To be honest I have a lot of reservations about this. It is either a work of genius or a major mistake. That said we need to be heavily united as a political party and hardened in the fight against the Conservatives at the next general election. Because they will be unpleasant and unrelenting in their attacks.Plus I am glad that, as first reports suggest, Jon Cruddas is now in the...

Last week I attended Labour’s autumn conference as an exhibitor. These are my thoughts on how it went. By Labour’s own standards, they have had a good conference - but it is a sign of how far they have fallen that those standards were so low. Simply put: the widely predicted civil war didn’t happen, or at least fizzled out as soon as they had to look each other in the eye last Saturday. That the coup attempt failed quite so spectacularly suggests they didn’t really know what they were doing in the first place, which in turn poses serious questions about the competence of Miliband et al. The people who unquestioningly had a good conference were the left and more specifically Compass. Speaking to some Compassites immediately after Brown’s speech resembled a...

Gordon Brown is not going to resign; no matter how low they go in the polls, or how much local or by-elections they lose or how much he destroys the country. He slogged through the Blair years, yearning for this job and he will not go down in History as one of the shortest serving and most useful Prime Minister's ever.However ... if he were to fall under a (political) bus, what is clear is that it's Jon Cruddas who will carry to flag of real Labour forward. His excellent showing in the Deputy Leadership contest - coming from nowhere to winning on first preferences - plus the dignified way he has handled himself since has put him in poll position. With all of the other Deputy Leadership candidate pretyt much humiliating themselves (including the eventual winner), he still holds a place...

Lest I be accused of denigrating Jon Cruddas, it has to be said that he has emerged as one of the true victors of the Labour deputy leadership contest. To come third, even if not within the membership college, was a real achievement for a candidate who has never had ministerial experience. Reading Brown’s speech, he has won at least two other victories: firstly, he has got the Labour Party - and everyone else - talking about housing again. For me this is one of the most important issues that must be tackled over the next few years, and a crucial tool in the battle for intergenerational equity and against the extreme right. Of course, the fact that the Housing Minister since before the stone age happens to be married to Gordon Brown’s representative on Earth does suggest that...

So Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman will be leading the Labour Party into the next election, in what was an incredibly close result.Harman, I have to say, never benefitted from either of my two votes, which transferred from Cruddas to Johnson (Benn having already been eliminated). But oddly, I don't feel terribly upset about the result. Blears was first to be eliminated, which would have softened any blow that could have followed. And Cruddas, who I have supported throughout his campaign, got a very respectable 3rd place, beating even Hilary Benn. Indeed Cruddas managed to get the most votes in the first round which is great news for him and for the issues he was raising about rebuilding the party and refocussing policy.I think it's a shame in a way, because Harman marketed herself to...

I probably should have pointed out over the weekend that this site - along with many other Labour blog sites - is taking on advertisements from various candidates in the Deputy Leadership race.However please note that this should not necessarily be taken as an endorsement of any of the candidates.I hope I have already mentioned once or twice that I am backing Jon Cruddas - and that hasn't changed.In fact my votes - all 3 of them(!) - have now gone off to be counted.I notice that the advert which seems to be flashing up most on my site at the moment is one for Alan Johnson. You will have probably read between the lines and worked out that if my first choice was Jon, and my second was between Hilary Benn and Hazel Blears, that Alan Johnson hasn't featured massively in my voting...

I was reminded this week, thanks to Labour’s deputy leadership contest, quite what a sham “one member, one vote” in the Labour Party is. Back in 1993, John Smith convinced the party to end trade union block voting in leadership elections and instead allow each union member their own vote in the election, cutting at a stroke the power of the union bosses. While that sounds democratic, the current system is only marginally more democratic than block voting because one person can be a member in more than one way. Not only does the electoral college - where votes are weighted three ways between those cast by MPs, by party members and by members of affiliated trade unions - mean that your average MP gets three votes (one in each part of the electoral college, assuming they...

I mentioned earlier that I hadn't been enthused by the deputy leadership election/campaigns, and was wondering if there was any way at all I could use my vote positively.For a time, I convinced myself that Jon Cruddas was the way to go:He gives the impression of wanting the job most.Introducing Jon will allow his deputy leadership rivals to concentrate on their existing ministerial briefs: International Development is too important for Hilary Benn to be shifted onto party business.But there were problems, too:His apparent support for BME shortlists for parliamentary selections (discussed to death here).His position over Iraq:"I saw the case for removing a tyrant who was a threat because of his possession of weapons of mass destruction and who had already used them against his own people....

I do find the level of interest in our deputy leadership election a bit mystifying, but I read via TMP (with more at BBC News) that the contenders have been discussing the idea of all-BME ("black and minority ethnic") candidacy shortlists as a way of addressing the relatively low incidence of BME MPs (the small matter of the gap between becoming a candidate and becoming an MP was not discussed).Apparently Hazel Blears, Jon Cruddas and Peter Hain all back the idea of shortlists, and according to TMP:Hazel Blears MP, the Party Chair, [...] said she was going to call on Labour’s National Executive Committee "to draw up a code of conduct to move towards all BME shortlists". [...]The party is in the process of taking legal advice on the issue. Lawyers predict that the race relations...

