National Campaign Day with Lyn Brown and Harriet Harman - Sat 31 Jan

"Tomorrow is national campaign day. Lyn Brown MP and Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Labour party, invite you to the opening of the new campaign centre for Bermondsey and Old Southwark - followed, of course, by a canvassing session for Labour's candidate for Bermondsey, Neil Coyle.

We're meeting at West Ham station at 10am or you could meet us at 10.45 at the new campaign centre 46 Tower Bridge Road, SE1 4TR. It's a 10 to 15 min walk from London Bridge, Elephant and Castle or a short bus ride from Tower Hill or Bermondsey station.

I hope you can join us. And we'll be back in Ilford North on Valentine's Day..."
Best wishes
Julianne
(West Ham CLP Vice Chair - Campaigns)

Trade Unions Together Parliamentary Training School

Picture of Labour Party Deputy Leader Harriet Harman MP at the House of Commons last month with members of the TULO Training School for trade unionists interested in becoming Parliamentary candidates. It was an excellent course both in terms of delivery and the standard of participants (I obviously had slipped in somehow).

There were HGV drivers, postmen, supermarket check out staff, theatre nurses, taxi drivers, plasterers, care assistants, health inspectors, (and even a housing officer)....

I will post further on the course but I think it is fantastic that the affiliated trade unions are not just complaining about the unacceptable absence of working people in Parliament but are taking concrete and practical steps to do something about it.

Lab12: TULO reception (and the move to the right)

While waiting for Ed Miliband to come and speak to the packed out fringe organised by TULO (trade union liaison organisation). General Secretary of the CWU, Billy Hayes, made a request for the Labour Movement present to move to the right (and stop blocking the doorway to people trying to get in)

Harriet Harman spoke first about the need to get the Tories out and how the unions can help especially in areas such as East of England where we are still strong but the Labour Party are weak. She also made it clear that she wanted Labour MPs to be as representative and diverse as our voters.

Which was a theme taken up by Billy and GMB General Secretary, Paul Kenny. Who both made it clear that there must be more working class and trade unionists MPs. Paul said "People who know what its like to be shouted at by their bosses".

Ed talked about taking the fight to the Tories, need for self discipline, build more homes and make Banks serve the public, not the other way round.

Highlight was a rousing passionate speech by Laura Pidcock (see picture - sorry about quality) who reminded us that if MPs don't understand, talk, look or sound like working class people then they will not vote for them.   

John-Boy's Labor blog

I've been having some further fun with the "blogger" Stat counter.    In October I posted on "Giovanni's Lavoro blog" and puzzled over the large number of hits on this blog apparently from Italy. 

During the last week or so as you can see (right screenprint) most of the hits have been coming from America.  1,966 compared with 868 from the UK.  I can't think of any obvious reason for this.  In fact most of my recent hits seem to be about the UNISON Labour Link Link Forum 2009 (see below screen print).  Which was very good event but I thought it's appeal to most American's would be somewhat limited. 


We had a very good delegation meal in a Turkish restaurant; I spoke in a Forum debate on defending Public Sector pensions; Ed Miliband spoke well, so did our General Secretary Dave Prentis and Harriot Harman MP gave a good speech...but?

Any of my cousins from across the pond care to enlighten me on the reasons for the apparent interest?  Or is there any other reason?

I'm curious about the 141 Slovenia hits as well.

Labour Conference 2010: Harriet Harman, the Red Flag and the New Jerusalem

Labour Party deputy leader, Harriet Harman, gave a witty and unifying closing speech to this year’s conference. 

I liked the self deprecating joke that she was only elected the "most fanciable MP" in a Sky News poll because her husband, Jack Dromey - had used "the Unite block vote". We then all sang the “Red Flag” followed by “Jerusalem”.  Then after several minutes of clapping and cheering Ed, there was the traditional mad rush to pick up luggage and get to the train station. 

