Paul Flynn - Read My Day

Revolving door keeps spinning.

 

The Daily Mail caught up with the 'revolving door' scandal this morning. But they omitted the main point. Shame. They are trapped by their political agenda into making it an anti-Labour story. While they quoted me at length, they omitted my main charge probably because it involves a Tory.

The body that lays down the rules is chaired by a former Tory minister who sent his CV into the Dispatches programme seeking more part-time jobs. He is part of the problem not the solution. But the Mail's report is useful is repeating the call for a ten year ban. A similar demand was made by troubled MP Dennis MacShane in relation to Baroness Ann Taylor's additional jobs. I am pressing for my select committee to probe the Tory peer who now runs the rotten system.

 The Mail report reads:

 'The restrictions placed on Lord Mandelson are among the most stringent ever laid down by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which vets the jobs taken up by former ministers and Whitehall mandarins. They represent a potential setback to Lord Mandelson’s plans to follow in Tony Blair’s footsteps by setting himself up as a global consultant.

But critics last night warned that the advisory committee lacks the powers and independence to prevent former ministers from cashing in on their contacts. Senior Labour MP Paul Flynn said ministers should be barred from lobbying and advisory jobs related to their former roles for at least ten years in order to end perceptions that they use their time in public office to pave the way for lucrative careers in the private sector.

 

He said: ‘The problem is that even with a two-year ban, there will be serious concerns that someone like Lord Mandelson will use his contacts for personal enrichment.

 

‘People will assume there are strings he can pull and under the current system there is no way of proving what is really going on. Former ministers really should be stopped from doing this kind of work – they should see public service as the pinnacle of their careers.

 

‘Otherwise the suspicion will always remain that people in ministerial jobs have half an eye on using them as a stepping stone to a lucrative career after they step down.’

 

A two-year ban on lobbying is among the toughest restrictions the committee can lay down, although it has no powers of enforcement. By contrast, the former defence secretary John Hutton was barred from lobbying for a year, while the former education secretary Ruth Kelly faced no restrictions when taking up an advisory role at banking giant HSBC.

Tony Blair has made millions from advising foreign governments and firms since leaving Downing Street.

Details provided to the advisory committee confirm that Lord Mandelson’s new firm, Global Counsel LLP, will tread a similar path – focusing mainly on work outside the UK, advising wealthy corporations, organisations and individuals."

 

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1342854/Arch-networker-Peter-Mandelson-banned-lobbying-No-Blair-style-cashing-years-say-MPs.html#ixzz19fU3USpu

 

 

 

 

The Tories are for turning

 

The Tories are surrender monkeys.

Another pushover today was Andrew Lansley's u-turn on anti-flu ads. It is proof of weakness and an incitement to all other malcontents to increase their protests.

There has been no taxpayer-paid flu ads but they have been seen by more TV viewers because they have shown on the news bulletins. The flu figures show 39 regrettable deaths this year. Last year there were 490 deaths of people WITH swine flu and only about 150 OF swine flu. That compares with average seasonable winter flu deaths of between 2,000 and 12,000. Only the BBC health reporters seem to have retained their sense of balance while the tabloids sensationalise. If lansley had waited his policy will seem sensible.

It was only a week ago that Michael Gove retreated on his plans to cut spending on school books and school sport. 

Campaigners will smell the scent of the limping wildebeest. Weakness will breed vacillation, chaos and ultimately disappointment.

Secrets

The release of the 1980 Government papers are of great interest.

I was intimately involved in two major events that year - the steel strike and S4C. Papers have announced that the 'secret' was revealed that Gwynfor Evans' threat to fast to death was the key factor in the setting up of the Welsh Fourth Channel. No great secret. I have writing about this for years.

To all steelworkers who went on strike for six months, 1980 was unforgettable. There was a Newport highlight with a mass march and rally to the place where the Newport Courts now stand. I was asked to provide a morale boosting rant. I was probably the most experienced ranter on the platform and duly obliged. The Argus duly reported what I said. Not the sort of words I would say now. But they did for 1980.

 

A con a day

 Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 348

There was tut-tutting from New Tory MPs at revelations about the Labour Government's use of spin. A senior civil servant told a select committee that they were told by Labour to produce 'good news' stories during a parliamentary recess.

Nothing changes. On Monday this week, the hapless Government Minister Lord Freud announced the 'Fraud Abroad' initiative. When pressed he confessed that the only solutions he has for this piddling problem were measures introduced by Labour in 2008.

