Labour falls 17 points behind as smears scandal takes its toll
Ex-MP quits party ahead of week in which Brown pins survival hopes on Budget
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Gordon Brown was last night confronted with the damage caused by the email smears affair, as two opinion polls showed Labour slumping to at least 17 points behind the Conservatives.
As the Prime Minister prepared his attempt to pull clear of one of the most turbulent periods of his premiership, a BPIX survey for the Mail on Sunday suggested the Tory lead had stretched to 19 points. The survey put the Tories on 45 per cent, Labour on 26 per cent, and the Lib Dems on 17 per cent.
Some 33 per cent felt Mr Brown's government was sleazier than the last Tory government and a quarter of respondents believed his spin machine was dirtier than Tony Blair's.
Another survey for the Sunday Telegraph showed Labour 17 points behind the Tories, a gap that would be enough to give David Cameron a 120-seat Commons majority at a general election.
The finds come amid signs that the row over disgraced Downing Street aide Damian McBride had significantly damaged trust in the Government. Mr Brown hopes to use Wednesday's Budget as a springboard for another Labour relaunch.
The Chancellor Alistair Darling is under pressure to produce a Budget that will convince voters that Britain is on the road to recovery. Mr Darling is expected to unveil a series of initiatives to stimulate recovery in key sectors of the economy, including banking and the housing market. He is also expected to unveil £2bn package designed to put more young people back to work. But he will also signal deep cuts in public spending and public borrowing rising to £175bn over the next two years.
Treasury sources yesterday insisted that the Chancellor will produce a series of "feel-good" measures designed to ensure that the UK is well placed to take advantage of the global recovery when it eventually begins.
The attempt to portray the country's economic position in a positive light comes against the backdrop of stubbornly dismal figures for growth and other significant indicators – and the expectation that the Government will have to begin raising taxes and slashing spending to offset the enormous outlays seen in the past year.
Mr Darling will also be tasked with kick-starting Labour's political recovery from a series of blows, including revelations about Mr McBride's attempt to smear senior Tories and the fallout from ill-judged police raids on shadow Immigration minister Damian Green. But any hope of a swift recovery was hit yesterday when a bitter local party contest to select a prospective parliamentary candidate descended into acrimony – and a former Labour MP announced she was leaving the party, claiming the "smeargate" scandal was the last straw.
Alice Mahon had considered leaving the party after she quit Parliament in 2005, but remained to see if Mr Brown could make Labour "caring". She said yesterday: "I couldn't have been more wrong."
Labour chiefs suspended attempts to select a new candidate in the hotly contested constituency of Erith and Thamesmead after they discovered ripped-up postal votes inside a ballot box in a cupboard at their own headquarters. Supporters of rival candidates yesterday claimed the move suggested someone was trying to "sabotage" the process of finding a successor to sitting MP John Austin.
A spokesman for the London Labour Party said the hustings planned for yesterday had been called off, and officials had begun investigating the alleged tampering.
The contest in the south-east London constituency exploded into controversy earlier this year when the central party stepped in to take control of the process from local officials. The move sparked complaints that "outside" candidates were being favoured over locals, with hostility being directed at Georgia Gould, the 22-year-old daughter of Lord Gould, Tony Blair's trusted pollster.
Mr Austin last week complained that Blairite minister Tessa Jowell had visited his constituency to speak on Ms Gould's behalf, without informing him.
In an email to supporters shortly after the corrupted ballot box was discovered, on Friday evening, Ms Gould said: "The ballot box where the returned postal votes were being stored was forcibly broken into. The seal on the ballot box was broken and returned postal votes from members were ripped up. Can you believe it – the ballot papers being ripped up? It seems so violent. Who would do such a thing? We cannot allow such people to use underhand techniques to disrupt our democracy and tread all over members' wishes."
Mrs Mahon, 71, was one of the most rebellious MPs in the House of Commons during an 18-year career representing Halifax. She complained that Labour had broken many promises made in its 2005 election manifesto.
"It is not a party I recognise. I have lost faith with it," she said. "I am very, very sad: the Labour Party has been my life. I have reached the conclusion that there is not any avenue left in the structure of the Labour Party for people like me. Any threat from anybody marginally from the left and... the party machine comes down on them like a ton of bricks."
