- So, now we know. If you want to get the ear of this Government bung a grand into the Labour “One Thousand Club” and you can’t go wrong. Forget about all the millions that the unions invested in keeping the Labour flame alive during the tough years — that won’t even get you past the iron gates at the end of Downing Street. When the Government lectures us about the need for “Best Value” in the public services I think the unions should apply the same test to every pound we invest in the Labour Party.
The truth is that it’s our members’ money that ends up being used to pay the wages of the spin doctors who brief the media in favour of a minimum wage around three quid an hour and in favour of a clampdown on nurses’ pay. It’s got to stop. We should be pumping our money into campaigns within the Party designed to secure our objectives, not mindlessly lobbing bundles of fivers through the doors of Millbank Tower.
- The pathetic climbdown over tobacco sponsorship of motor racing shows what this policy of compassion with a hard edge is all about. The fag companies and Formula One get the compassion and the pensioners, the single mums and the low paid get the hard edge of the boot in the teeth. The other thing that the whole fiasco shows conclusively is that despite all the hype this is a government that caves in to pressure. The trade unions should learn that lesson and learn it well, particularly when it comes to the public sector pay round for next year.
Former student leader Jack Straw just won’t let up on the evils of ganja. Doesn’t he understand that if Charlie Whelan is running the UK economy you need to be on drugs.
- I read about another great former student leader Lorna Fitzsimons moaning that she wasn’t getting enough sex since she became an MP. I would have thought she was too busy shafting the next generation of students over tuition fees to worry about rumpy-pumpy.
- So in the teeth of opposition from the London Labour Party, the South East Region of the TUC and the individual trade unions we’re going to have an elected Mayor for London forced on us. Apparently this is a result of extensive consultation (the Evening Standard, Richard Branson and the CBI). The views of the unions and the Party rank and file are always handy for firing up the Millbank boilers. Anyone who thinks that an elected Mayor is a good idea should check out the pitiful antics of that tosser Jeffrey Archer. There’s no way that a gun amnesty will ever be successful in this country while he’s prancing about on the national stage.
Anyway, it looks like the Mayor’s going to be foisted upon us one way or another. I’ll be doing everything I can to mobilise trade union votes behind Ken Livingstone but if he’s ruled out of the race because he’s an MP and the various wings of the Party in London are looking for someone to unite behind, I’ll be happy to play whatever role is appropriate.
