Archives for September 2010

Two things you didn't know about Ed Balls: he bakes cakes and does a mean turn with a karaoke machine. Not so surprising? You wait until you hear which song he sings...

One day she was trying to phone the man who might well be the next Shadow Chancellor with an urgent query.

"He couldn't talk." she explains "He was in mid flow with the beater, getting a cake finished for one of his kid's birthday party. He does a lot of the cooking, I think"

So now his leadership bid is over would he perhaps regret not taking the house-husbanding more seriously, and allowing his wife and fellow cabinet minister Yvette Cooper to have put her name forward rather than him?

"They had talked about it at the start, and decided it was the right thing for him, but I don't know whether they now think that she might have done better."

Mrs McCarthy-Fry worked as his PPS and points out that amongst the Balls backers are most of those who've worked with him.

Look him in the eye

"Close up he's nothing like the stereotype he's painted." she says "He's got a great strategic brain, but when he looks people in the eye they trust him."

The former Portsmouth MP is convinced that Balls has enhanced his reputation through the contest. His campaign team are widely seen to have done a good job, and it was his second preferences that finally gave Ed Miliband victory in the complex voting system.

He may have come up through the ranks of special advisers but many believe Balls' man-of-the-people style has been under-rated.

Man of The People

While Westminster politicos and the media have been fascinating each other with the arguments over exactly what sort of graduate tax each could support, or how close they were to decisions under Blair, how much of this really touches the lives of voters?

Surely the biggest problem the whole political class faces is still their disconnect from the people who put them in power?

With a Miliband at the helm the three party leaders are so similar in age and upbringing one of them is surely going to have to take their party in a surprising direction just to make clear who is who.

And key amongst those early decisions will be who gets the Shadow Chancellor's job.

Which brings me to the karaoke. Ed Balls favourite song is, apparently "Endless Love" and as a cake-baking modern man he opts to take the female part.

OK he didn't get Endless Love from the Labour Party but why didn't we know all this earlier? It might have made the difference!

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Portsmouth's Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock has written to his leader Nick Clegg calling on him to "end the dictatorship" of his ministers over the party.

In the letter, Mr Hancock accuses him of "abandoning a key aspect of Liberal Democrat policy in supporting the welfare state" by going along with with Conservative policies to cut benefits.

And he calls on the Deputy Prime Minister to ensure decisions by the coalition government do not go beyond the democratic structures of the party. Traditionally, the Liberal Democrat Conference has ensured that party members have the final say on controversial issues such as academies and free schools.

In an earlier interview with me Mr Hancock said "We have handled many things very,very badly and we've got to learn.."

He cites the VAT increase, cuts in the school building programme and threats to target welfare cheats saying "I'm already struggling myself on so many issues. At the moment I don't see the defining of policies clearly so that people understand."

Mike Hancock MP

The MP for Portsmouth South says backbenchers have been left "hopelessly" ill-informed about the progress of negotiations over cuts in the benefits budget.

"Nick Clegg, Danny Alexander and Vince Cable were present in the room, but not one of them told us that Osborne was taking four billion out of welfare. They knew and they should have told us. If a coalition is going to work it has to be an equal partnership of Tory and Lib Dem backbenchers as well as the party nationally having some insight into these matters."

"I don't want to be told by Nick Clegg that this is how it's going to be. I want to be asked by Nick Clegg, is that what you want to see happen?"

Mr Hancock says he has warned his party leader against holding a referendum on the voting system on the same day as local elections, describing it as a "gift to our opponents." He believes the vote will go against Liberal Democrats, a situation he believes would be "horrendous" for the party.

"One year after an election, having to make very painful decisions that are affecting the whole nation, this is the first time that people get to show their resentment at what's happened and you are asking them to change the voting system. I just think that it is a gift to our opponents and we will live to regret it."

"Nick Clegg said that he talked to everyone about it and they all said it was the right thing to do. The one group of people that he didn't talk to was the parliamentary party."

"I will make a determined effort to win that vote but if we lose, and there's little or no chance of repeating it, then I will be very, very concerned about where the coalition goes from there."

Mike Hancock says he is "straining at the straps" in his relationship with the party. The former Labour and SDP member is not attending conference.