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The Labour Party.
"Mrs Mahon, 71, was one of the most rebellious MPs in the House of Commons during an 18-year career representing Halifax. She complained that Labour had broken many promises made in its 2005 election manifesto."
Shouldn't it be the other way round-New Labour were rebellious not her,as she says they have broken many promises.
The article also brings to mind that, in local and general elections, postal voting has figured in several fraud cases over the past few years. I seem to remember a Judge remarking in one case that the system resembled a banana republic.
I hope the authorities are going to maintain a high level of supervision in the forthcoming EU election, and if Brown ever allows us one, the general election.
The Australian immigration department, for example, has strict criteria who can immigrate to Australia:
i) Immigrants have to be within a narrowly-defined age range so not to be a burden on the Australian people (the UK let's anyone in - no age limit)
ii) Immigrants have to have a strict medical so they are not a burden financially (the UK has no medical test for immigrants. Not even an HIV test. The consequence of this is a massively overstretched NHS (you see it's not rocket science - it is just common sense!).
iii) Immigrants have to have skills that Australia needs (again anyone is welcome in the UK - no matter how stupid)
iv) Immigrants have to have qualifications.
v) ALL immigrants have to prove that they do not have a criminal record. Contrast this with the UK who do not check the records of people entering the country - hence we have recently had to jail two Romanians criminals who decided to rape young women! They had extensive criminal records in Romania.
vi) Australia DEPORTS ALL illegal immigrants - no matter how long they have been here before they are caught (one case recently people had been there 15 years before they were caught and kicked out)
vii) Australia deports immigrants who commit criminal offences - often even if they are relatively minor (THE UK cannot even be bothered to deport FAILED asylum-seekers.
So your one line dismissive comment may have worked 5 or 10 years ago but not now. People are wising up to the games that trendy lefties play. Especially when our national security and identity as a nation is at stake! People are sick and tired of unfettered immigration - and they are going to make the Labour Party pay for it at the next general election.
what you are saying is both ignorant and offensive
the australian immigration system developed under the fascist michael howard is notorious for its awful treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. how it upsets and annoys me to hear this ignorant rubbish spouted again and again by people who have no understanding of the situation, this countries economy could not have survived in the good times without immigration and would still not survive today without immigrants who do jobs that british people are unwilling to do. there is always the misguided idea that immigrants come to the uk to 'sponge off' the British government and people. immigrants come to this country to work hard to get a better life for their family. new labour will lose the next election, not because of this, but because of their betrayal of all that labour should stand for and their trampling over civil liberties and democracy, and they deserve to do so.
This one sentence completely betrays your ignorance of this matter. Australia's immigration policy was developed over many years of CAREFUL CONSIDERATION to develop a policy that benefitted all AUSTRALIANS. By the way AUSTRALIA has EXACTLY the same policy as NEW ZEALAND AND CANADA or are you calling those countries racist too? Australia's immigration policy is completely blind to race, ethnicity or country where the applicant comes from. ALL that matters is the QUALITY (yes QUALITY!) of the applicant and the needs of Australia. How different this is from England - as I pointed out previously. So it is YOU that have no understanding of the situation.
Oh, I forgot to mention something else that Australia does. It provides jobs to labourers from other countries (fruit picking etc.). That helps Australia in areas where labour is in short supply. I think this is generous as people from poor countries are given jobs. After these labourers have finished their contracts under which they were employed they are then sent back to their home country. The do not have automatic right to residence. So immigrants come to the UK work hard - then when they are no longer needed and if they are not skilled they should be sent back to their country of origin. There is nothing racist about that. It is just common sense and sound immigration policy. I note that the UK cannot even estimate the numbers of illegal immigrants within its borders to the nearest 500,000. This is a shocking inditement - the Labour Party has lost control of our borders and they know it and have done nothing about it.
