The Daley (Half) Dozen: Monday

1. James Cleverly doesn't think Brown could have handled things worse.
2. Adam Boulton on the Straw man.
3. Mark D'Arcy on jostling for position in a hung parliament.
4. SNP Tactical Voting on the difference political blogging makes.
5. Paul Waugh on when withdrawing the whip is not quite what it seems.
6. Michael White has had too much information.

Labour Sacks Its Lawyers

Press release from CCHQ...

Speaking after the news that the Labour Party have dropped their official lawyers until after the cases of the three Labour MPs have concluded, Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles said: "After two days of claiming that there was nothing wrong with the Labour Party's official lawyers advising three MPs to use parliamentary privilege to escape charges over expenses, Gordon Brown has climbed down again. David Cameron took decisive action on Friday when the charges were first announced. Gordon Brown dithered and delayed over the weekend and as a result has yet again been left looking like he is not prepared to get to grips with this issue."

So to those who constantly bleated on about how there was nothing wrong in this at all, please do explain why Labour has dropped Mr Shamash and Co.

Brown's AV Fiddle: Now We Know

Tomorrow, Parliament will vote on whether there should be a referendum to change our First Past the Post electoral system to the Alternative Vote system, where you rank the candidates.

Gordon Brown's deathbed conversion to AV has flummoxed many, as it was he who scuppered such a deal with Paddy Ashdown in 1998. But those wonderful academics at the University of Plymouth, Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher have revealed the reason why Brown now thinks AV is best. It would give Labour more seats! Bet that's surprised you, hasn't it! According to their studies, if there had been AV for the 2005 election, Labour would have won 364 seats rather than 356. The Conservatives would have won 15 fewer (183, asopposed to 198) and the LibDems would have gone up from 62 to 71.

It doesn't surprise me that Brown would seek to fiddle the electoral battleground in this way.

What does surprise me is that the LibDems will apparently vote for a new electoral system which is even less proportional than the existing one.

Actually, I take that back. It doesn't surprise me at all.

Brown Withdraws Whip From the Expenses 3

So Gordon Brown has finally withdrawn the whip from the three Labour MPs who face criminal charges over their expenses claims. Better late than never.

This is yet another example of the Prime Minister dithering. Whereas Cameron acted quickly to withdraw the whip from Lord Hanningfield, Brown allowed an impression to be created that he was dithering and uncertain. The fact that Labour's solicitor is also advising the three adds further questions. Is the Labour Party paying their legal fees?

Is the Telegraph Still the Tory Party House Journal?

The Daily Telegraph always used to be considered the 'House Journal' of the Conservative Party. But according to a ConservativeHome blogpost today, Tim Montgomerie reckons his blog has now taken over that position - at least among Conservative Party candidates. He surveyed 150 PPCs to find out which media they read regularly. This was the result.



Ninety two per cent said they trusted ConHome whereas the Telegraph only scored 67%.

It's easy to make too much out of this. You still have to bear in mind that the Telegraph sells 800,000 copies a day, whereas ConHome will have between 20,000 and 40,000 individual readers each day. But Tim is right. Conservatives have fallen out of love with the Telegraph, and this was happening way before the expenses scandal. Why is this?

Conservatives are instintively loyal to their Party. A newspaper's loyalty lies elsewhere. Over the last few years the Telegraph has given the impression of delighting in any difficulty the Conservative Party happens to find itself in. It has been sceptical, if not downright hostile, to David Cameron right from the start, with some difficult personal relationships not helping. Simon Heffer has played a big role in the alienation of the Telegraph from the Party, but he has been aided and abetted by many other Telegraph regulars such as Janet Daley and Jeff Randall. No matter who has been brought in to provide some balance, the space provided to Cameron sceptics has always been greater.

It is not the Telegraph's role to be a cheerleader for the Tory Party, but nor is its role to be downright hostile. And that is how it is now perceived by many ordinary and loyal party members.

