Labour's Leadership Election

The Prime Minister David Cameron, and Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes have both congratulated Ed Miliband on his election as Labour Leader in what is surely one of the most narrow victories in the history of history!

I should like to offer my own personal congratulations. The Leader of HM Official Opposition is an important job with important Constitutional duties, and acts as a check and balance to the executive.

I should like to add my personal comiserations AND congratulations to David Miliband for his success too. Lets remember that he was beaten by much less than one percent - and even then, after four rounds of redistribution. I believe David is a good man, and certainly I have only ever had the nicest of dealings with him. I hope, and I am sure he will go on to support his brother Ed in challenging the executive.

I did think it was very nice for the PM to add his words.

The Prime Minister said,

"Congratulations to Ed Miliband. I was Leader of the Opposition for four years and know what a demanding and important job it is. I wish him and his family well."

The outgoing Shadow Chancellor Alistair Darling, in an interview for talkSPORT, told me,

"Ed has won, and he'll have my support, and the support of the party as a whole. He recognises that there's a huge job of work to be done. We've got to learn from the mistakes we've made, we've got to win back the trust we lost at the election, and Ed will have our support in doing that.

Also for talkSPORT, current Shadow Immigration Minister Phil Woolas told me,

"I was surprised. I thought from the body language that David Miliband had just pipped it, but if you look at the trade Union members who voted for Ed... JUST... I thought the most important thing that Ed Miliband was saying the Labour Party has voted for a new generation."

So it's fair to say that the party is supporting their new leader, but with such a narrow victory, Ed Miliband will have a fair job to keep everyone on side. I doubt we've seen an end to the tribal nonsense that harmed Labour so much of old, but I do suspect that Ed Miliband will be embraced by most of the party.

....

I thought the former Leader, and former PM Gordon Brown's speech today was the most comfortable I have ever encountered from him. He was calm, he was funny, and he had the most effective dig at Tony Blair - two in fact. He joked that Mr Blair promised to write a reference for him, but he never realised it would run in to 700 pages - and he said (without direct reference to TB) no one would ever see him on the TV, the radio, or read in the papers, him saying anything bad about the Labour team - and promising that he would always support the team.

I did laugh when Mr Brown spoke of his two children, Fraser and John, to which Fraser shouted out, "John, he's talking about you John" right behind where I was sitting. It's fair to say that I had a pretty good position - so good in fact that I felt slightly bad that Mr Brown came off stage and shook my hand rather than a party supporters - but I think this is just due to where he was seated, and since he called my name, this was obviously his intention. I merely said, "Well done Mr Brown.. very comfortable speech". Readers to this blog, and viewers of sky news political reviews, as well as listeners to talkSPORT will know that I do not say things I do not believe.

I was also pleased to have the chance to comiserate with, and congratulate David Miliband in person when on camera, he said some very nice things about me. Very grateful for that David.

So here I sit in my hotel room, sort of on a break before heading for a bite to eat, and back to the Conference Centre to do a piece with the excellent Matt Forde on the even better talkSPORT.

Incidentally - a final word on tweeting;

I intend to tweet quite a bit from conference. I hope you will stick with me, but I won't be offended if you choose to unfollow - so long as you come back after. It is my intention to bash out the main lines as quickly as I can.

Evening'' all

Hats off to the Lib Dems for an excellent Party Conference

Liberal Democrat Conference has been a hoot - but not just for events on stage, as much as events off stage, and even outside the conference centre.

For a start, the number of journos attending are up over 62.5%, and the overall attendance is up 40% on last year making it the most attended Lib Dem conference EVER.

Just look at the pure number of people here!





In my humbled (and personal) opinion, I think Lib Dem Deputy Leader Simon Hughes made the very best speech of conference giving total backing to his Leader 'Deputy Dave', but in doing so, he has given himself no room to go back on his assertion today that he is a "rock solid backer of the coalition".

I like Simon and have known him for ten years. I sincerely hope he never has reason to regret those words.

Nick Clegg too did a perfect job. His speech, which as I found out had been cleared first by the PM before Liberal Democrat party members got to hear it, said everything it should and nothing more. It couldn't have gone better, and frankly, it couldn't have gone worse either. It was JUST right.

The measure of the Lib Dems success will not come based on the votes of those audience members in Liverpool, but the swing voters who voted yellow to keep blue out of number 10 when it comes to polling day, 2015.

To give you a sense of the anger on the streets, we had to be rescued by the local police earlier when I, and my producer Rachel were walking down the street near the conference centre. A VERY drunk Liverpublian came up to us and invited us to,

"fuck off you tory scum" (Forgive the language but it goes to the point I am making.

We explained we are journalists. I even produced my nationally recognised Press Card, to which Mr drunk said,

"Oh you're journalists are you! fuck of tory journalist fucking scum".

This is when a VERY polite, very nice Police Officer came up to offer assistance. To be fair to him, he allowed me to read the riot act to the drunk man's friend, warning him (as I did) that if he goes round abusing people in this way, he's going to find himself under arrest very soon.

"Agreed" said the Policeman.

Other than taking my hat off to the local boys in blue, I wanted to highlight the true feeling of some people on our streets. It seems matey here was upset because he voted for Nick Clegg and got David Cameron - but this was, after all, an isolated incident.

On a final note for now, it has to be said (notwithstanding this one incident) EVERYONE in Liverpool is so very nice. What a lovely place - and I mean that sincerely!

