Carpenters and Cowley Street

Cowley Street was invaded yesterday by carpenters, electricians, furniture removal people and so on. The board room, next to the Communications Unit where I am based, was stripped bare and then refurbished in the space of one day. It is now the war room, ready for the big names to occupy the moment Brown goes to the palace. It was quite fun watching the progress through the day. I should have taken some photos but didn't think to do so! By 7pm, when I was trying to edit an urgent edition of the North East Democrat, I was drafted in to move some furniture into the war room.

Meanwhile, I spent yesterday putting together an urgent edition of Parliamentary Campaigner to go out to all candidates this weekend. My job tonight is to do the final drafting changes. At the moment I am sitting in a hustings meeting for the North East Euro selections. After this I'm off to Whickham where we are having a garden party for all our helpers in the area. Turns out to be good timing - with an election about to be called, we can encourage them to deliver more leaflets!
---
Sent via BlackBerry

New dates for announcing the election

Further discussions today with various people about options for the date Comrade Chairman Brown will call the election. This Monday continues to be an option but some claim Brown could not be so blatant in abuising the system for poliical gain by wrecking the Tory conference. I won't put it past him but consider the following instead.

Suppose he calls it on Thursday, immediately after Cameron's speech? That allows the Tory conference to go ahead but he wrecks Cameron's big day by killing at one stroke the publicity Cameron gets from his speech. And all without the allegation of having attempted to wreck the conference by calling the election during its proceedings. Nice Comrade Chairman Brown allows democracy to prevail! This option comes with the bonus of firing the starting gun when the majority of Tory activists are coralled in Blackpool. Labour (and Lib Dem activists) meanwhile have a flying start back in the constituencies. Your can just imagine government inspired roadworks and rail repairs suddenly being imposed around Blackpool which brings all transport to a halt for a day or so!

The other option is to call the election a week on Tuesday, when Parliament is sitting. Under this scenario, Alistair Darling has published the Comprehensive Spending Review which will be spun for all it's worth (covering up the fact that the next spending round will be much tighter than previously.) There may also be an announcement that Basra has been handed back to the Iraqis, with formerly pro Iraq occupation Labour (and Conservative) MPs tripping over themselves to rush out statement about how they have always been against the war. Having attempted to convince everyone that somehow the war was only ever a Blair personal project that never ever ever had anything to do with Labour, Brown then announces a general election, possibly even giving Parliament a vote on whether to dissolve or not. The whips may have an easy day on that. Not so much a case of turkeys voting for Xmas, more a case of Turkeys voting for Xmas to become a vegetarian feast!

Comrade Chairman Brown is meeting his advisers this weekend to take a final decision on whether or not to hold an election. I find it difficult to believe they will not be able to keep the decision secret for long. I can foresee the decision being leaked through the week with the result many Tories have abandoned their conference to get back home. Cameron may find himself speaking to a rather empty hall.

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Sleep walking into a one party state

Thoughts on the date of the election and the day on which Comrade Chairman Brown will call it vary from one person to another. I wrote the other day that I think he will call it this Monday for 25th Oct. Since then the share value of an announcement tomorrow, Friday, has risen, as has the prospect of the election being on 1st Nov.

If he were to announce on either of these 2 days, it would have to count as one of the biggest abuses of the democratic system of recent years. Wrecking the opposition's conference is the sort of thing you would expect in what is effectively a one party state where opposition parties are allowed but mainly just for show. The reality is that one single party controls the system to its own advantage. A bit like Russia today, or East Germany of old. Were Brown to make such a move, I fear it will be another step, indeed a leap, in the sleep walk of this nation towards what would be effectively a one party state.

A bit extreme viewpoint? Not for those of us who have experienced one party Labour rule in the North East. Whilst they may be feeling the heat in some areas from the Lib Dems (the Tories are dead in the water in the region), Labour remain the dominant party, often attracting people to it who are interested in being part of the establishment rather than actually believing in anything. Labour are of course bolstered by a fraudulent voting system that gives them 94 percent of the parliamentary seats in the region on barely half the votes cast. The same system works in their favour across the country, though not on the scale it does in my region.

