Gavin’s Gaily Gigest

Last night on Question Time James Purnell, Work and Pensions Secretary*, made a claim which caused me to scurry onto BBC News to search through their archives:

"We were always clear [the 10p tax rate] was a short-term measure."

Verification of this claim found I none, so it’s good to know Channel 4’s FactCheck blog has come to the same conclusion - James Purnell was lying out of his smug, overambitious arse:

"In his 1998 budget speech, Brown promised to introduce the 10p starting rate when it was right for the economy. And it was right by the next budget, when he brought the tax rate in super-quick. "This 10p rate will not start in April 2000, like other income tax changes we are making today … it will be delivered a few weeks from today. People will see it in their pay packets in May."

"He also cut the basic rate to 22p; but again, no mention was made of either measure being temporary. …

"In fact, it’s only over the past few weeks that the "transitional defence" has been spelled out in public. The respected House of Commons library - at a request from a Conservative MP - also investigated whether the 10p rate was described as transitional before 2007. "No", was its conclusion, "it does not appear to have been described that way"."

Shame the claim doesn’t appear to have been made in the House of Commons - the Government could have been done for misleading the House.

* Possibly the strangest case of ironic job allocation in the Government. What will it be next - Hazel Blears, Minister for Tall People? Or Gordon Brown, Minister for Vision…

Confirmation from the House of Commons via email that Boris Johnson has yet to take the Manor of Northstead (due to arcane Parliamentary rules, an MP can’t actually resign, instead they have to take a Crown office, and the Manor of Northstead is one of them):

"We have not been notified of any application to the Treasury by Mr Johnson. Letters of notification are sent out to the Speaker once a Member has been notified that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has signed the warrant. The Treasury usually put out a press notice. The disqualification of a Member because of the new office is recorded in Votes and Proceedings."

So the Boris Johnson Resignation Watch continues.

4 days, 17 hours and 50 minutes since Henley had a full-time MP…

• Fern Brittan is a political genius (and I say that without the least trace of sarcasm): http://tinyurl.com/6oxgga #
• Nick Clegg Bloggers’ Interview: http://tinyurl.com/629nxx #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Bounding in nervously like a young boy on his first day at a new school*, Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Sheffield Hallam, greeted the massed horde of Lib Dem bloggers with all the enthusiasm you’d expect from his youthful good looks and powerful sex-drive.

Thanks to Millennium Elephant and Daddy Richard, I was lucky enough to be among such blogging luminaries as Paul Walter, Linda Jack, Alix Mortimer, Helen Duffett, Jo Christie-Smith and Laurence Boyce last night, as we grilled our Glorious Leader. As with the Ed Davey interview in February, I won’t give a blow-by-blow account of the evening, mostly because my memory isn’t that good and nor are my notes, but I’ll try to pick out a few of the more interesting moments.

Richard kicked things off, asking whether Boris Johnson should resign his Henley seat** and are we ready for when he does. Nick (predictably) answered "of course" to the first, going so far as to criticise the "cat and mouse game" the new Mayor of London is playing with his Henley constituents by holding off the by-election and leaving everyone guessing as to when it will be. He thinks it odd that we could have two by-elections in a row where the defending party will be keeping it in the family (Tasmin Dunwoody in Crewe and Nantwich and potentially Stanley Johnson in Henley), but believes that if the Liberal Democrats campaign well, we have a chance.

 
The pheromones are working on Jo

Alix then turned things round to her specialist subject, tax, asking why haven’t we made more of our solution to the 10p tax problem. Nick defended himself, stating we did up in Sheffield and other northern towns that he campaigned in last month. He even believes this contributed to the win in Sheffield.

Laurence interjected at this point, inquiring whether he likes Tory leader David Cameron. Alix has already written up his response and I can’t do better than her precis, except to add that I love the phrase "Janus-faced". Nothing like a reference to an obscure Roman god to demonstrate you’re down with the common man.

Jo asked Nick what the Liberal Democrats "narrative"*** is, which lead to a fairly long discourse on not just that (our narrative is apparently some inspirational mix of power, empowerment and change), but also on whether we should be attempting to harness the reach of the mass media or instead try and go over their heads direct to the people and local and regional newspapers. He doubts the cost / benefit of expending an enormous amount of energy trying to get a couple of extra lines in a national paper, which is why he has spent the last few months go up and down the country hosting town hall meetings. He did, however, recently "rant" at the editorial team of a national newspaper for failing to discuss politics in the way his constituents understand. Their London-centric focus on politics doesn’t work in Sheffield as they have a two-party system in the city: Labour vs. Liberal Democrats.