As an election approaches, thinks don't seem to be getting much better. Even the recruitment of Ben Brogan hasn't made a huge difference to the paper's overall editorial position. While his weekly column is less hostile to the Conservatives and he seeks to explain Cameron to the Telegraph's readers in a much better way than I ever used to, the overall tone of the comment pages is still hostile. And then there's the ongoing campaign against Nadine Dorries, which Dizzy catalogues HERE.

All that said, it is still a great newspaper, and it is one I still read most days - unlike its competitors.

The Daley (Half) Dozen: Sunday

1. Jonathan Isaby on the pros and cons of local candidates.
2. Anna Raccoon on blogging the limelight.
3. Revolts.co.uk thinks the Government will win Tuesday's vote on AV.
4. Alastair Campbell explains his emotional interview on Andrew Marr.
5. ConHome examines the Ladbrokes prediction of a Tory majority of 33.
6. John Rentoul accuses Fraser Nelson of being the Tory Party's Sarah Palin.

And as a Sunday night Brucie Bonus, read THIS brilliant post by Dizzy, who has dialled N for Vendetta. He accuses the Daily Telegraph of having it in for Nadine Dorries.

Podcast: The 7 Days Show Episode 11

The latest edition of the Seven Days Show is now online.

In this weeks show we discuss MP’s expenses (again); Politics on TV with particular reference to the “Mo” drama, Tower Block of Commons and Brown’s interview with Piers Morgan; the recent rise in Climate Change scepticism, and whether the debate really should focus and population;

To listen to the podcast click HERE, or you can also subscribe to the show in the Tory Radio section in the podcast area of Itunes.

A Solution to Severance Pay for Guilty MPs

There's a lot in the papers today about the amount of severance pay MPs receive if they stand down from Parliament. Depending on length of service, the sum is anything from £30-£65,000. Naturally there is a lot of disquiet about some MPs receiving such sums. The Speaker, John Bercow, says there's nothing that can be done about it. Rot.

Why not introduce a simple Bill which says that anyone convicted of a criminal offence relating to their service as an MP has to forfeit their severance pay? And if criminal proceedings are ongoing at the time of an election, the money isn't paid over until the MP is found innocent?

Simples.

Labour's Solicitor Is Advising Devine, Chaytor & Morley

Gordon Brown has uttered many weasel words about the expenses scandal. We can expect a few more soon.

Someone might like to ask him this question. Why is the Labour Party's official solicitor, Gerald Shamash, providing the three disgraced Labour MPs (Messers Chaytor, Devine and Morley) with legal advice? Is the Labour Party paying for it?

Isn't it interesting how the Labour Party and Gordon Brown couldn't wait to hang Peter Watt out to dry and told him "you're on your own, mate", yet these three are treated very differently.

If the Labour Party really wished to disassociate itself from these MPs, wouldn't it have withdrawn the services of Mr Shamash? Just like it did with Peter Watt...

What Odds a Snap Election?

Now, my political antennae may be a bit askew here, but bear with me.


In tomorrow's Observer Gordon Brown has given a long interview, which includes a vicious attack on Lord Ashcroft and sounds just like the kind of interview a PM would give just as he's about to call an election.


And then the Mail on Sunday and News of the World have front pages which tell of the Prime Minister breaking down in tears when talking about the death of his daughter in a pre recorded interview with Piers Morgan.

When I blogged earlier on this week about the Piers Morgan interview I nearly wrote something about Gordon Brown going one better than Katie Price and bawling his eyes out on prime time TV. But I thought it might be considered to be bad taste. That'll teach me. Next time I will go with my instincts.

Anyway, my sniffing of the political winds tells me that the chances of a March election have considerably increased tonight.

The Daley (Half) Dozen: Saturday

1. The Conservative Blog has discovered the Ten Commandments of Blogging.
2. ConHome has the news that Therese Coffey has been selected for Suffolk Coastal and Sajid Javid in Bromsgrove. Congrats to both!
3. Iain Martin on how the expenses sandal has eroded parliamentary sovereignty.
4. UK Polling Report on the Populus poll on climate change attitudes.
5. ConHome has news of an ICM/Sun Tel poll showing the Tories 9 points ahead.
6. EU Referendum on the money that makes the climate change industry go round.

