grimmerupnorth

David Miliband has apparently cancelled a trip to India in September. Is this significant? I neither know nor do I particularly care.What I do know is that he shows all the hallmarks of someone bing egged on by whispering cohorts in the Palace Of Westminster. It's all good stuff for the lobby hacks and will go on ( and on and on ) but the left should stand aside from all this posturing and stress again andagain that it's policy which is hammering Labour at the polls.
Gordon Brown did not choose his Cabinet wisely. He packed it full of Blairites, perhaps in the misguided notion that having them in the tent was better than without. But they were just biding their time.
The irony is of course that had Brown included a broader spread of MPs in his Government then much of the coals heaped on his head would not now be there. Same goes for Brown's inexplicable decision to take the Party further to the right. But we are where we are.In short, he listened to the wrong people.
Some are questioning a decision to start lobbying for support for John McDonnell for a leadership contest. I don't really understand why. To my mind, a statement signed by thousands of ordinary members and trade unionists - and it's thousands already - is a rather better indicator of principoled support than the covert scurrying and scuttling around giving off-the-record briefings to journalists. Even Ed Balls ( et tu Brute?) is apparently trying to position himself as the "left" answer to Miliband.
My feeling is that all hell will break looose in September. We need to be ready to act. An honest statement of intent - based on policy - is preparing the ground for that. In choosing to stay in the Cabinet and snipe from the sidelines, Miliband may already have cooked his goose. I sincerely hope so .

Life is full of good stuff. When there's the bad stuff we have the NHS. So on that note I just want to say a thank-you to the staff at Wythenshawe Hospital who are looking after my dad - who was rushed into hospital last night but will hopefuly be sorted and back home after a couple of days..
I never fail to be heartened by the unfailing kindness and helpfulness of those who work long hours for low wages and reassure us when our loved ones are ill. I only wish the Government would recognise and reward their dedication more.
At least in this country we have a healthcare system which is still the envy of the world. Let's fight to keep it that way.And also fight against any moves to continue the privatisation programme which would outsource and boost profits of the private sector

Last night I received an e-mail from a political ally in the LRC,written in purely personal capacity, asking me to support a request for John McDonnell to stand if there is a leadership contest. I was also asked to circulate to e-mail contacts. Both of which I did.
The idea is, quite simply, to garner signatories which would appear in the papers in the event of a leadership election. It is not about stalking horses, it is not about trying to topple Brown. The only way , in my view, there will be ANY leadership election, is if Brown is forced to resign. So, instead of people getting agitated and endlessly speculating, why don't they focus their minds on the Labour Party Conference when there WILL be a resolution on the leadership threshold - in the event of a vacancy. Which there very possibly could be in the near future.
The resolution from Calder Valley CLP asks for the current margin 12.5 per cent - to be reduced to seven per cent. It will hopefully ensure candidates from ALL wings of the Party can stand - including a left candidate. As the NEC is likely to oppose, please lobby for as much support as you can.

Across the blogosphere, bemused Party mebers have been trying to ascertain what happened at Warwick. We were told, were we not, that now the unions had the upper hand they would fight for a Labour agenda , a return to core values. The reality is they did no such thing.
The FT reports this morning that Gordon Brown has been praised by business for resisting "the worst" union demands on policy. As follows:
Business reacted with undisguised relief to the measures for Labour's next manifesto hammered out at the party's National Policy Forum over the weekend. Reports yesterday claimed the prime minister had "caved in" to the unions, which represent the sole funding lifeline for his cash-strapped party. But employers pointed out that the reality was somewhat different. Facing a list of 130 union demands, Mr Brown rejected the vast majority outright and gave little ground on the remainder.
"Everybody appears to have seen some sense and understood the current economic climate," David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, told the Financial Times. "The business community must be heartened by this." Richard Lambert, director- general of the CBI employers' body, said the government had "resisted the worst of the union demands".
Employers said the document that emerged from the weekend talks between ministers, unions and Labour activists - a central plank of the party's policymaking machine - contained little to cause them alarm.

This is what actually happened to all those centre-left amendments at Warwick. Or at least the view from a councillor in Darlington. Gallows humour, I suppose, that the Centre Left Grassroots Alliance is absurdly dubbed "far left". In truth, it shows just how far removed the NPF is from the rest of us. As Duncan Hall says on Labourhome "fraudulent and useless." Worse, steering this Party to crushing electoral defeat .Pretty depressing stuff.