The Mail on Sunday today contains a puff piece on Hazel Blears and a piece on Jon Cruddas which he will find very embarrassing. I am sure there is no link between the two!The Cruddas story accuses him of buying a second home in Notting Hill to enable his child to be educated there. It was clearly leaked by one of the rival deputy leadership camps. I have no idea which campaign is responsible, but the man with most to gain from damaging Cruddas is Peter Hain, who has lost no time in slagging off Alan Johnson and repudiating much of the government policy he has got collective responsibility for. Cruddas has sewn up a lot of the left of centre vote which Hain is targeting. Hain knows he cannot win unless much of Cruddas's support transfers to him, and he's willing to do what it takes.It's...

Just back from a reception for Cruddas supporters in Dagenham, and it was really encouraging to see so many people turn out on a Friday night of a bank holiday weekend. There must have been about sixty or so people there from around a dozen different constituencies across East London and Essex.I've been getting a real sense that Jon can win this. The range of candidates are fairly have a fairly even split in terms of support in the Parlaimentary Labour Party, so unless Brown applies pressure behind the scenes for whoever his particular favourite is, the field is wide open and will be decided largely by how party members and trade unionists vote. And looking at how the supporting nominations are going, there seems to be a mood for Cruddas amongst a pretty significant proportion of the...

I attended the CSM Deputy Leadership Hustings last night at Christchurch & Upton in Lambeth.It was good to see so many people there - not least the 6 candidates!I thought I might just spend a couple of sentences telling you about how the candidates did on the night, but I should add a disclaimer that this is me blogging my own personal views and not me representing CSM in way shape or form!For the record, CSM are not backing any one individual for the Deputy Leadership and our nomination will be decided by a One Member One Vote ballot of our membership.Before I start my run down of how I think the candidates performed I should also add that I have already said that I am backing Jon Cruddas, just in case that influences you now feel about my view of the candidates' performances.Hilary...

It's a political truism that nice guys often come last. Could it really be that Hilary Benn can't muster the 44 votes needed to progress to the final stage of Labour's Deputy Leadership contest? Labour MP Chris Bryant certainly thinks so. He was overheard in Portcullis House talking in a very loud voice telling a female Labour MP that Hilary Benn won't make it but Jon Cruddas...

I received an e-mail yesterday from a Slovene friend based in Brussels, wondering why he had suddenly started to receive campaign updates from Labour Deputy Leadership candidate Jon Cruddas. The e-mail address now on Cruddas’s list was subscribed to no other centre-left UK politics list other than the Compass Newsletter. The relationship between Cruddas and Compass has grown ever closer, but the point of Compass - so I thought - was to work for the democratisation of the Labour Party and push a particular policy line within Labour. That’s why I joined it. The reason it exists should not be as a front for Cruddas’s campaign and using e-mail addresses from people who thought they were just supporting Compass would really not be......

I notice that Gordon Brown has pretty much echoed my thoughts from a couple of weeks ago about the "cult of celebrity" and the need for passionate representatives who are more interested in the finer aspects of policy and running the country than how they come across on TV and with focus groups. Therefore it will not surprise you a great deal to learn that I agree with him!Charles Clarke's outburst in The Mail on Sunday of all places (and not available online) smacks of desperation in my book. A man who feels he has been marginalised and now doesn't know where to go, so simply sticks his oar in hoping he's going to make someone else happy.But perhaps I am being unduly harsh.I tell you what, Charles, a week is a long time in politics. So why don't you and your pals come out and openly say...

I was thinking, if a David Cameron and George Osborne's leadership gives us the joys of Cambourne, then what would the possibilities be in the Labour Deputy Leadership race?For example, a Brown and Harman ticket could serve us up a barman (see picture). I suppose Brown and Johnson could give you Charles Bronson...although the party would have a bit of a Deathwish if it went for that.John McDonnell winning as leader with Hazel Blears as Deputy would give you McDears leading the party.And Hilary Benn winning with Michael Meacher won't happen because you can't ask people to back Benchers.Though Brown and Hain may be a wiser move, giving you a Brain.However for me the obvious choice is Brown and Cruddas, which would give us the Crown. :-)All other suggestions welcome.-(Photo source:...

I was sitting in my Parliamentary office late yesterday afternoon, and what should land on my desk but a personalised letter from Hazel Blears MP.Don't get me wrong, it's always nice to hear from Labour MPs - even if someone more cynical than me may observe that many seem only interested in talking to talk to us when they are up for election to something or other. (In Hazel's case she is coincidentally up for election as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, as you can see here, in case you were wondering.)Now I've already declared that I am backing Jon Cruddas for Deputy - and frankly although Hazel is very nice (I had a bit of a chat to her at the Regional Conference in Bedford the other day), she wouldn't be my second choice of Deputy Leader either - but at least she's taken the time to...

I'm still backing Jon Cruddas for Deputy Leader.Just so you know.Not that it's a secret or anything!-(Photo/logo source: Kris...

