A momentary glimpse of how government should be

Harriet Harman filled in for Gordon Brown at Prime Minister's Questions today, and in my view she played a blinder.

Although there was a touch of the Prescotts about some of her responses, one thing that struck me was the way in which she dealt with some of the questions put to her.

Although the banter with William Hague was funny, she commenting that the government would take no advice about food wastage from a man who thinks 18 pints of beer is a good diet, and Hague responding that none of his youthful beer consumption was wasted, one thing stood out.

And it was not Hague's slick line, standing in for Cameron, that the PM is past his sell-by date.

It was the way that Harriet spoke to and listened to the Cabinet sitting around her.

On the economy, she was prompted by the Chancellor, and her answer was stronger for it.

On Heathrow expansion, she got advice from Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly and then answered.

On the emotive issue of Zimbabwean refugees, she was on the front bench talking to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to formulate her response.

Although there is no chance of Harriet becoming the next PM, I was impressed with her approach.

Government is collective, and should be co-operative.

It was a stark contrast with the macho posturing of Gordon Brown, and most other government ministers.

It was a small thing, but it made me want to back her more when, instead of pretending she was master of all trades, she turned to the people around her who knew more about each issue for help with her answers to MPs.

It felt more real, and for a small moment I was impressed by Harriet Harman.

Will Glasgow East be the end for Gordon?

Yea, yea, I don't have time to blog - so here is another entry - it's only been three weeks.

Fun things have been happening - I met that David Cameron for the first time - he is bulkier in real life - not fat or anything - just meatier. I had a lovely birthday picnic, went to Pride London and have interviewed Boris twice in a week - but not about his troubles unfortunately but about gay related things.

Interesting guy that David Cameron. I was slightly impressed that he rocked up to Glasgow yesterday to do a launch in a by-election he has no chance of winning.

Of course, things are looking very bad for the PM.

House prices are falling, the market for new home buyers has all but disappeared, the people are angry about fuel and rising bills and rising prices.

Even my mum said she would vote him out, if only she could (she lives in Northern Ireland).

That whole mollycoddled generation of English people who think it is normal to buy eight year old children hundreds of pounds worth of gifts twice a year are suddenly feeling the pinch, and Labour MPs in seats that are starting to look to the Tories are more nervous than Adam Rickitt at a selection meeting.

Big name pundits are saying that if Gordon loses the Glasgow East by-election, he is toast. Three disasters in a row - the party as you know lost Crewe and Nantwich, a supposedly safe seat.

They came fifth in the by-election to replace Boris (who the Speaker thinks is the Lord Mayor of London), beaten by them Greens and the lovely BNP.

So the smart talk is all about Labour losing in Glasgow East, and that the PM cannot even attract support in Scotland, and that he will have to go.

I do not buy it. A string of by-election defeats is damaging, but I do not think it is fatal. Perhaps I am naive to make comparisons with John Major, but he lost a string of by-elections during his time as PM and the public hated him too.

Then again, he did not get us involved in any wars and his whole party knew they were going to lose the 1997 election, and indeed Major won in 1992.

And perhaps the public's disaffection with Gordon is of a different order. More visceral.

But the idea that the Labour movement will remove the PM in mid parliament is madness as far as I can see.

It is not just MPs and the Westminster crowd who pick and choose leaders but the affiliated societies, MEPs, the unions and party members.

Are they all baying for his blood?

Also, its bloody difficult to remove a sitting Labour Prime Minister. You need a lot of those MPs to put their head above the parapet and it will cause infighting that the party can ill afford.

It seems to me that no matter how bad things get, Gordon is staying in Number 10 until the bitter end.

THT on why they support a ban on gay blood

Sexual health charities are one of the most complained about groups working within the gay community.

While they broadly command the support of the pink press, there is consistent criticism of their ad campaigns, priorities and stance on issues such as the ban on gay men donating blood.

Terrence Higgins Trust is the biggest fish in the HIV/AIDS pond, and consequently comes in for the most criticism.

Recent campaigns such as Drugfucked and PlayZone are accused of glamourising drug use and underground sex clubs.

THT command considerable amounts from the NHS and other statutory bodies.

Their most recent report states:

"In 2006-07, we received income from 108 statutory bodies, funding both regional and national work. Of our total statutory income for the year of £8,031,000, £568,000 (7%) came from new contracts.

"Voluntary income rose in 2006-07 by £433,000 (12%) to £4,155,000, with a key increase of £139,000 (8%) coming from individual givers, through regular and one off gifts. Additional funding of £330,000 was also received from the Department of Health."

So THT has the support of government and donors, even if there is disquiet about their strategies to reduce HIV infections in the UK.

The charity works with all people, not just gay men.

Approximately 2,700 men who have sex with men were diagnosed in 2006, the highest number since the epidemic began. 82% of these men probably acquired HIV in the UK.

PinkNews.co.uk sat down with Lisa Power, head of policy at THT.

A gay activist since the 1970s, she has been with the charity for more than a decade.

In a frank interview, she revealed that THT is committed to becoming a mass membership organisation, defended their controversial campaigns and explained why she does not think the gay blood ban is discrimination.

PinkNews.co.uk: The first thing that we need to clear up is that a lot of our readers are under the impression that THT just deals with gay men.

Lisa Power: It would be reassuring to know in a way, since we seem to get a lot of complaints from gay men that we don't deal with them enough, that we are giving too much time to somebody else.

We deal with HIV and sexual health, and HIV will always be central to our work, so a lot of our work is with gay men and a lot our work will remain with gay men.

But we also work, in terms of HIV, we have three target groups.

One is gay men, one is African migrants and the other is people with HIV, anybody who has got HIV.

In terms of sexual health it's again gay men, because gay men have particular issues around sexual health, ethnic minorities, because there are a number of black men who have raised levels of problems with sexual health, and it's young people.

We have incredible rates of things like chlamydia in this country and in fact we have the worst sexual health in western Europe, which is a bit of a disgrace really, and a bit turn up from the 80s when we had some of the best.

PinkNews.co.uk received a lot of emails about a new website for gay men about sex and drugs, it talks about the effects of recreational drugs. How do you counter the argument that you are encouraging drug use.

We have been told that we had been encouraging all sorts of things right from the beginning, we started out with people like Mary Whitehouse saying we were encouraging sex.

The point is that you have to start of from where people are, and not from where you want them to be, and the fact is that a lot of gay men are using recreational drugs.

We'd rather they took them safely, and if they must take them we'd also rather that they thought about the kind of sex they want to have and to try and make that as safe as possible.

Our main aim is to reduce the transmission of HIV and poor sexual health, and gay men as a group have particularity bad sexual health.

We know that is linked with large amounts of recreational drugs taken and if we don't do something about it we are seriously not doing out duty.

We know that it doesn't work to tell people not to do it, we aren't Nancy Reagan we are not going to go 'just say no,' we have to talk to people in the language that they use and in the manner they will be most willing to hear what we have to say.

