General Election
Cameron and Brown rejected by the people – what next?
May 7th
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The nation has spoken. It is crying out for change, but not the change offered by Cameron’s Conservatives. The Tories have been clearly rejected with the overwhelming majority of the country saying no to its manifesto for change. The Tories can’t claim this as anything but a defeat.
But let’s be fair, Gordon Brown has also been rejected. Labour can’t claim this as anything but a defeat. The people haven’t rejected Labour, but neither have they given Brown a ringing endorsement.
Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats are in a more of a mixed position. They’ve an overwhelming right to scream about the unfairness of the system. A massive six million plus votes and just over 50 seats just isn’t morally right.
Everyone is speculating as to what will happen next.
What is constitutionally correct? Gordon Brown continues as Prime Minister until May 25 and tries to form a Government with the support of minority parties, including the Lib Dems.
What is morally correct? The problem with what is constitutionally correct, is that it isn’t morally right. Neither Cameron or Brown have the moral right to govern.
What is politically possible? Who knows? Clegg doesn’t look likely to do a deal with Brown, but practically Labour needs weeks if not months to change it’s leader. Cameron might try to stage an electoral coup and attempt a minority government, even though the Tory manifesto has been resoundly rejected.
My solution? Gordon Brown should seize the moral high ground and do the following:
- Announce that he doesn’t have the moral right to govern.
- Ask Cameron to form a government…
- … on the condition that before the end of the year we have a referendum on electoral reform. Cameron can continue to oppose a more democratic voting system and cling to the status quo, but he’s got to give the people the opportunity to decide. Not him.
- And that on the new system (or old if that’s what people want) we have a new election before the end of June next year.
Cameron will then be faced with a choice. He can put Britain first, or he can put his party first. Brown will already have shown that he puts Britain first, can Cameron match him? I doubt it. That gives Brown the moral authority to remain as Prime Minister and do exactly what I’ve outlined – have a referendum and new election. He can then get on tackling sorting out the economy and the other important business of government.
Vote Labour – my personal plea
May 6th
I’ve campaigned for Labour in every election since 1987. But this time is different. In every other election I hoped that Labour would win, I was disappointed, shocked, gutted when we didn’t win in 1987 and 1992. But that’s as far as it went.
But this time it’s different. This time it’s far more emotional and personal. Because this time I’m responsible for people.
- I’ve got a daughter who’s almost three and I’m sick to the pit of my stomach with fear for her future if the Tories win. But my fear isn’t just for her, it’s for every other child in the country whose lives will be blighted by the Tories.
- I’ve got a team of brilliant young people that I employ and am responsible for. I’m terrified for their future if the Tories win. I’m terrified how Tory economic policies will devastate small businesses and force thousands of us out of business, just like in the 80s. I don’t want my young people to suffer that trauma.
- I’ve got a father-in-law living in a great care home. I’m terrified what will happen to him if the Tories win. From Tory and Tory/Lib Dem councils around the country we’ve already seen how they deliberately attack the most vulnerable in society by closing homes and viciously cutting home care services.
Quite simply I’m terrified of the Tories and how they’ll govern to benefit the few, while the rest of the country can go to hell.
Growing up in the 80s I’ve had personal experience of just how bad it is to suffer under the misery of a Tory government. I remember:
- being taught in schools with classrooms where the roof leaked, where classrooms were Portacabins in the playground, where we didn’t have enough teachers.
- people waiting over a year for hospital appointments, not just weeks.
- when people were scared of the police who the Tories were trying to turn into a political tool to attack the miners and working people.
- when Tory ministers celebrated the fact that a pregnant woman was handcuffed to her hospital bed
- when people were losing their homes and jobs, because of extortionate 15% interest rates.
It scares me that young people I talk to don’t know just how terrible the Tories really are. They never lived through the sheer misery of a government with the core principles of selfishness and greed.