There is a possibility after a snap election with the Tories, having performed badly (and then descending into civil war again) and with the prospect of another long period of Labour rule ahead, that Britain sleepwalks into what is in all but name a one party state.

---
Sent via BlackBerry

10 reasons why Brown will call an election next week

Stand by for a snap general election. That is the key message from the Labour conference. Brown could have killed off the speculation with a few words saying there will be no election. He has chosen not to, knowing the consequences will be that the Labour conference will be dominated by the pending election. In other words, the conference is a huge, week long election rally that dominates the headlines to the exclusion of coverage of any other party.

I was previously doubtful about there being an autumn poll but over the weekend, I have looked again at the situation and have come to a different judgement.

I conclude there are 10 reasons why Brown will go for an October poll. Here goes:

1. There is something of a Brown bounce that has put Labour ahead of the Conservatives over the summer in the opinion polls for the first time since Cameron became leader of the Tories. There is no guarantee however that this will last. That brings me to the 2nd point below.

2. The chances are things are more likely to get worse than better for Brown. It's harder to go up in the polls when his support in the polls is relatively strong, but it is easy for the support to slip. No election this autumn and any small loss of support will be viewed as a large swing away from Labour and the talk will be instead of a Brown under pressure who missed his best chance of holding on. The autumn talk will be about his being James Callahan Mark II.

3. Meanwhile, the perception of the Tories is that they are in a mess and Cameron is seen increasingly as a liability who will say anything to get into power (a genuine perception of the truth!) Yet Cameron could, with time mount a recovery. Why would Brown want to give him that chance?

4. Indeed, why give your opponents the chance to build up a bandwagon? One clear lesson Labour have learnt is that a snap poll benefits them. They learnt that the hard way with the Brent East by-election. They put their lesson into practice with Sedgefield and Ealing - another week's campaigning and the results could have been different.

5. A linked point is that there is no cap on what a party can spend in a constituency outside an election. We know the Tories have bags of money being poured into target seats. How better to put a stop to that by holding a poll now, with all the spending limits in constituencies that involves.

6. Which brings me onto donations to Labour. They have the money they need from their super rich backers and the trade union barons who love to spend their members' money. But those donations can't be sustained. Best spend it now.

7. Back to Labour's conference. If this is the first week of the election campaign, by not announcing the election until Monday next week, Labour's conference can hog the headlines without the problem of the Representation of the People's Act (RPA) kicking in (as required once the election is called) which shares out the tv and radio coverage more fairly.

8. And a related point. Brown calls the election next Monday and it immediately cuts the coverage the Tories can get for their conference as the RPA kicks in. No week of headlines dominated by the Tories. All those Tory activists will turn up at Blackpool, be stuck there at a conference that is no longer the focus of media attention. Meanwhile their opponents are back in their constituencies fighting the ground war.

9. Talking of ground wars, Labour have performed well in council by-elections since Brown became Labour leader. The Conservatives have done poorly and Lib Dems reasonable (though last week was poor - that's what happens when your activists are at conference and not in the ground war). What the results show is that Labour support has lifted since Blair resigned. But this may not continue as the "newness" of Brown erodes with time.

10. Brown wants what he reagrds as his own mandate.

We are told Brown is a cautious person. He doesn't want to take a risk with his premiership. I can quite believe it. Given the circumstances, cautious Brown is not likely to want to risk loss by holding out for a later poll. So be ready for a snap election. It's coming your way and should arrive on your doorstep next week.

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Jam later today

Oh just great! A bridge has collapsed onto the main East Coast line near York. So here I am stuck at Newcastle. Many services have been cancelled. I was told that this is because GNER want to avoid lots of train delays. How best to avoid a delay? - cancel the train!

I've spent the last half hour making urgent calls and emails to various people.

Rumour has it the collapsed bridge was called the Cameron Bridge - a rather old structure with a lick of glossy paint. Apparently the paint couldn't hold it together and it gave way. This is of course just a rumour!

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Here I am stuck in traffic

A few minutes makes all the difference between getting straight through to Newcastle and getting stuck in congestion. We are in the latter at the moment, stuck between Sunniside and Lobley Hill. Fortunately my train is not til 9am. And of course it is raining. A good start to the week!

