Tag Archives: ed balls

Dear Ed Balls…

By Mark Pack | Tue 15th June 2010 - 2:02 pm

I see you’ve been speaking out today defending Labour’s record over the Vetting and Barring Scheme.

So I hope you don’t mind me raising again my own experience of trying to raise concerns with the Labour government over one particular detail of the scheme it introduced.

As I previsously wrote,

I emailed Sir Roger Singleton on 14 September about my concerns with the way the Independent Safeguarding Authority’s guidelines state that if someone has been found innocent in a court of law that does not mean they could have been completely innocent. Particularly given the many issues about the ISA’s

…

Posted in News | Also tagged jeremy corbyn | 2 Comments

Opinion: Who do we want to win the Labour leadership election?

By James Blessing | Sun 13th June 2010 - 11:20 am

It’s been interesting to see the final list of nominations for Labour Party leader which, for those that missed it, is:

Diane Abbott
Ed Balls
Andy Burnham
David Miliband
Ed Miliband

The response from all quarters about the list first that its very ‘samey’, with much said about tokenism and the inclusion of Diane Abbott, not because she’s black or a woman but because she represents the old left of the party. That got me to thinking about who would be the best from a Lib Dem point of view.

A Leftie

Dianne Abbott is the only real left leaning candidate. A Labour party under her ministrations would …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged andy burnham, david miliband, diane abbott, ed miliband and labour leadership contest | 13 Comments

Want to know who the most liberal Labour leadership contender is?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 10th June 2010 - 9:40 am

Before the election, Lib Dem Voice launched How Authoritarian is your MP?, a website which ranked how authoritarian – or liberal – were MPs in the 2005-10 parliament based on their voting record on 10 key issues. These ranged from ID cards to detention without trial to freedom of speech.

The five candidates for the Labour leadership are now official – so we can now see how their voting record compares, and name the contender who is, officially, the most liberal potential Labour leader …

(NB: if you click on their name you can see how their voting record stacks up).

1. Diane Abbott.

36% authoritarian, 64% liberal.

Posted in News | Also tagged andy burnham, david miliband, diane abbott, ed miliband, featured, labour leadership contest and ldv rank | 35 Comments

LDV members’ survey (2): Labour leadership – Ed Miliband wins your vote (but Ed Balls would be best for Lib Dems)

By Stephen Tall | Sun 30th May 2010 - 3:45 pm

Lib Dem Voice has been conducting a survey this week of party members registered on our members’ forum asking them for their views of the coalition, Labour leadership and the party’s general election result. Over 400 have responded, and here’s part two of what you’ve told us …

LDV asked: Putting aside your Lib Dem allegiance who do you think would make the best Labour leader?

Here’s what you said:

37% – Ed Miliband
25% – Diane Abbott
17% – David Miliband
9% – Andy Burnham
8% – John McDonnell
3% – Ed Balls
(Excluding Don’t know / No opinion =

…

Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged andy burnham, david miliband, diane abbott, ed miliband, john mcdonnell and labour leadership contest | 11 Comments

Labour’s failure – and dilemma – in a sentence

By Mark Pack | Tue 18th May 2010 - 7:26 pm

This quote from Jon Cruddas beautifully sums up much of what went wrong with the Labour government – and the dilemma Labour faces working out what to do next:

I’ve known for David Miliband for twenty years, I’ve known Ed Balls for twenty years, but I don’t know what they stand for.

Posted in News | Also tagged david miliband, jon cruddas and labour party | 14 Comments

Labour split on tactical voting advice to supporters

By Stephen Tall | Wed 5th May 2010 - 10:25 am

Labour embarked on an odd campaigning trick yesterday. Two of Labour’s most senior (and tribally partisan) figures – Ed Balls and Peter Hain – called publicly on Labour voters to lend their support to the Lib Dems in those seats where the choice is Lib Dem or Tory. It’s inconceible that Ed Balls in particular would do so without the explicit consent of Gordon Brown.

In public Gordon Brown makes the case for a “maximum Labour vote” – how could he do otherwise as party leader? Yet the mixed signals will have given their cue to many Labour …

Posted in General Election | Also tagged gordon brown, peter hain, tactical voting and tony blair | 4 Comments

Would Ed Balls vote for the Lib Dems’ Norman Lamb?

By Stephen Tall | Tue 4th May 2010 - 7:45 am

That seems to be the implication of Labour’s education secretary’s interview in the New Statesman, where he says:

For Balls, defeating the Tories is the top priority. Given this, what is his advice to Lib Dem supporters in the 100 or so Tory-Labour marginals? “I urge Lib Dem voters to bite their lip and back us.” But what about Labour supporters in Tory-Lib Dem marginals? “I always want the Labour candidate to win, but I recognise there’s an issue in places like North Norfolk, where my family live, where Norman Lamb is fighting the Tories, who are in second

…

Posted in General Election | Also tagged norman lamb | 9 Comments

Public poll says Cable for Chancellor – how to bank this in real votes?

By Helen Duffett | Mon 22nd March 2010 - 1:45 pm

Vince Cable is the public’s preferred choice for Chancellor, according to a poll by PoliticsHome.