David Cameron & Reforming Parliament

David Cameron has just sent out this video of him talking about how Parliament should be reformed. He reveals that Gordon Brown has blocked Tony Wright's suggested reforms. He suggests that Tuesday's vote on AV should be scrapped and so should the half term holiday. Instead, he says, parliament should spend the week debating how it should be reformed. He also suggests that the powers of the whips should be reduced.

He'll be expanding on all these issues in a speech on Monday.

Well, I'm Convinced!

Oh dear. I don't think Jim Devine did himself any favours by doing this interview. He basically admits to Krishan Guru-Murthy that he provided false receipts to the Fees Office.

It's so cringeworthy that you almost - almost - end up feel sorry for him when he starts digging himself so may holes he nearly creates a sieve.

There is a bigger question which this rasies, though. How on earth did this man ever get selected as an MP in the first place? It's frightening to think that this buffoon legislates over the rest of us.

Podcast: Total Politics Question Time in Birmingham

On Thursday night Total Politics and City Inn Hotels hosted a 90 minute long pre Election Time in Birmingham. On the panel were Andrew Mitchell, Jacqui Smith, John Hemming and Marc Reeves.

If you'd like to listen to it, we have uploaded it. Click HERE.

The Daley Dozen: Friday

1. Declan Lyons thinks it could be Ricky Tomlinson MP.
2. Sam Coates on how blogs can fight election spin.
3. Ellee Seymour on Eric Pickels and contaminated blood.
4. MTPT on why Politico.com should have saved their money.
5. Donal Blaney on the legal advice Elliott, Chaytor and Devine might regret.
6. Party Lines reckons corruption in parliament isn't a recent phenomenon.
7. Nick Bryant on climate change in Australian politics.
8. Party Lines interviews Austin Mitchell about his Tower Block of Commons experience.
9. Paul Waugh on how Gordon Brown plans to lose the election.
10. Douglas Carswell on the bankruptcy of the left.
11. Caroline Beavon reports on last night's Total Politics Question Time in Birmingham.
12. Politics.co.uk has a full list of all 135 retiring MPs.

Why Cruddas Won't be Labour Leader

There's a two page rather adulatory interview with Jon Cruddas in this week's New Statesman. It portrays Cruddas as a potential candidate for the Labour leadership and the only one with radical new ideas. However, the interview has three flaws.

1. There is absolutely no mention of Cruddas's failure to combat the BNP in his Dagenham constituency. Indeed, the BNP only gets one passing mention. Margaret Hodge, in neighbouring Barking, tells friends that she has given up trying to get through to Cruddas just how serious the BNP threat is.

2. The interview says that Cruddas lives in Dagenham. He doesn't. He lives in Notting Hill. He has a house in Dagenham which I now understand he rents out, although a friend of his denies this. Whatever the truth, his main home is in Notting Hill not Dagenham

3. The whole premise of the article comes unstuck because of one important thing - again, not mentioned in the entire interview. What is it? The fact that after the election, Cruddas may very well not be an MP, as he could easily lose his seat to the Tory candidate Simon Jones. Jones has been in situ for nearly four years and is one of the party's brightest and best grassroots campaigners.

Dagenham & Rainham is a seat the TV cameras should concentrate on. It may throw up a result with huge political implications in more ways than one.

If you'd like to help Simon's campaign to oust Jon Cruddas, here's how you can do it.

In the Final for East Surrey

ConservativeHome has posted the finalists for East Surrey HERE. As you will see, I am among the six contenders, and very proud to be so, as it is quite a strong field. It's an area I know well, as I live just over the border in Kent.

I hope you will understand if I don't give this blog my usual attention over the next eight days, as I turn my attention to preparing for the selection meeting next Saturday.

Bercow Boosted by BNP Candidacy

I hear that the BNP is planning to contest Buckingham. If so, it should help John Bercow by splintering the anti-Bercow vote further (an independent andNigel Farage are already in the field) and giving him a target against which he can attack vigorously without being accused of party politicking.