If that means T-shirts that say drugfucked and special materials for that group and using the language that people who use recreation drugs use, then that's what we will do.

Large amounts of immigrants, people who don't speak English very well, are not getting, served the way English speakers are.

We would agree with that, and it's one of the things that we have really started to highlight, we have just done the annual gay men's sex survey again with Sigma and through the CHAPS programme.

There is some really clear evidence this year that we need to do more targeting of certain groups of gay men.

A key group of gay men who are themselves migrants, it's not just African migrants, it's also gay men who have come here from Latin America, from Eastern Europe and a whole range of other places.

They are not as clued up around sexual health as people who have been subjected to all the materials for the last few years, sometimes it's a language issue, sometimes it's cultural issues, sometimes it's about getting to people in the right place, and we are very well aware of that and it's some of our key aims for future work.

We always work on the evidence base, and the evidence is clearly there, and we would agree that people have been saying that do you that we need to do more work.

An argument often put forward is that the approach that you are taking in your campaigns isn't working you need to start scaring people.

Read the rest of this interview here.

Interview: Richard Barnes, Deputy Mayor of London

Deputy mayors have been in the news a lot recently.

On Friday Ray Lewis resigned as Deputy Mayor of London amid a welter of allegations about his previous incarnation as a Church of England priest.

While his departure was a blow to Boris Johnson, he has quite a few other deputies.

However, only one of them is the statutory Deputy Mayor, the one mentioned in the legislation that created the post of Mayor of London.

That man is Richard Barnes, who has been out and proud, and fighting, for so long that sometimes it seems he was the original gay Tory.

A Hillingdon borough councillor since 1982 and former council leader, he has served on the London Assembly since its creation in 2000.

After eight years of Ken, he is finally in power and, before last week's Pride parade, he sat down with PinkNews.co.uk to talk about Boris, HIV prevention, and why the terrorist attacks exactly three years ago today showed our city at its most resilient.

PinkNews.co.uk: Congratulations on your appointment. I understand that you are the statutory Mayor, can you explain what that entails?

A statutory Mayor is a legal requirement and should be there if anything untoward happened to the Mayor.

Does that mean you are a heart beat away from being Mayor?

I'm just a little bit further but yeah.

How does that work in terms of influencing the Mayor, do you meet regularly, do you have conversations?

We will meet regularly but obviously during the course of the campaign Boris and I did establish a close rapport and we worked very closely together.

When we were talking about Boris Johnson in November and even in January and February there was this idea that his candidacy was a Tory bit of fun …

I don't believe that.

Well what I was going to say is his majority is sizeable, a considerable vote, did that surprise you having been on the campaign trail with him, or were you expecting it on election night?

Before he was selected I just had that gut feeling that he was that symbol of change that everybody in London wanted and given the way his magnetic celebrity status on the campaign trail people just flocked to him.

I've been out with (former Mayor) Ken and you see people on opposite sides of the street say "oh there's Ken Livingstone."

With Boris they had to get near him, they had to get their photograph taken with him.

They want to be close to him which is that difference between premier division and a full star if you like.

You have been and assembly member since the beginning. What sort of changes did you want to see over those eight years, what changes do you want to see now and what do you think Boris will bring forward?

I would rather look forward than look backward.

But you must have seen an organisation that you thought could be better run?

I thought the organisation has improved since we came into office, that it was dysfunctional, the decision making was channelled through a very small coterie of people.

The professional offices were not allowed to make decisions of their own, they were all referred upwards.

What I believe is that you should trust the offices and professionals that you've put there, that you should allow them to get on and make decisions, clearly ask for checks and balances.

They just got a budget which has been examined and approved. I don't expect them to come back on a monthly basis and say "can I spend part of my budget?"

Boris had a bit of a rough ride from the gay community….

Read the rest of this interview.

The Democratic race explained in under nine minutes

This video is awesome!

David Davis - what the hell is he up to?

The DUP are the undertakers of governments, as Shirley Williams said on Question Time. Very true, a typical blast of common sense from the tenacious peer.

However, yesterday's vote on 42 and the shenanigans around how Gordon won the vote seems like months ago after today's bombshell.

David Davis insists he is resigning from the Shadow Cabinet on a matter of principle. I don't buy it.

Why resign and fight a lone battle against a piece of legislation? Why piss off the leader and abandon the party, steal headlines from them and make the fight against 42 when the Lords are more than likely to kick it out, plus the government bill is unworkable?

And why now? I think this has got a lot more to do with the leadership of the party and not any issues of liberty.

Fighting his case in his own constituency - it is barmy.

And where will the Tories come into all this? Is he official candidate?

Cameron said he was going to campaign for Davis? How will that work?

Its all very confusing, but I think at the end of the day the loser will be Davis. He is out of the Shadow Cabinet - will he ever get back in?

Nice to see one of the Robinsons has some sense

The Iris issue rumbles on - she was on the radio this morning claiming that she only said that gay people could be cured, not they should be.

Her hubby, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, today assured the Assembly that not only does he take his responsibilites seriously with regard to discrimination but he and the missus are fighters against it.

Anyway there are still issues, not least round this idea that people can be "converted" by nutty psychiarists.

It hurts gay people. It gives the impression that they are somehow mentally ill, that they need help.

We don't. Leave us alone.

Iris through the looking glass

Iris Robinson's outburst about how gays just need therapy is interesting - on her first day as the effective First Lady of Northern Ireland, the rib enthusiast (see quote) just popped on Radio Ulster to remake herself as helpful kind of Oprah figure - offering to put gays in touch with a nice doctor who can make them all better.

Here she is on lesbians being allowed near baby making facilities without even having the deceny to bring a gay along so they can pose as a couple for the nice doctor.

"I speak tonight saddened by the approach taken by right hon. and hon. Members who wish to airbrush out the role of fatherhood. I notice that there are many grins on faces, but I stand by my faith and the word of God that man was created in the image of God and that woman was created from the rib of Adam to be his helpmeet and companion. That is the natural progression of procreation."

Well exactly.

Since you've been gone

SO here it is my first blog entry since 19th April.

In that time I have been to Miami, spent the day with schoolkids at Auschwitz, been on BBC Radio Ulster (personal goal ticked off the list - shame my mum wasn't listening!) reported on the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor of London, been to my first PMQ and got to sit in the Press Gallery which was just SO cool (thanks Kevin), talked St Paul's epistles with the only gay bishop in the Anglican communion (only out one obviously. Its faggot central as everyone knows) discussed the psychology of Ann Widdecombe with drunken Labour researchers, listened to London's first gay deputy Mayor relive the experience of his partner dying in his arms, and then be told he was not a 'fit person' to register his death - he went all the way to the Registrar General to have that obscene insult abolished.