On Tuesday we heard about new cuddly petitions that could produce a parliamentary debate. Not a change of policy or a new law, just a debate. It's a con. If a couple of million signatures were collected to bring back hanging or come out of the EU, the Government would not change their minds. There are historic precedents for this when Parliament took no notice of multi-million signature Chartist petitions.

Today's cash-point charity giving gimmick was ruined because people do not want their generosity to be used to justify Government's cuts. Many who happily do voluntary work now are determined that their efforts and not used to shore up the cuts and myths of the Big Society. 

P.S. The Daily Mail poll shows a 93% rejection of cashpoint charity.

Tut. Tut.

 

E-petition spin

 

It's pure spin but the media fall for it.

Yesterday it was fraud-abroad that was to be tackled. It was nothing more than dusted-down measures introduced by the Labour Government in 2008. This morning I was called at 7.00 am to talk about today's headline seeking gimmick of e-petitions.

Tony Blair did that. The most popular petition, with more than 180,000 people in support, opposed road pricing. If the same people had been asked if they wanted safer roads, with fewer accidents and less pollution they would also have said yes . World experience has shown that public will always vote to lower taxes and improved services. 

On Tony Blair's site, more than 70,000 supported the one word suggestion that Gordon Brown should "resign". And almost 50,000 signed up to the idea that TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson should become prime minister. In the last census 400,000 people gave their religion as Jedi and name Darth Vader as their religious leader.

Foolishly the Tories put this piece of vacuous populism into their manifesto so they have to go through the motions. I am sure that House Leader George Young is wearily resigned about wandering down this parliamentary cul-de-sac.  There has been serious progress in opening up the parliamentary agenda through the Backbench Committee that has new control  over some parliamentary time.

For the first time in ten years of war in Afghanistan parliament voted on our deployment there. The great reform that is long overdue is to free up private members business which is easily sabotaged by opponents - mostly Government nerds.

The successful Government use of the Internet has been DirectGov. It provides instant practical up-to-date information. It works and is good value.

E-petitions is an idea whose time has already gone.

 

P.S. One blogger claims that he could raise a 100,000 signatures demanding the public executions of David Cameron and Nick Clegg.  He may be right. Can't see that becoming a bill before Parliament.

 

Incompetence on an Olympic scale

 

I never believed that this Government would be so momumentally incompetent. 

Have they learnt nothing from the mistakes of past governments? They are both mad and Maoist while being wimpish and weak when challenged.  They have given their critics the stick to beat them. Climbing down on free books in their latest U-turn. They have fed the hope that they will always surrender when challenged. This will intensify future outcries.

Their health revolution is insane. The NHS is enjoying great public approval nationally and internationally. They were warnED today that they are heading for multi £billion shortfall or savage cuts. This is a major managerial problem for any government to solve. Certainly this is no moment to waste £3billion on an unwinnable gamble of reorganisation.

Michael Gove has performed more cartwheels in reversing policies than any other minister. Still he presses on with unproved major changes to a service that is demanding stability and a break from political interference. It must end in tears. 

Right wing Tory MPs and left wing LibDems are openly contemptuous of the coalition stitch-up. Can it survive a poor result in Oldham and Saddleworth?

The Government stagger on in Afghanistan into certain failure with mounting deaths of civilians and soldiers. Public patience and credulity  is being stretched to breaking point. No-one in the Cabinet has the guts to recognised the futility of the mission.

All opinions polls are moving against the Tories. The beloved idea of coalition has lost its popularity. Elections are lost by Governments and not won by oppositions. Labour should not rush into new policies. The Tories will rapidly and spectacularly destroy themselves. 

Recent tweets

Paulflynnmp Paul Flynn 

Countryside Alliance's excuse for their no-kill Boxing Day is their touching concern to avoid cruelty to animals. That's horses not foxes.

4 hours ago       

Paulflynnmp Paul Flynn 

Listen..it's eerie. No farmers are whinging. Perhaps no-one will notice Cameron has done a deal that protects their fat subsidies from cuts.

4 hours ago       

Paulflynnmp Paul Flynn 

Europe's last Stalinist fiddles election in Belarus, Cote d’Ivoire election stolen, Russian Opposition Oligarch framed - Hague is silent

 

No blood on the snow

 

Unlike other Boxing Days, tomorrow will be virtually free of the gratuitous 'cruelty for fun' games by sadists with more money than sensitivity.

