Category Archives: Opposition watch

Labour MP Docherty brands local Community Council as snobs and nimbys

By Caron Lindsay | Published 8th February 2012 - 2:25 pm

Thomas Docherty has courted controversy since he was elected as Labour MP for Dunfermline and West Fife in 2010. He certainly has a novel approach to winning friends and influencing people.

First of all, he had a go at certain of his fellow MPs whose attire, he felt was too casual for the Commons.

Then he was a leading voice in the campaign to have a statue of Tony Blair at Westminster.

During my four years working for Willie Rennie when he was Dunfermline’s MP, I can safely say that neither of these issues were ever raised with him by one …

Tagged Dunfermline, labour, thomas docherty | 1 Comment

Glasgow Labour councillor banned from public office over rape comments

By Mark Pack | Published 8th February 2012 - 7:25 am

Early last year I briefly reported on the shocking comments about the alleged rape of a child made by one of its Glasgow councillors, William O’Rourke.

The case has now finally worked its way through the system and he has been banned from holding public office:

A Glasgow Labour councillor has been banned from holding office over alleged comments he made about a case involving the alleged rape of a nine year old.

William O’Rourke, who represented the Greater Pollok ward, was suspended from the party last March after he allegedly suggested that the young victim may have been a willing

…

Also posted in News | Tagged glasgow city council, william o'rourke | 8 Comments

Ken Livingstone attacks Boris Johnson for, er…, agreeing with Ken Livingstone

By Mark Pack | Published 21st January 2012 - 8:55 am

Ken Livingstone has me a bit confused.

Hearing him attack Boris Johnson is certainly not a surprise.

But hearing him attack Boris Johnson for saying what Ken Livingstone himself said previously? That’s a bit odd, shall we say.

Compare and contrast now and then.

The now:

Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone were engulfed in a war of words today over whether Londoners are too “lazy” to find work. The Mayor claimed some young people in the capital lacked the “energy” to go out and get jobs which were instead going to immigrants. His Labour challenger Ken Livingstone immediately accused him of branding Londoners “lazy and workshy”.

And …

Also posted in London | Tagged boris johnson, ken livingstone | 3 Comments

Norfolk’s Green Group Leader defects… to the Tories

By Mark Valladares | Published 20th December 2011 - 11:53 am

Courtesy of Andrew Sinclair, BBC East’s political correspondent…

Philip Hardy, the Group Leader for the Greens on Norfolk County Council, and councillor for Thorpe Hamlet has defected to the Conservatives, the first Green councillor thought to have done so. Elected to the council in 2009, he gained the seat from the Liberal Democrats, before becoming Group Leader in July last year.

From the Eastern Daily Press;

Derrick Murphy, leader of Norfolk County Council hailed Mr Hardy’s move as a “major coup”. He said: “Philip is a fantastic councillor who has already managed to make Norfolk a better place through his work on

…

Tagged green party, Norfolk County Council | 13 Comments

The best Conservative blog post of the week…

By Mark Pack | Published 28th October 2011 - 8:24 am

… came from Lord Ashcroft, taking to task fellow Conservatives for their obesssion with Europe:

f there is one thing that unites Conservatives it is the desire to win the next general election outright. Certain things follow from this. The first is that we need more votes at the next election than we received at the last. This means attracting people who voted for a different party last year. This in turn imposes two requirements: to address the things they care about most, and to show that we are changing the things that put them off voting Conservative in the past.

You

…

Also posted in Europe / International | Tagged lord ashcroft | 5 Comments

Ken Livingstone ‘cannot win’, says top Labour official

By Mark Pack | Published 20th October 2011 - 1:56 pm

News from the troubled Labour campaign for Mayor of London:

The official in charge of the London Labour Party has been removed after saying that Ken Livingstone, Labour’s candidate for the mayoralty, “cannot win” next year’s election if he continues as now.

Hilary Perrin, Labour’s London regional director, has been moved back to her previous role overseeing all the regional directors after Ken and his chief of staff, Simon Fletcher, appealed to Ed Miliband’s office. Another London Labour official, Paul Harrington, has also left his job. An awayday to plan the campaign, supposed to take place last Friday, was cancelled. (Daily Telegraph)

You …

Also posted in London | Tagged hilary perrin, ken livingstone, paul harrington, simon fletcher | 7 Comments

Ed Miliband: against lobbying reform before he was for it

By The Voice | Published 17th October 2011 - 5:51 pm

Via Paul Wild and Jason Hunter:

It should be noted that 100% of Conservative MPs who took part in the lobbying reform vote also opposed lobbying reform, though that was only one MP.

Also posted in News | Tagged ed miliband, lobbying | 14 Comments

What do you think was the second most important reason why people didn’t vote Tory in the Cotswolds?

