The Daley Dozen: Tuesday

1. Mark Reckons returns to write about the tutition fees fiasco.
2. Daniel Hannan thinks the best response to Wikileaks is openness.
3. Platform 10 is certain the old boys club is alive and kicking.
4. Tory Radio is with Michael Howard on prison.
5. Not a Sheep looks at some fascinating analysis.
6. James Forsyth confirms Nick Clegg WILL vote for tuition fee rise.
7. Cranmer wants an end to the sexualisation of children.
8. Parlez me 'n Tory think the NUS have one last chance.
9. The Daily (Maybe) wonders why gender matters with pensions.
10. Peter Watt has some refreshing advice for Labour.
11. Alex Deane isn't sure the BBC is worth it.
12. Mark Wallace reckons that David Lammy is no Mastermind himself.

Tonight on my LBC Show

On my LBC show tonight from 7...

7.10pm Ken Clarke's Green Paper: Guests: Sadiq Khan MP and Philip Davies MP

8pm In 21 Oxbridge Colleges, not a single black student was offered a place in 2009. Why? Guests: David Lammy MP and Katherine Birbalsingh

9pm LBC Medical Hour with Dr Rob Hicks.

You can listen to LBC on 97.3 FM in Greater London, DAB Radio in the Midlands, parts of the North & North West, Glasgow & Edinburgh, Sky Channel 0112, Virgin Media Channel 973 or stream live at lbc.co.uk

To take part in the programme call 0845 60 60 973, text 84850, Email iain AT lbc DOT co DOT uk or tweet @lbc973

If you miss the programme and want to download it as a podcast (minus the ads!) click HERE. There is a £2 monthly charge but you have access to the entire LBC archive and schedule.

Nudity in Calendars

Last night I interviewed Labour MEP Mary Honeyball about her criticism of Ryanair for producing a charity calendar full of scantily clad flight attendants. Depsite the fact that it is expected to raise £85,000 for charity, Ms Honeyball thinks it shouldn't have been produced on the basis that it objectifies women and Ryanair may have put pressure on its employees to take part - not that she had a shred of evidence for the accusation, mind you. She seems quite happy for men to appear semi naked in calendars which are on sale in shopping centres around the country. What's the difference? We had a great caller last night, Laura in Epsom, who, speaking as a feminist, said she thought it was great that women felt liberated enough to appear in calendars like this. In my view, if semi naked firemen with their bodies covered in oil can appear on a calendar sold in a normal retail outlet, I cannot for the life of me see how one can object to Ryanair flight attendants appearing in their bikinis.

Mary Honeyball has done some fantastic work on preventing human trafficking. I think she should stick to that as she's on far safer ground than the flimsy arguments she produces in her interview.

Click HERE to listen to the interview.

Bercow & McLoughlin At War

Scroll in to 22.16.30

There was a very ugly altercation last night between Speaker Bercow and the Government Chief Whip, Patrick McLoughlin. It arose after ten pm when the Speaker appeared to help Labour in objecting to a Bill. The Labour whip had shouted "object" at the wrong point and the Speaker then motioned to the whip to shout it at the correct point. Patrick McLoughlin leapt from his seat and said something inaudible to the Speaker, clearly of a not wholly complimentary nature, and then made as if to leave the chamber. The Speaker admonished him in an extremely aggressive manner as you will see if you watch the video. Click HERE and scroll in to 22.16.30.

There were a lot of MPs in the chamber at the time, particularly from the 2005 intake, and I am told it was the first time they had witnessed such a scene. One of them wondered to me if the Speaker would have helped a Conservative whip in such a situation.

It is very unhealthy for a Speaker to be constantly at odds with one of the parties. The ill feeling is becoming apparent all too often. On the Speaker's side he seems to come down far heavier on Tory MPs than others - which is also being remarked upon by Labour MPs, but it is also unhealthy to have the Prime Minister making jokes at the Speaker's expense.

I fear this may all end in tears.

The Daley Dozen: Monday

1. Madsen Pirie isn't happy with BAA.
2. Iain Hollingshead is bit sick and tired of Facebook.
3. James Forsyth blogs about the day of gaffes.
4. Nile Gardiner wants an apology for Britain over the Wikileaks scandal.
5. Jerry Hayes' take on the Mike Hancock affair.
6. Kerry McCarthy doesn't care if posh kids make pop.
7. Witterings from Witney on the Conservatives selection system.
8. Aaron Ellis can't tell if it's war or peace.
9. Not a Sheep has a speech by Geert Wilders.
10. Alastair Campbell assesses Cameron's first five years.
11. Cicero's Songs insists the Lib Dems must hold their nerve.
12. Mark Pack looks at one of the best political adverts ever.

