Good things happened this week:
Tony Blair is not going to become European President. To reward someone who failed to stand up to the most ideological and right wing US President in modern times on the issue of invading Iraq, would leave the whole of Europe tarnished Blair's poor judgement on foreign policy. It won't happen.
Jacqui Smith and the disgraced Tony McNulty, were both forced to apologise on the expenses issue.
Birmingham Greens are not standing in the Hall Green constituency. By standing down here for a leading figure in the anti-war movement, Salma Yaqoob, even though she represents another party, the Greens have shown the vision of a new type of politics, as outlined by Caroline Lucas earlier this year, is a real possibility.
So did bad things:
There was an appalling homophobic attack in Liverpool this week. There will be a candlelit vigil tonight at 8pm.
The BNP are likely to be able to access further European funds if they successfully set up a pan-European alliance on the far right.
The mess made by our occupation of Afghanistan is clear to see. There is a corrupt western backed regime, that doesn't have democratic legitimacy, in a country where democracy is fragile at best. I'll express my own frustrations here.
Afghanistan is an example of the regional horrors of geopolitics from the Cold War to modern times. The Mujahideen 'freedom fighters' were armed and backed by the United States. From the Mujahideen, the Taliban emerged as the strongest faction, plunging the Afghan people and in particular, the women of Afghanistan, into a new dark age.
Nothing is ever simple, but our politicians didn't care about Afghanistan or the oppression of women there from 1996 to 2001, and they got it wrong invading in 2001. We are in an unwinnable war, where there is little that we can achieve for the good of the people there, particularly when the current President is willing to pass laws like this one.
The Green Party opposed the war in Afghanistan. We were attacked for this by many. We should remember what the Labour government, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives said. They got it wrong.
We need a better vision of international politics, and we are not going to correct all the historical problems of the world in one or two generations. But we can act ethically. The more nations that do so, the better the world our children will inherit.
1 November 2009
24 October 2009
A St Michaels Byelection? - An Update
Is the leader of Liverpool City Council misusing council tax money? That is the question, and I’m inviting you to answer it in my blog poll. Let me explain what is going on.
If a common issue has come up in a certain locality – for example anti-social behaviour – and the locally elected ward councillor has acted on it and wants to inform residents about this action, they have the facility to do this through issuing “street letters”. These are letters that are a general response to all residents in the area.
This is a good system. It allows local councillors to respond to local residents and do the job they were elected to do, regardless of political affiliation.
In St Michaels ward, there are two Green councillors and one Liberal Democrat, Cllr Peter Allen. In the past, the local Green councillors have used street letters issued by the council, but more usually we print our own leaflet (at no cost to local residents) to enable us to give a more comprehensive response.
We’ve now found out that Warren Bradley, the Liberal Democrat leader of Liverpool City Council, and ward councillor for the Wavertree ward (about a mile from the ward boundary) is issuing street letters funded by city council tax payer’s in St Michaels. This has followed the telephone canvassing and door knocking I reported in my earlier post.
Cllr John Coyne, leader of the Green group has contacted Committee Services, who so far seem unconcerned this is going on, and has put in a Freedom of Information request about the correspondence. Clearly this is a marginal seat, so there are political implications if Lib Dem councillors from outside the area are now using tax payer money to campaign.
In my view, this clearly steps beyond the bounds of what is acceptable political conduct. If Cllr Allen wishes to contact residents and issue street letters, then he is entitled to do so, but it seems more and more likely that he has been deselected. Why should Liberal Democrats from other parts of the city be allowed to do this?
The equivalent action would be for the Greens, Labour or Steve Radford’s Liberal Party to start issuing street letters in target wards of our choice around the city, while sending the bill to overstretched residents in the form of their council tax. I’m sure that all three of our parties wouldn’t dare attempt what would clearly be an abuse of the system, but the leader of the council has done!
Time for local journalists to get onto this latest scandal. We Greens will be very happy to hear from you and to fill you in on the details. In the meantime, please do vote in my blog poll.
