By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. Despite its practical flaws, Ed Miliband's speech on Labour's union links appears to have put off his party's crisis on the subject for now. The obscure nature of the proposals, combined with a clever attempt to bounce the issue back onto the Conservatives, mean that the scandal has simmered down. But […]
Ed Miliband's speech yesterday was a triumph for him. The unions will resist his plan to decouple Labour Party membership from trade union membership. Miliband will insist on it; ballot his Party and win; decouple Labour from the unions altogether.
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. It seems we aren't the only people concerned about the viability of Ed Miliband's trade union proposals. The above video shows BBC News reporting that Lord Whitty, a former General Secretary of the Labour Party, rejected an invitation from Ed Miliband to oversee the implementation of the proposals on the grounds […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. This Wordle shows the 50 most common words in the Sunday media summary prepared for Ed Miliband by Labour's press office, which was leaked to me yesterday. In effect, this is the news that landed on his breakfast table. As you can see, it did not make for happy reading. The […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Yes, you did read that right. “Ed Miliband to explore historic break with trade unions.” That’s really what the Guardian headline says. But, below that headline, the truth of the story is a little murkier. Apparently, “Miliband has made no decisions on whether to break Labour’s links with the trade […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. I suspect that the 304-0 vote for the second reading of James Wharton's bill – congratulations to him – will have less effect on Miliband than the views of his own party. Ian Austin's carefully-timed public support for a referendum is a sign of the pressure on the Labour […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. The Falkirk scandal, and the wider attempted union takeover of the Labour Party, has claimed its first scalp. Tom Watson has resigned as head of Ed Miliband's general election campaign. There are various very good reasons for Watson to go over the various brazen attempts to fix Labour's selection process, as […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. While Ed Miliband fights off calls to publish the investigative report into Unite’s attempt to seize control of the Falkirk Constituency Labour Party (CLP), he has admitted that no less than 14 CLPs are in “special measures” due to attempts to unduly influence candidate selections. “Special measures” mean that the central […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Did you hear the one about the Labour Party’s biggest donor suing the Labour Party? No, it’s not a joke, but a possibility raised by the Ephraim Hardcastle column in today’s Daily Mail. Apparently, the Unite union is angry that their preferred candidate for the Falkirk seat, Karie Murphy, hasn’t […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter Ed Miliband might be much easier prey for the Tory machine than Gordon Brown ConservativeHome has long pointed to the steep mountain that has to be climbed in order for Tories to win the next election. One of our concerns has been that Conservatives couldn't even win a […]
By Mark WallaceFollow Mark on Twitter. A few weeks ago, a feeling was developing that the Conservative leadership had a good thing going. Labour were in a mess over welfare, struggling to define a line at all, still less to push a popular message. Then Woolwich happened, the news agenda understandably shifted and the momentum was lost. […]
By Paul GoodmanFollow Paul on Twitter. I've written before that the instinct of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, as the next election approaches, will be to close down the gap between Labour and the Government on spending. If they do, they will be assailed by the unions and their left, and asked the question which […]
By Peter HoskinFollow Peter on Twitter Here at ConHome, we’ve tended to mention the areas of political overlap between Labour and the Lib Dems. Indeed, Paul Goodman highlighted two such areas – pensioner benefits and the mansion tax – only last week. But there are now so many examples, with new ones by the day, that […]
By Mark Wallace Follow Mark on Twitter. Ed Miliband's attempted about-turn on welfare spending is a sign of how politically effective the Conservatives' welfare policies have been. Battered by repeated polling which showed his opposition to welfare reform was harming Labour, he eventually decided to change sides. It's a remarkable shift – this is the man who has […]
By Mark Wallace Follow Mark on Twitter. "Thursday 5th May 2011 was the proudest day of my life. I had just got elected as a Councillor for Wavertree Ward on Liverpool City Council. I was the youngest ever councillor in Liverpool, and beat Lib Dem Lord Storey who had served for 38 years. You called me on the […]