Monday, May 05, 2008

Monday morning blog - believe this rebellion when it happens

Yet another Monday morning when I have the joy of being at home rather than on a train to London! And I'm blogging a bit later than usual for two reasons: I slept in (come on, give me a break - it's a bank holiday) and I've just been down to Dunston in Gateshead to shoot my 4th and final election results video.

For the subject of this Monday Morning Blog I have taken the issue of another, yes another, threatened rebellion on the 10p rate by Labour backbenchers. Haven't we all been here before? Wasn't it just a couple of weeks ago when the last so-called rebellion caved in after Brown offered a nebulous plan for jam sometime tomorrow. The so-called plan was, of course, simply a ploy to make it look as though something has been offered by the government. No details, no explanation as to how the package would be financed or how it would work. Labour backbenchers were then only too happy to abandon the rebellion, if indeed, "rebellion" is the right word.

Now we are told that there could be another rebellion in the offing as Labour backbenchers are demanding details of the package. Frankly, it's a bit late for that. Surely they should have been asking about the details when the so-called concessions were first offered, rather than taking two weeks to wake up to the fact that they have been duped. (Mind you, most Labour MPs took nearly a year to start making a fuss about the abolition of the 10p rate - so they are not exactly fast off the mark.)

It seems as though Labour backbenchers can be taken in by a bit of spin. The rest of the country however is not so easily fooled.

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