If a common issue has come up in a certain locality – for example anti-social behaviour – and the locally elected ward councillor has acted on it and wants to inform residents about this action, they have the facility to do this through issuing “street letters”. These are letters that are a general response to all residents in the area.
This is a good system. It allows local councillors to respond to local residents and do the job they were elected to do, regardless of political affiliation.
In St Michaels ward, there are two Green councillors and one Liberal Democrat, Cllr Peter Allen. In the past, the local Green councillors have used street letters issued by the council, but more usually we print our own leaflet (at no cost to local residents) to enable us to give a more comprehensive response.
We’ve now found out that Warren Bradley, the Liberal Democrat leader of Liverpool City Council, and ward councillor for the Wavertree ward (about a mile from the ward boundary) is issuing street letters funded by city council tax payer’s in St Michaels. This has followed the telephone canvassing and door knocking I reported in my earlier post.
Cllr John Coyne, leader of the Green group has contacted Committee Services, who so far seem unconcerned this is going on, and has put in a Freedom of Information request about the correspondence. Clearly this is a marginal seat, so there are political implications if Lib Dem councillors from outside the area are now using tax payer money to campaign.
In my view, this clearly steps beyond the bounds of what is acceptable political conduct. If Cllr Allen wishes to contact residents and issue street letters, then he is entitled to do so, but it seems more and more likely that he has been deselected. Why should Liberal Democrats from other parts of the city be allowed to do this?
The equivalent action would be for the Greens, Labour or Steve Radford’s Liberal Party to start issuing street letters in target wards of our choice around the city, while sending the bill to overstretched residents in the form of their council tax. I’m sure that all three of our parties wouldn’t dare attempt what would clearly be an abuse of the system, but the leader of the council has done!
Time for local journalists to get onto this latest scandal. We Greens will be very happy to hear from you and to fill you in on the details. In the meantime, please do vote in my blog poll.
A Question of Time
After the result of the European Election, it wasn't an "if" about when Nick Griffin would go on Question Time, but a when. For the last ten years, we've had two Euro MPs, and both Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert have been given slots on the programme.
When the results came in, and the BNP beat the Greens narrowly here in the North West, it was a certainty that they would be offered the same. Had we Greens taken 3 seats to just a single BNP Euro gain in Yorkshire and Humberside, by the obscure Andrew Brons, there would be no Nick Griffin on Question Time or even much discussion about the BNP now. The knives would have quickly been out for him within his own party.
It is a sad state of affairs, and it is still difficult to comment on. However, last night I posted a response on a Socialist Unity thread on this, highlighting three articles:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6417906/One-in-four-would-consider-voting-BNP.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6886015.ece
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=4096
The first two are worth reading for an explanation about why the appearance is significant (an ostrich approach to this problem won't do) and the final one is a reminder that we as Greens got our preparation, predictions and rationale for standing up against the far right, but we simply didn't persuade enough people, particularly those on the left of British politics, to switch their vote to us.
On the 27th May 2009 I wrote:
"The latest detailed breakdown of voting intention figures from YouGov for the North of England shows both the Greens and the BNP on 8% each..." [the result was 7.7% and 8% respectively]
"The stakes are very high. A Euro seat will give a guaranteed national presence in the British media for the next five years..."
I also wrote:
"The BNP are already standing in over half the county council seats in Cumbria at this election. If Griffin wins, they will be everywhere across the North West, and expanding out beyond that, within five years. They will be embedded, with the capacity to fight every seat, at a time when a Tory government will be making the biggest cuts in public services we’ve ever seen, and Labour will still be disgraced and rejected by the white working classes it once represented."
It is this final quote that we need to pay attention to. The BNP are going to attempt to build their political party and build a wider ideological movement - just look at the activities of the so called English Defence League so far.