I've met Jon Cruddas (briefly) - he seems like a great guy, and I don't have a big problem with the fervour for his campaign that we're seeing amongst Labour bloggers, except when people are disproportionately using our recommendations facility to plug, frankly, just about any blog post that offers favourable coverage.I know it's pointless to issue guidelines about recommendations, but the original vision was that it was the "best" articles that would attract votes, not just the ones you liked or that supported a particular faction or campaign that you were associated with. It's not a huge deal, but there have been some pretty blatant examples of this happening, and today's is just one of several. I don't know whether these seven votes are the result of one person or several, and I'm sure...

I suppose this is really following on from Alan Simpson's letter of resignation; the bit where he says that the Brown leadership will be worse than the Blair premiership. I don't particularly agree with this sentiment, I do think Brown will be better than Blair but not by that much. I know defenders of the Blairite regime will say things about the minimum wage, tax credits, NHS waiting lists and...well you've heard the spiel a million times before (normally during Prime Minister's Questions), it goes on almost ad infinitum. Now I do not wish to appear ungrateful, but a whole load of this Government's achievements relate, at least in my thinking, to the deficiencies of the Major Government, the hangover from the Thatcher Years and the general state of malaise that was in the minds of...

I can't say I am too fussed as to who the next Deputy Leader or the Labour Party will be. I am sure who I do not want (take a bow Ms Harman, Mr Johnson, Ms Blears, Mr Straw) but am quite ambivalent about the rest. Sure, Jon Cruddas is not mired in the stink of New Labour too much and, at least, he has some definite ideas on what the role should encapsulate. Yet this idea is, well to quote my colleague Morag, a 'stupid arse idea.' According to Cruddas cabinet ministers who intend to challenge for the deputy leadership should resign. Easy for you to say as the only candidate not to currently be in the cab....oh I get it....

Warning: this post contains criticism of Jon Cruddas. One of the difficulties that arises when spreading the writing of a post across a day two days is finding public opinion shifting against you, making it seem all the more churlish to appear to pick upon a decent bloke. This awareness does motivate me, what with my being a human being, your sufferance of my occasional rants on these pages, and the target being a Labour MP who has impressed many. Nonetheless, I try to criticise when I think it's due, and I'm happy to publish and be damned. So, onward.*Having read Liam Byrne and Bill Rammell's earlier article ("An utterly false choice"), I can see why Jon Cruddas might have been riled, but I found his response [via Stuart] equally gloomy reading.The earlier article seemed content for...

The reason I haven't posted today is that it was my first day on my new job. Cue lots of work and commuting oop nawf (well, cventry is north from LDN, lol). In my two trips, I have sussed that the Hammersmith and City line does not function properly until at least 8am - cue frantic phone calls to new boss apologising profusely for enforced lateness as I'd missed my train from LDN). Fortunately, my bosses are delightful and didn't bollock me. :-)Loving my job. Very pleased to be working with a great and very affable team, and there is sufficient structure to the projects I've been given to start on to make sure I am not left to do an impossible job unsupervised (unlike previous unpaid job). Also loving the bit during work when we were arranging the printing of my business cards. Yay! I get...

Last night saw Jon Cruddas’ inaugural telephone conference as deputy leadership candidate. 6pm rolled around and Labour bloggers began calling in and logging on, stating their names to the accompaniment of classical music. It was all pretty civil, with people introducing themselves and giving fellow bloggers the chance to speak and ask questions in the debating session which followed Jon outlining how he thought the campaign had been going thus far.I’ll kick off my discussion of the conference with the caveat that all “quotes” are not word for word what Jon said but, rather, taken from my rough notes. I do feel a little wrong about publishing this, because of that, without having it checked first. But Jon is a member of the blogging community so I’m sure either he or one of his...

Okay, from 6pm tonight, I'll be able to ask Jon your questions, so post them here and I shall do. Provded they're not too lewd, that is.I'll check this at 5.30pm today, so make sure you post by...

This seems to be a pretty fashionable position to take on the Labour Blogosphere, but last week I signed up as a supporter of Jon Cruddas in next years deputy leadership campaign. My first instinct had been for Hilary Benn, mostly because he's a Benn, but also because I had hoped he would be capable of engaging with, and speaking for, the spectrum of opinion that is the Labour Party. But Jon has over the course of his campaign shown himself to be someone who takes the soft left position that I think is where most of the party sits (the membership that is, not the MP's). He's been vocal on the BNP, and on the effect that New Labour's triangulation policy has had in allowing them to build support in working class areas. He's argued for breaking the link between Deputy Leader and Deputy...

Jon Cruddas MP for Barking and Dagenham, and also one of the candidates for the deputy leadership, has announced that he will be holding a conference early next week for bloggers and members of the facebook group.Participants will be able to speak to Jon about his campaign plans, and there will be a Q&A session as part of the event. From what I hear, it will take place by phone, although I am yet to receive the full details.This is a fantastic opportunity for bloggers to probe the mind of one of the most interesting deputy leadership candidates standing so far. It is also a web-exclusive, since there will be no mainstream media people involved (to the best of my knowledge).I'm definitely going to particiate, and shall be blogging about it afterwards. It is a shame none of the other...