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Packaging lunacy

And today's rant is about GNER's on board catering. I have just been to the buffet car for a tea (a technical fault on the trolley means it's only serving cold drinks). I also wanted some fruit. All they had was sliced apple in a packet, a snip at just one pound fifty. Apart from the fact this is a seriously high price for a bit of apple, it is also absurdly over packaged. And add to that the slices will go off faster than a whole apple. This is lunacy wrapped up as product presentation.

One of the train staff has just walked past me with a large plastic sack collecting rubbish. There's plenty of it!

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Fruit baskets and the Cowley St kitchen

I arrived in Cowley St this morning to find a gigantic basket of fruit in the kitchen. A present from Ming and Elspeth to us hard working staff who ensured conference went well. At 8pm Chris Rennard walked into my office and said that nearly all the fruit had gone despite there being far fewer people that normal in HQ. The Communications Unit had by then carefully removed all evidence of apple cores, grape stalks and the other debris of a fruit feast!

Onto other things. Some of my conference photos were put into circulation today for local campaigners to use though the big job on that begins next week when I have to email out all the photo op pictures, of which there are over 1000. I used a couple from the North East in my next members' newsletter which I will be printing in our office in Gateshead tomorrow.

And that means that I am on the train heading North now, though I am about to ask the person sitting behind me with a muffled clunk, clunk, clunk coming from his ear phones to turn the music down.



---
Sent via BlackBerry

Photo op photos

These were taken at the photo ops the Communications Unit arranged at conference for campaigners. I have taken the liberty (ego?) of including those of me except the carbon footprint one. I didn't get a photo of me with Chris Huhne so I have included one of Peter Maughan, who represents the neighbouring ward to my own and who was at conference on Sunday and Monday.

I posted up the cutting income tax pic earlier this week.

A few photos from the Glee Club

I normally avoid the Glee Club at conference, but the opportunity to get some photos was too much to resist. So above: Lembit take to the stage; Paddy tells the same joke as previously told at Glee Clubs and Team Sedgefield serenades the gathered masses.

Photos of Ming's speech

These are some of the photos I took yesterday morning.

Lembit Opik MP at the Glee Club

For those of you fortunate enough to miss the Glee Club at conference on Wednesday, here's Lembit Opik's performance......

The Ming speech

As usual I was in the photographers' scrum for Ming's speech. Good inspiring, uplifting stuff. Now could the doubters shut up!?

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Lembit but no Cheekie Girl

The 4th and final photo op I had organised for candidates was held this morning. It was about Labour's post office closure plans. Lembit Opik is the Shadow Business and Enterprise Secretary so the photos were with him. There was no Cheekie Girl in tow.

I spent some time this afternoon putting photos onto the parties website. Most are not taken by me but by Alex Folkes. However, mine filled a few gaps in the coverage.

And so that brings me to this evening. It's the hunter/gatherer phase of the day when we go in search of fringe meetings with good food and, of course, interesting issues for discussion. I missed the first round of meetings at 6pm as I was in a Northern Region meeting. When I got to these meetings, all that were left were empty plates and a bowl of olives! The next meetings start at 8pm.

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Cutting Income Tax

Here's the photo of metaking part in my own photo op yesterday with Vince Cable cutting income tax!

Press at my back whilst Vince saws through income tax

I have arranged to put on 4 photo ops for candidates and campaigners at conference. The first was on Sunday with Norman Lamb MP and a giant tooth. This is for those involved in the health campaign and the photos can be used to illustrate the decay in the NHS dentistry service. Advance notice of this appeared in the Guardian recently!

The second was yesterday with Chris Huhne MP. This involved 2 carbon footprints, one large one, representing people's carbon footprint as it is now, and a second smaller one, representing the smaller carbon footprint under Lib Dem policies. This one had queues of people around the block!