What was striking was how marginalised the far left were during these votes. The heirs to the Bennite tendancy in the Party are now coalesced around the Grassroots Alliance, a group which does secure some members on the Party's National Executive Committee via internal elections. At Warwick, where they pressed for decisions to abandon Trident, for example, or overturn our academies policy in education, they lost overwhelmingly. In most votes, where 161 delegates were present, the Grassroots Alliance got fewer than 10 and in most cases around 5 votes.
It shows just how distant the far left is in Labour politics now from the mainstream, and that Gordon Brown leads a united party. Clearly with the economic outlook looking uncertain and potentially negative, the Party is suffering in the polls. Gleeful Tories are assuming some kind of 1997 meltdown in two years time. The difference I think is that we are now, and do not appear to be a divided party in the way the Conservatives did then, over Euurope and other issues. If the economic situation begins to improve, and with a coherent manifesto for the next 5 years in place, we are much better placed to stage a recovery

One of our local MPs, Pendle's Gordon Prentice, has just called on Gordon Brown to resign. Though not aligned to any Parliamentary grouping, Gordon has consistently and admirably supported left policies - and was one of the few MPs who last year did not nominate Brown as Leader. I applaud his typical outspokenness but am sure he would also agree that, without a change in policy, a change in leadership will be a fruitless exercise.
The way things are, Gordon Prentice will sadly be one of the first casualties at a General Election. We simply cannout afford to lose MPs like him. In fact, we need more.

It takes a certain tenacity to have stuck with Labour in recent years. Foolhardiness, maybe. One of our hopes when Blair was still around was that the "Big Four" trade union leaders would somehow help the members "re-claim the Party." How vain that hope was now becomes absolutely clear.
The BBC website reports that the National Policy Forum - and the unions - approved the disgraceful, puniitve welfare reforms proposed by James Purnell. The NPF also approved ID cards, 42 days, more Academies. In other words, the whole right-wing package.
Perhaps someone can enlighten me what happened to the hundreds of amendments tabled by the CLPs on rather more progressive lines. The ones, presumably, which ended in the bin. And what, precisely, have people like Woodley and Prentis actually achieved in return for their backing of Tory policies on welfare? Not much, it would appear. The "concessions" on the minimum wage and parental leave are just sops which leave the bigger picture unremittingly New Labour.
The problem with the National Policy Forum, as we knew beforehand, is that it is a stitch-up. I was pretty sceptical that many of the left-of-centre amendments to policy positions would get through but it was worth a shot. However, that particular exercise appears to have been a complete waste of time. So what to do?
We need to campaign for an OMOV procedure to the NPF. Without that, the Policy Forum will continue to be a New Labour cabal. We need to publish the list of amendments which were proposed on Trident , trade union rights, etc and make it clear to people that many thousands in the Party support them. And we have no option but to carry on campaigning . It's clear the union bureucrats are following Brown into the abyss. We don't have to join them.

Tony Woodley was spotted having a drink with David Miliband . A signal, says the Sunday Times, that Something Is Afoot.

In the end I did not stay up to see the result of the Glasgow East by-election. Maybe I knew it already. And what is the poiont of sitting up until the early hours to make yourself miserable. The SNP's victory by 365 votes is quite simply a catastrophic blow from which Gordon Brown will find it very difficult indeed to recover. On these levels of waning support, even he would find it tricky retaining his seat. So Labour has a choice. Change direction - or die. It really is that bad. It won't matter tuppence who is on the NEC , or what amendments we put to the NPF, if we hve no MPs or representation in Parliament. The original Labour Representation Committee, set up a hundred years ago, was exactly what it said on the tin. A group there to promote the interests of Labour. Not capotal, not the bosses, not Middle England. Now even the heartlanders, the core voters, the working-class, see no point in voting Labour. Or. at least, they wanted to hit us where it hurts. At the ballot box.

Once tonight's by-election is out of the way ( yes I will be staying up to watch) the political recess truly begins. For those of us who spend much of our lives at meetings agitating it's a bit like the end of the football season. A whole six weeks without a meeting. Actually, in my case that's not true at all. August has two town council meetings , which I chair, a by-election , and much preparation for the Convention Of The Left in September. There is also the small matter of the £4000 I have pledged to raise for a local hospice, training for a Midnight Walk in September and the ivy which has crept its way up to the roof at the back of my house. So, no, I won't be short of things to do. My prediction for tonight? Labour hangs on - but with much-reduced majority.

