Sunday Times Political Editor Resigns

The Evening Standard Diary reports that Jonathan Oliver has handed in his notice as political editor of the Sunday Times and is following George Pascoe-Watson into the world of corporate PR. This is one of the most challenging and most coveted jobs in political journalism - challenging because you're expected to come up with a front page splash every week, and coveted because of its high profile and guaranteed access to those in power.

The Sunday Times will want to recruit weekly to ensure that a new person is in place in time for the party conference season. I'm hesitant to blight anyone's chances, but Isabel Oakshott, Oliver's deputy, ought to be in with a good shout. Other contenders could include Francis Elliott and Sam Coates from The Times, Tim Shipman, Deputy Pol Ed at the Mail (but a former Telegraph Sunday journalist) and Nick Watt, who enjoyed a very successful spell as the Observer's temporary Pol Ed when Gaby Hinsliff was on maternity leave.

There, I've ruined enough people's chances, so I'll stop there.

How Will History Judge John Prescott?

I didn't see all John Prescott's evidence to the Iraq Inquiry, but what I did see made me think that what he said would be of more interest to future historians of the Blair government than the Inquiry itself. He gave some withering insights into the way that government conducted its business. At times I wondered if he realised quite what he was saying. He seemed almost detached from the decision to go to war, almost as if he felt that he ought to leave it to his intellectual superiors - which was very unlike him.

I suspect history is going too be kinder to Prescott than his contemporaries have been. I must say, reading Alastair Campbell's diaries makes me seem him in a slightly different light. I shall be interested to see how Lord Mandelson evaluates him.

IDS: Rip It Up & Start Again

On Wednesday night on my LBC Show I did an hour long phone in on the revelation that last year the NAO said that more than £3.1 billion of the welfare budget was wasted due to fraudulent claims and overpayments. That's 0.5% of entire government spending! So I asked the question of LBC listeners: Is it time to rip up the welfare system and start again?

I wonder if Iain Duncan Smith was listening!

Reading reports of the leaked welfare white paper you could be forgiven for thinking so.

All out-of-work benefits and tax credits could be scrapped and replaced with a single payment as part of a "radical" shake-up of the welfare system. The idea is one of three options being considered by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to make work pay.

He says the current system is "on the verge of breakdown". Labour have said the start-up costs of a new system could be as much as £7bn. Mr Duncan Smith has refused to be drawn on the cost, but argues that billions could be saved each year in bureaucracy and fraud with a much simpler system.

Since coming to office, Mr Duncan Smith has vowed to tackle what he says is a "culture of worklessness" and "entrenched" welfare dependency and poverty in parts of the country.

Full story HERE. It's certainly radical and will be fought tooth and nail by Labour and vested interests, but it's right that we have a debate. It's not about thinking the unthinkable, it's doing the doable. And IDS seems determined to go for real change.

Only 2 Days Left to Vote! Total Politics 2010 Blog Poll: Vote For Your Top Ten Favourite Blogs

VOTING CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT ON SATURDAY!

It's that time of year again, when Total Politics asks you to vote for your Top 10 favourite blogs. This is the fifth year of the poll. The votes will be compiled and included in the forthcoming book, the Total Politics Guide to Blogging 2010-11, which will be published in September. For the second year running, the poll is being promoted/sponsored by LabourList and LibDemVoice as well as this blog, and that of our publisher, Iain Dale.

The rules are simple.

1. You must vote for your ten favourite blogs and ranks them from 1 (your favourite) to 10 (your tenth favourite).
2. Your votes must be ranked from 1 to 10. Any votes which do not have rankings will not be counted.
3. You MUST include at least FIVE blogs in your list, but please list ten if you can. If you include fewer than five, your vote will not count.
4. Email your vote to toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com
5. Only vote once.
6. Only blogs based in the UK, run by UK residents or based on UK politics are eligible. No blog will be excluded from voting.
7. Anonymous votes left in the comments will not count. You must give a name
8. All votes must be received by midnight on 31 July 2010. Any votes received after that date will not count.

If you have your own blog, please do encourage your readers to take part. Last year, more than 90 blogs did so. We hope this year it will be far more than that. BUT, DO NOT list on your blog ten blogs you think your readers should vote for. Any duplicate voting of this nature will be disallowed. Here's the code to add to your blog sidebar or blogpost to feature the graphic above with an automatic clickthru to the instruction page...