I have brooded over getting an interview with David Cameron, then brooded over getting one with Gordon Brown, planned by birthday picnic on Primrose Hill, thought about growing my hair long, had a beautiful dinner with my friend Michael in his new flat, received news that my brother Dominic is a father for a third time, a girl called Megan, found myself agreeing with everything my mother was saying about Tibet, fought a losing battle with Snickers addiction, argued about the ban on gay blood donations with two people who knew a lot more about it than me, had dinner with someone I fully expect to be in the Cabinet in ten years, realised what an brilliant film Minority Report is, interviewed about a million interns and not slept enough.

Clearly no time for blogging - its SO 2007. But we shall keep at it when we find a moment.

Dunwoody's death is a blow for the Commons

I was genuinely upset to hear of the death of Labour MP Gywneth Dunwoody.

Ms Dunwoody, who had been the MP for Crewe and Nantwich since 1974, was chair of the transport select committee and a highly-respected parliamentarian.

She was 77.

The longest serving female MP ever, she first entered Parliament in 1966, representing Exeter. From 1966 to 1970 she sat alongside her then-husband, John Dunwoody, MP for Falmouth. In 1983 she ran for Labour deputy leader on a Euro-sceptic platform, but only attracted 1.3% support.

Ms Dunwoody was one of life's awkward squad, speaking out when she thought her own party was wrong, and her fellow MPs clearly had a lot of time for her.

An attempt in 2001 to remove her from the chair of the transport committee led to an effective rebellion by her colleagues, and the government had to let her take her rightful place.

In committee she was a wonder to behold, making ministers, civil servants and senior transport executives look like ill-prepared chancers.

In the chamber she was an exceptionally effective speaker, but more than that she carried before her respect, from MPs on all sides of the House. They listened to her. They liked her, and she was always good value for money.

The Times summed it up best: "a battleaxe in the best tradition."

I saw her in Parliament just a few weeks ago. She was examining trinkets for sale just outside Central Lobby, and I wanted to go over and speak to her, to say hello, so I could say that I had met her, someone I admire so much.

But I was late for my appointment, and I figured I would get many more chances to meet this formidable woman.

She was one of the only MPs I ever saw who managed to pin down the elusive Tony Blair, forcing him to admit that he had, in effect, no policy on immigration.

While some may breathe a sigh of relief that they will never be on the receiving end of her fearsome questioning, most people who knew her will say that the Commons lost one of its most important MPs this week.

Among the tributes from party leaders and political grandees, the words of her son David were the most touching:

"She was a woman who stood up and said what she believed was true and defended those who did not have many people to defend them. And she stood up for her principles, she was a wonderful woman."

Andrew Pierce's piece about her is outstanding - read it here.

Hustings was a huge success

This morning's Mayor of London hustings, organised by Stonewall, was packed - nearly 400 people were there to hear Ken, Boris, Brian speak alongside Sian Berry from the Greens and Lindsey German from Respect - The Left List.

Both the female candidates impressed the audience with their common sense answers and general demeanour. Sian, only 33, is particularly highly thought of not just in the Green party but among political watchers of all shades. I do hope she wins a seat on the London Assembly.

I was chairing the event, which was daunting, but I think it turned out OK in the end. At least the crowd was mostly well-behaved, with just a handful of people shouting out from the crowd. What is it with these people? How is shouting at people acceptable? It is just rudeness in my opinion.

Anyway, there was very little of that, though one person did shout at me at one point, accusing me (at the end) of not picking any black people. She didn't even mention Asians or other minorities. Racist.

Boris had an interesting time - both charming the audience and failing to convince them that he never really supported Section 28. I tackled him about his infamous comment piece where he compared civil partnerships to "three men and a dog" getting married, but he would not apologise.

Ken was in his comfort zone. I thought he dealt well with accusations about corruption - there are seven police investigations ongoing, apparently.

Anyway, I have chaired my first hustings, and I liked it. I guess I will only have to wait until 2012 for the next one!

Ken tours Soho in search of pink votes

It was a surreal moment in an already bizarre election; Ken Livingstone standing at the bar in Comptons, chatting happily to bears about his plans for London if elected for a third time as the city's Mayor.

Ken's whole Soho walkabout was part farce, part hard-nosed politics.

With Brian Paddick, the only openly gay candidate, attracting a respectable number of LGBT voters, Ken was out to remind people he was fighting for gay rights when his opponent wasn't even out.

Of course, he got stuck into Boris at every opportunity.

Ken, a man with acute political antennae, knew better than to attack Mr Paddick. He brushed away questions from PinkNews.co.uk about whether the 49-year-old Lib Dem was challenging for the pink vote.

Gay MP Chris Bryant was Mr Livingstone's guide round the area. He confided that he has a flat "near here" but added he doesn't spend much time in the gay ghetto. He certainly seemed to know where he was going.

Ken's cavalcade of press photographers, journalists, members of LGBT Labour and other supporters began at Comptons in Old Compton St and finished up at Heaven.

The nightclub's VIP room was bedecked with some very fetching images of Red Ken from the days when he sported a neat moustache, several drag queens and some of the prettier Labour supporters.

But back to the walkabout. Scrums of photographers followed the Mayor from the Admiral Duncan, up Dean St and across Soho Square.

In that time about two voters spoke to Mr Livingstone, a gang of camp, annoying teenagers joined the throng and several people shouted obscenities at the candidate.

The press were relieved to reach Profile, where canapes, cocktails and champagne were laid on.

Topless waiters presented Mr Livingstone with a thick, sludgy beverage which I was informed contained brandy and cream, and possibly champagne. I spilt a cocktail on my notes so I can't be sure.

I asked one of the waiters if they are normally topless, or if it had been laid on for Ken.

In a delightfully impregnable Brazilian accent he informed me they do "no top" on Fridays and Saturdays. And sometimes Mondays.

Famed journalist A.A. Gill was there to observe the scene - he is to write a piece on Mr Livingstone for The Sunday Times. He seemed amused by the whole experience.

After this short respite Ken was back on manoeuvres.

"Oh, this is fun!" he exclaimed as he and his posse of press and leaflet-wielding supporters made their way into The Yard, where he was warmly received by patrons.

As he trolled past Comptons for the third time, he popped in for a drink, and was greeted with cheers. They like the older gentlemen at Comptons.

Moving finally towards the river, there was a touching moment when a young, frail homeless girl, who looked about 17, a dirty blanket wrapped round her shoulders, pushed herself forward.

As Ken leaned in to listen, so did the press. I was too far out to hear what she said, but I noticed that Ken was holding her hand, looking into her eyes, and I heard him promise that someone would "come back for her and find her."

Among the jollity, the camp boys at G-A-Y and the drunken secretaries shouting “KEN!” as if they were at a hen night and he was the stripper, it was a sobering reminder that the gay village is also filled with the desperate and despondent, the ones London fails.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE HERE.

