It isn't just whether loans were obtained for peerages, it is that people believe this could have happened under a Labour government.
Nearly a week on from the arrest of Lord Levy and the revelation of the second Police interview of the Prime Minister, the furore over the loans for peerages is unabated. All through last week I was continuously asked by the media whether I thought the Prime Minister should step down.
My response was that for at least two years I have been calling for the Prime Minister to go because I disagreed with his political ideology and many of the policies which stem from it but with regard to the loans for peerages issue I adhered to the straightforward principle of innocent until proven guilty whether it is the Prime Minister or any other citizen.
I left it at that. However I made it clear it was critical that the Police should be allowed to get on with their investigation and that they should be given the fullest co-operation.
My main concern was for the reputation of the Labour Party and the standing of politics more generally. That is why on Tuesday I urged that the Labour Party should act to protect its reputation by appointing an independent person to liaise directly with the Police inquiry so that we could demonstrate that the Party was doing everything it could to co-operate with the inquiry and to be completely open and transparent. In this way we could overcome any allegations that the Party was involved in any cover up.
Many New Labour advisers, surrounding both Blair and Brown, hope that nothing will come of the Police inquiry and once it is over they can return to politics as normal. This misses an important lesson of this whole episode.
A critical concern for every Labour member and supporter must be not just whether loans were obtained for peerages but the fact that a large proportion of the electorate believe that under a Labour government this could have occurred at all.
We need to think very carefully about how we have so lost the trust of a large section of our community that they could even contemplate this happening under a Labour government.
My response was that for at least two years I have been calling for the Prime Minister to go because I disagreed with his political ideology and many of the policies which stem from it but with regard to the loans for peerages issue I adhered to the straightforward principle of innocent until proven guilty whether it is the Prime Minister or any other citizen.
I left it at that. However I made it clear it was critical that the Police should be allowed to get on with their investigation and that they should be given the fullest co-operation.
My main concern was for the reputation of the Labour Party and the standing of politics more generally. That is why on Tuesday I urged that the Labour Party should act to protect its reputation by appointing an independent person to liaise directly with the Police inquiry so that we could demonstrate that the Party was doing everything it could to co-operate with the inquiry and to be completely open and transparent. In this way we could overcome any allegations that the Party was involved in any cover up.
Many New Labour advisers, surrounding both Blair and Brown, hope that nothing will come of the Police inquiry and once it is over they can return to politics as normal. This misses an important lesson of this whole episode.
A critical concern for every Labour member and supporter must be not just whether loans were obtained for peerages but the fact that a large proportion of the electorate believe that under a Labour government this could have occurred at all.
We need to think very carefully about how we have so lost the trust of a large section of our community that they could even contemplate this happening under a Labour government.
posted by John at 9:18 AM
11 Comments:
it just proves that the real Labour party has been taken over by an incompetent and neo-con elite and we musn't lose an election in order for this faction to be finally rooted out as some of the doom mongers up my way have said to me (we are in the political widerness up here in the Home counties of course!)
'London is a diff case entirely but not without it's moribund wards etc now which is even more worrying
Yes, we can believe it John, after all this is not the Labour Party being "interviewed"
It's the Blair party thumbing their noses at the Labour party. When memberships plummeted over policy drift (or even non-policy), rather than discuss the issues with the party and reach a settlement that represents true labour sentiments, No 10 decided we aren't needed and they could get the cash elsewhere.
Well, it didn't work did it!
I have sundry bottles of fizz in my house for when Blair goes. I suspect his refusal to go on ideological grounds ( as you have called for, John) has now tested the patience of most Labour Party members not under the "New" Labour banner. However, your position vis a vis the latest farrago is right. The media would have been expecting a knee-jerk reaction from the left - they were probably surprised at your line . I confess I was a bit but that's because I am runnin out of patience. How low will the Party sink in the public's estimation before this ends ? If there are charges, then surely Blair has to resign. In the meantime, yes, we can't bundle him out.Much as many, including myself I must confess, would like to.
Many apologies for spamming your blog, John, but I decided what the hell: the New Statesman has been running the story I wrote re: your campaign and the debate that needs to be had about the party's leadership (very relevant to the policy inquiry you discuss on detail on this post).
The thing is - how can I put this - those at the extreme ends of the party have turned up on the comments board, putting the boot into the left as they do... if any of your readers want to hurry over there and balance things up, the story is at Socialists call for a leadership contest. Apologies again for the spam, but the neocon nutters who've emerged from the dark to comment on that story are doing my head in.
I don't mind if you guys roll out your whole policy programme in the comments box - I say go for it and take no prisoners. Any more of the right-wing madness I've been reading over there and I'm going to make somebody suffer.
Cheers, Kate B
The only clean money in politics is from the trade unions - democratically decided upon by their members
As Paul Mackney says on the tradeunionists4john.blogspot.com website about John, "he's not even corrupt ... and you've got no chance of getting in the House of Lords if you are associated with him"
I looked at the New Statesman blog and it's full of people saying the McDonnell campaign is stuck in the eighties and such socialist policies will mean higher taxes. Both of these statements are obviously incorrect so we can all refute them. It might be worth putting more about how we will fund things on John's next election leaflet though I think the current one is pretty good.
Some little birds told me John won't have his photo next tO Gordon Brown's for comparison - comments please!
Did my bit on the New Statesman website - I really don't mind the fact that people disagree. Bloggers like Luke Akehurst are well on the right of the party but at the same time he's normally civil (not always) to left views. But the New Statesman comments were , for the most part, just pathetic insults against the left .The blogosphere is sadly full of websites which are more about trading swear-words and obscenities. Guido Fawkes is particularly vile in this respect. However, it's important we trawl around and spread the word....... PS:Well done, Kit , for getting that piece in NS.
Utter rubbish McDonnell. You don't have a chance becoming leader because the world has moved on from the 80's.
No chance? The ASLEF rail union has just become the first trade union to back any leadership candidate!
See http://tradeunionists4john.blogspot.com/2007/02/aslef-backs-john.html
Which unions are going to back Gordon the privatiser?
Come and question the man who would like to replace Tony Blair as Labour leader and the next Prime Minister. Everyone welcome, student or otherwise. It is on Monday Febuary 12th, 7-8:30PM at Man Met Students Union. Check out John 4 leader for more info.
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