Today's photo op was with Vince Cable cutting income tax - using a saw to cut a banner representing income tax. Again, queues around the block for this one. Somehow, the media took an enormous interest in this event. So in front of me was Vince with a saw and a succession of candidates whilst behind me were press photographers and media cameramen catching anything that moved. So I suspect there are a large number of photos of my rear end and a large amount of footage of me shouting at candidates to stand in a certain way, hold the props at the right angle and especially to keep smiling and stop talking!

What struck me afterwards however was that if the media thought this photo op made for interesting pictures, then they will make interesting pics in people's focus leaflets,which was what this whole exercise was about producing.

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Laws of conference no. 1: get me to the fringe on time

Organisations hosting fringe events at conference have a standard practice for getting people through the doors and ensuring there are bums on seats. It's called "Refreshments available". This is a well tried and tested practice and is a good way of getting people into a meeting about an issues of which they have very limited knowledge or indeed interest.

It is possible to go through a conference without having to buy a meal. But there is a snag. I was due at the Northern Regional Development Agencies' meeting last night. Lots of food and wine available. I had helped promote the event as one of the sponsors had been in touch with me asking for advice on advertising it and I even took their ad and put it in my regional newsletter, The North East Democrat.

But last night, as the meeting was underway, I was stuck in our office in the Brighton Centre uploading photos to the website. By the time I had finished cocking up the process and got it right, I was feeling rather hungry. So I sped off to the RDA meeting just in time for, well, just in time for the speeches! The last of the wine had been sozzled and all that was left to eat was a handful of sandwiches no one else wanted!

I have just had breakfast in the Grand. My first proper meal since breakfast at the Grand yesterday! Expect me to lose weight at this conference!

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Dr Death and the Liberal Democrats

The press cuttings were delivered to my hotel room this morning. A quick flick through told me that David Owen (aka Dr Death) was making a reappearance on the political stage. Sadly for Dr Death, he is a figure that has now been largely forgotten by the good people of the UK. Instead of a front line political career in the Lib Dems when the SDP and Liberals merged in 1988, Dr Death (middle name Ego) decided to storm off into the wilderness to create a shortlived party (SDP Tick) in his own image.

The historical ineptitude of the press today however is amazing. He is variously described as a great figure of the Liberal Democrats, or the Liberal movement. Dr Death has never been a member of the Lib Dems and he has spent most of the past 20 years trying to destroy us. It is no coincidence that on the eve of our conference, he is making pro-Brown pronouncements, almost certainly assisted by the vast Brown spin machine which, far from being dismantled, is growing ever bigger.

A political handshake with Dr Death however is the equivalent of taking hold of a live wire. You are going to get hurt! Owen has shown that he can make serious errors of judgement. He is a person whose ego is far bigger than his common sense. It could of course have been so much different. He could have led the SDP into the merged party instead of throwing his toys out of the pram. Frankly, if Brown wants him, he's welcome to him.

I wonder how Labour members in Gateshead (especially the ones with the big egos reading this blog) are taking to yet another inclusion of an old enemy in the big tent of Gordon Brown. The big tent however is an image rather than reality. It is all for show so that Chairman Stalin Brown can appear inclusive and nice whislt ensuring all power rests in his hands. Perhaps it is more a case of a big top than a big tent with Brown's political circus there to entertain and bamboozle the audience. The question is, who is taking on the role of the clown. Back to Dr Death I think...

---
Sent via BlackBerry

Ming arrives at Brighton - the exclusive photos!

I was at the front of the Grand Hotel in Brighton in the press pack waiting for Ming to arrive. So here are a couple of the pics I took as he spoke to the press.

I had arrived there about half an hour earlier. Alas, whilst the press pack was there in force, it wasn't waiting for me! But my taxi driver was amused anyway!

Heading for Brighton with a studio in my case

I am on the train to Brighton now to go to party conference. It feels like I have a studio's worth of cameras and camcorders in my suitcase. After I added my conference papers and various papers from Gateshead and from constituents I will deal with when I am at Brighton, there wasn't much room for my clothes!

So it's a week of early morning meetings, late nights, minimal sleep, meals grabbed on the move, herding people through photo ops and generally enjoying myself! The drawback is that I'm not home this weekend. So next weekend I will have to double my number of voter contacts when I'm back home.

---
Sent via BlackBerry