Author Archives: Helen Duffett

Helen Duffett

Join Nick Clegg online for The Great Debate

By Helen Duffett | Thu 9th July 2009 - 2:31 pm

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Helen Duffett

Brian Coleman in “mad, bad and sad” expenses smokescreen

By Helen Duffett | Tue 7th July 2009 - 5:56 pm

London Assembly Member Brian Coleman is refusing to publish details of his expenses, despite the Mayor, his advisors and the other 24 members of the Assembly agreeing to do so voluntarily.

Apparently a graduate of the Anthony Steen Charm School for Politicians, Coleman has blamed bloggers for being interested in how taxpayers’ money is spent:

“I won’t do it voluntarily. It’s none of the public’s business. They have coped well without knowing this kind of detail for more than 75 years. They are not entitled to drool over our personal lives. I’m not going to help the mad, bad and the

…

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Posted in London and News | Tagged , , , and | 4 Comments
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 6 July 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 6th July 2009 - 11:46 am

2 Big Stories

Public sector workers to feel the pinch

From the Guardian, Alistair Darling isn’t ruling out pay freezes for six million public sector workers: “Public sector pay has obviously got to reflect prevailing conditions and in particular inflation has come way down.”
Serious Fraud Office to investigate collapse of car maker MG Rover
From the Daily Mail:

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has been asked to investigate the collapse of MG Rover after a four-year probe into the Midlands car maker’s demise, it was confirmed today.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said in a written statement to Parliament that the SFO had

…

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Helen Duffett

The Ashdown method: MP in 14 steps

By Helen Duffett | Sat 4th July 2009 - 2:17 pm

How do you become an MP?

MP also stands for Military Precision, so it’s no surprise that Paddy Ashdown’s campaign to become MP for Yeovil was long on discipline and short on creature comforts.

The Guardian Politics Blog reviews Ashdown’s autobiography A Fortunate Life, or at least chapter 10 of it:

If you want to become MP you should get a safe seat. But if that doesn’t happen, and your only option is to campaign in a constituency where your party doesn’t seem to have much chance of winning, then you should definitely take some inspiration from the remarkable story in

…

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Helen Duffett

Bercow: deputy speakers should be elected

By Helen Duffett | Thu 2nd July 2009 - 12:47 pm

John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, today told the House that his new deputy speakers should be elected by MPs.

From the BBC:

In a statement, he told MPs he wanted two deputy speakers from the government side and one from the opposition side.

He is believed to be concerned that following his own election by secret ballot last month the three deputies should also be elected.

Mr Bercow indicated he had consulted party whips, who normally appoint the deputy speakers, about the plan.

It is thought that Mr Bercow is looking to implement the changes – or

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 2 July 2009

By Helen Duffett | Thu 2nd July 2009 - 9:18 am

2 Big Stories

The news has a state vs public ownership flavour at the moment:

Passengers to pay price for crisis on the railways
“A series of big projects are in grave doubt after the collapse of the highest-earning franchise exposed a deepening hole in the rail budget.

National Express East Coast is to be renationalised after the parent company refused to honour a pledge to pay the Department for Transport £1.4 billion in the years to 2015.

The DfT will have to accept a much lower sum when it puts the franchise back out to tender and is likely to be …

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Helen Duffett

Bexley Conservatives throw out Ian Clement

By Helen Duffett | Mon 29th June 2009 - 5:09 pm

Ian Clement may have resigned last week as Boris Johnson’s deputy mayor, but his troubles are far from over.

From the Bexleyheath and Crayford Conservatives’ website:

At a meeting held on 25th June of the Bexleyheath and Crayford Conservative Association Executive Council, a unanimous decision was taken to immediately suspend the Association Membership of Ian Clement in light of recent reports in the press about his conduct.

The process of formally terminating his membership has begun. By the terms of our constitution, this will require a special meeting of the Executive Council, whereby fourteen days notice must be given to Mr Clement.

Last …

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Helen Duffett

Inexperienced officers in protest frontline – never again, say MPs

By Helen Duffett | Mon 29th June 2009 - 3:08 pm

An inquiry by MPs into the 1 April G20 protests has concluded that untrained police officers must never again be placed in the frontline of public protest.

From the Guardian:

The conclusion from the Commons home affairs select committee inquiry into the G20 protests of April 1 follows admissions from senior Metropolitan police officers that some inexperienced officers, who were clearly quite scared, used “inappropriate force”.