List of PPS Appointments

Here is the list of PPS appointments, as released by CCHQ

Rt Hon Lord Strathclyde: Leader of the House of Lords

PPS: Nigel Adams MP



Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP: Secretary of State for Wales

PPS: Glyn Davies MP



Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP: Attorney General

PPS: Jessica Lee MP



Rt Hon Francis Maude MP :Minister for the Cabinet Office & Paymaster General

PPS: Angie Bray MP



Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP: Minister of State, Cabinet Office

PPS: David Burrowes MP



Rt Hon David Willetts MP: Minister of State (Universities and Science)

PPS: Nicky Morgan MP



Rt Hon David Lidington MP: Minister of State, FCO (Europe)

PPS: Adam Holloway MP



Rt Hon Nick Herbert MP : Minister of State (Home Office and Ministry of Justice)

PPS: Mary Macleod MP



Mark Hoban MP: Financial Secretary to the Treasury

PPS: Alok Sharma MP



James Paice MP & Richard Benyon MP: Minister of State & Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, DEFRA

PPS: Daniel Kawczynski MP

Politicians - Don’t be a “Dick”!: A guide on how NOT to treat voters

Let me tell you about an encounter with a chap called Dick, or Richard Henry… (No, me neither till Saturday – and even then I had to do some digging to find out his second name).

You won’t have heard of him, but he is a Labour Councilor in Stevenage. I am told he tried unsuccessfully to become Labour’s Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for the 2010 General Election, losing out to the other titan of British Politics, Sharon Taylor, the Leader of the Council.

Stevenage was Tory Target Seat number 72 or 74 – I forget which, and Stephen McPartland took it for the blues on May 6th turning round a healthy Labour majority of nearly 4,000.

You might think that Mr Hendry? Oh no, sorry Henry might be interested to engage with a voter in the Constituency that his party had spectacularly lost for the first time since 1997 – but as you will hear, CLLR Henry has all the charm and maturity of a Chicken McNuggart.

I was chatting with Stephen McPartland on Saturday while fundraising at an event when an apparently chirpy chap, Richard, came up to us, and was introduced by Stephen.

Stephen explained that Richard was “a different colour to me politically”, and as I hope you would expect, I said that this really didn’t bother me, being party-politically neutral. I said to Richard, “however I have to say, I really didn’t like Barbara Follett. She was awful”.

Dick’s response was,

“It’s a nice day isn’t it!”… so I replied – thinking he was joking,

“I tell you though, she was really unpopular locally”.

Now my point is evidenced by the election result, and I honestly would have thought that a Labour Councilor might ask a Constituent, who has just stated that the are party politically neutral, why they were unhappy with the person who lost their party a Parliamentary Seat. Perhaps as a politician, you MIGHT want to try and find out why you failed to secure a vote, and I don’t know, maybe TRY and persuade that person to vote for you in the future?

Unfortunately, Dick… sorry… Richard said,

“That’s very personal. I don’t think I want to continue this conversation”, then had it away at a near running pace.

Politics is personal baby!

Had this child asked me why I disliked Barbara Follett (and by the way, not voted for her as a consequence), I would have told him that I wrote to Barbara Follett some years ago, before I was a Lobby journalist to ask for her assistance in pressurizing train company First Capital Connect after they increased ticket prices by making commuters pay on peak tickets for travel between the hours of 4 and 7. Realistically, there is very little a local MP could have done, but Mrs Follett objected to me commenting that it was surprising that the Labour government were allowing such uncontrolled increases given that the position of Labour had been that the Conservatives had allowed “the unacceptable face of capitalism” to flourish by selling off the railways.

I got this reply from Mrs Follett,

“I do hope that you will take the time to get the facts straight and that you will stop making the kind of ill-informed remarks that pepper your letter and, I believe, your Talk Sport programme.”

This ruled out any possibility of me ever voting for Barbara Follett, and Richard’s response has managed to do the same for him too.

On-lookers were deeply shocked by Mr Henry’s reaction, and one described him in a very rude way, using one word with two syllables. I have met some real bottoms in politics, but you know something, I THINK Richard Henry tops the list.

NOW time for the Crimewatch Rider – most politicians are very nice people, and Richard’s reaction is not typical of mature elected officials.

So, to all the politicians who read this blog, my advice is engage with voters.... don’t be a "Dick"!

Scotland Yard: No evidence Prescott's phone was hacked!

From the Met:

Statement by Assistant Commissioner John Yates re phone hacking

Since further allegations in relation to phone hacking first emerged in the Guardian in July 2009, the Metropolitan Police has been very clear about its position and made this public on a number of occasions. The newspaper produced no new evidence for us to consider reopening the case - a position endorsed separately by the DPP and Leading Counsel. We have always said that this position could change if new evidence was produced.

The New York Times contacted the MPS about their investigation. Our stance remains as before. We have repeatedly asked them for any new material that they have for us to consider. We were never made aware of the material from Sean Hoare before the article's publication. We have sought additional information from them and will consider this material, along with Sean Hoare's recent BBC Radio interview, and will consult the CPS on how best to progress it.

Separately, we are aware of the current claims in the media from, amongst others, Lord Prescott about his view that his phone was hacked. There remains to this day no evidence that his phone was hacked by either Mulcaire or Goodman. This is a matter of public record.

Lord Prescott also alleges that the MPS has failed to disclose material to him in a timely way. Lord Prescott has been provided with the information the MPS has in its possession relevant to him. However, we are not permitted to supply the actual documents except under a court direction. This is because the material was obtained for the purpose of a criminal investigation and cannot be used for another purpose, i.e. a civil action. Lord Prescott and his solicitors will be aware of this.

Tony Blair's book

I'm getting my mits on a copy a little later... but going to collect it the healthy way by running from talk towers to Vauxhall Bridge Road and back...

Bit of a sod though, Random House are not going to provide a pdf of the book, which means I am going to have to spend hours scanning it in before I can read it.

Grateful for the review copy nevertheless.