UPDATE: And do read this brilliant analysis of Nick Clegg's position by Iain Martin.

Tonight On My LBC Show...

On my LBC show tonight from 7...

7.10pm As clean air campaigners take Boris Johnson to court over the abolition of the Western Extension of the London congestion charge, I'm asking should the courts be used to overturn political decisions?

8pm Should "nudie" calendars be banned? Guest: Mary Honeyball MEP

9pm LBC Book Hour with Gyles Brandreth

And our running text question: What would you like me to ask Gyles Brandreth? 84850

You can listen to LBC on 97.3 FM in Greater London, DAB Radio in the Midlands, parts of the North & North West, Glasgow & Edinburgh, Sky Channel 0112, Virgin Media Channel 973 or stream live at lbc.co.uk

To take part in the programme call 0845 60 60 973, text 84850, Email iain AT lbc DOT co DOT uk or tweet @lbc973

If you miss the programme and want to download it as a podcast (minus the ads!) click HERE. There is a £2 monthly charge but you have access to the entire LBC archive and schedule.

Seldon on Brown

Anthony Seldon talks about his book BROWN AT TEN on today's Daily Politics.

You can buy the book HERE.

LibDem PPS Resigns (UPDATE: Or Not...)

"To govern is to choose. To appear to be unable to choose is to appear to be unable to govern."
Nigel Lawson

Guido is reporting the news that a Liberal Democrat MP, Michael Crockart, has resigned as PPS to Michael Moore, the Secretary of State for Scotland. He intends to vote against the rise in tuition fees. I have to say he is a name that has passed me by and I had to check that he is indeed an MP.

The internal machinations of the LibDems are going to be fascinating to watch this week. Andrew Neil reckons they will split four ways, which has to be some sort of record even for them!

It is said that David Cameron has launched Operation Save Nick. Why? Nick Clegg needs to display some leadership and start herding his cats MP's properly. As Matthew D'Ancona said in yesterday's Telegraph, they're in government now. Government is difficult. It can be ugly. It can be messy. You can't just opt out and abstain, and if you do, it says all that needs to be said.

LibDems should take note of the quote above from Nigel Lawson. In a few days time we'll see how many of them have the stomach for governing and how many will indulge themselves.

UPDATE: According to Torquil Crichton on Twitter, Norman Baker has said he may well resign. If true, he will be making a total fool of himself. How many more to follow, I wonder.

UPDATE 2: A reader emails: "Why exactly should Michael Crockart be voting on tuition fees at all, given that this is an English-only issue that won't affect his constituents in Edinburgh who don't pay the fees? The Conservative manifesto pledge to implement the Ken Clarke task-force recommendations would have avoided this problem, but it didn't make the coalition agreement. Time for the DPM to set up that promised Commission on the West Lothian Question?"

UPDATE 3: Er....

Podcast: 7 Days Show: Episode 51

The latest edition of the Seven Days Show is now online. In the show this week we talk about the numerous student protests; whether there is an alternative to “direct action”; can any Lib Dem Minister be allowed to vote against Government policy; what EMAs are and whether they are needed; Howard Flight and his views on benefits; Godfrey Bloom MEP; John Major and his view the coalition could become more permanent; Wikileaks; Phil Woolas losing his appeal; David Chaytor and more expenses stories; and finally the failed World Cup bid.

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.

Dates With Ann Widdecombe

Due to popular demand (well, two of you), here are the theatre dates I have lined up with Ann Widdecombe next year...

MARCH
19th, Lincoln, Drill Hall
22nd, Winchester, Theatre Royal

APRIL
4th, Guildford, Yvonne Arnaud theatre
10th, Horsham, Capitol
17th, Leicester Little Theatre
27th, Harrogate Theatre

MAY
12th, Fowey, Daphne Du Maurier Festival
25th, Yeovil Octagon Theatre
26th, Aldershot, Princes Hall

JULY
14th, Felixstowe, Spa Pavilion
26th, Church Stretton Festival, Shropshire

OCTOBER
20th, St Albans, Harpenden Halls

NOVEMBER
10th, Swansea, Grand Theatre

* For the uninitiated these evenings are titled AN EVENING WITH ANN WIDDECOMBE. I interview her for the first half and it's audience questions for the second half.

Another Pathetic Expenses Story

Can newspaper journalism get any more pathetic than having a go at an MP for spending £31 over five months on biscuits for visitors to his office, and handwash soap for the office toilet? Because that's what the News of the World has done today to Blackpool Tory MP Paul Maynard.

Truly, truly pathetic.

By their logic their own editor should be funding all the News of the World office coffee and biscuits from his own pocket. Or maybe it should be Rupert Murdoch.

And maybe News of the World hacks whoo take MPs out to lunch should pay for the meals themselves? Just a thought. :)

Paul Maynard must be wondering why he bothered to get elected if this is the sort of thing that is thrown at him.