Last Night in Birmingham

Last night's pre Election Question Time style debate in Birmingham went off really well. Andrew Mitchell, Jacqui Smith, John Hemming and former Birmingham Post editor Marc Reeves were on the panel.

Somewhat bizarrely, the subject we had more questions submitted than any other, was Sion Simon's possible candidacy for Mayor of Birmingham. It turned out that only two people in the audience were in favour of an elected mayor for Birmingham. John Hemming announced that he would stand for the job if it became available, but he didn't feel the need to resign his seat to do so, since the job doesn't yet exist.

The other subject which caused a good debate was proportional representation. John Hemming made clear that the LibDems would support the government's motion on Tuesday, as AV represented some sort of progress. Odd, since it can be argued that it would produce an even less proportional result that FPTP. Jacqui Smith is clearly not a fan of AV but she hinted she would support the government motion as it was purely concerned with setting up a referendum on the issue.

I think next week's event in Manchester is either full, or very close to being full. But if you'd like to register for it, and go on a waiting list, please email questiontime@totalpolitics.com. There are a few places left for the Leeds event on the 18th. London is oversubscribed by a factor of 3.

UPDATE: A sound recording of the event will be available later for your delectation.

The Daley Dozen: Thursday

1. Tory Politico explains his fight against Politico.com.
2. Alastair Campbell invites you to the virtual launch of his new book.
3. Richard Spring MP announces he is stopping blogging.
4. Cranmer on the Pope's visit.
5. Alex Wilcock gets hot under the collar about the balance of the Question Time panel.
6. Letters from a Tory gives Nick Clegg a lesson the euro.
7. Michael Crick analyses David Cameron's plans to cut the number of MPs.
8. James Kirkup can hardly believed that the House of Commons packed up 3 hours early today!
9. Daily Referendum wants to strip MPs.
10. Mrs Rigby reviews the Tower Block of Commons.
11. Party Lines on the legacy of Sir Thomas Legg.
12. Biteback Publishing on Daniel Kawczynski's new biography of Colonel Gadaffi.

Could Gordon Lose the AV Vote on Tuesday?

I hear Labour whips are very worried about losing Tuesday's vote on changing the voting system to the Alternative Vote system. With a majority of more than 60, they ought to win the vote comfortably, but doubts are being expressed about how a significant number of Labour MPs will vote. Very few are AV enthusiasts and there are plenty who reject any hint of any kind of electoral reform. Others, especially those who are standing down, may well just decide not to bother turning up.

In addition, the LibDems have published their own amendment to the motion. They hate AV. They don't regard it as in any way proportional. It is therefore likely they will abstain, but if their amendment is treated with contempt, they could join the Tories in the no lobby. The Tories are on a three line whip, with dire warnings being issued to those who think they might have an evening off.

Another Gordon Brown idea that seemed like a good wheeze at the time?

Let's End This 'Culture of Deference'

I'm about to leave home to drive to Birmingham for tonight's Total Politics/City Inn Question Time event, so I am afraid I haven't had time to trawl through the Legg Report and will have to leave that to others. Some of the so-called 'highlights' are breathtaking. But so is Legg's incompetence, as so brilliantly explained by Tory MP Roger Gale on Sky News just now. Sir Paul Kennedy seems to have been rather more diligent in his task.

It is astonishing that nearly 400 MPs have had to pay money back. Not only astonishing, but shaming. Yes, the Fees Office were clearly at fault for paying many of the claims, but there are plenty, from MPs of all parties, which should never have been made in the first place.

Legg's point about the 'culture of deference' which exist/existed in the Fees Office is well made. It is not just in the Fees Office where it occurs though. I'm not saying MPs shouldn't be granted respect, but they are not some kind of superior being whose divine wisdom has to be followed on every occasion. A reader has sent me an example of this culture of deference, which belongs to a bygone era.