Unconfirmed reports on LabourHome suggest that four out of the five Grassroots Allliance candidates have made it on to the NEC. So well done to Ann Black, Peter Kenyon, Pete Willsman and Christine Shawcroft. The bad news is that it therefore looks as if Mohammed Azam didn't make it. Which is a serious shame.
Walter Wolfgang, who never pulled his punches in challenging the leadership, will also be sadly missed. I hope next time round the six-strong slate is more evenly divided between the centre and the left. AND democratically chosen.It would also help if there were no administrative hiccups ( which is why Fran Griffiths from Welsh Labiour Grassroots didn't make the final six)

IT says it all that the Tories are giving wholehearted backing to the welfare reforms being presented to Parliament just before MPs go off on their summer holidays.
Proposals presented yesterday by James Purnell have already been slammed by child poverty campaigners and they must be opposed by Labour MPs. In today's Guardian, LRC Chair John McDonnell has slammed the proposals as a "disgrace" and many more MPs must now speak out.
Anti-poverty activists and living wage advocates insist that compelling people to work in low-paid jobs is not the way to eradicate poverty.
And the Tories are already boasting that the government is merely copying their policies.
The paper to be presented in Parliament today endorses the recommendations of a report by investment banker David Freud, who claims that two million people are "unnecessarily" claiming incapacity benefit.
"Only those with the greatest needs" will be exempt from being expected to find work in future, Mr Purnell will announce - an attack on the poorest that was fully endorsed by Tory shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling, who claimed: "Once again, it is Conservative ideas that are setting the political agenda."
But the Child Poverty Action Group warned that it was an absence of affordable child care which trapped families into dependence on benefits.
Child welfare charity Barnardo's added that "because of this, for too many people, even a job is not a route out of poverty."
The government's draft paper also includes US-style "work for dole" sanctions to force the unemployed to work for benefits and will enable private companies which find jobs for claimants to be paid from resulting savings in benefits.
Mr Freud, whose advice the DWP has accepted "100 per cent," according to Barnardo's, has claimed that private firms could rake in "millions of pounds" in public money through this proposal.
Community activists London Citizens lead organiser Neil Jameson said that the government "must raise the minimum wage to a meaningful living wage."
And one-parent families support group Gingerbread stated that, to end poverty, "jobs with fair pay are vital.
Tory leader David Cameron has pledged "absolute support" from his MPs to get the government's measures through Parliament in the face of any rebellion by Labour backbenchers It is truly depressing that, just as the Party's grassrooots are recognising the changes that must be made to win the next election, the Government is relying on Tory support to get punitive welfare reforms through. They must be opposed by all the wider labour movement.

A win in Glasgow East on Thursday will cheer Labour supporters currently staring into the electoral abyss. But what is happening two days afterwards will be even more important for the future fortunes of the Party.
The National Policy Forum meeting in Warwick has far more sway now than the Party Conference in a couple of months' time . And, yes, that's appalling.
For now, let's concentrate on the sheer commonsense of the demands which trade union leaders will make at the weekend. Rumour has it that Gordon Brown will oppose many of these demands. Minister Pat McFadden has already appeared on Newsnight to quash hopes the unions' collective wisdom will be taken on board at the NPF. Why? They are all mainstream , commonsense ideas which could take the Party out of the centre-right quagmire it has fallen into - with the ensuing meltdown at the polls.
The list, outlined in the Guardian the other day, includes the right to take supportive strike action, scrapping NHS prescription charges, bringing all hospital cleaning back in-house, and a new agreement on public sector pay.
Nearly 200 constituency parties have also submitted 4,000 amendments, about half them motions submitted by activists in the LRC and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy.They include withdrawal from Iraq, a new council house building programme, and a 50p income tax rate on those earning more than £100,000.
Other union proposals include extending the adult minimum wage to 18- to 21-year-olds and apprentices, and legal changes that would allow councils to negotiate procurement contracts that include fair employment clauses.
On education, they want staff in city academies to be paid at the same rates as other school staff, the right to five days a year paid educational leave for all workers, free school meals for all children in primary schools, and mandatory time off to retrain.
On the environment, the unions want to extend the "not-for-profit model" to passenger train operators as franchises expire, and to break up the dominance of the six major energy companies.
On union rights, they want the right to strike, internet balloting, tax deductions for union membership subscriptions, and an extension of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to construction.
On equality, the unions propose extending a duty to promote equality to the voluntary and private sectors, reducing the lower earnings threshold to £30 a week to allow low-paid workers access to sick pay, a tightening of the equal pay laws, and a new right for unions to collectively bargain on equality issues. On parental leave, they want an extension of the child's age limit from six to 16.
What's extraordinary, of course, is that in days gone by these would all have been mainstream Labour policy. New Labour detractors are trying to say this list is some sort of hard left backtrack to the 1980's. What utter nonsense. Measures such as these are the only way we will defeat David Cameron's Tories at the next election.