<a href="http://www.totalpolitics.com/blogs/index.php/2010/07/02/the-total-politics-blog-poll-2010-11"><img src="http://www.totalpolitics.com/blogspot/Blog-awards-2010.jpg" style="border: 0;" alt="Click here to vote in the Total Politics Best Blogs Poll 2010" /></a>

There are many ways of measuring a blog's popularity. Wikio and Technorati have complicated logarithms which measure the importance of incoming links and traffic. Google Analytics does it by measuring how many people visit. But the TP poll gives blog readers the opportunity to vote for the ones they like and visit most often. It's not scientific. It's impossible to achieve 100% balance and no one pretends it's perfect.

The results of the poll will be published in the forthcoming book the TOTAL POLITICS GUIDE TO POLITICAL BLOGGING IN THE UK 2010-11 which will be published in mid September in association with APCO Worldwide.

So, go to it. Email your Top Ten Favourite Blogs to

toptenblogs@totalpolitics.com

If you have any queries about any aspect of this year's blog poll or book, please email jake.mitchell@totalpolitics.com

I Want You to Humiliate Me

I've just read a post I wrote in April 2008, three months after I was diagnosed with diabetes. At the time I was really proud of myself for having changed my diet and lost a lot of weight.

Today I got the results of my six monthly blood tests and this time I feel ashamed of myself. I suppose I knew before I walked into the clinic what the nurse was going to tell me.

Willpower is a very odd thing. I know I can change my diet and lose weight, but it is so easy to relapse and think that the odd treat won't do much harm. Well this morning I was told in no uncertain terms that a treat is something you have once a week, not every day!

I know I've got to change my ways and what the consequences are if I don't.

So if you ever see me eating or drinking something you know I shouldn't, you have my full permission to remove the Mars Bar from my gob, or tip that Orange Fanta down the sink. Make me feel ashamed. Make me feel humiliated. It's the only option!

A Win for UKIP - Shame on the Electoral Commission

It's not often I reprint a UKIP press release, but there's a first time for everything.

The Supreme Court today ruled in favour of UKIP over a case of party donations.

Between December 2004 and February 2006, Alan Bown, a retired businessman had donated a total of £349,216 to the party. During that time, due to an oversight Mr Bown was not on the UK electoral register which, under the law suggested that he was not a British resident. This was obviously not the case.

UKIP had argued that the forfeit should amount to £14,481 donated after the party became aware of the oversight, as did the initial Court ruling. The Electoral Commission believed that the whole sum should be forfeit.

In a 4-3 judgement the Supreme Court found that the spirit of the law counted more than the letter.

Speaking after the judgement Alan Bown said,
"I am pleased and relieved that this is all over. I feel no animosity towards the Electoral Commission, we understand they have a job to do. I always had confidence that British Justice would play fair. Now I have evidence that this is the case. Now intend to launch a UKIP membership drive, through a concerted leafleting campaign".

Lord Pearson, the UKIP leader said,
"We are delighted with the result. We can now concentrate on our job... working towards Britain leaving the European Union".

The Judgement

The Supreme Court Press Summary

Alan Bown says he bears no ill will towards the Electoral Commission. He may not do, but this case raises some serious questions about their operations and how they reach their judgements. It will be interesting to see what they say in response to this judgement.

Just by way of background, Mr Bown donated a six figure some to UKIP. It was then found that his local authority had left him off the electoral register, despite the fact he had been on it in previous years. Technically, therefore the donation wasn't legal.

I have previosuly written about this case HERE and HERE.

Is Six Weeks Really the Right Sentence?

Twenty three year old Gavin Reid was today jailed for six weeks after pleading not guilty to throwing an egg at Sayeeda Warsi.

With the usual caveat of admitting I was not in court to hear the proceedings, on the face of it, this is exactly the kind of short prison sentence which shouldn't happen. It uses up another prison place for a comparatively harmless crime, when surely there could have been other ways of punishing Mr Reid. For all I know he may have 'previous' but if not he may well emerge from prison in six weeks (or even three) as a hardened criminal or with a drug habit.

Surely there are alternatives to a six week jail sentence in cases like this?

UPDATE: The original version of this post had the sentence at six months. Apologies for the error. The fact that the sentence is six weeks actually makes the wider point of this post even more relevant.

The Death of the ASBO?

I think Theresa May is second only to Eric Pickles in hitting the ground running. I can't say I agree with all the myriad of initiatives that have emerged from the Home Office, but the level of activity displayed by her and her team is impressive.

Yesterday she signalled the death knell for ASBOs by announcing a review into their operation and effectiveness. The fact that more than half of those who get an ASBO have then gone on to serve custodial sentences should tell us all we need to know. However, her speech was disappointing in one sense in that it seemed to say, well, they haven't worked, national government can't really do anything, it's for local communities to decide what measures are best for them. I can see the logic, but in practical terms whatever a local community or police force do together is inevitably going to cost money which won't be forthcoming.