We don't yet have the answers we need to defeat them, but there are going to be some key tactical points. In 2014 the BNP could advance in the Euro Elections, perhaps to 5 or 6 seats, or they could be wiped out by some much more astute tactical voting (we could learn a few things from the way ballots are cast in Northern Ireland). There is going to be another electoral battle, another opportunity to halt them, but it will be far, far more difficult than it was this time.
It is also a long time to have to wait. We have to hope that the obvious political and tactical mistakes the BNP will make outweigh the increases in their membership and media profile.
When the results came in, and the BNP beat the Greens narrowly here in the North West, it was a certainty that they would be offered the same. Had we Greens taken 3 seats to just a single BNP Euro gain in Yorkshire and Humberside, by the obscure Andrew Brons, there would be no Nick Griffin on Question Time or even much discussion about the BNP now. The knives would have quickly been out for him within his own party.
It is a sad state of affairs, and it is still difficult to comment on. However, last night I posted a response on a Socialist Unity thread on this, highlighting three articles:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6417906/One-in-four-would-consider-voting-BNP.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6886015.ece
http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=4096
The first two are worth reading for an explanation about why the appearance is significant (an ostrich approach to this problem won't do) and the final one is a reminder that we as Greens got our preparation, predictions and rationale for standing up against the far right, but we simply didn't persuade enough people, particularly those on the left of British politics, to switch their vote to us.
On the 27th May 2009 I wrote:
"The latest detailed breakdown of voting intention figures from YouGov for the North of England shows both the Greens and the BNP on 8% each..." [the result was 7.7% and 8% respectively]
"The stakes are very high. A Euro seat will give a guaranteed national presence in the British media for the next five years..."
I also wrote:
"The BNP are already standing in over half the county council seats in Cumbria at this election. If Griffin wins, they will be everywhere across the North West, and expanding out beyond that, within five years. They will be embedded, with the capacity to fight every seat, at a time when a Tory government will be making the biggest cuts in public services we’ve ever seen, and Labour will still be disgraced and rejected by the white working classes it once represented."
It is this final quote that we need to pay attention to. The BNP are going to attempt to build their political party and build a wider ideological movement - just look at the activities of the so called English Defence League so far.
We don't yet have the answers we need to defeat them, but there are going to be some key tactical points. In 2014 the BNP could advance in the Euro Elections, perhaps to 5 or 6 seats, or they could be wiped out by some much more astute tactical voting (we could learn a few things from the way ballots are cast in Northern Ireland). There is going to be another electoral battle, another opportunity to halt them, but it will be far, far more difficult than it was this time.
It is also a long time to have to wait. We have to hope that the obvious political and tactical mistakes the BNP will make outweigh the increases in their membership and media profile.
23 October 2009
On the Move
I've been offline for a little while, but I've read a kind post from an unexpected source in the meantime.
I've felt far more relaxed in the last week than I have for a long time. We moved house last weekend, and while the chances of something like this happening might have been low, the fact that it sits in the back of your mind isn't particularly nice.
A couple of new posts soon. One on the obvious topic of the last week and another breaking news story about the wonderful Liberal Democrats here in Liverpool.
I've felt far more relaxed in the last week than I have for a long time. We moved house last weekend, and while the chances of something like this happening might have been low, the fact that it sits in the back of your mind isn't particularly nice.
A couple of new posts soon. One on the obvious topic of the last week and another breaking news story about the wonderful Liberal Democrats here in Liverpool.
14 October 2009
Are You Nick Clegg's Gardener?
I think we should be running a campaign to find out who was Nick Clegg's gardener in 2007. It shouldn't be too difficult. A copy of the Yellow Pages in Sheffield should be sufficient.
The excellent Jo Anglezarke and the SNP Tactical Voting blog have covered this.
They say respectively:
"When questioned by Jon Snow on how much Nick paid his gardener he dodged the question in a way I haven't seen for a long time in a television interview. Again, Jon Snow asked about the employment conditions and wages of Nick's gardener, and again Nick bowed his head and avoided the question."
and
"Nick Clegg can't remember what he paid his gardener or whether he paid his National Insurance. That is surely unacceptable and unbelievable in light of today's news and how briefed the Lib Dem leader should have been in advance of this interview."