Of the general public polled, 31% chose Vince Cable above George Osborne, Alistair Darling, Ken Clarke, Peter Mandelson and Ed Balls.

The poll also found that 79% of Liberal Democrat voters supported Vince Cable for the job, while Osborne and Darling received much lower levels of support from their own parties’ voters. (Find the full results at PoliticsHome.)

As Iain pointed out yesterday, Vince’s recent recce to the Treasury does raise questions about how he could land the job.

Of course, national polls like this …

Posted in News | Also tagged alistair darling, george osborne, ken clarke, peter mandelson, politicshome.com and vince cable | 6 Comments

Conservatives get the numbers wrong – again

By The Voice | Mon 15th February 2010 - 8:20 am

Getting the numbers wrong seems to be becoming a habit among Conservatives.

First we had those dodgy crime statistics, with the Conservatives claiming wrongly that violent crime had massively increased over the last decade.

Today we discover the Conservatives have inflated tenfold the number of girls getting pregnant in deprived communities. What’s a tenfold increase between friends?

As the Guardian reports:

The Conservatives launched the attack document, called Labour’s Two Nations, to try to show the rise in inequalities under the current government. It claimed – three times – that women under 18 are “three times more likely

…

Posted in News | Also tagged conservative party and david cameron | 3 Comments

What the papers say…

By Robert Dobson | Sat 16th January 2010 - 5:22 pm

Tories claim Labour is using taxpayers’ money to fund election advertising campaign – Telegraph, 15.1.10

“The Conservatives accused Labour of “raiding” taxpayers’ money to fund their election campaign. New figures uncovered by the Conservatives show that spending on advertising has increased to £232 million, which is a 39 per cent increase on the previous year.”

A tenth of schools fail to meet GCSE targets – The Guardian, 14.1.10

“One in 10 secondary schools in England failed to meet basic targets for GCSEs last summer and academies were disproportionately represented among the failing institutions, government statistics published today reveal.

“David Laws, the Liberal Democrats’ education …

Posted in General Election and News | Also tagged alistair darling, chris bryant, david cameron, david laws, david miliband, demos, ed miliband, frank field, gordon brown, matthew oakeshott, nick clegg, peter mandelson, peter watt and zac goldsmith | 2 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 5 January 2010

By Sara Bedford | Tue 5th January 2010 - 12:43 pm

With the thought that there are only 353 days to Christmas and considerably fewer until the General Election, we launch into today’s Daily View.

On this day in 1918, the Free Committee for a German Workers Peace, which would become the Nazi party, was founded. In 1941, the aviator Amy Johnson, disappeared over the Thames Estuary and was never found. And 28 years ago today, Peter Sutcliffe, a 35-year-old lorry driver from Bradford appeared in court, charged with 13 murders of women in West Yorkshire.

Happy birthday to the second most famous son of Abbots Langley, footballer, actor and current Celebrity Big Brother ‘inmate’ Vinnie Jones, who is 45 today and to former US Vice President Walter F. Mondale, who is 82.

2 Interesting Stories

With the thought that some of you may have already noticed other parties’ pronouncements in the news yesterday, here are two more slants on the coming election.

We’re being outgunned by slick Tory machine, says Labour’s Andrew Slaughter

The Labour MP for Hammersnith believes that his chances of re-election are being hampered by a lack of funding compared to his Conservative opponent. Slaughter said;

“People should be concerned that money is being poured into seats like this and the consequences of that for democracy,”

Funny how Labour never saw this as a problem when they were the ones bringing in large donations?

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged amy johnson, andrew slaughter, chilcot inquiry, darrell goodliffe, democracy, education, iraq, leaders tv debate, party funding, peter black, peter sutcliffe, prince charles, vinnie jones, walter f mondale and wootton bassett | Leave a comment

LDVideo … Balls, Murdoch & Jon Culshaw’s Brown rap

By Stephen Tall | Sat 21st November 2009 - 8:30 am

Welcome to the latest LDVideo instalment, featuring three of the most memorable video clips doing the rounds on the blogosphere.

First up is Ed Balls – the guy might have a debating style reminiscent of a school bully demanding tuck money, but here he completely out-smarts tongue-tied Tory education spokesman Michael Gove:

(Hat-tip: Sam Coates).

The second clip shows Rupert Murdoch furiously denying suggestions that he alleged President Obama made a racist remark, followed by Rupert Murdoch alleging that President Obama made a racist remark:

Posted in YouTube | Also tagged gordon brown, jon culshaw, michael gove and rupert murdoch | 2 Comments

How small could the Cabinet be?

By Mark Pack | Thu 4th June 2009 - 11:52 pm

It looks like Gordon Brown might be finding it a bit hard to persuade people to serve in the Cabinet. But good news for him, there’s plenty of historical precedent of small Cabinets. George Grenville in the mid-eighteenth century had a Cabinet of just nine, whilst the Fox-North coalition of the late eighteenth century managed with only seven. So that’s Gordon, Ed Balls and er…

Posted in Parliament | Also tagged gordon brown | 5 Comments

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Tag Archives: ed balls

Dear Ed Balls…