Moving on up with Welsh Labour

You know me. I tend not to listen to rumour just as much as the next person. I tend to keep myself to myself, unless someone speaks so loudly that I can't help but hear.

Rumour has it that heads have been turned in the Assembly, in disgust at the way Eluned Morgan MEP has treated the party with contempt by first seeking re-selection for next year's European Election, only to pull out* when the prospect of bigger and brighter offers became apparent. Whatever some might think are bigger and brighter in the political world is purely speculative and remains to be seen.

Welsh Labour have already announced that each list member bounces up the list by one place, much to the delight of Lisa Stevens (Office Assistant to Eluned Morgan and next bright-young-thing in Labour's camp) whose prospect of becoming an elected politician is apparent, short of an election disaster for Labour.

Rumour has it that there are some who are eager to call for a re-opening of the Labour Euro selection process for Wales, which will undoubtedly be strongly resisted by Transport House, some even blame Transport House for their failure to make the top spot. Rumour has it that senior officers backed the selective few from very early on. In fact, if you were to have rummaged around on networking profiles during the selection process you would have seen Labour officials backing candidates that otherwise stood little chance of gaining a large percentage of votes. Oh, and these were the very same officers who were entrusted to keep the process fair and impartial.

If I were an eager observer of Welsh politics and concerned Labour supporter who cared about my party, what sort of questions would I be asking at this time?

1. Did Labour receive any motion requests for the Llandudno conference in March that called for the Euro selection process to be halted because of concerns over a stitch-up?
2. Was an official European office used for canvassing by candidates, against strict ethics rules? i.e. if a member of her staff called constituency secretaries to check they'd received correspondence and then asked if they would consider supporting them in the selection process it would contravene rules and standards in the European Parliament and the Labour Party.
3. Why were calls for party hustings during the selection process repeatedly refused by Transport House?
4. Does Eluned have any ambitions of being an Assembly Member, now or in the future?

Purely speculative, of course. You know me. I tend not to listen to rumour or gossip.

* Eluned Morgan MEP - who announced on Tuesday 14 October that she would not seek re-election to the European Parliament, after serving fifteen years as an MEP.

The full list of Welsh Labour’s candidates for the European election is as follows (as revised):

1. Derek Vaughan
2. Lisa Stevens
3. Rachel Maycock
4. Leighton Veale

A towering figure... of 5' 11''

Gordon Brown's wife Sarah stepped centre stage at the Labour conference to introduce his keynote speech.

It almost seemed like a mother introducing her son to a group of friends in an act of pride (that could easily have been you Pippa), building him up in only the way a mother can. Or even having to defend his actions before a headmaster after being called into school - defending him to the utmost of her ability, and with no flicker of doubt

She said she was "so proud" of her husband's achievements and praised his "motivation" to help people.

I'm so proud that every day I see him motivated to work for the best interests of people all around the country. Sometimes in a world where there is so much to do we don't perhaps have enough time to celebrate what has been done.

She went on to introduce Mr Brown, "my husband, the leader of the Labour Party, your prime minister" - who made mention in his own speech about critics of his personal style, amid poor opinion poll ratings for Labour and rebel calls for a leadership challenge.

What is it with the women in his life? A towering figure indeed.

What of Gordon's turn? Garbo summed it up well with:

Well, it was a very good speech… by Brown’s standards. And it has put the doubters in the background… for now. Brown is no Blair and he is no Cameron when it comes to public speaking, but yesterday he was better than the Gordon Brown we are used to dozing through.

This was not a speech aimed at the electorate. It was not an attempt to turn the polls round over night. It was aimed directly at the party. The snipers. It was a speech that would reassert his authority and cut down any “novices” who were pretenders to his crown. And, to a certain extent at least, it has worked

N.B. I have asked Pippa Wagstaff if I can mention her son in a post. I wouldn't want her to accuse me of using him as a post prop - he's a person! She mentioned having the same pride when dropping off her son at his first day at nursery.

Whatever it takes is too little, too late

Gordon Brown has opened Labour's annual conference in Manchester with a pledge to do "whatever it takes" to sort out Britain's financial system.

One delegate stood up to urge party unity - a reference to the 13 Labour MPs who have publicly called for a leadership election [He'll be getting something worthwhile when Gordon leaves Downing street!] - and in a show of unity from the platform the prime minister was praised by several cabinet colleagues who said voters would not understand "navel gazing" at a time of economic turbulence.

Although there is a tendency to blame Wales' Labour problems on 'New Labour' rather than Welsh Labour, First Minister Rhodri Morgan, a long-standing ally of Mr Brown’s, has recently said:

I have been astonished by the outbursts of quite a small handful of people, MPs including one Minister of State. To think that you would want, in the middle of the worst financial storm I can remember, to change leader is absolutely insane.

I really do question their judgement, I think they are quite wrong. We need to batten down the hatches and deal with this crisis that’s affected the entire world. This is a global financial crisis, and this is just a diversion from the difficult issues we need to deal with.

Never a truer word has been spoken. Why change a leader during a crisis? If that principle was packaged, stamped with a daffodil/dragon motif and transported to Wales, Rhodri would've been replaced several times over by now.

True to form and still hiding his head in the sand - although the sand is further afield than usual - Mr Morgan said it was clear voters were blaming the Government for the economic downturn.

It’s always the government’s fault. It’s an iron law of politics, if times are tough, you can’t get a mortgage, banks are toppling in America, you get a feel-bad factor and people blame the government.

The general public think more deeply than than Mr Morgan. If you patronise us, we'll patronise you. Off to sleep with a cup of cocoa and chocolate digestive (without the chocolate of course) and dream of better times.

Thinking about it, make that a glass of water (tap, not bottle in Cathays Park), as you made so much of your 'life changing moment' last year. Bring on the new man with fresh and reconstituted ideas.

Brown and Potter: The stuff of Children's Stories

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has donated £1m to the Labour Party, the party has announced. Ms Rowling said she was motivated by Labour's record on child poverty and opposed a Conservative plan to give tax breaks to married couples.

According to the BBC, her donation will boost Gordon Brown as he tries to calm unrest among party members at Labour's annual conference.

Just as other political parties are burning their Potter books in disgust, a new print-run has been made to keep the British public content.

• Harry Potter and the Chancellor's Stoney Face


• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Commercial Crisis


• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of his own Destiny


• Harry Potter and the Gordon in line to be Fired


• Harry Potter and the Order of the Public Boot


• Harry Potter and the Half-Brained Schemes


• Harry Potter and the Deathly Silence among his MPs

Update: Tory Bear has more on this and sticks his paw where it hurts. So does Iain Dale with his "Arise, Baroness Rowling of Hogwarts". We should all try and stop being so cynical ;)