The report by the cross-party group of MPs says they “cannot condone the use of untrained, inexperienced officers on the frontline of a public protest under any circumstances”.

The inquiry also calls for the police to seriously

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 29 June 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 29th June 2009 - 11:42 am

2 Big Stories

Gordon Brown plans to spend his way back into Number 10
From the Telegraph:

Mr Brown’s determination to boost spending on frontline services will be underlined with the launch of his much vaunted national plan for public services on Monday.

His Building Britain’s Future document includes a number of proposals which will require significant Government spending.

Peter Mandelson, however, has emphasised that the money will come from a “reprioritising of expenditure both within and between departments”:

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It may be a disappointment to you that we are not going to hold a spending review now

…

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Helen Duffett

Ian Clement quits as deputy mayor of London

By Helen Duffett | Mon 22nd June 2009 - 11:18 pm

Ian Clement, the deputy mayor of London, resigned today following the misuse of his corporate credit card.

Ian Clement is the third of Boris Johnson’s deputy mayors to resign or be pushed since Johnson came to office in May 2008.

From the Guardian:

The mayor’s office announced that Clement, the deputy mayor for government and external relations, resigned earlier today following the discovery of further “discrepancies” less than a week after published receipts detailed how Clement had used the card for personal items over a matter of months.

The exact nature of the “discrepancies” have not been made public. But it emerged separately

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 22 June 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 22nd June 2009 - 8:19 am

2 Big Stories

Whips accused of fixing Speaker vote
The Times reports:

The race to become the most powerful Commons Speaker in modern history is being undermined by party whips who are trying to install Margaret Beckett as their anti-reform candidate.

Senior Labour figures have been accused of colluding with Conservatives to ensure that Mrs Beckett is elected today. She was the only candidate not to endorse plans to remove the powers of patronage from the Whips’ Offices — so that MPs, rather than party whips, would choose the chairmen of select committees.

Her candidacy was pushed by Nick Brown, the Chief

…

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Helen Duffett

Arrested for requesting a policeman’s badge number

By Helen Duffett | Sun 21st June 2009 - 9:45 pm

From the Guardian today, shocking footage of two women being arrested at Kingsnorth climate camp in Kent last year.

The women had asked police officers who were not displaying their badge numbers, to identify themselves. They were arrested for “obstructing a police officer.”

The video, made by police surveillance officers, shows an officer holding one woman by the neck and the other woman being laid face down on the ground before having her legs bound.

Emily Apple and Val Swain were held in custody for four days but all charges against the women were later dropped.

They have complained to the Independent …

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Helen Duffett

Which party’s winning on the web?

By Helen Duffett | Fri 19th June 2009 - 9:20 am

PR Week has a piece comparing the online strategies of the UK’s three main political parties. With a nod or two towards Obama’s use of social media, the article presents a report card on each party, compiled by their panel of experts.

Each party is examined on its approach, key players, leader and the involvement of MPs and grassroots.

The Conservatives are found to have “attracted the most plaudits so far,” while Labour’s “command and control mentality” is said to be hampering their efforts.

The verdict on the Liberal Democrats is that our “overall understanding of social media is impressive” but that …

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Helen Duffett

Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation: have your say

By Helen Duffett | Mon 15th June 2009 - 3:10 pm

There’s been a lot of discussion recently on Lib Dem Voice about our politicians, their quality and their background.

Rick Muir said we need to pluralise the routes into politics and open up local party selection processes to bring in a wider diversity of people. Afzal Shaikh called for “wider BME representation to mirror our modern society” and Sara Scarlett kicked off this comment-a-thon when she said we should “make politics more attractive to the professional class.”

Have your say on further issues of representation:

The Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation has now launched an online forum, in …

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Helen Duffett

Death by bar chart? Tories plotting to kill in Norwich North

By Helen Duffett | Mon 15th June 2009 - 10:39 am

ConservativeHome proudly announces the start of the Tory by-election campaign in Norwich North by posting Tories begin Norwich North campaign with attempt to kill off third parties.

And this is how they plan to do it:
Conservative bar chart for Norwich North
Look at the heights of the bars – they don’t even match the percentages. The Labour and Lib Dem results have been depressed and Green and UKIP have been artificially inflated.