The snow will not be stained by the blood of animals torn to shreds in  boozy social events that use living sentient creatures as quarries for their amusement. The lack of fox killing will not mean that the countryside will be over-run with foxes in the Spring. Many hunts breed their own foxes because there are shortages in many areas.

The unspeakable gibbering half-wits of the Countryside Alliance campaigned against Labour MPs in the General Election. They believed the Tory promise to repeal the Hunting Act. They were fooled.

Finding good new Tory MPs have been a regular unexpected pleasure for me since May.
There are 22 more tonight. Yesterday five new Tory MPs, including Caroline Dinenage, Mike Weatherley and Tracey Crouch, backed a statement  that: "This Government has far more important things to do than spending time on bringing back cruelty to animals for sport."

A minority of. MPs – 253 out of 650 – are committed to repealing the Act, and 22 Conservative MPs are among more than 300 who would vote against repeal.

Hope will triumph over pessimism. Civilised new reason will face down traditional barbarism. Entrenched power will be undermined with fresh idealism. 

 

Happy New Year Hunters. Stick to the drunken pageantry and the funny clothes.

Killing for fun has no future.

 

 

 

 

Hidden message

Is there a thinly disguised anti-government subplot in today's messages?

Archbishop Rowan Williams talks of the need to share the burdens fairly. He knows that the cuts will unfairly punish the poorest. Even the sovereign's emphasis of school sports may have been provoked by the coalition's  on/half-off cuts in school sports budgets. 

Surveys trying to measure happiness can make us selfish, introspective and dissatisfied, says the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan. He said in his Christmas sermon that UK government plans to monitor mood would "encourage people to dwell on their own needs" rather than others.

The BBC embedded TV journalist's censored report on Afghanistan could manage to offer only a 'glimmer' of hope that things were improving. If only.

Three hundred of my constituents live with the fear of losing their jobs in the new year. That has been my principal concerns for the past six months. The uncertainties continue. I wish I could offer real hope of changed plans but that would not be realistic.

In the meantime, all I can offer is best wishes for their jobs and for a happy holiday.

 

Alpine Newport

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Llongyfarchiadau! 

 

National poet of Wales, Gillian Clarke, has won one of Britain's most prestigious awards, the gold medal for poetry.

She said  she was "stunned", because she was "not accustomed to winning things".

The poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who served on the prize committee, saluted the award."Gillian Clarke has been such an important figure in our country's literary landscape, and her new work is so fresh, so relevant, that it's lovely to see her writing at the height of her powers," Duffy said. Gillian has been a friend of mine for many years. I am one of her greatest fans. She married a friend of mine from St Illtyds Peter Clarke. 

On Thursday 15th October 2009 at the Newport Centre,Gillian Clarke, read out a poem commissioned by the Bevan Foundation to celebrate the 170th anniversary of the Chartist Uprising in Newport.

The March
For my late father-in-law, Glyndwr Thomas, miner, Oakdale colliery

Boots and rain drummed the tram-roads,

that bitter night in eighteen-thirty-nine,

potholed and stumbled with mud and stones.

Five thousand men, workers in iron and coal

from mine and furnace, Sirhowy, Ebbw, Rhymni,

heads bowed against the storm like mountain ponies.

 

Their bones ached from the shift, wind in the shaft,

the heat of the furnaces, yet on they marched,

their minds a blaze because their cause was right,

through darkness from Ebbw Vale, Blackwood, Pontypool,

faces frozen and stung by the lash of rain,

trudging the roads to Newport through the night.

 

At the Welsh Oak, Rogerstone, betrayed by daylight,

Frost’s men from the west, Williams's from the east,

Jones’s men never arrived. The rest struck on

to stand united, of one heart in the square

before the Westgate. Had they stood silent then,

had they not surged forward, had not been shaken

 

by rage against injustice, had they muzzled

the soldiers’ muskets with a multitude

of silence, had reason spoken,

those steely thousands might have won the day.

But they stormed the doors to set their comrades free,

and shots were fired, and freedom’s dream was broken.

 

A score dead. Fifty wounded. Their leaders tried,

condemned, transported. The movement, in disarray,

lost fifty years. Then came, at last, that shift

of power, one spoonful of thin gruel at a time,

from strong to weak, from rich to poor,

from men to women, like a grudged gift.

Star letter in today's Guardian

As Vince Cable could not hold responsibility for media policy because the decision on Murdoch is "quasi-judicial", what about Chris Huhne taking a quasi-judicial decision on nuclear power?