If we can find whoever did Nick Clegg's gardening in 2007, any concerns that this wasn't an 100% bona fide claim can be put to rest. Any volunteers in Sheffield?
The excellent Jo Anglezarke and the SNP Tactical Voting blog have covered this.
They say respectively:
"When questioned by Jon Snow on how much Nick paid his gardener he dodged the question in a way I haven't seen for a long time in a television interview. Again, Jon Snow asked about the employment conditions and wages of Nick's gardener, and again Nick bowed his head and avoided the question."
and
"Nick Clegg can't remember what he paid his gardener or whether he paid his National Insurance. That is surely unacceptable and unbelievable in light of today's news and how briefed the Lib Dem leader should have been in advance of this interview."
If we can find whoever did Nick Clegg's gardening in 2007, any concerns that this wasn't an 100% bona fide claim can be put to rest. Any volunteers in Sheffield?
9 October 2009
A St Michaels Byelection?
There has been some very odd activity from the Liberal Democrats in St Michaels in recent days. We've had the Leader of the Council, Warren Bradley, appearing in leaflets, with the only remaining Lib Dem incumbent councillor nowhere to be seen. Then we heard that Paul Twigger, Chief Whip for the Lib Dem group, and PPC for Liverpool West Derby, has been busy phone canvassing voters. To cap it off, we now have Cllr Bradley door knocking Green supporters (unwittingly I might add) in the ward.
So what does this tell us? It could be that the Lib Dems are gearing up for a long seven month grind, and are really cranking up their activity in this marginal, and five or six others they think they will need to hold in order to stay in power, or there could be another possibility.
On May 6th next year (assuming the General Election is called on the same day as the Locals) the Lib Dems are going to be flat out trying to win Wavertree constituency. There isn't going to be a lot happening elsewhere, especially on the eve of poll and the morning of the election. We'll be able to outperson the Lib Dems in two out of our three target seats, and in particular St Michaels, where we've outnumbered the Lib Dems on and around election day in the last two local contests and the Euros.
In 2008 the former Lib Dem incumbent councillor, Elaine Allen, lost to Green councillor Sarah Jennings, despite Sarah only having 10 months of electoral campaigning behind her to raise her ward profile. Tom Crone, our target candidate in St Michaels, has been out and about in the ward working hard for nearly a year and a half now. He probably has a higher profile than Lib Dem Cllr Peter Allen, who has not been nearly as active.
So why might the Lib Dems call a snap St Michaels byelection (they have until 10th November to do so)? It would mean that the entire regional team of Lib Dems would decend on St Michaels for the length of the campaign and the reality is that the tactics would be rough and get even rougher during the campaign. I think we'd see some really appalling stuff from them. However, their advantage is that even if the Greens call in all our regional resources, we'll be at a major disadvantage in terms of people and finance.
It would be a huge gamble. They have a majority of one on the council. Losing this seat to the Greens would leave them with just 45 out of 90 seats, with Cllr Mike Storey, the Lib Dem mayor, not expected to vote except in the event of a voting tie in the council chamber. But they would not be calling a byelection to lose it to us.
If the incumbent Lib Dem councillor Peter Allen, who is up for re-election in 2010, has already decided to stand down, putting up a newcomer, with just six or seven months of profile raising up against Tom Crone, without the resources to back it up in an April/May campaign, almost guarantees the loss of this seat to the Greens. So if a byelection is being planned, what is the reasoning?
I think it goes something like this:
- We can really smash the Greens with some negative campaigning
- We can get more people out every day and night canvassing and leafleting
- We can spend more money than the Greens
- We can telephone canvass
- We can win the seat even with a relatively unknown / outsider candidate
If successful, this plan would mean that the Lib Dems would elect a brand new, fresh faced councillor five or six months before the election, and provide them with considerable support. Using the advantage of incumbency, they might hope to hold onto the seat (and to power) next May. The only marginal seat at risk in which they could do this would be St Michaels, as they wouldn't gain any of the above advantages taking on Labour outside of the usual electoral timetable.