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Call me cynical, but I really didn't expect the Liberal Democrats to deliver on the warning I snapped on the way into the main hall. But, yes, there were fireworks and explosions, though the politics was pretty tame.

The rally could have done with being a bit more passion, though. Jo Swinson's rabble rousing involved asking questions with the answer Yes! and asking us to hold up a sign with the word Yes! on it.

The problem really was with the questions. If she wanted real passion she could have asked:

Do any of the ministers here actually have to stick to what conference decides any more or are they bound by cabinet responsibility?

Will we face a huge backlash from voters who thought we were an alternative to the Conservatives?

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Mervyn King - Playing a long game?

The Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King unsurprisingly denies early ambition for a financial job. When he was young, the conference guide informs us, he dreamt of batting for England.

The leader of the Postal Workers Union Billy Hayes had seen the same article, and as we chatted before an interview on the BBC News Channel he thought we could get him a new nickname.

"Let's get Mervyn King re-named .. Merv the Swerve!"

Now as far as I know Mervyn King doesn't have a nickname - so the Australian bowler with the big moustache might be happy to lend his moniker, times are hard and all that...

Eddie George was the first Governor to address the TUC, known to all as Steady Eddie.

But is Merv really a Swerve?

He apologised, partly, for allowing the financial crisis to happen on his watch, or at least not seeing it coming.

He said some sensible conciliatory stuff about the need for dialogue and consultation that placated the hotheads who might have walked out.

And he refused to get drawn into the debate about whether tax or spending cuts were the best way to reduce an inevitable defecit.

Even to the Brothers, that felt more like playing a straight bat to a difficult spinning ball.

You can't catch him out that way.

But he might not get invited to next year's game.

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Rebalancing the economy... or if you're Nick Clegg... standing it on its head, so that the South of England doesn't soak up all the jobs and the North gets some new business.

It's a tough ask. Especially when it is public sector jobs that have to go to reduce the deficit, and the Regional Development Agencies are having to reduce their balancing work.

I've been ploughing through the research that the BBC commissioned on which parts of the country are most vulnerable. We do rather well in the South, though there are some interesting contrasts, which I'll come to in a second, but in a speech today Mr Clegg spelled out his strategy for dealing with the prosperous South.

Top of the list is boosting private sector jobs to replace public sector jobs, through
measures such as the Government's £1 billion regional growth fund and national
insurance breaks.

Those are not available to firms in the South East. It could make the difference of fifty thousand pounds for a firm that decides to set up in Birmingham rather than Oxford -Bournemouth rather than Southampton.

But Nick Clegg admitted that tacking the North-South divide would have to take place on the hoof:

"Of course this recovery, which is starting, is likely to be choppy and uneven," he said. "Of course we appreciate we are dealing with a long-term problem about how we rebalance the economy. That won't be something we can do overnight."

What comes out clearly from the BBC study is that it's not just a simple North South divide:

Berkshire is well placed to withstand future economic turmoil and is a leader at attracting foreign firms, Bracknell, with its links to Heathrow and London, boasts the highest number of foreign-owned businesses in England.

The study also found Slough had the highest number of unemployment claimants in Berkshire followed closely by Reading before a gap to Bracknell, West Berkshire and Windsor and Maidenhead.

Gosport in Hampshire is more dependent on businesses in vulnerable sectors, such as construction, than anywhere in England.

One of the Hampshire town's major employers is Portsmouth Naval Base and the majority of its 79,000 residents are skilled manual labourers. As a result, many will be employed on transient contracts.

Private companies in Oxfordshiremay not have enough capacity to employ people who lose their public sector jobs. Oxford has one of the highest number of employees in vulnerable sectors.

Chairman of Oxfordshire Economic Partnership Frank Nigriello said small firms would not have jobs available.

"While we may be the engine that creates the wealth, we recognise that we need the services to create the community we want to live in"

Mr Nigriello said Oxfordshire had very few large companies, with many people employed in the county's pioneering health services, as well as research and development, including Oxford University.

"If there are massive cuts in the public sector, then Oxfordshire's private sector won't have the resilience. Small businesses don't have the opportunities or availability of jobs."

Finally women from East Dorset are living longer than nearly all others in England, according to the research by Experian. The area has the second highest female life expectancy in England, 85, and the third highest for men, 81.