MP calls for Speaker to go

It wasn't a vicious attack by any means. Rogue Tory Douglas Carswell has said what many of his colleagues think: the House of Commons needs serious reform and that cannot begin until the Speaker stands down.

He has broken a strong convention of the House, namely that the Speaker is above both party politics and public reproach, and by attacking him Carswell is attacking the Commons itselt.

Not quite. While he can expect a chat with the Whips, it would be stupid and petty of the Speaker not to call him in debates.

And his point is valid, and it could be argued he is acting in defence of the best traditions of the House.

The Speaker's own expenses are the subject of investigation and tabloid fodder adding to the gaiety of the nation on a weekly basis. Perhaps it is he who should consider if that damages the Speakership?

Carswell, the MP for Harwich, is an ardent campaigner for a range of parliamentary reforms.

"We need to clean up Westminster politics and take action to restore faith in our political system," he told the Mail on Sunday.

"Speaker Martin must step down. Perhaps not immediately, but he needs to set a date for his departure now.

"Until Speaker Martin goes, we will make little progress with anything else."

The photo is from Douglas Carswell's website.

"Douglas in Afghanistan
08 March 2007
Watch on ClactonTV.com"

Stonewall hustings event names chair

And it's me!

Yes, yours truly will be on stage at BFI Southbank (formerly the National Film Theatre) on FRIDAY 19th APRIL from 11am.

The whole thing is booked up, which is a bit scary, as is the prospect of trying to keep the peace between Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Brian Paddick and Lindsey German, the Respect - The Left List candidate.

It will be the last hustings before voters go to the polls on May 1st, so the candidates will either be particularly combative or dog tired, we will just have to see.

Bad press day for the Prime Minister

Bad news for Gordon Brown - the papers today are a chorus of disapproval - Matthew Parris in The Times complaining that he is a naked, clueless vacuum.

Crikey. The Sun reports that he could face a challenge to his leadership if Labour do badly in the local elections next month, and The Guardian has published a series of comments from un-named government MPs bemoaning his election unopposed as leader last year.

All are agreed that the boy Miliband will not be challenging, and that the most likely contenders are Blairites Alan Milburn or Charles Clarke.

This talk of a leadership challenge is bollocks, though the underlying message that support for the government has all but evaporated is true.

The collapse in Gordon Brown's poll numbers is stunning, and it looks unlikely he will substantially raise it in the coming months.

Tessa Jowell, that harbinger of doom, has been raising hackles about the abolition of the 10p tax.

It looks likely that the PM is entering his John Major phase much earlier than predicted; we will see him defeated by his own party on key legislation, his younger Cabinet colleagues jockeying for position, safe in the knowledge they can hold their fire until after he loses the next election.

It is fast becoming a cliche, but it is all so terribly Shakespearean. It is as if he is under a curse, to always half-succeed but always look as if he failed completely.

Everything from the signing of the Lisbon treaty to getting lost in Windsor Castle, to not going to the opening of the Olympics, but happy to be there for the closing, he and his team seem unable to get anything right.

Kebab-eating Home Secretaries, the one-woman wrecking machine that is Harriet Harman and the sight of Tessa Jowell and the Olympics budget roadshow, all adds to the tragedy.

The idea that Brown promised only to serve one term, in favour of Ed Balls, is pure fantasy. There are few Cabinet ministers with as little support on the backbenches as Balls. He is entirely a creation of the Prime Minister, not the party.

And while the Tories may be jubilant at their poll lead, they are still only getting 40% of the vote - hardly enough to propel them into government.

They have yet to make a serious impact in cities like London, Manchester and Sheffield. The local elections on May 1st is their best chance to achieve those symbolic gains.

Even if they do, David Cameron has yet to convince voters that he is the man to lead Britain in a new direction.

boris blears and the BNP

The Secretary of State for Communities has said that the Tory candidate for Mayor of London will "depend on attracting support in second preferences from BNP and UKIP supporters" to win the May 1st election.

Hazel Blears, who is in charge of the Labour party's local election campaign, made her assertion in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph in which she characterised the council elections as vital for David Cameron.

Labour is braced for considerable losses in the 4,500 seats up for election across England and Wales, with party insiders predicting as many as 250.

The party could lose control of Sheffield to the Liberal Democrats. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is an MP for the city.

It is Gordon Brown's first major electoral test since becoming Prime Minister last year. In cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Sunderland, and 73 English district authorities, one third of the council seats are up for election.

Seven English district authorities will elect half of the council while in Wales all councillors in all 22 councils will be elected.

The Prime Minister already faces unrest among his own MPs about plans to extend detention without trial for terrorist suspects and the abolition of the 10p tax band, which took effect last week.

Meanwhile Tory leader David Cameron will be hoping to pick up support in northern England, particularly cities, where his party is currently absent.

"Cameron needs to show he can get real support in the North of England and Wales, beyond his political comfort zone in the shires. Not just a few gains here or there," said Ms Blears.

Her comments about Conservative candidate for Mayor of London Boris Johnson indicates that the battle for City Hall is set to remain ill-tempered right up until polling day.

"The London Mayoral will be very close, given the resources the Tories are ploughing into the capital," she told The Sunday Telegraph."

Success for Boris Johnson will depend on attracting support in second preferences from BNP and UKIP supporters, I am afraid."

Labour candidate Ken Livingstone, seeking a third term in office, has used the threat of a BNP candidate winning a seat on the 25-member London Assembly as a late theme in his campaign.

"Like all fascist parties the BNP seek power with populist policies but their aim is to divide communities and foster hatred and violence," he said last week.

"We have to get across one simple fact: there's only one way to stop the BNP, which is by actually going out to vote against them. A low voter turnout will help the BNP get elected."

He was speaking after the fascist party had called on its supporters to cast their second preference vote for Mr Johnson – an endorsement he utterly rejected.

"In this race, the Tory clown Johnson is a lesser evil than the Marxist crank Livingstone, so replacing the latter with the former would, on balance, be an improvement for the majority of Londoners," the party said in a statement on their website.

"Even if Johnson condemns the BNP a second choice vote for him gives you the chance to vote BNP as your first preference and still vote to get Livingstone out of office."

Ms Blear's advisers later said she had not mean that Mr Johnson was seeking the votes of BNP members, but he rejected that position.

"Regardless of whether or not she meant to suggest I was deliberately courting BNP votes, this is yet another cynical attempt by Labour to play politics with an issue on which all the mayoral candidates are united," he said.

"I have said before that I don't want the second preference vote of any BNP supporter.

"I believe my message of a fresh approach and new ideas for London will resonate with all voters."

For more click here.

Harriet and William banter over the despatch box

Secretary of State for Equality Harriet Harman made history yesterday when she became the first woman from the Labour party to answer Prime Minister's Questions.

Ms Harman is also Leader of the House of Commons and Deputy Leader of the Labour party.

Yesterday she was faced with former Tory leader William Hague, filling in for David Cameron.