Beforehand John Denham MP had given a cracking speech warning the 4,500 Labour Councillors that they will have the fight of their lives to make sure they protect essential public services.  He also exposed the crucial flaw in Cameron’s “Big Society” that volunteers want to supplement public services not replace them. He gave the example of people who volunteer to “befriend” pensioners but they would not want to replace the services of the district nurse. 

Harriet was then introduced by UNISON activist, Norma Stephenson, who had been elected the Chair of the Labour Party NEC last night. 

Building a New Jerusalem is now on hold until 2015 at the latest.  The opportunity may come sooner but it is best to plan for a long and at times very painful slog back to power.

I'll be trying to catch up on my posts about conference over the next few days.

“Building London’s Future” (& defending London’s poor & vulnerable)

The proposed Tory/Lib Dems reforms of housing benefit (HB) “will lead to two things - firstly a dramatic increase in homelessness which will result in a shift in London’s population -equal in size to a typical post war new town and secondly - deepening and abject poverty”.  So said the host, MP for Westminster North, Karen Buck MP, in her introduction to a “crisis” housing meeting on Thursday to launch this report by London Labour Party.

The report details David Cameron’s and his London Mayor, Boris Johnson, attempts to “cleanse” the Tory controlled boroughs in the Capital of their poor and the vulnerable by changing housing benefit to private tenants.

To show the seriousness of the situation there was a pretty high profile panel of speakers.  Labour Party Leader Harriot Harman MP, Shadow Secretary of State Yvette Cooper MP, Leader of LB Hammersmith & Fulham Labour Group Cllr Steve Cowan, Shadow Minister of Housing John Healey MP, GLA member and London Labour Party leader Len Duvall and Shadow Minister of London, Tessa Jowell MP.  This was before an audience of Councillors and housing activists from across London.

Despite working in housing in London I must admit to being rather shocked at the report and its conclusions.  I will try and post in more detail on each speaker and on the rest of the report another time (there was a lot of interesting stuff) but I’ll outline now the key thing about HB changes that should have every single person who gives a damn about London (and elsewhere) jumping up and down.

Housing benefit provides a roof over the heads of millions of people.  If these cuts to HB go ahead it will mean:-

Yvette Cooper MP: “One million families will lose £12 per week...50,000 of the poorest pensioners will lose £11 per week...Working families will also lose £12 per week...Disabled residents will lose £13 per week.  These are averages...A pensioner in a one-bed flat in Hackney will lose £21 per week...150,000 households in London will not have enough benefit to cover the rent...A population the size of Hackney could be forced to move to cheaper accommodation.  This is what you get from the £550 million of cuts to HB already announced.  Remember that the CONDEMS want £2.3 billion cuts in HB”. 

From the “Building London’s Future” report: “People in London will face on average £1,000 a year cut in support”....159,370 private sector tenants on Local Housing Allowance (LHA) will lose an average of £22 a week in the first wave of cuts....80% of LHA recipients in London will lose more than £10 a week...990 families in a 2-bed property in Tower Hamlets will lose on average £27 a week...73 families living a 2-bed property in Camden will lose on average £53 a week.

(as soon as I find a link to the report I will update but you can check this government site here to find out what will happen to your local authority)

Notting Hill Strikers at Sadiq Khan MP Parliamentary reception.

Last night Tooting MP Sadiq Khan, who is Minister of Transport and an UNISON member held a reception for local trade union members, Labour party supporters and constituents at the Atlee Room in the House of Commons.

There was a really good turn out with over 150 people attending. London UNISON Labour link sponsored the refreshments. Sadiq had invited Deputy Leader Harriet Harman MP, Home Secretary Alan Johnson MP and Youth Minister Dawn Butler MP as guest speakers.

I was there as Vice-Chair of the London UNISON Labour Link committee and had brought with me two UNISON members from Notting Hill Housing Trust who had been on Strike earlier this month. Strike action is unheard of in our traditionally moderate sector yet members voted 93% in favour to protest at their treatment by the CEO who is trying to destroy family friendly policies at Notting Hill and slash basic staff terms and conditions while paying herself obscene amounts of money and perks (such as £11,000 per year car allowance).