While Labour activists were choosing their PPC yesterday, the rest of Hebden Bridge was having fun. Before beetling off to Halifax did manage though to head up the Hand Made Parade which launched the World On Your Doorstep Festival - carrying on today. I attach photo which seriously illustrates that there probably is nowhere else in England quite like Hebden Bridge.......in case you're wondering, I'm the one in the pink mac.
Photo credit: Chris Ratcliffe, Hebweb

Today's Independent reports that Gordon Brown is planning a joint initiative with Barack Obama to get the troops out of Iraq in the next 16 months. Let's hope so. I would like to see it sooner - but at least if there is a timetable there is some hope of light at the end of this very dark tunnel.
One of the candidates yesterday spoke of her "heartbreak" at what the Iraq issue had done to the Labour Party. Like many others in the room, I was with her on that march with two million others in February 2003. The one which the Government tragically ignored.
Five years on, I think we would all now agree this illegal and unnecessary war has riven the Party asunder and cost us thousands of members. But let's reserve our sorrow for those whose lives continue to be blown apart on a daily basis by the needless death and suffering. And let's get the troops home ASAP.

A very long day. Much longer for all the candidates who faced a nerve=wracking several hours before the result was announced. Congratulations to Janet Oosthuysen and well-done to all the candidates for making it a fair and transparent process. Also to the regional officers who conducted the day fair and square. It was nail-bitingly close - 73 votes to 68. Democracy in action. And, I have to say, a great victory for the grassroots of Labour. Let's get to it - and campaiogn for Real Labour values in Calder Valley. We made the right decision.

Tomorrow I am going to spend most of the day holed up in a leisure centre in Halifax while my constituency decides who will be the candidate at the next General Election. Calder Valley, with a majority of around 1500, will be a very difficult one to win next time. But with the right candidate - it's not impossible. We need someone who can enthuse activists, capture the imaginations of the voters and work extremely hard for the next two years clawing back the ground we have lost round here thanks to issues like Iraq, our policy on Trident, tuition fees and indeed the total collapse of the New Labour project. We also need a candidate who will campaign against privatisation of local welfare services, campaign for a living wage and more social housing in the Calder Valley, and stop the march of the BNP .

Hat tip to Dave Osler for relaying the news that our new General Secretary ( the Blairite one the unions shoe-horned in from a shortlist of one) has brought Derek Draper back from the outer darkness to advise Labour how to win the next election. Apparently, it's on a voluntary basis.It would have to be , as the Party has just had to cancel its Spring Conference and has no money.

Fightback against low pay continues tomorrow at 12 noon when there's a Rally Against Low Pay*, Peace Gardens, St Peter’s Square, behind Manchester Town Hall
Speakers include Chris Chorlton PCS National Executive, Jimmy Thornton UNITE Manchester City Council, Kevin Brown FBU Regional Secretary, Chris Morley NUJ, David Swanson UCU NEC and Manchester College, representatives from UNITE Initial cleaners at Manchester Airport, Manchester TUC Pensioners, UNITE Argos distribution workers, Heywood (tbc)
Supported by PCS North West, UNITE North West, FBU North West, UCU North West, Manchester NUT, Salford Trades Council, UNITE Fujitsu Manchester, RMT South Manchester

If you want to learn most about why New Labour has failed public sector workers don 't read a leaflet or attend a conference - just join a picket line. You can learn more in 10 minutes from talking to people at the front line of services than hours theorising or arguing with like-minded people on the internet. This morning , we were discussing for example the planned privatisation of home care for the elderly in Calderdale. Under the plans , 70 per cent of the work will be outsourced. The result, UNISON members say, will be a poorer service which puts the profit motive before people often living in rural, isolated communities. One which Calderdale backs because it is Tory-led and wants to save money .