But don't worry Green readers, we've seen this possibility coming and we have two very special surprises for the Lib Dems if they call a byelection. One of the features that have characterised Liberal Democrat campaigning in Liverpool in the last couple of elections has been overconfidence. It is likely to be their undoing if they cut and run. Bring it on!
So what does this tell us? It could be that the Lib Dems are gearing up for a long seven month grind, and are really cranking up their activity in this marginal, and five or six others they think they will need to hold in order to stay in power, or there could be another possibility.
On May 6th next year (assuming the General Election is called on the same day as the Locals) the Lib Dems are going to be flat out trying to win Wavertree constituency. There isn't going to be a lot happening elsewhere, especially on the eve of poll and the morning of the election. We'll be able to outperson the Lib Dems in two out of our three target seats, and in particular St Michaels, where we've outnumbered the Lib Dems on and around election day in the last two local contests and the Euros.
In 2008 the former Lib Dem incumbent councillor, Elaine Allen, lost to Green councillor Sarah Jennings, despite Sarah only having 10 months of electoral campaigning behind her to raise her ward profile. Tom Crone, our target candidate in St Michaels, has been out and about in the ward working hard for nearly a year and a half now. He probably has a higher profile than Lib Dem Cllr Peter Allen, who has not been nearly as active.
So why might the Lib Dems call a snap St Michaels byelection (they have until 10th November to do so)? It would mean that the entire regional team of Lib Dems would decend on St Michaels for the length of the campaign and the reality is that the tactics would be rough and get even rougher during the campaign. I think we'd see some really appalling stuff from them. However, their advantage is that even if the Greens call in all our regional resources, we'll be at a major disadvantage in terms of people and finance.
It would be a huge gamble. They have a majority of one on the council. Losing this seat to the Greens would leave them with just 45 out of 90 seats, with Cllr Mike Storey, the Lib Dem mayor, not expected to vote except in the event of a voting tie in the council chamber. But they would not be calling a byelection to lose it to us.
If the incumbent Lib Dem councillor Peter Allen, who is up for re-election in 2010, has already decided to stand down, putting up a newcomer, with just six or seven months of profile raising up against Tom Crone, without the resources to back it up in an April/May campaign, almost guarantees the loss of this seat to the Greens. So if a byelection is being planned, what is the reasoning?
I think it goes something like this:
- We can really smash the Greens with some negative campaigning
- We can get more people out every day and night canvassing and leafleting
- We can spend more money than the Greens
- We can telephone canvass
- We can win the seat even with a relatively unknown / outsider candidate
If successful, this plan would mean that the Lib Dems would elect a brand new, fresh faced councillor five or six months before the election, and provide them with considerable support. Using the advantage of incumbency, they might hope to hold onto the seat (and to power) next May. The only marginal seat at risk in which they could do this would be St Michaels, as they wouldn't gain any of the above advantages taking on Labour outside of the usual electoral timetable.
But don't worry Green readers, we've seen this possibility coming and we have two very special surprises for the Lib Dems if they call a byelection. One of the features that have characterised Liberal Democrat campaigning in Liverpool in the last couple of elections has been overconfidence. It is likely to be their undoing if they cut and run. Bring it on!
4 October 2009
The Rise of the Greens
If I had a £ for every person that said we were wasting our time trying to get Greens elected in Liverpool, then I'd be able to pay for our next issue of Green View in our target wards of St Michaels, Greenbank and Wavertree. Give me another £ for every person that has ever said that you'll never get Greens elected into Parliament and that sum of money would pay for our next General Election campaign, not just in Liverpool but across the country.
We can't get ahead of ourselves but the signs are there like never before. National membership up over 20% in a year, nearly 9% of the vote in June's Euro Elections and now a widely respected prediction that the Greens are on target to win Brighton Pavilion and see Caroline Lucas elected as the first Green MP (incidently - Ladbrokes are now quoting us as favourites to win the seat).