Yesterday we learnt from NHHT senior management that its Board have apparently “refused” to even let UNISON speak to them about its concerns and that they support the boycott of requests for mediation with ACAS! If this is true then you have to question why the NHHT Board is apparently so precious that they are not even willing to even listen to their own workforce express concerns that they are being discriminated against and exploited by their senior management.

This is amazing and can only further damage the reputation and image of the wider sector in the eyes of many people.

There was a Q&A after each speech. I managed to ask a question of Harriet and Alan about what is happening in Notting Hill and attacks by its management on equalities. We will be contacting their Parliamentary offices later today with follow up information.

We also discussed the issue with Sadiq (one of the Strikers is also his constituent) who also agreed to contact the organisation once we brief him properly.

The reception itself was very lively and a good cross section of people. There was some rather silly comments made in the Q&A but I enjoyed the “knockabout” soapbox politics. I cannot believe how complacent and petty some people are at the prospect of a Conservative Government. Turkeys clucking for Christmas! The speakers gave some cracking responses. Sadiq was an excellent host and I am sure he recruited many “foot soldieries” (as Harriet put it) to help him win in the forthcoming election.

It was also of course a good opportunity to build on the lobbying work done over the Notting Hill Housing dispute here and here.

Wednesday morning: £, rules change, equalities and health

The day started off with an upbeat Jack Dromey giving a finance report. The Party is in a much better financial shape than I thought. There was a welcome commitment that “give to win” donations during the next several months will only be used for the General election campaign and not to pay off existing debts.

Next there was a bit of excitement and even almost a bun fight over proposed rule changes.

Followed by a very good debate on Equalities. Harriet Harman gave a cracking speech rightly promoting Labour as the Party of Equality and bashing both Tories and the Sun (which has typically come out with some silly and negative coverage of the conference).

The Health debate had a number of positive CLP and trade union contributions. Health Secretary Andy Burnham announced the removal of parking costs at hospitals for inpatients. Great news - this is the Party doing the right thing both morally and politically.

Labour blogger Luke Akehurst (on the left for a change – of the picture I mean) who has been seriously ill spoke movingly of his NHS treatment and his thanks not only for the doctors and nurses but also the hospital cleaners, the cooks and the drivers. He pointed out that he and his fellow patients got their treatment “because they needed it not because they could afford it”

Forum 09: Harriet Harman

Harriet had a warm introduction from National Labour Link Chair, Steve Warwick. She seemed to be in a relaxed and confident mood. Started off making very positive remarks about UNISON being the voice of public services in CLPS, councils and Parliament. The importance of collective bargaining in workplaces. This is a very difficult time. Hard to overstate the crisis. Booming markets one minute then no housing boom. Then MP expenses. The anger of low paid UNISON members who are also paid out of public purse. Anger most of all from Labour Party activists since we expect these things of the Tories not Labour. Really important that don't judge all MPs by this standard. The strain does hang over all MPs. Important that we change the system. But remember also Cameron's £24,000 per year for his stately home. The Daily Telegraph deliberately used to the leaks to target Labour MPs. However, we can't say anything about it now since the public is so angry. There is more to come and Labour side will have to face very a difficult process. Tories want it to cloud the political debate.

What needs to be brought forward is if the Tories had been in power they would have said “let the banks collapse... let the recession take its course and cut public spending now”. At the recent international economic conference she had assumed that everyone would be flocking around Obama on his first visit – no, they were all following and speaking to Gordon about what to do over their economic crisis's.

Thanked unison for its work on equality and how without unison the Equality Bill would not have happened and still need our support. Cameron apologised yesterday about Section 28, now they have worked out it wrong but they are still voting against the Equality Bill.

The Q&A went okay. She answered questions about MP expenses., privatisation, pensions and equalities. She was not aware of plans to privatise and market test 75% of NHS services and said she was sure that there are no plans approved by ministers to do so.

She finished by reminding us that we have got to be determined and united. If we struggle between ourselves at the moment remember the Tories would slam the door on the unions. We have our disagreements but we must unite. Don't believe we are written off we are not.