Read John McDonnell’s article about the alleged collusion of UK intelligence services in torture: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/15/humanrights.terrorism

It's from 8am outside the Town Council Offices. I shall be there ........Wednesday night's Town Council meeting has been cancelled and I urge all those who support the publicx sector workers in their struggle against low pay to be there.

Bout of insomnia last night which as suffereres know means you wake at 2.30am and fall asleep again at 5.30am so spend the following day thorougly wiped out. But despite befuddlement interested to read this speech from Saturday's "Big Meeting" ie Durham, Miner's Gala which one year I must get round to attending. In short, I agree with all of it. Source: Morning Star

Durham Miners Association general secretary David Hopper received the only standing ovation of the day for his passionate attack on new Labour's failure to improve the lives of working people since its election in 1997.
"The greatest condemnation of new Labour is the fact that, after 11 years of their government, the gap between rich and poor has widened," he stormed.
"While working-class families struggle to make ends meet, they see our erstwhile prime minister in the vulgar pursuit of self-enrichment. They see Labour MPs fighting to prevent the details of their expenses being made public."
He insisted: "We don't want a Tory government at the next election - God knows the miners suffered enough under Thatcher and the last Tory 19 years in office - but this Gordon Brown new Labour government is acting like a Tory government.
"Their policies are attacking sick miners who suffered ill health after over 25 years working underground and now this government is trying to force them off incapacity benefit and into jobs they are unable to physically carry out, while millionaires from overseas can live in the UK without paying tax."
Mr Hopper added: "That is not the socialist policies of a Labour Party that the NUM was once proud to support."

Good news from Glasgow East, where according to a poll in today's Sunday Mirror, Labour is 14 points ahead. If we can hang on to this seat then maybe there is hope of a recovery significant enough to avert a Tory landslide at the next election. Maybe.

I suppose it was inevitable. One year ago, Margaret Thatcher was treated to tea and buns at Number 10. Now Gordon Brown is said to be in talks with the Queen about a state funeral for Margaret Thatcher. In one word, why?

A busy week. Four school assemblies , a walkers' action meeting, and today the delights of the Mytholmroyd Gala and later on strawberries and cream with the Old People's Welfare Committee. You could get very fat being Mayor but I am trying not to...... Lurched from one massive Yorkshire buffet to another today but managed to avoid the vast cakes and even the ( always) irresistible urge to eat those little party pies was contained within reasonable limits.
Tomorrow is the Civic Service in Mytholmroyd - so I am having a rare Saturday night in to recuperate. Amid the readings will be the famous verse by Pastor Martin Niemoller about standing up and being counted. Sometimes - it can have unpleasant consequences. I'm not particularly thick-skinned and it's not pleasant being lambasted. But, on balance, I would still rather express my opinion than not.

A game of tennis with Tony Blair was one of the star prizes at a fund-raising dinner for Labour last night. Other goodies included lunch with Alex Ferguson and the chance to be a character in a novel by Alistair Campbell. I gather after-dinner entertainment was provided by Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. His repertoire, I understand, included that well-known Bee Gees number Tragedy. In Labour's dire financial circumstances, not the wisest of choices. "Stayin' Alive" might have been a better bet.........

For over 30 years, I have been an inveterate fan of by-elections. The best one was in Chesterfield in 1984 when Tony Benn got back into Parliament after losing his seat but there have been other memorables. In Moss Side in 1978, Vanessa Redgrave stood for the WRP ( she lost) and there were bad ones for Labour like the Bermondsey by-election in 1982 when the Liberals ran a homophobic campaign against Peter Tatchell . Glasgow East is going to be the one which may determine Labour's future but tonight, in Haltemprice and Howden, the result is a foregone conclusion.

Surefootedness is all in politics and Boris Johnson has scored a populist coup by announcing he will pay the Living Wage - £7.40 an hour - to all staff employed by the Greater London Authority and related bodies, including Transport for London.
A cynic might well argue this is a populist ploy and typical of the way the Tories are now positioning themselves as the party of social justice. Such a stance may once have attracted hoots of derision and, as we know, the truth is rather different but sadly at the moment they are stealing march after march from Labour.
I was glad to note Gordon Brown making it clear on his stance on Mugabe at the G8 summit but some closer attention to domestic matters including the plight of the low-paid - and a real increase in the Minimum Wage -would be seriously helpful to Labour's chances of recovery. He should also stop the tough talking to the unions and accept their demands at the Warwick 2 meeting in a few weeks' time. Several large slices of humble pie are required from the Prime Minister if he is to win back our supporters.
Talking of which I'm sorry Gordon but I really could not face another lunch of cabbage soup . After three days of stoical munching through a concoction of dried beans, onions and a Savoy mulched up in the liquidiser, it has ended up in the bin. The good news is I just found some half-price broccoli and celery at the co-op so will get going again at the chopping-board.

