Bitter victory

In Newport and at Westminster the ConDems are in retreat. 

 

The heroes of Newport are hairdresser  Sue Williams and the city cobbler Kelvin Reddicliffe who works at Timpson's.  The petition was presented to Councillor Routley. They petitioned to reverse a crass decision by the ruling Newport ConDem coalition to  close the city centre's main toilets.

it was a major issue when I was campaigning in the city centre during the election. The decisions was a stupid bit of penny-pinching. Thousands inconvenienced in order to save £20,000. This from a Council that has put the city in £21 million of extra debt. At today's council meeting Bill Langford the new mayor was the first to declare his interest as a regular user of the toilets at Austin Friars in the heart of the shopping centre.
 

Sue Williams rapidly collected 10,000 signature. I turned up at the full Council meeting this morning in order to hand over the petition. The ConDem cabinet members capitulated and the toilets will reopen tomorrow. 

This afternoon, David Cameron was performing a similar back somersault by giving up his plan to emasculate the backbench 1922 committee. This was an indignity too much by a Tory party bruised and battered by their failures to win their expected majority government. It's a bitter victory.

Instead of the triumph of a conquering Government, the Condems were unhappy and resentful in parliament this afternoon. They was a nervousness and uncertainty that we usually associated with losers. 

Labour were bold and boisterous. No Tory had the wit to challenge ebullient Harriet Harman's splendid witty speech. David Cameron dealt uncomfortably with a barrage of interventions including three from Welsh MPs. Chris Bryant, Ian Lucas and Kevin Brennan has metamorphosed from discreet ministers into born-again rottweilers. It was all refreshing.

The winners slumped like losers. The losers strutted like winners. 

This will be a fascinating parliament. 

Blue Tree

It was a routine interview that developed into a gruelling marathon.

Yes, I agreed to do an interview with NHK Japan's main television channel on the Iraq Inquiry. I was surprised when seven people arrived in my bijou overcrowded office. japan is thinking of having their own inquiry into the Iraq war. Their involvement was slight but there is a great deal of disquiet.

My contribution was as a member of the PASC select committee which push for the Iraq Inquiry. We pressed for a full investigation on why the UK joined Bush's war. we did not support the US war in Vietnam. The inquiry will probably expose the truth but the cross-examinations of hostile witnesses were weak.

Oh for a couple of belligerent barristers to extract e truth. Will Japan do better?. In soaring temperatures with the curtains drawn, the interviewer had an infinity of questions. Her first name translate as 'Beautiful child of the century' and her surname is 'Blue Tree.' The interview continued for 55 minutes.iI asked them to send me a copy of the ten seconds that they eventually broadcast.

The cameraman smiled.

Comments

[Patrick]

I hope you mentioned to Blue Tree that you will be supporting the war puppet Milliband for leader of the party.
Mr 'Time to move on' David has not said a word about the millions of death's, his only regret is that it cost the party votes.
Pathetic!

[Kay Tie]

"The winners slumped like losers. The losers strutted like winners. "

"There are no tanks in Baghdad!"

Paul, calm down. You've got a battle to fight for your party, and you should do it quietly within your party, not spout this utter nonsense in public. Go and have your civil war.

[DG]

Please Paul, if it's not too late, please reconsider your decision. I understand that you want the Labour party to be united, and I'm sure David Miliband is a lovely bloke in private; but please consider what message it sends to the country about whether the party really has learned from the past.

Promoting a man who had a very big hand in making the mistakes that hang heavy on the party's conscience (that part of the party that *has* a conscience, anyway) is surely not the way forward. While you and others were risking your careers by being intelligent and vocal about the things that were going wrong - and I don't just mean Iraq - he was silent, biding his time and minding his career path. Or, perhaps more charitably, he was unable to see the problems, which means he's nowhere near as intelligent as you think. Are you really going to reward either a/ that kind of behaviour or b/ that lack of judgement?

[Oliver S.]

"The winners slumped like losers. The losers strutted like winners"

What are you smoking, Paul, and where's Gordon Brown ?