Steve Warwick formally thanked Harriet for her speech and asked her to remind the Labour Party of the importance of having a manifesto for the next election that 1.3 million UNISON members can all sign up to for.

Forum 09: Speechs, Panels and Workshops

It's been a good day. Harriet Harman MP gave a well received speech and gave good responses to some tough questions from the floor.

Our General Secretary Dave Prentis gave a thoughtful and balanced account of “The State We're In” and the way forward. I moved a speech on Pensions. The workshop – worked.

The UNISON MPs (who are of course individual union members and not sponsored) Panel Q&A was lively. I'll hopefully post tomorrow a more extensive report on today. The highlights of Saturday are the Annual Report, rule changes, further motions and we have Ed Miliband MP to speak to us on the Labour Manifesto.

UPDATE: Warning - The witch hunting, red baiting and soft on the BNP Trot maestro has linked to this post.

UNISON Labour Link (APF) Forum 2009

This is a quick post from Manchester. I'm just back from a meal out (a superb Turkish restaurant called the “Topkati Palace” in Deansgate) with fellow London delegates.

Tomorrow's agenda includes debates on motions, keynote speakers RH Harriet Harman MP and our GS Dave Prentis, workshops on “influencing the Government on key issues arising from UNISON national delegate conference”, MEPs panel Q&A, more motions then ending up with the traditional Friday night “Social”.

This is the elected national forum of the UNISON political fund which is affiliated to the Labour Party. It used to be called the “Affiliated Political Fund” or APF. This is a completely voluntary affiliation paid by those UNISON members who want to support and influence the Labour Party.

We live in “interesting times” in UNISON Labour Link and I am looking forward to a good debate on motions and during workshops. Needless to say – I will be expressing my views on things and hopefully posting over the next 2 days.

BTW – I have mislaid my Mobile -so apologies to anyone who is trying to get hold of me. You can email.

Brown Bashes Boris for slashing homes for rent.

Languishing at home struggling stoically with mans flu (see previous post?) I have just received a “TheyWorkForYou” email alert. I have an alert on my local Labour MP (and UNISON member) for West Ham, Lyn Brown. Whenever she asks a Parliamentary Question they send an alert to me. I followed the link and found that Lyn has asked it of Harriet Harman in yesterdays “Prime Ministers Question Time”. The other Brown (Gordon) was of course across the pond saying Hello to Obama and wowing Congress while Harriet was standing in for him in the bear pit.

Lyn's question was:
Some 34,000 families in my constituency are languishing on the council's housing waiting list. They earn, on average, less than £24,000 per year, yet the Mayor of London has decided to decrease the numbers of homes for rent built in the capital by 10 per cent. Failing to deal with the snow was one thing, but blatantly ignoring the needs of my constituents and tens of thousands of other Londoners is another. Can she—will she—intervene?

Harriet’s reply was
know that my hon. Friend and her hon. Friends will stand up for all those people in London who need housing and need it now. While Boris Johnson, the Mayor, does not recognise their concerns, I know that they have, in my hon. Friend, a champion on housing.

On the link (here) you could actually see a video which I have copied and pasted above.

What Boris is actually doing is letting people who earn up to £72,000 per year buy subsidised homes under shared ownership schemes instead of building desperately needed affordable homes for rent.

Bearing in mind that anyone buying a home during the next year or so is likely to be owning a depreciating asset, surely one thing we have learnt from this “sub-prime” banking recession is that people on very low and often insecure incomes should not be encouraged to take out mortgages. The Tories really don’t “get it” do they? Their ideological obsession with home ownership in the face of the “bleeding obvious” is staggering.

Check out press release by Labour GLA Housing spokesperson Nicky Gavron.

By coincidence I got an email from Lyn beforehand in response to this post. We are going to have “a chat” on the TULO "Fair Redundancy Pay" issue.

London Progressive Conference

This was well worth attending yesterday and a surprising good use of a wet and windy London Saturday in January.

“London Progressive” was set up by Ken Livingstone after he lost the London Mayor election to Boris.