From ConservativeHome:

Within minutes of Ian Gibson announcing his resignation as MP for Norwich North

…

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Posted in Parliamentary by-elections | Tagged , and | 49 Comments
Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 15 June 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 15th June 2009 - 9:55 am

2 Big Stories

Further outbreaks of violence in Tehran last night as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed victory crushes reform hopes in Iran.
Hossein Mousavi, the opposition candidate, is appealing against the results and has called on the international community not to recognise the official outcome. Western governments have expressed reservations about the poll but so far stopped short of outright rejection.

From the Times:

“Mehdi Karoubi, another reformist candidate, said he refused to recognise the “illegitimate” President, but Mr Ahmadinejad compared the protests to those of football supporters whose team has lost. “They are not important,” he said, adding that Iran’s form of democracy

…

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Helen Duffett

Judgement Day for Boris Johnson’s first year in office

By Helen Duffett | Wed 10th June 2009 - 7:50 am

It’s Annual Report time for Boris Johnson, and the London Assembly will meet this morning to debate the Mayor’s 2008/08 report and first year in office.

Despite having sections on economic recovery, tackling crime, quality of life and “A Mayor for all Londoners”, here are some things the report omits:

Boris’s broken manifesto promises:

1. Keep the Tube open for an extra hour on Friday and Saturday nights
2. Negotiate a no-strike deal with Tube unions. (Commuters to London today will know the reality of this.)
3. Convene an “emergency” public summit of train operating companies to deliver Oyster to train …

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Posted in London and News | Tagged , and | 3 Comments
Helen Duffett

Children added to DNA database daily

By Helen Duffett | Tue 9th June 2009 - 10:55 am

Figures uncovered by Jo Shaw, Lib Dem PPC for Holborn and St Pancras, show that DNA samples are being taken from children in Camden at the rate of nearly one a day.

From the BBC:

A freedom of information (FOI) request by the Liberal Democrats showed DNA has been taken from an average of 360 young people in Camden every year since 2000.

The samples, from children as young as 10, have been kept regardless of whether charges were ever brought…

Ms Shaw, Lib Dem parliamentary campaigner for Holborn & St Pancras, made the FOI request to the government’s DNA database

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 9 June 2009

By Helen Duffett | Tue 9th June 2009 - 8:22 am

2 Big Stories

From the Guardian, Gordon Brown’s great escape:

A chastened Gordon Brown yesterday promised his backbench critics that he would learn from his mistakes, as he survived Labour’s worst national election results since 1918 and some of the most personal attacks ever mounted on his governing style.

At a private inquest staged only hours after the party came third in the European parliamentary elections, with less than 16% of the vote, a rebel attempt to call for a secret ballot on his leadership was seen off by party loyalists.

Speaking to a packed meeting of Labour MPs and peers,

…

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Helen Duffett

Adrian Sanders apologises over leaked document

By Helen Duffett | Mon 8th June 2009 - 6:52 pm

Adrian Sanders, Liberal Democrat MP for Torbay, today apologised to Parliament after a member of his staff leaked a sensitive document.

From This is Devon:

And the MP’s researcher is set to be barred from Westminster for 28 days for “serious” contempt in passing on confidential information, and then trying to cover it up.

It follows an investigation by the parliamentary sleaze watchdog, which was called in after extracts from a draft report by the Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee appeared in an article on the Guardian’s website.

The Committee on Standards and Privileges found no suggestion that Mr Sanders, who sits

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 8 June 2009

By Helen Duffett | Mon 8th June 2009 - 8:15 am

2 Big Stories

This morning’s two big stories are being combined by most of the newspapers: the European election results and what they mean for Gordon Brown’s leadership of the Labour party.
From the Guardian:
European elections: Brown faces leadership battle amid Labour meltdown and BNP success

Gordon Brown today faces a make-or-break challenge to his leadership after Labour looked set to slump to just 16% of the national vote in the European elections and the far-right British National party won two new seats.

In a devastating result for the prime minister, Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, was elected to the

…

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Helen Duffett

Video: Nick Clegg on the European Elections

By Helen Duffett | Thu 4th June 2009 - 12:56 pm

Nick Clegg gets a lot of questions via Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Friend Connect, as well as through his website, NickClegg.com.

He’s just made a new YouTube video with answers to some of the questions he’s received through his social networks:

What does Nick think of compulsory voting? The Lisbon Treaty? Watch and find out:

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 2 June 2009

By Helen Duffett | Tue 2nd June 2009 - 8:00 am

2 Big Stories

Expenses ‘mistake’ hangs over Darling
The Financial Times reports that not even the Chancellor himself is blameless in the MPs’ expenses controversy:

Alistair Darling’s future as chancellor was looking precarious on Monday after he admitted making “a mistake” over his expenses and Gordon Brown refused to say whether he would be in his job in 10 days’ time.