And the truth is even if you believe in Compassionate Cameron, it’s still the same old nasty Tory Party that he leads. Tony Blair was a true leader and took on Labour Party members to reclaim it and take it back to its founding principles, rejecting the left-wing doctrines that had polluted Labour’s original philosophies.
Cameron hasn’t done this. There can only be three reasons:
- Cameron is lying and doesn’t really believe his compassionate Conservatism, it’s just a ruse to seize power. I used to believe Dave and think he had changed, just not his party. Now, I’m not so sure. Maybe I’ve been conned by Cameron.
- Cameron is too scared to take on his own members. He doesn’t have the courage for the job. You have to ask if he can’t lead a political party, how can he lead a country?
- Cameron isn’t capable of taking on his own members. He’s just not bright enough. You have to ask if he can’t lead a political party, how can he lead a country?
So I urge you, if you do one thing today then vote to stop the Tories plunging Britain into misery.
Vote to ensure that the UK gets true electoral reform as advocated by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, not the gerrymandering, vote-rigging proposed by Cameron.
UPDATE: A few typos helpfully corrected by @karenbruce, my lesson is more haste less speed!
Gordon Brown’s standing ovation for barnstorming speech
May 3rd
Gordon Brown obviously believes in keeping the best till last. He’s just given a barnstorming speech to Citizens UK. He was greeted with massive applause as he entered and a standing ovation for the clear Labour policies he articulated.
UPDATE: Full video (via Political Scrapbook)
David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ just didn’t cut it. People who are really involved in community action and volunteering don’t want it.
What the Tories mean by ‘Big Society’ is abandoning the government’s responsibility to the most vulnerable in society, expecting community groups and charities to pick up the slack, because the Conservatives can’t be bothered and don’t think it’s important enough.
What Labour means by ‘Big Society’ is the government helping and facilitating community groups and charities to enable them and make it easier for them to achieve even more. It’s more than a subtle difference. The Tories are setting out to deliberately disadvantage the most vulnerable people in society who are the least able to take on the responsibilities of running their own schools, post offices and police. Meanwhile the privileged, who already have the most, will be able to grab even more as they ‘run’ their own services.
Tax cuts for millionaires now on Tory website
Apr 30th
You can have some great fun with Google Sidewiki. It let’s you add your own helpful information and explanations to websites.This means you can the truth about the Tories to their website – for anyone to see. You can share Sidewiki entries on Blogger, Facebook, Twitter and Google profiles.
To add your own exposes of the Tories, just install the Google Toolbar with Sidewiki and away you go. You can even highlight specific proposals on the site and add your own explanation of why it’s such a bad policy.
Leaders’ Debate live Qik video streaming
Apr 22nd
This evening I’m at at Leaders’ Debate party with Eddie Izzard and Hilary Benn. As usual I’ll be tweeting furiously during the debate and afterwards I plan to do some immediate live video streaming interviews.
You can watch them here on my Qik Live Channel:
I’ll be using a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 for the live video streaming and for reasons of transparency I’ve got to remind you that Sony Ericsson is a client of my company Wolfstar. For the technically minded amongst you it’s a Android phone, and IMHO (in my humble opinion the best available!)
Tory emergency budget
Apr 19th
The Tory Emergency Budget – June 24th 2010
View more presentations from UK Labour.
Answer the question Dave
Apr 16th
I tweeted that Cameron couldn’t answer Brown’s question about money for the police and Cameron didn’t even appear to know what was in his own manifesto (the police are in for it), luckily Gordon did know.
