Which Mili-bland will it be?

He has a vision for 'change'

He has a vision for 'change'

SO Team Miliband has decided to offer the Labour party a real choice for its leadership election – Miliband or Miliband? Oh wait, Balls, I’ve forgotten Balls – though he might not yet stand!
As Ed’s foray into the contest was botched by a careless ‘tweeter’, David was seen rambling on about ‘brotherly love’ and how he wanted to ‘change’ things in his party as New Labour is no longer ‘new’ – in fact, it’s pretty old in his book.
Apparently, the reason why Labour wasn’t re-elected is because unlike the other two parties, it didn’t say the word ‘change’ enough – and that has got to change.
Well, if that’s a way of getting yourself elected, good luck. It’s better than using the word ‘hope’ all the time.
So, David is seen as the pro-New Labourite (ironically) who shackled himself to Government as he climbed the greasy pole while eating the infamous banana at conference to undermine Gorilla Gordon. Ed, on the other hand, is more hardcore with the left and has a ‘vision’ – and yes, it’s for ‘change’.
The real question is what choice the Labour party is being offered here – if any at all? Both are professional politicians with little other experience and are cut from the same cloth – like Mili-bland clones.
I may be wrong and there may be big differences between the two but I fear that with either of them at the helm, Labour could suffer and so can the country with no effective opposition party – which is what we need.
In opposition, you need bruising politicians with real life-experience to get across what folk – ie. the electorate – are really thinking in real life away from Westminster.
As David has noticed, Labour spectacularly failed in keeping in touch with what people wanted and was rightly punished on May 6.
People are fed up with bland professional politicians spouting Blairesque spin – and I do hope that the Conservatives and Lib Dems read this and take it on board too.
Because it they don’t, we might just end up with bland clones spouting ‘change’ and a fuming electorate.

Time to Wake up for Moaning Lib Dems

Liberal Democrats should be joyous today – they are finally in Government after decades in the political wilderness.
After failing to reach a compromise when we last had deadlock in 1974, the Liberals haven’t come close to having any political influence at Westminster except when Tony Blair offered them a faint sniff of it in the 1990s.
Yet, this morning, I am baffled by the hordes of Lib Dem activists and voters despairing at what Nick Clegg et al have done with many threatening to join Labour.
But why do that? Are they mad?
The Tories are not that evil and scary – after all the Lib Dems now have five key cabinet seats and a Government which has adopted a raft of Lib Dem policies. Labour failed to compromise and couldn’t reach a working majority anyway! It’s a no brainer.
I do fear for the Libs that voting reform could be a dead duck for them now. Do not be fooled by inaccurate journalism and analysis, which I’ve seen in the last few days, calling the proposed AV voting system a form of proportional representation. It isn’t.
It is a majoritarian system used in Australia which can bring about more ridiculously strong parties than first past the post.
And if it is put to a referendum do not be surprised if both Labour and Conservatives campaign against it which will kill it dead.
Do we really want PR anyway? Look at the European elections where it rewards lunatics and nutters, as Nick Clegg may put it himself, like the BNP with seats. Is this what we want here?
So I call on Lib Dems to marvel in the work their leaders have done in negotiating seats at the big table despite losing five seats in the election. It is a remarkable achievement.
I sincerely hope that the new Government is a success but it will be tough. The first thing is to ensure Britain gets rid of its awful debt and helps people keep in jobs which are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Brown Monday

So it was ‘Brown Monday’, as The Sun declared yesterday.
It was thought that the markets would crash and the pound would plunge as ‘squatter Brown’ dug in at Number 10.
Ironically, for the Murdoch tabloid, the opposite happened.
The markets failed to plunge and it was only a ‘Brown Monday’ as Gordon finally decided to stand aside placing the Con/Lib Dem negotiations in turmoil.
Conservatives can only watch on amid rumours that Lib Dem MPs will not accept Conservative policies as they would prefer Labour as long as one key obstacle goes – and now that is going to happen.
Perhaps another sticking point was the Tories only promising a referendum on the AV voting system – it is too much like first past the post and would do little to boost Lib Dem seat numbers.
Labour, on the other hand, are apparently offering AV and a referendum on proportional representation.
Goodness knows what the Lib Dems decide but the numbers still favour David Cameron.
A safe bet might be that we will be going back to the polls inside the next couple of years – whatever system we use!

Race Still on for the Lib Dems

Three full days after the election and we still don’t know what is going to happen.
As I rightly predicted on election night, many hours before the final result, I said that our whole Government’s future would hinge on the Lib Dems – and that remains the case.
Brown is sneaking around the Foreign Office – is he meeting Clegg or is he set to resign?
Also Clegg is in his seventh hour of formal talks with Cameron.
My advice would be to get steady Government as soon as possible.
The problem is that a Labour and Lib Dem coalition fails to reach the 326 needed. It simply is not an option.
I think a basic Cons/LD coalition is now looking like the safe bet. Yes, it might be hard to swallow for some Lib Dems, but it will give them proper legitimacy and auhority in Government for the first time. And given the Lib Dem numbers were down, wouldn’t you snatch that?
And senior Tories are willing to compromise on electoral reform.
It’s a no-brainer – it would give us the stability we need and steady the ship and no doubt, we will be back at the polls in a year or two.