Vince Cable disclosed his lack of impartiality to the undercover journalists, whereas Huhne's declarations for the coalition's nuclear power commitment were very public; he declared the only issue was economic. Yet Huhneapproved two new nuclear reactor designs reactor designs under the "justification" regulations, and eight new reactor sites, for which he had to balance the benefits of nuclear electricity against the risks from accidents and sabotage, and the burden of nuclear waste on future generations. Environmentalists wanted a public inquiry under an independent inspector, but Huhne insisted on taking the decision himself. Why was he not removed as decision-maker, like Vince Cable? Is the difference the media spotlight or the threat of a Murdoch legal challenge? Ed Miliband's attack on Cable after his failure to attack Huhne certainly demonstrates lack of principle in the Labour opposition for transparent and unbiased decision-making.

Max Wallis
Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan

 

 

 

Homage to the Today programme.

 

 

I was jump-started from sleep into life this morning at 7.50 this morning by a John Humphrys interview. Are we sleepwalking into new disasters in Afghanistan? After retreating from the most dangerous Sangin area of Helmand, UK deaths this year are nearing the 108 killed last year.

Humphrys came close to asking the key question, are we sending soldiers to die in vain?

Respected military writer Max Hastings was being interviewed. He has written:

' I have always worried that the British army’s attitude to the conflict is distorted first by its admirable “can-do” spirit, which has prompted persistent unfounded optimism; and second, by a desperate desire to be seen to win a campaign, to escape a humiliating retreat to Britain.'

Liam Fox has repeatedly denied my charge that he is irrationally optimistic.

Max Hastings also wrote:

"Western commanders are today enthusiastic about progress in training Afghan soldiers and policemen. Yet almost all army recruits are drawn from the  doesnorth of the country, and are seen as foreigners in the Pashtun south. Despite annual expenditures of $12.6bn on the security forces, desertions are still running at 18 per cent, which means recruiting an additional 25,000 men a year merely to maintain strength.

 The struggle will go on, simply because a lot of people have vested interests in avoiding explicit recognition of failure."

That is precisely the situation. No politician believes victory is possible, but they cannot devise an exit that hides their compliance in a wanton loss of life. They clings to the myths of a happy outcome. 

Christmas will see well-deserved tributes to our troops in Afghanistan. They is likely to be a ministerial visit or two. But there will be new thinking from politicians. Next year will be another sickening spell of futile slaughter.

 

Solution

An astonishing number of LibDems MPs have been caught in the vanity trap.

I asked Norman Baker at a Select Committee a month ago what vote was he most ashamed of. He replied 'None yet.' He gave a rather different answer to the giggling, smiling, bottom-wriggling gals from the Telegraph.

There is a simple solution to the embarassed LibDems. Just say in private exactly the same things that you say in public.

It's always worked for me. 

 

 

Telegraph in the dock.

Total of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan = 347 

The greatly respected former Shadow Attorney General David Howarth writes convincingly in the Guardian tomorrow.

The former MP for Cambridge concludes that the Telegraph has broken the rules and committed a criminal offence in entrapping the MPs. His article concludes:

"Did the journalists and their editors intend through dishonest false statements to put ministers at risk of losing their jobs? Did they intend to make money for their paper? If either is true, a criminal offence has taken place. There is no free-standing public interest defence. Perhaps the journalists involved should now be preparing their answers to those questions." 

Bringing the  Telegraph to book would bring a spot of comfort to the  political  class that the paper loathes.

 

Out of control

Whatever their motives the Telegraph sting has exposed the fragile unity of the Government with angry LibDems on one wing and rabid right wing Tories on the other. Jeremy Hunt may be as compromised as  Cable as independent judge. His contacts with the Murdoch tribe and one of the families' groupies, his decision is certain. The Murdoch family will probably get their way.

Is this what the Telegraph intended?

 

Blunders galore

The Government's lame response to the Public Administration Committee's first report misses the point on a national grand strategy.

Today there is another British death in Afghanistan.  Our involvement was born out a strategy vacuum - no consideration of national interest or any analysis of the deadly consequences. Our new National Security Council will ossify political prejudice. The message from the Government is ,'Blunder on in the hope that something might turn up.' Meanwhile soldiers and civilians die while politicians are buried in irrational optimism.

Seven hour delay

Can it be true? Local Newport paper quotes a reader's complaint of a seven hour delay on a local road. It is a bypass with about eight intersections from which trapped traffic can escape.  Some one else complains about a three hour delay. Can any of this be true?