Union Priorities (16/06/15)
Adam Boulton writing in The Sunday Times highlights the great efforts trade unions have made to sign up members to vote in the Labour Party leadership contest.
Now just compare that with the completely paltry efforts of the big Labour-supporting unions over equal pay: with members being kept in the dark for years over the huge pay differences between male and female council jobs.
Says all you need to know about the priorities of Britain's union bosses (the Bubs) including 'Sir' Paul Kenny who says he would give up his knighthood in return for better rights for low-paid workers.
Three Labour races and each one a gift for the tee-heeing Tories
By Adam Boulton - The Sunday Times
Like a naughty schoolboy of yesteryear, David Cameron is still sticking his tongue out behind teacher’s back after his slap for gloating issued by Harriet Harman, Labour’s schoolmarmish caretaker leader.
Prime ministerial bumptiousness is almost inevitable. The Labour party is caught up in a tangle of leadership contests that are simultaneously hurried and drawn out. At least five televised debates are planned between now and September. And, as Cameron has pointed out, when it comes to the day job, the most significant act so far by the re-elected Labour MPs has been to vote in overwhelming numbers for his European Union (Referendum) Bill — the one they had just spent the election campaign opposing.
Labour’s selection battles may feel like a sideshow, but a defeated party should hope to be refreshed, stronger and with a new sense of purpose after choosing a new leader. Instead it may emerge more muddled, divided and weaker.
The contestants in three races come under starter’s orders this week. At noon tomorrow nominations close for the Labour leadership. On Tuesday there are the first Labour hustings for London mayor; and on Wednesday we’ll find out who has qualified for Labour’s deputy leadership contest. Voting for each post will end on September 10, with the winners announced at a “special conference” two days later.
Instead of reflecting calmly on the implications of its recent defeat, Labour is plunging straight on: loyalty to Ed Miliband’s lost cause is cheered, while some who criticise it are branded traitors. Almost unbelievably, Andy Burnham attempted to consolidate his position as Labour frontrunner by declaring the rejected general election manifesto as the “best” he had stood on.
Even in defeat Labour remains deferential to its leader. Few criticise the decision of Miliband and his wife Justine for him to stand down immediately after his defeat to avoid further personal humiliation. But even his closest aides regret that there has been no transition period before electing a new leader.
The activist and union-dominated national executive committee declined to keep Harman on for an extended period as acting leader (perhaps because Cameron had impudently advocated it). She also failed in her bid to hold the leader and deputy leader contests at different times to ensure that the posts could be shared between a man and a woman.
As a result, “the only people who are getting excited are the candidates”, according to an organiser of the biggest leadership event so far — the GMB conference in Dublin. He went on to express wonderment on the basis of the performances there that Labour will be “trading down on Ed”. Burnham, this year’s favourite, came fourth in 2010.
Labour had hoped to use the contest to attract new supporters, but in London last week only a pitiful 92 people had coughed up £3 to register as supporters and buy the right to vote. After running 24-hour hotlines, the unions had succeeded in getting only 1,200 of their hundreds of thousands of London members to sign up.
By last count on Friday, 42 Labour MPs were still declining to back a candidate. Those hedging their bets included party grandees such as Alan Johnson and Miliband and all the candidates for deputy — so there will be no dream ticket of leader and deputy working together to plot a course ahead for the party.
So far Burnham has the support of 66 MPs, Yvette Cooper has 56 and Liz Kendall has 40. They have all passed the required threshold of nomination — 15% of the parliamentary party (35 MPs).
For the post of deputy, only the Brownite Tom Watson, with 57 nominations, and the Blairite Caroline Flint, on 37, are certain candidates, although there is likely to be a push to get some of the younger female challengers, such as Rushanara Ali or Stella Creasy, to qualify.
In the contest for London mayor, Tessa Jowell and Sadiq Khan are out in front, with other candidates such as David Lammy and Diane Abbott in danger of being winnowed out by party officials.
For the Conservatives, the dream Labour winners would be Burnham, Watson and Khan — they consider all three to be representatives of the Gordon Brown-Ed Miliband tradition that they have just trounced. Some Labour MPs are amazed that the bullying and factional Watson is the frontrunner for deputy.
Burnham started as an aide to leading Blairites, including Jowell, but he has risen recently by emphasising his “northern soul” and his links to the public sector unions, as exemplified by his divisive campaign against the government over the NHS.
In government Burnham was a health minister during the appalling treatment of patients in Mid Staffordshire and as health secretary he declined to order a public inquiry. When the Francis report was finally published, Cameron suggested Burnham should be sacked from his shadow cabinet post.
The health secretary Jeremy Hunt has been slyer, praising Burnham for proposing the integration of care and health services, which this government just happens to be pioneering in the “northern powerhouse” and Labour heartland of Greater Manchester.
If Burnham becomes leader, the Tories are confident that they can hang “Mid Staffs” around his neck as successfully as Liam Byrne’s “there is no money” letter became a noose for Miliband.
Among those who think the party still has lessons to be learnt from its successful New Labour years there is dismay that Lord Falconer, Tony Blair’s unelected protégé, has hitched himself to Burnham. He says he was impressed by Burnham’s championing of the families involved in the Hillsborough football disaster.
Meanwhile, some who worked closely with Burnham in the Miliband team don’t rate his abilities. They expect him to stumble before voting ends in September and, if he does, they predict that the safe but unexciting Cooper could be the beneficiary. Kendall needs to raise her public profile dramatically and quickly if she is to be a contender in an election that is also a popularity contest.