Its web site states that it is a “a unique coalition, launched by Ken Livingstone, and involving people and views from across the political, cultural, community, generational and artistic spectrum, to promote the kinds of progressive policies which have made London such a success and a place where people from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds can be themselves and come together around common goals”.

This is a pretty ambitious goal. Still, any coalition that can get the deputy leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman, to attend alongside leaders of the Greens and Liberal Democrats has not only got ambition but quite some pull. Mind you, the utterly vile Gorgeous One was also apparently there, as was Mr McNoHoper MP.

There were of course plenty of rumours circulating about what Ken hopes to get out of this coalition. Many feel he is angling to be the Labour Party candidate for London Mayor for 2012 (which I think is pretty much a given if he is chosen) or is he keen to build up a coalition similar to that of 2000 so he can stand as an independent in 2012? I don’t think so and I think that if he thought that he would have never rejoined the Party. The most Machiavelli theory was that Ken is building up support in the expectation that Labour will get a hammering in 2010 and he will be parachuted into Parliament as a leadership candidate. Yeah.

While the “nice but dim” trots in Workers Liberty dismiss Ken as a “fake career leftist” – whatever that means.

London Politics is obviously different to national since we have a PR system in City Hall and it appears that with Boris at least, all the democratic opposition political parties have an incentive to work together. Boris is after all very much a unifying Politician (to his critics).

It was certainly very well attended. The main conference hall at Congress House was packed with all seats taken and people having to stand at the back. There was a refreshing absence of head bangers. Harriet had some very silly heckling but the vast majority of participants told them in no uncertain words to shut up. She did really well and got the best cheer I think of the day. The seminars I attended were also packed with many standing up because there were no seats left. The lifts in Congress House are subject to conservation orders and are clearly inadequate to transporting lots of people from room to room, so to get anywhere in time, you need to use the stairs. Very green and pro public health.

I will post on the various seminars I attended and speeches during the next week. There was some really interesting debate and comment. It was also a bloggers delight since a lot was going on politically and it was great opportunity to chat and network with lots of people face to fact that you have only met previously on line. There is still no absolute alternative to such personal contact. It was a good day.

London Labour Party Biennial Conference 2008

The conference was in the historical Old Town Hall in Stratford, Newham, E15 so I was able to walk there from home this morning enjoying the blue skies, cold fresh air and winter sunshine.

I was there as a member of the UNISON Labour Link delegation. We had a delegation meeting first where we discussed motions and whether we should support them or not and who should try and speak on motions from the conference floor.

The morning session of the conference was dominated by speakers, reports and Q&A’s. The afternoon had workshops, “our Ken” and Resolution debates, finishing up with the internal regional election results.

I’m not going to try and give a “full report” on the conference. Rather, a snapshot of some of the stuff I personally found interesting, usually from my own particular trade union perspective. A health warning is that this post is based on my hurried and often illegible scribbled notes.

Ken Clark, London regional director of the Labour Party brought us all into order (eventually, a Labour Party meeting of any kind is loath to start on time). The main hall of the Town Hall was pretty full with delegates. I assume about 300 plus people? Len Duvall, Chair of London Labour Party (and GLA Labour leader) chaired the conference. He had been re-elected Chair unopposed. From my hurried squiggles I note that he pointed out that this was not a time for the London Party to be sending out mixed messages; Labour in power makes a huge difference to people’s lives and we should never forget this; in the recent GLA elections despite the loss of the mayor we actually polled more votes than in the past and we had support in inner and outer London. Labour represents all of London.

The first main speaker was Sir Robin Wales, the directly elected Mayor of Newham who welcomed delegates to smell the fresh air of a Tory free Newham (there are no Tory or Liberal Democrat opposition councillors in Newham). He reminded everyone of the Labour history of Newham and this very Town Hall. It was at this very place that Keir Hardy was elected as the first ever Labour MP in 1892. The balcony overlooking the High Street that we had all walked past to get in the hall was were Keir gave his victory speech.