I suppose it's the logical extension of a localism agenda, to devolve decisions on what to do about anti social behaviour to a local level, but there are resource consequences which have to be recognised.

Milibands Into The Sunset?

Last night I did a 10 minute interview with David Miliband on LBC. He was in good form and we had a good joust about the leadership contest. He admitted it hadn't been the "rumble in the jungle" some in the media had hoped for.

At the end I asked him this: "I warn you now, this is the most difficult question you will be asked this week. If Nick Clegg and David Cameron are Brokeback Mountain, which film are you and your brother, Ed?"

He roared with laughter. I suggested 'Last Man Standing' which he thought was "very cruel". He then said "Let's hope it's not Two Brothers Into the Sunset".

Incidentally, we had a cracking programme last night, with interviews with Kitty Ussher, Philip Blond, Nigel Farage and David Miliband. Perhaps the highlight was the medical hour when a GP comes into the studio to dispense medical advice to listeners. The first caller related his problem with anal fissures. You've got to admire someone who's willing to go on the radio to talk about that. We also had a guy who kept fainting in his sleep. My first though was: how would he know?

I'm back on LBC at 7.15 until 10pm this evening!

UPDATE: I love this comment from a reader called Fat Councillor...

I think I am going to have to listen tonight. What other program offers David Miliband and anal fissures in the same programme?

The Undiplomatic David Cameron

Having now read David Cameron's speech in Turkey yesterday, all I can say is the Foreign Office will be well pleased. It is the most anti Israeli speech ever made by a British Prime Minister and the most pro Arab. The fact that Cameron called Gaza a "prison camp" will have sent shock waves through the Israeli government, but it will have delighted the FCO Arabists (and they virtually all are). It was clearly drafted by the most pro Arab civil servant in the Foreign Office. The only pity was that David Cameron went along with it. Margaret Thatcher would have passed it to Charles Powell for a dramatic rewrite.

This was, in many ways, a very undiplomatic speech. As well as annoying the Israelis, Germany and France will be furious that Cameron implicitly had a go at them for blocking Turkish entry to the EU. He said it made him "angry" and that he will now be Turkey's voice in the negotiations. You can understand his reasons (closer economic ties, bridge between East and West, a bridge to Islam etc) but they are not particularly watertight. There's little doubt that if Turkey got full membership there would be a huge migration West and I totally understand Germany's fears in particular.

I rather like politicians who engage in undiplomatic language and this isn't the first time Cameron has gone down that path. But I prefer it when he does it on issues where I can agree with him!

The Daley (Half Dozen): Tuesday

1. Blue Idea on the Coalition's first mistake.
2. Liberal Bureaucracy says at least Old Labour had some principles.
3. Though Cowards Flinch explains why Ed Balls should be leader.
4. England Expects gets a straight answer from David Davis. That's without an e.
5. Bagehot analyses David Cameron's Turkey speech.
6. Hopi Sen makes the case against Ed Miliband.

The Mugs of Greenpeace

I will resist the temptation to call the Greenpeace activists who have closed down BP petrol stations today the same thing that I called the Parliament Square squatters, but believe me I am tempted.

They clearly haven't done their research. BP petrol stations have very little to do with BP in that they are franchised out to independent small business people, many of whom can ill afford to lose a day's takings.

So well done Greenpeace. You haven't actually laid a finger on BP. What you have done is affect the profitablity of individuals who can least afford it.

Mugs.

Parish Notice: Mobile Accessibility

I've had a number of compalints from iPhone users that this blog is almost impossible to read on them. I have just signed up with ProHost and made the blog much more mobile friendly.

I have added code to the template so that if you use a mobile, it will automatically default to the new mobile format. It certainly works on my Blackberry, but I need to know that it works on iPhones and other variables.

It's going to cost me money to provide this service, so I need to know from those of you who read this blog on your mobiles if you want this. I have 14 days to decide whether to continue or not.

The domain is http://iaindale.prohost.mobi if you don't get taken there automatically.

The one drawback is that I don't think you can read or make comments using the feature.

Questions for Matthew Parris

This afternoon I shall be interviewing former Tory MP and Times columnist Matthew Parris for my next IN CONVERSATION interview for Total Politics magazine.

If you have ideas for questions you'd like me to ask him, please leave them in the comments.