The moment, which was the first ‘punch’ of the debate is already on YouTube (via Political Scrapbook)
Eddie Izzard talks about Brilliant Britain with Labour
Apr 15th
While you’re waiting for tonight’s debate (#leadersdebate) between Gordon, David and Nick you could do worse than check out Labour’s latest party political election broadcast with Eddie Izzard:
UPDATE: I didn’t want to admit this at first, but I’ve now just tweeted about the fact that I cried when I first watched this. Eddie’s right. Britain is bloody brilliant. It’s not all down to Labour, in fact it’s mainly down to how brilliant the British people are. But Labour wants to celebrate that brilliance and help people. I’m old enough to have grown up under Thatcher’s Tories and it was bloody horrible. Whatever you think Labour’s faults are don’t let the Tories wreck any hope we have for a brighter future. Trust me, they will, that’s what Tories do. I’ve experienced it.
Labour’s manifesto launch showcases cabinet talent
Apr 12th
Today’s manifesto launch highlighted yet another of Labour’s key strengths – the depth and strength of Labour’s cabinet.
Cameron can’t put forward his cabinet team, because it’s no match for Labour’s. Can you imagine Alan Johnson v. Chris Grayling? Alastair Darling v. George Osbourne. Andy Burnham v. Andrew Lansley. Hilary Benn v. Nick Herbert. In each and every case it’s no contest.
That’s why Gordon had the cabinet with him to answer questions. He knows he’s got a talented team.
In contrast Cameron knows he’s got to distance himself from the rest of his cabinet. Not only does their appearance highlight how lightweight they all are, but more importantly it shows people that for all Cameron’s slick salesmanship about compassionate Cameron, it’s still the same old nasty Tories underneath.
For all that Cameron likes to pretend he’s Tony Blair’s heir, the big difference is that Blair had the ability and courage to change the Labour Party. Cameron doesn’t even have the ability or courage to change the Conservative Party so how can we believe him when he says he’ll change the country?
Labour manifesto launch
Apr 12th
Labour’s manifesto launch is a bit different to what a lot of people were expecting. Usually general election manifestos are only bought and read by real political junkies*. But the problem with that is that most people just see what the media chooses to report, they don’t actually get to see the real policies free if media spin and distortion.
Labour’s innovation is to provide the manifesto in a multitude of different formats to suit a wide variety of needs. The most innovative is the film produced by Ridley Scott Associates and Saatchi & Saatchi which is ideal for sharing with friends and family. In just two minutes it gives people a real insight into Labour’s policy pledges in its manifesto.
For those who want more detail you can click through and see a series of other films on specific policy areas such as the economy and health. You can also click through to download PDFs of the actual manifesto. It’s in the PDFs that you get the policy detail that highlights how solid, serious and substantial Labour’s manifesto actually is. Douglas Alexander explained that the rationale behind the animated films was to allow voters to “paddle, swim and dive” into Labour’s manifesto.
Labour’s launch is about putting members and voters at the forefront. Before 1997 Peter Mandelson used to talk about winning the ‘air war’ and the ‘ground war’. The air war was the mainstream media, the ground war was pounding the streets talking to voters. Today it’s even more about the ground war. Except the ground war isn’t just on the streets, it’s online with voters and local party activists talking to each other.
In contrast to the Tories negative advertising campaigns Labour has deliberately chosen a positive theme, reflecting bright sunshine coming up over the horizon and a family looking forward to a future fair for all.
The creative manifesto isn’t just creative for the sake of it, but is also designed to reflect the importance of the creative and digital sector to the UK economy.
That’s why Labour isn’t relying on the broadcast and print media for the manifesto launch. The launch wasn’t introduced by a cabinet minister, but by Labour blogger Ellie Gellard. At the same time Labour is sharing the links to the films with party members so they can share them directly with friends, colleagues and family through email, social media and social networks.
Impressed as I am by Labour’s innovation and as new media as I am, I have to confess I’m disappointed that I won’t be walking down to WH Smith to buy all of the manifestos. Keeping an online video or PDF just isn’t the same.
DISCLOSURE: I did have a sneak preview of the manifesto.
* I used to have a collection of manifestos going back to 1979 which was the first election where I was really aware of and interested in politics (I was nearly 11).
XP: Also posted on A PR Guy’s Musings.