The first ever Labour Council was elected in West Ham, Newham has the largest Labour majority in the Country. London as well as the “North”, has its Labour heartlands. Robin was very, very direct about his opinion about Galloway’s Respect (no comment). He also warned the conference about Boris and that we should judge him on what he does rather than what he says. This was a common theme from the day.

Harriet Harman MP (and deputy leader), reminded the conference that the Labour Government had indeed paid off debt in the past so now was in a better position to deal with present problems. While in the past you had to believe in prudence, now it is prudent to be bold. Labour in the current economic difficulties will not be saying unlike the Tories “if it isn’t hurting, it isn’t working” or that unemployment is “a price worth paying”. Traditional Labour values are about fairness and equality. She also noted that all London Tory MPs are white.

Next was an unopposed Conference Arrangements report (standing orders committee) followed by Guest speakers.

First was Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Olympics, who started her speech by mentioning that on route to Stratford today, the Jubilee Line had been partly closed. If Ken had still been in charge of Transport of London, this of course would never have happened! (Joke) She also said that the last time she had been at a London Biennial conference in 2006 she never thought that she would be present when Labour had nationalised the commanding heights of the British economy! (Joke – if somewhat true). Tessa pointed out that 75p in every £ spent on the Olympics would be spent on regeneration. 8,000 jobs will be created in the newly built Stratford Olympic shopping centre alone while 10% of the current 3,000 construction jobs are recruited locally from the unemployed.

Tony McNulty MP, Minister for London, Employment and Welfare Reform was next. He argued that some were overdoing the “doom and gloom”. The Tories are proving themselves not to be serious politicians. Cameron is very like “Strictly Come Dancing” Star, John Sergeant, (I can’t remember exactly why but it seemed applicable at the time and got a good cheer from conference). Tony reminded everyone about a fundamental difference between the Labour Party and the Tories – you would not get anyone in Labour “singing in the bath” about market cruelty. He also accused Boris of imitating disgraced Tory Westminster Politician Shirley Porter, for trying to use housing policy to gerrymander elections. Finally, he reminded everyone that if the election of Barack Obama taught us anything the last thing this country needed is an Old Etonion as our Prime Minister.

Good stuff - I’ll post on the rest of conference tomorrow.

Ken meets London Labour Party campaigners

Last night I went to a meeting of the Labour Greater London Assembly & Mayor campaign 2008 at the Party HQ in Victoria Street.

It went very well. There was a good mixture of London assembly members, the Mayor Ken Livingstone, London MP’s, PPCs, MEPs, Councillors, Regional board members and TULO members.

Picture is of Harriet Harman, Labour Party deputy Leader (who addressed the meeting), Ken, Joan Ryan MP, Len Duvall AM (Chair) and Ken Clark (Regional director).

Ken was on good form and gave his usual cracking speech. He was introduced by Len beforehand as the model candidate who always does what his agent is told to do and never interferes in the campaign. Of course.

Harriet Rallies Labour Red Army

Harriet gave a rousing speech at the end of conference today. Psyching the activists up for a snap general election? I simply don’t know. As I left Bournemouth this afternoon, many people thought it “likely”, especially if the Tories mess up their conference next week with internal rows and division.

Tactically it does make sense, as everyone in the Labour movement at this moment is united and confident (for admittedly different reasons), the economy is going OK and Gordon is clearly ahead in the polls.

Highlight of today was Housing minister, Yvette Cooper’s, speech when she was given a standing ovation at the end of it. As the Chair, Keith Vaz said afterwards - it was the first time in 25 years that he has seen a Labour conference give a Housing minister such acclaim! That remark made Dennis Skinner MP laugh – first time I had seen him do that during the entire conference.

Steve Warwick from UNISON Labour Link gave a well received speech on affordable housing as well.

I’ll do some more posts later on the conference which was great fun and politically stimulating. As was said again today – Politics matters.