Caption Competition: Polly Toynbee at the Top Shop Demo

Book Review: People, Politics & Pressure Groups - Memoirs of a Lobbyist

Almost exactly twenty years ago I started a new job working for Charles Barker, the big PR company. The public affairs division was called Charles Barker Watney & Powell. One of the mainstays of the company had been a man called Arthur Butler. He retired and was succeeded by Corinne de Souza. When Corinne left, they recruited me to replace her. I met Corinne seven years later when she became a customer of Politico's and she became a good friend. A few years ago Corinne started PicNic Publishing, which has recently published Arthur Butler's autobiography. With me so far?

Arthur Butler could seriously lay claim to being one of the first professional lobbyists in Britain and this is his story. He really is from the old school of public affairs consultancy. The book is littered with anecdotes of encounters with many of the famous political names of the 1970s and 80s. Butler started life as a journalist, but like many who came after him, he was persuaded the enter the 'dark side'. He joined a company called Partnerplan and proved highly successful in recruiting clients and persuading politicians to do what they wanted. He gives a fascinating insight into local government lobbying in the early 1970s and also the operation of All Party Groups. Indeed, the book is laced with anecdotes from various lobbying campaigns Butler has been involved with right up to the present day. In the mid 1970s Butler joined Charles Barker Watney & Powell and became joint Managing Director alongside the redoubtable Evie Soames, who was to recruit me to the company in late 1989. He stayed 15 years. I stayed three months. I hated it. I was bored out of my mind and hated the 'dating agency' side of the job. Vauxhall Motors were a client and I was deputed to arrange for them to meet Transport Secretary Cecil Parkinson. They were delighted to have their picture taken shaking his hand. The trouble was, they had absolutely nothing to say to him. I was used to running campaigns, not acting as a political pimp, so I quit. Clearly Arthur Butler found the whole political consultancy world rather more rewarding in terms of job satisfaction than I ever did.

This book really is a good read, if sometimes over detailed and somewhat lengthy. But it hasn't received the attention it undoubtedly deserves. If you're active in the world of political consultancy now, or have been over the last twenty years, it's a book you should definitely put on your Christmas wish list. I highly recommend it.

Buy it HERE.

Woke Up This Morning...

I know it's wrong but this made me laugh. It's from the excellent Prisoner Ben Blog.

Sitting in the freezing cold yard under the yellow floodlights, two members of
the musical fraternity begin jamming lyrics. It quickly descended into the
default cynicism of Lifers:

"Woke up this morning,
My baby was gone.
F*****g social workers..."

Well it made me smile, anyway.

Questions for 2012

This week the Ask Jeeves website published its Top 20 Questions of 2010 which people had asked on its website. You can see the list HERE. Last night on LBC I asked listeners to come up with the questions they think we will be asking throughout 2011. When you ask people to text in throughout a programme it is a bit of a lottery, but this one really caught on. Unfortunately, I didn't keep them, but I can recall a few...

1. Why did Cheryl get back with Ashley?
2. Who is Ann Widdecombe?
3. How much did the bailout of Germany cost?
4. Why did the coalition fail?
5. What is Lord Woolas's official title?
6. Why can't West Ham score a goal in the championship? (yes, I did read it out!)
7. Why did Iain Dale get fired from LBC?
8. On what date did Ed Balls become leader of the Labour Party?
9. How many people attended the wedding of Katie and Peter?
10. What was the name of last year's X Factor winner?

The Daley (Half) Dozen: Friday

1. No2AV investigate the Electoral Reform Society cover up.
2. Next Left think the Lib Dems may have more support than they imagine.
3. Surprise, surprise Guido reveals that Lisa Nandy is a hypocrite.
4. Ellee Seymour is glad the public have seen some justice.
5. Political Scrapbook delivers some unwelcome news.
6. Better Nation agrees that the Welsh Assembly is anti-English.

Tonight on my LBC programme...

On my LBC show tonight from 7...

7.10pm How have the severe weather conditions affected your weekend plans?

8pm Is it right for football clubs to turn their backs on the communities which have birth to them?

8.30pm Charity donations are still suffering from the recession. Have you found yourself giving less to charity?

9pm As the Boris Bike scheme is fully roled out four months after it started, do you think Boris Bikes have been a success?

And our running text question: What will be the top 20 questions on Ask Jeeves in 2011?

You can listen to LBC on 97.3 FM in Greater London, DAB Radio in the Midlands, parts of the North & North West, Glasgow & Edinburgh, Sky Channel 0112, Virgin Media Channel 973 or stream live at lbc.co.uk

To take part in the programme call 0845 60 60 973, text 84850, Email iain AT lbc DOT co DOT uk or tweet @lbc973

If you miss the programme and want to download it as a podcast (minus the ads!) click HERE. There is a £2 monthly charge but you have access to the entire LBC archive and schedule.

