Labourlist (Free subscription) | 7 hours ago
By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982 Gordon and Sarah Brown were in Glasgow yesterday, campaigning for Willie Bain ahead of Thursday's by-election in the constituency of Glasgow North East. The PM said: "When people on the doorsteps tell Willie that they feel let down by the SNP, he is right to say it is only Labour who will represent their priorities of fairness and responsibility...His energy and...
Fitaloon at MicroShaft (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
A new “crime” has been invented by Miss Harperson. This is the crime of being a gender pay discrimination denier. Whatever next can Zanu Labour imply about people? In an answer to an otherwise innocuous question as follows: Mark Harper (Shadow Minister (Disabled People), Work and Pensions; Forest of Dean, Conservative) May we have a debate about how to measure [...] Related posts: Equality...
Labourlist (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
By Don Paskini Labour activists gave him a standing ovation , journalists write admiringly of him, by all accounts he is a relatively effective minister - but the evidence suggests that far from being an asset, Peter Mandelson is a drag on Labour's popularity. For example, he was ranked 'least trustworthy' amongst leading politicians in a survey by Populus, and would be a less popular choice as a...
Scotsman.com (Free subscription) | 06/11/2009
IT SOUNDED like a good concept for a TV reality show. Get a posh, southern, public-school educated woman with impeccably politically correct views and dump her in the middle o
The Telegraph (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
Harriet Harman added a new terror to public life when she accused a Tory of being "a gender pay discrimination denier".
The Empire Chronicles (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
Labour’s deputy leader and “equalities” minister Harriet Harman was yesterday slapped down by national statisticians over her claims that women are paid a fifth less than men – for example, women in part-time jobs are actually paid more on average than their male counterparts. Harman was told by the Office for National Statistics that she must no longer use a single figure to...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
After a discreet civil service career spent in unlit corridors of power, Sir Christopher Kelly stepped into daylight yesterday to present his report on MPs' expenses to the media. He handled the occasion with quiet competence and good humour, albeit tinged with mandarin unworldliness. There are MPs who think elected politicians are under constant assault from a powerful, unelected elite – judges,...
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 05/11/2009
The eve of bonfire night was presumably a serendipitous piece of timing, but Sir Christopher Kelly's recommendations for the reform of the system of MPs' expenses will undoubtedly dynamite the backscratching arrangements that have induced a slow-motion catastrophe in the body politic. Rigorously policed transparency should end the decline in trust between voters and their MPs, but it will not by itself...
Boulton (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
The key intervention on the expenses clampdown announced this morning came from Sir Stuart Bell, Labour MP for Middlesborough. Sir Stuart is an old school MP who serves on the Committee dealing with expenses allowances. Sometimes called the backbencher's shop steward he has often made the case for their perks and privileges. Not today. Sir Stuart backed the abolition of "the dreadful" system...
FreshMinds Talent Blog (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Central Government Times - Expenses report may be watered down Forthcoming reforms to the expenses system are likely to be toned down before being applied, Harriet Harman has said. The changes, set out in a report by Sir Christopher Kelly, are expected to include a ban on paying relatives for work and strict allowance reforms. Harman said [...]
Calling England (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
*With apologies to Rodgers & Hart After one half-hour of banter Hedge and backwards spring to mind The PM was in a ranter Reeling tractor stats purblind. We're wild again He's reviled again He's a simpering, whimpering child again With Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered on side. Labour's - finis Favours - finis The cash that you stole from our tax - finis Bewitched, bothered and bewildered no...
The Third Estate (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
For those, like me, who have lived all their lives in a democracy, the impending coronation of Europe’s president is a rather strange affair. We can leave aside the fact that the people of most of Europe were given no say on the creation of the post. We could even leave aside that – for [...] Related posts: Why I will be voting NO2EU. Harriet Harman’s Comments are an an affront to...
Lobbydog (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Drowning in expenses stories, but just a quickie. Respect to Sir Christopher Kelly for twice outing political game playing: 1. He said the leaks of his report were incredibly frustrating and that they had not come from his committee. In fact, he added, they had started to appear within hours of him pre-briefing party leaders on what his report would say. Tut tut. 2. Harriet Harman, he pointed out,...
BBC News (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
All the action, analysis and reaction as Gordon Brown is grilled and Harriet Harman spells out expenses reforms to MPs.
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
Minute-by-minute coverage as Commons watchdog publishes plans for overhaul of allowances system 8.40am: It's the day of reckoning. The committee on standards in public life, chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly, is publishing its plans for an overhaul of the MPs' expenses system. The key proposals – a ban on MPs claiming mortgage interest, a ban on MPs claiming for a second home if they live less...
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