The consequence of unfettered immigration to the UK is for all to see. And no amount of sanctimonious self-flagellation by people like you is going to change that. So be as "offended" as you like - the British people are sick and tired of Labour's betrayal though a lax immigration policy. I nte that the UK dies not evn bother to repatriate FAILED (YES FAILED) asylum-seekers. Who do you think pays for them and houses them? Recent Government figures hint at the consequences of this - how many failed asylum-seekers commit serious crimes and still they are not deported. Shocking, really shocking.
Australia's record towards asylum-seekers has been exemplary. Only this week it has provided FREE and extensive medical treatment to many illegal refugees after they doused themselves and their boat in petrol to avoid being sent back. SO get your facts right before getting offended and accusing other people ignorance.
New Labour sponsered by the old right US interests hi-jackedthe only organisation to further therights of the British working class.
While some wavered the SDP faction of middle England found its saviour in Blair the closet Catholic and Butcher of Basra.
Congratulations to Alice Mahon who has at las t recognised the shallowness of NEW "improved Labour.
It has betrayed the interests of the poor the developing world and even Murdoch who will turn right.
New Laobour has condemned the 21st century to the once almost unelectable Toryism.
At the same endangering servicemen worldwide for Americas needs .Finally robbing the pensions and savings of those who elected it.Good riddance to failed New Labour its spin doctors and Lord Mandelson,oh sorry they didn't abolish the Lords on rural sports.
It seems to me that these are the questions to be asking.
Watch how in desperation they try to get "grateful" immigrants on the voting lists and even now they are working how to corrupt the postal voting scheme to their advantage. Guido Fawkes where are you!
What really scares me is that we face have the present gang of tossers with the successors of the tossers whom we kicked out in 1997. And it's obvious to me they've changed very little since then, for all Cameron's charm offensive. Give it a couple of years if they win the election, and we'll see similar comments about them to the ones currently vilifying New Labour.
We desperately need a political alternative that puts behind it the failed policies of the past 30 years. We thought we had that in 1997 but we got Blair and Brown, two Tories sporting a red rose. In 2010 we'll likely get the real thing back. Talk about piling disaster on disaster.
We need to be afraid - very afraid. Perhaps it's time to take a one-way ticket out of here. Britain is not goingto be a very pleasent place to live for the foreseeable future.
What amazes me with you lot this that you thought Blair would be any good at all - if you believed the hype more the mug you. It was show biz Americana politics all the way - and has been since, although lets face it Brown is not quite the same chameleon that Blair was.
What the UK needs is to get rid of this lot know - and the electorate needs to be more challenging in future. What has happened in the Brown years is that the electorate just ignored the warnings and accepted that house prices would rise for ever, and got lazy.
A more involved electorate will hopefully secure more sensible policy, and this country needs that.
Sadly though I have to agree on the one way ticket - England will be a crap place to live for a while now.
There was a time not too long ago, when Labour were the party of education for all, defence of the less well-off and liberal and internationalist foreign policy. The Tories were the party of sound finances and business. In it's wisdom, the electorate voted for whatever seemed the priority. Despite the usual bad eggs, politics was conducted with honour and cooperation by concerned MPs across the benches.
It was New Labour which brought in the "new culture" of relentless lying and "triangulation" (saying whatever they judged the electorate wanted to hear.
There is no equivalence, a Tory government would come in with a clean slate and would be judged on their performance, l(or would you want to lump the Blair-Brown disaster in with the Atlee government and say they are the same ? They aren't !!) Let's hope that the current mess will ensure that "low politics" is purged from government, at least for a while.
Another five years of Brown would terminally degrade this country, it doesn't bear thinking about. Traditional Labour people who care, want root and branch reform of the party and an end to the vice-like grip of the Oxbridge/Edinburgh educated carpet-baggers.
My vote will go elsewhere as it always does.
I bet that McBroon's school reports must have had comments like "though he always claims to be fizzing with ideas, he really must learn to finish off his homework". Also, I wonder if he ever really completed his PhD thesis or whether he "became incandescent with rage" when questioned about the content and details. So he just promised what he was going to include, at a future date, then reannounced it several times, double-counting each time. Unconfirmed rumour (via intercepted emails) has it they gave up and awarded him one anyway to stop his smears, threats, bullying and bluster. After all, with a towering intelligence like his, and the earlier difficulties he faced, he deserves one anyway, surely?