Whenever I've gone to the Commons, particularly when I've gone without my pass, I've always been struck by the near-celestial levels of deference shown to members and the attitude shown to lesser mortals ie taxpayers. I went to meet Derek Conway once, with a cameraman, and we sat on the semi-circular seat round the table just beyond Central Lobby while I waited for Colette to come and get us. After a few seconds, an MP came to sit on the other side of the table, maybe 8 feet away, and uniformed HoC worker ran up and took great pleasure in telling me that, as a Member was sitting at the table (paying me not attention, and vice versa), I had to stand up - I couldn't sit at the same table as a Member if they wanted to sit there. A small example, but symptomatic of the kind of attitude which I've seen often in the last fifteen years over there.

Me too. MPs are in theory allowed to jump queues in the cafteria and on the taxi rank. Few do, but it happens.

I've said it before, and I will say it again. The new intake of MPs in the new parliament have the chance to change things. To end this culture of deference. To act with honour. To ensure that they end up being respected rather than reviled. Let's hope they realise the level of the responsibility they must aspire to.

UK Blog Threatened by Politico.com

Politico.com is a sort of US Total Politics/Politics Home writ large. It provides an excellent political news and comment service, with its columnist appearing regularly as pundits across the US media. In a very short time it has started to rival the big news organisations in the States.

Today, it is trying to shut down a relatively obscure UK Political blog called Tory Politico, on the basis that it is stealing the name Politico. To write a very threatening legal letter to an individual blogger who has perhaps 500 hits a day, seems to be rather OTT.

Tory Politico is, to his credit, so far resisting the threats, but it is not a pleasant position to be in.

It's funny, because when I owned Politico's Bookstore & Publishing and I saw Politico has started in the States, I too thought about sendimg them a legal letter accusing them of stealing the name. But I thought better of it. They were there and we were here. What a pity wiser counsel didn't prevail in the legal offices of Politico.com vis a vis Tory Politico.

Tory Politico has the full story HERE.

UPDATE: One of my Twitter followers has discovered that I still own the Politico's Trademark. I have suggested to Tory Politico that he adds an 's' onto the end of his name!

Labour Minister Bans Labour MP From Making Defence Speech

Eric Joyce is a Labour MP with a mind of his own. He resigned as a PPS at the MoD on an issue of principle. Labour High Command has never forgiven him. Yesterday he posted THIS extraordinary story on his blog. To cut a long story short, he has been invited to give a talk at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham, but the day before he was due to go, her received word from Shivenham that a Minister at the MoD had intervened to ban him from the premises. I'll let Mr Joyce tell the story...

I’ve spoken a fair amount, albeit less than some Tories, about Defence over the years. Recently, though, I’ve had reservations about some aspects of government policy (in areas where the government and opposition are pretty much on the same page). I think we should be out of Afghanistan sooner than later; I think we give to much too the Americans for too little in return; and I tend towards thinking we shouldn’t renew Trident. In many ways, that’s all pretty uncontroversial and I predict that regardless of who’s in government in 2012, Trident will be extended rather than renewed.

Uncontroversial to most, maybe, but not to one Defence minister who has ordered The Defence Academy at Shrivenham in Wiltshire to ban me from their premises.

As MPs often do, I was due to speak to officers there tomorrow alongside an opposing Conservative MP, at an event organised by the Academy and the excellent Industry and Parliament Trust. When the organisers sought clearance from ministers for guests to enter, always previously a technicality, the minister singled me out to be ‘denied admission’ on the grounds that I may not reflect his views, and suggested an alternative MP. This seems to me a pity, especially since the government today issued a green paper on Defence which is designed to facilitate public discussion.

I don’t believe for a moment that the prime minister and defence secretary have have anything other than good intent as regards discussion about future defence policy. But it does seem a shame, and rather odd, that a junior minister should wish to so blatantly gag an MP.

Still, we live and learn. We sure do that.

Indeed. So, who was the junior defence minister who banned Joyce? Two senior Labour sources have identified Kevan Jones as the culprit. It was my first reaction too, as I doubt whether it is Bill Rammell's style. This is not the first time that Mr Jones has had an accusatory finger pointed at him. On the last occasion, Bob Ainsworth had to slap him down. Will he now do so again, and apologise on behalf og his junior minister to Eric Joyce?

Ferrets.