Congratulations to Gordon and Harriet – Commiseration to Alan

Still , a winner is a winner. Well done Gordon, well done Harriet. Nearly there Alan. Only 0.8% short. Overall, a good result for the Labour Party and the affiliate trade unions (Particularly UNISON Labour Link – who I think can show that they can deliver, not enough this time obviously, however we need to build on how we communicate with our Labour Link members). I am convinced that Gordon and Harriet will be a winning team for Labour.

I haven’t seen a proper breakdown yet on how the MP’s, unions and Party members voted. There are already some bizarre interpretations of the results. I think that the polite term for this is “wishful thinking”. The Ultra Left (stress “Ultra”) has been completed marginalised and it has been demonstrated that is it has no meaningful support in the Party or its affiliate’s.

Trade Union Hustings in Congress House

Post on the Trade Unions for Labour (TULO) Hustings held last night in the TUC Headquarters in Congress House last month. Picture is of UNISON Labour Link member Rachel Voller (local Nurse) and Alan Johnson. The main hall was packed. Extra chairs had to be bought in. Brown comes in, lots of clapping, he “works” the front row very well shaking hands and looking very relaxed and confident. He then knocks a microphone off the stage. Recovers well, and starts talking to the audience. A few bits and pieces about his performance.

He talked about “social justice” and “progressive politics”; he mentioned how as a young man the NHS had prevented him from going totally blind. How he was only able to go to university thanks to the Labour Party. The 2.5 million jobs created by Labour during the last 10 years. He thanked the trade union movement for creating the Labour Party 100 years ago, for the NHS, for the minimum wage. He kept referring to the “Labour Movement”.

Gordon left and the 6 candidates then came in, the meeting was chaired by the editor of the New Statesman (John Kampfner?). It was much more formal and tense than the hustings we had in West Ham. Each candidate had only 2 minutes for a speech.

Hilary Benn gave a good speech. He kept reminding me of his Dad, who by co-incidence I had seen in the same hall, same spot, giving a speech on Saturday. He (HB) has an effective “tell it as it is” style.

Hazel gave her usual combative “campaigner-in-chief” speech; attacking Cameron for saying he “understands” what it is like for couples to pay a mortgage when he actually lives in a £1.25million house which was bought for cash.

Alan (I declare an interest) talked about how he was inspired by the trade union movement, but not usually at branch meetings (laughter). He rightly (and bravely) reminded the audience that the movement had made mistake in the past such as opposition to the minimum wage. They repeatedly rejected NUPE (now UNISON) motions at TUC for such a policy. The argument that “rights at work came with your union card” often failed the low paid and the vulnerable at work. Alan also called for a change in the “cultural of betrayal”. Trade union leaders who publicly attack the Labour Party all the time then suddenly 6 weeks before an general election (when realise what would happen if the Tories get in) call for their members to vote Labour, must realise that this damages not only the Party but also the union. He finished by saying Cameron is not the new Blair but the new Kinnock.

Peter concentrated on his anti-racist work and the success in Northern Ireland. He gave a powerful attack on excessive city bonuses.

Jon was interesting. He appeared to be the most intense. The Party needs to change. Lost 200,000 members in 10 years. Need to link the Party with the Government. Need to change policy, improve trade union rights, protect employees, build homes and apologise (but not pull out immediately) for Iraq. Funny enough his body language reminded me of Brown. Waving his finger to make a point and keeping the other arm tightly by his side.

Harriet wanted a powerful and democratic Party. Referred to her trade union credentials and her track record of building her local party to 700 members (not bad).

In the Q&A: Jon was "on the attack" over the “failure” of the government to support the private members bill on employment rights for agency workers. Alan supported the right of 2 or 3 star Councils to build homes (all candidates supported the 4th option!). Alan pointed out that the Councils must not repeat the mistakes of the past. He lived with 3 of kids on a “soulless council estate in south London”. Hilary described the housing shortage and affordability as a “ticking time bomb”. Harriet described the decision to go to war over Iraq as a mistake, abet one made in good faith. Peter said that we need to reconcile the British people over Iraq. Hilary said he didn’t regret the decision, and that we had to support a fragile democracy (to applause).