Fears of recession deepen as the housing industry faces a serious slump - and serious implications for jobs.
Today, major players Bovis and Redrow have revealed they are in the process of shedding about 40 per cent of their workforce - 400 jobs at Bovis, and around 550 at Redrow.
The news comes a day after another housebuilder, Persimmon, announced that 1,100 full-time staff had been cut since January.
Last week, other developers including Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments together revealed around 3,200 job losses. Why? Because the demand for homes to buy has been drastically hit by rising prices, falling wages, and general fear of economic downturn. Yet affordable homes are needed now more than ever.
The slump in the homeowner market could be used as an opportunity for now redundant development sites to be transformed into places where social housing could be built. Thousands live in sub-standard rented accommodation. The Government should step in and facilitate the building by local authorities or housing associations of much-needed homes for rent. And save the jobs of thousands of building workers in the process

My best mate Coun Dave Young has the dubious accolade of being the most frequent visitor to my blog. He is also a mega-fan of the late, great Johnny Cash who I became converted to after seeing the film Walk The Line. In a world where we can garner many political enemies, we need our allies. So as a tribute to the friends who do walk the line when it matters here's a fab picture of the coolest man in country. More in the Guardian

Glasgow East is a tough, traditional Labour constituency. The kind of place where a monkey with a red rosette would once have won without blinking. Now it has become High Noon for Gordon Brown. In recent days I have been excoriated for suggesting as much but that is the truth and the truth is something I do not shy away from.
Those still in the bunker hurl the usual insults about the Left being "dinosaurs" and subscribing to outdated ideology. But the truly outdated ideology here is that of New Labour.
Yet, with Armageddon staring him in the face the Prime Minister urdges stern warnings to trade unionists and tells people to eat leftovers as he tucks in to a lavish banquet at the G8 summit.
In a strange accident of timing, "Warwick 2", a gathering of trade unionists and the National Policy Forum, is only two days after the by-election. One ray of hope is that thousands of progressive amendments have been tabled by constituencies on everything from Trident to trade union rights and council housing. Let us hope that many are taken on board and that at least get a hearing at Labour Party Conference.
But this is thin stuff compared with what really needs to be done - which is a seismic shift in Government thinking. I remain pessimistic this will happen.
If Labour fights a good campaign in Glasgow East - then maybe we can hang on to the seat. The fact it should even be in doubt shows just how serious a situation we are in. And, no, it isn't just the usual suspects who are putting their haeds above the parapet to say that.
Manchester Blackley Labour MP Graham Stringer, hardly a serial rebel, says in today's Morning Star "The mood has really hardened against Gordon. Labour MPs, before the Crewe by-election, were saying they didn't want to win because it would prolong the agony and they are now saying the same about Glasgow East.
"The truth is that winning Glasgow won't save Gordon Brown and losing it will probably mean the end is even sooner."

I wasn't there - John Spence was . See what you think.........

That Harriet Harman is going to step in and challenge Gordon Brown in the event of things turning for the worse. Ironic, really, given her allegiance to "Team Brown" but a year ago. However, it is perhaps a measure of how bad things are that I find myself thinking it would at least NOT be Miliband or Purnell. And of course a woman......If this scenario ever came to pass ( and I think it's just the start of the silly season, really) HH would NOT be the first female Leader of the Labour Party. Technically, that's Margaret Beckett. I do know women MPs of the Left who have time for her. I cannot really comment. Other than to say never underestimate the ambition of any politician. And that, in a straight fight between Harman and New Labour Suits like Burnham or Balls, I would support her.