Paralysis in Westminster

So as the exit poll rightly predicted that we are heading for a hung Parliament and paralysis at Westminster.
The numbers are so poor that even a Lib/Lab pact might not reach 326!
Nick Clegg must be crying in his Corn Flakes this morning after seeing his vote tumble from the high polls after the first debate.
But he could still hold the key.
By siding with a party and forming some kind of Government, his party will finally gain recognition at Westminster and may gain authority in the eyes of the public.
With the pound already tumbling, I fear that my worries of a hung Parliament might be true.
Let’s have a new Government with a new leader for a few months.
But ultimately, we need a strong party in power so that’s why I predict that like in 1974 we could be heading back to another election.

Race is on for the Lib Dems

So the exit poll is showing a Tory lead but 19 seats short of a majority.
Already Peter Mandelson and Alan Johnson are offering PR electoral reform as part of a caveat for a deal with the Lib Dems.
But Nick Clegg is being quoted that he would give the party with the most seats – possibly the Tories – the first chance to form a coalition.
This would, of course, fly in the face of convention where the sitting Prime Minister usually has the first say in a hung parliament situation.
But remember 1974 where Tory PM Ted Heath tried this but failed!
The night is going to be fascinating.
And who is going to get decapitatated this time?
Hold on for Ed Balls’ result at around 3am!

Voting for Turkeys?

And so election day is finally here for the millions who have not yet had their say by post.
And while it is all exciting, it is time to have some real perspective on things.
We have all been shocked at the expenses scandal, the way the economy has been run and the brainless nanny state policies over the past five years.
Now is your chance to finally have your say and punish a whole raft of greedy and dictatorial politicians who have run our country into the ground.
I prefer to vote for the candidate first of all as opposed to the party.
Ask yourself whether your MP was one or the shabby lot who creamed our system for duck ponds, home expansions or flipping. If so, why vote for him or her after showing such disregard for you, the voter. Punish them.
Then look at the party and see if it would make a real change in sorting out Britain.
Perhaps the Conservatives are not the nasty party led by far right bigots and divided by Europe as once thought.
Maybe the Lib Dems do need a seat at the table?
But I fear for Labour under Brown. Not only is he a PR nightmare but he seems to have run out of ideas and support. Too much of his campaign has been focused on spinning negative views of the Tory and Lib Dem policies instead of him telling us how he will cut the deficit.
The Tories are also infuriating in saying they will cut the deficit but not telling us how.
The Lib Dems are also vague and keep calling for a joint committee! I’d prefer for some action rather than more talk.
So, it’s a tricky one and if the magical target is not reached it could be hung Parliament time for the first time at an election since 1974.
I fear for this greatly and we could be heading back to the polling stations sooner than we would like.
So think hard before voting today and don’t be swayed by silly front pages like this:

What a Silly Sood!

As a former Johnston Press reporter, I hope that trainee hack Sophie Wyllie is given due recognition for putting the Lynn News on the map thanks to Labour candidate Manish Sood’s comments about Gordon Brown being the ‘worst PM ever’. Of course, his views have some validity but as a Labour man his thoughts are simply incredible. Who on earth within the Labour party decided to make him an election candidate and why hasn’t he been suspended since he spouted his views to Ms Wyllie? The party seems to be in meltdown internally which gives me, as a voter, little faith in them to remain in power. They seem generally detached from reality as the expenses scandal showed us all. Perhaps now the time is for a change all round and I can’t see Gordon Brown surviving past Thursday.

Hung Parliament: is it really a good idea?

We live in interesting times, as Robert Kennedy was famously said.

And it could become more interesting if the Tories fail to reach the 300 seat mark in Thursday’s election.

There is without doubt a lot of political manouvreing going on behind the scenes as the prospect of the Liberal Democrats gaining more than 100 seats for the first time becomes a true possibility.

That would mean the Lib Dems hold the balance of power and we could see a stand-off with David Cameron challenging the convention of the existing Prime Minister having the first opportunity to form a Government.

Back in 1974, when there was the last hung Parliament, sitting Tory Prime Minister Edward Heath battled to form a coalition to stay in power as his party gained the most votes but only the second-highest seats.

But, he was forced to fall on his sword and resign when this did not materialise. Labour entered office as a minority Government, held another election in the October and won a small majority.

The effects of all this on the country is debatable. But one must not ignore the warning of Tory veteran Ken Clarke that it had a damaging effect – quite possibly leading the IMF emergency bailout of UK PLC.

No-one is saying this could happen again but with the banks failing and Europe almost on its knees with the Greeks, do we really want a weak Government in a hung Parliament situation?

It is very worrying that we could have a “progressive alliance”, as it is being touted, of Labour and Lib Dem politicians stuttering and compromising to make weak decisions. We don’t want to become the next Italy of Europe plagued with weak coalitions and ridiculous amount of elections to try to break the deadlock.

But, I predict, if we do have a Lib-Lab pact, possibly under a new Prime Minister of Milliband or Johnson, there will be another election in the autumn.

And I worry what the markets and the world economy will think of it.

Ashes to Ashes

It has been like watching The Day Today in the past few days.

With all the modern cons of life these days – the Internet, the iPhone, the fridge freezer, – a sheer cloud of ash can bring the country to its knees.

Sounds familiar, eh? Just like a few flakes of snow a few months ago brought the UK to a standstill.

What is it about our inability to cope with these things?

Even the most experienced pilots say airspace should have opened hours ago – so what are we waiting for? More umming and arring?

Ahead of a general election, other countries must look on us as idiots who fail at the slightest change of weather. I don’t know what Washington thinks of it.

This is going to be a major headache for our economy now with days missed at work, schools closed and the travel industry on its arse. The aftermath will be terrifying.

I heard today that someone was even sacked over the ash cloud saga.

The world has become like an episode of The Day Today and it’s crazy!