The best hopes of self-styled Labour progressives are in London. They are increasingly confident about Jowell’s chances. She would be 68 or, as she likes to say, “the same age as Hillary” if she is elected. But if Labour ends up choosing Burnham and Watson in one race and Jowell in the other, the party will still be pulling in opposite directions — as it has for the past 10 years. Stop that sniggering, Cameron Minor!
Like a naughty schoolboy of yesteryear, David Cameron is still sticking his tongue out behind teacher’s back after his slap for gloating issued by Harriet Harman, Labour’s schoolmarmish caretaker leader.
Prime ministerial bumptiousness is almost inevitable. The Labour party is caught up in a tangle of leadership contests that are simultaneously hurried and drawn out. At least five televised debates are planned between now and September. And, as Cameron has pointed out, when it comes to the day job, the most significant act so far by the re-elected Labour MPs has been to vote in overwhelming numbers for his European Union (Referendum) Bill — the one they had just spent the election campaign opposing.
Labour’s selection battles may feel like a sideshow, but a defeated party should hope to be refreshed, stronger and with a new sense of purpose after choosing a new leader. Instead it may emerge more muddled, divided and weaker.
The contestants in three races come under starter’s orders this week. At noon tomorrow nominations close for the Labour leadership. On Tuesday there are the first Labour hustings for London mayor; and on Wednesday we’ll find out who has qualified for Labour’s deputy leadership contest. Voting for each post will end on September 10, with the winners announced at a “special conference” two days later.
Instead of reflecting calmly on the implications of its recent defeat, Labour is plunging straight on: loyalty to Ed Miliband’s lost cause is cheered, while some who criticise it are branded traitors. Almost unbelievably, Andy Burnham attempted to consolidate his position as Labour frontrunner by declaring the rejected general election manifesto as the “best” he had stood on.
Even in defeat Labour remains deferential to its leader. Few criticise the decision of Miliband and his wife Justine for him to stand down immediately after his defeat to avoid further personal humiliation. But even his closest aides regret that there has been no transition period before electing a new leader.
The activist and union-dominated national executive committee declined to keep Harman on for an extended period as acting leader (perhaps because Cameron had impudently advocated it). She also failed in her bid to hold the leader and deputy leader contests at different times to ensure that the posts could be shared between a man and a woman.
As a result, “the only people who are getting excited are the candidates”, according to an organiser of the biggest leadership event so far — the GMB conference in Dublin. He went on to express wonderment on the basis of the performances there that Labour will be “trading down on Ed”. Burnham, this year’s favourite, came fourth in 2010.
Labour had hoped to use the contest to attract new supporters, but in London last week only a pitiful 92 people had coughed up £3 to register as supporters and buy the right to vote. After running 24-hour hotlines, the unions had succeeded in getting only 1,200 of their hundreds of thousands of London members to sign up.
By last count on Friday, 42 Labour MPs were still declining to back a candidate. Those hedging their bets included party grandees such as Alan Johnson and Miliband and all the candidates for deputy — so there will be no dream ticket of leader and deputy working together to plot a course ahead for the party.
So far Burnham has the support of 66 MPs, Yvette Cooper has 56 and Liz Kendall has 40. They have all passed the required threshold of nomination — 15% of the parliamentary party (35 MPs).
For the post of deputy, only the Brownite Tom Watson, with 57 nominations, and the Blairite Caroline Flint, on 37, are certain candidates, although there is likely to be a push to get some of the younger female challengers, such as Rushanara Ali or Stella Creasy, to qualify.
In the contest for London mayor, Tessa Jowell and Sadiq Khan are out in front, with other candidates such as David Lammy and Diane Abbott in danger of being winnowed out by party officials.
For the Conservatives, the dream Labour winners would be Burnham, Watson and Khan — they consider all three to be representatives of the Gordon Brown-Ed Miliband tradition that they have just trounced. Some Labour MPs are amazed that the bullying and factional Watson is the frontrunner for deputy.
Burnham started as an aide to leading Blairites, including Jowell, but he has risen recently by emphasising his “northern soul” and his links to the public sector unions, as exemplified by his divisive campaign against the government over the NHS.
In government Burnham was a health minister during the appalling treatment of patients in Mid Staffordshire and as health secretary he declined to order a public inquiry. When the Francis report was finally published, Cameron suggested Burnham should be sacked from his shadow cabinet post.
The health secretary Jeremy Hunt has been slyer, praising Burnham for proposing the integration of care and health services, which this government just happens to be pioneering in the “northern powerhouse” and Labour heartland of Greater Manchester.
If Burnham becomes leader, the Tories are confident that they can hang “Mid Staffs” around his neck as successfully as Liam Byrne’s “there is no money” letter became a noose for Miliband.
Among those who think the party still has lessons to be learnt from its successful New Labour years there is dismay that Lord Falconer, Tony Blair’s unelected protégé, has hitched himself to Burnham. He says he was impressed by Burnham’s championing of the families involved in the Hillsborough football disaster.
Meanwhile, some who worked closely with Burnham in the Miliband team don’t rate his abilities. They expect him to stumble before voting ends in September and, if he does, they predict that the safe but unexciting Cooper could be the beneficiary. Kendall needs to raise her public profile dramatically and quickly if she is to be a contender in an election that is also a popularity contest.
The best hopes of self-styled Labour progressives are in London. They are increasingly confident about Jowell’s chances. She would be 68 or, as she likes to say, “the same age as Hillary” if she is elected. But if Labour ends up choosing Burnham and Watson in one race and Jowell in the other, the party will still be pulling in opposite directions — as it has for the past 10 years. Stop that sniggering, Cameron Minor!