The Afterglow of the Olympics

No matter your opinion on bidding and winning the Olympics, or the cost to taxpayers, the real concern is what we'll be left with once the party leaves town. It is certainly a great start to see the coalition delivering on its pledge to get competition back in and between schools via the Schools Olympics. The mind-boggling work at Stratford, meanwhile, is on budget and on time (at the moment). But then so was the Dome.

Buildings will help East London’s regeneration, but will not deliver 2012’s promised inspiration for society in general. That can only be achieved by engaging people throughout the UK and NI in something more than just buying a ticket, contributing time as a volunteer or just watching from the sofa, McDonalds in one hand, Coca-Cola in the other.

Britain promised to use these Games as a magical means of engaging communities through sport. Doing so would, after all, complete a circle that started in the community games of Much Wenlock, providing a certain M. De Coubertin with his own inspiration.

This public policy area, mass participation sports legacy, was rightly flagged up in opposition by both coalition parties as one where Labour's approach of targets and micro-management failed miserably. Labour's broken policies created a situation where, five years after winning the bid, more people in Britain are sedentary than ever before. The Times last week trailed an apparent and laudable end to the arbitrary targets.

Hugh Robertson, meanwhile, has already proved adept in implementing the common sense principle of value for money. Gone is the wasteful subsidy for across-the-board Free Swimming for certain age groups, regardless of the ability to pay.

What is to be the new approach? When cutting Free Swimming, the Minister said he would provide the answer by the end of July. And is Sport England, a quango with an established record of misspending and failure even fit to deliver? To make the challenge harder still, despite mitigation from an increased share of the lottery, as per the coalition agreement, grassroots sports funding will still have to be reined in.

There is some scope for optimism, however. The area seems ripe for the application of Big Society principles. The delivery of local sports is already a perfect exemple: clubs are usually social enterprises, run by volunteers to serve their communities, delivering health and social benefits for all at relatively low cost. Sport may yet inspire a better way for us to live. And the Olympic Games may yet prove to be the platform by which that lesson becomes evident.

And just as an afterthought it seems that things are coming together so that the Olympic Stadium will have a proper use after the Olympics. Negotiations between the Olympic authorities and West Ham United are now progressing apace and hopefully a deal will be done which is acceptable to all parties.

The Daley (Half) Dozen: Monday

1. Mark Wallace exposes a train conductor. So to speak.
2. Tory Radio on why an MP's job description has little appeal.
3. Mark Reckons reviews So You Want to be a Politician.
4. Caroline Hunt on the CF election. She's supporting the Gerry Adams candidate.
5. Michael Crick brings the happy news that Gerry Adams may lose his parliamentary allowances.
6. LibDem Voice launches its blog of the year awards.

How to Spend Your Weekday Evenings For the Next Month!

Tonight I start a month long stint on LBC, presenting the weeknight programme from 7.15 to 10pm, sitting in for Petrie Hosken. I won't be banging on about the programme on the blog, except to say now that if you want to have a listen you'd be very welcome. You don't have to live in London to listen to LBC - it's available throughout most of the country on DAB or you can livestream via the website. You can also listen via channel 0124 on Sky or 973 on Virgin.

The programme is predominantly a three hour phone in, discussing issues of the day.

The number to call is 0845 60 60 973. You can text 84850 or email iain@lbc.co.uk or tweet @iaindale.

The BrokeBack Club Should Be Strangled at Birth

It is reported that some recalcitrant Tory MPs are thinking of setting up a dining club called the Brokeback Club, with the aim of being a thorn in the side of the coalition. John Redwood has told them to think again. He's right.

I had thought people who are elected to Parliament might leave student politics behind them. They need to grow up.

All they are doing is playing into the media narrative that the coalition is already beset by split. The Tim Farron and David Davis incidents last week added more grist to their mill.

Of course there are differences between coalition parties. Otherwise the two parties would become one. So far any differences have been ironed out very quickly, and the fact that interpersonal relationships are good says a lot about the goodwill between the party leaderships. I actually think that goodwill is reflected in the vast majority of both parliamentary parties and their memberships. But MPs with a slightly more sceptical view must realise that anything they say which indicates dissatisfaction with the coalition will be exaggerated and often misreported if they are not careful.

Why Don't We Have a Trade Minister Yet?

It's great to see David Cameron leading such a massive trade mission to India this week. He will be accompanied by a team of business people, and Vince Cable and David Willetts.

But wouldn't it also be a good idea for the Trade Minister to go along too? The pity is that more than two months into the coalition government, we still don't have one. I find that incredible. Apparently several leading business figures have been approached and have all turned down the job.

It's time the position was filled, and filled quickly.