My question to him was a tame one as I chickened out of following up on Guido’s crowing about Clegg’s expenses (mostly because I don’t really care): What single piece of legislation would you repeal and why?**** After a longer-than-expected pause the answer came: ID Cards, because of their "totemic value" - the legislation says  a lot about the current imbalance between the State and individual.

I’m sure the others will shortly be putting up their write-ups of the night, but until then, here are my favourite Nick Clegg quotes of the night:

• On the BBC’s election night coverage: "Jeremy Vine might as well scribble things on his tummy"
• On the Labour / Tory turns in office: "Buggins turn to bugger it up"
• On Nadine Dorries: "That nasty woman"

Paul Walter has also picked out some choice quotational cuts for you hungry people to chew over with your ocular muscles.

And so Nick Clegg was whisked away from us by his Mummy a phone call from a minder Hannah. He’ll next be subjecting himself to the fawning wrath of the Lib Dem bloggers in Sheffield, probably over the summer.

* Or possibly Tigger.
** 3 days, 22 hours and 20 minutes and counting…
*** The Centre for Policy Studies define "narrative" in their 2008 guide to the political lexicon:

"Narrative: spin, an attempt to provide a common theme to a range of  proposals where none exists. Unintentional admission that politics is now equivalent to fiction."

**** Yeah, cheesy I know.

Cannabis will be upgraded from a Class C to a Class B drug, in a shock reversal of Tony Blair’s reclassification just four years ago.

The move comes shortly after a concerted campaign by the Government’s drugs advisory board, Associated Newspapers, to upgrade the substance. The board were concerned about the mental health of its readers, who have been given a constant dose of scare stories and  inaccurate "facts".

Ministers denied they should have relied on the opinion of "experts" such as the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs: "The Daily Mail has over 100 years experience of fear-mongering and peddling unsubstantiated facts, we are wise to follow their sage counsel… Especially if we want to keep our jobs."

Source: Rooters

• 2nd fav quote from Nick Clegg tonight: 2 party politics is just "Buggins’s turn to bugger it up". Fav quote coming in tomorrow’s write-up #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Continuing the Boris Johnson Resignation Watch, spotted today in the House of Commons: one part-time Mayor of London representing Henley (in um…. Oxfordshire) at Prime Minister’s Questions:

 
(Still from this PMQ’s video)

2 days, 14 hours and 20 minutes without a full-time London Mayor so far…

Binyam Mohamed, the last British man left in the US’s terrorist holiday camp in Cuba*, is asking the UK if they wouldn’t mind awfully providing him with the evidence that he has been a victim of torture and extraordinary rendition**.

Mr Mohamed needs this evidence so that he can defend himself in a prosecution before a US military commission, where he faces the death penalty. You would have thought that the UK, as a party to the UN Convention Against Torture, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as being a country in which state-sanctioned torture has been illegal under our common law for centuries, would happily hand over this evidence in order to protect one of its own citizens. You would have thought that, but no. When previously asked to provide this evidence, the Government’s lawyers have said:

"the UK is under no obligation under international law to assist foreign courts and tribunals in assuring that torture evidence is not admitted"

So that’s alright then.

This case and others form a trend where we turn a blind eye or wash our hands of responsibility for the abuse of others because the torture is "outsourced" or we are not the direct beneficiaries of it. Instead, we should be seeking to stand up for the rights of ourselves and others and pull out all the stops to assist anybody who has been a victim of this barbaric behaviour in their fight for justice. The fact that this Government does not is simply shameful.

PS. Sorry to get all preachy, but this kind of behaviour really gets my goat.

* Orange jumpsuit not optional.
** A kind of foreign exchange programme for terrorist suspects - the US sends them to Libya, Syria, Egypt or some other righteous upholder of human rights and in return they get "reliable" evidence they can use in their War on Terror(ism).

• Introducing the Boris Johnson Resignation Watch: http://tinyurl.com/6of98z #
• Meeting Nick Clegg tomorrow. Hoping to become number 31. #
• Wondering which way pro-lifer Mad Nad will vote on stem cell research #
• Apparently the President saw how much the former PM was charging: http://tinyurl.com/6rcy5t #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

Madame Tussauds is asking its visitors whether they should create a figure of Gordon Brown*:

"When Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair last year, for the first time in a 150 year history, Madame Tussauds took the decision not to immediately create a figure of the current Prime Minister.

"Instead we chose to wait for a General Election to confirm Gordon Brown’s status. Ten months later there is still no sign that Mr Brown intends to go to the polls – so Madame Tussauds is holding its own election to let YOU decide the question: Gordon Brown – in or out?"

With a face like this …

… I wonder what stopped them from putting up a waxwork in the first place?

* Presumably in their adult section, away from sensitive young children.