Tony Benn always famously says that politics is not about personalities - but policy. So let's remind ourselves WHY many of us opposed Gordon Brown becoming Leader . It wasn't his lack of charisma, his prudent Presbyterian ways ( of which being a Northern Ireland hybrid I know plenty) or any other personal deficiencies.
It was the fact we knew that the path Gordon Brown was going to take, pro business and anti trade union, was not a Labour agenda which would win back our core supporters. Now, at a time when the trade unions are basically propping Labour up from bankruptcy, and appealing in very reasonable terms for some modest reforms at Warwick 2 , here's his answer.
If it sounds familiar, that is because it is the same neo-liberal guff he was spouting when he debated with John McDonnell and Michael Meacher . Now, as then, it's simply unacceptable rhetoric from a Labour Prime Minister

"Successful governments are those whose eyes are fixed on the future not harking back to the past. The countries that prosper in the future will be those that combine fairness with flexibility to achieve full employment.
"So there will be no return to the 1970s, the 1980s or even the 1990s when it comes to union rights, no retreat from continued modernisation and there can be no question of any re-introduction of secondary picketing rights.
"While we will push ahead with our family-friendly agenda we will do nothing that puts employment and future prosperity at risk."

This post was written three hours ago - interrupted by a power cut. Nice to know that rising utility company prices are paying dividends for the consumer......... still, amid the serious pain of rising food and fuel prices, we now know what to do . The advice to hard-up householders from our Great Leader is to re-discover the thrifty ways of our forbears and , hey, maybe the average household could save £8 a week.
Actually, I'm something of an expert in cheese-paring. Last week I bought a chicken ( free-range, reduced) for £2.50 and managed to make an excellent coq au vin for two AND roast the other half which meant there were two more meals for me - and the cat had the dodgy bits. Then I boiled up the carcass and made soup. My fridge is a beacon of non-waste. But, frankly, it is not enough to keep the wolf from the door. In fact the wolf is pretty much sitting down at my dinner table with his teeth bared and ready to tuck in.
In years to come, I will no doubt look back at this fallow period employment-wise and laugh about it. The reality at present is not so funny for me- nor millions of others facing penury.
And sitting round in the dark for several hours while electricity suppliers get their act together is even less amusing........
It is a gross miscalculation on the part of Number 10 to issue wartime-like pronouncements on belt-tightening when our oppos on the well-off side of the fence are richer than they have ever been. I always thought it was the job of a Labour Government to look after the less well-off and aim to make things more equitable. But no, it's all our fault for being wasteful.
Meanwhile, the vultures are gathering around Gordon Brown and the line seems to be if Glasgow East goes down the tubes then that, basically, is it.
Someone has suggested I will take great delight in the loss of this hitherto safe constituency. That is, to be blunt, bollocks. I think it will be an absolute disaster - and terrible news for EVERY Labour MP in the UK. So what to do? Can we really go on with a Leader who clearly won't take the steps necessary to turn Labour's fortunes round ie change of POLICY. In a word, no. And it is arguable it would be better to pull the plug now than carry on with a Leader who is, I'm sad to say, an electoral liability.

You couldn't make it up....Labour has had to draft in Margaret Curran MSP a last-minute candidate in Glasgow East after the hot contender pulled out amid allegations of housing benefit fraud - doesn't look good does it? . The SSP has announced it will stand Frances Curran.....yes a candidate with the same surname. Not exactly helpful to Labour....I hope I am wrong but I predict another Crewe and Nantwich - and a serious Labour leadership crisis

Today I met Lenin at the launch of the South Yorkshire LRC.........Lenin Williams, proud son of a socialist and trade unionist who helped transform Wortley Hall, near Barnsley into the stately home of the Labour movement in South Yorkshire. Run as a co-operative and since 1951 owned and run by the labour movement, the Hall has offered support and solidarity to socialists from all over the world. In 1984, it served meals to striking miners and their families. Delegations from Cuba, the former Soviet Union and ANC have also visited.

Yesterday, during my weekly stint in Oxfam , I picked up an excellent bargain. A brand-new IKEA bathroom mat for just £3.99. Somehow, I cannot imagine the likes of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith perusing the local charity shops for dinky household items. They don't need to - thanks to the "John Lewis list." Actually, my brother-in-law works for John Lewis so I could probably take advantage of his staff discount. Tbe fact is that, even with a discount, John Lewis is way off my scale. And millions of others on ordinary incomes and ordinary lifestyles. Yet MPs feel entitled to take £23,000 a year from the public purse so their second homes can look good.
No wonder people are disgusted with their political representatives - they do not live on the same planet as the rest of us. Even Peter Kilfoyle, Militant witch-hunter turned left-winger ( of a sort) arged for this disgraceful example of "snouts in the trough" syndrome.
As Westminster corresponder David Hencke says in today's Guardian: " If MPs think the public are going to be sympathetic to the case for cash for pergolas, kitchens and plasma screen TVs in their London homes, they do not live in the real world.

