2 Big Stories

Events continue to unfold afer Iran’s contested election results and surrounding protest. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed dismay at events yesterday, when protestors were dispersed by the police with tear gas. The Revolutionary Guard have threatened to suppress any further protests in favour of presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi. As The Independent reports,

Mousavi, who was officially beaten into second place by Ahmadinejad in an election which he says was rigged, called late on Sunday for fresh protests by his supporters.

“Protesting against lies and fraud (in the election) is your right,” Mousavi said in a statement on his website.

The Revolutionary Guards said they would not hesitate to confront “illegal” protests by defeated presidential candidates, and warned the West to stop backing “rioters”.

In Britain, Conservative MP John Bercow was elected speaker yesterday, despite little support from many in his own party. He did have staunch support, however, from Lib Dem MP Sandra Gidley, who explained last month why she was campaigning for him:

Make no mistake, the old guard do not want him because they know that he will do his utmost to drag parliament kicking and screaming into the 21st Century and he will work hard to connect Parliament with the people. There are still too many MPs who think that change should be measured, that the real problem is the public who don’t understand and who want to preserve Westminster as some sort of elite closed shop.

2 Must-read Blog Posts

David Boyle offers his reading of the ingredients for fascism:

The point I’m trying to make in this roundabout way is that folklore and history is important politically. When it is misused, it encourages extremists and nationalists. When it is suppressed, it encourages them too.

Meanwhile, Darrell Goodliffe suggests David Cameron should look behind him, and worry about his backbenchers and the Tory candidates who will make up any future Tory majority:

Tony Blair’s position vis a vie the Labour Party was much bolstered by his new intake of Labour MP’s in 1997 but if anything it looks like the opposite fate will befall his Conservative wannabe. However, I have always said that I think this is going to be a second not first term issue and nothing I have seen has yet convinced me this will not be the case.