Dorset County Council said its "cost-effective" re-ablement programme helped older people remain living at home.

There's an interactive map which shows the data for every council here.

And you can watch the BBC South Today debate from the Discovery Centre in Winchester at 10:35 on BBC 1.

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It is no surprise that the Prime Minister dropped everything this morning to get to his 77-year-old father Ian after he suffered a stroke on holiday in France.

He has often talked about the importance of his upbringing in rural Berkshire. His parents Ian and Mary still live in the Old Rectory in the village of Peasemore and are stalwarts of local life.

His father was born with problems in his legs that later led to them being amputated, and he lost the sight of one eye, but continued a successful career as a stockbroker, bringing up three children and enjoying a busy social life - especially around Newbury's horse racing scene.

In a TV interview during the election the Conservative leader said his father was an inspiration.

"My father is a huge hero figure for me. He's an amazingly brave man because he was born with no heels - quite a disability. But the glass with him was half-full, normally with something alcoholic. I think I got my sense of optimism from him."

During the election campaign David Cameron took time off to attend his sister Clare's wedding, in the village.

And when he finally entered 10 Downing Street Mr Cameron Senior spoke of his pride, saying that he felt his son had "always had the capability" to make it to the top.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had to step in at short notice to answer Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.

He had earlier taken up the reins when David and Samantha Cameron's daughter Florence was born early, while the family were on holiday in Cornwall.

David Cameron's older brother Alex, who is a barrister and Chairman of Peasemore Parish Council, is also with him in France.

The whole family will now be providing close support.

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But should it really get pride of place at a business centre in the Midlands, after it was auctioned off with £1700 going to Macmillan Cancer Support?

The Duck House became an icon of the whole expenses scandal - Why not preserve it for the nation?

Let's not hide it away in Wolverhampton, if the duck house is to go on display why not put it on the front in Gosport?

Thousands of commuters flooding through every day would have a daily reminder of the public's anger that their trust was betrayed.

Even grander?

Sir Peter's ducks had taken flight long before the expenses storm blew in. He claimed that the birds, from a neighbouring wildlife reserve, had never enjoyed living there.

According to neighbours he had the duck house taken away on a low loader when he moved house. Exactly where it had gone, though, became a mystery.

The Daily Telegraph never photographed the actual house, perhaps it's even grander than the pictures suggest?

Les Canards Français

Some said Sir Peter had installed in the grounds of his French holiday home - canards Français now accomodated at the British taxpayers' expense.

Several offers had previously been made for the infamous duck house but it seems Sir Peter Viggers was trying to dispose of his most famous possession without too much of a flap.

He always argued that since the authorities refused his claim for £1645 to pay for the house he didn't deserve to be singled out. And in the end he did pay back as ordered for his other gardening claims.

But should we now start a campaign to stop the duck house going North?

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Ready to Go?

There's one in West Sussex on the list. The Discovery New School is a Primary age Montessori School for Crawley set up by two parent/teachers.

It's clear that Surrey MP and Education Secretary Michael Gove is very pleased with the result:

...there are parent-led, community-led, sponsor-led and teacher-led proposals; there are faith and non-faith proposals; there are proposals for large secondary schools and for small primary schools. All of these proposals have been driven by demand from local people for improved choice for their young people and I am delighted that so many promising proposals have come forward at such an early stage.

But within minutes the "Curse of Gove" strikes!

Echoing the chaos of the Building Schools for the Future cuts we get a second email marked "Revised - Please disregard previous version".

Barely fifteen minutes has passed from the earlier announcement so I place the two side by side to work out what has changed and discover this sentence has been shortened:

My Department has received a number of promising proposals for 2012 and 2013 and we will be making further announcements about taking these forward in due course. Equally, new proposals are frequently being submitted to the Department and it may be that some of these are also able to open in 2011.

Now changes to:

My Department has received a number of promising proposals for 2012 and 2013 and we will be making further announcements about taking these forward in due course. New proposals are frequently being submitted to the Department.

So there won't be any more schools able to open in 2011? That looks like a reasonably substantial difference in policy, not a simple typo.

The poor press officer responsible has been made to put his name and number on the bottom of this one - but we can only guess at the confusion behind the scenes.

I'll let you know if the programme gets "revised" again in the next fifteen minutes!

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