Leaked documents provide proof of involvement of Balls and Ed Miliband in plan to prepare Gordon Brown for premiership A stash of leaked internal Labour documents, which provide documentary proof of the roles played by Ed Balls and Ed Miliband in the operation to unseat Tony Blair, has reopened bitter party wounds. Balls, the shadow chancellor, will face renewed pressure over his involvement in unseating Labour’s most popular prime minister after the documents showed he was the key figure in “Project Volvo” to prepare Brown for the premiership. The leaking of the documents to the Daily Telegraph will raise questions about whether a disgruntled former member of the Brown circle has decided to strike at Balls who is rapidly emerging as the key figure in the Labour party as Ed Miliband struggles to assert his authority. One key document, among a raft of internal papers to be published by the Daily Telegraph over the coming days, shows that a meeting to discuss Brown’s leadership bid was held on 19 July 2005, a few months after Blair led the party to its historic third successive election win. The document, which is annotated by Balls, talks of a “GB Transition Storyline” under the heading Leadership Election. It says the key people for this will be Balls, Ed Miliband, the pollster Deborah Mattinson and Spencer Livermore, a former Brown aide. Next to a finance section Balls has written in the figure £5m. Labour sources played down the significance of the leak, depicting it as “ancient history”. Other sources said that it was hardly surprising to discover that Brown camp was making preparations for the post-Blair era after he made clear that the 2005 election would be his last as Labour leader. But the leaked papers provide documentary proof that Balls was the key figure in a highly organised operation to unseat a sitting prime minister. Brown sent Balls and other members of the group a series of memos in the autumn of 2005 highlighting Blair’s weaknesses. “This is a government not presidency,” he wrote. “Restoration of constitution and of trust. Leadership that gets on with the job … Trust depends on proper relationship between executive legislature and civil service, Labour the champion of the constitution … Need to redefine politics from spin/calculation/manoeuvre … No presidentialism.” In one passage, Brown wrote to Balls: “If we are to renew Labour, we will have to be as rigorous and brutal as we were in the creation of new Labour.” In another memo, Brown showed his frustration with Blair who refused to give a clear date for the handover of power. “Politics is about shaping the debate as much as winning the debate itself … Recent weeks have shown how far we have moved backwards since the election … The press now write as if Blair is the only person who could ever win Labour any election. “From untrustworthy Blair v trustworthy Brown it is now reforming Blair v block-on-reform Brown. All his talk of Labour dominating the political landscape from the centre ground is not about re-establishing Labour but a self-promotion about his exceptionalism (and it is not rooted in what is actually happening). “The facts are: two-thirds think Britain is moving in the wrong direction. More than half think we lied over Iraq. Trust in politicians is half what it was 20 years ago.” The documents do also provide a lighter insight into the Brown operation. Mattinson, the group’s pollster, dubbed the campaign to prepare him for the premiership “Project Volvo”. A 31-page document produced to “develop a narrative” for the “Gordon Brown vision” compared him to a family car on the grounds that he was “steadfast” and “robust”. David Cameron, the recently elected Tory leader, was seen by voters as a more exciting “sports car” or “BMW”. Brown’s team were advised to “demonstrate wider interests” focusing on his family, leisure and lifestyle. “Show humour, character, charm,” the document said. “More Richard and Judy opportunities; use Richard and Judy mode at all times.” Labour Tony Blair Ed Miliband Politics past Ed Balls Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Weiner said he won’t resign , and neither will Wiener. That’s New Mexico’s Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Wiener, recently accused of sexual harassment, KOB.com reports. Wiener made a sexual joke—something about having both a Wiener and a Johnson on the County Commission—and also told a female employee, “Looking…
Continue reading …University of Georgia baseball player Johnathan Taylor was partially paralyzed in March, but that didn’t stop the Texas Rangers from drafting him. “We thought selecting Johnathan was the right thing to do,” says the scouting director of yesterday’s move. Taylor, who was drafted in the 33rd round of the MLB…
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Backbencher arrested at central London flat where alleged assault of 29-year-old parliamentary researcher took place Andrew Bridgen, the Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault of a 29-year-old woman. The assault is alleged to have happened in the early hours of Thursday morning and the 46-year-old MP, elected for the first time last year, was arrested at the scene, a flat in central London. It is understood the women is a parliamentary researcher, but not in Bridgen’s office. The Metropolitan police said: “A 46-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault against a 29-year-old woman at an address in SW1 in the early hours of Thursday 9 June. The man has been bailed to return on a date in mid-July.” Bridgen has been an active backbencher with a relatively low profile since he won his Midlands seat in May. He is on the right of the party and campaigned against the alternative vote system in last month’s referendum. He sits on the regulatory reform committee in parliament and holds no other official posts. A father of two and married since 2000, it is understood Bridgen was recently separated from his wife. His most high-profile political intervention