Mr Darling yesterday paid back £668 he wrongly claimed and apologised “unreservedly” but speculation was growing at Westminster that he could become the first chancellor in postwar Britain to be demoted in the middle of a recession.

Three things must ye know about …

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Helen Duffett

Nick Clegg: at home in more ways than one

By Helen Duffett | Mon 1st June 2009 - 1:57 pm

More positive press for the Liberal Democrats today: following yesterday’s Observer editorial, sister paper the Guardian today has an interview with Nick Clegg.

His first interview in his family home, with his wife and children around, the G2 piece is a mix of lifestyle and political issues.

Clegg had never allowed access to his family home before, but from what I saw he could give WebCameron a run for its money when it comes to cuteness. Deep in leafy Putney, the front door opened on to a vision of middle-class domesticity – a newborn baby dozing in a basket, and

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 1 June 09

By Helen Duffett | Mon 1st June 2009 - 8:00 am

This morning’s headlines had me singing into my hairbrush:

“My my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah, and Brown will meet his destiny in quite a similar way…”

Faced with a whole legion of bother (MPs’ expenses, this week’s elections, constitutional and electoral reform and rumours of a leadership coup) the Prime Minister marches into a critical week:

2 Big Stories

And yet:
Cabinet revolt won’t force me out, declares Brown
Today’s Independent reports Brown’s determination to stay on as PM and speculates on his plans to reshuffle the Cabinet:

Labour MPs return to the Commons in a grim frame of mind today after the half-term

…

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Helen Duffett

Voters sceptical about Cameron’s talk of reform

By Helen Duffett | Thu 28th May 2009 - 4:13 pm

In his speech at the Open University this week, salesman Cameron called for “Progressive goals through Conservative means” as he merely rearranged the contents of his political shop window.

Analysis by PoliticsHome shows that voters aren’t buying David Cameron’s rhetoric about “massive, sweeping, radical distribution of power.”

“Do you think that if David Cameron became Prime Minister, he would carry through such a radical redistribution of power, or would he be more cautious than this?”

This was the question put to non-aligned voters as well as supporters of the Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Labour.

“Overall, a strong seventy per cent majority felt that

…

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Helen Duffett

Daily View 2×2: 25 May 09

By Helen Duffett | Mon 25th May 2009 - 10:18 am

Say what you like about the banks: they give great holiday.

A day for making plans, maybe catching up on a few of those odd jobs – like electoral reform, for example…

2 Big Stories

Alan Johnson writes in the Times, recommending the adoption of the Alternative Vote Plus system: this came out of the Jenkins Report (Independent Commission on the Voting System) over a decade ago.

“The adoption of AV+ would shift the political focus currently concentrated almost exclusively on a few swing voters in a handful of marginal seats. It would end the perversity of the party with the most

…

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Helen Duffett

Lynne Featherstone asks: who should be the next Speaker?

By Helen Duffett | Fri 22nd May 2009 - 1:47 pm

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, is asking readers of her blog for their views on who the next Commons Speaker should be:

I just don’t want it to be the traditional kind of same old same old that went before. If there was ever an opportunity for change and reform – this is the start of it.

Read more at Lynne’s Parliament and Haringey Diary.

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Helen Duffett

Ordinary voters have lost touch with Conservative MPs

By Helen Duffett | Fri 22nd May 2009 - 11:15 am

Two startled Conservative MPs have been speaking out against the reporting of MPs’ expenses:

Conservative MP Anthony Steen has expressed his dismay at the public’s interest in his lavish expense claims for his country house.

The MP for Totnes in Devon has claimed £87,000 over four years for his second home. (“Some people say it looks like Balmoral,” he offered in his defence.)

On yesterday’s World at One programme on Radio Four he was indignant:

Do you know what it’s about? Jealousy. I’ve got a very very large house.

In a breathtaking display of narcissism, he kept on digging:

We have a wretched Government here which

…

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Helen Duffett

Speaker Michael Martin to resign

By Helen Duffett | Tue 19th May 2009 - 10:47 am

Sky News reports that Commons Speaker Michael Martin will resign this afternoon, over the MPs’ expenses scandal.

Martin is expected to make a statement to the House of Commons at 2:30pm today.

Posted in News and Parliament | Tagged and | 4 Comments
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