The Prime Minister was at a NATO summit in Bucharest, and by tradition the other party leaders stay away from PMQs as well.

Mr Hague's performance at the dispatch box confirmed his reputation as possibly the funniest Commons performer of his generation.

Earlier this week Ms Harman caused outrage in her own constituency after she was filmed on a walkabout with local police wearing a stab-proof vest.

She later insisted she was only wearing it as part of the 'kit,' in the same way a politician visiting a factory may wear a hard hat or a hair net.

"Before turning to domestic issues, I was going to be nice to the right honourable and learned Lady," said Mr Hague.

"She has had a difficult week.

"She had to explain yesterday that she dresses in accordance with wherever she is going: she wears a helmet on a building site, she wears Indian clothes in the parts of her constituency with a large representation of Indian people, so when she goes to a Cabinet meeting, she presumably dresses as a clown."

Ms Harman kept her composure, though many on her own benches were visibly amused by the barb, and responded in kind:

"I would just start by saying that if I were looking for advice on what to wear or what not to wear, the very last person I would look to is the man in the baseball cap."

Read the rest of this story here.

Gay terrorist shocker

Is someone out to get the Speaker?

Revelations over the weekend that the Speaker has spent £148,900 on furniture, £191,000 on an air conditioning system and £13,000 on art for his official apartment in the Palace of Westminster make for grim reading.

Particularly for Labour MPs who have been defending Michael Martin as a working-class hero and the victim of a Daily Mail-led campaign of snobbery against the former sheet metal worker.

OK so I get that the Speaker's apartment is used for official business and you can't really pop down to IKEA when you live in a Grade I listed property.

But the sums involved here do seem profligate. However, these stories are not about art or air-conditioning. Like the furore surrounding Lord Irvine's wallpaper, these attacks are about the man.

I think the Speaker is below-average and I sympathise with the many MPs on all sides who want him to retire.

The Tories are right not only to still be sore that Labour broke the convention of alternating Speakers from the main parties in 2000, when Martin succeeded Betty Boothroyd.

He has appeared at turns nakedly partisan and close to incompetence. But the point about the Speaker is that no MP can speak out against him. It has been left to former independent MP Martin Bell to say what needs to be said: it is time he stood down.

Because the Speaker in many ways IS the House of Commons, MPs are in a difficult position. They cannot openly express their displeasure at his performance and the ida of removing him is unthinkable.

There have been problematic Speakers before, many of them Labour. George Thomas was a drinker, for example, but the "usual channels" prevailed on him to stand aside for the legendary Bernard Weatherill.

The problem with Michael Martin is that, because the attacks on him appear class-based, they raise the hackles of many of his former Labour colleagues.

But the bottom line is that a Speaker on the front pages of the papers cannot, by defenition, continue in his job as an impartial chairman and figure of respect in the House.

We can expect Michael Martin to stand down at the next election. My money is on Ming Campbell to succeed him, and if he does not want it, there is talk of John Bercow.

After the shambles of the 2000 election, we can also expect his successor to have been decided behind the scenes.

From Wikipedia!

Betty Boothroyd announced her retirement shortly before the summer recess in 2000, which left a long time for would-be Speakers to declare their candidature but little opportunity for Members of Parliament to negotiate and decide on who should be chosen. Many backbench Labour MPs, especially from Scotland, advanced the claims of Michael Martin as a long-serving Deputy Speaker. Most Conservatives felt strongly that the recent alternation between the main parties ought to be maintained and a Conservative Speaker chosen. The most prominent Conservative choices were Sir George Young and Deputy Speaker Sir Alan Haselhurst. With several maverick candidates announcing themselves, the total number of Members seeking the Speakership was 14, none of whom would withdraw. A lengthy sitting of the House saw Michael Martin first proposed, then each of the candidates proposed as an amendment which was voted down. In points of order before the debate, many members demanded a secret ballot.

Is our politics genetic?

very interesting article on the bbc website which poses the question, are our political views genetic?

Why we love the Sarkozys

The next time the President of France comes to London, can he bring his son Jean? We want to ask him about the small animal he appears to be hiding in his trousers.

Though there might be some quarantine issues ...

Catholics victorious over embryology bill

It may have saved Gordon Brown the crisis of three members of the Cabinet resigning over a point of religious principle, but I for one would question whether people who cannot reconcile party and government policy with their faith should be in the Cabinet at all.

After days of hysterical and mostly totally inaccurate attacks from leading Roman Catholic church leaders, the PM has caved and announced that three parts of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill currently before Parliament will be a free vote for Labour MPs.

While this may spare Ruth Kelly, Des Browne and Paul Murphy from resigning from the government, it raises the role of the Roman Catholic church in British society.

If, like me, you grew up in Ireland in the 1980s and 90s, the sight of the government caving into the brute force of the Roman church demanding that MPs put faith above their role as elected representatives is worrying.

Ireland did not have divorce or abortion because priests stood up in their pulpits and instructed their parishoners how to vote in referendums. The church effectively decided social policy.

Now they have won a significant victory in the UK, and they are unlikely to rest there.

The PM should have stood firm, as Tony Blair did over gay adoption. The church on that occasion threatened to close its adoption agencies rather than consider gay couples. After much internal wrangling Blair, ironically a convert to Catholicism, called their bluff.

What is most troubling about this recent church spat is that they have told blatant lies about the scope and the impact of the bill. There will be no Frankenstein monsters, half-human half-beast creations.

More than 200 charities have spoken up for research. Yet the PM, somehow fearful of the small minority of his own MPs and Cabinet colleagues who feel they must side with their church, has allowed the bill to be challenged by Catholic politicians.

The Roman church has been trying this tactic in every country where they have influence. Gay rights in Italy are frustrated by their malign influence. They blatantly tried to stop the re-election of the Spanish government earlier this month, preaching that people who had allowed gay marriage were "anti-family."

Now they have managed to get their way in the UK. Fortunately, the bill will still pass and those Catholic MPs will have to explain to their constituents why they did not keep their best interests at heart over this matter.

Oh, and yes David Cameron and Nick Clegg have given their MPs a free vote, but then this is not their bill is it!

Read this excellent article on the topic of church vs constituents!

Mirror skewers bicycling Dave

You have to smile at the good old-fashioned journalism on show in today's Daily Mirror.

Journalists, determined to find something about David Cameron's cycling to the Commons stunt to take the sheen off it.

They followed him on three Wednesday's as he cycled from his Notting Hill home to Parliament.

The Tory boss was spotted flouting the law by cycling the wrong way in a one-way street, through red lights and the wrong side of a bollard on his 30-minute trip to work.
Hapless Cameron was breaking the rules within minutes of leaving his Notting Hill home in West London for Westminster.
He sailed past a large red no entry sign even Mr Magoo would have noticed. Another clue was the huge arrows on the road pointing which way traffic should go.

