And Then There Was One

The resignation of David Miliband - the Labour MP for South Shields and Foreign Secretary in the last Labour Government - means that there is now only one big Labour beast from that era - still operating as a part-time MP. 

So step forward Gordon Brown - the former Prime Minister and sometime Labour MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath - when he's not at the Abu Dhabi campus of New York University for 70 days a year where he acts as a 'distinguished global leader' in residence.

Now it may have taken David Miliband the best part of three years to decide what to do with the rest of his life - having lost the Labour leadership to his younger brother Ed, courtesy of the big public sector trade unions.

But at least David Miliband finally made up his mind and did the right thing - for himself and his family - whereas the 'man with the moral compass' (aka Gordon Brown) is still hanging on in there - and gives every impression that he will remain an MP until the next general election.

To my mind this is one of the main things that gives politics and polticians a bad name - saying one thing, but then doing another when it becomes convenient - from a personal point of view.

I can't think of anyone in the Labour party who doesn't believe that the job of an MP should be anything other than full-time - yet the silence within party ranks about Gordon Brown is deafening.

Now that David Miliband has finally grasped the nettle, I would like to wish him well - because he did win the support of the most ordinary Labour members in the party's leadership - and as Labour's director of policy between 1994-2001 played a key role in turning the party's fortunes around before becoming an MP.

Talent like that is bound to be missed in any political party - but I think he's done exactly the right thing in making a fresh start. 

Number Crunching (8 October 2012)

The latest edition of Private Eye contains some interesting information regarding the two Miliband brothers - Ed and David.

According to the Eye:

Number Crunching

"65% - is the percentage of Labour supporters who said they would prefer David Miliband to Ed as leader.

65k (or £65,000) - is an MP's salary at Westminster to which David Miliband has added £398,000 of extra-parliamentary earnings in the past year, which probably makes him in no hurry to take over."

Now as far as I can recall the Labour Party always took a dim view of MPs taking on other external roles and responsibilities - because the job of a Member of Parliament was always regarded as a full-time.

Yet two Labour MPs very close to the Labour leader - David Miliband (his older brother) and Gordon Brown (his former boss) - devote huge amounts of time to extra-curricular activities to the extent that they both operate as part-time MPs - and no one says a thing.

To my mind it makes the Labour Party look foolish and hypocritical.

Never mind whether we're all in this together - some people (who should know better) - are having a great old time by playing both sides off against the middle.