Yup, £538.68 Is Enough to Bankroll Me... Not.

I'd love to link you an article in today's Times by Sam Coates, but seeing as about 1% of you will be able to see it, due to the paywall, there's little point. In it, he alleges that the Tories have paid thousands of pounds to various right wing blogs this year. As evidence, he cites £29,000 paid by the Conservative Party to MessageSpace, the company which fills the ad boxes on my blog and many others. So he's correct in the facts, but the impression given is that various right wing bloggers have filled their boots due to the largesse of CCHQ's election advertising budget. I wish. Various people on Twitter are already accusing me, and others, of being "bankrolled" by the Tories. "We've known it all along," they trill. They should calm down.

I have just looked up the figures, and to date this year, my share of the MessageSpace advertising income from the Conservatives in 2010 is .... [cue X Factor style delay] ... a massive £538.68. Well, I'll certainly get fat on that...

What Sam Coates and others don't seem to "get" is that blog advertising is just like advertising in a newspaper. We'll take it from where it comes. In the past I have run advertising campaigns for the LibDems, UKIP, Libertas, Jury Team, Friends of the Earth, the TUC, Vote for Change and Ken Livingstone's mayoral campaign, and even Chris Bryant MP.

In addition, Sam Coates, had he bothered asking, might have found out that half the £29,000 which supposedly went to right wing blogs, didn't at all. Half of it went on old media websites like The Guardian and The Spectator. Indeed, some of it went on a campaign in The Times Higher Education Supplement. Another Times publication read by a dwindling audience.




Money also went to Mumsnet, The Register and other non right wing sites. Indeed, Of the £29,000 that Sam Coates went to right wing blogs, I reckon less than a third actually did.

He also accuses Guido Fawkes of taking material from Conservative press officers...

The Guido Fawkes website, written by Mr Staines, regularly attacked Gordon Brown and the Labour Party during the election and prints material given by Conservative press officers.

A bit like lobby journalists do every day of the week then. Oh dear, oh dear. Shall I admit something? [whispers gently]. I too have had the odd conversation with a Conservative Party press officer. [whispers even more gently]. And shock horror, just like Sam Coates, no doubt, I have also received material from LibDem and Labour press officers. Because that's what journalists and bloggers do. So I find it a bit nauseating to read this bollocks from a journalist who I really rather rate.

The trouble when you react to a story like this is that just by commenting you give it legs, but I really can't accept the insinuation that anyone has done anything wrong here, or that silence has been bought. I tell you, it would take a lot more than £538.68 to do that...

Pass the Ferrero Rocher

There's an account in the Telegraph today of what the US administratiin really thought of Gordon Brown, courtesy of those nice people at Wikileaks.

The cables from the US embassy said that Gordon Brown "lurched from disaster to disaster". And still there are people who think the Yanks don't know what's going on in the rest of the world!

My favourite bit is where Nick Brown ‘assures’ the US Ambassador that any dissent will be slapped down. “Oh, Mr Brown, have another Ferrero Rocher, for it is you who are spoiling us with these delicacies!“

A lot of these so-called revelations from Wikileaks are not exactly state secrets but merely a result of the tendency by politicians to gossip. I suspect they may be a little more circumspect in future while attending the Ambassador's ball!

LibDem MP: 'We'll Look Stupid If We Abstain'

Last night I had LibDem MP Gordon Birtwhistle on my programme - he's also PPS to Danny Alexander. We were discussing the Liberal Democrat stance on tuition fees. Here's the exchange...

Iain: Gordon, would you accept the point though that Vince Cable, the Secretary
of State in charge of universities, doesn’t support his own legislation then it
just makes the Liberal Democrats look stupid?
Gordon: Yes. I agree with that.
Iain: You do. Credit with you for saying that. No one else has had the
guts to say it.
Gordon: Well as far as I am concerned, I mean, I am a Liberal Democrat. I am an MP. I was voted to make decisions, I won’t abstain I will either vote for or against.
Iain: My respect for you grows by the minute.
Andy Love MP: Please tell Vince Cable how he thinks!
Gordon: Well Vince Cable will know that, Vince knows, I mean I have been Leader of the council for 28 years and as far as I am concerned you are put in place to make a decision. Whether people like the decision or don’t like the decision, those decisions have to be made. And as far as the tuition fees are concerned the decision will be made. That’s end of story for me.

What a pity Danny Alexander couldn't articulate this position on Question Time just now. He gave a pathetic answer, as John Seargent said. It's about time he learned that his party can't have it both ways. To govern is to choose. It is not to abstain.