came on Tuesday when he defended the government’s NHS reforms, appearing on the BBC’s Newsnight and saying: “If we fail to go through with these reforms, we are caving in to Stalinist protectionist elements.” He originally trained as an officer in the Royal Marines before returning to his family’s successful agricultural business, selling pre-washed vegetables. He is currently the non-executive chairman of that company, AB Produce plc. The register of members financial interests records that he is paid £7,773 monthly for six hours work. He was previously the East Midlands chairman of the Institute of Directors and served on the East Midlands Regional Assembly as a business representative. He opened his maiden speech in the Commons on 3 June last year by saying: “I took advice on what the contents of a maiden speech should be, and I was surprised by some of what I heard. I was told that my speech should have all the attributes of a lady’s well-cut dress, meaning that it should be long enough to cover all the important points but still short enough to be interesting.” He went on to set out his Eurosceptic agenda. “It is not just as a politician but also from a business perspective that my views on Europe have developed over the last 20 years,” he said. “In 1997 we were the fourth most competitive place in the world in which to do business, but now we are a lowly 84th. Much of that is due to regulation from Europe. This cannot continue.” He is a regular in the chamber having attended an above-average 121 debates in the past year and voted in 87% of the House’s votes. Last month in a written question to the justice secretary Kenneth Clarke he asked “what steps he is taking to increase the efficiency of the criminal justice system”. Bridgen, won the North West Leicestershire seat with a 12% swing from Labour at the 2010 election. The seat was previously held by Labour MP David Taylor who died on Boxing Day 2009 after a heart attack. A key marginal, it had been held by Labour since 1997. In 2010 there was also a sizeable Liberal Democrat vote, suggesting that the seat could be winnable for Labour if Bridgen was found guilty and a byelection triggered. On Tuesday Bridgen joined Twitter for the first time, highlighting his Newsnight appearance later that night. The news of his arrest emerged first on the same social networking site. On his parliamentary website he lists business and enterprise, civil liberties, law and order and the armed forces as his interests. A spokesman for the Conservative party said: “At the moment, this is a matter for the police, who are investigating, and it would be inappropriate to comment further until the facts are clear.” Conservatives Crime Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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US secretary of state will not be quitting White House next year to replace Robert Zoellick, spokesman says Hillary Clinton has denied reports that she is planning to quit her job next year to become head of the World Bank. The US secretary of state and former first lady has said publicly she did not plan to stay on at the State Department for more than four years. Associates told Reuters that Clinton has told the White House she would be interested in the World Bank job should current president, Robert Zoellick, leave at the end of his term, in the middle of 2012. Such a move would come as America’s top diplomat is dealing with the toughest set of foreign policy challenges yet faced by the Obama administration. Clinton is orchestrating US reaction to the Arab Spring uprisings and the continuing unrest in the middle east and war in Afghanistan. Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines flatly denied the report to The Washington Post. “100% untrue, Reuters is wrong,” Reines wrote in an e-mail to the paper. Alex Slater, managing director of Democratic consultancy SKDK, said he was “surprised” by the reports: “She has done an incredible job at the state department and her approval ratings are extremely high,” he said. Slater said he had no knowledge of her intentions but said she had always made clear that she was going to leave after the first term. Clinton would need the approval of the 187 member countries of the World Bank in order to secure the job. She is widely seen to have done an excellent job at the state department after her unsuccessful attempt to beat president Barack Obama to lead the Democrat’s into the 2008 election. The World Bank has traditionally been headed by an American. The US is currently assessing candidates for the top job at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank’s sister organisation, and now is a sensitive moement for negotiations over both jobs. The IMF job came free after the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn following allegations of attempted rape. The IMF has traditionally been headed by a European. One leading candidate is France’s finance minister Christine Lagarde, who has yet to secure US approval for her bid. Neither the IMF nor the World Bank have ever been led by a woman. Should Clinton leave, John Kerry, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee and a close Obama ally, is seen as a possible replacement for her. But it will be difficult to match her star power. The World Bank would provide Clinton with a platform for many of her biggest concerns. The organisation provides billions in funds to the world’s poorest countries and Clinton has long been vocal on global development issues. Hillary Clinton Obama administration John Kerry US politics United States World Bank IMF Global economy Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …That Atlantic’s “What I Read” feature is typically a straight-forward literary affair, with big names rattling off the newspapers, websites, magazines, and TV shows that keep them informed (with a little Girl With the Dragon Tattoo thrown in ). Ann Coulter’s recitation of her media diet, however, is downright hilarious….