Next to be ignored was a keep left beacon in the Mall. He veered off to the right...no change there then. Cam also hurtled over a toucan crossing, for cyclists and pedestrians, while the signal was red.

Dave, to his credit, immediately apologised and said he would not do it again. But still, its made it onto the One O'Clock News, which is not good at all.

Obama, race and gay business

Hey

it has been a while - work it mad ATM.

Anyway my friend asked me what I thought about diversity strategies encouraging companies to purchase services from businesses just because they are gay owned, and why I published this article on the website I edit.

Here is what I said - probably the most logical thing I am going to write tonight, so enjoy!

gay businesses: interestingly Stonewall ask that their workplace diversity champions ensure their suppliers have gay-friendly hiring policies, which I agree with

But just going to a business because its owner is gay is madness, and only in America would I back going to a business because its owner is from an ethnic minority

Most of the UK minorities seem to be doing quite well enough in business without our help.

This sort of action entrenches the ghettoisation of the gay community.

It always strikes me that people are shocked to find out that most of the people who write for PinkNews.co.uk are straight

Like a straight person could not get their head round the issues, like I would not, as a journalist, be able to go to write for the Jewish Chronicle and easily pick up what their issues where and become attuned to it.

I think businesses should be encouraged to be gay-friendly, but ownership is a ridiculous model on which to judge whether or not a company will be the best to fulfil a contract.

"For me that speech yesterday showed more than ever that this man can be a great president," you said in your email.

I agree 100% and you know I do - that is why I published it in full, at one in the morning, having just read it.

But a news organisation exists to challenge the accepted wisdom and to stimulate debate.

Duane, who wrote the obama piece, is a black gay American - I felt his points were valid, if only because everyone deserves a say, if only for their view to be shot down, as is already happening on our comment pages.

The race speech is, in my opinion, one of the defining speeches we have seen this century, and is already being talked about in those terms on the BBC, who do not throw around accolades like that very often.

I agree with your comments about leadership and "qualifications"

Those that think leadership is about being experienced, go to Iraq and tell that to the 20 year old officers who lead our troops into danger every day.

Unfortunately, the sense I get is that the Hillary lady is going to work her black magic and snatch the nomination, back room style, before the convention - and then attempt to make obama take the VP slot.

But, in the unlikely story that is America, there is nothing false about hope! After all, JFK and Teddy Roosevelt made it to the White House by appealing to exactly the same values as Obama.

So there.

The expert speaks ... again

Me in The Scotsman:

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Catholic-couple-win-first-round.3862907.jp

Barack and the Vice Presidency?

Barack Obama's campaign to win the Democratic nomination for President of the United States was given another boost when he won another state over the weekend.

Admittedly Wyoming is the least populous state in the union, but his comfortable margin of victory, 61% to 38%, has heartened his supporters after his rival Senator Hillary Clinton won three key states last week.

Senator Obama took seven of the twelve delegates Wyoming sends to the Democratic party nominating convention in August.

Both campaigns are looking to the remaining contests.

Mississippi Democrats will choose a candidate tomorrow, with Senator Obama expected to win comfortably.

The next major state to decide will then be Pennsylvania on April 22nd.

Many party activists, alarmed at the prospect of a bitter and acrimonious fight all the way to the convention, are pushing the candidates to compromise and come together on a President/Vice President ticket.

A Newsweek poll found 69% of Democrats are now in favour of a combined "Dream Team" ticket, though the poll did not specify which candidate would run as President.

The Republican party nomination has already been won by Senator John McCain.

Senator Obama has a lead over his rival in pledged delegates but neither candidate can now win outright without the support of the super-delegates.

The 795 super-delegates can vote for whoever they want.

All Democratic Congressmen, state Governors and former and current office holders, along with members of the Democratic National Committee, are super-delegates.

Yesterday former President Bill Clinton talked up the prospect of a Clinton/Obama ticket.

"He would win the urban areas and the upscale voters, and she wins the traditional rural areas that we lost when President Reagan was President," he said while campaigning in Mississippi yesterday.

"If you put those two things together, you'd have an almost unstoppable force."

Three times in the past week the Clinton camp has made it clear it would be willing to accept Senator Obama as a Vice Presidential candidate.

"You won't see me as a Vice Presidential candidate," was his response.

"I'm running for President. We have won twice as many states as Senator Clinton, and have a higher popular vote, and I think we can maintain our delegate count."

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7083.html

Stupid photo

As you can see, this is from Northampton:

Obama accuser fails polygraph

Remember Larry Sinclair, who claimed that in 1999 in the back of a limo he took coke while Barack Obama smoked some crack?

He then gave Obama a blow job in a Chicago hotel room and performed a similar sex act at another location.

Or actually he didn't.

Whitehouse.com, had offered Sinclair the sum of $10,000 to take a polygraph plus another if $100,000 he passed.

He failed.

"On the first test, questions were administered about Sinclair’s claims that he and Obama had sex.


"The second test focused on Sinclair’s claims that he and Obama did drugs. Dr.Gelb found “deception was indicated” in both tests."


Shame - though that scandal is so last week - now it is all about Barack Hussein Omaba, the Muslim.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6964.html

When visiting his father's homeland of Kenya two years ago, Presidential candidate Barack Obama wore a traditional white turban and a wraparound white robe presented to him by elders.


In the febrile atmosphere of the 2008 primaries, that picture has been released, allegedly by staffers for his rival for the Democratic nomination for President, Senator Hillary Clinton.


Senator Obama's campaign manager was furious, and the claim and counter-claim over the issue brings the public scrapping between the only female and the only black candidate in the race for the White House to a new low.


Just days ago Senator Clinton was saying her opponent ought to be ashamed of himself over campaign leaflets about her plans for health care. Over the weekend she bitterly mocked his message of hope and change.


"I could just stand up here and say 'Let's just get everybody together, let's get unified,'" she told a rally in Rhode Island.


"The sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing and everyone will know we should do the right thing and the world will be perfect.


"Maybe I've just lived a little long, but I have no illusions at how hard this is going to be. You are not going to wave a magic wand and have the special interests disappear.


"Yesterday the team around her was accused of "the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election" by Obama campaign manager David Plouffe over the photo incident.


Senator Clinton's team tried to spin the story to their advantage, but their protestations of innocence were not helped by the fact that two staffers had to resign in December after sending out emails claiming her 46-year-old opponent is a secret Muslim.


"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed," Senator Clinton's campaign manager Maggie Williams said.


She did not comment on how the photo came to be distributed.


"Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.


"This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry."


The two contenders for the Democratic party nomination will debate tonight for probably the last time in this campaign.


The increasingly strident attacks by Senator Clinton are a symptom of her steady loss of support among her core support groups.


Meanwhile Senator Obama continues to gain ground in the key primaries of Ohio and Texas, which will be held on March 4th.Senator Obama has won the last eleven contests in a row and now has more pledged delegates at the nominating convention than his opponent.