I still think that Alan Johnson should be deputy leader. He will complement Brown as well as act as a brake, if necessary. Which I hope will be good for the Party as well as the country. He is clearly someone who will speak his mind. His leaflet describes him as “Old” and “New Labour”. However, with his trade union and Labour Party background he could also be someone who could help modernise the wider Labour movement. This, if we were all honest, needs to be done.

Home of Labour Party votes for Brown and Harman

West Ham CLP, where the first ever Labour MP, Kier Hardie, was elected in 1892, voted tonight to nominate Gordon Brown for Leader of the Labour Party and Harriot Harman to be the deputy. Gorden was nominated overwhelmingly and Harriot also won the deputy vote by a clear margin. Jon Cruddas was 2nd then Alan Johnson. There was a lively but good natured and comradely debate in an “all members” CLP meeting.

UPDATE: just heard that Tower Hamlets Labour Party voted to nominate (supportive) Brown as leader, and Jon Cruddas as deputy (Alan Johnson 2nd).

Guest Poster: Benn, Harman and Cruddas at West Ham

By Richard B
Last Wednesday West Ham CLP organised the first of two deputy leader debates. In Stratford we had Hilary Benn, Jon Cruddas and Harriet Harman. We have the others this week (Tuesday).

Congratulations to West Ham activists, Lyn Brown MP and her team for the organisation and UNISON-Labour Link for stumping up some cash. I think West Ham is one of the few CLPs that has organised events with all the candidates. Shows what you can do with everyone working together! The meeting was chaired by Conor McAuley (West Ham CLP Chair) who chaired the meeting in a professional and balanced way.

Below I will give my general impressions of the debate. I will declare an interest as I had Cruddas leanings before the meeting and was likely to vote for him with my first preference before the meeting. Although I do have a lot of time for Harriet as she was one of the few MPs that turned up at one of the “Justice for Cleaners” rallies at Canary Wharf (I recognise her TGWU family connection). Likewise Hilary has attempted to move the agenda on over international aid and comes across as a human being

My initial impression was that all the candidates seem to suffering from campaign fatigue and looked tired. However their opening 10 minute speeches were well presented and they then answered a range of questions from Iraq to heat islands (don’t ask). There was a high level of agreement that the party needs “renewal” and is not “fit for purpose”. On this point I do find it interesting that two cabinet ministers seem to give the impression that they were not around as the party was run into the ground. Will this change under Brown?

I thought that Harriet was slightly lacklustre and seems to be campaigning as Gordon’s preferred number two “I have worked with him for 20 years”. I am also not sure that I buy in to her argument that she will resonate with southern swing voters. Having been brought up in a seat in London during the 1970s and 80s, that went Tory in 1983 and back to Labour in 1997 I am not convinced. I broadly agree with the argument about a woman in the position (I supported an AWSL in West Ham) but I think this is outweighed by other issues. When Harriet was speaking suddenly the picture of Shirley Williams and her hectoring tones appeared in my minds eye. Shouldn’t renewal mean policy not image? On Iraq Harriet did call for an immediate withdrawal which surprised me. Does Gordon know?

In my opinion Hilary started slowly but got better as he got going. He was the only candidate to mention Warwick “We need Warwick Two” and international issues other than Iraq. He showed some real passion and commitment and I left with a more positive impression of him than I started with. I think overall he answered the questions with the greatest detail.

Jon has actually thought deeply about what renewal means and has a programme for bringing back lost voters in policy and practical terms. Maybe he is still a bit vague on other policy issues but has passion and can enthuse people. The dig from other candidates that the position also means deputising for the Prime Minister in the Commons and abroad which seems aimed at Jon doesn’t hold up. I know about the suspicions of Jon’s “tack to the left” but in my opinion he can energise the party and I think resonate with voters that have deserted us. I left very enthusiastic about Jon.

Overall I thought Jon came over the best at our first debate. In a highly unscientific poll afterwards (but with people who were going to support each of the candidates before or were undecided) Jon went down very well and Hilary impressed me. Roll on Tuesday.
Richard B.

grayee: If anyone else who was there wants to post a different view let me know.