Continue reading …Anthony Weiner admitted to conducting inappropriate online relationships with six women , and now we know who the fifth one is. But Traci Nobles, unlike Lisa Weiss, Ginger Lee, and Meagan Broussard , did not want to come forward. Her roommate emailed the Las Vegas Sun a screenshot from Noble’s Facebook account,…
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Critics fear hardest-hit areas may feel little benefit from Work Programme, in which private contractors will find jobs The coalition government will on Friday launch the biggest experiment in public service reform since David Cameron came to power when private contractors take on the task of finding jobs for 500,000 unemployed people annually on the basis of a payments by results system. The employment minister, Chris Grayling, said the model would form the basis for further public service delivery reform covering prison rehabilitation, drug offenders and problem families. The Work Programme, bringing together all existing schemes to help the unemployed, will go live on Friday, with some critics warning there is a danger private sector contractors may go bust as they find they are unable to reach demanding targets set to find work for the unemployed. Private sector contractors under the Work Programme have been incentivised to find work for the unemployed on a sliding scale according to the length of time they stay in work and the unemployment group they come from. It is estimated that 605,000 people would go through the Work Programme in 2011-12, and 565,000 in 2012-13. The maximum fee a provider can attract for an individual client ranges from £4,050 for a jobseeker’s allowance claimant aged 18-24 to £13,120 for an ex-incapacity benefit claimant in the Work Related Activity Group. Government payments to contractors are staged according to length of time the unemployed individual stays in work. For the first three years there will be a small up-front payment – about 10% of the total. Thereafter it’s 100% payment by results. The next payment only comes after someone has been in work for three months if they are from a vulnerable group, or six months if they are a conventional jobseeker. The remainder is paid in instalments that last up to 18 months. If the person drops out of work those payments stop. As a result providers take the financial risk for as long as two years if they are not successful. The system is potentially high risk if the government has miscalculated the difficulty of finding work for the unemployed, especially those hardest to place such as those on incapacity benefit. The Work Foundation claimed that in areas of Britain with the highest unemployment and fewest job vacancies, contractors will struggle. The scheme will be mandatory for all those on jobseeker’s allowance, the employment support allowance and lone parents with children aged over five. In practice the Department for Work and Pensions is expecting contractors to make a return of 10% on investment. Grayling said: “What we have tried to do is create a situation where our interests and the interests of providers are really aligned. They can make shedloads of money by doing the things we would absolutely love them to do.” JSA claimants aged over 25 who have been unemployed for less than a year will continue to be serviced by Job Centre Plus. The scheme is to be funded from future benefit savings. Prime contractors must achieve job entry rates higher than 10% above the government’s estimate of how the client group would have been expected to fare without support from the Work Programme. Grayling has largely left it to employers to design schemes to help the unemployed find work, but Job Centre Plus, the government employment scheme, will continue to oversee the sanctions regime if the unemployed refuse to take reasonable work. The contracts have been let over seven years. Prime contractors, mainly highly capitalised firms such as Serco, have sub-contracted service provision to specialist local organisations, including voluntary sector providers. The minimum performance standard that is being expected is set at a level that is essentially the highest level of performance that the New Deal for Young People and the New Deal for those who are 25-plus ever reached, even at the height of the boom earlier in the 2000s. The Work Foundation said the programme would do little to improve employment opportunities for people living in economically weaker areas. “It will be difficult for private contractors to deliver the programme at a profit in certain parts of Scotland, Wales and London, thus disincentivising activity in these areas.” Shadow work and pensions secretary Liam Byrne called on the government to set out in detail how many people it expected work contractors to get into work in each region. Unemployment Public services policy Work & careers Public finance Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Russia’s state-owned Sberbank is about to roll out ATMs with such ridiculously strong security features that customers will be able to get a new credit card without actually speaking to a human. The machines will have the ability to read fingerprints, scan passports, and take 3D images of a person’s…