In Ohio Senator Clinton, 60, has seen her lead reduced from 21% to 11%. The national polls are even worse for her campaign.


A New York Times/CBS News Poll published today also found that Senator Obama's appeal is broadening. Nationally, 54% of Democratic primary voters saying they wanted to see him nominated, while 38% want Senator Clinton.


See full results of the NYT/CBS poll here.


"I think if we lose in Texas and Ohio, Mrs. Clinton will have to make her decision as to whether she moves forward or not," senior Clinton aide Harold Ickes told the Wall Street Journal yesterday.

Resignation of Speaker's aide spells more trouble for Martin

A spokesman for the Speaker of the House of Commons resigned today after misleading a journalist.

Mike Granatt has done the honourable thing, but the circumstances of his departure raise more questions about Michael Martin.

It is an open secret that many MPs are very unhappy with his performance as Speaker, and they have good reason to be.

Granatt resigned after denying that the Speaker's wife had run up a £4,000 taxi bill on shopping trips. He had claimed she was accompanied by an official at all times and was buying food for official occasions.

It has now emerged Mrs Martin was in fact with her housekeeper and was off buying herself new hats and the like.

This latest example of improper use of funds comes hot on the heels of a complaint that the Speaker flew his family down from Glasgow using air miles that had been accumulated on official business.

There have been persistent rumblings about his high-handed attitude to many of the servants of the House, and ugly stories about his wife complaining about having to go through the same security procedures as everyone else.

All of this makes his position untenable. The office of Speaker is one of the few in politics that is by and large untainted by any sleaze or partisanship, or was before Gorbals Mick took the chair.

For a start, his election broke the convention that the Speakership should rotate between Labour and Tory MPs. He succeeded Betty Boothroyd, a former Labour MP, over the heads of much better qualified candidates from the Conservative benches.

Ming Campbell would have been a much better choice back in 2000.

But the present Speaker has been contentious from day one, with many MPs privately questioning many of his rulings from the chair.

At Prime Minister's Questions last year he caused outrage by trying to block David Cameron from asking about the Labour leadership.

Many of his judgements appear partisan, he seems to have little understanding of the House.

That he is overseeing a parliamentary inquiry into MPs' expenses seems laughable. When compared to his two immediate predecessors, he is an embarassment to the House.

Can anyone seriously imagine the late, much missed Bernard Wetherall or the great Betty allowing themselves to be exposed as misusing public funds?

The Speaker should be above all of that.

It is time for him to retire. The question is, who will replace him? It seems certain that the next Speaker will be chosen from the opposition benches.

Ming is certainly a candidate that would be popular with MPs on all sides, and the small but perfectly-formed Tory John Bercow is known to want the job.

However, they will need to get rid of Mr Martin first.

Interview with UKIP's candidate for Mayor of London

The UK Independence Party is misunderstood and misrepresented, their candidate for Mayor of London tells me when we meet.

Gerard Batten is a somewhat unusual politician, in that he is a member of a parliament that he desires to have no power over the lives of his constituents.

As an MEP for London since 2004, he spends his days in Brussels trying to think up new ways to discredit and dismantle the European Union (or "ferment rebellion" as he describes it).

For a long time UKIP was seen as something of a joke by the political establishment, flirting with Robert Kilroy-Silk and appealing to the sort of voter who thinks the Tory party is full of bleeding-heart liberals.

They weren't laughing so hard in 2004, when the party took more than 16% of the vote in the elections for the European Parliament.

The party now has 10 MEPs, 30 local councillors and two members of the House of Lords who defected from the Conservatives.

Perhaps that is why David Cameron felt moved to refer to them as "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists."

UKIP was founded in 1993, a year after Tory Prime Minister John Major signed the UK up to the Maastricht treaty.

Its aims and beliefs are simple: full withdrawl from the EU and the return of sovereignty to Westminster, the maintenance of the union between Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland and an end to the present immigration arrangements.

Batten descibes the party as "libertarian" and denies they are racists. No one can deny that their message resonated with some Londoners – in the 2004 Mayoral elections UKIP candidate Frank Maloney came fourth, winning 6% (115,665) of first preference votes and 10% (193,157) of second preference votes.

Batten, a founder member of the party, is their candidate for Mayor of London in the May 1st election.

While unlikely to either unseat Labour's Ken Livingstone or defeat Tory candidate Boris Johnson or the Lib Dem's Brian Paddick, the party could win a seat or two on the London Assembly.

Though it should be noted that UKIP, who have nearly 17,000 members, advocate abolishing the Assembly.

Batten, who will be 54 next month, worked as a salesman for BT for 28 years before being elected as an MEP.

In person, he is fluid and likable, if somewhat exercised about the direction of the UK, and at times is reminiscent of Ricky Gervais in his tone and delivery.

His references to the views of cab drivers can seem more like Jim Davidson, but there is no doubting he is sincere in his beliefs.

A report in the Evening Standard last month claimed that Batten would end funding for Pride London and his comment that incumbent Mayor Ken Livingstone's distribution of funds to gay and ethnic minority events is "cultural Marxism" piqued my interest.

Batten contacted us to say he had been misrepresented, and we decided to speak to him about his policies on immigration, race and the politics of Europe.

PinkNews.co.uk: Let's start with the charges that UKIP is racist and has an agenda similar to that of the BNP.

Gerard Batten: We have people from different races and nationalities running for UKIP and among my friends who advise me on the Islamic issue, one of them is actually an ex-Sharia lawyer who converted to Christianity.

We don't have a problem with foreigners or people of other races. You can have a multi-ethnic society and it can work so long as people feel like they belong to the same society. What doesn't work is multiculturalism.

It creates division and especially when you've got now the idea of introducing Sharia law to the country. The whole thing is crazy. You can have a country where people have their own culture and their own customs but they've got to sign up to one legal system, one political system.

We want controlled immigration. The BNP have another agenda, which is ethnic cleansing, and if you talk to any of their activists that's what they want. I know that because that's what they've told me.

They were regretful about it but they had to explain to me that my wife and family would have to be deported at some point in the future if they ever came to power. My wife comes from the Philippines.

I don't understand their obsession with us, because they do seem to be totally obsessed with us. The kind of people that join UKIP wouldn't join the BNP. We get the occasional person who would go off and defect but they are possibly in the wrong Party to start with.

Read the rest of the interview here.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/opinion/2005-6891.html

Nutter claims he had gay sex with Obama

And they took class A drugs together too!

So says one Larry Sinclair, an ugly, overweight, middle-aged, sartorially challenged drug abuser, whose wild and probably delusional claims have been given some worrying coverage in America.

To summarise Sinclair told equally deranged far right "news" service WorldNetDaily (A Free Press For A Free People) that in 1999 in the back of a limo he took coke while the then Illinois state Senator smoked some crack.