I know a lot of people in the party were hurt, demoralised and stunned by the Euro results in the party. Despite our best election results in a generation, we still only won two Euro seats. Worse still, we had to endure the BNP winning two seats as well. I was one of those people. It still hurts now (and these things can get to you when you are struck down by a virus as I was last week) but let us be absolutely clear - winning a seat at Westminster is the "game changer" for the party. In the eyes of the public, it is seats in Parliament that count.
Our recent billboard campaign during the Labour Party conference has raised some eyebrows. It was smart, well timed and effective. The results of the Total Politics poll of key marginals says:
"Seaside towns... continue to show one of the lower swings towards the Conservatives, and by far the highest shift towards 'other parties'. This is mainly benefiting the Green party who on these figures would win their first ever Parliamentary seat in Brighton Pavilion."
Here in the North West we won't get another chance to win a Euro seat until 2014. Four years and eight months is a long time to wait to try and unseat Nick Griffin (or the third Tory MEP in the region). That is a long time in politics, but if it is four years during which a Green MP or Green MPs get us increased national coverage, we will be in a far stronger position to win it.
There are going to be many more Greens elected onto local councils, into the European Parliament and to Westminster in the coming five years. We should also be planning for continued membership growth, and making ambitious financial commitments to support the target Westminster constituencies in 2010, and all target constituencies after that time. It is an exciting time to be part of the Greens.
We no longer should be modest - we need to now be confident we can go forward from here and break into the mainstream of British politics. We may just be getting there in time to help avert further inaction, further foot dragging and blatant inconsistencies from the red, yellow and blue parties. We should be proud of what we have achieved so far but ambitious about what we are capable of doing in the future, and the key that will unlock that door is winning our first Westminster seat. Exciting times!
We can't get ahead of ourselves but the signs are there like never before. National membership up over 20% in a year, nearly 9% of the vote in June's Euro Elections and now a widely respected prediction that the Greens are on target to win Brighton Pavilion and see Caroline Lucas elected as the first Green MP (incidently - Ladbrokes are now quoting us as favourites to win the seat).
I know a lot of people in the party were hurt, demoralised and stunned by the Euro results in the party. Despite our best election results in a generation, we still only won two Euro seats. Worse still, we had to endure the BNP winning two seats as well. I was one of those people. It still hurts now (and these things can get to you when you are struck down by a virus as I was last week) but let us be absolutely clear - winning a seat at Westminster is the "game changer" for the party. In the eyes of the public, it is seats in Parliament that count.
Our recent billboard campaign during the Labour Party conference has raised some eyebrows. It was smart, well timed and effective. The results of the Total Politics poll of key marginals says:
"Seaside towns... continue to show one of the lower swings towards the Conservatives, and by far the highest shift towards 'other parties'. This is mainly benefiting the Green party who on these figures would win their first ever Parliamentary seat in Brighton Pavilion."
Here in the North West we won't get another chance to win a Euro seat until 2014. Four years and eight months is a long time to wait to try and unseat Nick Griffin (or the third Tory MEP in the region). That is a long time in politics, but if it is four years during which a Green MP or Green MPs get us increased national coverage, we will be in a far stronger position to win it.
There are going to be many more Greens elected onto local councils, into the European Parliament and to Westminster in the coming five years. We should also be planning for continued membership growth, and making ambitious financial commitments to support the target Westminster constituencies in 2010, and all target constituencies after that time. It is an exciting time to be part of the Greens.
We no longer should be modest - we need to now be confident we can go forward from here and break into the mainstream of British politics. We may just be getting there in time to help avert further inaction, further foot dragging and blatant inconsistencies from the red, yellow and blue parties. We should be proud of what we have achieved so far but ambitious about what we are capable of doing in the future, and the key that will unlock that door is winning our first Westminster seat. Exciting times!
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