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Archbishop ‘free to express politics views’, but PM profoundly disagrees with his views on debt, welfare and education David Cameron has rejected the archbishop of Canterbury’s claim that the coalition government is forcing through “radical policies for which no one voted”. The prime minister said Rowan Williams was free to express his concerns, but he “profoundly disagreed” with many of his comments. Conservative and Liberal Democrat cabinet ministers joined backbenchers in registering surprise at the sweep and the specifics of the archbishop’s criticisms. Speaking at a press conference on a visit to Northern Ireland, Cameron said: “I think the archbishop of Canterbury is entirely free to express political views. I have never been one to say that the Church should fight shy of making political interventions. “But what I would say is that I profoundly disagree with many of the views that he has expressed, particularly on issues like debt and welfare and education.” Williams is guest editor of this week’s New Statesman and in an editorial he wrote: “With remarkable speed, we are being committed to radical, long-term policies for which no one voted. “At the very least, there is an understandable anxiety about what democracy means in such a context.” He criticised the government for continuing to blame the country’s difficulties entirely on the deficit it inherited from Labour and said there was “bafflement and indignation” over coalition plans to reform the health service and education. Vince Cable, the business secretary, said he was equally baffled by Williams’s comments. “The two parties of the coalition got substantially more than half the total vote at the last election and the public knew that we were going to have to embark on very difficult changes, connected with sorting out the massive budget deficit problem,” he told Sky News. He added: “The point which he seemed to be making was that there wasn’t enough debate around health reform, for example, which I don’t understand because there’s a very big debate. My party has triggered it, we’re having a pause, rethinking the reforms. So he’s obviously had his views and it’s welcome that he pitches into political debate but I think he’s actually wrong on the specifics.” The welfare secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, defended himself against an accusation by the archbishop that he brought back “the seductive language of ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ poor”. Williams criticised “the steady pressure” to increase “punitive responses to alleged abuses of the system”. Duncan Smith said the archbishop should have been more balanced in his comments. The public would have been more anxious about the coalition if they had not tackled benefit dependency, Duncan Smith told the BBC. “With respect to the archbishop of Canterbury, I have never ever spoken about the deserving or undeserving poor. I don’t believe in that concept. All I say is that the system has created an undeserving group, that’s what it has created,” he said. Ministers were also surprised at the archbishop’s suggestion that education reforms had not been well-trailed before and during the election. Nick Boles, the private secretary of the education minister Nick Gibb, suggested that church schools were acting as a producer interest, trying to prevent the spread of academy schools. In the article, Williams accepted that the government’s big society agenda was not a “cynical walking-away from the problem”. But he warned there was confusion about how voluntary organisations would “pick up the responsibilities shed by government”, and said that the big society was seen with “widespread suspicion”. “The uncomfortable truth is that, while grassroots initiatives and local mutualism are to be found flourishing in a great many places, they have been weakened by several decades of cultural fragmentation,” Williams wrote. He also criticised the chancellor, George Osborne, saying: “It isn’t enough to respond with what sounds like a mixture of, ‘this is the last government’s legacy’ and ‘we’d like to do more, but just wait until the economy recovers a bit’.” Williams also singled out Labour for failing to produce fresh ideas since going into opposition. Westminster politics “feels pretty stuck”, he warned, adding that his aim was to stimulate a livelier debate and to challenge the left to develop its own “big idea” as an alternative to the Conservative-Liberal Democrat alliance. Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow education secretary, ducked this element of the piece and instead said people would share Williams’s concerns about the government’s pursuit of policies for which it has no mandate. Burnham said: “This government has no mandate for cutting too far and too fast, subjecting the NHS to a reckless top-down reorganisation and launching an unprecedented attack on young people by scrapping EMA and trebling tuition fees.” Lord Tebbit, former Conservative chairman and cabinet minister, said it was part of the archbishop of Canterbury’s job to “make comments of a political kind in this area”. Tebbit, a critic of the coalition, told Today that Williams was highlighting a “problem of coalition”. But Gary Streeter, chair of the all-party Christians in Parliament group, said: “I think the people are with us on this and the archbishop, sadly and unusually for him, has ill-judged his attack.” David Cameron Rowan Williams Liberal-Conservative coalition Iain Duncan Smith Vince Cable Andy Burnham Public services policy New Statesman Hélène Mulholland Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
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