He then gave Obama a blow job in a Chicago hotel room and performed a similar sex act at another location.

"My motivation for making this public is my desire for a presidential candidate to be honest," he told WorldNetDaily.

"I didn't want the sex thing to come out. But I think it is important for the candidate to be honest about his drug use as late as 1999."

Sinclair has of course aired his "revelations" on that home of nutters, YouTube, see video at the bottom of this entry, and has got close to 400,000 hits.

Sinclair has filed a federal lawsuit against Obama in Minnesota district court. He is also suing campaign consultant David Axelrod and the Democratic National Committee, claiming slander, internet harassment, physical threats, and attempts to suppress his speech in violation of his First Amendment rights.

Respected politics website whitehouse.com, (which helpfully informs visitors that it is "not affiliated (with) or endorsed by the US government) has offered Sinclair $10,000 to take a lie detector test.

And do you know, he has accepted.

whitehouse.com must be pretty confident that he isn't the full shilling - they are offering him $100,000 if he passes the polygraph.

"We're going to meet him on Tuesday, February 26th at an undisclosed location in New York City," they said in a story posted on Monday.

"We've picked a polygraph expert, too: a renowned expert who has been involved in quite a few high-profile cases who we're not going to name until the results are not only in, but have been verified by a second renowned expert.

"Then, we'll post the results, the names of both polygraph experts, and other relevant information, along with video and pictures, here on whitehouse.com.

"Since the outcome of the test will be vital interest to the voting public, our findings will be made available before the presidential primaries in Texas and Ohio slated for March 4. That's all for now, but check back for updates. "

Obama has been candid about the fact that as a much younger man he dabbled in drugs. Who hasn't? Well two of the UK party leaders clearly have.

What should be worrying the good people at whitehouse.com is that a) delusional people often pass lie detector tests because they do actually believe what they are saying and b) cocaine addicts are about the most delusional people around, they lie even more than alcoholics and the coke makes them super-confident!

Meanwhile Obama beat the Hillary lady in the Wisconsin primary and the Hawaii caucus, giving him ten wins in a row.

Let's hope he can keep it up. As it were.

Texas is make or break for the Dems

As Hillary Clinton concentrates her campaign for the White House on the key Texas primary on March 4th, there is more evidence that the Democratic nomination may be slipping out of her grasp.

Polling data from the American Research Group will make for grim reading chez Clinton.

While the former First Lady leads Barack Obama among self-described Democrats in Texas 47% to 42%, Obama leads Clinton among self-described independents and Republicans 71% to 24%.

So the voters that the Democratic candidate will need to win in November vastly favour the 46-year-old Senator from Illinois.

A couple of factors in the laughably convoluted primary rules could also favour Obama - delegates in African-American districts will be over-represented among the 126 delegates Texas sends to the convention. Obama leads Clinton among African American voters in the state 76% to 17%.

While Hillary has been counting on pulling in the significant number of Hispanic voters, she only has a slight lead there, and it is the same story among white male voters and women.

My interview with Brian Paddick, Mayor of London candidate

Pubished on Monday on PinkNews.co.uk

Brian Paddick is enjoying running for Mayor of London.

The Liberal Democrat candidate may be a distant third in opinion polls, but he has one distinct advantage in this race – lots of people know who he is.

The 2008 Mayoral election is already the most exciting contest since the post was established at the turn of the century.

Incumbent Ken Livingstone is facing a concerted (some would say co-ordinated) barrage of negative press on everything from cronyism to his alcohol intake.

After eight years of his rule London's main newspaper, the Evening Standard, has gone into anti-Ken overdrive.

The election is further enlivened by the presence of one Boris Johnson, the Tory candidate. He is no stranger to the press or the voters.

A journalist, broadcaster, columnist, scallywag and sometime Member of Parliament, he has been happily knocking lumps out of the Mayor and banking on his unique personality appealing to London's voters.

Faced with those rivals, even the most exceptional third party candidate would struggle to make his voice heard.

Paddick, who is 50 in April, does not have a track record as an elected representative, only rejoined the party he now represents two years ago, and he talked to the Tories about the possibility of representing them.

So why would not one party but two want him to run for Mayor? As a career Metropolitan police officer, he first came to the attention of the press over cannabis policy in the London borough of Lambeth.

For operational reasons, he took the decision as borough commander to concentrate resources on hard drugs. That meant cautioning instead of arresting people caught with amounts of cannabis small enough to be considered for personal use.

The fact that he was openly gay only gave the right-wing press more to be unhappy about. His career at Scotland Yard proved even more controversial, and he earned a reputation for honestly over the Jean Charles DeMenezes affair.

His account of when senior police officers knew that the man they had shot at Stockwell tube station in July 2005 was not a terrorist but an innocent electrician was at odds with that of the Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair.

It is no secret that Paddick had professional ambitions beyond the role of Deputy Assistant Commissioner, but he left the force at that rank in 2006, after 30 years service in the Met.

When asked about his lack of experience as an elected official, he claims:

"In terms of politics, there is nothing more political than the eighth floor of Scotland Yard."

He says that running for Mayor has allowed him to speak more freely than he ever could in uniform.

"It is a bit like being a senior officer again," he says of the campaign.

"Morning, noon and night it is TV and radio and newspaper interviews, so I am very comfortable with it. But it has the bonus that I can say what I want.

"It took a while for me to convince myself that I wasn't going to get hauled in front of the Commissioner every time I gave an interview, which was the situation it had got to in the police.

"So it's quite liberating. I am in my comfort zone.

"If Ken and Boris keep taking lumps out of eachother like they are now then I might be the last man standing."

To read the rest of the interview click here.

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/politics/2005-6813.html

O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!

Three for three for Barack Obama in the Patomac primaries. He took DC, Maryland and Virginia last night, and not by a small margin.

Meanwhile the Hillary lady flew off to Texas, the last really, really big state in the race, and talked up her campaign. She didn't mention that she has lost the last eight to Obama and his momentum.

"We're going to sweep across Texas in the next three weeks,” the former First Lady said.

"I'm tested, I'm ready, let's make it happen."

Yes, let's hope. Oh, sorry, hope is his thing.

Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina are also have significant amounts of delegates. Then there is the super-delegates. There are 796 of them, about 20% of the overall total.

They are Democrat Senators, Congressmen, members of the Democratic National Committee (397 of them - big committee) and 23 distinguished party leaders, and 76 others.

The way this race is going, it could be up to them who gets the party nomination.

At present she is estimated to have 62% of these superdelegates on her side.

In any case, the Clinton campaign are fighting every inch of the way, and cannot be helped by the fact that her deputy campaign manager is reported to have resigned, just days after her campaign manager departed.

She is racking up the attacks on her opponent, 14 years her junior.

Her tactic of focusing on the big states should make sense, but remember if Obama keeps winning all the rest of the small states she could be out before the end of the race - unless the superdelegates save her.