By Mark Pack | Published 14th October 2011 - 5:50 pm

Between us, Stephen Tall (he of the Oxford Comma cartoon) and myself (purveyor of news about commas in election law and academic research), appear to be carving out a niche in political punctuation coverage.

I fear it is all going to end in tears when someone puts our own punctuation habits under the microscope, but before it does I have exciting, related news to report.

I have blogged before about the fall-out amongst Cotswold Conservatives following their big losses to the Liberal Democrats in May’s local elections, including their fear that they are seen as “toffs legislating for …

Also posted in News | Tagged commas, conservative party, cotswold district council, stephen tall | 3 Comments

Bromley Council pulls a controversial novelty with a lollipop lady petition

By Mark Pack | Published 12th October 2011 - 1:50 pm

Tsk, tsk, Bromley Conservatives.

There is a council by-election campaign underway in Shortlands ward, Bromley where the excellent Anuja Prashar is the Liberal Democrat candidate. (So excellent, I’ll forgive her for organising a raffle once that broke all my Lib Dem raffle rules.) She has been campaigning against council plans to axe the lollipop ladies at two local schools and, as part of that, presented a petition signed by 283 residents to the council.

And then things started being done differently…

For the first time, Bromley Council decided to respond personally and directly to all the signatories on a petition, posting out …

Also posted in Local government, London | Tagged anuja prashar, bromley council, colin smith, conservative party | 2 Comments

“Toffs legislating for toffs” – how Cotswold Conservatives fear they are viewed

By Mark Pack | Published 6th October 2011 - 8:43 pm

The Cotswolds were the scene for some of the best Liberal Democrat and worst Conservative local election results in May, with the Tories losing 10 seats. A local newspaper has got hold of an internal Conservative post-mortem:

The document reveals concerns within Cotswold Conservatives that the organisation is seen by voters as: “toffs legislating for toffs.”…

Concerns were also raised about the impact of the cabinet’s links to Cotswold Media, which is run by cabinet leader Cllr Lynden Stowe (Campden-Vale ward) and also employs Cllrs David Fowles (Hampton ward) and Susan Jepson (Campden-Vale ward).

You can read the full story about the …

Also posted in Local government | Tagged cotswold district council, david fowles, lynden stowe, susan jepson | 2 Comments

Kensington & Chelsea spends £4,100 on sending paperwork to councillor’s holiday home

By Mark Pack | Published 3rd October 2011 - 9:18 pm

Out campaigning in the Norland ward by-election this evening (including an, er…, interesting delivery round), I caught up on one of the many ways that Kensington & Chelsea Council has been rather profligate with money when it comes to looking after senior council staff or Conservative councillors.

It turns out that Kensington & Chelsea has been spending thousands of pounds on couriering council paperwork to a Conservative Councillor Daniel Moylan’s holiday home … in Thailand. The council’s argument is that this is a necessary action as he has to keep up with the paperwork and it includes large maps which …

Also posted in Local government | Tagged kensington and chelsea council | Leave a comment

In case you missed it: Ed Miliband, interview masterclass part 2

By Mark Pack | Published 29th September 2011 - 9:17 pm

Ouch, ouch, ouch:

In case you missed it too, part 1 of the Ed Miliband interview masterclass took place in July.

I do have some sympathy with the way in which he is suffering from the decision of picture editors to use unflattering photographs of him (even in The Guardian) but interviews like these will do nothing to discourage them from the collective instinct …

Also posted in News | Tagged ed miliband | 9 Comments

The strangest political interview you’ve never heard: Cllr Peter Martin

By Mark Pack | Published 26th September 2011 - 12:25 pm

“Want to hear the most ridiculous beginning to a political interview that you’ve possibly ever heard?” So starts a clip from BBC Surrey’s breakfast show featuring an interview with Conservative Cllr Peter Martin, the person in charge of education at Surrey County Council.

You can listen to the clip here.

(Remember to listen all the way through to hear how Peter Martin takes a leaf out of Ed Miliband’s interview book.)

Also posted in News | Tagged ed miliband, peter martin, surrey county council | 4 Comments

Labour councillors ordered: don’t speak to journalists

By Mark Pack | Published 14th September 2011 - 7:55 am

Odd news from Liverpool, where Labour council leader Joe Anderson has taken such exception to local media coverage of a leaked document relating to the council’s controversial interim Chief Executive appointment that he,

Has ordered all Labour councillors and council officials, including the press office, not to talk to either newspaper. (Liverpool Echo)

A curious twist is that the leaked document was legal advice from Cherie Blair, which the council claims was subsequently contradicted by further advice given to it by … Cherie Blair. To add to the confusion, local newspapers have pointed out that when they contacted the council about …

Tagged cherie blair, jo anderson, labour party, liverpool city council | 3 Comments

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