There is nothing more guaranteed to see the Left throwing rocks at each other than the endless debate about whether socialists should stay in the Labour Party - or leave. So let's talk about the real world. Where at the next election ALL Labour MPs face a struggle to stay in Westminster .

Anyone seriously surprised that the 42 days vote was won by Tammany Hall-style backroom dealing? We know the DUP were bought off , that MP after MP was bribed, cajoled and bullied into toeing the line. That , let's face it, is how Brown became Leader without a contest. And people wonder why Labour is doing so badly?
The electorate is not stupid. The electorate has had enough. At what price did Brown win that 42 days vote? One which may bring him down in the next few months.

It is just under a year since the LRC went national and started to form regional groups across the UK. One of the first was in West Yorkshire. In difficult times politically, we have held it together and met regularlyin Halifax and Hebden Bridge. It would be great to report we now have hundreds of members in and outside the Labour Party. What we have is a base to build on - and a core of supporters loyal to the principles on which the Labour Party was founded.
On Saturday, I wil be speaking at the launch of the South Yorkshire LRC. I think I am billed as Susan West but it's an easy mistake to make...... the meeting is part of the Wortley Hall weekend hosted by the co-op and local MP Michael Clapham will be key speaker. What am I going to say?
First, let's make one thing absolutely clear. I understand there have been recent accusations in my locality that the LRC is a "party within a party" on the lines of Militant. It is not.
The constitution of the LRC is loosely similar to that of the Fabian Society and anyone who does not believe me is welcome to peruse it.
We do not stand candidates against Labour. Those who do stand against Labour cannot join the LRC . Our meetings are open, democratic, with no centralised control.
Policy is decided at the annual AGM .
In times like these, it is understandable that people yearn for "quick fix " solutions to the abyss the Left is looking into. There aren't any.
The hopes we had of "re-claiming " the Party once Blair had gone have not really materialised. Party membership still falls. Trade union leaders let us down.
But the only, serious way we can fight back is from the bottom upwards. Ones and twos, Branch Labour Parties and Constituencies. Talking, also, to comrades who cannot stomach the thought of officially aligning themselves with the Labour Party.
I think they are wrong. I think projects like the "Campaign For A New Workers Party" are utter folly. They only play into the hands of the right. But let us try and have respect for each other's values.
In the shape of the LRC, we have a 1500-strong group which is now the largest on the Labour Left. And, to the right of us, there is Compass.
I have little faith in its leadership. But I do believe there are issues on which we can and must work together with the ordinary members - many of whom are also members of the LRC.
But what is also absolutely crucial is that as many Branch Labour Parties and CLPs afiliate to the LRC to increase our representation at a national level. The South Yorkshire LRC is part of that movement and I look forward to meeting more people on Saturday.

I think it was Harold MacMillan who said that "events, dear boy, events" govern political successes and failures. And apologies for not blogging earlier today but like many others in these very difficult times am fire-fighting financial Armageddon and trying to work out how to survive. Kind of stops one feeling creative.....
This much I know. Gordon Brown has had it. The reality is anyone, and I mean ANYONE, would deliver better election results than the co-architect of New Labour has a cat in hell's of doing.
Glasgow East , if lost, will spell the end for Gordon Brown. I have that on reliable authority which I am not at liberty to distribute. Let's just say it's a senior Labour figure.
Now I think that's a sad end to a political career which started so spectacularly well and if only Gordon had hung on to his socialism but frankly I am more concerned now about the many decent Labour MPs who will go to the slaughter if Brown refuses to go quietly.
What we are looking at now is basically a salvage operation - a damage limitation strategy. I have not very much time for Jack Straw. Nor Alan Johnson. But they are, if truth be told, the likely caretakers. Miliband won't go anywhere near this extremely poisoned chalice. In any case, he could be out at the next election
My take is this. If either of them have the Party's interests at heart ( and they probably do) now is the time to go to Gordon and say - you had your chance, you've messed it up, now our priority is saving the Labour Party from annihiliation. The Tories do it. And now must we.
Or we may never have a Labour Government again in my lifetime.