudanese Government, which is continuing to oversee horrific atrocities in Darfur.

His willingness to speak out stands in stark contrast with Gordon Brown – who, as on so many other issues, seems afraid of taking a clear stance and leading the way – and hence the failure to put serious extra pressure on China in his recent visit there. As it’s dear old Gordon, perhaps the best we can hope for is for him to set up yet another of his reviews to go away, ponder for a long time and then come back to tell him what to do!

And lo, Gordon Brown spends, spends, spends to bailout Metronet

Posted on by

A few days ago I wrote about the huge financial headache left when tube maintenance company Metronet collapsed. Labour has now had to bail out the mess – a mess caused by their part-privatisation of our tube network in the first place.

It again shines a light on one of the real problems with these sorts of PPP deals: there were sold as shifting the risk to the private sector (who also got the chance to make profits). Instead, we’ve seen firms making profits – but in the end the risk still stays with us taxpayers. As Norman Baker (Lib Dem MP and general scourge of all things wrong) put it: “Just like Northern Rock, the private sector takes the profit when they can, and the public sector bails them out when matters go pear-shaped.”

The one small piece of good news in all this? The bailout bill looks to be coming in at £1.7 billion rather than £1.9 billion.

How Brown could revolutionaise PMQs, improve Labour's standing, polish the image of politics and make the Tories look like silly – all in one go

Posted on by

Another Wednesday, another PMQs (Prime Minister’s Questions) in Parliament. What to make of today’s Punch and Judy show between Cameron and Brown?

First – I guess, as Nick Robinson points out, that Cameron has forgotten his professed distaste for Punch and Judy, you say one insult, I’ll say two back more loudly style of politics. Perhaps he genuinely meant it when he said it, but if so he’s long since changed his mind.

Second -Gordon Brown really ain’t that sharp or fast when it comes to PMQs. He was always going to have a tough act to follow after Blair who, love or loathe what he said, was a master of the art of question time.

Fraser Nelson rather wickedly desecribes Ed Milliband’s apparent new role in the whole farago:

Ed Miliband seems to have a new job. He now sits next to Brown making theatrical grimaces and facial expressions of mock astonishment when Tories speak. Quite fun to watch. Oxford, LSE, Harvard – and he ends up as the highest-paid mime artist in Britain.

I see Mike Smithson (Political Betting) is speculating whether Brown might even be driven to trying to abolish PMQs. Well – if Brown is minded to, he could revolutionaise PMQs, improve Labour’s standing, polish the image of politics and make the Tories look like silly – all in one go.

The answer? Turn down the volume and turn up the behaviour on the Labour side of the chamber. Imagine what would happen if all the Labour MPs started behaving like sensible adults – none of the screaming and pointing and exagerated facial expressions, none of the passing impressions of the rowdy pub bore who insists everyone in the pub MUST hear what they’ve got to say – and instead – behave like you or I would expect and be expected to behave in any other place of work.

In a blink, he would look statesmanlike, the Tories (if they don’t follow suit) would look almightily daft in a one-sided shouting match, and who knows – PMQs might even end up fullfilling a purpose other than making politics look crap once a week.

But will Gordon do it? On past form, I’m not sure he’s got the bottle to take a decisive act. Here’s hoping though….

The £1.9 billion bill that could haunt Gordon Brown

Posted on by

Tube trainAs if the £50 billion plus pumped into saving Northern Rock wasn’t enough, this week brought more bad news for Gordon Brown’s record of prudence.

The Commons Transport Committee published a report into the collapse of Metronet (and good to see Brian Paddick getting into that story too – read more here). Metronet was one of the private contractors foisted on London’s tube at the insistence of Gordon Brown and his inner circle, who were determined to part-privatise the tube network come what may.

The result? A badly thought out, badly implemented and hugely expensive scheme. Just setting up the deal cost huge amounts of money – putting together mindbogglingly complicated contracts and running up extra borrowing costs. In 2004 the National Audit Office put the cost put introducing part-privatisation at approaching £1 billion – yes billion: £455 million in legal etc costs in drawing up the scheme and £450 million in extra borrowing costs.

So – Metronet collapsed,upgrade and maintenance work in doubt and a huge bill floating around that someone will have to pick up. Not exactly a proud track-record for Labour when it comes to London’s public services!

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

Posted on by

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!

A disaster a day keeps Labour in dismay

Posted on by

Minced by Vince! Poor old Gordon Brown in Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday – from ‘Stalin to Mr Bean’ is a perfect description of the PM’s journey thus far. As one who thinks PMQs is just playtime for little boys – I have to say that ‘soundbite’ did make me smile (to my chagrin). The Labour Party woes know no end. A disaster a day keeps Labour in dismay. The faces of the Labour troops on the benches told it all. They must be devastated by such goings on. Vince and Chris Huhne have now asked the police to investigate.

Also yesterday, attended the Parliamentary launch of the report that came out of our trip to South Africa to look at business and how it is dealing with the AIDS and HIV pandemic. It is an excellent report from Business Action for Africa – so congrats to them and to SAB Miller, Anglo American and Meurk who were the key three companies involved in our trip.

The recommendations are about how to make partnerships work – as it is clear that the South African governemnt, NGOs, donors and business all need to work together to really create a proper delivery of health services to the nation.

It’s just the beginning – but it is an excellent report. John Hutton (Secretary of State) was there as we want him to use Government influence to push this agenda – and hopefully he will be a strong advocate for this – using business as a full partner.

Interestingly, and unbeknown to us, John has a brother living in Capetown and is fully au fait with all the issues around AIDS there – so undertood the issues from his own personal experience.