Its all part of a " Corporate Nazi " ideology where large corporations lobby government to make everything as inefficient ( difficult ) and expensive as possible, especially for people living in rural areas. A key part of the " Corporate Nazi " plan is the systematic dismantling of our welfare state whilst at the same time providing a virtual welfare state for the Banks and their stock market parasites, increasing the divide between rich and poor.
Not much hope from the Tories either, they have just brought Ken Clarke back onto their front bench in a senior position. Those with a good memory will recall that when chancellor,he was the original architect of the Road Fuel Tax Escalator, likewise raising the duty on diesel to make it more expensive than petrol. Unfortunately the Tories have not ruled out increases in " green " taxes if they as expected win the next general election.
The Lib-Dumbocrats are the puppets of the eco-fascists and will definitely massively increase road fuel taxes on the strength that they will cut the basic rate of income tax by 4p. However that's not much use to you if you are currently struggling to run your car in order to get to work on near minimum wage. I believe that the Association of British Drivers once calculated that current fuel duty is the equivalent of 10p on the basic rate of tax for anyone earning minimum wage on an average commute.
It looks as though mainstream party alleged democracy has failed the people of our country. Government policy is no longer dictated by the people but by the fraudulent Bankers and their stock market parasites. High road fuel tax is a tool they use to close down our manufacturing industry, the bankers look on it that its more profitable for them to sit in an office and change money on the resultant extra imports.
The only party offering cuts in road fuel duty is the BNP, but they have no real prospect of ever becoming an influence on government. However they do stand a fair chance of winning several seats at the coming EU elections under PR, in which everyone gets at least some influence on the outcome. Its not as if MEP's have a huge influence over UK government policy but voting BNP at the EU elections could teach the mainstream parties a valuable lesson. ID cards, Bin Tax, Toll Roads, Average Speed Cameras and other potential infringements of personal freedom have not gone away despite the theoretical temporary suspension or none take up of policy by local authorities. If you don't like the members you get you can always throw them out at the next election.
Voting for the BNP is the one thing the mainstream politicians fear the most because its a direct attack on their Corporate Nazi quasi-religion. Voting BNP is the nuclear option as far as protest voting is concerned, if you are eurosceptic anyway, forget UKIP, they have been shown proven to be just as institutionally corrupt as the other alleged " safe " politicians.
This is democracy Rule Britannia style!
Whilst all this grubby subterranean in-fighting is going on, the Labour Party is being destroyed day by day. Already, this ship of fools is holed below the waterline, and will be blown out of the water,come the next general election, which of course will be held at the last possible moment. Then the pent up fury at the betrayal and treachery will be unleashed, and it will not be a pretty sight.
All that seems to matter now in the Downing Street Bunker is saving their skins, and to hell with the country. Incidently, speaking of sinking ships, Lord Mandelson is a rare example of some one Joining one!
Do you really think if the Tories get in it will be better? I do think it was sleazier when the Tories were in power, ie Hamilitons. Perhaps the reason why 26 per cent are going to vote Labour is that they dont want Tory to elected with a landslide which would be a bad thing but I would concede that a hung parliament would be ideal
As I say, whether the Tories would be worse, who knows, but they would have to go some to come anywhere near the shower now in situ.
As I say, whether the Tories would be worse, who knows, but they would have to go some to come anywhere near the shower now in situ.
as soon as it becomes apparent to the mob on the truck they start jumping off and blaming the driver for leaving the handbrake off; from there on in the process becomes self perpetuating and the crash is inevitable
Ever since Gollum brought the curse of Magna Carta on his head he was doomed.
The budget will herald the beginning of the slide and then it's game set and match to the Tories- like it or not
seat -anxious MPs will rebel and despair will loom; then the whole cabinet will get hand-to-glum -face disease and it's goodbye baby and amen; bit like a Shakespearian tragedy really- we know it will end in tears, but I shall laugh like a drain and rejoice that justice has been done and Magna Carta revenged and so will every judge and criminal barrister in the land; goodbye Gollum; god it was boring having you around